Magic: Properties of the Shield and Block spells?

[mustpickname!]

So, an interesting situation came up in our last session and I thought I'd make an account to ask everyone's opinion on it

The PC was a fantasy wizard, and a huge monster came at them with a gigantic, obviously lethal attack. The player tried to use the Block spell to get a bonus on their dodge, and that's where we ran into trouble.

If they tried to block this attack with a normal shield (say the large shield, 9DR and 60HP), it would end up dealing more than enough damage to crush the shield and keep on going. But how much DR and HP does the magical screen of force created by the Block spell have? The book never says, but surely it can't just be infinitely strong. I can't imagine standing in front of a subway train and casting the Shield spell to destroy the train, for example.

Any thoughts?

[Nereidalbel]

It would be consistent with other spells for Shield to have infinite HP/DR. Other spells using magical force screens (Force Dome and Force Wall come to mind) protect against infinite damage, after all.

[Kromm]

These defenses have no specific cap on what they work against. That isn't the same as saying they destroy things, though. A Block or Shield spell adds its DB against all attacks but it doesn't cause them to stop cold or shatter, it just helps the subject of the spell not get hit; what matters is the game-mechanical effect (a bonus to active defenses). Similarly, a Missile Shield wards off arbitrarily high amounts of damage but it doesn't cause missiles to crash, flatten, pancake, or be annihilated, it just causes a near miss; what matters is the game-mechanical effect (a missed attack). This isn't logical because it isn't science – it's magic. The hidden mechanism could be subtle redirection off target, probability manipulation, the energy of the attack being converted to mana, or an infinity of other things.

[Phantasm]

If you're standing on the tracks in front of a subway and cast Shield, chances are you're not going to destroy the train or even cause it to come to a stop. More likely, you're going to be picked up by the force of the train until it tosses you into a wall or train stopper - which would kill you if the train's going its usual speeds. The train's mass and inertia are that much greater than yours, after all. What probably won't happen is you getting immediately splattered on impact.


I probably would ask a player, "are you sure you don't want to just cast Block and try to dodge the train before it gets to you?" Probably the same thing with a charging dragon looking to eat you for lunch.

[mustpickname!]

Thanks for the replies. That makes sense. My problem was that I was thinking about it in literal terms with the spell creating a shield that gives +X DB, so if you only succeeded on your dodge roll by X then the attack was blocked by the magic shield. Hence blocking an oncoming train and so on. I suppose there are any number of other ways to flavour a spell improving your dodge attempt.