Level
1st
Casting Time
1 Reaction *
Range/Area
Self
Components
V, S
Duration
1 Round
School
Abjuration
Attack/Save
None
Damage/Effect
Warding
An imperceptible barrier of magical force protects you. Until the start of your next turn, you have a +5 bonus to AC, including against the triggering attack, and you take no damage from Magic Missile.
* - which you take when you are hit by an attack roll or targeted by the Magic Missile spell
So, many people use this spell in a way that the player knows the roll (be it announced or they see the dice), so they know if using Shield would make the initial attack miss or not.
How is it intended by the written rules? Is this scenario intended? >>
GM: You are hit with XY's attack.
Player: I use Shield.
GM: *checks roll vs new AC* You are still hit.
Not sure how it's done at your table, but the DM/GM doesn't just determine that a PC is hit by an attack roll without conferring with the player. Essentially saying "Okay, that's an X to hit" or something along those lines and giving the player a chance to respond. Dice roll results are public knowledge - you don't have to show the result on the dice to not give away any modifiers, but you still share that info.
Obviously this can differ table to table, because I know some where character info like AC is public knowledge to the DM so, to expedite combat, the DM would just roll and narratively describe the hit or miss without conferring. But even then, for something like Shield or any other reaction based ability like Defensive Duelist, and *especially* one that burns a resource like a spell slot, the DM/GM still confers with the player in a way like "Okay, the ogre is bringing down his meaty fist, aiming for the top of your skull. It's just about to connect but in the split second you believe a timely Shield spell could stop him in his tracks. Do you want to use it?" or just outright stating the attack roll and asking directly if the player has any reaction they want to use to respond.
Since it says "1 Reaction* which you take when you are HIT by an attack roll or targeted by the Magic Missile spell" I would guess you can decide to use it after knowing the attack would hit you if you dont use it. Roleplay wise it doesnt make that much sense but yea similar with the interception fighting style
I think we misunderstood each other a bit. In my example, you do know "the attack would hit you if you dont use it", you just don't know the Shield would be enough to cause the attack to miss
Derienn,
It does depend on how the DM runs their table. At my table, I simply say that the player is hit by the attack (not indicating what the roll was). Then the player decides if they want to cast the Shield spell as a reaction. It adds +5 to their AC, and the roll may still be good enough to hit or it may be blocked by the Shield spell. I believe this is the way the spell is intended to be "run." The player should not know if the Shield spell will still block the attack or not. Hope this is helpful.