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Person_Man
2009-09-02, 02:01 PM
Everyone knows about Batman, CoDzilla, Ubercharger, and TWF. Sword and board is the much overlooked stepchild of D&D, and shields in general are generally an afterthought on the equipment list. The primary reason for this is the Animated (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Animated) shield enhancement, which you can afford starting around ECL 6-7. So before then, sword and board is a solid option for anyone who values defense over offense. After that point, anyone who invested in shield related feats tends to look like a chump next to the guy with Leap Attack, Knock-Down, Scorpion’s Grasp, Knockback, etc. So this is a guide to all to all things related to shields in D&D.

Tactics

The first thing you have to accept about sword and board is that in most cases, you’re not going to be amazing at offense. A lot of people are going to tell you that you can do all of the cool stuff that a shield-centric build is capable of doing, but better, if only you do XYZ and/or use an Animated shield or buckler. In most cases, those people are right. But contained in this thread are a bunch of options that make shields playable and fun. So here are some useful tips and tactics when designing your shield build:


Your goals are defense and battlefield control. If you’re interested in massive damage, look elsewhere.


Boost your Shield AC bonus as high as possible, and then get your Shield AC to apply to as many things as possible (Touch AC, Bull Rush, other opposed checks, etc).


Most of the powerful high damage combinations people write about don’t kick in until ECL 6 or higher, whereas many shield combos can start as early as level 1.


You can use a shield as a two-handed weapon. While it’s less optimal then pretty much any other weapon due to it’s low damage, lack of reach, lack of special abilities, and requirement for Shield Bash, it can be done.


If you get Pounce (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=103358) and Ride by Attack, you can use a lance and shield (using Shield Bash instead of TWF) for some very impressive damage.


The Tome of Battle is chock full of manuevers that deal respectable damage and/or special effects regardless of what weapon you're using or what feats you have. If you like the concept of sword and board (or just like higher AC at low levels) and want to contribute to your party without concern for optimizing, then this is the book for you.


One of the easiest ways to balance out party members is to give the weaker member(s) better magic items. So if you're concerned about playing a sword and board build in a campaign with CoDzilla and the 1,000,000 damage charge combo guy, then ask if you can use some of the more obscure/powerful magical enhancements.

Shields

Buckler: The poor man’s Animated shield. Basically you can accept a small penalty to hit, pick up the Improved Buckler Defense feat, and get all the benefits of a shield and it’s magical protections without the hassle of giving up two-handed fighting. So if you’re a caster, this is probably the shield for you. If you’re a melee build and have access to Races of Stone, you’ll probably want to use a Gnome Battle Cloak instead, as it doesn’t have a penalty To-Hit. PHB.

Extreme Shield: +3 AC without a penalty to hit, but it can't be used for bashing, and doesn't provide cover like a Tower Shield. Requires Exotic Shield Proficiency (see Feats, below) to use properly. If you’re a Fighter who doesn’t want to make shield bash attacks, then an Animated Extreme Shield is probably your best choice. Races of Stone pg 157.

Gnome Battle Cloak: This is a cloak that confers a +1 shield bonus if you are proficient with it. Since it provides a shield bonus and is listed as a shield in the equipment chart, you can enchant it with shield enhancements, even though you're just wearing it. Basically it just saves you the expense of having to buy an Animated shield. You can't make a shield bash with it, but you can make Disarm attempts with it (and you get a +4 bonus), though you have to wield it as an off hand weapon like a light shield to do so. Requires Exotic Shield Proficiency (see Feats, below) to use properly. Races of Stone pg 155.

Heavy Shield: +2 AC, and you can use it for bashing. This is the shield of choice for most sword and board builds. PHB.

Light Shield: +1 AC, and you can use it for bashing. Honestly, I have no idea why anyone would use this and not a heavy shield. PHB.

Razored Shield: A shield that you can use as a slashing weapon for bash attacks, which is necessary for certain feats or spells. Underdark, p. 64.

Riding Shield: +2 Shield AC, and both you and your mount gain the benefit of the shield's AC bonus. Useful for mounted builds, especially builds with the Divine Shield feat. Requires Exotic Shield Proficiency (see Feats, below) to use correctly. Races of Stone pg 158.

Shield Gauntlet: +2 Shield AC, and you can use your shield hand to hold stuff or perform spells with a somatic component, although you can't use weapons with it. Requires Exotic Shield Proficiency (see Feats, below) to use correctly. Races of Stone pg 158.

Tower Shield: You can hide behind this to gain total cover. This is especially useful if you have something to do with your actions that don't involve attacks, such as summoning, healing, buffing, Demoralize, etc. Note that Fighters get proficiency for free at first level.

Magic Shields and Shield Enhancements

I’ve only listed the magical shields and enhancements that I find useful. For a more thorough review, read Darrin’s extremely helpful posts here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6852335&postcount=39) and here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6856515&postcount=49).

Animated (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Animated): For those of you who don’t have a philosophical disagreement with this enchantment, if you’re not attacking with your shield, then you’ll probably want to pick this up when you can afford it. DMG.

Bashing enhancement: Deals damage as if it were a weapon of two size categories larger. Cheap. Pretty much required for any build that wants to use its shield offensively. DMG.

Bulwark of Antimagic: A +1 tower shield with an 1/day Anti-Magic Field. What tank doesn't love AMF? 27,580 gp. Draconomicon pg 118.

Called: Provided you’re on the same plane of existence, you can summon your shield (or armor, if it’s enchanted with this as well) to you as a Standard Action. Although there are a variety of means of doing this, since it’s so cheap and virtually every DM will throw you into prison (or gladiator pit without your equipment, or a royal banquet where you’re not allow to have weapons but will be ambushed by ninja…) I think every build should invest in this when they can. 2,000 gp. MIC.

Clasp of Energy Protection: Provides Energy Resistance up to a certain maximum amount each day. Though the damage limit per day is a knock against it, but the main advantage is you can swap them out fairly easily, so you can add more fire protection if one crystal maxes out, or switch to another energy type as the situation demands. 500/1500/3000 gp. MIC.

Crest of Valiant Defense: Minor bonus to AC, and Shield Other (www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/shieldOther.htm) once per day. Cheap. Heroes of Battle pg 130.

Crystal of Arrow Deflection: Great bargain for an untyped bonus against all ranged attacks. For the Greater crystal, the bonus is only +2, but you get the effects of the Deflect Arrows feat. Normally, an item that provides a feat should cost at least 10000 GP, but here it's half that, and you don't need Improved Unarmed Strike (and an argument could be made you don't need a hand free, either). 500/2500/5000 gp, MIC.

Energy Defense: Enemies that hit you in melee take 1d6+10 points of energy damage (with various minor restriction in terms of uses per day and who is effected). I think this is an excellent low level enhancement, though it does have the sometimes worthless synergy pre-req of Energy Resistance. +1 bonus, MIC.

Energy Resistance: Use of this enchantment is very dependent on your build and your campaign. Some DMs are very fond of using one type of energy damage (You enter the Caverns of Burning, which is defended by a dozen red dragons.) Others not so much. Plus Energy Resistance or Immunity is readily available via a variety of spells, a clasp, and some class abilities. But if you’re a tank build with no Evasion, this might be a good choice for you. DMG.

Empyreal armor or shield enhancement: You can transfer your enhancement bonus to AC to be a Sacred bonus to Saves. Although adding this to a +5 shield to get a bonus to your Saves would be twice as expensive as a Cloak of Resistance, it’s noteworthy in that the bonuses stack. (Put together, you spend 75,000ish gp for a +10 to all Saves, +5 of which you can swap into AC). A good high ECL choice. Book of Exalted Deeds pg 112.

Fortification (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Fortification): I think it's important for tank builds to find a way to be immune to critical hits at some point in there career. This is the most strait forward way, though it is a bit expensive. DMG.

Glory Heraldic Crest: Gives you a minor moral bonus to all damage rolls, and lets you cast Heroism (www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/heroism.htm) on yourself once per day. 11,000 gp, Heroes of Battle pg 130.

Griffin Shield: Remember Eric from the D&D cartoon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_&_Dragons_(TV_series))? If you buy the dvd set, you get a free campaign supplement with 3.5 stats for all the main characters and enemies in the series, and you learn that Eric's shield is a +2 Bashing steel shield (that Eric wields two handed). As an Immediate Action you can use the griffin shield to create a small sphere of force like that produced by the Resilient Sphere (www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/resilientSphere.htm) spell. The effect must be centered on the user, and can be used for 5 (consecutive or non-consecutive) rounds each day. It's a phenomenal magic item to give to an NPC you don't want killed. 20,370 gp. Dungeons and Dragons cartoon campaign book.

Negating (http://dungeons.wikia.com/wiki/SRD:Negating_(Armor_Enhancement)): After being hit by a magic weapon, your armor or shield automatically casts Greater Dispel Magic on it, at caster level 20. Although this is in the Epic Level Handbook, as a +5 bonus it's available to anyone around ECL 10ish.

Mindarmor: This gives you a really nice bonus to your Will Save against mind-affecting spells and abilities for one round as an Immediate Action three times per day. Cheap. 3,000 gp, MIC.

Quickspur's Ally: This is a Weapon of Legacy, which means you can't just buy it. Your DM basically has to give it to you, or you can talk to him about a side quest to go and find it. As you gain levels, you need to complete several rituals and pay permanent personal costs (penalties to-hit, Saves, and hit points). You then unlock the shield's powers, which also scale with your level. While most Weapons of Legacy suck, this one actually has a pretty decent cost/benefit ratio. Ritual costs: 55,500 gp, -2 to hit, -3 to Saves, -16 hit points. Weapons of Legacy pg 129.

Ranged: A two-for-one bargain, this combines the Throwing and Returning properties on a shield, and has a much better 30' range increment than most Throwing weapons. Unfortunately, it locks in your damage to 1d6 or 1d8, so you can't take advantage of oversized or heavy properties. There are several other methods to throw your shield around and have it come back to your hand, but this one is worth considering with the others. +1 bonus, MIC.

Shield of the Severed Hand: Once per round grants you a free Bull Rush whenever an enemy attacks you and misses. (Combine with Shock Trooper for awesomeness). Requires True Believer feat and 7 HD. Complete Divine pg 102 or MIC.

Shield of Vigor: Spend Knight's challenges as a Swift Action to gain Fast Healing 5 for 3 rounds. MIC pg. 196.

Spider Bound: Once per day you can transform your shield into a spider, with a size dependent on the type of shield. While there are much cheaper ways to summon more effective creatures, for some odd reason I think this is hilarious. Plus you never know when you'll want a Huge spider to Grapple for you. +2,500/5,000/10,000/15,000 gp. Drow of the Underdark pg 97.

Valiant Defense Heraldic Crests: Adds a minor Deflection bonus to AC, and Shield Other once per day. +6,000 gp, Heroes of Battle pg 130.

Weapon Enhancements
Remember that shields can be enchanted separately just like a weapon. Here is a list of good weapon enhancements that a shield build might find useful, the bulk of which was helpfully provided by Darrin here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6871202&postcount=64).

Adaptive: Let's you use a weapon specific feat for the enchanted weapon, regardless of what the weapon is. There aren't a lot of shield-specific feats, so if you want to cash in on Lightning Mace, Three Mountains, or Shadow Blade, you'll need this. +1 bonus, Tome of Battle.

Brutal Surge: Bull Rush as a Swift Action, usable Con bonus +1 times per day. If you're doing any kind of Dungeon Crasher/Flaming Homer build, put this at the top of your Christmas list. +1 bonus. MIC.

Crystal of Return: All three versions are a fantastic bargain. For the Least version, 300 GP gets you the Quickdraw feat. For the Lesser version, half off the cost of the Calling property, only it takes a move action instead of a standard action, so you can call your shield to you and attack in the same round. For the Greater version, it's another way to add the Returning property to your shield for only 4000 GP. +300/1000/4000 gp. MIC.

Defending: Shield Spikes are considered weapons which may be separately enchanted. So you enchant them with Defending, to get even MORE AC out of your shield. (Though it's an untyped bonus, and thus doesn't count towards your Shield AC for feats related to such). With Magic Vestments and Greater Magic Weapon to boost the Enhancement bonuses of your shield and shield spikes, your shield can grant you a 12ish bonus to AC for a pretty cheap investment. DMG.

Eager: Free action to draw your shield, and an untyped +2 initiative bonus. A Crystal of Return is cheaper, but the +2 initiative bonus can be stacked with other Eager/Warning weapons. +1 bonus. MIC.

Energy Aura: Requires an action to activate, but it has no listed duration so you may be able to keep it on all the time. Instead of futzing around with a golf bag of frost/flaming/corrosive/shocking weapons, allows you to change your energy type as the situation demands. +2 bonus, MIC.

Everbright: Makes your shield immune to acid and rust attacks, and the blinding 2/day may be somewhat useful (Ref DC 14 gets a little meaningless at higher levels), but I suspect the only real use here is to make your shield look "Shiny!", which may or may not be worth the cheap price. +2,000 gp, MIC.

Feathered: Fly as the spell up to 50 minutes per day, although it doesn't say how often or if duration needs to be continuous. The duration of the fly spell changed in 3.5 from 10 min/level to 1 min/level, so you might want to talk to your DM about RAW/RAI there. Though given the large variety of ways to get flying via other means, I'd skip this. +2 bonus, Arms and Equipment Guide (3.0).

Flying: Now here's an oddity... this turns your weapon into an animated object that can follow simple commands, although what it can or can't do is never clearly defined. I'm not sure how complicated the instructions can be (as an unseen servant? golem? animated skeleton?), but as an animated object it can be ordered to guard a location or attack. Since an animated object's stats are directly proportional to its size, you absolutely want the Sizing property on your shield. Not only that, you could presumably then use it as a floating disk or flying carpet/dish/thingy with a 30' fly speed. +1 bonus. Magic of Faerun.

Rusting: Requires a non-metallic shield, but essentially everything you hit gets something similar to the effects of a rusting grasp spell (although there is a Fort Save DC 16). So, this should create plenty of arguments with your DM. For example, the spell won't work on any magical items, but the property description mentions no such limitation. The spell normally doesn't allow a save, but this property does. Even if the DM insists this property only works on unattended, non-magical, ferrous metals, there's a lot of serious dungeon-redecorating this thing could do. +1 bonus. Shining South.

Sizing: Most size-related spells or abilities will automatically resize your weapons (Enlarge Person, Expansion, and so forth), but there are certain conditions where resizing your shield could be very useful. For example, if you built/enchanted your Ubershield before picking up Strongarm Bracers, a fixed cost of 5000 GP allows you to take advantage of the size increase. Or you could be wildshaping/polymorphing into a form with a different size, and want your shield to match. You never know when a colossal-sized heavy shield might come in handy (240 lbs, which means 5d6 damage as an improvised projectile for all you Hulking Hurlers out there). +5000 gp. MIC.

Smoking: Surrounds you with a personal 5'x5' square of stinking cloud that follows you wherever you go. Provides concealment and if anyone enters your square, they have to save vs. nausea. Could be an interesting combo with Confound the Big Folk. +1 bonus. Lords of Darkness.

Spellblade: This property is an affordable and improved version of Spell Immunity. Greater Spell Immunity, for example, doesn't protect against spells that ignore Spell Resistance, and can only protect against spells 8th level or lower. Spellblade works on spells that ignore SR, can go up to 9th level, and you also get an opportunity to redirect it toward another target. Combine this property with a Ring of Spell-Battle and you can absorb/redirect that spell being cast on anyone else. +6,000 gp, Player's Guide to Faerun.

Torturous: I'm mentioning this one not necessarily because it works well on a shield, but because the MIC nerfed the Paralyzing ability to 1/day and most of the regular posters on the CharOps boards seem to have missed this one when ranking all the various weapon abilities. Every hit with a Torturous weapon requires the target to make a Fort save DC 12 or they are stunned for 1 round. While this is a pretty low save DC, there's no limit on how many times it can be used, and you can upgrade the save to a more respectable DC 17 by increasing the bonus to +2. +1 or +2 bonus. Ghostwalk.

Truedeath Crystal: Add the Ghost Touch property to your shield for only 5000 GP. +1000/5000/10000 gp. MIC.

Warning: Grants a nice bonus to Initiative for a cheap investment. This property is also quite useful when paired with the Eager property or a Crystal of Returning, which allows you to draw your shield as a free action, presumably just before you roll initiative. +1 bonus, MIC.

Whirling: You'll need a Razor Shield (FR Underdark) to use this property, but this is a bargain to get Whirlwind Attack 3/day without worrying about the insane number of prerequisite feats. It's an even better enhancement if you put it on a Spiked Chain or Spinning Sword. +1 bonus, MIC.

Wrathful Healing: Another very obscure ability, sort of Vampiric-On-Steroids. Whatever damage the weapon does, you heal half that amount. +3 bonus. Enemies & Allies p. 20.

Valorous: Damage multiplier on charge attacks, so an absolute must on any charge-focused build. +1 bonus. Unapproachable East.

Special Materials and Non-Magical Improvements

At first level, every sword and board build will want a steel shield with shield spikes. After that, you’re definitely going to want a shield made out of some special material. Also, don't forget that your shield spikes can be made of special materials, which usually depends on what DR you need to bypass the most often. If you want to read all of the special materials, you can just go over to crystalkeep. But here are a few materials that are particularly good.

Adamantine: Do you have a spiteful DM who likes to Sunder things? If so, this is the special material for your shield. Also, shield spikes made of adamantine bypass hardness of everything that isnt' adamantine. PDMG pg 283.

Aurorum: If your favorite Sundered, this material allows you to put it back together as a full-round action. 4,000 gp, Book of Exalted Deeds pg 38.

Dragoncraft: Shields or armor made of dragon hide provide you with Energy Resistance 5 against a particular energy type, and a lower Armor Check penalty. Draconomicon pg 117.

Dwarvencraft Quality: An improvement over Masterwork Quality, Dwarverncraft items have superior hit points, hardness, and Saves. 600 gp, Races of Stone pg 159.

Feycraft: Reduce ASF 5%, +1 untyped bonus on Bluff checks. 500 gp, Dungeon Master's Guide II, pg 275.

Githcraft: Reduce ASF 5%, +1 untyped bonus on Concentration checks. (Diamond Mind strikes, anyone?). 600 gp, Dungeon Master's Guide II, pg 276.

Kaorti: Shield spikes = piercing, so kaorti resin can give you a shield with a x4 crit multiplier. You'll need Exotic Weapon Proficiency to attack without a -4 penalty. WotC article (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/re/20031014a).

Masterwork Quality: A masterwork buckler has an Armor Check penalty of 0. So there's no penalty for non-proficiency. So every Skill Monkey should consider carrying an masterwork buckler in order to gain the bonus to AC and the protections of it's magical enchantments. PHB.

Mithral: This material will decrease the Armor Spell Failure Chance and Armor Check Penalty on a buckler to 0. So there's no penalty for non-proficiency or using it while casting arcane spells. This makes enchanted mithral bucklers a very good deal for most arcane casters, who rarely make melee attacks anyway. PHB.

Shield Sheath: A non-magical scabbard for a Light weapon is added to the inside of any non-buckler Shield. If the shield has be Readied, the weapon may be drawn as a Free Action. IMO, it's always useful to have backup weapons. 25gp, Races of Stone pg. 158.

Shield Spikes: Increases the damage dealt by your shield by one size category. Also, you can enchant your spikes as if they were a magic weapon. PHB.

Riverine: This is a special material unlike any other. It’s water, encased in a what’s essentially a Wall of Force. If you make something out of Riverine, it cannot be destroyed by anything except for Disintigrate and a few other high level spells. If you make armor or a shield out of Riverine, then half of the AC bonus counts as a Deflection bonus. Although ridiculously expensive, if you have a magic item that absolutely cannot be destroyed without nerfing your build, this is what you should build it out of. Stormwrack pg 128.

Other Useful Equipment

Arms of the Naga: Expensive, but gives you a spare set of arms to carry a shield. 56,000 gp, Savage Species pg 55.

Dastana + Chahar-Aina: Basically Asian bracers and an extra armor overlay, each of these items can be added to padded, leather, or chain shirt armor. Each adds a +1 armor bonus that explicitly stacks with other armor and shield bonuses. If enchanted, the enhancement bonuses *do not* stack, but enchanting them separately is cheaper than loading up armor enhancements on one item. Oriental Adventures.

Gloves of Man: Not much cheaper than the Arms of the Naga, but if you have appendages such as tentacles or are in a form without opposable thumbs, these would allow you to manipulate objects or carry a shield. 42,000 gp, Savage Species, p. 57.

Glove of the Master Strategist: Works just like a glove of storing without the horrendously inflated 3.5 price tag. Whip out your shield as a free action. And yes, Ghostwalk got a 3.5 update and they didn't change the price. If you really really need your gloves slot for something else, try a Kimono of Storing (Oriental Adventures p. 140, 20,000 GP). 3,600 gp, Ghostwalk pg 71.

Glove of Taarnahm the Vigilant: Any weapon you wield counts is given Throwing and Returning. A cheap way to be Captain America. But be mindful that Returning doesn't return your weapon until the start of the next round, so you'll be without your Shield bonus until then. Player’s Guide to Faerun pg 123.

Lance: The lance is the only non-exotic reach weapon that you can use with one hand (while mounted). Reach is a hugely important component of battlefield control. So it's my opinion that most builds that want to use a non-Animated shield should consider using a lance as their primary weapon. And it deals double damage on a Charge, which is always handy. PHB.

Phylactery of Change: Somewhat cheap way to all-day polymorph into a Diopsid or Thri-Kreen, which gives you plenty of arms. 11200 gp, Arms and Equipment Guide pg 135.

Ring of Arming: While the Called property may be cheaper for one item, if you have to call each piece of armor or weapon separately, then the Ring of Arming will save you a lot of standard actions, and may be cheaper in the long run. 5,000 gp, MIC pg 122.

Spare Hand: If you have access to an Artificer, a 2nd level infusion allows this hand to carry a buckler or light shield. 12,000 gp, MIC pg 137.

Spinning Sword: Basically a Spiked Chain that you can only use with one hand. Requires Exotic Weapon Proficiency to use without penalty. This should be the weapon of choice for non-mounted builds that want to use shield bash and battlefield control. Secrets of Sarlona, pg 136.

Strongarm Bracers: Let's you wield weapons (which presumably includes shields) one size larger then normal without penalty. Does not stack with Powerful Build. 6,000 gp, MIC pg 139.

Wand Chamber: Puts a single wand inside a weapon or shield. As long as you’re holding it, you count as holding the wand. UMD is your friend, evenif you have to take it cross class. Also remember that a single level of any caster class entitles you to use all of their spell trigger items. For example, a Whatever X/Paladin 1 can put a Wand of Holy Sword into his shield, and cast it when needed to buff himself. Dungeonscape pg 34.

Classes and Prestige Classes

Cleric: CoDzilla with the right spells can be powerful with almost any build. He also gets Turn Undead at first level, which is pivotal to fuel several potent shield related feats.

Crusader: A great defensive class. There are also a couple of excellent Devoted Spirit manuevers which require a shield. Tome of Battle.

Demonbinder (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20070430a&page=3): Once per day per Demonbinder level you can Demonbind Marilith, which gives you 40 temporary hit points and 2 extra arms. Lots of potential here. The only down side is that you must be Chaotic Evil and a Drow, but there are several variant Drow or half Drow out there that have no LA but count as a Drow. Drow of the Underdark pg 73.

Fighter: Gets Tower Shield Proficiency for free and bonus feats, which are the heart of sword and board combat, especially at low levels. He can also trade Tower Shield Proficiency away for Exotic Shield Proficiency, which is useful for several different builds. The Fighter also has some very noteworthy alternate class features and substitution levels, especially Dungeoncrasher from Dungeonscape.

Ironsoul Forgemaster: Shield Bond allows you to pump essentia into your shield for acid + cold + electricity + fire + *sonic* resistance. Also allows early access to the Heart Chakra at ECL 15. Magic of Incarnum pg 127.

Knight (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=109429): The Knight is one of the best battlefield melee classes in the game. He also gets a bonus to his shield AC, and plenty of nifty defensive abilities.

Paladin: Turn Undead, plus high Saves and a Special Mount. In particular, the Wary Swordknight substitution level (Champions of Valor pg 52) lets a Halfling Paladin count as one size larger for opposed checks (Bull Rush et al). This is very useful in that a small race can ride his medium Special Mount everywhere with a lance and shield, while still pulling off some useful special attacks.

Psychic Warrior: Gets easy access to Expansion (www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/expansion.htm). This gives you bonuses to all of your size related checks. And when combined with the Bashing enhancement and shield spikes, your shield can deal 4d6 base damage (or 6d6 if you're a Half-Giant or Goliath), which is very solid for a one handed weapon at ECL 9ish.

Warforged Juggernaut: Shield builds are surprisingly good at Bull Rushes, and this class offers several good bonuses to Bull Rush and Charge, plus a bunch of highly useful immunities. Eberron Campaign Setting pg 84.
Feats

Active Shield Defense feat: When fighting defensively with a shield, you don't take the attack penalties on your AoO. Also, you still threaten when on Total Defense, which is useful when combined with Spinning Defense (Dungeon Compendium) which allows you to use Deflect Arrows to deflect any number of ranged attacks when wielding a polearm and using the Total Defense action (though you'll need to use a buckler, an Animated shield, or have 3+ hands for this to work). Essentially, you sacrifice your normal attack routine (depending on AoO) to gain a bonus to AC and be immune to ranged attacks. PHBII.

Agile Shield Fighter: This feat is essentially Two Weapon Fighting with a Shield, but without the Dexterity requirement. Requires Improved Shield Bash and Shield Specialization. PHBII pg 74.

Block Arrow: Deflect Arrows with shield instead of unarmed strike. And it only requires Dex 13 and Shield Proficiency. Heroes of Battle, pg 96.

Divine Shield: Burn a turn/rebuke undead to add your Cha bonus to your shield bonus for a number of rounds. Amazing for defensive Paladins or Blackguards. Comp Warrior.

Exotic Shield Proficiency: Races of Stone has several exotic shields (listed in the Shields and Shield Enhancements section above) which require this feat to use properly. In most cases it's not worth spending a feat to use one. But a 1st level Fighter can trade their Tower Shield Proficiency for Exotic Shield Proficiency, which opens up several useful build options without having to expend any resources to get them. Races of Stone pg. 139.

Formation Expert: Gives you several shield related manuevers. Two provide minor bonuses, and the third grants free movement whenever an ally falls if you are fighting in a line. Useful if you have someone in your party who is fond of summoning weak creatures, as this feat can be a poor man's Pounce, and might even grant you additional attacks if you have Evasive Reflexes or other similar feats. Comp Warrior pg 110.

Improved Buckler Defense: When you attack with a weapon in your off-hand, you may still apply your buckler’s Shield bonus to your AC. Comp Warrior pg 100.

Improved Shield Bash: When you perform a shield bash, you may still apply the shield bonus to your AC. PHB.

Improved Shield Bash: So your DM probably won’t allow this 3.0 feat, because the name was stolen by the core 3.5 feat. But I think he should. It gives you a free, limited Bull Rush (5 ft, no follow up) whenever you make a shield bash. Combined with Karmic Strike and/or Robilar’s Gambit and/or Dungeoncrasher and/or Shock Trooper, and this feat can be ridiculously useful. Requires Power Attack. Defenders of Faith pg 20. (3.0 material)

Inlindl School: You can sacrifice your shield bonus to AC to gain 1/2 that bonus To-Hit with any light or Weapon Finesse-able weapon. While this may not sound like much, keep in mind that with enhancements, Shield Specialization, Divine Shield, Knight bonuses, etc, it's not that hard to get a +10 or higher shield bonus, which means that you can easily get a +5 or higher untyped bonus to hit for a moderate investment. Also note that you could use a heavy shield and a Gnome Battle Cloak (or just a heavy shield in each hand, or one or two animated shields, etc) and only sacrifice the shield bonus from one, while keeping the bonuses from the second shield. Requires Combat Expertise, Shield Proficiency, and Weapon Finesse. Drow of the Underdark pg 56.

Parrying Shield feat: You add your shield bonus to Touch AC. This is a huge weak point for many builds, which this feat fixes. Lords of Madness pg 181.

Shield Charge: When you attack with a shield as part of a Charge, you get a free Trip attack. Requires Improved Shield Bash. Complete Warrior pg 105.

Shield Charge: This is the 3.0 version. When you attack with a shield as part of a charge, you deal double damage. Requires Power Attack and Improved Shield Bash. Defenders of Faith pg 20. (3.0 material)

Shield Slam: When you charge an enemy and attack with your Shield, you get a free Trip attack (from the Shield Charge pre-req) and your enemy must Save or be Dazed for 1 round. A good mid level combo. A nice DM might let you use it with Pounce, making it far more effective. Otherwise it loses it’s usefulness by ECL 11+. Requires Shield Bash and Shield Charge. Complete Warrior pg 105.

Shield Specialization: You get a +1 to your Shield bonus with one type of shield. Like Weapon Focus, I think think that this feat sucks. But it's a pre-req for several other feats. PHBII pg 82.

Shield Wall: When you and an adjacent ally are using a shield, your Shield bonus to AC increases by 2. Heroes of Battle pg. 99.

Shield Ward feat: Your shield bonus applies to Touch AC and checks to resist Bull Rush, Disarm, Grapple, Overrun, and Trip attempts (but not offensive checks). Unfortunately, it requires the Shield Specialization feat. But when combined with Divine Shield, you essentially become immune to these special attacks and Touch Attacks (unless your enemy has a ridiculous modifier or rolls a natural 20). PHBII 82.

Maneuvers, Powers, Spells, etc.

Please suggest powers maneuvers, spells, Invocations, and/or other special abilities that might help a Shield-centric build. I haven't had the time to do a full audit yet.

Enlarge Person (www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/EnlargePerson.htm) (Wiz 1, Str 1): +1 size increase. PHB.

Energize Shield (Cler 3 Pal 2): Your shield deals +2d6 elemental (pick any one element at time of casting) on successful shield bash, and also grants the wielder resistance 10 to the chosen element. Duration is only 1 round/level, but its still a nice damage boost and also an on-demand source of pretty much any elemental damage and resistance that you may need. Spell Compendium pg 79.

Expansion (www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/expansion.htm) (Psy War 1): +1 size increase. The augmented version requires manifester level 7, and grants +2 size increases. Does not stack with Enlarge Person. Expanded Psionics Handbook.

Greater Mighty Wallop (Wiz 3) Increases the damage of a bludgeoning melee weapon by one size category per 4 caster levels (max Colossal) without increasing the actual size. Your shield without spikes is a blunt weapon. A reasonable DM should allow a shield with spikes to be a bludgeoning and piercing weapon. Races of the Dragon pg 115.

Magic Vestment (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/magicVestment.htm) (Cler 3): Basically the Greater Magic Weapon for Shields. Lasts for hours per level, and scales well. So as long as you have a Cleric in the party, your Shield's enhancement bonus need not be above +1, letting you dump the other +9 into other enchantments. PHB.

Mighty Wallop (Wiz 1): Increases the damage of a bludgeoning melee weapon by one size category without increasing the actual size. Interestingly enough, this spell does not have the Colossal size maximum of Greater Mighty Wallop, making it more useful for certain builds if your DM is willing to consider a shield with spikes a bludgeoning and piercing weapon. Races of the Dragon pg 114.

Shield Block (Devoted Spirit 2): Grants your Shield bonus +4 AC (which is a ton) to an adjacent ally in response to an attack as an Immediate Action. Tome of Battle pg 60.

Shield Counter (Devoted Spirit 7): In response to an attack you can make an offhand shield bash as an Immediate Action, and if you hit your opponents next hit automatically misses. Tome of Battle pg 60.

Shield of Warding (Cler 2/Pal 2): Your shield provides you Sacred bonus on Reflex Saves. Draconomicon pg 115.

Specific Builds:

Please post your favorite shield related builds, and I'll link to them and give you full credit.

Ailurus' Paladin/Crusader (http://www.thetangledweb.net/forums/profiler/view_char.php?cid=5781)

Quoted directly from a PM Ailurus sent me. Please feel free to post or PM your builds as well:

Currently level 18, and am a human Paladin 7/Crusader 11, aiming for Paladin 7/Crusader 13 at level 20 (picking up Mettle)

Feats are off some, since the DM is giving us feats every 2 levels instead of 3, but if I was going with the usual progression probably would have been:
Level 1: Improved Shield Block, Power Attack
Level 3: Improved Initiative
Level 6: Divine Shield
Level 9: Heavy Shield Spec
Level 12: Shield Ward
Level 15: Divine Vigor (Another one of the complete warrior divine feats - page 108 - gives some temp HP and +10 ft/round movement speed, minutes/level duration)
Level 18: Probably go with divine might, also from C Warrior (as a free action, spend a turn attempt to add cha to damage for one round)

Stats, main focus is on Cha and Str (base stats 18/12/14/14/14/20 right now, rolled 16/12/14/14/14/16 to start).

I can give you the full list of chosen maneuvers and such if you want it, but in brief its pick up some white raven support maneuvers (such as white raven tactics and order forged from chaos), and devoted spirit maneuvers for damage/healing.

Basic combat approach is use divine vigor when it seems like battle will be imminent for the increased movement speed, divine shield and/or energized shield if there's buffing time (or if you get a bad roll on the maneuvers granted in the first round of combat), and then go off to try to latch yourself on to the biggest, nastiest thing around. Hopefully it won't hit you, but if it does it just feeds the crusader delayed damage pool, making it more likely that you can hurt/upset it enough so the DM has it stay on you instead of beating up someone else.
Cheater the Kobold

FYI, I hate the name of this build. Suggestions?

This combo is useful for any melee build, but it's particularly helpful for people who want to use shields.

Be a Kobold. (Preferably a variant Kobold (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20060420a), as they're more powerful). Take the Dragon Tail feat (Races of the Dragon pg 98). You gain a tail that you can attack with. This gives you a tail attack. Alternatively, you can take the Shape Soulmeld feat (Magic of Incarnum) to get access to the Dragon Tail soulmeld (Dragon Magic). This also gives you a tail attack - but be mindful that it's subject to Dispel Magic, Antimagic Field, etc. If you can a race with a natural tail attack, then you can skip this step.

Take the Prehensile Tail feat (Serpent Kingdoms pg 147), which lets you use your tail as an arm. This qualifies you for Multiweapon Fighting, or you can just use a weapon two handed and carry a shield without penalty, or you can use a crossbow in each hand without reloading problems.

And you're set. Now all you have to do is overcome the accusations of being a munchkin.

Halfling Shield Paladin

Strongheart Halflings are from Races of Faerun. You get a bonus feat instead of your Save bonus. Plus Halflings are a small race, and thus you can pick up an excellent medium Special Mount and ride it pretty much anywhere. You'll probably want to use the Wary Swordknight substitution level (Champions of Valor pg 52), which lets a Halfling Paladin count as one size larger for opposed checks (Bull Rush et al).

What mix of Paladin you should depend on what ECL your campaign goes to. But your basic combination of Divine Grace + Shield Ward + Divine Shield + reach weapon (lance) + the mobility of always being mounted is going to make you a defensive monster. You won't have uber damage output, but your lance and attacks from your Special Mount should keep you competitive.

If your game is not going to rise above ECL 6ish, then your best bet is Fighter 2/Paladin 4. Fighter provides 2 bonus feats, and you can trade your Tower Shield Proficiency away for Exotic Shield Proficiency (Riding Shield) so that your Special Mount can benefit from your Shield bonus. Paladin will give you Cha to Saves and Turn Undead. You won't get a Special Mount, but at this ECL it won't matter much. For feats beyond Shield Ward (and it's Shield Specialization pre-req) and Divine Shield, take a look at Shield Charge and Shield Slam. They're very useful at low levels.

If your game is going into ECL 7-15ish, you'll probably want a Prestige Class that improves your Paladin Mount (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=106815). Ashworm Dragoon, Aglarondan Griffin Rider, and Knight of the Iron Glacier are all excellent choices. It's noteworthy that they provide you with Large sized mounts though, so you may wish to be a Human instead and read up on the squeezing rules. (A Large creature can fight anywhere a medium creature can, but with penalties). Halfling Outrider is also a good choice, and a Paladin 5/Beastmaster 1/Halfling Outrider X with the Devoted Tracker feat gets a seriously broken Special Mount (as Halfing Outrider stacks to determine both your Special Mount and Animal Companion bonuses, and Devoted Tracker makes your Special Mount your Animal Companion, giving it both sets of bonuses). You should also remember that a single level of Paladin entitles you to use any Spell Trigger item (such as Wands) for any spell on your Spell List. The splat books are filled with useful Paladin spells. In particular, Holy Sword is an excellent choice for your shield spikes. At this ECL, your best choice of feats in addition to Shield Ward (and it's Shield Specialization pre-req) and Divine Shield will probably be Mounted Combat, Ride by Attack, Spirited Charge, Combat Reflexes, Robilar's Gambit, Stand Still, Goad, and one other divine or domain feat (which rock).

At the highest ECLs, then Paladin 20 is the way to go, because it's all about your spells. In particular, you're going to want Sword of the Arcane Order from Champions of Valor, which let's you memorize Wizard spells in your Paladin spell slots. Combine this with the Battle Blessing feat from Complete Champion, which let's you cast Standard Action Paladin spells as a Swift Action. And combine both of those with your Share Spells ability, which lets all of your buffs count for you and your mount. Use and abuse spells to the same degree that your other party members do. (Think Alter Self an Polymorph). If you mine the splat books for good buffs, you and your mount can be competitive with any build.

Olo Demonsbane's That Guy with the REALLY Big Shield

Like every build involving increased damage from size, this one was debated. But basically, you combine several of the following:

Shield Spikes: +1 effective size increase for your shield.
Bashing enhancement: +2 effective size increases for your shield.

Half-Ogre: Large race. (+2 LA, Races of Destiny pg 97)

Powerful Build: Can use a weapon 1 size larger.
Strongarm Bracers: Can use a weapon 1 size larger. Doesn't stack with Powerful Build or Monkey Grip.
Monkey Grip: Can use a weapon 1 size larger. Doesn't stack with Powerful Build or Strongarm Bracers.

Enlarge Person: +1 size increase.
Expansion: +2 size increases. Doesn't stack with Enlarge Person.

Mighty Wallop: +1 effective size increase for a blunt weapon.
Greater Mighty Wallop: +1 effective size increase per 4 caster levels for a blunt weapon, max Colossal.

From these you should be able to cobble together 5 to 8 size increase. The scale for weapon damage size increases is:

1d4 -> 1d6 -> 1d8 -> 2d6 -> 3d6 -> 4d6 -> 6d6 -> 8d6 -> 12d6 -> 16d6

If you can somehow get your base shield damage to start with 1d10, then it increases like this:

1d10 -> 2d8 -> 3d8 -> 4d8 -> 6d8 -> 8d8 > 12d8 > 16d8 > 24d8

So getting to 4d6 base shield damage is actually pretty easy, and getting to 12d6ish damage isn't that hard to accomplish by ECL 9ish.

Sam the Shuffling Shield Soldier

Max out Dex. A small race is a good idea, as it raises your AC and Dex. I suggest Whisper Gnome or variant Kobold.

Go strait Fighter. Trust me, you'll need the bonus feats. The basic combo needs 7 feats (Human Fighter 4). To fully optimize it, you'll need 3-8 more.

Take Combat Expertise, Improved Trip, and Combat Reflexes. This gives you some battlefield control.

Take Dodge, Mobility, and Elusive Target. Elusive Target is very useful for a variety of reasons. But the key ability is Cause Overreach. Now whenever you move out of an enemy's threatened area and they miss on the AoO, you get a free Trip attack (and free follow up attack from Improved Trip).

Take Formation Expert (Complete Warrior). This gives you the Step into the Breech maneuver. Whenever you have a line of allies and one ally falls, you may Move into that position as if you had a Readied Action. Also, buy Boots of Speed. This gives you Haste (extra movement and attack) when you need it.

Have a team member cast Empowered Summon Monster/Natures Ally I once or twice, or Animate Objects. This creates a line of weak allies for you. As each one dies, you'll get a free Move. This means you'll probably get a Full Attack most rounds (because they Move for you, die, and you Move into their space), and you'll get plenty of free attacks on your enemies whenever they try to take an AoO on you (and miss, because your AC is so ridiculously high).

Optional:

Take the Ancestral Weapon feat (Book of Exalted Deeds) at first level. This feat lets you sacrifice magic items (bypassing the need to sell them at a 50% mark down) or gold in order to improve a single weapon. Designate your shield as this weapon. If you're playing in a long term campaign, it will save you a lot of money, and give you an uber shield/weapon.

Take TWF, Improved TWF, and then Double Hit (Miniatures Handbook). Now you have 2 more attacks when you make a normal full attack. And when you make an AoO, you may attack with both weapons (your shield and whatever).

Take Robilar's Gambit (PHBII). This will give you an extra attack whenever an enemy swings at you and misses.

Take Shield Specialization and Shield Ward (PHBII). This adds your Shield bonus to your Touch AC and your ability to resist special attacks. Since your Shield bonus will be ridiculously high (base + enhancement +1 from specialization) this should be quite high. This will go a long way towards protecting you from casters (and their dreaded touch attack spells) and very big enemies (like dragons and whatnot, which are fond of Grapple).

Take Item Familiar (Unearthed Arcana). This feat (which everyone qualifies for) gives a chosen item intelligence and special abilities. Lots of them are quite potent at high levels.

The end result: High AC, high touch AC, tons of attacks, plenty of mobility. Not the best build in the world, but it's playable in a normal group.
ShneekeyTheLost's Captain America (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6865666&postcount=60)
Warblade14/Bloodclaw Master 2/Bloodstorm Blade 4

The Tactic: Use your Shield as a viable weapon in melee and at range.

Bloodclaw Master allows your off-hand weapon (that is to say, your shield) to deal full Str damage (rather than 1/2) and negates the -2 penalty for TWFing. Of course, it only applies to Tiger Claw weapons, but there are ways around that little restriction

Bloodstorm Blade 4 allows you to throw your shield at anyone and have it return instantly. You can also treat a thrown weapon as a melee weapon, which means you can Power Attack with them while throwing them, if you like.

Also, I'm surprised you haven't made a bigger mention of Dungeoncrasher, which can do some pretty awesomely synergistic things with bull rushing with a shield.



Please make any and all suggestions for additions, post your favorite builds, and argue about shields in D&D. If you do post an addition to the guide, please cite a book and page number if you can, so that I can look it up. Thanks.

The Dark Fiddler
2009-09-02, 02:10 PM
I'll certainly be watching this, shields don't get enough love.

Unfortunately, I'm not very well versed in... anything really, so not sure how much I can contribute. If I think of anything though, I'll be sure to tell you.


Also, your name seems awfully familiar, is it from anything? Particularly "Particle Man" by They Might Be Giants?

paddyfool
2009-09-02, 02:18 PM
Spell suggestion (the most obvious one of all, perhaps): Magic vestment. (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/magicVestment.htm) Particularly handy at high levels, when a pearl of power gifted to your party spellcaster can buy you a +3 to +5 enhancement that lasts practically all day and doesn't stack with the costs of other shinier enchantments for just 9000 gp.

Frosty
2009-09-02, 02:18 PM
There's only like two maneuver with shields in the ToB. You can grant your ally your shield bonus + 4 (or maybe a bit lower I forgot) as an immediate action against one attack. Or you can shield bash someone as an immediate action. If you hit, you cancel out that enemy's attack.

Keld Denar
2009-09-02, 02:18 PM
Shield Block and Shield Counter are the 2 Devoted Spirit manevuers that deal with shields. Page 60 in Tome of Battle. One is Crusader 2 (ECL3) and the other is Crusader 7 (ECL13). Both are Immediate Actions. Shield block allows you to give an adacent ally a bonus to AC equal to 4 + your shields AC (that a lot of AC!), and Shield Counter allows you to make an offhand attack (-2) with your shield (immediate!) and if you hit, your opponents next hit AUTOMATICALLY MISSES!!!! Must be done before you know if the attack hits or not though.

Fax Celestis
2009-09-02, 02:21 PM
Shield Block and Shield Counter are the 2 Devoted Spirit manevuers that deal with shields.

While those are two maneuvers that deal specifically with shields, it should be noted that any of the Tiger Claw discipline maneuvers that emulate or improve TWF can also be used with a shield as your secondary weapon.

quick_comment
2009-09-02, 02:25 PM
The negating enhancement in the ELH is a +5 enhancement, so its available pre-epic. Whenever you are hit by a weapon, the armor or shield automatically casts greater dispel magic on the weapon.

Keld Denar
2009-09-02, 02:25 PM
I dunno, Girallon Windmill Fleshrip just doesn't seem so "flesh rippy" with a bludgeoning shield. Are there any type Slashing Shield Spikes?

Frosty
2009-09-02, 02:27 PM
Can you keep your shield bonus if you use your shield in a Strike?

Cieyrin
2009-09-02, 02:32 PM
Can you keep your shield bonus if you use your shield in a Strike?

I would assume you'd need Improved Shield Bash, as that's essentially what using it in a strike would be emulating.

Grumman
2009-09-02, 02:41 PM
I dunno, Girallon Windmill Fleshrip just doesn't seem so "flesh rippy" with a bludgeoning shield. Are there any type Slashing Shield Spikes?
I think I saw a slashing equivalent to shield spikes in one of the Faerun books. Anyone?

Fax Celestis
2009-09-02, 02:46 PM
I dunno, Girallon Windmill Fleshrip just doesn't seem so "flesh rippy" with a bludgeoning shield. Are there any type Slashing Shield Spikes?

Regular ol' spikes make the damage piercing. I think that works fine with fleshripping.

Amiria
2009-09-02, 02:50 PM
I dunno, Girallon Windmill Fleshrip just doesn't seem so "flesh rippy" with a bludgeoning shield. Are there any type Slashing Shield Spikes?

Razored shield, an option from the FR Underdark sourcebook.

This is also nice if you go for Weapon Mastery (Slashing) from PHB II, although that would mean 3 more feats ... which don't grow on trees.


Regular ol' spikes make the damage piercing. I think that works fine with fleshripping.

Only really if you add barbs to the spikes.

Cieyrin
2009-09-02, 03:03 PM
Buckler: The poor man’s Animated shield. Basically you can accept a small penalty to hit, pick up the Shield Bash feat, and get all the benefits of a shield and it’s magical protections without the hassle of giving up two-handed fighting. PHB.

I believe you mean Improved Buckler Defense (http://realmshelps.dandello.net/cgi-bin/feats.pl?Improved_Buckler_Defense,CW), as you can't Shield Bash with a buckler.


Mithral: If you're concerned about your Armor Check penalty, this will lower it. It's also worth mentioning that a Mithral Buckler has 0 Armor Check penalty. So there's no penalty for non-proficiency. Thus, almost every build I've made that isn't proficient with shields has an enchanted mithral buckler. This trick is particularly useful for Skill monkeys.
Why mithral buckler? It makes no sense and it's unnecessarily expensive, as you can achieve the same just by masterworking the buckler. If 5 pounds is too much, make it a darkwood buckler (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/magicArmor.htm#darkwoodBuckler), which is cheaper than mithral and still cuts the weight in half. The only reason to mithral a buckler is if you want to negate the ASF, which isn't that important to shield wielders in general except for the occasional arcane gish.


Active Shield Defense feat: When fighting defensively with a shield, you don't take the attack penalties on your AoO. Also, you still threaten when on Total Defense, which is useful when combined with Spinning Defense (Dungeon Compendium) which allows you to use Deflect Arrows to deflect any number of ranged attacks when wielding a polearm and using the Total Defense action. Essentially, you sacrifice your normal attack routine (depending on AoO) to gain a bonus to AC and be immune to ranged attacks. PHBII.

Again, how exactly are you wielding a 2-handed polearm to get off Spinning Defense with a shield, unless you do it with an animated shield or buckler?


Agile Shield Fighter: This one feat essentially replaces 3 TWF feats when your are fighting with a shield and unarmed strike.

It replaces 4 feats, as it essentially also acts like Oversized Two-Weapon Fighting for Shields, as most shield fighters taking this feat will probably be using a heavy shield, which counts as one-handed weapon for two-weapon fighting purposes.

Another dirty shield trick is to build your shield as both a magic weapon and shield, and on the weapon side to make it a +X defending weapon. Strictly speaking, that bonus AC from defending won't be strictly shield bonuses for the purpose of Shield Ward and Parrying Shield but that's still more AC.

For purpose of Defending and Empyreal, I'm not sure whether using Greater Magic Weapon or Magic Vestment would count for the purposes of transferring the enhancement bonus to AC or Attack to Saves or AC, respectively.

Otherwise, your guide is off to a nice start. Keep it up!:smallbiggrin:

Person_Man
2009-09-02, 03:34 PM
Thanks for all the additional info everyone. I've done my best to update the guide with everything people have posted. And I'll put some additional work into it tomorrow and again next week until everyone is satisfied with it.

olentu
2009-09-02, 03:40 PM
Can one make a buckler out of darkwood I thought bucklers were metal and darkwood only worked for things that are made of wood.

Cieyrin
2009-09-02, 03:45 PM
Can one make a buckler out of darkwood I thought bucklers were metal and darkwood only worked for things that are made of wood.

I linked to a darkwood buckler in my previous post, so yes.

EDIT:
Cheater the Kobold
FYI, I hate the name of this build. Suggestions?

I'm all for Shieldy Threehands the Kobold, as it's straight-forward and to the point.

Starbuck_II
2009-09-02, 03:48 PM
You can use a shield as a two-handed weapon. While it’s less optimal then pretty much any other weapon due to it’s low damage, lack of reach, lack of special abilities, and requirement for Shield Bash, it can be done.


No, you can't.
Shields are offhand weapons. So 1/2 damage bonus from Str. No, buts about it.



Shield Bash Attacks
You can bash an opponent with a light shield, using it as an off-hand weapon. See Table: Weapons for the damage dealt by a shield bash. Used this way, a light shield is a martial bludgeoning weapon. For the purpose of penalties on attack rolls, treat a light shield as a light weapon. If you use your shield as a weapon, you lose its AC bonus until your next action (usually until the next round). An enhancement bonus on a shield does not improve the effectiveness of a shield bash made with it, but the shield can be made into a magic weapon in its own right.


Sucks and illogical, but thems the rules.

olentu
2009-09-02, 03:53 PM
I linked to a darkwood buckler in my previous post, so yes.

Eh well I did assume that the link was to the darkwood material but having not done any checking of my facts it is not unexpected that could be wrong.

Though the darkwood buckler is strangely enough actually a nonmagical light wooden shield and not a buckler.

arguskos
2009-09-02, 03:57 PM
No, you can't.
Shields are offhand weapons. So 1/2 damage bonus from Str. No, buts about it.
What's preventing you from not making a shield bash attack, but using it as a primary weapon? Just sayin'.

Cieyrin
2009-09-02, 03:59 PM
Eh well I did assume that the link was to the darkwood material but having not done any checking of my facts it is not unexpected that could be wrong.

Though the darkwood buckler is strangely enough actually a nonmagical light wooden shield and not a buckler.

Huh, you're right. Weird...
Damnit, WotC, quit mincing words that mean something specific in system!:smallfurious:

Starbuck_II
2009-09-02, 04:00 PM
Wait, so using a shield as an improvised weapon 2 handed? Nothing, but the -4 penalty to hit I guess.

The Random NPC
2009-09-02, 05:37 PM
Originally Posted by Official 3.5 FAQ
Can a character make a shield bash attack using the
shield as a primary weapon or can it be used only as an offhand
weapon?
While the rules describe a shield bash as an off-hand
weapon, that’s simply an assumption (that your primary hand is
holding a weapon). There’s nothing stopping you from
declaring your shield bash as your primary weapon. Of course,
that means that any attack you make with your other hand
becomes a secondary weapon.
Isn't quite RAW, but is RAMS.

sofawall
2009-09-02, 05:51 PM
And my acronym spreads... :D

Olo Demonsbane
2009-09-02, 05:56 PM
Great guide! Shields are really cool, and I love that they're getting some love :smallsmile:

My contribution:

The Guy with the Really Big Shield

Take the feats "Exotic Weapon Profecioncy (Gold Shield Spikes)" and Monkey Grip.

Get a +X Bashing Shield (of 1 size higher than you) with +Y Gold Shield Spikes.

Your shield will do damage as a weapon 4 sizes higher than you.

Not the best, but it can help.

Cieyrin
2009-09-02, 06:26 PM
Great guide! Shields are really cool, and I love that they're getting some love :smallsmile:

My contribution:

The Guy with the Really Big Shield

Take the feats "Exotic Weapon Profecioncy (Gold Shield Spikes)" and Monkey Grip.

Get a +X Bashing Shield (of 1 size higher than you) with +Y Gold Shield Spikes.

Your shield will do damage as a weapon 4 sizes higher than you.

Not the best, but it can help.

I think you'd just call them Heavy Shield Spikes but other than that, Kudos on wielding a door!:smallbiggrin:

Fax Celestis
2009-09-02, 06:30 PM
Great guide! Shields are really cool, and I love that they're getting some love :smallsmile:

My contribution:

The Guy with the Really Big Shield

Take the feats "Exotic Weapon Profecioncy (Gold Shield Spikes)" and Monkey Grip.

Get a +X Bashing Shield (of 1 size higher than you) with +Y Gold Shield Spikes.

Your shield will do damage as a weapon 4 sizes higher than you.

Not the best, but it can help.

Put a Wand Chamber (300gp, Dungeonscape) in the shield. Fill the chamber with a wand of enlarge weapon (Sor/Wiz 1, CScn, min/level weapon is increased one size category).

Olo Demonsbane
2009-09-02, 09:41 PM
Oh right, forgot about that.

Can someone tell me how to figure out increasing damage as size goes up? I might do a full out build for this one.

Fax Celestis
2009-09-02, 09:42 PM
Oh right, forgot about that.

Can someone tell me how to figure out increasing damage as size goes up? I might do a full out build for this one.

SRD'd (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/improvingMonsters.htm#sizeIncreases). :smalltongue:

Olo Demonsbane
2009-09-02, 09:52 PM
Yeah, but what about above 3d8? Does it then become 6d6? Which goes to 6d8? That seems what RAW would be...

Eldariel
2009-09-02, 09:56 PM
Yeah, but what about above 3d8? Does it then become 6d6? Which goes to 6d8? That seems what RAW would be...

4d8 > 6d8 > 8d8 > 12d8 > 16d8 > 24d8 > 32d8 > 48d8 > 64d8, etc.

Basically, the same increment is repeated twice, then doubled and so on. If it goes into 3dx and 4dx as d8, it'll keep progressing as d8 and if it goes there as d6, it'll keep progressing as d6. No other die sizes have this progression; all default to either-or.

Olo Demonsbane
2009-09-02, 10:28 PM
Ok, thanks.

That Guy with the REALLY Big Shield

Goliath (LA Bought off) Psiwarrior 7
1: Improved Shield Bash (PHB), Power Attack, Exotic Weapon Profecioncy (Heavy Shield Spikes)
2: Monkey Grip
3: Improved Bullrush
5: Leap Attack
6: Shock Trooper

Equipment: +1 Bashing Heavy Shield with +1 Gold Shield Spikes with a wand chamber holding a wand of enlarge weapon, Strongarm Bracers

Standard Size:
+1 Bashing Collosal Heavy Shield with +1 Gold Shield Spikes
Wielded in Two Hands
1d6>1d8>2d6>3d6>4d6>6d6>8d6>12d6>16d6 damage

Enlarged Shield (From Wand in Wand chamber within shield):
+1 Bashing Collosal (+1) Heavy Shield with +1 Gold Shield Spikes
Wielded in Two Hands
1d6>1d8>2d6>3d6>4d6>6d6>8d6>12d6>16d6>24d6 damage

Augmented Expansion:
+1 Bashing Collosal (+2) Heavy Shield with +1 Gold Shield Spikes
Wielded in Two Hands
1d6>1d8>2d6>3d6>4d6>6d6>8d6>12d6>16d6>24d6>32d6 damage

Augmented Expansion + Enlarged Shield:
+1 Bashing Collosal (+3) Heavy Shield with +1 Gold Shield Spikes
1d6>1d8>2d6>3d6>4d6>6d6>8d6>12d6>16d6>24d6>32d6>48d6 damage

His shield now is 384' by 256'. And he only threatens 15ft with it :smalltongue:

Fax Celestis
2009-09-02, 10:57 PM
How big are the shields for medium humanoids? I'd like to figure out how big this guy's door is :smallamused:

2' by 3'? I dunno, I'm just guessing.

Cieyrin
2009-09-02, 11:17 PM
I think you went one size too large, Olo. Powerful Build + Monkey Grip only gets you up 2 sizes, so Huge Shield. Heavy Spikes put it up 2 more categories and Bashing for the final 2 for standard size. You have the right number of size shifts, just the wrong size name modifier.

Kite shields, which I think are probably a good approximation for a medium heavy shield, were at maximum 3' x 2', so a Huge Heavy Shield is probably 4 times as big as that, so 12' x 8'. Enlarged to Gargantuan makes it 24' x 16'. When Expanded, that's another 2 sizes to 96' x 64'. That's a big friggin' door. @_@

Also, I think we can possibly make this bigger, though it'll involve a different spell and shield design. Greater Mighty Wallop raises the size of bludgeoning weapons by 1 for every 4 CLs, so if we don't spike the shield and make the shield itself heavy, we can raise the shield's effective size by another 2 size categories if we assume a wand of Greater Mighty Wallop at CL 20. The only issue is I don't remember off-hand whether that spell caps at Colossal or not.:smallfrown:

Olo Demonsbane
2009-09-02, 11:28 PM
I think you went one size too large, Olo. Powerful Build + Monkey Grip only gets you up 2 sizes, so Huge Shield. Heavy Spikes put it up 2 more categories and Bashing for the final 2 for standard size. You have the right number of size shifts, just the wrong size name modifier.

I think you forgot the fact that Im wielding it two handed, which allows for a shield of one size higher at a -2 bonus to hit.


Kite shields, which I think are probably a good approximation for a medium heavy shield, were at maximum 3' x 2', so a Huge Heavy Shield is probably 4 times as big as that, so 12' x 8'. Enlarged to Gargantuan makes it 24' x 16'. When Expanded, that's another 2 sizes to 96' x 64'. That's a big friggin' door. @_@

Thats insane. The guy is only like 15ft tall :smalltongue:


Also, I think we can possibly make this bigger, though it'll involve a different spell and shield design. Greater Mighty Wallop raises the size of bludgeoning weapons by 1 for every 4 CLs, so if we don't spike the shield and make the shield itself heavy, we can raise the shield's effective size by another 2 size categories if we assume a wand of Greater Mighty Wallop at CL 20. The only issue is I don't remember off-hand whether that spell caps at Colossal or not.:smallfrown:

I think it caps...unfortanately.

Fax Celestis
2009-09-02, 11:29 PM
Kite shields, which I think are probably a good approximation for a medium heavy shield, were at maximum 3' x 2', so a Huge Heavy Shield is probably 4 times as big as that, so 12' x 8'. Enlarged to Gargantuan makes it 24' x 16'. When Expanded, that's another 2 sizes to 96' x 64'. That's a big friggin' door. @_@

Funnier yet is that you only threaten 15'.

Draz74
2009-09-02, 11:45 PM
As far as maneuvers go ... you could argue for almost any Strike that does a lot of damage (for its level), since all of them make two-handed Power Attacking just less necessary.

But I think Insightful Strike (and Greater thereof) deserve special mention, as maneuvers that literally make a one-handed weapon just as dangerous as a two-handed.


Agile Shield Fighter: This one feat essentially replaces the 3 Two Weapon Fighting feats (plus the Oversized Two Weapon Fighting feat, if you want to use Power Attack) when your are fighting with a shield and unarmed strike. PHBII pg 74.

Misread.

Good news: It doesn't only work with unarmed strikes.
Good news: You're right about it being a substitute for OTWF, including working with Power Attack builds.

Bad news: it doesn't actually work at all with unarmed strikes.
More bad news: it's pretty much only the TWF feat for shields, not the ITWF or GTWF feats.
More bad news: it has prerequisite feats, including the Shield Specialization feat, which, according to your guide, sucks.

Essentially, this feat is TWF without the Dexterity requirement. With the caveat in return that one of your two weapons has to be a shield. With the Power Attack compatibility you mentioned as an extra.

It's a pretty great feat, but only for the right build -- pretty much the heavily-armored, mounted, shield-and-lance warrior.

(And I don't actually think Shield Specialization is that bad. I mean, people talk about how much better Dodge would be if it applied to all foes rather than just one. Sure, it's still only worth taking for the prerequisite angle ... but it's not too painful of a cost IMHO.)


Also, your name seems awfully familiar, is it from anything? Particularly "Particle Man" by They Might Be Giants?
Your white-text nomination is where I've always assumed he got it from.

Cieyrin
2009-09-02, 11:46 PM
I think you forgot the fact that Im wielding it two handed, which allows for a shield of one size higher at a -2 bonus to hit.


Well, by that logic you should have another size increase in damage then, making your giant ass door 192' x 128'. Ye gods, you should be dropping the thing on people rather than wielding it, you'll hit more of them that way. Actually, that isn't a door anymore, you apparently grabbed a portcullis!

Though, I wonder a bit if you can actually do that the way you suggest. So you grab a weapon one size category larger than you can grab (Large for a Powerfully built Medium creature) to increase the handedness from 1 hand to 2 (Huge) and then you Monkey grip one beyond that for the same-handedness (Gargantuan), right? That feels like it stretches the rules a little but wielding something that huge kinda warrants it. especially considering you do it by ECL 8.

Darrin
2009-09-02, 11:46 PM
Shield-Related Items

Arms of the Naga (Savage Species p. 55, 56000 GP). Expensive, but gives you a spare set of arms to carry a shield.

Dastana + Chahar-Aina (Oriental Adventures). Both of these items can be added to padded, leather, or chain shirt armor. They both add a +1 armor bonus that explicitly stacks with other armor and shield bonuses. If enchanted, the enhancement bonuses *do not* stack, but enchanting them separately is cheaper than loading up armor enhancements on one item.

Gloves of Man (Savage Species p. 57, 42000 GP). Not much cheaper than the Arms of the Naga, but if you have appendages such as tentacles or are in a form without opposable thumbs, these would allow you to manipulate objects or carry a shield.

Glove of the Master Strategist (Ghostwalk p. 71, 3600 GP). Works just like a glove of storing without the horrendously inflated 3.5 price tag. Whip out your shield as a free action. And yes, Ghostwalk got a 3.5 update and they didn't change the price. If you need to gloves, try a Kimono of Storing (Oriental Adventures p. 140, 20000 GP). Unfortunately, they did update the price to 20k, but oddly enough only in Dragon #318 and *not* in the official errata.

Phylactery of Change (A&EG p. 135, 11200 GP). Somewhat cheap way to all-day polymorph into a Diopsid or Thri-Kreen.

Spare Hand (MIC p. 137, 12000 GP). If you have access to an Artificer, a 2nd level infusion allows this hand to carry a buckler or light shield.

Ring of Arming (MIC p. 122, 5000 GP). While the Called property may be cheaper for one item, if you have to call each piece of armor or weapon separately, then the Ring of Arming will save you a lot of standard actions, and may be cheaper in the long run.

Unseen Servant (Collar of Perpetual Attendance (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fools/20030401c), anyone?) + Darkwood Feycraft Tower Shield. I've never been entirely clear on the mechanics for tower shields... I know you can't get a shield bonus if the Unseen Servant is carrying it, but I think you could stand behind it and treat it as cover for a +4 AC bonus.

Special Materials and Templates

Aurorum (BoED p. 38, +4000 GP). There are many ways to ignore hardness and sunder through adamantine. This lets you put your favorite shield back together as a full-round action.

Feycraft (DMGII p. 275, +500 GP). Reduce ASF 5%, +1 untyped bonus on Bluff checks.

Githcraft (DMGII p. 276, +600 GP). Reduce ASF 5%, +1 untyped bonus on Con checks (Diamond Mind strikes, anyone?).

Kaorti (WotC article (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/re/20031014a)). Shield spikes = piercing, so kaorti resin can give you a shield with a x4 crit multiplier. You'll need EWP to attack without a -4 penalty.

Living Metal (MoF p. 179). Kinda a cheaper knockoff of mithril, increases dex bonus +1, reduce armor check by 1, and reduce ASF by 5%. Also heals itself if it takes damage.

Serren (BoED p. 38, +? GP). By RAW, only works for arrows/bolts, but a cooperative DM might let you get away with a shield made out of Serren (wood shape, maybe?). Adds the ghost touch quality. Try Astral Driftmetal for incorporeal foes, although I don't see a cost listed for shields in the Planar Handbook.

PrCs

Ironsoul Forgemaster (MoI p. 127). Shield Bond allows you to pump essentia into your shield for acid + cold + electricity + fire + *sonic* resistance. Also allows early access to the Heart Chakra at ECL 15.


I'll add more when I have time... need to go over augment crystals and armor/weapon properties.

tyckspoon
2009-09-02, 11:50 PM
Though, I wonder a bit if you can actually do that the way you suggest. So you grab a weapon one size category larger than you can grab (Large for a Powerfully built Medium creature) to increase the handedness from 1 hand to 2 (Huge) and then you Monkey grip one beyond that for the same-handedness (Gargantuan), right? That feels like it stretches the rules a little but wielding something that huge kinda warrants it. especially considering you do it by ECL 8.

I'm pretty sure this is the traditional MONKEY GRIP DOES NOT WORK THAT WAY- to wit, Powerful Build and Monkey Grip both let you wield something one size category larger than your base at the same handedness. Monkey Grip makes you pay for it with a feat and a penalty, Powerful Build usually costs you an LA, but since they both reference your real size, they don't stack.

Olo Demonsbane
2009-09-02, 11:55 PM
Updated the damage. Anyone have any other ways of increasing it? I go to +16d6 damage per size increase now...

Kaiyanwang
2009-09-03, 01:43 AM
Great thread, P_M.

Could I suggest a pair of optional rules?

In Dragon Magazine there is a Fighter variant (you can find it in crystalkeep's classes list) called shield bearer.
It allows to use shield as Unarmed for the purpose of stunning fist.
I was thinking that with stunning fist, and maybe staggering critical in DMcompendium, combined with shield slam from CW, you could have 2-3 chances to stun-daze an enemy with a charge or a full round action. Maybe you could build a warrior with combat form feats from PHII, since you have to pimp wis for SF (even if the other 2 attacks are strenght based). Maybe 2 levels of psywarrior (expansion ---> bigger shield).

In Wotc archives there is a suggested fine houserule around the trip rules explanation (in "rules of the game").
It suggest a +4 bonus on trip attempts made with tower shield. I mean, with ITrip is a +8. Could be possible optimize it with other towershield-related feats like turtle dart style from races of stone?




Serren (BoED p. 38, +? GP). By RAW, only works for arrows/bolts, but a cooperative DM might let you get away with a shield made out of Serren (wood shape, maybe?). Adds the ghost touch quality.


Try jaded (OAdv) shield blades. you have a little malus on attack and damage, but is a stone and brings gosht touch, so you can bash a goshtformed ironguarded spellcaster. And smile while you are doing it.

elliott20
2009-09-03, 01:54 AM
sweet! a shield guide! About time they get some love!

Fizban
2009-09-03, 05:21 AM
Don't forget the Block Arrow feat (Heroes of Battle 79): Deflect Arrows with shield instead of unarmed strike. Easier prerequisites too, cause you don't need IUS. I'm not sure how well loved the deflect arrows ability is, but I'd take it.

Cieyrin
2009-09-03, 11:18 AM
Stormguard Bracers: Let's you wield weapons (which presumably includes shields) one size larger then normal without penalty. Does not stack with Powerful Build. 6,000 gp, Magic Item Compendium pg 139.

Strongarm Bracers, not Stormguard. <_<;;

Also on the Olo build, it's more that you need to get the shield to start as a d10 to get the d8 progression for size.

Ailurus
2009-09-03, 01:31 PM
Mr. ReallyBigShield and prehensile-tail Kobalds make me look rather silly, I guess, but...

I've been playing a sword and board (with no animated shield) paladin/crusader multiclass for quite some time as part of an irc-based Age of Worms campaign. And, while he's far from optimized, I've been having a lot of fun with him, and I think he's turned out to be a useful member of the party. So, despite several house rules in play (most notably feats every 2 levels instead of every 3), here's his character sheet and some observations from his trip so far (level 1 to level 18)

character sheet is online at: http://www.thetangledweb.net/forums/profiler/view_char.php?cid=5781

1) One useful spell not mentioned so far is in the spell compendium (page 79), called energized shield. Basically, it lets you enchant any shield so that deals +2d6 elemental (pick any one element at time of casting) damage on a successful shield bash, and also grants the wielder resistance 10 to the chosen element. Duration is only 1 round/level, but its still a nice damage boost and also an on-demand source of pretty much any elemental damage you need. Cleric 3/paladin 2 spell so if you can't cast it yourself go bug the neighborhood cleric until he preps a couple.

2) I highly recommend levels in ToB classes to any sword and board fighter. There's more than enough ToB maneuvers that add fixed damage to attacks for you to get your shield bash damage up to "I'm contributing" levels, and since they are pretty much all standard actions or less they still let you move around to get between the monster and the squishies if you need to. The ability to start adding on bonus 2d6s or 2d8s at the low levels, and +6d6 or 8d8 around level 10, etc. helps out a lot.

3) This is listed under the feats section, but I just want to reiterate that Shield Ward (PHBII) plus Divine Shield (C. Warr) is a huge combination. With divine shield up, my character listed above ends up with a touch AC better than several party member's regular AC (in addition to getting to add +13 every time someone tries to grapple or bull rush me)

4) Try to come up with either some means of forcing a target to go after you If the DM is playing smart, a lot of enemies will quickly pick up that they can't really do much to hurt you (particularly if you have the divine shield + shield ward combo) and go look for something squishier to eat. Life would have been a lot easier for my character if I'd had combat reflexes + thicket of blades or a few knight levels or something similar. (Without them, best I could come up with was simply picking one scary looking monster and running off to keep him busy while the remainder of the party dealt with the rest of the stuff)

Fax Celestis
2009-09-03, 03:27 PM
4) Try to come up with either some means of forcing a target to go after you If the DM is playing smart, a lot of enemies will quickly pick up that they can't really do much to hurt you (particularly if you have the divine shield + shield ward combo) and go look for something squishier to eat. Life would have been a lot easier for my character if I'd had combat reflexes + thicket of blades or a few knight levels or something similar. (Without them, best I could come up with was simply picking one scary looking monster and running off to keep him busy while the remainder of the party dealt with the rest of the stuff)

Try the Goad feat in CAdv.

Ditto
2009-09-03, 03:40 PM
The game died before it started, but I built at Dwarven Defender who attacked with his shield and used a Defending Dancing sword. It was a lot of fun putting together... :smallbiggrin:

Darrin
2009-09-03, 04:09 PM
Shield Properties, MIC

Acidic, +1 bonus. Great ability for a buckler or light shield if you've got a grappler build. Grappler build, however... not so optimal.

Anchoring (and Greater Anchoring), +1 bonus. Meh. There are a dozen-gazillion different ways to get a bonus on resisting bull rush/overrun/trips. This is another one.

Aporter, +20000 GP. Way too expensive for 2/day. Anklets of Translocation, Boots of Big Stepping, Boots of Swift Passage, Dimension Stride Boots, and even a War Wizard Cloak are cheaper.

Averter, +13000 GP. Not worth it. Although most creatures have low Will saves, DC 14 is fairly easy to make, and there are too many enemies immune to mind effects.

Axeblock, +2 bonus. Too easy to bypass, waste of money.

Called, +2000 GP. Great bargain, although if you need to equip multiple pieces of armor and weapons in the same action, a Ring of Arming may be a much better deal. It pairs up nicely with the Spider Bound property (DotU), so you can call your shield back if your spider gets smushed.

Daylight, +3000 GP. The fixed cost is nice, but unfortunately there are much cheaper light sources, and anything that might take a penalty in daylight can spend 10 GP on Sundark Goggles.

Death Ward, +1 bonus. Only situationally useful against certain enemies, but the 1/day limitation puts it in the thumbs-down category.

Ectoplasmic Wall, +2 bonus. Another 1/day waste of money.

Energy Defense, +1 bonus. 1d6+10 is actually pretty decent damage, so I'm giving this one a thumbs-up.

Energy Immunity, +2 bonus. Although the immediate action is a slight improvement, this is another 1/day waste of money.

Fearsome, +15000 GP. There are much, much cheaper ways to make your opponents shaken that lasts longer and can be used more often.

Ghost Ward, +1 bonus. This is a somewhat cheaper version of limited Ghost Touch, although you may want to look at some alternative special materials such as Riverine or Astral Driftmetal.

Hammerblock, +2 bonus. Too easy to bypass, waste of money.

Healing (and Greater Healing), +8000 or +24000 GP. Two words: Healing Belt. The swift/automatic activation is a nice feature, but you can get the same effect by mounting a Glyph Seal on your shield.

Heartening, +2000 GP. 2K for 5 temporary HP, 2/day, that don't stack? Not a good deal.

Linked, +6000 GP. Rings of Communication or Sending Stones are much cheaper.

Manifester, +6000 GP. I've never played much with Psionics, but 3 PP 1/day for 6000 GP seems a bit overpriced.

Mindarmor, +3000 GP. This one may actually be worth it. Immediate activation, 3/day, and lasts until the start of your next turn. Losing a Will save usually means losing control of your character, so this sounds like a good investment.

Ranged, +1 bonus. A two-for-one bargain, this combines the Throwing and Returning properties on a shield, and has a much better 30' range increment than most Throwing weapons. Unfortunately, it locks in your damage to 1d6 or 1d8, so you can't take advantage of oversized or heavy properties. There are several other methods to throw your shield around and have it come back to your hand, but this one is worth considering with the others.

Soulbound, +1 bonus. The description is confusing because it's not clear if the shield's maximum bonus is +3 enhancement, based on the Essentia Capacity table in MoI, or capped at 2. What if your enhancement bonus is already +3? If capacity is capped at 2, why even mention the table in MoI? In any case, it looks like you can get a +3 shield for the price of a +2 shield, although there may be better ways to do this. The chakra binds are situational, but if you already have an Incarnum character, chances are good you've already got soulmelds that can give a better benefit than this property.

Spearblock, +2 bonus. Too easy to bypass, waste of money.

Speed, +6000 GP. Only 3 rounds of Haste? More like 3 rounds of waste. You're better off saving up for Boots of Speed for 10 minutes rounds [Whoops, sorry] of Haste. Or better yet, buy a wand chamber and a wand of Swift Haste for 50 rounds. Adding shield spikes with a Speed weapon enhancement would be another option.

Time Buttress, +5 bonus. If you can afford to buy a +5 enhancement, you can afford to buy a real Time Stop, and not this overpriced waste of money.

Vanishing, +3 bonus. If you're just looking for invisibility, a Vanishing Cloak or Boots of Tracklessness are going to be a much better deal. The other non-magical non-detection effect is too easily circumvented via magic or creatures immune to mind effects.

Variable, +1 bonus. This may be worth it depending on what you're trying to accomplish, although adding the Sizing weapon property or Morphing property might work better.

Shield Augment Crystals

If you don't count weapon crystals, there are only 4 augment crystals that work with shields:

Clasp of Energy Protection, 500/1500/3000 GP. The damage limit per day is a knock against it, but the main advantage is you can swap them out fairly easily, so you can add more fire protection if one crystal maxes out, or switch to another energy type as the situation demands.

Crystal of Adamant Armor, 300/1400/3400 GP. Meh... might be cheaper than adamantine if the rulebook bothered to mention how much an adamantine shield costs (it doesn't). If you're that worried about sundering, you might want to look at another special material such as Aurorum or Riverine.

Crystal of Arrow Deflection, 500/2500/5000 GP. Great bargain for an untyped bonus against all ranged attacks. For the Greater crystal, the bonus goes back down to +2, but you get the effects of the Deflect Arrows feat. Normally, an item that provides a feat should cost at least 10000 GP, but here it's half that, and you don't need Improved Unarmed Strike (and an argument could be made you don't need a hand free, either.)

Crystal of Bent Sight, 500 GP. Very situational item, and doesn't provide complete protection (the creature can still gaze at you on its own turn). A Blindfold of True Darkness or Helm of Gazes might be a better investment if you know what you're going up against. On the other hand, 500 GP is a lot cheaper than either of those items.

Person_Man
2009-09-04, 09:23 AM
OK, I'm re-editing my entire first post to include all the great updates on the thread. I should have it posted in the next hour or two. Please keep the good tips coming in.

Couple of questions:

Ailurus, can you post your build. I'm happy to include it, but I'm at work and blocked from your link.

If a shield has shield spikes, is it a piercing weapon, or a bludgeoning and piercing weapon? My sense is that it should be the latter, which would help out for DR and certain feats. But the RAW says "these spikes turn it into a martial piercing weapon."

I'm under the impression that according to the FAQ, you can use a shield bash as a primary weapon, and thus use your shield as a two handed weapon. This is important for Captain America style builds, who might want to mix up a combination of two handed shield attacks (on a Charge or AoO), TWF or Agile Shield Fighter (on a full attack), and thrown shield attacks. But there's been some disagreement on the thread. Does anyone have a good definitive answer to this?

Draz74
2009-09-04, 10:49 AM
I'm under the impression that according to the FAQ, you can use a shield bash as a primary weapon, and thus use your shield as a two handed weapon. This is important for Captain America style builds, who might want to mix up a combination of two handed shield attacks (on a Charge or AoO), TWF or Agile Shield Fighter (on a full attack), and thrown shield attacks. But there's been some disagreement on the thread. Does anyone have a good definitive answer to this?

I think the FAQ answer someone quoted is the most definitive answer you're going to get. I think it was a very reasonable stance for the FAQ to take, not one of the occasional inconsistent FAQ entries that many DMs will disagree with.

Human Paragon 3
2009-09-04, 01:38 PM
A note on ghost ward. Darrin said it was a cheaper, more limited version of ghost touch, but that's not entirely true.

It adds the enhancement bonus of your shield or armor to your touch AC, which is more limited than ghost ward, but the AC bonus works against all touch attacks, not just the touch attacks of incorporeal creatures. So you get a big boost to your touch AC for the cost of a +1 enhancement rather than two feats (shield ward).

T.G. Oskar
2009-09-04, 02:29 PM
Shield Properties, MICHealing (and Greater Healing), +8000 or +24000 GP. Two words: Healing Belt. The swift/automatic activation is a nice feature, but you can get the same effect by mounting a Glyph Seal on your shield.

I wouldn't say no to this one, though. Healing is like activating one charge of the Healing Belt at a time, sure; just remember you get 10 free HP, and it can be activated if you somehow get between -1 to -9, which is a lifesaver. Greater Healing actually costs 32,000 gp (24,000 plus the old Healing, since it's a synergy enhancement), and it's the equivalent of activating two charges of the Healing Belt plus a free 15 HP for the heck of it, PLUS activating on the dying range. Plus, it's not a +X enhancement bonus, so it can be added if you like, and it won't cost against your +X costs.

Not to mention it's an armor-only bonus. Check it out. I wouldn't deny it for my armor, even if I have the Healing Belt and a Devoted Spirit Amulet with one of the nice maneuvers.


Manifester, +6000 GP. I've never played much with Psionics, but 3 PP 1/day for 6000 GP seems a bit overpriced.

It IS overpriced. For 2k less GP, you can get a Cognizance Crystal that does the same effect. The main differences is that the CC can only be used once before requiring recharge (this one recharges automatically per day), and you must use the PP on the same power you manifest, which cannot use power points from any other source (which, by RAW, means your own as well); hence, you can only use 2nd level powers with it. Cognizance crystals allow you to use PP from several sources.

So yeah, overpriced. And if you go strictly RAW, also pretty worthless.

Though it's good for a free +4 to an ability score if you know the right power. It's not so bad, after all.


Soulbound, +1 bonus. The description is confusing because it's not clear if the shield's maximum bonus is +3 enhancement, based on the Essentia Capacity table in MoI, or capped at 2. What if your enhancement bonus is already +3? If capacity is capped at 2, why even mention the table in MoI? In any case, it looks like you can get a +3 shield for the price of a +2 shield, although there may be better ways to do this. The chakra binds are situational, but if you already have an Incarnum character, chances are good you've already got soulmelds that can give a better benefit than this property.

You completely forgot about Greater Soulbound, right? Getting the equivalent of a +5 shield with a +4 shield. Which makes it all the more laughable, except when you don't have a friendly Cleric or divine spellcaster that casts Magic Vestment on you, since it prefers to use and conserve those on itself. Then, it gains some utility.


Speed, +6000 GP. Only 3 rounds of Haste? More like 3 rounds of waste. You're better off saving up for Boots of Speed for 10 minutes of Haste. Or better yet, buy a wand chamber and a wand of Swift Haste for 50 rounds. Adding shield spikes with a Speed weapon enhancement would be another option.

You got both wrong. By SRD, the Boots of Speed give only one minute's worth of Haste; however, it's around 2/3rds of the price of this enhancement.

Swift Haste is MUCH better, actually; it can be used as a swift action, and it lasts 1d4 rounds per cast, so you can use the wand for about 50-200 rounds, depending on your luck. A Wand Chamber with an Eternal Wand of Swift Haste is decidedly a bit better, since you can get a relatively cheap method of Haste. Technically, you could buy three Eternal Wands of Swift Haste for around a 12% extra cost of Boots of Speed, for 6 daily uses (essentially 2/3rds the potency of Boots of Speed minimum, 1/3rd better in average).

Still, it's not that bad, since you can mix and match: a speed armor, a speed shield, a wand of Swift Haste, and boots of speed for enough rounds to make a caster forget about preparing Haste (or much better, when your caster doesn't want to prepare Haste)


Time Buttress, +5 bonus. If you can afford to buy a +5 enhancement, you can afford to buy a real Time Stop, and not this overpriced waste of money.

Except it doesn't work like Time Stop, mind you. You can still get your action; you are just made invulnerable to everything for a single round. Everything (except the need to breathe and such, or else you'd die of suffocation ;)) Couple that with, say, a trick to reverse a turn, and you have the ultimate re-roll (return the level, then activate the shield; you become immune to the ultra-killing ability)

If it worries you, make it a +3 bonus or so. It certainly doesn't deserve the +5 worth, even if it's pretty awesome.


I'm under the impression that according to the FAQ, you can use a shield bash as a primary weapon, and thus use your shield as a two handed weapon. This is important for Captain America style builds, who might want to mix up a combination of two handed shield attacks (on a Charge or AoO), TWF or Agile Shield Fighter (on a full attack), and thrown shield attacks. But there's been some disagreement on the thread. Does anyone have a good definitive answer to this?

Light Shields count as a light weapon when used with Shield Bash. Heavy Shields count as a one-handed weapon. Both are for purposes of using it with TWF. If you trust the FAQ and can use the shield as a primary weapon, you could theoretically use a Heavy Shield with two hands (no such luck with Light Shields).

Not enough aid, but should give you an idea on how to rule around it.

Eldariel
2009-09-04, 02:37 PM
It IS overpriced. For 2k less GP, you can get a Cognizance Crystal that does the same effect. The main differences is that the CC can only be used once before requiring recharge (this one recharges automatically per day), and you must use the PP on the same power you manifest, which cannot use power points from any other source (which, by RAW, means your own as well); hence, you can only use 2nd level powers with it. Cognizance crystals allow you to use PP from several sources.

So yeah, overpriced. And if you go strictly RAW, also pretty worthless.

This is why you buy arrows of manifesting to get 50 times the points for the same price. But yeah, not so useful on shields or armors.

Also, Greater Healing is fcking God. The improvement from Healing (which ain't worth it) is staggering and the synergy with Revivify is simply faaabulous! [My Best Pegasus Imitation]

T.G. Oskar
2009-09-04, 04:25 PM
Also, Greater Healing is fcking God. The improvement from Healing (which ain't worth it) is staggering and the synergy with Revivify is simply faaabulous! [My Best Pegasus Imitation]

It's a shame it's armor-only (it would be awesome if it were armor + shield, for extra healing in combat) Still, since it's not exactly conjuration (healing), nor does it says anything (it only suggests so), you can enchant it on a Warforged's composite plating and it works better than a feat!
If you're curious, Overload Metabolism.
I'd still say Healing is decent, if only because by the time you have it accessible, you'll be wanting some healing. Since you require Healing for the upgrade, you don't lose anything (and it's not an enhancement bonus price either, so it's doubly good); furthermore, by the time you NEED some potent healing, you may already have the 24k needed. Just consider it a necessary investment.

What makes it a tad less good is that you can't activate it if your HP goes lower than 9. If it would, it would be a definite lifesaver (you don't lose anything from attempting as many heals as possible if you're about to die, aren't you?); furthermore, it would be awesome to couple with Diehard/Immortal Fortitude. Keeping the auto-activation range from -1 to -9 makes it worthwhile, but sadly not where it's needed the most.

Of course, no one says you can't ask for some homebrewed ruling for it, aye?

Zaq
2009-09-04, 04:50 PM
Lords of Madness has a feat on page 181 called Parrying Shield, which gives you your shield bonus (with enhancements) to touch AC without any prereq feats. I'd consider it to be more useful than Shield Ward, even though it doesn't add anything against Bull Rush et al.


Edit: Aaaaaand I can't read. I could have sworn you didn't have this feat listed. My bad.

Ailurus
2009-09-04, 05:47 PM
OK, I'm re-editing my entire first post to include all the great updates on the thread. I should have it posted in the next hour or two. Please keep the good tips coming in.

Couple of questions:

Ailurus, can you post your build. I'm happy to include it, but I'm at work and blocked from your link.

If a shield has shield spikes, is it a piercing weapon, or a bludgeoning and piercing weapon? My sense is that it should be the latter, which would help out for DR and certain feats. But the RAW says "these spikes turn it into a martial piercing weapon."

I'm under the impression that according to the FAQ, you can use a shield bash as a primary weapon, and thus use your shield as a two handed weapon. This is important for Captain America style builds, who might want to mix up a combination of two handed shield attacks (on a Charge or AoO), TWF or Agile Shield Fighter (on a full attack), and thrown shield attacks. But there's been some disagreement on the thread. Does anyone have a good definitive answer to this?

PM'd a summary of the build to you PersonMan, can post it in here if that didn't work though.

Also, while I don't know the official ruling, the DM for the campaign I'm in has let me use the shield as a primary attack (though never tried asking him about using it 2 handed). Shield bashing a devil 4x in one round (with three of them being smites) is fun.

T.G. Oskar
2009-09-04, 06:01 PM
Also, while I don't know the official ruling, the DM for the campaign I'm in has let me use the shield as a primary attack (though never tried asking him about using it 2 handed). Shield bashing a devil 4x in one round (with three of them being smites) is fun.

Add the shield the ability to stun and bullrush with a single attack (Brutal Surge + Screaming + Stunning); failing that, Brutal Surge Spiked Shield with White Raven Hammer. For the heck of it. (http://irowiki.org/wiki/Smite)

Signmaker
2009-09-04, 06:23 PM
Add the shield the ability to stun and bullrush with a single attack (Brutal Surge + Screaming + Stunning); failing that, Brutal Surge Spiked Shield with White Raven Hammer. For the heck of it. (http://irowiki.org/wiki/Smite)

Shield Chain is cooler.

ShneekeyTheLost
2009-09-04, 11:43 PM
Build Concept:

Captain America

Warblade14/Bloodclaw Master 2/Bloodstorm Blade 4

The Tactic: Use your Shield as a viable weapon in melee and at range.

Bloodclaw Master allows your off-hand weapon (that is to say, your shield) to deal full Str damage (rather than 1/2) and negates the -2 penalty for TWFing. Of course, it only applies to Tiger Claw weapons, but there are ways around that little restriction

Bloodstorm Blade 4 allows you to throw your shield at anyone and have it return instantly. You can also treat a thrown weapon as a melee weapon, which means you can Power Attack with them while throwing them, if you like.

Also, I'm surprised you haven't made a bigger mention of Dungeoncrasher, which can do some pretty awesomely synergistic things with bull rushing with a shield.

Also, another cheezy tactic:

Heavy Shield +1 with Shield Spikes +1 Defending

Shield Spikes are considered weapons which may be separately enchanted. So you enchant them with Defending, to get even MORE AC out of your shield. With a Greater Magic Weapon and Magic Vestments, your shield can be pimping out with +7 Shield AC and another +5 UNNAMED bonus to AC from Defending for a total of +12. Not too shabby.

Cieyrin
2009-09-05, 12:03 AM
Also, another cheezy tactic:

Heavy Shield +1 with Shield Spikes +1 Defending

Shield Spikes are considered weapons which may be separately enchanted. So you enchant them with Defending, to get even MORE AC out of your shield. With a Greater Magic Weapon and Magic Vestments, your shield can be pimping out with +7 Shield AC and another +5 UNNAMED bonus to AC from Defending for a total of +12. Not too shabby.

You actually don't need the spikes to enchant the shield as a weapon, you can just enchant the shield as a weapon independent of enchanting it as a shield.:smalltongue:

ShneekeyTheLost
2009-09-05, 12:19 AM
You actually don't need the spikes to enchant the shield as a weapon, you can just enchant the shield as a weapon independent of enchanting it as a shield.:smalltongue:

Then do it for both, and net yourself a +17 bonus to AC with a single shield. Defending weapon bonuses stack because they are untyped.

Cieyrin
2009-09-05, 10:35 PM
Then do it for both, and net yourself a +17 bonus to AC with a single shield. Defending weapon bonuses stack because they are untyped.

That sounds like an upset DM waiting to happen or a flame war to me, but okay. Defending would have been so much better if it used a bonus other than untyped, like competence. Less people flipping out that way. ~_~

Darrin
2009-09-05, 11:11 PM
Might want to add Razor Shield (FR Underdark p. 64). Slashing weapon may be necessary for certain feats or spells. For example, Bladebane (Unapproachable East, Clr 3, Pal 2, Sor/Wiz 4).

Anyone have a decent or definitive Captain America build? I found a lot of mentions of PhoenixInferno's Fighter/Crusader version (http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19872510/Hmm_kind_of_a_humourous_challenge_P?post_id=338457 514#338457514), but it didn't look all that well developed.

I see Person_Man has already updated the Enhancements section, but here's my thoughts on all the various weapon enhancements that you might want to add to a shield (Flying + Sizing looks like it'd be loads of fun):

Weapon Properties

Adaptive, +1 bonus (ToB). There aren't a lot of shield-specific feats, so if you want to cash in on Lightning Mace, Three Mountains, or Shadow Blade, you'll need this.

Brutal Surge, +1 bonus (MIC). If you're doing any kind of Dungeon Crasher/Flaming Homer build, put this at the top of your Christmas list. Bull Rush as a swift action, with uses per day based on your Con bonus.

Eager, +1 bonus (MIC). Free action to draw your shield, and an untyped +2 initiative bonus. A Crystal of Return is cheaper, but the +2 initiative bonus can be stacked with other Eager/Warning weapons.

Energy Aura, +2 bonus (MIC). Requires an action to activate, but it has no listed duration so you may be able to keep it on all the time. Instead of futzing around with a golf bag of frost/flaming/corrosive/shocking weapons, allows you to change your energy type as the situation demands.

Everbright, +2000 GP (MIC). Makes your shield immune to acid and rust attacks, and the blinding 2/day may be somewhat useful (Ref DC 14 gets a little meaningless at higher levels), but I suspect the only real use here is to make your shield look "Shiny!", which may or may not be worth the 2000 GP.

Feathered, +2 bonus (A&EG). Fly as the spell up to 50 minutes per day, although it doesn't say how often or if duration needs to be continuous. The duration of the fly spell changed in 3.5 from 10 min/level to 1 min/level, so you might want to talk to your DM about RAW/RAI there. (Note: there's a "Flying" ability in Oriental Adventures, but there are errata issues with it, and Winged Boots/Broom of Flying are more effective for the same price.)

Flying, +1 bonus (MoF). Now here's an oddity... this turns your weapon into an animated object that can follow simple commands, although what it can or can't do is never clearly defined. I'm not sure how complicated the instructions can be (as an unseen servant? golem? animated skeleton?), but as an animated object it can be ordered to guard a location or attack. Since an animated object's stats are directly proportional to its size, you absolutely want the Sizing property on your shield. Not only that, you could presumably then use it as a floating disk or flying carpet/dish/thingy with a 30' fly speed.

Prismatic Burst, +30000 GP (MIC). Even with the fixed cost, this is really expensive, but if you ever get it to work, extremely satisfying.

Rusting, +1 bonus (Shining South). Requires a non-metallic shield, but essentially everything you hit gets something similar to the effects of a rusting grasp spell (although there is a Fort save DC 16). So, this should create plenty of arguments with your DM. For example, the spell won't work on any magical items, but the property description mentions no such limitation. The spell normally doesn't allow a save, but this property does. Even if the DM insists this property only works on unattended, non-magical, ferrous metals, there's a lot of serious dungeon-redecorating this thing could do.

Sizing, +5000 GP (MIC). Most size-related spells or abilities will automatically resize your weapons (Enlarge Person, Expansion, and so forth), but there are certain conditions where resizing your shield could be very useful. For example, if you built/enchanted your Ubershield before picking up Strongarm Bracers, a fixed cost of 5000 GP allows you to take advantage of the size increase. Or you could be wildshaping/polymorphing into a form with a different size, and want your shield to match. You never know when a colossal-sized heavy shield might come in handy (240 lbs, which means 5d6 damage as an improvised projectile for all you Hulking Hurlers out there).

Smoking, +1 bonus (Lords of Darkness). A personal 5'x5' square of stinking cloud that follows you wherever you go. Provides concealment and if anyone enters your square, they have to save vs. nausea. Could be an interesting combo with Confound the Big Folk.

Spellblade, +6000 GP (PGtF). This property is an affordable and improved version of Spell Immunity. Greater Spell Immunity, for example, doesn't protect against spells that ignore Spell Resistance, and can only protect against spells 8th level or lower. Spellblade works on spells that ignore SR, can go up to 9th level, and you also get an opportunity to redirect it toward another target. Combine this property with a Ring of Spell-Battle and you can absorb/redirect that spell being cast on anyone else.

Torturous, +1 or +2 bonus (Ghostwalk). I'm mentioning this one not necessarily because it works well on a shield, but because the MIC nerfed the Paralyzing ability to 1/day and most of the regular posters on the CharOps boards seem to have missed this one when ranking all the various weapon abilities. Every hit with a Torturous weapon requires the target to make a Fort save DC 12 or they are stunned for 1 round. While this is a pretty low save DC, there's no limit on how many times it can be used, and you can upgrade the save to a more respectable DC 17 by increasing the bonus to +2.

Warning, +1 bonus (MIC). Going first is always an advantage. This property is also quite useful when paired with the Eager property or a Crystal of Returning, which allows you to draw your shield as a free action, presumably just before you roll initiative.

Whirling, +1 bonus (MIC). You'll need a Razor Shield (FR Underdark) to use this property, but this is a bargain to get Whirlwind Attack 3/day without worrying about the insane number of prerequisite feats.

Wrathful Healing, +3 bonus (Enemies & Allies p. 20). Another very obscure ability, sort of Vampiric-On-Steroids. Whatever damage the weapon does, you heal half that amount.

Valorous, +1 bonus (Unapproachable East). Damage multiplier on charge attacks, so an absolute must on any charge-focused build.

Weapon Augment Crystals

A shield counts as a bashing weapon, even if you don't add shield spikes to it. In either case, you can add augment crystals to it as a weapon. Two are worth mentioning:

Crystal of Return, +300/1000/4000 GP (MIC). All three versions are a fantastic bargain. For the Least version, 300 GP gets you the Quickdraw feat. For the Lesser version, half off the cost of the Calling property, only it takes a move action instead of a standard action, so you can call your shield to you and attack in the same round. For the Greater version, it's another way to add the Returning property to your shield for only 4000 GP.

Truedeath Crystal, +1000/5000/10000 GP (MIC). Add the Ghost Touch property to your shield for only 5000 GP.

Sinfire Titan
2009-09-07, 11:09 PM
The original thread would be Thread Necro right now, but I was asked to find this build.


Off the top of my head, it was Human Wolf Totem Barbarian 2/Fighter 2/Crusader 16, taking Whirling Frenzy and Lion Totem with Barbarian if the DM allowed. Improved Shield Bash, Shield Charge, and Shield Slam were the most important parts, and I think Curling Wave Strike was also used to good effect. For manuevers, Shield Block and Shield Counter were in there, along with White Raven Tactics and a bunch of charging manuevers. Stances were Iron Gaurd's Glare, Martial Spirit, and your choice of other stuff (Thicket of Blades would be wise for when you're protecting people who have too low of an AC for IGG to matter).

The weapon was a +1 Valorous Spiked Heavy Shield, augmented by a Tooth of Lejere. Permanent Enlarge Person got your reach covered. You may also want a +1 Skillfull Spinning Sword, which is used primarily to extend the reach of Iron Gaurd's Glare in addition to providing extended trip range when you can't charge.

Person_Man
2009-09-08, 11:10 AM
OK, just made yet another big update to the first post. Next I'll be reading through all the supplements for shield specific enhancements, spells, etc., to add to the lists. Then I'll come up with a few more builds. I've already got yet another Bull Rush build and a Confound the Big Folk Knight build in mind.

Does anyone want to post a more detailed Captain America build? It's requested pretty often, so having a couple of different versions on the books would be helpful. If not, I'll stat one out when I'm done with my supplement audit.

Sinfire Titan, do you have any more specifics on JaronK's build? In particular, I have no idea what a Tooth of Lejere is, or why he chose to start his build with Barbarian 2/Fighter 2, instead of just going with Crusader 20.

Draz74
2009-09-08, 12:50 PM
In particular, I have no idea what a Tooth of Lejere is,

Item (unique but for some reason not considered an artifact) from Tome of Magic, Binder section. Face slot, 21600 gp, 1/day cast Greater Magic Weapon (CL 20).

Sinfire Titan
2009-09-08, 01:30 PM
OK, just made yet another big update to the first post. Next I'll be reading through all the supplements for shield specific enhancements, spells, etc., to add to the lists. Then I'll come up with a few more builds. I've already got yet another Bull Rush build and a Confound the Big Folk Knight build in mind.

Does anyone want to post a more detailed Captain America build? It's requested pretty often, so having a couple of different versions on the books would be helpful. If not, I'll stat one out when I'm done with my supplement audit.

Sinfire Titan, do you have any more specifics on JaronK's build? In particular, I have no idea what a Tooth of Lejere is, or why he chose to start his build with Barbarian 2/Fighter 2, instead of just going with Crusader 20.


I don't, no. That was the PM he sent me, and the original Tiers thread is gone forever. It may be hidden in the "Suckitude of SaB" thread that was on BG's BLYHT forum, but that thread is almost 70 pages long and I doubt I will find it in a reasonable amount of time. Plus, that forum is off-limits to non BG members who's post count is below a certain threshold, so only someone who's been there a few days can even view the thread.

Not that that's a problem for me, but I'm not up to sifting through 70 pages.

I believe the Fighter and Barbarian levels were to push back the maneuvers and stance progression, along with providing some ACFs prior to maneuver acquisition to help out.

And contrary to what Draz said, the Teeth are not a face slot item. They are unslotted, and any number of them can be used at the same time.

Fax Celestis
2009-09-08, 01:35 PM
The Shield of Legacy Quickspur's ally from Weapons of Legacy is actually one of the few items in the book I feel is worth the costs.

Cieyrin
2009-09-09, 01:08 PM
If you'll consider the contents of Pathfinder 3.X, Sword and Board got a bit of loving in their feat tree. They have the standard Improved Shield Bash (http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/feats.html#improved-shield-bash) but from there, their version of Shield Bash (http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/feats.html#shield-slam) is a free Bull Rush with your normal attack bonus upon shield bash. Shield Master (http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/feats.html#shield-master) is the real cream of the crop here, as it removes all attack penalties while two-weaponing with a weapon and shield, plus gives the full shield bonus to attack and damage as an enhancement bonus, saving you money and spell slots, as you can just Magic Vestment the shield instead of also Greater Magic Weaponing it. Also note that the bonus will be higher than you could otherwise gain on a weapon, so a +5 heavy shield grants a +7 enhancement bonus for attacks with it. The Shield (http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/feats.html#shield-focus) Focus (http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/feats.html#greater-shield-focus) feats aren't all that great, as they're basically Weapon Focus and Greater Weapon Focus for Shields. At least they're not required to get further into the Shield feat tree to get to Shield Master.

Them's my 2 coppers. Take as you will.

Escheton
2010-04-19, 11:03 AM
havent read through the post yet but...
the crusader class is proficient with all shields.
That probably does not include exotic types, but I'm thinking it does include tower shields, as the non-proficiency with those is usually mentioned with shield prof.

PlzBreakMyCmpAn
2010-04-27, 05:03 PM
-3 to Savesnope, -6 total (this is a resource so its not necromancy right?)


Shield Spikes: Increases the damage dealt by your shield by one size category. Also, you can enchant your spikes as if they were a magic weapon. PHBpage 125


Bloodclaw Master allows your off-hand weapon (that is to say, your shield) to deal full Str damage (rather than 1/2) and negates the -2 penalty for TWFing. Of course, it only applies to Tiger Claw weapons, but there are ways around that little restriction I'm pretty sure no other ability like this exists in all of DnD 3.5. How about that last part?

lsfreak
2010-04-27, 06:30 PM
um, no. Page 97 mentions the -2 penalty but not the full str damage with the off-hand. I'm pretty sure such an ability does not exist in all of DnD 3.5

Look directly above the ability that negates the -2 penalty. Claws of the Beast.

PlzBreakMyCmpAn
2010-04-27, 11:32 PM
2nd fail in a row :smallannoyed:

what I meant to ask was, how do we do this for any weapon? Warblade 1 and the aptitude enhancement don't work (its not a feat)

Prodan
2010-05-04, 12:21 PM
"The most important piece of equipment is your shield! If you must make a choice between a sword and a shield, take the shield!"
-Gobber the Belch, How to Train Your Dragon

Akal Saris
2010-05-04, 05:38 PM
Didymus Quickspur

What's he do: This is a variant on the standard supermount build, which gets a 27 HD Celestial Young Adult Gold Dragon as your pokemon by around 18th level (or a 17 HD celestial wyrmling at around 13th if I recall).

The build uses Quickspur's Ally from Weapons of Legacy, with the minor house-rule that it's treated as a rider's shield, since that's clearly the purpose of the shield in the first place. Quickspur's Ally is specifically built for a halfling outrider, so it fits perfectly as far as fluff goes.

LG Strongheart Paladin 6/Beastmaster 1/Halfling Outrider 3/Legacy Champion 10

BAB +17, HD: 10d10, 10d8. Paladin mount = 17 (Young gold dragon), Druid mount = 18 (full advancement)

Legacy weapon: Quickspur's Ally

ACFs:
- planar Paladin (6th) (MoTP), Spell-less paladin (CC), Noble Heart 3rd (Champions of Valor 51)

Stats (32 PB)
Str: 14
Dex: 14
Con: 14
Int: 12
Wis: 8
Cha: 15
Stats: Boost Cha

Feats:
1st halfling bonus: Mounted Combat
1st char: Mounted Archery
1st flaw: Improved Shield Bash
1st flaw: Exotic shield: Rider's Shield
3rd char: Skill Focus (Handle Animal)
3rd bonus: Track (Noble Heart Paladin)
4th bonus: Divine Shield (Spell-less Paladin 4 from CC)
6th char: Dragon Steed (Draco 140)
9th char: Devoted Tracker
12th char: Parrying Shield
14th bonus: Quicken Legacy (Mirror Image)
15th char: Natural Bond
18th char: Improved Toughness
18th bonus: Quicken Legacy (Blur)

Quickspur's Ally:
Legacy Champion 1: Free ritual
Legacy Champion 2: replace +5 competence bonus with Mirror Image 1/day
Legacy Champion 3: extra use of Entropic Shield
4: bonus feat
5: replace phantom speed 1/day with Cunning: you are never flat-footed
6: extra use of Mirror Image
7: Free ritual
8: bonus feat
9: extra use of Mirror Image
10: replace Stoneskin with Dimension Door

What you give your mount: You're basically an accessory to your 27 HD mount. You provide it with:
+7 AC (Parrying Shield) to +17 AC (with Divine Shield active)
Evasion (Halfling Outrider)
1/round negate an attack (Mounted Combat)
+20 speed, +2 to will saves, +4 dodge to AC (When using defensive riding)
Ability to make 1 change in direction during run or charge (outrider)
Entropic Shield 2/day (you and mount)
Resist Fire 2/day (you and mount)
Shield Other: Permanent. You and your mount split damage 50/50 at all times.
Blur 3/day (you and mount, as a swift action)
Mirror Image 3/day (you and mount, as a swift action)
Dimension Door 3/day (you and mount)

blade777
2013-12-29, 07:24 PM
Hi! First of all I really like the guide, so useful. I'm playing now the Olo's demonbane build with some changes with my human barbarian/warblade.

I'm new to the game(two years playing but i still dont know too much xD) but I really want to play a warrior who deals damage with a shield.

He look somethink like this for now:
1 Wolf Totem Barbarian for Pounce and Rage(Whirlwind Frenzy Variant whick gives me an extra attack +4 str +2 AC(Dodge) +2 Reflex(Dodge)
8 Warblade Levels
2 Bloodclaw Master levels (My dm was very good with me on this and let me ignore the "This only works on Bloodclaw master weapons" and give me the bonuses to my shield and dual with the superior TWF)
Lvl 11: 10 Bab.

Feats:
I Take 1 Homebrew Flaw which gives me -4 to gather info -4 diplomacy and -4 to local because I HATE CITIES for 1 extra feat so I take for now:
Human: Powe Attack
Flaw: Agile Shield Fighter (also my dm allows me to take this without shield specialization because he hates weapon specializations xD)
Lvl1: Shield Bash
Lvl3: Shield Charge
Lvl6: Shield Slam
Lvl6: Shield Charge 3.0
Lvl9: Shield Bash 3.0

My Shield is Now a:
+1 Small Shield with Spike(Large Thanks to Strongarm Bracers) with Valorous and Bashing so I do 3x damage on charges.(Large Shield +5 Effective Size(Technically a +4 but 5 in total conting the weapon as 1))

With my wizard casting Enlarge and Wallop and with my bab of 10 + Rage I'm now dealing: 18d6 + 6 x3 (number of shield attacks cause is my main weapon) + the damage of my bastard sword.

But my dm wants to nerf me now :smallfrown: so what do you think I could do to empower the build a lit after the nerf (I think he wants to change my Shield charge of 3.0 out to reduce my damage, also he didnt allow my wizard to take Mighty Wellop)

TheThan
2013-12-29, 09:34 PM
Ooh I recently took an interest in this.

I find it strange that the list of shields is so small.
There are no heater shields, or kite shields, only buckler, small, large and tower with an option for light and heavy. That’s not much really, what if I wanted a kite shield, or I was playing a barbarian from the south that fought with a light shield and a short spear like a zulu warrior? I simply don’t have those options. when it comes to shields, size, shape and material really matter. sorry, it just comes off as an afterthought, considering how much effort they put into weapons.

I’ve come up with two new shield mods I thought would be cool to add to the game:

Spear incut:
This special incut allows the wielder to rest or lock his spear onto his shield, allowing him to use both a shield and a spear, longspear or lance (all are two handed melee weapons normally) as if the spear is a one handed weapon.
Haven’t come up with a cost for it yet. What would you suggest.
Inspired by this battle (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ygRholyh5g).

Lantern Hook:
By mounting a pole onto a shield, a person can hang a lantern from the shield, thus giving him a light source and wield a shield in his off hand.
Taken from this article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lantern_shield)
Once again I haven’t worked out the cost. I'm sure there's an enchantment that does the same thing somewhere, but now we're talking about at least 4,000 extra gold just to have a light.