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Chuckthedwarf
2011-02-16, 09:11 PM
Inspired by the thread about low level D&D battles doing combat on a very small budget (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=187637&page=2)...

So. Tower Shields.

They generally go unused for many reasons - they give penalties to your attacks, and generally encourage turtling which is rarely a good strategy.

But what about massive encounters like army-on-army?

With a full round action, the carrier of the shield gets Total Cover which means he can't generally be hit by weapons. My question - how far does said total cover last? Tower shields, if you take inspiration from real life riot shields, are probably about an average human's height for a medium race. Can one assume that someone considerably taller can simply shoot or hit over the top of the shield? Or does the total cover it provides affect attacks from any direction - especially considering that 3.5 D&D has no distinction between "front" and "back".

If Tower Shields pretty much make you unattackable through mundane means from every direction if you use up a full round action, and one can assume the same benefits for everyone behind you in a straight line if everyone is on the same leveled floor... They might be awfully effective in situations like those in the linked thread.

Finally, the question. Are there any rules for arcing shots in any 3.5 books? If it's assumed that all ranged attacks happen in a line (which isn't terribly realistic for long range shots, but hey, D&D) any source of total cover screws 'em up completely...

linebackeru
2011-02-16, 09:16 PM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testudo_formation

And since 3.5 doesn't care about facing, only the guys in the front row (and probably the sides) need the shields.

Percival
2011-02-16, 09:21 PM
Yeah, realistically only the guys on the outside would need them. Remember the scene in Two Towers when the Uruk-hai are marching up the gangway to ram the main gate? Shields over their heads, shields in front and sides. Guys in the middle just had weapons.

Also, you could always use the facing variant rule from UA if there's going to be a lot of tower shield use.

If I could DM (I'm way too self-conscious to do it; tried), I'd absolutely use the facing rules. I don't like the "I'm facing every direction at once" thing.