How much stuff can we fit on a shield?

[Akeii]

So my DM is starting another campaign with a few looser homebrew rules. The important thing, though, is that he increased adamantium stats/expensiveness and new snazzy features to equipment made out of it so much that I'm led to believe that a Captain America character might actually be pretty fun.

But I don't want just your ordinary adamantium run-of-the-mill shield. No sir. This shield has to be special. And by special, I mean having as much crap fitted on it as possible, like Batman's utility belt. Usefulness is nice but not necessary. Handy Haversack = not cool. Most of my money should be on the shield. So - how can I get as much stuff on it as I possibly can?

Some ideas I've had already:
Make it variable so it can change sizes (I insist that it morphs Transformer-style)
Give it spikes and enchant the spikes; then enchant the shield too.(returning?)
Stick alchemical release thingies on the spikes. (CA)
Give it a shield sheath (RoS) so I can stick a light weapon in it. Maybe another variable shield with spikes, if that counts as a light weapon.
Stick crystals on it. (EPH I think?) Maybe arrow deflection.
Give it a wand chamber (Dungeonscape). Doesn't matter if I can't use wands, or if I can't use 'em well. It has a friggin' wand chamber!

Bear in mind that this still might not a necessarily cost-effective method... but a fun idea. :smallsmile:

[Emperor Tippy]

You want it RAW legal? Or just ideas?

First, have a Psion use Matter Manipulation to up it's hardness to 25.

Now the enhancements that cost just money, add all of them.

For your +5 bonus you probably want Time Buttress.

Anyways, after all that's done it's time to break out the magical traps. A Shapechange trap on the shield set to activate when the wielder says 'Shield Tranformation Away' and turns the shield into a sword is one possibility, to do that though you must first make your shield sentient with the spell Animate Object, first you need to hit your shield with a dispel magic so that it is non magical and thus a valid target for Animate Object (although this should be the last step because you can't trap a creature). Once the dispel wears off you have a sentient shield (now a creature and thus a valid target for a ton of spells, including shapechange).

So basically, tell me what you want your shield to be able to do and I'll figure out a RAW legal way to do it.

[Darrin]

For your +5 bonus you probably want Time Buttress.


No! For 1 round per day, you're invulnerable, but there are 14399 rounds in that day where that +5 bonus is doing absolutely nothing for you.

If you're looking for top-shelf enhancements without regards to cost, I'd start with something like Soulfire (+4, BoED) or Freedom (+5, MIC) first.



Anyways, after all that's done it's time to break out the magical traps. A Shapechange trap on the shield set to activate when the wielder says 'Shield Tranformation Away' and turns the shield into a sword is one possibility,


The shield is already considered a weapon, so you can just add the Morphing property. Since as a weapon the enchantments are paid for separately, you can add +9 worth of weapon enhancements on top of +9 worth of armor enhancements.



to do that though you must first make your shield sentient with the spell Animate Object, first you need to hit your shield with a dispel magic so that it is non magical and thus a valid target for Animate Object (although this should be the last step because you can't trap a creature). Once the dispel wears off you have a sentient shield (now a creature and thus a valid target for a ton of spells, including shapechange).


Or you could just add the Flying property from Magic of Faerun. This turns it into an animated object with a 30' fly speed.

Make the shield out of riverine (Stormwrack) so it's immune to damage. Make it a Spellblade (+6000 GP, MoF/PGtF) so it/you can't be targeted with disintegrate. Add Sizing (+5000 GP, MIC) on top of Variable, and you can turn it into a colossal-sized tower shield, effectively a 15' x 30' wall of force that you can ride around like a flying indestructable surfboard.

[Emperor Tippy]

No! For 1 round per day, you're invulnerable, but there are 14399 rounds in that day where that +5 bonus is doing absolutely nothing for you.

If you're looking for top-shelf enhancements without regards to cost, I'd start with something like Soulfire (+4, BoED) or Freedom (+5, MIC) first.
I was going to lay those on through traps. Timeless Body provides an effect that can't be replicated in any other way, absolute and total immunity to harm for a round. It's especially useful when you are trying tricks that would normally really hurt.


The shield is already considered a weapon, so you can just add the Morphing property. Since as a weapon the enchantments are paid for separately, you can add +9 worth of weapon enhancements on top of +9 worth of armor enhancements.
But then you can't turn it into a Dragon or Golem.


Or you could just add the Flying property from Magic of Faerun. This turns it into an animated object with a 30' fly speed.

Make the shield out of riverine (Stormwrack) so it's immune to damage. Make it a Spellblade (+6000 GP, MoF/PGtF) so it/you can't be targeted with disintegrate. Add Sizing (+5000 GP, MIC) on top of Variable, and you can turn it into a colossal-sized tower shield, effectively a 15' x 30' wall of force that you can ride around like a flying indestructable surfboard.
That would be fun. Add all that in as well. I do believe that I did say to lay on every enhancement that you can that costs gp.

[Akeii]

So after researching some stuff I found a fairly interesting method to use in conjunction with the shield in the flavor of Captain America:

The quick loading enhancement (+1 weapon enhancement cost, MIC) retrieves the next bolt and inserts it into place automatically.
The self-loading enhancement (+10,000 gp cost, Arms and Equipment Guide) pulls back the string.

Voila; you get a semi-automatic hand crossbow that holds 100 shots. Reloading the whole magazine takes a move action. Not sure how many attacks per round this gives, but really, the whole implied premise about archery and crossbows is that the reload time is the delay that makes a single attack/round. I just might be able to increase the attacks/round with this specific weapon after talking to my DM. And, yeah, further feats and enhancements to increase damage, blah blah blah.

But this relates to the concept because I'm thinking of a brawler who either wields the shield two-handed or one-handed in conjunction with the hand crossbow. So I guess I'm also looking at ways to use the shield as a weapon, either one-handed or two.

For example: Shield Sling from PHBII with returning. Is there anything you can do to get it to ricochet off multiple enemies/surfaces Captain-America style? Or any specific special things you can use armed only with a shield that makes it an effective weapon?

[Dusk Eclipse]

For the Captain America abilities check the Bloodstorm blade prestige class from Tome of Battle.

[nedz]

Take leadership, get yourself a Fiend of Possession Cohort and have them possess the shield.

Basically this will give you a further +6 enhancement which you can change on a whim: What are we fighting today ? OK I'll have a bane weapon to both of those, and a ... whatever. This should also cover the animation plus a few other tricks.

[Metahuman1]

If you make the shield out of Riverine put some magical traps in it to counter spell/disable any Disjunctions, Disintegrate, Rods of Cancellation or other problematic spells items that can actually hurt it.

A trap of Greater Mighty Wallop and the Brutal throw feat along with some Templates/Items to seriously boost your Str would also be good.

[Hylas]

I know how much stuff you can put on a shield.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v118/hylas/random/danddshield.jpg

And it's historically accurate.

[erikun]

Note: You could technically put shield spikes on a gnome tortoise blade (Races of Stone), and thus TWF with a single weapon. It's probably more practical for a TWF finesse rogue, being a light shield.

I don't recall if there are any speciality large shields; the dwarven buckler-axe and gnome battle cloak are the two others I recall from Races of Stone. I'm sure there's an exotic shield that grants +3 AC and can bash somewhere.

[mattie_p]

Extreme shield grants +3 AC, but specifically forbids using it to bash, RAW.