What are the advantages of tower shields?

[silverwolfer]

Are they only good for cover ac lol?

[Infernalbargain]

They're good because they create a little black hole of targetability. You're given total cover if you actively hide behind one. However, any equipment you are wearing also has total cover. Therefore your tower shield that you're hiding behind to get total cover also has total cover.

[Wookie-ranger]

real sig....
yeah, seriously.
you, and your tower shield will have total cover...


but less silly.
with a Tower-shield you can have total cover. that means that you pretty much cannot be targeted by things that need a AC roll.
SRD: "you cannot make an attack roll against something that has total cover"

[AntiTrust]

Heard of a druid who used one, wasn't proficient, but would just sit behind it casting summon natures ally. Seemed cool to me.

[Amidus Drexel]

The average wooden tower shield has a diverse array of abilities. When it's equipped, you have a -20 to your swim checks. However, if you just carry one, you can get a +5 to stay afloat. Remember, buoyancy is your friend!

[Roderick_BR]

The average wooden tower shield has a diverse array of abilities. When it's equipped, you have a -20 to your swim checks. However, if you just carry one, you can get a +5 to stay afloat. Remember, buoyancy is your friend!

Specially if made of wood. Watch out for the Surfer Druid, summing sharks to eat you.

[Hyde]

They're good because they create a little black hole of targetability. You're given total cover if you actively hide behind one. However, any equipment you are wearing also has total cover. Therefore your tower shield that you're hiding behind to get total cover also has total cover.

I approve of the recursive tower shield.

If you have fabricate, they also make good "anything you need at the time"s

[silverwolfer]

hmm...woad spiirt to hold it up , and caste spells all day long for healing

[Boci]

hmm...woad spiirt to hold it up , and caste spells all day long for healing

Your going to run out of spells fast. Besides, most people (mid+ optimizers) don't think at will healing it a big deal. Its a good thing in fact often enough.

[Crasical]

My Thrallherd in the RHoD game I'm in uses five level one believers with tower shields, and with Constant Guardian as their level 1 feat. It functionally means that medium creatures have to loop the screening warriors to fight her in melee, and large ones have to deal with her gaining a +10 dodge bonus from all her allies.

[Slipperychicken]

If you aren't Power Attacking, it's a nice way to "turtle" from non-magical attacks when you're low on options. They also make decent sleds in a pinch. Better for low-op games, where people actually use the "Total Defense" option.


Overall, good to keep around in case you're swarmed by archers, or need to surf down a set of stairs.

[Hiro Protagonest]

Heard of a druid who used one, wasn't proficient, but would just sit behind it casting summon natures ally. Seemed cool to me.

...I don't think that works. By RAW, the only way to gain cover is to use the standard action. And I doubt Quicken is worth it.

[Boci]

My Thrallherd in the RHoD game I'm in uses five level one believers with tower shields, and with Constant Guardian as their level 1 feat. It functionally means that medium creatures have to loop the screening warriors to fight her in melee, and large ones have to deal with her gaining a +10 dodge bonus from all her allies.

As a note to anyone who wants to use this: the DM may not allow it. Dodge bonuses stack with other dodge bonuses, but a DM may rule that the same feat is not another bonus but the same. Or they could just ban it because it feels too powerful/exploitative. (This isn't directed at you Crasical, since your DM has already okayed it.)

[ericgrau]

Against foes that use attack rolls the free combat expertise is a good trade-off on any class that already has a high attack bonus and AC. They can still hit most of the time yet rarely get hit. If you know what type of foes to expect it might be good to switch back and forth between tower shield and not.

Tactically getting total cover whenever you want is handy too. Especially when approaching ranged foes, traps, etc. The way it actually works, without the above silliness, is identical to a wall which you may set in a specific location.

Against special abilities, casting, etc. that don't target your AC, or against a mix of attacks that do and don't, you're better off keeping your attack bonus. Assuming total cover isn't useful either.