Novawurmson
2013-09-16, 09:49 PM
Just to make sure I've got this all correct by RAW:
Scenario A
You can make a regular melee attack with spiked armor (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/equipment---final/armor/armor-spikes).
Scenario B
You can make an off-hand attack (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/equipment---final/weapons/weapon-descriptions/spiked-shield-heavy-or-light), but not a main hand attack using a spiked shield.
However, both a spiked shield and spiked armor do the exact same damage (1d6 piercing for a medium creature), with the exact same crit rate (x2).
Are both Scenario A and Scenario B correct by RAW?
1. Assuming absolute RAW is in effect, is there any reason not to just use armor spikes unless you really want to take TWF anyway?
2. Assuming RAW is open to interpretation by a reasonable DM, is there any reason you should not be able to make a main hand attack with a shield? The only thing that even slightly comes to mind is the existence of shield-only feats like Shield Slam (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/shield-slam-combat---final), Shield Master (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/shield-master-combat---final), and Bashing Finish (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/bashing-finish-combat).
Scenario A
You can make a regular melee attack with spiked armor (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/equipment---final/armor/armor-spikes).
Scenario B
You can make an off-hand attack (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/equipment---final/weapons/weapon-descriptions/spiked-shield-heavy-or-light), but not a main hand attack using a spiked shield.
However, both a spiked shield and spiked armor do the exact same damage (1d6 piercing for a medium creature), with the exact same crit rate (x2).
Are both Scenario A and Scenario B correct by RAW?
1. Assuming absolute RAW is in effect, is there any reason not to just use armor spikes unless you really want to take TWF anyway?
2. Assuming RAW is open to interpretation by a reasonable DM, is there any reason you should not be able to make a main hand attack with a shield? The only thing that even slightly comes to mind is the existence of shield-only feats like Shield Slam (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/shield-slam-combat---final), Shield Master (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/shield-master-combat---final), and Bashing Finish (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/bashing-finish-combat).