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View Full Version : D&D 3.x Class Base Class: Shieldbearer (or, who needs a sword when you have shields?)



Tintenseher
2014-08-08, 12:13 PM
"A true warrior needs no sword." - Thors the Troll, Vinland Saga

Description: An extreme variant on the Knight class from the PHB II, the shieldbearer has sworn to protect their allies at all costs, even unto and past death. A shieldbearer wields no weapons, choosing to do battle with nothing more than a sheet of wood or metal separating them and their friends from danger.

Hit Die: d12
Starting Gold: 5d6 x 10
Skill Points: 2 + Int (x 4)
Class Skills: Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Heal (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Listen (Wis), Profession (Wis), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str)
Starting Age: As a paladin.
Abilities: A shieldbearer benefits most from a high Strength; they need to be able to carry very heavy loads and dish out extra damage. A high Constitution score also helps them stay standing longer, and a good Intelligence will boost their skills.
Alignment: Lawful Good, Neutral Good, or Lawful Neutral. A shieldbearer who strays from their alignment loses all shieldbearer class abilities and the ability to advance as a shieldbearer until they return to their alignment, meditate on their failure for 24 hours, and atone by performing a selfless act.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Shieldbearers are proficient with all armor and all shields (except tower shields; see below), but no weapons.




Level
BAB
Fortitude
Reflex
Will
Special


1
+1
+2
+0
+2
Iron Vow/Iron Challenge ±1


2
+2
+3
+0
+3
Defensive Style, Improved Shield Bash


3
+3
+3
+1
+3
Shield Block +2


4
+4
+4
+1
+4
Bulwark of Defense


5
+5
+4
+1
+4
Armor Mastery (Medium), IV/IC ±2


6
+6/+1
+5
+2
+5
Improved Defensive Style, Iron Bond


7
+7/+2
+5
+2
+5
Vigilant Defender, The Best Defense


8
+8/+3
+6
+2
+6
Improved Shield Ally


9
+9/+4
+6
+3
+6
IV/IC ±3, Shield Sling, Strong Shield Arm


10
+10/+5
+7
+3
+7
Armor Mastery (Heavy), Spellshield


11
+11/+6/+1
+7
+3
+7
Shield Block +4


12
+12/+7/+2
+8
+4
+8
Defensive Style Mastery


13
+13/+8/+3
+8
+4
+8
IV/IC ±4, Boomerang Shield


14
+14/+9/+4
+9
+4
+9
Spellshield Slinger


15
+15/+10/+5
+9
+5
+9
Eternal Shield Ally


16
+16/+11/+6/+1
+10
+5
+10
Improved Boomerang Shield


17
+17/+12/+7/+2
+10
+5
+10
IV/IC ±5


18
+18/+13/+8/+3
+11
+6
+11
Impetuous Endurance


19
+19/+14/+9/+4
+11
+6
+11
Shield Block +6


20
+20/+15/+10/+5
+12
+6
+12
Living Wall



Bonus Feats
A shieldbearer gains the Improved Shield Bash feat at 2nd level, and the Shield Sling feat at 9th level, even if they would not otherwise qualify.

Merciful Protector
A shieldbearer may ignore the normal penalty to hit when dealing nonlethal damage with a shield.

Skilled Defender
A shieldbearer wielding two shields gains the AC bonus from both. However, they still take penalties to attacks if they do not have the Two-Weapon Fighting feat.

Iron Vow (Ex)
Starting at 1st level, a shieldbearer may swear an oath of loyalty to a number of allies equal to their shieldbearer class level. While in sight radius of the shieldbearer, allies to whom the shieldbearer has been sworn gain a +1 morale bonus on saving throws and initiative checks. This bonus increases by +1 for every four shieldbearer levels afterward, to a maximum of +5 at 17th level. This ability is mutually exclusive to the shieldbearer’s Iron Challenge, and must be chosen at level 1.

Iron Challenge (Ex)
Starting at 1st level, a shieldbearer may act as an unsworn protector of all. As a swift action and a number of times per day equal to their class level plus their Constitution modifier, the shieldbearer may mark any intelligent enemy whom they can see. They can mark a number of enemies per encounter equal to their Constitution modifier. A shieldbearer’s mark's attack bonus is halved when attacking anyone or anything but the shieldbearer. The Fortitude, Reflex, and Will save DCs of a mark's magical effects affecting anyone or anything but the shieldbearer suffer a -1 penalty. In addition, a marked enemy takes a -1 penalty to Will saves. These penalties increase by -1 for every four shieldbearer levels afterward, to a maximum of -5 at 17th level. This ability is mutually exclusive to the shieldbearer’s Iron Vow, and must be chosen at level 1.

Defensive Style
At 2nd level, similar to a ranger, a shieldbearer chooses one of three defensive styles to pursue: that of the Sentinel, of the Guardian, or of the Warden. Their chosen style grants them bonus feats (one at 2nd, 6th, and 12th level), even when they would not normally meet the prerequisites; these feats only apply when the shieldbearer is not wielding any weapon other than a shield. At 2nd level, a shieldbearer sentinel gains the Mobility feat, a shieldbearer guardian gains the Tower Shield Proficiency feat, and a warden gains the Two-Weapon Fighting feat. If a shieldbearer already has the feat they are granted, they may instead choose any feat that they qualify for.

Shield Bash
A shieldbearer gains Improved Shield Bash as a bonus feat at second level. Additionally, a shieldbearer guardian may bash with a tower shield, and their tower shield can provide cover for allies.

Shield Block (Ex)
Starting at 3rd level, you excel in using your armor and shield to frustrate your enemy's attacks. During your action, designate a number of opponents equal to your Constitution modifier within melee range as the targets of this ability. Your shield bonus to AC against those foes increases by 2, as you move your shield to deflect an incoming blow, possibly providing just enough protection to turn a telling swing into a near miss. This shield bonus increases to +4 at 11th level and +6 at 19th level.

Bulwark of Defense (Ex)
Starting at 4th level, an opponent that begins its turn in your threatened area treats all the squares that you threaten as difficult terrain. Your strict vigilance and active defensive maneuvers force your opponents to move with care.

Armor Mastery (Ex)
Starting at 5th level, you are able to wear your armor like a second skin and ignore the standard speed reduction and check penalty for wearing medium armor. Starting at 10th level, you ignore the speed reduction and check penalty imposed by heavy armor as well.

Improved Defensive Style
At 6th level, a shieldbearer sentinel gains the Improved Bull Rush feat, a shieldbearer guardian gains the Endurance feat, and a shieldbearer warden gains the Improved Two-Weapon Fighting feat.

Iron Bond
Starting at 6th level, any time a shieldbearer's shield(s) would take damage from an attack, the shieldbearer may sacrifice any number of their hitpoints to prevent an equal loss of hitpoints to their shield. The shieldbearer may only protect one shield at a time if they are wearing two.

The Best Defense...
Starting at 7th level, you may treat shields as weapons for the purpose of applying magical effects.

Vigilant Defender (Ex)
Starting at 7th level, you stand your ground against all enemies, warding the spot where you make your stand to prevent foes from slipping past and attacking those you protect. The Tumble check DC to move through your threatened area or your space without provoking attacks of opportunity increases by an amount equal to your shieldbearer class level. In addition, any foe you successfully hit with an attack of opportunity loses an action.

Improved Shield Ally (Ex)
Starting at 8th level, as a free action you can opt to absorb part of the damage dealt to any ally ally within 10 feet. If you are between a foe and an ally but at range, you may also absorb damage dealt by that foe to that ally, such as from an arrow. Each time this ally takes damage from a physical attack before your next turn, you can take half of this damage. Once per round you can also absorb all the damage from a single attack directed against an adjacent ally. In addition, you may continue to absorb half the damage from other attacks on another or the same adjacent ally. You must decide whether to use this ability after the attacker determines that an attack has succeeded but before he rolls damage.

Strong Shield Arm
Starting at 9th level, the range of throwing your shield increases by 5 feet for every three levels above 8th (+5 at 11th, +10 at 14th, +15 at 17th, and +20 at 20th).

Spellshield (Ex)
Starting at 10th level, you have learned to infuse magic into your shield. From now on, roll an attack roll with your main shield against any spell targeting you specifically. If the attack roll exceeds (but not equals) the spell's DC, the spell harmlessly dissipates upon your shield.

Iron Ties
Starting at 11th level, whenever your shield is attacked such that, if it were magical, it could make a saving throw, it may use the shieldbearer's relevant save bonus, even if it is nonmagical.

Defensive Style Mastery
At 12th level, a shieldbearer sentinel gains the Improved Overrun feat, a shieldbearer guardian gains the Diehard feat, and a shieldbearer warden gains the Greater Two-Weapon Fighting feat.

Boomerang Shield (Ex)
At 13th level, a shieldbearer's thrown shield returns to their hand automatically as though it possessed the Returning magical quality.

Spellshield Slinger (Ex)
At 14th level, your shield's absorption ability allows you to hold on to the spell for a short time and even release it back at your foes. Every time you successfully deflect a spell with your shield, there is a 50% chance it is absorbed into the shield. As an immediate action, you may throw the spell back at its caster (if you can see them), at its original DC. You must make a ranged attack or touch roll if the spell would normally require it. If you do not return the spell immediately, its power fades and is lost.

Eternal Shield Ally (Ex)
At 15th level, your conviction towards your allies is so great that you are able to continue fighting when others would have fallen. Once per encounter, whenever you take damage that would put you into negative hitpoints or kill you, you may continue operating as though you had 1 hp for a number of rounds equal to your Constitution modifier. After you take your actions on the final round, you collapse and revert to however many hitpoints you would have had when you activated this ability, unless you have been healed sufficiently that you would return to positive or zero hitpoints. Your Improved Shield Ally ability extends to allies within 20 feet.

Improved Boomerang Shield (Ex)
At 16th level, if the target of your thrown shield attack is hit and fails a Reflex save (DC equal to your class level + damage dealt), you may target an additional enemy within half your shield-throwing range of your first target. You may continue chaining attacks in this way as long as your shield continues to hit and your targets continue to fail their Reflex saves.

Impetuous Endurance (Ex)
Starting at 17th level, your fighting spirit enables you to push your body beyond the normal limits of endurance. Rolling a 1 on a saving throw is now also considered a critical success, instead of a critical failure.

Living Wall (Ex)
At 20th level, your dedication to your allies is so incredible that you are able to protect them even from a massive distance, by inspiring them against their foes, intimidating your opponents, or shouting out a warning just in time. Your Improved Shield Ally and Eternal Shield Ally abilities apply within 30 feet.

Tintenseher's Comments:
I don't know how much the Knight's Challenge power balanced out their class features, but I tried to keep the power of the shieldbearer in line with the knight. Originally I instituted a wisdom-based limit on many of the class features, but it didn't seem to fit the class. I changed the advancement around as much as I could to avoid empty levels. Honest (but kindly-worded; my ego is fragile) critique is welcome.

LordErebus12
2014-08-08, 06:38 PM
this needs the ability to wear two shields at once, gaining the benefit of both at once.

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h157/corvan15/ds_pose.jpg

Carl
2014-08-08, 08:44 PM
I don't know how much the Knight's Challenge power balanced out their class features, but I tried to keep the power of the shieldbearer in line with the knight. Originally I instituted a wisdom-based limit on many of the class features, but it didn't seem to fit the class. I changed the advancement around as much as I could to avoid empty levels. Honest (but kindly-worded; my ego is fragile) critique is welcome.

I'm going to assume from this that you are not familiar with the existing tiering system. The existing Knight class is classified as T5, which is described thusly:


Tier 5: Capable of doing only one thing, and not necessarily all that well, or so unfocused that they have trouble mastering anything, and in many types of encounters the character cannot contribute. In some cases, can do one thing very well, but that one thing is very often not needed. Has trouble shining in any encounter unless the encounter matches their strengths. DMs may have to work to avoid the player feeling that their character is worthless unless the entire party is Tier 4 and below. Characters in this tier will often feel like one trick ponies if they do well, or just feel like they have no tricks at all if they build the class poorly.

Your class whilst arguably a bit better than the knight is still firmly in this category.

I'll go over the specific features below:

Iron Vow: Totally worthless. Because the rounds must be consecutive it's effectively available for an entire encounter right from 1st level, but only ever for one encounter. If this was a permanently active passive it would be a solid class feature, it still probably wouldn't get the class above T4, which is pretty weak, but it would be a massive improvment.

Iron Challenger: Weak, really weak. First it's single target, secondly even if it works there's a whole range of NPC's and Monsters that don't rely on attack roll's, and another huge chunk that overcap the BAB needed to hit players who aren't super cheesing their AC somehow, so a -5 penalty, whilst ideal from a statistical variation PoV is less than useless in reality because 3.5's creators couldn't create balanced monsters to save their lives. Halving their total attack modifier would be significant and achieve the aim, but you still need to deal with all the things that don't use attack rolls. Making it halve DC's of effects that target Reflex/Fort/Will saves would achieve this.

Defensive Style: Since you can't wield weapons with this the only remotely usable one is the two weapon fighting one for dual shield bashing, (and why no Improved Shield Bash feat?). In fact by the very nature of the class it's always going to be dual wielding even if the class allowed non-shields with this, so not getting two-weapon fighting chain as a default class feature is really, really, really freaking bad. Even without that little Faux Pas none of the feat chains granted are especially super powerful. Their nice, but they're cool extra's, not class defining features.

Shield Block: Again with the single target, and again most things targeting your AC either don't care about Shield modifiers because their touch attacks, or they overcap your AC so hard there's no benefit here. It's a cool setpiece. But fail's to really impress because so little cares about it.

Bulwark of Defense: Same issue as the Knight version, the enemy has no compelling reason to come attack you so they can just avoid this by avoiding you.

Armor Mastery: Again the same issue as the Knight, it's a nice feature but far from earth shattering, nor does it make Medium or Heavy Armor especially useful.

Vigilant Defender: See Bulwark of Defense. Same comments apply.

Shield Ally: Same issues as Knight, does nothing against the stuff that is a real issue, requires you to stand next to someone which may not be practical, and even with a D12 HD your just not going to have enough hitpoints to absorb many hits before it kills you.

Improved Shield Ally: Same issues as the base version only the self kill gets worse.

Impetuous Endurance: Nice fluff but practically speaking a roll of 1 will always fail a save so it hardly matters.

Eternal Shield Ally: This finally makes Shield Ally useful, assuming the enemy dosen't let you absorb till you get low on HP's, then finish you off conventionally. This really needs to apply regardless of how you get knocked down to 0 or below and healing needs to be able to bring you back up stopping the expenditure of rounds.

Tintenseher
2014-08-08, 10:24 PM
LordErebus: Thank you, I do remember when I started this class looking up if two shields gave you two bonuses, but I guess I forgot to include that ability.

Carl: I do know the tier system, but only know a few classes from each tier. (Didn't know the Knight was T5. Sucks for him.) I've changed most of the abilities as per your notes; hopefully the class is more useful now. Likely I was so worried the class would end up overpowered that I overcompensated and made the abilities worthless. Improved Shield Bash is included at second level, but was, for some reason, tucked away in Weapon and Armor Proficiency. Have since relocated it to the Defensive Style entry. (I've also kept the other two Defensive Styles alongside the warden; though I agree dual wielding shields will be the most effective, I feel the other two provide nice enough fluff.) Thanks much!

johnnythexxxiv
2014-08-11, 09:32 PM
Tintenseher please remove or at least reduce the penalty to will saves the opponent gets from Iron Challenge, as it stands that ability is FAR too powerful (a -20 to resist domination from the party wizard at level 20 is way too much). I think that leaving the ability at -5 (or changing it to half your level up to a maximum of -5) would be fine since everything else powered up to a respectable level. Actually, if you had it mirror Iron Vow for how it progressed that would make more sense flavorwise and would make for a fair mundane debuff. Keep in mind that there are very few spells that impose a greater than -5 penalty to opponent's to hit or saves and extremely few that effect the save DC's of their spells, so being able to do so mundanely shouldn't result in absolutely catastrophic drop to their scores late game.

Other than that though the class looks pretty nice (although using a reach weapon with Bulwark of Defence might be worth losing out on the three bonus feats depending on the campaign, but that merely adds another play option for the class and isn't substantially stronger than the normal use of the ability so I think it's fine as is)

Tintenseher
2014-08-11, 09:48 PM
Makes perfect sense, johnny. I was actually looking for a way to scale the Iron Challenge similarly to Iron Vow so that picking one over the other wouldn't result in empty levels, but I guess I missed that incredible Will penalty. Have therefore changed it to just scale same as Iron Vow. Thanks!

Carl
2014-08-11, 09:56 PM
Tintenseher please remove or at least reduce the penalty to will saves the opponent gets from Iron Challenge, as it stands that ability is FAR too powerful (a -20 to resist domination from the party wizard at level 20 is way too much). I think that leaving the ability at -5 (or changing it to half your level up to a maximum of -5) would be fine since everything else powered up to a respectable level. Actually, if you had it mirror Iron Vow for how it progressed that would make more sense flavorwise and would make for a fair mundane debuff. Keep in mind that there are very few spells that impose a greater than -5 penalty to opponent's to hit or saves and extremely few that effect the save DC's of their spells, so being able to do so mundanely shouldn't result in absolutely catastrophic drop to their scores late game.

I went into this just two posts up, (p.s. sorry for not getting back to you sooner Tintenseher), whilst the will save would be fine at -5 max, an attack roll penalty of -5 is less than worthless because everything and it's mother overcaps the required Attack rolls scores so hard it has no effect whatsoever on their ability to hit things.

@Tintenseher: The problem with the styles is that if you don't take the two-weapon chain line the class is virtually useless because it cannot effectively attack at all. The Guardian in particular is utterly worthless because you can't bash with a Tower Shield and can't use the feat chains whilst wielding a weapon so you literally have zero ability to hurt anything or make any form of attack.

The new capstone is a nice theory, but it still only extends the distance by 5ft for medium creatures and it isn't even that for anything smaller. Unless everyone is attacking the same target and there's no ranged attacks flying a good chunk of your allies are still not going to be in range, most Knight fixes make the basic Shield Ally work on any Ally within a much larger distance, (usually 10's of feet), and justify it via a combination of the knight intimidating the enemy, inspiring the ally, and providing warning and other advice.

Tintenseher
2014-08-11, 10:16 PM
I've increased the ranges on the Shield Ally/Living Wall abilities to 10 ft, 20 ft, and 30 ft respectively. I was tempted to do 10, 30, and 50, but that seemed a little too much, since that would eventually cover the size of most common battles in a game. (Anywhere indoors, anyway.)

I see what you mean about the styles. Forgot about no bashing with a tower shield, too. Originally the ideas for them were that the Sentinel is running down foes and setting them up for attacks, the Guardian is tanking and blocking for allies (though that wouldn't work either without allowing the tower shield to act as cover for others), and the Warden would be smashing everyone in the face. I still like the fluff, but if it'll mean a more effective class I don't mind just scrapping the other two styles and just giving it the Two-Weapon Fighting feats at those levels. I can't really think of any way to fix the styles, either, without changing how shields work entirely.

Also, the Will save has been knocked down to -5 at maximum, but the attack rolls and save DCs are still just halved.

Carl
2014-08-11, 10:27 PM
I'll have a look for some non-core feats for you for shield attack boosting, then you could give the TWF feats for free and the ones i dig up for replacements. I'd still consider dropping the no weapon other than a shield. Rather make them only work when they're carrying at least one shield. Keeps the shield theme but gives more options. Remember shields don't gain enhancement bonus's to attacks, or weapon enchantments, which is another huge negative to shields only for attacking, (just realized that myself actually).

Tintenseher
2014-08-11, 10:59 PM
Hmm. Wouldn't mind allowing weapons, since the original image that inspired this class was dual-wielding shields. So either you can have two shields and be ridiculous, or a weapon and shield and some shield feats. I'll think about it, but it sounds pretty solid.

johnnythexxxiv
2014-08-12, 12:09 AM
Hmm, that sounds like a pretty good idea. Options are always nice.

Getting back to Iron Challenge though, personally, since spell DC's are harder to raise than to-hit, I think the -5 applying to spell DCs is good enough. Take a 30 Int Wizard vs a Fighter with 26 Con and 10 Wis, both level 20, and a 20th level Shieldbearer has targeted the Wizard with Iron Challenge. If the Wizard casts Wail of the Banshee on the Fighter, normally the Fighter would have a 55% chance of passing the save (assuming he doesn't have a Cloak of Resistance, he does, bringing it to 80%, or Great Fortitude, he might, pushing it up to 90%) but with -5 to the DC he has an 80% chance of success (95% with the cloak) and with -10 he has a 95% chance of success. That's fine, since that's his good save, but if we look at a Heightened Dominate Person (9th level) attempt we see a problem with leaving it at half the Shieldbearer's level.

Normally, a DC 29 Will Save is bad news for the Fighter (5% success normally, 15% with a Cloak of Resistance, 25% if he has Iron Will, which most experienced players will give him) but reducing it to a DC 24 gives him a lot more breathing room (15% normally, 40% with Cloak, 50% with Iron Will) but DC 19 makes it easy for him to pass his save (40% normally, 65% with Cloak, 75% with Iron Will). This is a character who has a completely humanly average ability score that has very little investment put into it and he is making his save very frequently against someone who has the majority of their resources into enhancing the difficultly of their spell DCs because a mundane debuff was applied to them. This shuts down casters hard, harder than a lot of debuff spells do and is much easier to pull off since most debuff spells require a save. I feel like non-magical effects shouldn't be quite so effective.

Flavorwise it also isn't clear as to why they can hinder magic twice as well as they can protect their allies from it (Iron Challenge hits DCs for twice as much as Iron Vow raises saves) so if you do want to keep as is (and you are totally welcome to) it might be worth mentioning why there is the difference.

Tintenseher
2014-08-12, 08:34 AM
At the moment I'm more interested in balance. Fluff is where I really hit my stride, which is why I came here for help. I've changed IC so that attacks are halved and DCs and Will saves get -5 (at max level). The wording's a little weird, though. :\

It seems uneven to me that Iron Vow does not provide a bonus to attack rolls as well as saves and initiative, but I'm not sure how powerful it would be. +5 to your full party at 17th level doesn't feel too crazy, but +2 to probably your full party at 5th level seems a bit too much.

Gracht Grabmaw
2014-08-12, 08:48 AM
This reminds me of something I used to do a lot in Mount and Blade Warband if I wanted to capture an enemy alive, run at them with my shield up, pin them against a wall and punch them in the face until they say uncle.
You definately need some grappling feats or something equivalent in there. If you fight unarmed against armed opponents your first priority is always to neutralize their weapons somehow. Maybe some ability that allows you to sunder an opponent's weapon with your shield.

Hanuman
2014-08-12, 01:33 PM
The class should have good reflex saves, not only are you expected to be your party's frontline but you're completely screwed if left to your own devices.

With every "shield" class people make, dueling shields (http://www.thearma.org/Manuals/SoloT/0023.jpg) should be mentioned at least once.

Instead of Iron Challenge I propose this:

Give the class a special attack, a standard action with an attack roll (not an "attack", just a mundane ability) that deals 4 + 2dmg/level and DC 10 + 1/2 Level + STAT fortitude to deal (+1/4 Levels) points of attribute damage to the attribute of your choosing. That way you have a reliable scaling damage/debuff and encourage frontline play.

Overall I think your class suffers from 'guy at the gym' syndrome as that he is built to be a low tier class and has a very linear and mundane class direction.

Fix? Spice it up, think of cool shield users in games.

Zelda mirror shield, absorb spells and reflect them? Yes!

Captain America shield, sonic effects, instant massive parry? Yes!

I'd also throw in abilities that improve your shields physically as currently heat metal, rust monsters, ect will completely eat your class. I would go so far as to say that it should work like a summoner's lifelink ability in that at any time you may sacrifice any number of hitpoints to prevent an equal amount of hitpoint loss of your shields, this could even extend in a silver surfer way where the shield literally is you at higher levels, if slain it resurrects you, and if dying it pulls you inside of it for a few rounds to regenerate.

Tintenseher
2014-08-12, 01:59 PM
Gracht: Hm, perhaps we could fix one of the styles by giving it grappling feats instead. Yes, I can see the class either being dual shields or one shield running around disarming foes. I'll take a look at grappling when I get the time and see what feats to put in.

Hanuman: I did have similar shield effects in an earlier version of the class, but they seemed out-of-place, and I didn't know where to put them in the level progression. For example:

Spellshield:
At x level, you have learned to infuse magic into your shield. From now on, roll an attack roll with your main shield against any spell targeting you specifically. If the attack roll exceeds (but not equals) the spell's DC, the spell harmlessly dissipates upon your shield.

Spellshield Slinger:
At x level, your shield's absorption ability allows you to hold on to the spell for a short time and even release it back at your foes. Every time you successfully deflect a spell with your shield, there is a 50% chance it is absorbed into the shield. As an immediate action, you may throw the spell back at its caster (if you can see them), at its original DC. You must make a ranged attack or touch roll if the spell would normally require it. If you do not return the spell immediately, its power fades and is lost.

The Best Defense
Starting at x level, you may treat your shield(s) as weapons when applying magical effects.

Could also do some fun stuff with the Shield Sling feat. Would probably need to give it as a bonus, though, or else you'd have a useless effect:

Strong Shield Arm:
At x level, the range at which you can throw your shield increases by 10 ft for every two levels above x.

Boomerang Shield:
At x level, when throwing your shield, your shield automatically returns to you as though it were a Returning Weapon.

Improved Boomerang Shield:
At x level, if your attack roll to throw your shield exceeds your target's AC by 5 points, you may target an additional enemy within half your shield-throwing range of your first target. Make an attack roll against them, as well, as your shield ricochets off one foe and onto the next. You may continue chaining attacks in this way as long as your attack rolls exceed your target's AC by 5 points.

No idea where to put these, or if to put them in at all.

Hanuman
2014-08-14, 01:53 PM
Good game design uses fun mechanics first and story second, if you find your class is boring to play then fix it and iron out the details later.

Tintenseher
2014-08-14, 02:15 PM
I've added those six abilities (with some tweaks) in what I hope is a sensible progression. Thoughts? Rearrangement needed?

EDIT: Also added Iron Bond and Iron Ties at 6th and 11th level, respectively, to help deal with attacks on the shield itself.