Is it a legitly good idea to lug around a tower shield as a low level spellcaster?

[magicalmagicman]

This is strictly for levels 1-3.

With mage armor and tower shield you get a +8 to your ac, which is absolutely amazing low level. It will protect you until your 1st turn, including surprise rounds and unlucky initiative rolls, and then on your first turn as a free action you can just drop it and cast your spells.

I had a debate with other players whether or not the armor check penalty will affect my initiative, but even if it did, having 18-21ac v.s. enemies with +1-3 attack is worth going last for because even without the tower shield, unless you go some power gaming initiative optimizing build, you won't be going 1st.

Anyways am I missing something here? Because right now my #1 problem with my sorcerer is our party getting surprise-rounded, me getting caught flat-footed and then slaughtered #1 with a rushing hobgoblin or being focused by archers with my minuscule hp pool and this tower shield idea seems to solve this.

[Curmudgeon]

Initiative is explicitly stated to be a Dexterity check, so your tower shield -10 penalty applies.

INITIATIVE CHECKS
At the start of a battle, if both sides are aware at the same time and can interact, each combatant makes an initiative check, which is a Dexterity check.And yes, you're missing something else.
NONPROFICIENCY
If you wear armor or use a shield you aren’t proficient with, you take the armor check penalty on attack rolls, as well as on all Strength-based and Dexterity-based ability and skill checks. This effectively adds Open Lock, Ride, and Use Rope to the list of penalized skills. The penalty for nonproficiency with armor stacks with the penalty for non proficiency with shields.
If you're making any attack rolls, including touch attacks or ranged touch attacks, you'll take the tower shield -10 ACP to all of them.

[Albions_Angel]

It should be fine, but I have to ask, do you need that much AC? For a start, Sorcerers are much hardier than wizards. A battle sorcerer (level 3) kept up just fine with my Duskblade (level 3), was hitting as hard, couldnt be hit (which I could) and had a ton of HP. And even if you are playing a weedy spell caster, why are you ever in a situation where you can be hit. Most of your spells will outrange any bows, and at low levels, you are not a threat. A sensible DM will attack the nasty guys with big pointy sticks, because the worst you can do is Colour Spray at the start. Then, past level 4 or so, he will still attack the guys at the front, because he wants to stay as far away from you as possible.

What is the team comp like? What is the setting? If its a squishy team, and you are likely to get ambushed in a forest, or separated in a dungeon, then fine, carry the shield. But if its a standard 2 swordsmen, 2 casters, 1 cleric, 1 skill monkey sort of team, and you are out in open country with lots of space to manoeuvre, you will never be within hitting distances.

Finally, do you play with minis? Combat can be a lot harder (and you are more likely to get hit) if you are playing the game mentally. Its harder to have arrangements, to stand behind meat shields, etc, and before you know it, there is a giant standing behind you because you didnt explicitly ask if he was moving. With minis, the giant moves on the table top and you can move to compensate.

[Troacctid]

You're also missing that dropping your shield is a move action, not a free action (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/equipment/armor.htm#gettingIntoAndOutOfArmor).

[magicalmagicman]

@Curmudgeon
The initiative debate stemmed from, by RAW, initiative not being a skill check. Dunno how we missed the ability check part XD.

@Albions_Angel
My DM hates huge parties. Says game feels like a snail, so we only have 3-4 players maximum. In this case it's 3 players, 1 fighter, 1 cleric, and 1 sorcerer (me) and the DM adjusted all encounters so we don't fight more than 3-4 guys at once usually.

In levels 1-3, color spray in the face alone has ended more than one encounter on the first turn. This campaign we're running consists of mostly Will:-1 monsters against my spell save DC of 15, so sorcerers are a threat :P

Anyways my DM says enemies will rather charge/shoot the guy in clothing rather than the other two guys clad in armor and shield, and they often surround us so I am having a lot of difficulty. In a surprise round I usually get to negative hp before my 1st turn and have to hope my party can save me before I bleed out. Non-surprise encounters I still die a lot because the campaign is in a very open space setting. Staying behind the two meat shields isn't enough.

@troacctid
Thanks for pointing that out. It's only a move action for level 1. Once you hit level 2 it's basically a free action because you can move AND drop the shield at the same time. Shouldn't be a problem unless the spells I cast are 1round casting time spells

[Troacctid]

@troacctid
Thanks for pointing that out. It's only a move action for level 1. Once you hit level 2 it's basically a free action because you can move AND drop the shield at the same time. Shouldn't be a problem unless the spells I cast are 1round casting time spells

Where are you getting this "move and drop" thing? That's not a rule as far as I'm aware. Doffing a shield takes a move action, period. You can make a 5-foot step, if that's what you mean, but not a full move.

It might still be worth it to give up your move action, but if you're relying on Color Spray for offense, then maybe not--the spell has a very short range, and you'll probably want to be able to move into position to cast it.

[magicalmagicman]

Where are you getting this "move and drop" thing? That's not a rule as far as I'm aware. Doffing a shield takes a move action, period. You can make a 5-foot step, if that's what you mean, but not a full move.

It might still be worth it to give up your move action, but if you're relying on Color Spray for offense, then maybe not--the spell has a very short range, and you'll probably want to be able to move into position to cast it.

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/combat/actionsInCombat.htm

"If you have a base attack bonus of +1 or higher, you can ready or loose a shield as a free action combined with a regular move."

Yeah... rules are all over the place. They should've just repeated the same information everywhere instead of doing whatever this organization strategy is.

[Tommy2255]

I think the misunderstanding comes from the idea that you're just dropping your shield. A shield isn't something you just hold onto. To actually use a tower shield, you have it strapped to your arm. Dropping something is free, fiddling with straps is not.

[Kurald Galain]

If you're a small wizard with high dex and Mage Armor running, you should already have a 19 armor class... is that not enough for your purposes?

[magicalmagicman]

If you're a small wizard with high dex and Mage Armor running, you should already have a 19 armor class... is that not enough for your purposes?

My DM is anal about 25 point buy. 14con, 14int, and 17cha takes up everything. I'm also a grey elf so its 10dex. Theres 5 skills I like to max out which is why I have the high int. If I had at least 16dex I wouldn't consider this since the tower shield would remove my dex bonus to ac.