3.5 tower shields why i should abs shouldnt use them

[finaldooms]

So im making a stick,and board fighter and had a question about total,cover with a tower shield

That got answered. But then it was suggested that i not,use a TS..so i wish to know why inshould and why i shouldnt use one in place of say..a heavt steel shield?

[mattie_p]

If you are a fighter type, generally you should be attempting to kill your opponents. Tower shield forces you to give up your attacks when you use it for cover, essentially wasting your turn.

Plus that -10 ACP is brutal if you want to do something like tumble to a different location, balance on ice, or jump while charging in a leap attack.

And you can't 2-hand wield your weapon, meaning you lose a lot from power attack. And take an extra -2 to hit. Frankly you are probably better off with a buckler so you can 2-hand your weapon or get the shield bonus as you choose each round.

[finaldooms]

So the...+4? Bonus isnt worth thr hassle and a smaller shield would be better?
Edit: im,going,from a tripper to a,less..powerful build cause my dm cant handle it so im,looking more at survival and using..a spear maybe ..idk i dont really want to get short hafted

[mattie_p]

You give up a lot of the already limited utility for a +2 or +3 to AC vs a large shield or buckler.

If you're wearing good armor anyway you'll probably not notice the difference, and if you do something like Crusader from ToB you may want a slightly lower AC so you can take advantage of furious counterstrike.

[Necroticplague]

So the...+4? Bonus isnt worth thr hassle and a smaller shield would be better?
Edit: im,going,from a tripper to a,less..powerful build cause my dm cant handle it so im,looking more at survival and using..a spear maybe ..idk i dont really want to get short hafted

If you aren't hitting an enemy, as a martial, then you aren't doing anything. The -2 to every attack roll and -8 ACP is an absolutely massive penalty for a mere +2 to AC, compared to using a wooden heavy shield. The ability to use a Tower Shield for total cover is a trap, because it means you spend a round not able to attack (and it doesn't grant the cover vs. spells). It's considerable weight (+30 pounds) also means you'll have more trouble carrying around equipment, your armor or your weapon.

[CharonsHelper]

I'm gonna disagree. I played a martial (Pious Templar) who got a lot of benefit from the 3.5 Tower Shield. (As opposed to Pathfinder's - which sucks.)

Frankly - the -2/+2 is kinda suck, but it's worth dealing with for times when the full cover is awesome.

The key to the tactic? Go into full cover mode and then ready an action to move in front of an attack. I totally shut down a circling blue dragon this way. His plan was to do the hit & run thing with his breath weapon - staying out of range while waiting for it to charge. My character was actually blind (used the Combat Focus feats for 5ft blindsight & had Keen Listener for tracking) so I couldn't attack him. Instead, I got the group to stay close and just kept jumping in front of the lightning breath, giving them time to take it down. Eventually the dragon got grumpy and came down to disarm me, letting us deal some melee damage.

[Blackhawk748]

Use a Hide Shield (Sand Storm) instead. Its far more reasonable.