Tower Shield-Fu for Spellcasters

[RoboEmperor]

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[Maat Mons]

grab a Small Longspear and flank your opponents for your party members. As a medium creature you can wield Small Two-Handed Weapons with one hand.

Rules Compendium says a "A wielder gains no reach from a reach weapon that is too small." So what possible benefit is there to going with a longspear?

And if you do want a one-handed reach weapon, why not just grab a spinning sword, from Secrets of Sarlona?

[Phhase]

Hmmm...but what if you were to make a full build out of this? How far can you go, I wonder?

[J-H]

Milo Amastacia-Liadon, is that you?

[Nightcanon]

Seems like a logical thing to do. Historically, archers and crossbowmen made use of Mantlets and Pavisses as portable cover, and it seems reasonable for spellcasters to adopt a similar approach.

[J-H]

Sorry, don't know who that is.
Harry Potter & the Natural 20. Total cover also means you can't be detected. The gods will surely change how the world works after this, but not until after total cover = nondetection is used to storm the castle of the evil wizard who's taken over the city.

[King of Nowhere]

Seems like a logical thing to do. Historically, archers and crossbowmen made use of Mantlets and Pavisses as portable cover, and it seems reasonable for spellcasters to adopt a similar approach.

the basic premise, i.e. that a spellcaster would want some form of cover, makes a lot of sense. the execution, unfortunately, does not. all that dragging the shield without penalties, putting it on and putting it off every round, ditching it when comfortable, all for no penalty, well, it looks rather ridiculous.

[daremetoidareyo]

Line of sight for targeting is going to be a problem while you have full cover. You need some sort of glass steel material oh, I think there is one in one of the adventures called nephelium.

The mobile spell-casting feat well allow you to use your move action and also move while casting a spell.

[Troacctid]

You can't just drop a shield as a free action. Doffing it requires a move action.

[Falontani]

I am having flashbacks of this tower shield carrying orc rogue...

[liquidformat]

Seems like a logical thing to do. Historically, archers and crossbowmen made use of Mantlets and Pavisses as portable cover, and it seems reasonable for spellcasters to adopt a similar approach.

So Historically the archers and crossbowmen would setup the mantlets and pavisses as a make shift wall where they could hide behind while loading for full cover and use as partial cover while shooting. Is simply setting up a tower shield and using it as cover in this way functional by DnD rules?
I don't have enough rules-fu to answer this, but it seems like a much easier and better method to use the tower shield if it does work. Take say a round to set it up and then just use move actions to hide behind the shield as needed switching from partial to full cover... Thoughts?

Also in general floating disk seems like a decent way to to carry the shield around with you during battle if you need mobility. Though the spell doesn't explicitly say you can move it vertically it does say that if you move it more than 3 feet above a surface it is moving along it winks out which implies it has the ability to move vertically as well as horizontally. In which case you could setup the shield on a floating disk and move around the battle field with the shield using it as cover for spell casting...

[King of Nowhere]

It's also ridiculous that a tower shield would incur arcane spell failure as your other hand is completely free and unencumbered by the tower shield.



If we want to go down that rabbit hole, most casters are using (cross)bows or staffs. things that occupy both hands. yet they can cast spells unimpeded while wielding a staff, moving their fingers freely. or maybe they drop the staff and pick it back up as a free action. all without provoking attacks of opportunity if they cast defensively, and while still threatening attacks of opportunity themselves.

then there's the fact that most spells are standard ations, meaning the caster can take move actions too. but they cannot use those move actions to cast more spells. it takes them about three seconds to cast, but they cannot cast twice in a row.
Notice that fighters do suffer a reduction of their attacks if they move around, and the sillyness of running around the battlefield without having any reductiion on the number of attacks is the reason I don't like pounce, from a fluff point of view. And yet casters are under a similar sillyness themselves.

basically, if we analyze action the combat rules too hard, they stop making sense.

[liquidformat]

"The disk floats approximately 3 feet above the ground at all times and remains level. "

Suggests you have 0 control over its vertical movement.

I know that but the second to last line states:
"The disk also winks out if you move beyond range (by moving too fast or by such means as a teleport spell) or try to take the disk more than 3 feet away from the surface beneath it."

So now we know a few things:
1) the disk can't go above 3' from the surface it is moving along without winking out.
2) the disk isn't always exactly 3' above the ground by RAW it is only 'approximately'
3) the caster can 'try' to change the height of the disk.

So with all that it seems reasonable that the caster can change the height of the disk as long as it is changed no more than 3' above the ground. The only question is what approximate means which is ambiguous as being on the ground half a foot above the ground, a foot above the ground, and three feet above the ground all qualify as being approximately 3' above the ground. approximations are a guess we make based on having no accurate unit of measure therefore I see no valid argument given the above three knows of the spell that I can't have the disk hovering slightly above the ground.

We also have Greater Floating Disk that spell from SC which states: "This spell functions like _Tenser's Floating disk (PH 294), except that the created disk does not need to stay within 3 feet of the surface beneath it."
Adding further fuel to the floating disk can be moved vertically within 3' of the ground argument.



If we want to go down that rabbit hole, most casters are using (cross)bows or staffs. things that occupy both hands. yet they can cast spells unimpeded while wielding a staff, moving their fingers freely. or maybe they drop the staff and pick it back up as a free action. all without provoking attacks of opportunity if they cast defensively, and while still threatening attacks of opportunity themselves.

then there's the fact that most spells are standard ations, meaning the caster can take move actions too. but they cannot use those move actions to cast more spells. it takes them about three seconds to cast, but they cannot cast twice in a row.
Notice that fighters do suffer a reduction of their attacks if they move around, and the sillyness of running around the battlefield without having any reductiion on the number of attacks is the reason I don't like pounce, from a fluff point of view. And yet casters are under a similar sillyness themselves.

basically, if we analyze action the combat rules too hard, they stop making sense.

Between spring attack feat line and pounce we have multiple ways for a melee combatant to make multiple attacks while keeping mobility. Similarly, there are the mounted combat line of feats and even shot on the run though that one kind of falls flat

[Segev]

Milo Amastacia-Liadon, is that you?Ah, a fanfic that died too soon. Good to see it referenced, though.


Tower Shield-Fu Technique #1: Carry the Tower ShieldThis one is questionable; the DM may well rule that you do not gain the benefit of cover and AC boosts if you're not wearing it. Or that carrying it imposes penalties anyway, because it's a big slab of heavy wood. This is practical optimization (i.e. "will this fly at your table?") argumentation, though, not theoretical; I'd have to look a bit more closely to see if this works by the RAW.



Tower Shield-Fu Technique #4: Casting Spells with the Tower Shield
Clerics have nothing to worry about here. They can cast all their spells without worrying about arcane spell failure so there is literally no downside to using Tower Shield-Fu on a cleric. On an arcane spellcaster however it's a different story as the Tower Shield's 50% arcane spell failure will murder you. But fear not, that's why I, Sensei-Robo, is here. Simply use your move action to remove the Tower Shield when you want to cast a spell and reattach the Tower Sheild as a move action after you cast a spell.
Round1: Cast a spell, use move action to attach Tower Shield, +4 AC
Round2: Use a move action to detach the Tower Shield and cast a spell, +0 AC
Round3: Cast a spell, use move action to attach Tower Shield, +4 AC
But wait! This means you're only protected half the time! While true, compare it with an Arcane Spellcaster without a Tower Shield.
Round1: Cast a spell, +0 AC
Round2: Cast a spell, +0 AC
Round3: Cast a spell, +0 AC
This spellcaster is protected 0% of the time. So as you can see, there is literally no downside to carrying a Tower Shield. And let's face it, a level 1 or 2 character is not gonna be casting more than one or two spells in an encounter so the spellcaster with the Tower Shield is possibly protected 100% of the time in every encounter.This one seems likely to work, however, though it might get books thrown at you.


I know that one of the reasons you pooh-pooh shield the spell in favor of the Tower Shield is that it costs a spell slot, but bear with me anyway: an unseen servant can carry the shield FOR you. It'll last for at least an hour, and more as you level up. And you can still do the "equip/de-equip" stunts and cower behind it for full cover without having to worry about its weight most of the time. You can also balance it on a floating disk to increase the surface area that spell can store things, and carry it along. That's 2 hours per level, too.

In addition, items which cast unseen servant as a command action to last for an hour are 1800 gp. 1260 gp if it can only be used by a wizard (or class you happen to be, you item-crafting sneak, you). The servant can be already up because you just recast it 1x per hour. Unlike a similar item that casts shield, which also might not be kosher because of the alternate rules for item costs when they provide AC bonuses, this won't require you to predict when combat starts or re-cast 1x per minute.



The spinsword is an interesting idea. Is that really the only one-handed reach weapon in the game?

[noob]

If you are ready to spend tons of money in a tower shield I believe you can have a mithril feycraft githcraft tower shield with only 30% of spell failure then with some enchantments it can reach 0%
do people knows more ways to reduce spell failure than mithril feycraft githcraft?

[Troacctid]

The spinsword is an interesting idea. Is that really the only one-handed reach weapon in the game?
There's the kusari-gama.


I never said it didn't.
???

Tower Shield-Fu Technique #5: Attacking with the Tower Shield
If you have a Tower Shield attached to your arm you have a whopping -12 to your attack. So how do you avoid this? Simple. Drop the Tower Shield. If you are in a situation where all your opponents are melee and there is no threat to your person, would you cast Shield? Of course not and the same logic applies here. Dropping a Tower Shield is a Free Action. If there are no archers or you're not surrounded there is no reason to have a Tower Shield strapped to your arm so simply drop the Tower Shield and fire your crossbow. In all honesty though, if you have 8 Dex, you're firing into Melee, and there's an ally between you and your target, you are attacking with a -9 modifier so perhaps you should do something more productive with your action than fire a crossbow with a -9 to-hit. In any case, as you can see, there is literally no downside to carrying a Tower Shield because those who aren't carrying a Tower Shield do NOT have the option of strapping one to their arms and is forced to plink away with their crossbow regardless of whether they got a clear shot or not while those who are carrying a Tower Shield have this option and the Tower Shield-Fu.

[ericgrau]

So as you can see, there is literally no downside to carrying a Tower Shield. And let's face it, a level 1 or 2 character is not gonna be casting more than one or two spells in an encounter so the spellcaster with the Tower Shield is possibly protected 100% of the time in every encounter.
It weighs 45 lbs. which requires str 13 to be a light load. Possibly str 14 with other items. Though if you aren't moving often anyway, having a 20' speed isn't so bad. Still it's a downside.

It's also too heavy for an unseen servant, except to slowly drag it.

The thing with total cover, is that the total cover rules explain that there is an obstacle. It is reasonable to assume and FAQ supported that the total cover from the tower shield is via using the shield as an obstacle. i.e., the total cover only applies when the tower shield blocks line of effect in the location you left it. Still helpful, but it's not immunity to ranged attacks.

Even so these are still cool tricks to get +4 AC at least part of the time. Also consider a mithral buckler or +1 mithral buckler. See if your DM will let you strap both at once so that the tower shield will replace the buckler when possible.

[Ruethgar]

Rules Compendium says a "A wielder gains no reach from a reach weapon that is too small." So what possible benefit is there to going with a longspear?

Would this be bypassable by a slight or powerful build since you count it as properly sized but your handedness with it should still be greater?


Can an Unseen Servant share a space with you? I don't know
Can an Unseen Servant equip a Tower Shield? I don't know


Unseen Servants have no space to take up so yes they can share a space since their space in nul. Being without a body to determine proper slots available, they cannot equip a tower shield even if they could carry it from a combination of mithral and the light armor enhancement(Dragon Magazine 358 p41) if shields count as armor at your table.

[Deophaun]

Impractical for an adventurer, who has to be able to squeeze through narrow passages, climb walls, and rush through a dungeon before his 10 min/level buffs wear off.

It's also very awkward to get through a tavern door, let alone when trying to sit down at the bar. Then you have to endure the muffled laughing of the wenches. On the upside, if you bring four clubs along you never want for a table.

[Maat Mons]

The spinsword is an interesting idea. Is that really the only one-handed reach weapon in the game?

The spinning sword is the only one I'm aware of that I'm certain was actually intended to work that way.

[remetagross]

The kusari-gama, in the DMG, is essentially a one-handed spiked chain, too.

[liquidformat]

The kusari-gama, in the DMG, is essentially a one-handed spiked chain, too.

also a really cool weapon in general...

[Jowgen]

Can an Unseen Servant share a space with you? I don't know
Can an Unseen Servant equip a Tower Shield? I don't know

Yes it can, as it is a spell effect rather than a creature; although with its mere 20 speed it might have trouble keeping up. Unless you can get it to hold onto you as you move, but as it can only do one thing at a time that precludes it carrying a tower shield.

Speaking off, the main barrier to it equiping the shield is 45 lb weight. Unseen Servant caps at 20 lb, so at the very least you need it to be Feycraft and Darkwood, with a ruling that the 10% Feycraft discount applies before the halving by Darkwood. Otherwise more shenanigans are required.

Now as for whether it can wield a Shield, that is tricky. The FAQ states that it can do anything an unskilled human can do, and taking cover behind a tower shield does fall into that category. As it does not have the required appendages, or a body at that, there might be issues with the rules for non-humanoid physiology equipment.

Still, even if it is rules that the servant can use the Tower Shield to take cover, as written that cover does not extend to creatures sharing its space. The FAQ on how tower shield does seem to suggest that it would, but that is not RAW.

Also, considering the cost of a move action to direct the Servant to do something different, it is questionable whether this would all work out effectively in practice, even with the best rulings.