Player Request Help

[CheshireCatAW]

I will be starting a new campaign fairly soon at the bequest of a friend who wants to learn how to play Pathfinder. I need help with one of her requests; She would like to play someone that can throw their shield. That is her only stipulation and I'd like to try and accommodate her while also not hindering her with an otherwise marginally optimized party. Any suggestions, especially simple fixes or small adaptations, would be most appreciated.

Thank you.

[Kayden Prynn]

Throw Anything Feat from 3.5, or, for a worse version that takes more effort, Shield Sling.

[Florian]

Here, have a Brawler: http://www.aonprd.com/ArchetypeDisplay.aspx?FixedName=Brawler%20Shield%2 0Champion

[CheshireCatAW]

The brawler looks like something she would enjoy. And it is, ultimately, simple enough that I think a first timer would be able to grasp it easily enough.

Is there anything particular I should know about the archetype that will need special attention?

I appreciate the help a lot. As will she, I am sure.

[Florian]

Four feats are more or less important for this archetype: Point-Blank Shot and Precise Shot, Improved Shield Bash and Shield Slam. Beyond that, you can simply follow any one of the better Brawler guides.

Edit: And please, don't make it a vibranium shield and have her wear some sort of costume. (Rather, grant her this as a quest reward: http://www.aonprd.com/MagicArmorDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Maelstrom%20Shield )

[Andor13]

If you use 3rd party stuff the Iron Tortoise (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/alternative-rule-systems/path-of-war/disciplines-and-maneuvers/iron-tortoise-maneuvers/) discipline from Path of War has plenty of shield hurling goodness.

If you think the PoW classes are within her reach as a new player, of course. I'd suggest Warder or Warlord as two of the simpler classes to play.

[The Eternal DM]

I'd say give her shield a 10 foot range increment and a d8 damage and call it a day. If she throws it she loses her ac bonus until she picks it up. Let her add weapon magic to it like the returning quality, or shock, frost, or fire.

Item
45gp
Throwing Shield
Medium Steel Shield +2 ac
10ft range increment, 50 ft max
d8 damage
crit 20x3 or 19-20x2

[Serafina]

Throwing Shields are already a thing that exists (http://www.aonprd.com/EquipmentWeaponsDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Throwing%20s hield). They're pretty unremarkable - just 1D6 damage with 20ft. range and the trip special property - but it's right there in first party content.

If you're willing to go into thirdy-party content, consider going into Spheres of Might (http://spheresofpower.wikidot.com/). It's simple to use, in many ways it works just like feats.
Because that has something really lovely for shield-throwers: Throw Bash (http://spheresofpower.wikidot.com/equipment-sphere#toc30) grants you proficiency with throwing shields, and shield spikes now increase their damage, and you get to do a cool thing and actually defend allies by throwing your shield (by using the Shield Sphere (http://spheresofpower.wikidot.com/shield)).


All of that would be fairly easy to slap onto any character you want, thus leaving your player a lot of freedom. That's of course if you don't use one of the numerous Spheres-archetypes, many of which already do this stuff already.

Trade out all weapon proficiencies but with simple weapon (as long as they include proficiency with all martial weapons, or at least one exotic weapon) for a Martial Tradition. Make up your own Martial Tradition: it consists of Throw Bash, any one Discipline Talent (http://spheresofpower.wikidot.com/equipment-sphere#toc38) (which will give you several proficiencies) and the Shield sphere, as well as one talent from it. That'll already allow you to do fancy things right out of the gate.

And then you can either take some talents by just buying them with feats, or by trading away some of your feat progression (http://spheresofpower.wikidot.com/using-spheres-of-might#toc5) for more talents than that. Such as your (1, 5, 9, 13, 17)th level feat for a talent at 2nd level, and every 2nd level thereafter.

Again, in a lot of cases it'll be simpler to just take an archetype, but with the above you can slap some Spheres of Might goodness (allowing you to do cool things that really aren't overpowered) onto basically any class.