Enchantments

[Stormcrow]

Weapon enchantments on sheilds i.e. Fire enchantment for shieldbash damage/awesome image.

&

Shield Enchantments on offhand weapons.

Thoughts?

[oriong]

Well, I'm not entirely sure what you're asking. Are you trying to see if it's possible?

You can do the first (although maybe only if it's spiked). Whether or not it's a good idea depends on your feats.

The second isn't possible at all.

[Indon]

IIRC, there exists a weapon enchantment which allows you to convert a weapon's enhancement bonus straight to AC - Defending, I do believe it's called, with a +3 enhancement cost (might be more, don't have a reference onhand).

[Lord Iames Osari]

Defending only has a +1 enhancement cost.

And really, I don't see why it shouldn't be allowed for a weapon like a dagger to be enchanted as a shield.

[Josh Inno]

You can indeed enchant a spiked shield's spike with attack enhancements. However a +2 spiked shield is only +2 for the shield unless you add the +2 to the spike as well as a -separate- enchantment.

[Indon]

Oh, well, that's not that bad. Makes it much more reasonable for use compared to a shield, as well.

Is the bonus a shield bonus, though? It'd be interesting if you could have that as an off-hand, and then a shield floating next to you...

Edit: In regards to the Defending enhancement, that is.

[Stormcrow]

I'm unsure as to why the second is impossible. I mean i'd like to enchant the shortsword in my off hand with Arrow Deflection. Its got some serious prestige to it.

And I think its possible to add a damage enchantment to a heavy shield wether it is spiked or not.

[Ikkitosen]

I had a thought that, since with two-weapon defence your weapons give you a shield bonus, you should be able to enchant them as shields. Any time they grant you a shield bonus you benefit from the enhancements to said shield bonus.

Such thoughts were quickly poo-pooed by other posters though ;)

[Arbitrarity]

Defending is unnamed, so yes.

And my favorite is a large, spiked, heavy +1 shield with bashing.

3d6 2 handed for medium, and +3 shield AC!

[Indon]

A 2-handed shield?

hmm... can you power attack with a shield bash?

[oriong]

well part of the problem of enchanting an 'off hand' weapon with shield bonuses is that there is nothing that makes a weapon 'off-hand'. That just refers to which hand you're holding it in (and it doesn't even exist anymore when you take two weapon fighting). Any weapon that isn't two handed can be an 'off-hand' weapon.

So the question is whether or not a weapon should be able to be enchanted with a shield bonus. I don't think so.

For one thing you've got the issue of the AC bonus, would your enchanted short sword give you a bonus to AC? If so then how could you fight with it? You'd lose it every time you attack with the weapon, or would you need to take improved Shield Fighting?

If it didn't give a bonus to AC, and just provided the benefits of the shield enhancement you'd either be wasting money for the +1 it always needs or, if you're feeling evil, getting multiple Armor enhancements cheaply (two weapons would provide two possible enhancements each, plus one on the armor).

A simpler solution would just allow a few shield enhancements to be turned into weapon enhancements. Arrow Deflection and Blinding are two that might be appropraite.

[Arceliar]

A 2-handed shield?

hmm... can you power attack with a shield bash?

From the Shield Bash special attack description:
Used this way, a shield is a martial bludgeoning weapon. For the purpose of penalties on attack rolls, treat a heavy shield as a one-handed weapon and a light shield as a light weapon.

So a heavy shield is a 1-handed weapon. 1-handed weapons can be used in 2 hands--I imagine it to be like bracing your shield arm with the other arm as well. But technically yes, you can power attack with a shield.

What I've always wondered is if there's any way to get Unarmed Strike as a 2-handed weapon. Cause you can fold your hands and bash downward IRL and it hurts like a bitch to get hit by.

[Lord Iames Osari]

well part of the problem of enchanting an 'off hand' weapon with shield bonuses is that there is nothing that makes a weapon 'off-hand'. That just refers to which hand you're holding it in (and it doesn't even exist anymore when you take two weapon fighting).

Uh, no. It's just that the penalties for your primary hand and off hand are equal.

For one thing you've got the issue of the AC bonus, would your enchanted short sword give you a bonus to AC? If so then how could you fight with it? You'd lose it every time you attack with the weapon, or would you need to take improved Shield Fighting?

I'd rule it as working like a shield that provided a basic shield bonus of +0 (assuming you didn't have any TWD feats). So, yes, you'd lose to the bonus every time you attacked with it, unless you had the Improved Shield Fighting feat.

[Stormcrow]

I think that a dedicated off hand weapon is as useful as a shield as a shield is. I've fought two sword style before and i actually find it MORE helpful than a heater shield because its a hell of alot faster. My character with his "ninja" reflexes is fast enough to deflect arrows, so i want to let him! :P

[oriong]

Well, that's the thing: there is no such thing as a 'dedicated off hand weapon' just a weapon that the user happens to be holding in his off-hand at that moment.

Like I said I personally would have no problem putting arrow deflection as an enhancement to a weapon (as a weapon enhancement, not a shield enhancement), but legally you can't do it.

[Seffbasilisk]

Deflecting from Complete Warrior. +1 cost. 1/round you can make a DC 20 + the ranged weapons enhancement bonus reflex save to negate it. Get two weapons and you can do that 2/round.

Edit: I assume that's what you want.