New shield feat, looking for opinions

C

calypso15

Explorer

• Apr 10, 2005

• #1

Tower Shield Specialization [General]

Prerequisites
Tower Shield Proficiency, base attack bonus +1

Benefit
You do not suffer the normal -2 penalty to attack rolls while using a tower shield. You still cannot attack while using the shield for cover, however.

Normal
You suffer a -2 penalty to attack rolls made while using a tower shield.

Special
A fighter may select Tower Shield Specialization as one of his fighter bonus feats.

What do you guys think?

Calypso

 

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Hypersmurf

Moderatarrrrh...

• Apr 10, 2005

• #2

Moved to House Rules.

-Hyp.
(Moderator)

 

Jack Simth

First Post

• Apr 10, 2005

• #3

Looks okay, other than needing to be in house rules, although you may consider raising the BAB requirements; it might be a little too good for lower-level tank builds.

 

C

calypso15

Explorer

• Apr 10, 2005

• #4

Jack Simth said:

Looks okay, other than needing to be in house rules, although you may consider raising the BAB requirements; it might be a little too good for lower-level tank builds.

Click to expand...

Ah, right, sorry. Heh, the D&D rules forum was the only one I even knew about.

Okay, so maybe +4 or +5 then? Then they could get it just about the same time they qualify for most fighter-type PrCs.

Calypso

 

Jdvn1

Hanging in there. Better than the alternative.

• Apr 10, 2005

• #5

Yeah, I'd make it BAB +4 or +6 at least. Seems a tad powerful.

Of course, different games balance differently.

 

Angel Tarragon

Dawn Dragon

• Apr 10, 2005

• #6

I'm in agreement with others here. The BAB prereq should be at least +4.

 

Jack Simth

First Post

• Apr 10, 2005

• #7

There might be another way to balance it, other than the BAB requirements - split it two ways; a normal version that reduces the -2 penalty to -1, and a Greater version that a) requires the normal version and b) reduces it to -0; this would make it roughly on par with Weapon Focus and Greater Weapon Focus - WF and GWF cost two feats and yield +2 to attack when using the specified weapon; TSS and GTSS cost two feats and negate a -2 penalty to attack when using the specified shield.

 

CM

Adventurer

• Apr 10, 2005

• #8

Two-Weapon Fighting reduces attack penalties by an average of four. I don't think the BAB +1 requirement or full benefits in a single feat are out of line. Someone dedicated to a tower shield has plenty of other things to worry about, such as armor check penalties for climbing/swimming/jumping, encumbrance, and even finding a magical one.