Crazy Question On Shields

[melkorspawn]

Ok... let's say for some crazy reason, you've taken Two Weapon Fighting, Improved Shield Bash, and picked up two shields, heavy and light. Is there a way to magically improve both the AC and the damage caused by the shields? Does a masterwork shield give +1 to the attack roll, or just decrease the check penalty? Are there any shields more deadly than the 1d6 Spiked Heavy Shield? Would Two Weapon Defense still give you additional AC? Am I crazy enough to impliment this whimsy, dreamed up in a moment of insanity whilst reading the Fighter Question thread?

 

[Pinotage]

Ok... let's say for some crazy reason, you've taken Two Weapon Fighting, Improved Shield Bash, and picked up two shields, heavy and light. Is there a way to magically improve both the AC and the damage caused by the shields? Does a masterwork shield give +1 to the attack roll, or just decrease the check penalty? Are there any shields more deadly than the 1d6 Spiked Heavy Shield? Would Two Weapon Defense still give you additional AC? Am I crazy enough to impliment this whimsy, dreamed up in a moment of insanity whilst reading the Fighter Question thread?

There's some debate about whether you can even use two shields given that the description states that a shield bash is an 'offhand' attack. In any event, you can enchant a shield as both a shield and a weapon, but you treat them separately. So a +1 Light Shield enchanted as a +1 weapon gives +2 AC but also +1 on attack and damage for attacks due to the weapon enhancement. It costs 1159 gp for the shield bonus, and 2300 for the weapon enhancement.

You can apply the bashing ability to a shield, increasing the damage done by one category, but there's no clear indication of how this ability interacts with later enchanting of the shield as a weapon.

Pinotage

 

[Infiniti2000]

So a +1 Light Shield enchanted as a +1 weapon gives +2 AC but also +1 on attack and damage for attacks due to the weapon enhancement. It costs 1159 gp for the shield bonus, and 2300 for the weapon enhancement.

For one thing, the word is enhance, not enchant. They have different game-related definitions. For another, it would only be 2000 for the +1 weapon enhancement. You can't masterwork craft armor or shields as weapons. You don't even need to. The masterwork for the shield itself is sufficient. One other thing to the OP, note that this specific light shield is steel.

 

[TheGogmagog]

Hmm, +5 Large Shield with +5 defending.
- Pretty expensive, but +12 AC?
- Do you need to attack to gain defending weapons AC? (I could look it up, but don't want to go through SRD to find it.)

 

[Pinotage]

For one thing, the word is enhance, not enchant. They have different game-related definitions. For another, it would only be 2000 for the +1 weapon enhancement. You can't masterwork craft armor or shields as weapons. You don't even need to. The masterwork for the shield itself is sufficient. One other thing to the OP, note that this specific light shield is steel.

Yuck. Got the other two right. I know better than that. Typing without thinking. In any event, I don't agree. Crafting a shield as a weapon and as a shield is two distinctly different things. Why shouldn't crafting it to be a weapon also incur the masterwork cost? Is a masterwork shield suddenly a masterwork weapon as well? I don't think it is, but there's nothing to support that idea.

Pinotage

 

[Infiniti2000]

The shield is either masterwork or it's not. There's no mentioning of creating a weapon-masterwork shield or any type of hybrid, double-masterwork item in the SRD. Note that the requirements for making a magical weapon out of a shield only stipulate that it be masterwork, not that it incur an additional cost of 300gp, because the cost of a masterwork shield is simply +150gp.

 

[melkorspawn]

So... what I would have to do is make the shields masterwork for the armor check benefit, and then make the spikes masterwork for the attack bonus?

 

[werk]

So... what I would have to do is make the shields masterwork for the armor check benefit, and then make the spikes masterwork for the attack bonus?

That's what I was going to say, aren't the spikes the weapon?

An enhancement bonus to a suit of armor does not improve the spikes’ effectiveness, but the spikes can be made into magic weapons in their own right.

We've always played that they are basically two separate items.

 

[Nail]

Yup.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

So... what I would have to do is make the shields masterwork for the armor check benefit, and then make the spikes masterwork for the attack bonus?

Only if you wanted a magic spiked shield.