Tower Shield Specialization?

[Furtive Noise]

Is there a feat somewhere that negates the -2 penalty to hit when using a tower shield? I thought there was but none of my books have one so perhaps I'm imagining things. If this doesn't exist, would such a feat (or a similar one) be balanced? I'm playing a dwarven stonelord and have been using a tower shield, combined with armor my check penalty is a lovely -16; its great fun being such a clumsy rock but the -2 to hit really limits my combat effectiveness.

 

[Swiftbrook]

I can't find a feat but I do have another suggestion: Have a tower shield built for your character out of Dark Wood.

Masterwork Item
Armor check penalty is -8 not -10
Cost is 480 gp (30 + 450 for darkwood)
Weight is 22.5 lb.

Ask your if the much lower weight eliminates the encumbrance penalty in his campaign.

-Swiftbrook

 

[two]

Unfortunately, completely removing the -2 at the cost of one feat is too good.

"To hit" bonuses are hard to come by. Weapon Focus is only for one weapon, and grants +1. Ditto Greater WF.

I'd allow a feat called "Tower Shield Mastery" that reduces the penalty to hit to -1, and reduces the armor check penalty by 2.

Ditto "Improved Tower Shield Mastery", which totally removes the penalty "to hit" and again resudes the AC penalty by another 2.

Or something like that. So, at the price of 2 feats, you get +2 to hit for all weapons (by removing the -2 penalty) and you get an added bennie on the AC penalty. Should be tempting.

 

[Furtive Noise]

Hmm, you're right, getting rid of the -2 altogether would probably be too good. I like your ideas for TS mastery feats w/ the slight penalty reduction, although reducing the check penalty is not a huge concern for me personally. When its at -16 already I pretty much just plan on failing any kind of skill check I might make. But the idea for the 2 feats is sound and I'll try running it by the DM later on, thanks. Still interested if anyone has found any other feats relating to tower shields in some way, I just find the item and style of it interesting compared to all the shield bashing weapon/shield builds.

 

[Scion]

I think that a feat that only got rid of the -2 penalty to hit would be a pretty weak feat.

Generally taking away a penalty is a much bigger boost than gaining a bonus.

Nonprof to prof is a net change of 4. Twf reduces the penalties by a total of 8.

I think that spending a feat to take away the -2 penalty to hit and grant some other minor bonus would be a nice feat. The minor bonus is up in the air though, it could be a ton of different things, perhaps some lessening of the armor check penalty would work or some other tactical use of the shield.