Animated Shields?

[Wolfspirit]

Hey, how exactly does an Animated Shield work? It says in the DMG that it rotates around and protects the users, but does the user have to concentrate on the attack at all to use it? Would it work even though the user was flatfooted?


And what would happen if you got an Animated Towershield?

 

[Wormwood]

From a purely rules-oriented standpoint (which mine ALWAYS is):

An animated shield simply frees up one arm. That's it. You still need the shield proficiency, you still suffer Check Penalty, Spell Failure, weight, etc.

I don't think any special rules need be implemented. It works exactly as if the shield were still strapped to your arm.

Allowing an Animated shield to be free +3 AC or more with no drawbacks is a little much. If that were the case, every wizard on the planet would have Animated Tower Shields.

 

[Pax]

From a purely rules-oriented standpoint (which mine ALWAYS is):

An animated shield simply frees up one arm. That's it. You still need the shield proficiency, you still suffer Check Penalty, Spell Failure, weight, etc.

I don't think any special rules need be implemented. It works exactly as if the shield were still strapped to your arm.

Allowing an Animated shield to be free +3 AC or more with no drawbacks is a little much. If that were the case, every wizard on the planet would have Animated Tower Shields.

Tower Shields can't be animated.

And it is a PLUS TWO enhancement.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Tower Shields can't be animated.

Source?

The Bashing enhancement specifically notes "Tower shields can't have this one", while neither the DMG or the errata says anything of the sort for Animated...

-Hyp.

 

[Apok]

Animated Shields are the answer for those seeking the extra damage of a two-handed weapon with the extra AC bonus of a shield all in one.

A very strong enchantment, so I'm inclined to agree w/ Wormwood's interpretation. Giving it the extra bennies of no check penalty, proficiency reqs or ASF and it becomes really sick.