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Message: <blockquote data-quote="auburn2" data-source="post: 8249277" data-attributes="member: 6855259">And they are not going around looking to spend thousands either.  To use your previous example, there are not people that go shopping for Ferraris and Rolex's while also eating Ramen noodles and living in the projects.  Misers are not going to be in the part of town where magic studded leather is sold, let alone be shopping for it.No need to be sorry.  The book was stolen from me, along with a lot of stuff.  I am having fun in the game.Lemunds chest is one place to put a spare.  You can also give a spare to another PC, leave it with an inkeeper (and pay him), leave it at your camp ..... but other than those things, yes you will have to backtrackIF they are not in combat already sure.  Opening a door, throwing a lever, picking up an object, getting a potion out of your pack - I think these are all examples in the PHB, in the combat section of the PHB to boot, and you can not do any of them with an item in both hands.  If you start the turn with an item in both hands you need to drop it or use an action to do any of these things.How about this as an example - you are holding your sword and shield and you want to drink a potion of healing.  Just like the door example, you have to drop your sword on the ground to do that this turn.  Are you going to tell me you never drink potions in combat either? Or maybe you use your foot to kick your potion out of your pack and open it.Maybe, but now you are counting a fighting style in there and one he chose over others.  When you start looking at that you need to start considering monk abilities too, like BA dodge for example.In combat a fighter with a 21 AC is going to get hit by attacks more often than a monk with a 21 AC, so equal is not really equal.What if they do?  It doesn't have any effect on the central hypothesis - BOD is no better than a mundane, 50gp shield.Like I said, we had a magic shield no one in the party wanted.  Armor and shields provide AC?  Good job stating the obvious.Yeah it will match or beat the Monk in AC .... but so will taking dodge every turn, or using your concentration on shield of faith or a dozen other things.  AC isn't everything though and a shield +1 is uncommon because it isn't that great.Unarmored defense does not work with shields, so shield proficiency would be irrelevant unless his wisdom is below 14.  Further he would lose his martial arts attack and flurry of blows ability if he is holding a weapon in the other hand (unless he dropped it after attacking).How does it matter at all?You (player) were getting to play.  Your character could spend the next year of game time complaining and joking with the others about how you were screwed.Rolls are rolls, it is part of the game.Ok, I guess, but how many players are that guy?  Do you wear armor into the bathtub too?Flavor is the whole pointI guess if your character is that stuffy and serious it makes sense.  Most characters I play with do things like drink and gamble and joke around and do all sorts of stuff they would not do if the were constantly looking over their shoulder waiting to be ambushed.Maybe, or maybe you used all your movement and killed one enemy with your first attack, now you have a second attack.  Maybe are throwing it at the guy trying to flee and raise the alarm, while the guy who is going to pick it up is 10 feet away from you.Can you honestly say you have never had a character with extra attack mix a range and melee attack ... or like I said above wanted to drink a potion, or use a scroll, or light a torch or anything else that requires a free hand in combat?Not really.  The difference is small unless you are a caster with the shield spell or you can use or you have defensive duelist or some other way of imposing a penalty or disadvantage after the attack roll.Against a foe with a +10 attack a person with an 18AC is going to get hit 18% more often than a person with a 20AC (assuming they can't do the things above).  If you get attacked 50 times in an adventuring day it is about 32 hits vs 27 hits.  In terms of damage it is less than 18% difference because of the criticals.Now if  you can cast shield or blur or you are a defensive duelist, or war magic wizard or something, you can make substantially more mileage out of that difference.Do it all the time, usually I usually knock the enemy prone though, not back 5 feet (unless I am knocking him off a  bridge or a ledge or something).  knock a melee enemy prone also uses up half his movement when he gets back up, severely restricting his mobility and options. Knock him prone, use fast hands to throw down some caltrops and then move your full movement and you have cost him two to three turns before he can get to you or really anyone else if the party plays it smart.  IT is more than two or three if he actually tries to move through the caltrops at a normal pace and fails his save.Enemy goes invisible and ready action to grapple when he makes his attack, then you can grab him and he can't get away and hide again and your allies pound him.  Use shove to push a guy away then use bonus action dash to move across the battlefield (or flee).Also you can move wherever you want with the grappled guy.  he can't move but you can move him, that is the main point of it.  He can attack the Rogue but only the Rogue or someone else within 5 feet unless he makes a missile attack (with disadvantage) or a spell attack.   Drag him into a web, or into a cloud of daggers or really anywhere you want to put him and you get to keep attacking him every turn while he is grappled.The other thing it is great for is flying enemies.  As long as they are not 2 sizes larger than you, you can grapple them and force them to stay on the ground while your buddies (and in future turns you) pound them.   They have to waste an action to try to escape.The thing that kills that character for me is the low dexterity and the disadvantagee on stealth.  I just think it creates a tough time trying to sneak anywhere unless you leave him behind.The best melee tanks I have seen played are bladesingers and really I have never seen anything else close.  Save for half spells kill them pretty easily (until 10th level) but they are the most difficult players to hit in my experience both as a DM and as a player.  Bladesong and blur (or protection from good and evil) in round 1 and you will often need to roll a double 20 (20 with disadvantage) to hit them.  I played one that did not get hit by an attack in combat a single time for several entire levels (from level 6 to 8 if I remember correctly). Note: an EK in plate and shield with shield spell and blur can match a BS for a little while, but they don't have enough spell slots to keep up for very long.</blockquote>

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