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Message: <blockquote data-quote="atom crash" data-source="post: 1759123" data-attributes="member: 22162">In my campaign, one party member is a fighter with a +1 shield of arrow deflection. This campaign started off as 3.0 (that's when he acquired the shield) but has morphed into v3.5 along the way. I'm running into some issues with this item because of changes in the rules from 3.0 to 3.5.The Deflect Arrows feat allows the character to knock away one projectile per round that would otherwise score a hit, as long as he has one free hand and is aware of the attack. v3.0 required a Reflex save to deflect, but v3.5 dropped the save and made it automatic, assuming the other requirements are met.The Arrow Deflection special ability of shields allows a Reflex save (DC 20) to do the same thing as the Deflect Arrows feat and costs a +2 bonus.Why was the Reflex save not dropped for the shield special ability in v3.5? Shouldn't this special ability work just like the feat? And why is the cost so  high? IIRC, this ability cost a +1 bonus in v3.0. Reflex isn't a fighter's best save, so he's paying a +2 bonus for a chance to knock away one ranged attack per round with his shield. Not a good trade-off, in my book. A 20th level fighter with no other mods to his Reflex save with a +1 shield of arrow deflection still has to roll a 13 or better to use this ability. And that 40% chance costs 9000 gp! Wouldn't he be better off just taking a +3 shield and thus increasing his AC against all attacks?I'm leaning toward house-ruling that the shield special ability works just like the feat and costs a +1 bonus. I'm looking for other input before I make that call, so any opinions would be greatly appreciated.</blockquote>

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