Divine Shield question

[Lord Pendragon]

For instance, Dex bonus to AC?

-Hyp.

Hyp, were you agreeing with him? Because Dex bonus to AC does scale up with no limit. Armor may limit it, but in a shirt and breeches the higher the dex, the higher the AC...ad infinitum.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Hyp, were you agreeing with him? Because Dex bonus to AC does scale up with no limit. Armor may limit it, but in a shirt and breeches the higher the dex, the higher the AC...ad infinitum.

Yup - and your Cha bonus scales up with no limit, but putting it on your shield as an enhancement bonus limits it to +5.

The guy with 24 Dex in full plate gets +7 to ranged attacks, initiative, reflex saves... but his bonus to AC is limited by the full plate - an inherent quality of the armor, as described in the table in the PHB.

The paladin with 24 Cha gets +7 to saves, to attacks with a smite, to damage with Divine Might... but the enhancement bonus on a shield is limited to +5 - an inherent quality of armor and shields, as described in the Magic Items section of the DMG.

-Hyp.

 

[The Souljourner]

No no no. You can only make non-epic magic shields with a permanent +5 enhancement bonus. We're not creating a magic shield here. The shield doesn't have to be masterwork for you to use Divine Shield on it, and it doesn't become masterwork when you use it. It doesn't become a magic item when you use the feat, just like you don't become a magic item when you get Cat's Grace cast on you.

They're two completely different birds, albeit with similar plumage.

And if you want another argument - there's no +5 restriction on even magic shields, since +6 and higher are available in the epic handbook. You can create a magic shield with a +6 enhancement bonus with craft epic armor. Since we're not crafting a magic item, we don't need the feat, there's no caster level restriction, so it just works.

If you would like to rule as a DM that since Divine Shield is not an epic feat, that it can't duplicate epic effects, that's your decision, and perhaps not an unwise one. However, there's nothing in the epic handbook that says "no effects in the PHB or class supplements can reproduce the effects of epic magic items".

-The Souljourner

 

[Hypersmurf]

No no no. You can only make non-epic magic shields with a permanent +5 enhancement bonus. We're not creating a magic shield here. The shield doesn't have to be masterwork for you to use Divine Shield on it, and it doesn't become masterwork when you use it. It doesn't become a magic item when you use the feat, just like you don't become a magic item when you get Cat's Grace cast on you.

They're two completely different birds, albeit with similar plumage.

And yet if you're not using the ELH - if you're playing a pre-epic campaign - the existence of +6 enhancement bonuses on armor is prohibited by the sentence "enhancement bonuses never rise above +5".

-Hyp.

 

[Zenon]

This is a good question. I have paladin who has discovered this feat, worse yet he shield bashes with the enhanced shield, effectively getting a +6 or better weapon out of it and adding to the damage also.

My first reaction was to limit it to the +5 per the DMG rule, but the feat itself doen't state resrictions like the Magic Vestment spell does.

Anyone have a Sage or Customer Service ruling on this?