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<blockquote data-quote="StreamOfTheSky" data-source="post: 5623900" data-attributes="member: 35909">There's a draw, and it's optimized.&nbsp; I played a bodyguard character with two shields previously, and he was really fun even though mechanically weak and spread thin between multiclassing and multiple ability dependency.&nbsp; Of course, that was using the whole of 3E splat material, so he had half a dozen things to use the second shield for, like blocking attacks on allies or providing it's AC bonus to them for a round.&nbsp; So, out of nostalgia I kinda want to do another dual shield guy.&nbsp; Plus I like the mental image of a big dude in armor with two massive wickedly pointy shields.For the optimizing part...&nbsp; For starters, having two of the same weapon makes feats like Weapon Focus and such go further, it's why a TWF build is just as likely to be two shortswords as it is longsword + shortsword.&nbsp; With Shield Slam, I get a free bull rush every attack with a shield, so it's tactically useful to get more chances to do that per round.&nbsp; Finally, the biggest reason it's optimized is the absolutely amazing Shield Master feat.&nbsp; No penalties to attack with a shield means your &quot;main hand&quot; shield is at least getting a +2 to hit over any non-shield weapon for TWF (in the case of wanting a heavy shield in the off-hand, a +4 difference).&nbsp; Not only that, but now defensive enhancements count for offensive enhancement, so each +1 you imbue in it is paying extra dividends.&nbsp; And considering how freaking expensive keeping two weapons upgraded is, that's really helpful.&nbsp; Sure, you only get the AC boost from one, but if nothing else, AC bonuses cost half, so you're still getting two +5 weapons and a +5 AC for 50,000 gp (to be fair, you're going to at least be paying another 22,000 for Bashing on each) ultimately.&nbsp; And with Bashing and spiked on a heavy shield, it's doing a respectable 2d6 medium base damage, though only a 20/x2 crit.To be honest, if and when a Ranger hits 10 and gets Bashing Finish (free shield bash on a crit), it may very well be more optimal to main hand a heavy shield and offhand a kukri with either Improved Critical or Keen.&nbsp; But I'd still rather just use my two shields even then. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile&nbsp; &nbsp; :)"&nbsp; data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Is having two shields really that outlandish in real life?</blockquote>

[QUOTE="StreamOfTheSky, post: 5623900, member: 35909"] There's a draw, and it's optimized. I played a bodyguard character with two shields previously, and he was really fun even though mechanically weak and spread thin between multiclassing and multiple ability dependency. Of course, that was using the whole of 3E splat material, so he had half a dozen things to use the second shield for, like blocking attacks on allies or providing it's AC bonus to them for a round. So, out of nostalgia I kinda want to do another dual shield guy. Plus I like the mental image of a big dude in armor with two massive wickedly pointy shields. For the optimizing part... For starters, having two of the same weapon makes feats like Weapon Focus and such go further, it's why a TWF build is just as likely to be two shortswords as it is longsword + shortsword. With Shield Slam, I get a free bull rush every attack with a shield, so it's tactically useful to get more chances to do that per round. Finally, the biggest reason it's optimized is the absolutely amazing Shield Master feat. No penalties to attack with a shield means your "main hand" shield is at least getting a +2 to hit over any non-shield weapon for TWF (in the case of wanting a heavy shield in the off-hand, a +4 difference). Not only that, but now defensive enhancements count for offensive enhancement, so each +1 you imbue in it is paying extra dividends. And considering how freaking expensive keeping two weapons upgraded is, that's really helpful. Sure, you only get the AC boost from one, but if nothing else, AC bonuses cost half, so you're still getting two +5 weapons and a +5 AC for 50,000 gp (to be fair, you're going to at least be paying another 22,000 for Bashing on each) ultimately. And with Bashing and spiked on a heavy shield, it's doing a respectable 2d6 medium base damage, though only a 20/x2 crit. To be honest, if and when a Ranger hits 10 and gets Bashing Finish (free shield bash on a crit), it may very well be more optimal to main hand a heavy shield and offhand a kukri with either Improved Critical or Keen. But I'd still rather just use my two shields even then. :) Is having two shields really that outlandish in real life? [/QUOTE]

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