How do you use a Tower Shield?

[Lord Pendragon]

Strange that I could go through two years playing and DMing this game and not know, but how exactly do you use a tower shield? I checked in the PH and couldn't find anything. The description of the T.S. in the weapons section merely says that it provides cover. The cover section makes no use of it at all.

Could anyone point me to the section in the PH or DMG that describes how the shield is used, and what its effects are on combat?

Thanks.

 

[LeifVignirsson]

Ummm, isn't the Tower Shield the one with the eye hole at the top of the shield, or something like it? I thought it was the same concept as what the Roman Phalanx used, but a titch larger. Then again, I am Norse, we used wood from a barrel and a big axe... What do I know?

 

[Kae'Yoss]

Well, it does just that: It provides cover (though they'll change it in 3.5e AFAIK). You can position it so it provides more or less cover (you can even get full cover).

 

[Lord Pendragon]

Hmm...perhaps I need to be more specific.

1. Is there a section in the DMG or PH that deals specifically with the rules/handling of a tower shield.

Now for the questions that stem from my rough understanding of the tower shield....

2. Can a fighter use a tower shield like a large shield, in that he carries it one-armed into battle, and need make no round-to-round decisions about how to use it? Or, is it more of a portable wall, which he must determine orientation each round?

3. Do the defender (with tower shield) and attacker both face the same cover from the tower shield? And if so, what benefit does a tower shield provide?

4. Can a tower shield be animated?

5. I assume that a mithral tower shield would be 1/2 of 45lbs (the weight of a normal tower shield) or 23lbs. Is this correct?

6. What are the rules regarding readying and loosing a tower shield? Is it a move-equivalent action? Standard? Full-round? Free?

7. As a tower shield provides actual cover, I assume it also provides the bonus to reflex saves attributed to cover?

8. Can shield spikes be attached to a tower shield, so that a fighter could stand behind it (full cover) and still make an attack with it?

 

[Destil]

http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=44465