how does a tower shield work?

[mseds99]

I think mseds99 was using the shield to hide from the breath weapon. When granting full cover, it fully protects against area effects. At 9/10 cover, it effectively grants Improved Evasion, in addition to the +4 Reflex save bonus.

Exactly, I should have clarified. When I used it to protect verse dragon breath, I would hide COMPETELY behind it getting total cover, while casting buffs with my free hand. When shooting with the crossboww, we say that t grants 3/4 cover. For simplicity's sake, we don't play that a cone angles in to the character after it bgets blocked by the tower shield. That seems like a bit of realism-overkill, but as they say...to each their own.

 

[DDK]

For crossbows, at least light ones, are small weapons, and can be used one handed just fine. The penalty comes from using two at once. Even barring this, I would think that you could steady it on the edge of the shield and take no penalty.

Read the description of the light crossbow again. Twice if needs be.

 

[frankthedm]

This was a recommendation for the Tower shield from sage advice in a dragon magazine a while back [280] . While it is tantamount to Judicial legislation and the addition of psuedo facing to 3e combat, I do like it and use it since IMHO it is the most effective way of representing a tower shield on the battlefield.

from http://www.d20reviews.com/Eric/3ecombat.htm#weapons

Tower Shields: How do they work? Work it like the shield spell - you can move it once per round, on your turn, as a free action, defining which half of the battlefield you orient it against. Opponents that are on the "line of defense" that defines the side of the battlefield you're blocking with the shield would have no more than 50% cover against you (and vice versa). Opponents that are on your side of that line would not be blocked by the shield at all. Can you Ready an action that lets you duck completely behind the tower shield, giving you 100% cover? Yes, you can. That of course means you're not doing anything but hiding, though. If flanked, can you pick one opponent to block 100% and one to block 0%? Yup. Would this tactic negate the flanking bonus? Nope. The second guy is still a threat ... he might break through your shield, or hit you with a touch attack spell, and so on. (Sean Reynolds, 3E board)
Tower Shields Explained: "Sage Advice" in Dragon Magazine #280 includes a diagram (above) and instructions (180kb .jpg) for how a tower shield and shield spell work.

 

[frankthedm]

so any word on what 3.5E does with / to the tower shield?