Is Sword and Board viable?

[Quartz]

I tried to address this issue in a thread which got lost in the crash. Someone came up with a new feat, Shield Expertise (pre-req was Combat Expertise, maybe Weapon Focus: Shield as well), which simply gave +2 AC per -1 BAB and that seemed to largely, but not entirely, fix the issue for me.

For the PHB2 it would be

Shield Expertise [General]
You are a skilled wielder of the shield
Prerequisites: Combat Expertise, Shield Specialisation.
Benefit: When you use the attack action or the full attack action in melee, you can take a penalty of as much as 5 on your attack roll and add double the same number (+10 or less) as a dodge bonus to your Armor Class. This first number may not exceed your base attack bonus. The changes to attack rolls and Armor Class last until your next action.
Normal: A character without the Shield Expertise feat can only apply the shield's normal bonus to his AC.
Special: A fighter may select Shield Expertise as one of his fighter bonus feats. Shield Expertise does not stack with Combat Expertise, but does stack with Improved Combat Expertise. Example: a character with a BAB of +11 can take a penalty of -5 for Shield Expertise and another penalty of -5 for Improved Combat Expertise, leaving the character a BAB of +1 and +15 AC.

 

[Menexenus]

Which is true, though you do not get any benefit from a buckler when you attack, and you take a -1 penalty when you attack while using a buckler.

Oops! My group has been screwing this up for a long time now. (It's amazing how you can play this game for ages and continue learning about new rules that you never knew existed.)

 

[Felix]

Dwarven Fighter:
Tower Shield
Fullplate
Dwarven Waraxe
Combat Expertise
Shield Focus
Shield Expertise
Improved Combat Expertise
.
.
.
5 ranks in Tumble
.
.
.
Dwarven Defender levels

Talk about a Tunnel Warden.

 

[Menexenus]

Buckler defense lets you keep it though.

Where can I find this feat? (In what product was it published?)

 

[Sejs]

Sword and Board is certainly viable.

Doubly so for tower shields. Being able to assume full cover when you need it is priceless.

 

[BullMarkOne]

Doubly so for tower shields. Being able to assume full cover when you need it is priceless.

Thank you Sejs.. I kept hoping to see this mentioned as I read through this thread. Tower shields can be downright wicked, with their full cover ability. The hide shield from Sandstorm offers the same full cover benifit, at only a -1 penalty to attacks. It is a bit pricier though, and only offers a +3 shield bonus to AC. Still, since it isn't technically a tower shield a person without tower shield proficiency ought to be able to use one, depending on the DM.

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

Where can I find this feat? (In what product was it published?)

Complete Warrior

Quite nice, too.

 

[DonTadow]

Thank you Sejs.. I kept hoping to see this mentioned as I read through this thread. Tower shields can be downright wicked, with their full cover ability. The hide shield from Sandstorm offers the same full cover benifit, at only a -1 penalty to attacks. It is a bit pricier though, and only offers a +3 shield bonus to AC. Still, since it isn't technically a tower shield a person without tower shield proficiency ought to be able to use one, depending on the DM.

I had a character in my last campaign play a warforged fighter with a bunch of feat and sword feats. At 11th level, he had an AC 26 and some vicsious attacks. Keep in mind this ws a non magical campaign, so there wasn't a magical item boosting his AC

 

[Votan]

The phrase "in the long run" seems to suggest that the answer is no given that a floating shield is trivial to have at some point. I'm also a big fan of the best way to reduce damage is to kill your opponent quickly. Defense can work but this is the most reliable approach that I know of.

 

[EyeontheMountain]

Unfortunately, now.

As long asth animated shields and 3.5 power attack are around, a sword and board will lose out. Of course in my campaign, there are no animated shields and Power attack is the same as for 3.0, so in my campaign, both are viable.