Do i have this right:
one of my party is a 12th level druid (+1 level of warshaper from the Complete Warrior) that has 'wild' wood armor (crafted to be like a plate mail) and 'wild' tower shield (has the feat). He has enhanced both armor and shield with +2/+5 enhancement bonus respectively. It's as the following:
dire bear's AC: +1 Dex, -1 size, +7 natural = 7
barkskin: +5 natural armor (added) = 5
wild plate and tower shield (/w ironwood spell): +10 armor, +9 armor = 19
total: 10 + 7 + 19 + 5 = 41 AC (36 without barkskin)
apparently he also has going for him another spell from Complete Divine that boosts his AC even higher than he would with barkskin (tortoise something). He believes also that ring of deflection stacks, but since it is melded in when wildshaping I pointed it out that it wouldn't (right? correct me if i'm wrong).
my preconceived notion that the druid was sorely lacking in the AC department was sorely disabused with this build. of course i have find it weird that a direbear shaped creature can tank as well as if not better than a fighter equipped with tower shield and wearing plate...nevermind that this bear benefits from a tower shield...how does that work (or look): is the bear going "talk to the hand...err paw!"
and does it also mean that the druid gains cover (which 'wild' property does not explicitly mention so I would guess no) from a tower shield? Can't he not attack with that paw (the paw holding the tower shield), because the description of tower shield says one cannot use the hand equiped with the tower shield for any purposes including bashing?!
so many interesting questions!
one of my party is a 12th level druid (+1 level of warshaper from the Complete Warrior) that has 'wild' wood armor (crafted to be like a plate mail) and 'wild' tower shield (has the feat). He has enhanced both armor and shield with +2/+5 enhancement bonus respectively. It's as the following:
dire bear's AC: +1 Dex, -1 size, +7 natural = 7
barkskin: +5 natural armor (added) = 5
wild plate and tower shield (/w ironwood spell): +10 armor, +9 armor = 19
total: 10 + 7 + 19 + 5 = 41 AC (36 without barkskin)
apparently he also has going for him another spell from Complete Divine that boosts his AC even higher than he would with barkskin (tortoise something). He believes also that ring of deflection stacks, but since it is melded in when wildshaping I pointed it out that it wouldn't (right? correct me if i'm wrong).
my preconceived notion that the druid was sorely lacking in the AC department was sorely disabused with this build. of course i have find it weird that a direbear shaped creature can tank as well as if not better than a fighter equipped with tower shield and wearing plate...nevermind that this bear benefits from a tower shield...how does that work (or look): is the bear going "talk to the hand...err paw!"
and does it also mean that the druid gains cover (which 'wild' property does not explicitly mention so I would guess no) from a tower shield? Can't he not attack with that paw (the paw holding the tower shield), because the description of tower shield says one cannot use the hand equiped with the tower shield for any purposes including bashing?!
so many interesting questions!