W'rkncacnter
Hero
i mean, yeah, but how often do you get to see such formations in dnd(-likes)?I mean, this is a simplification and a game, but tower shields were used in melee, and especially in close formation fighting. Enemies were not running around you to stab in the back because your back was covered by someone else.
i mean...even if the shield is "barely standing", it's still in the way. i'd assume that's why.
...unless holding it while it's planted isn't the intent. but either way yeah, this should be clarified.but I agree with you that the "while you remain behind" confuses things quite a bit (and should be rephrased as "while you hold it")
i mean...if they can run around you and swing at your back then not really? because why bother pushing you or knocking you prone when your back is exposed to them anyway? also getting around you would negate that anyway (...like it would do in game, actually).This advantage of not being easily pushed or knocked prone remains very useful in 1 vs 1, when the close formation combat advantage is no longer present and one could "run around you".
i guess maybe so you can plant and unplant a shield on the same turn? but then that just raises the question of why would you ever do that. and you could do that anyway with two object interactions, it's just that one would take your action. yeah, i dunno, you're right, that's really weird.Finally, to add to confusion, I don't see why unplanting a shield should require a bonus action and could not be just another "object interaction", of which there's one free per turn.
...yeah, i give up, i'm just gonna hope one of the writers pops in and helps us sort out what's going on because i'm just lost now.Maybe "while you remain behind it" refers to the general rules of cover, implying that you plant the shield in a certain direction and when enemies move around it, you no longer get the cover benefits. Not necessarily that you can choose to not remain behind it? But even then, it would make no sense that you would still get a shield bonus to AC. That would be a valid argument for not wielding it anymore. But then you skip the doff action by using an item interaction (free), and indeed planting it somewhere where the ground will not hold it upright for you is weird to imagine as well.
So maybe planting the shield changes the bonus from +2 AC shield bonus to the cover bonus? If that is the case, planting the shield is rarely beneficial, since giving up the omnidirectional benefits of the shield for directional cover and shove and prone bonuses is a bit of a sidegrade. Especially since there are quite a few options for ranged attackers to ignore cover altogether. Especially especially since the shield is bulky and slows you down a lot (unless Dwarf).