Poor sword and shield?

[BiggusGeekus@Work]

Note, however, that "Tower Shield Proficiency" just became a separate feat in 3.5. It may be better, but it looks like you'll have to burn a feat to use it.

Do Fighters start out with this proficiency?

 

[ForceUser]

Well we've seen an improvement on two weapon and two handed melee fighting styles, the question is (will) does sword and board stack up?

I think it was Monte Cook who said that sword and shield was the best style in 3.0. You can't sniff at more AC but what about the damage?

Ime sword and board was always the poor cousin in damage and I would try to get an energy weapon early. Is there an issue here and if so, what solution?

Sword & board is the best melee combination in 3E. You get at least +1 and usually much more AC out of the deal, and certain 1-handed weapons are no slouch in the damage department when combined with certain other options.

In one game I play in, we've got a Ftr4/Clr3 who's warhammer/shield. His AC hovers around 25 and with Power Attack, Divine Favor, and whatnot I think his minimum hit is around 11 damage. That's nothing to scoff at.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Do Fighters start out with this proficiency?

Good question; I've no idea. We need to get the weapon/armor line from the fighter description and see if it has the same caveat the druid does.

If they do, why make it a separate feat -- unless they're the only ones who get it? This way there's one more feat on the fighter's list ...

 

[I'm A Banana]

I'm hopin' shields provide a cover bonus to AC...

C'mon, cover bonus.....c'mon cover bonus!

WHich would, indeed, make the tower sheild soemthign potent...9/10ths or total cover....that's +10 AC!

 

[ForceUser]

I'm hopin' shields provide a cover bonus to AC...

C'mon, cover bonus.....c'mon cover bonus!

WHich would, indeed, make the tower sheild soemthign potent...9/10ths or total cover....that's +10 AC!

I think it's been confirmed somewhere that shields in 3.5 will provide a shield bonus to AC, not an armor bonus. This means it will stack with spells such as mage armor and magic vestment. Good for fighter-wizards.

 

[Number47]

I think that nobody gets tower shield proficiency. You must spend a feat on it. Which is all good, because the 3 styles are equal when nobody spends any feats, and should remain equal as people spend feats to enhance their particular style. What are the possible shield feats from the feat list, anyway?

 

[kenjib]

That would be kind of lame if fighters all started using tower shields for day-to-day stuff. There's a reason why these were only used for tactical purposes on the battlefield...

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Looks like Fighters (only) get TSP for free (+4 AC ... but max dex bonus +2, and it's a shield bonus, not cover).

Sword & Board remains viable, looks like, but balanced with TWF and 2H.

 

[MeepoTheMighty]

and I don't have to go into their hex

Someone grab the holy water, he's come down with a case of the GURPS.

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

Note that there's no point in asking whether sword and board is balanced with TWF. Sword and board is actually one of the best ways to utilize TWF. (It's a very feat intensive way to do TWF--and it just got more feat-intensive with the addition of two weapon defense which is better for sword and shield TWF than ordinary TWF because incremental increases in AC are more significant the higher the AC is to begin with). Consequently, any benefit to TWF is a benefit to sword and shield fighting.

The question should be "is sword and board viable without using TWF"? I think it's too early to see the answer to that. (Using a +5 shield takes the 3.5e pit fiend's chance to hit an AC maxed (+5 natural, +5 ring of protection, +5 mithral fullplate, 16 dex, +5 large shield dodge feat) fighter from about 60% to 25% or so (and, if the tower shield is really +4, +2 max dex it will either enable a fighter to achieve that AC with normal (non-mithral) fullplate or enable a fighter with mithral fullplate to do one better than that (or 2 points better if a mithral tower shield has a +4 max dex). That's clearly worthwhile but it's unclear if that is typical or whether monsters will typically have either a low enough AB or a high enough AB that the shield is largely irrelevant.