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<blockquote data-quote="Joe Liker" data-source="post: 6436774" data-attributes="member: 6777505">I have no problem with that. But you are taking liberties with what the rules mean by &quot;wielding a shield.&quot; They very explicitly spell out that it's not enough just to hold it in your hand -- it's actually worn on the arm. That's a huge difference, and probably the thing that sets off my cheese alert.The rules treat the shield as armor for all intents and purposes because it is a worn item, not something that is casually picked up and carried. It takes actual game time to put one on or take it off. It cannot normally be disarmed because it is strapped very securely to your person.An item that is secured to you in this fashion is considerably more unwieldy than what the rules refer to as an improvised weapon. If you pick up a shield and start swinging it around, yes, you're using it as a weapon. But you didn't take the time to strap it on, so you're not wearing it as a shield (per the &quot;donning and doffing&quot; rules), so you don't get the +2 AC.Conversely, under &quot;improvised weapons,&quot; it says you must wield an improvised weapon &quot;in one or two hands,&quot; not strapped to your arm, so RAW you cannot use a worn shield as a weapon unless you have an ability like Shield Mastery that tells you you can.But yes, feel free to tweet. I'd be interested to see the result. I won't, however, consider it valid if the question doesn't bring up the Shield Mastery feat. Mearls' Twitter responses don't have the reputation of being particularly well researched.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Joe Liker, post: 6436774, member: 6777505"] I have no problem with that. But you are taking liberties with what the rules mean by "wielding a shield." They very explicitly spell out that it's not enough just to hold it in your hand -- it's actually worn on the arm. That's a huge difference, and probably the thing that sets off my cheese alert. The rules treat the shield as armor for all intents and purposes because it is a worn item, not something that is casually picked up and carried. It takes actual game time to put one on or take it off. It cannot normally be disarmed because it is strapped very securely to your person. An item that is secured to you in this fashion is considerably more unwieldy than what the rules refer to as an improvised weapon. If you pick up a shield and start swinging it around, yes, you're using it as a weapon. But you didn't take the time to strap it on, so you're not wearing it as a shield (per the "donning and doffing" rules), so you don't get the +2 AC. Conversely, under "improvised weapons," it says you must wield an improvised weapon "in one or two hands," not strapped to your arm, so RAW you cannot use a worn shield as a weapon unless you have an ability like Shield Mastery that tells you you can. But yes, feel free to tweet. I'd be interested to see the result. I won't, however, consider it valid if the question doesn't bring up the Shield Mastery feat. Mearls' Twitter responses don't have the reputation of being particularly well researched. [/QUOTE]

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