Shield Charge and Off-hand attacks

[Carpe DM]

Hi folks.

I'm working up rules for a new campaign. I am a lawful-neutral gamemaster (so I do everything by-the-book, open-rolling), but recognize that in some instances certain house rules need to be adopted.

What I'm trying to figure out is how to work shield charges.

The player's handbook states that a shield attack may be made as an off-hand attack.

That's fine, as long as the player is using two weapons...but what happens when the player only makes one attack in an action (for example, when they charge).

It would seem odd that the player would then suffer two weapon fighting penalties when not receiving the extra attack.

The sanest rule, that I can see, is that shield attacks are always "off-hand" (1/2 str. to damage) for purposes of damage, but that you get your full attack bonus if you *only* attack with the offhand weapon.

But that's just my own rule. I'd love to know if there is any official interpretation that could shed light on this.

Many thanks,

Carpe

 

[Velenne]

If you look under the Ambidexterity feat, under Normal it says that a character weilding a weapon with her left hand (assuming she's normally right-handed) suffers a -4 penalty to attack rolls.

So if all they're gonna do is use their non-dominant hand to attack with their shield, I'd give them their full attack with -4, but let it do full STR since the character can put his/her full bodyweight into it. (As opposed to dividing it between two arms in the same round)

 

[dcollins]

I agree with the ruling that it always counts as an off-hand attack. This has been debated in the past, with many others disagreeing.