Shields

[Stormtower]

My Living Greyhawk paladin of Heironeous uses his shield for identification -- it carries the symbol of Heironeous, as well as the symbol of the dwarven clan that gifted him with the shield.

Similarly, my LG marshal's shield is adorned with the Eye of Beory, the Sad Lady. The eye is crowned with the stag antlers of Obad-Hai. She's old faith gyri, and is fond of banging her flail against the shield to attract enemy attacks. She's also got the Shield Ward feat, and so is rarely without her trusty shield.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Man, real TWFighters use spiked shields. Of bashing.

With the right feats, you get to keep your shield bonus to AC, and it hits as hard as a greatsword (2d6).

For true cheese, use one on each arm.

Hey! I resent that!

I've had a few shield-based characters, but the best example for this thread would be Saval, my Bozak (humanoid shaped dragon w/ built in "gish" sorcerer levels) fighter/mage that served as the bodyguard for a major campaign's main villain. The entire villain's group were evil draconic types, and I tried to incorporate the imagery of the shield as much as possible into my character's role as selfless defender. He did in fact use two Large (thank you, Strongarm Bracers!) spiked Bashing heavy shields. Note you only get the shield bonus once, though using two frees you to do things like focus on offense with one and defense with the other, or use cool feats like Shield Sling without becoming more vulnerable, or using teamwork benefits that let you apply your shield's AC to an adjacent ally instead of you and STILL retain your shield's AC for yourself (cause hey, you've got one for each person!), or...

He was entirely focused on defense and protection. He never once charged the entire campaign, not wanting to be careless and vulnerable. Even his offense (3d6 base damage) was based on this. His theory was, people won't bother attacking you if you pose no direct threat to them, so he made sure to look as over-the-top dangerous as possible. His large intimidate score also helped there. In addition, I chose spells like Benign Transposition and Wings of Cover, and even bought a Devoted Spirit amulet so I could use the Shield Block maneuver to protect others. Anyone who played with him would likely describe the character as a living shield or wall, and on numerous occasions, in almost cinematic fashion, badly wounded allies would dive past him in the nick of time to see those shield arms and/or force wings close around to stop what should have been a deathblow.