Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Li Shenron" data-source="post: 6110811" data-attributes="member: 1465">Yes, I like these decreased damage. But for the reason I said in my previous post, I don't think that with these changes it would be still necessary to skip the AC bonus, IMO the +2 can stay on all the time. It's one less thing to track.I know that in general combat is described as "everything happens simultaneously", therefore it makes sense that if you're using the shield offensively in this round, you can't use it defensively until next round.But at the same time, 5e takes it explicitly much easier than previous editions when it comes to mechanical consequences of simulationist interpretations. For example, it totally ignores the details of switching weapons, drawing and sheathing, retrieving at item during combat... it even glosses over using ranged weapons or casting spells at point-blank (no AoO as in previous editions). In other words, it strives for making combat mechanics as simple as possible at the cost of ignoring otherwise very sensible reasoning. This is why I think it's best overall to just let the AC bonus apply all the time. Is it less realistic? Yes it is, but it's second-order realism anyway... if you stop at first-order, it's still realistic enough for the majority of gaming groups that if you wear a shield all the time, you're protected all the time.</blockquote>