Small Characters; Heavy Shields & Tower Shields

[Dax Doomslayer]

Hi,
I was just wondering if a small character (i.e. gnome or halfling) can wield a Heavy (formerly Large) shield. To take this one step further, would they be able to use a Tower shield? Are there any differences? Would small creatures be prohibited from using these type of shields? I would suspect the way it would work is that these shields would weigh only 75% of the weight listed and be "sized" according to the size of the creature (but the protection would be to the same proportion as if a medium creature used a heavy/tower shield and thus the same bonuses). Or is it that these shields are just to large to be used by smaller creatures (there isn't anything in the PHB to indicate something like this). Any input on this is greatly appreciated! Thanks.

 

[Artoomis]

Hi,
I was just wondering if a small character (i.e. gnome or halfling) can wield a Heavy (formerly Large) shield. To take this one step further, would they be able to use a Tower shield? Are there any differences? Would small creatures be prohibited from using these type of shields? I would suspect the way it would work is that these shields would weigh only 75% of the weight listed and be "sized" according to the size of the creature (but the protection would be to the same proportion as if a medium creature used a heavy/tower shield and thus the same bonuses). Or is it that these shields are just to large to be used by smaller creatures (there isn't anything in the PHB to indicate something like this). Any input on this is greatly appreciated! Thanks.

this is covered in the PHB, but here it is out of the SRD:

Weight: This column gives the weight of the armor sized for a Medium wearer. Armor fitted for Small characters weighs half as much, and armor for Large characters weighs twice as much.

Note that, in this case, "Armor" refers to both "Armor" and "Shields" as both are in the table that's below this quote.

 

[AuraSeer]

I would suspect the way it would work is that these shields would weigh only 75% of the weight listed and be "sized" according to the size of the creature (but the protection would be to the same proportion as if a medium creature used a heavy/tower shield and thus the same bonuses).

That's correct, except for one minor detail. Small versions of armor and shields weigh 50% as much as their Medium equivalent.

A Small character with a Small shield gets all the same benefits as a Medium character with a Medium shield. The only difference is that the bashing damage is lower (as listed on the weapons table).

 

[Dax Doomslayer]

Thanks folks - actually believe it or not for some reason I was looking at 50% and typed 75%. Talking about a D.A. Thanks for the replies!