Sword & Board PrC?

[the_mighty_agrippa]

I don't mean to demean, but isn't that what a tower shield is for?

Not quite.

A tower shield provides total cover but you have to give up all of your attacks to gain the benefit. You cannot slam or bash with a tower shield, so the notion of giving up all of your attacks plains sucks.

 

[IanB]

I think my preferred solution might be to nerf/ban imp. buckler defense and disallow animated shields so that the potentially large shield bonus to armor class advantage is once again a meaningful difference between 2h/dual wield and 1h builds.

 

[Thurbane]

The tactical soldier PrC in MH is pretty good for a sword n' board warrior...

 

[Bagpuss]

A tower shield provides total cover but you have to give up all of your attacks to gain the benefit. You cannot slam or bash with a tower shield, so the notion of giving up all of your attacks plains sucks.

I think the point of using a Tower Shield for total cover is so you can advance towards ranged attackers without fear of being hit. You only give up attacks, you can still move and take other actions.