Tower Shield and Shield Bearer

[kenjib]

I will have leadership soon. I wanted one of my minions to be my shield bearer. Basically, he will hold the tower shield while I shoot my bow from behind it.

Since he is my shield bearer I would assume that I could have two hands free and fire my bow.

Normally, my enemies would get the same cover bonus that I do, but does this make sense in the scenario I describe?

How would you handle this?

 

[Hypersmurf]

You need to determine how your DM interprets the passage:

"In melee, if you have cover against an opponent, that opponent probably has cover against you too. With ranged weaons, however, it's easy to have better cover than your opponent."

-Hyp.

 

[Eldorian]

HEHHE we had a necromancer in an evil game we played once with two bugbear skeletons with towershields. He stood behind them, and cast his evil destroying spells of doom. It was a great method of battle.

Eldorian Antar

 

[Stalker0]

When fireing ranged weapons behind cover, you negate cover. An experienced archer can fire through a slit in the wall about as well as he can in open terrain, maybe even better since he has something to line up his shot with.

In melee, both you and the opponent have the benefits and drawbacks of cover. When firing ranged weapons against someone who has cover, the cover applies.

 

[0-hr]

One minor thing to keep in mind is that you generally can't move, shoot, and then move. So it's hard to step out from behind the shield, fire, and then step back.

It is fine if your cohort goes after you (initiative-wise) and so moves to keep you shielded, but an opponent can ready or delay to get you while you are exposed.

I agree with Stalker that the tower shield rules should only really apply to melee vs melee situations.

 

[kenjib]

One minor thing to keep in mind is that you generally can't move, shoot, and then move. So it's hard to step out from behind the shield, fire, and then step back.

It is fine if your cohort goes after you (initiative-wise) and so moves to keep you shielded, but an opponent can ready or delay to get you while you are exposed.

I agree with Stalker that the tower shield rules should only really apply to melee vs melee situations.

Why couldn't I just lean out with 9/10 cover and not worry about moving at all?

 

[0-hr]

Some DM's might call your "lean" a non-action. For myself though, I'd have to rule anything that changes your AC by that much (from 9/10 to full ocver) as equivalent to a 5ft adjustment.

If I allowed a "lean-fire-lean", then I'd also have to let incorporeal things reach through the floor, touch someone, and withdraw their hand; and I really don't like that sort of thing. In my opinion, the intention of the rules is that (barring feats etc.) you can move before, or after, you attack - but not both. This lets the opposition react and help keep the quantized round system managable.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Some DM's might call your "lean" a non-action. For myself though, I'd have to rule anything that changes your AC by that much (from 9/10 to full ocver) as equivalent to a 5ft adjustment.

Well, that's why you lie your tower shield on its side. Stand up as an MEA until you have 9/10 cover, Manyshot at your target, fall prone as a free action.



-Hyp.

 

[Oracular Vision]

I have seen any number of interpretations of tower shield. I think it is broken and we'd be better off without it. It was only ever used for besieging castles in medieval times anyway, and that doesn't happen much without any mass combat rules...

 

[kenjib]

Some DM's might call your "lean" a non-action. For myself though, I'd have to rule anything that changes your AC by that much (from 9/10 to full ocver) as equivalent to a 5ft adjustment.

If I allowed a "lean-fire-lean", then I'd also have to let incorporeal things reach through the floor, touch someone, and withdraw their hand; and I really don't like that sort of thing. In my opinion, the intention of the rules is that (barring feats etc.) you can move before, or after, you attack - but not both. This lets the opposition react and help keep the quantized round system managable.

I wasn't talking about leaning out and then leaning back to get complete cover, just permanently sticking my head and arm out with 9/10 cover. It would probably be more like 3/4 cover though, or maybe even 1/2 come to think of it...