Here is an idea I had for a "Tower Shield" in 4e. It has the same AC bonus as a regular shield but has a special power:
Tower Shield
AC/Reflex Bonus: +2
Check Penalty: -5
Speed Penalty: -1
Weight: 30 lb.
Price: 20 gp
Provides the following power:
Plant Shield
By planting the tower shield in the ground and crouching behind it, the wielder can protect himself and his allies from attack.
Standard Action * At-Will * Personal
Effect: Select one side of your square. This side of your square is treated as a wall for the purpose of providing cover. All of your allies, as well as enemies adjacent to you, may ignore this "wall" when calculating cover from their attacks. The effect lasts until the beginning of your next turn, until you move (including via forced movement) or until you activate this power again.
Special: While this power is in effect, opponents may target the shield in particular to damage it. The shield has AC 5, Reflex 5, Fortitude 10, and 40 hit points. It is immune to projectiles and throwing weapons.
Notes: This power is intended to enable the formation of "shield walls" that can be used to block opponents. PCs are unlikely to see much use out of this power, as it is usually not worth spending a standard action on and they will probably have only one or two people with it. However it could be interesting when the opponents in an encounter have it. They could set up in a wall with their archers behind them, for example, and the PCs would have to get past the shield wall first. Note that the mechanic of having the shield be destroyable is in there to give players a chance of getting past the shield wall if, say, the enemies have an entire corridor blocked off with a shield wall so all lines of sight are blocked.
Tower Shield
AC/Reflex Bonus: +2
Check Penalty: -5
Speed Penalty: -1
Weight: 30 lb.
Price: 20 gp
Provides the following power:
Plant Shield
By planting the tower shield in the ground and crouching behind it, the wielder can protect himself and his allies from attack.
Standard Action * At-Will * Personal
Effect: Select one side of your square. This side of your square is treated as a wall for the purpose of providing cover. All of your allies, as well as enemies adjacent to you, may ignore this "wall" when calculating cover from their attacks. The effect lasts until the beginning of your next turn, until you move (including via forced movement) or until you activate this power again.
Special: While this power is in effect, opponents may target the shield in particular to damage it. The shield has AC 5, Reflex 5, Fortitude 10, and 40 hit points. It is immune to projectiles and throwing weapons.
Notes: This power is intended to enable the formation of "shield walls" that can be used to block opponents. PCs are unlikely to see much use out of this power, as it is usually not worth spending a standard action on and they will probably have only one or two people with it. However it could be interesting when the opponents in an encounter have it. They could set up in a wall with their archers behind them, for example, and the PCs would have to get past the shield wall first. Note that the mechanic of having the shield be destroyable is in there to give players a chance of getting past the shield wall if, say, the enemies have an entire corridor blocked off with a shield wall so all lines of sight are blocked.
