I agree, shields could use a little bit of beef, although I don’t think they are as useless as some say. Now that certain spells that grant AC bonuses are weakened, and a lot of magic equipment is more expensive, every bit of AC is worth it.
I think adding the AC to touch attacks is a great idea, although not to incorporeal attacks. This would give fighters an actual chance of blocking touch attacks, because right now when wizards start using rays the fighter just has to grim and bear it.
However, giving the shield bonus to reflex saves is a bad idea. That means a large shield gives a +2 to reflex saves… that’s as good as a feat!!
I think another direction is to add extra shield bonuses to certain effects. For instance, perhaps a large shield grants a +2 to AC against most attacks, but +3 to arrows or something. However, the problem with this is that those special exceptions often slow down combat and are forgotten (my experience from ranger favored enemy bonus). The last idea I like was to increase your AC against critical hits. This exception is usually very easy to remember, since crits are always a big deal.
Finally, I agree there should be no –2 to AC with tower shields. They require a feat in themselves to use, and that should be sufficient.
I think adding the AC to touch attacks is a great idea, although not to incorporeal attacks. This would give fighters an actual chance of blocking touch attacks, because right now when wizards start using rays the fighter just has to grim and bear it.
However, giving the shield bonus to reflex saves is a bad idea. That means a large shield gives a +2 to reflex saves… that’s as good as a feat!!
I think another direction is to add extra shield bonuses to certain effects. For instance, perhaps a large shield grants a +2 to AC against most attacks, but +3 to arrows or something. However, the problem with this is that those special exceptions often slow down combat and are forgotten (my experience from ranger favored enemy bonus). The last idea I like was to increase your AC against critical hits. This exception is usually very easy to remember, since crits are always a big deal.
Finally, I agree there should be no –2 to AC with tower shields. They require a feat in themselves to use, and that should be sufficient.
