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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Hypersmurf" data-source="post: 3162953" data-attributes="member: 1656">I personally read the statement in the description of shields as restrictive."Shield Bash Attacks: You can bash an opponent with a heavy shield, using it as an off-hand weapon. See Table X: Weapons for the damage dealt by a shield bash."To me, this states that a shield used to attack is used as an off-hand weapon, taking a -4 to attack rolls and adding half Str bonus to damage, whether you're right- or left-handed, whether you're using one or two weapons, etc.  Its inclusion in the weapons table isn't to say "The heavy shield is a one-handed weapon like any other one-handed weapon"; it's so that when the entry under the shield says "See the Weapons table", there's something there.  But unless you're bashing an opponent with a shield, using it as an off-hand weapon, the damage (etc) listed on the table is inapplicable.Iku Rex takes the opposite position - that the heavy shield is a one-handed weapon, and that it can be used like any other one-handed weapon (a longsword, say)... and that the entry under Shield Bash Attacks is permissive, rather than restrictive - it says you can use it as an off-hand weapon, but doesn't say you can't use it as a primary weapon.For what it's worth, the Main FAQ agrees with him:Can a character make a shield bash attack using theshield as a primary weapon or can it be used only as an offhandweapon?While the rules describe a shield bash as an off-handweapon, that’s simply an assumption (that your primary hand isholding a weapon). There’s nothing stopping you fromdeclaring your shield bash as your primary weapon. Of course,that means that any attack you make with your other handbecomes a secondary weapon.-Hyp.</blockquote>

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