Two Shields?

[hafrogman]

Are there any rules regarding wearing two shields at once? I am envisioning a character dual-wielding spiked shields with the Shield Expert feat from S&F. Would he get armor bonuses from both shields?

 

[Mahali]

No you wouldn't get armor bonuses from both shields. That's specified in the FAQ as well as core stacking rules.

Although it's not specifically allowed it's not specifically denied either. There really isn't any reason for a DM to disallow it.

 

[hafrogman]

Thanks for your response, but I just looked through the FAQ and the closest topic I can find is the discussion of Mage Armor which simply re-iterates that shields are the exception to armor stacking rules. Nor do the DMG or PHB say anything more on the topic.

I was just checking I hadn't missed any specific ruling.

 

[dcollins]

Bonuses of the same type do not stack -- for example, the "armor bonus" from each of two shields. The only exception in this vein is that the bonus from one suit of armor and one shield do stack.

Consider this web page for all the core references you may need: www.superdan.net/dndfaq1.html

 

[Stalker0]

So yeah, you couldn't have the ac for both shields, but I don't see why you couldn't use them together, one as a weapon.

Although having a buckler and a shield stack makes sense to me, by the book you can't.

 

[Mahali]

So yeah, you couldn't have the ac for both shields, but I don't see why you couldn't use them together, one as a weapon.

Although having a buckler and a shield stack makes sense to me, by the book you can't.

It's been a long time since I've seen arguements but as I recall one of the reasons was there are only rules for using a shield as an off-hand weapon. If you look deep enough or search Wizards site you'll find several threads about this.

A buckler and shield are both Armor bonuses so it doesn't make sense to me that they'd stack.

Be aware that you can't attack with bucklers or tower shields and that a shields enhancement bonus to AC does not effect it's attack in any way. You may add master work spikes (+300 gold over the spikes cost) and enchant those seperatly for attacking.

 

[Caliban]

Be aware that you can't attack with bucklers or tower shields and that a shields enhancement bonus to AC does not effect it's attack in any way. You may add master work spikes (+300 gold over the spikes cost) and enchant those seperatly for attacking.

You can't actually enchante shield spikes seperately from the shield, although you can do this with armor spikes.

Shield spikes are not a seperate weapon from the shield, they turn the shield into a different type of weapon. (From a 1d4 bludgeoning weapon into a 1d6 piercing weapon.)

What you can do is enchant the shield itself as a weapon, in addition to enchanting it as armor.

 

[reapersaurus]

What you can do is enchant the shield itself as a weapon, in addition to enchanting it as armor.

So that leads us to the same place, interpreting what Wizards means by

"You could, in fact, build a shield that also acted as a magic weapon, but the magic offensive bonus cost would need to be added into the defensive bonus cost of the shield."

2 ways it could be (to me):

1) if you made it a Holy Shield (+2 magic offensive bonus cost), it would be added into the defensive cost. So a +1 Large Steel Holy Shield would be a +3 defensive bonus cost total (+9,000 gp).

2) the gp cost of the offensive bonus is added to the gp cost of the defensive bonus cost.
So the +2 from being a Holy weapon (+8000 gp) is added to the +1 Large Steel Shield (1,170 gp) for a grand total of 9,170 gp's.

This has never been resolved/answered, as far as I'm aware.

 

[Balthasar]

I would make a shield with offensive capabilities a hybrid item.
Use the weapon costs for offensive magics, the armour costs for defensive.

Makes sense to me....

 

[Kroax]

It's been a long time since I've seen arguements but as I recall one of the reasons was there are only rules for using a shield as an off-hand weapon. ...

As i can recall, they are light weapons, not just off-hand weapons.