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<blockquote data-quote="Sword of Spirit" data-source="post: 6717556" data-attributes="member: 6677017">Ignoring Mr. Crawford's elucidation of RAI for a moment, I think it's important to see how this stacks up against the Dual-Wielder feat using two normal weapons. If dual-wielding sword and shield beats dual-wielding two swords, I'd definitely go with the RAI and not allow it. If, on the other hand, it is at least slightly inferior to two weapons, I'd consider it.So compared to dual-wielding two longswords or rapiers, here is what dual-wielding sword and shield gives you:+2 AC-2 Damage-2 to -6 to attackIf your shield is magical that would add even more to AC. If the off-hand weapon were magical that would add more to damage and attack lost.It's a tough call to me. AC is pretty darn valuable in 5e. And with magic in the mix, it just gets better and better. At higher levels that proficiency bonus and damage look like they might make it superior, but that only applies to a single attack, whereas AC applies to every attack against you.I'm probably going with Mr. Crawford on this one. A character can shield bash, but not as part of two weapon fighting, so it would require the Extra Attack feature (just like there is nothing stopping a fighter from using Extra Attack to attack once with a weapon in each hand rather than twice with the same weapon). There isn't really much reason to do that, however, unless you realize something you are fighting is resistant to the damage type of your primary weapon but not to bludgeoning.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Sword of Spirit, post: 6717556, member: 6677017"] Ignoring Mr. Crawford's elucidation of RAI for a moment, I think it's important to see how this stacks up against the Dual-Wielder feat using two normal weapons. If dual-wielding sword and shield beats dual-wielding two swords, I'd definitely go with the RAI and not allow it. If, on the other hand, it is at least slightly inferior to two weapons, I'd consider it. So compared to dual-wielding two longswords or rapiers, here is what dual-wielding sword and shield gives you: +2 AC -2 Damage -2 to -6 to attack If your shield is magical that would add even more to AC. If the off-hand weapon were magical that would add more to damage and attack lost. It's a tough call to me. AC is pretty darn valuable in 5e. And with magic in the mix, it just gets better and better. At higher levels that proficiency bonus and damage look like they might make it superior, but that only applies to a single attack, whereas AC applies to every attack against you. I'm probably going with Mr. Crawford on this one. A character can shield bash, but not as part of two weapon fighting, so it would require the Extra Attack feature (just like there is nothing stopping a fighter from using Extra Attack to attack once with a weapon in each hand rather than twice with the same weapon). There isn't really much reason to do that, however, unless you realize something you are fighting is resistant to the damage type of your primary weapon but not to bludgeoning. [/QUOTE]

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