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Message: <blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 4957534" data-attributes="member: 82106">Well... Except at 16th level your total defense is going up against the prowess of a 16th level worthy opponent (and if they're way below you in level then who cares, they can't probably hit you anyway).Overall though I'm not sure its quite fair to argue that realistically using your weapon totally defensively is only good against one opponent. Its possible to parry attacks from multiple opponents and in general you do get either a lot more defensive or a lot more offensive when in that situation. In any case the dynamics of offense and defense are not really well enough modeled in 4e at a detailed level that it seems much of a meaningful question really. If you think about it a man without a weapon on the field of battle essentially HAS no defense, or close to it. Likewise your weapon and your shield, if you you have one, are far more important defensively than armor in general. Full 15th century plate armor maybe to some extent did obsolete shields, but it was more of a case of tipping the balance in favor of heavier and longer weapons than that it made shields less useful per-se.In terms of a +2 in return for a -2 I'm always leery of anything that purports to make those kinds of trades and have it be balanced. Its less of a problem with the plus being defensive vs offensive but in either case the penalty is usually only accepted when its moot anyway. At that point it becomes only a question of "is this occasional bonus worth a feat?</blockquote>

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