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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ECMO3" data-source="post: 8655395" data-attributes="member: 7030563">To start with this has nothing to do with the proficiency.  If the situation is dire so my non-shield user dons a shield and if by chance the dice fall such that you would last 10 rounds with a shield and only 2 rounds without one, then that is true whether you have proficiency in shields or not when you decided to don it.Whether you have proficiency or not the effect is the same.  You are arguing here that proficiency is important yet you are using examples where proficiency is irrelevant to prop up the argument.That said, if you only don a shield in "an emergency" it will rarely reduce damage at all. The 10% reduction will over time help out in 10% of attacks directed at you, meaning if you only use it in an emergency (i.e. rarely) then it will very rarely help.Sure they happen, but they are a random and rare occurrance, not one that you controlCarpenters tools can make it easier to to hide so you won't get hit at all.  If you have masons tool proficiency you do double damage to structures.  Both of those things are in the rules.There will be more "emergencies" where those abilities will save you than emergencies where your non-shield user will be saved by having shield proficeincy.I can give you a specific example from an official WOTC campaign - you spring a trap, a block comes down and shuts the way out of the room and the room starts to  fill with wine (yes wine, not water).  Water breathing also does not work in wine.  Mason tool proficiency will help you break that stone block quicker and escape before you drown.Finally the 10% difference has nothing to do with shield proficiency.  Keep in mind in this discussion when talking about these "emergency" situations that anyone proficient or not can use a shield, but on the other hand you can't get the bonuses noted above without the respective tool proficiencies.I disagree completely and you have offered no examples or anecdotes to back up your claim.Can you give me some examples that it will be far more useful and be likely to save you in an emergency please?  Keep in mind we are talking specifically about shield proficiency here on a character who does not normally use a shield.And using a shield  does not require a shield proficiency.  More to the point they will be used more than shield proficiency on a charHaving painters tools proficiency absolutely 100% gives you a bonus to understanding what a glyph means (as long as it is painted).  It will give you proficiency on the check if you are not already proficient in the skill and it will give you advantage on the skill check if you are proficient in it.  It is  in XGE page 83:Arcana, History, Religion. Your expertise aids you in uncovering lore of any sort that is attached to a work of art, such as the magical properties of a painting or the origins of a strange mural found in a dungeon.Exactly.  I am talking about RAW.  Whether they make sense to you or not is irrelevant.If you don't want to play with that it is fine, but every table I play at uses XGE.But to be clear if you homebrew to make tools less useful, well then they will be less useful.Call it what you want, it is RAW.And the types of armor you don't wear will not be useful in 6-8 encounters per day or generally at all.If my character is wearing plate and never wears any other armor, my proficiency in light armor is going to be worth less in play than any tool in the game.Sure but once you do find it, then your heavy armor proficiency is no longer useful and if you never find it, or if you find +3 plate instead, then that medium armor proficiency stays useless.If you decide to switch your elf weapon proficiency from longsword to rapier because you are a dex character, and then you find a gauntlets of ogre power and blackrazor your damage is going to be lower than if you had not done that.  On the flip side if you had not swapped and you find a rapier +3 you will be worse off.In all the campaigns I have played, I never had a character I played find any +3 medium armor.  I have had characters use tools.  Virtually all characters with a tool proficiency used that proficiency at some point.  I have characters that use thieves tools, alchemists tools and cartographers tools daily.  To be honest thieves tools are used more often in campaigns I have played than shields are and the other two are not far behind.</blockquote>

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