wrong size shield

[Bad Paper]

example: Medium humanoid using a Large shield? a Small shield? What sort of penalties are there? Does it matter if the shield is heavy or light?

What if there were armor spikes on the shield? Can you put Large spikes on a Medium shield?

 

[Dross]

example: Medium humanoid using a Large shield? a Small shield? What sort of penalties are there? Does it matter if the shield is heavy or light?

What if there were armor spikes on the shield? Can you put Large spikes on a Medium shield?

Not aware of RAW but:
The same penalty as wrong sized weapon? -2 to the AC provided, down to 0 not counting magic bonus? Or (after adjusting the straps) a large light shield = a medium heavy shield, and a large heavy shield = medium tower shield.

I would not allow largeer than appropriate sized spikes on armour and shields, but I’m not aware of anything RAW wise that prohibits this. I could be persuaded to go for smaller sized spikes though.

 

[Hypersmurf]

example: Medium humanoid using a Large shield? a Small shield? What sort of penalties are there? Does it matter if the shield is heavy or light?

A heavy shield is a one-handed weapon, so if you had a Large heavy shield (as a human), it would be considered a two-handed weapon and you'd need two hands to wield it effectively, taking a -2 penalty on attack rolls.

A light shield is a light weapon, so if you had a Small light shield, it would be unusable as a weapon.

As far as using it as a shield goes, there's nothing written; I could see a few ways you might elect to rule it in your game:

1. It doesn't matter. Whether it's Large, Medium, or Small, a heavy shield is a heavy shield. Potential problem - what if someone wants to use a Gargantuan shield? (This is closest to as-written, I believe.)

2. Consider a progression of buckler -> light shield -> heavy shield -> (tower shield). A Small light shield can be treated as a Medium buckler. A Large light shield can be treated as a Medium heavy shield. A Small buckler is unusable. A Large heavy shield is treated as a tower shield (if you include it in the progression), or unuseable (if you don't).

3. A light shield is a light shield, and a heavy shield is a heavy shield, regardless of size, but it is as hard to use a shield as a shield as it would be to wield the shield as a weapon; in other words, a Large heavy shield requires both hands to carry, since it would be considered a two-handed weapon; and a Small light shield is unuseable, since it could not be wielded. Problem - this doesn't cater for bucklers or tower shields, which can't be used as weapons anyway.

4. As 1 or 2, but in addition, an inappropriately-sized shield applies its armor check penalty regardless of shield proficiency. (This is pulled out of thin air, but serves to reflect in some respect the attack roll penalty inappropriately-sized weapons incur.)

What if there were armor spikes on the shield? Can you put Large spikes on a Medium shield?

Shield spikes don't have a size category; all they do is turn a shield into a spiked shield. So if you have a Medium heavy shield, and you add spikes, you end up with a Medium heavy spiked shield.

-Hyp.