Tower shield cleric


Rules Questions


I was thinking, can a cleric who fights with a tower shield go to heal a downed ally during battle and strap his shield to his back and present the shield face to the enemies to receive the cover and ac bonuses?


No, that would be silly. But lets look at the rules and see what we can do.

core rule book on readying shields wrote:

Ready or Drop a Shield

Strapping a shield to your arm to gain its shield bonus to
your AC, or unstrapping and dropping a shield so you can
use your shield hand for another purpose, requires a move
action. If you have a base attack bonus of +1 or higher, you
can ready or drop a shield as a free action combined with
a regular move.
Dropping a carried (but not worn) shield is a free action.

So we can see that strapping the shield to your back just isn't an option.

However:

core rule book on tower shields wrote:

Shield, Tower: This massive wooden shield is nearly as

tall as you are. In most situations, it provides the indicated
shield bonus to your AC. As a standard action, however,
you can use a tower shield to grant you total cover until the
beginning of your next turn. When using a tower shield
in this way, you must choose one edge of your space. That
edge is treated as a solid wall for attacks targeting you
only. You gain total cover for attacks that pass through this
edge and no cover for attacks that do not pass through this
edge (see Chapter 8). The shield does not, however, provide
cover against targeted spells; a spellcaster can cast a spell
on you by targeting the shield you are holding. You cannot
bash with a tower shield, nor can you use your shield hand
for anything else.
When employing a tower shield in combat, you take a –2
penalty on attack rolls because of the shield’s encumbrance.

So this is the nearest you can get - treating one edge of your square as total cover. Downside, it takes a standard action, which means you can't minister to the fallen while doing it, unless you have some method of ministering at speeds of move action or faster.


I think it would be a good idea oh no that guy got dropped I need to keep him from dying run over put shield on back pull him away from the fray, put yourself between his body and the active combat so that the shield catches any missiles fired your way. valid and realistic thing to do for a combat healer.


It would be a good idea if it were legal. It is not. It's a standard action to position a tower shield so that it provides total cover. You could move and cast one round or move and protect one round, but not protect and cast.


bobthedead18 wrote:
valid and realistic thing to do for a combat healer.

Okay, first suggestion: don't invoke realism when dealing with pathfinder. Second suggestion: don't invoke realism unless you've actually tried it, or at the very least seen it done and talked to the people who did it.

As someone with a more than casual interest in history, I can tell you that shields are not the impenetrable bulwarks most rpgs make them seem. Also, strapping something the size of a door to your back is really impractical.

The way to do this "realistically" is to have your friend or better yet friends go past the downed ally, then do the healing while you have a protective cordon.

Grand Lodge

bobthedead18 wrote:
I think it would be a good idea oh no that guy got dropped I need to keep him from dying run over put shield on back pull him away from the fray, put yourself between his body and the active combat so that the shield catches any missiles fired your way. valid and realistic thing to do for a combat healer.

Most of that is a drag manoeuvre (automatic success and die roll of 20 against a helpless creature) and/or 5' step to put him in a square where you provide him cover against attacks. The shield strapped to your back won't protect anyone and you are now a much better target for missiles than he is, but oh well, you can be brave to help your friend.

The valid, realistic and historically correct thing to do (well, historically for reloading crossbows, but close enough) would be for someone else to carry and set up the tower shield while you use your standard action effectively.


this is my friend ulfgar

http://i59.tinypic.com/aa8v36.jpg

he fights with a shield strapped to his back to deflect slashes at his head and shoulders and arrows from behind. don't tell me it is not feasible. I have seen it work in person I have fought against it, it sucks. and where else do you plan on carrying a shield when it is not wielded but on the back? carrying a shield on your arm gets very tiring.

I speak from experience SCA, and various LARPS


bobthedead18 wrote:

he fights with a shield strapped to his back to deflect slashes at his head and shoulders and arrows from behind. don't tell me it is not feasible. I have seen it work in person I have fought against it, it sucks. and where else do you plan on carrying a shield when it is not wielded but on the back? carrying a shield on your arm gets very tiring.

I speak from experience SCA, and various LARPS

Your friend ulfgar is using a larp shield which is made of foam rubber, and therefore lighter than an equivalent wooden shield. Additionally, his shield is a large round shield. A tower shield is bigger, and therefore heavier, also less wieldy.

So no, I'm not going to think a medium sized bit of foam rubber proves you can do the same thing with a large bit of wood and metal. Also not prepared to believe that axe works well with a wooden shield that size there - unless I see it done. I expect it will get in the way of his arms, if he tries it with full weight kit.

Further, a shield back there isn't going to stop any kind of thrust. It's only defending against a specific sort of slashing attack from the front - one where the incoming weapon extends about a foot beyond his neck. That doesn't actually happen very often. Well, not if people have a good grasp of range.

So if that's the standard SCA operates on, I'm glad it's not big over here.

Liberty's Edge

Pathfinder PF Special Edition Subscriber
bobthedead18 wrote:

this is my friend ulfgar

http://i59.tinypic.com/aa8v36.jpg

he fights with a shield strapped to his back to deflect slashes at his head and shoulders and arrows from behind. don't tell me it is not feasible. I have seen it work in person I have fought against it, it sucks. and where else do you plan on carrying a shield when it is not wielded but on the back? carrying a shield on your arm gets very tiring.

I speak from experience SCA, and various LARPS

The tower shield is based vaguely on the roman Scuta, which is twice as heavy and considerably more unwieldy than your friend Ulfgar's round shield, even assuming it is a wooden shield and not foam rubber.

Liberty's Edge

pathfinder rules require a shield to be strapped on to the arm to gain the benefit. By game rules, it provides no benefit when strapped on one's back.

Real life examples generally don't provide evidence of what a reasonable use is, primarily because the game structure is build on the basis on non-proficient/ proficient/ resource enhanced. In other words, using the tower shield as an example, non proficient use, as by a cleric without a feat, allows for an AC benefit, but incurs a big penalty on attacks. Proficient use negates the penalty. Various feats, whether published by paizo, a third party, written by a private party, or yet unimagined, can add additional functionality. A real world example of someone gaining a benefit from a strapped on shield may be the in-game equivelant of making use of a feat.


Based on the how the rules function this is not feasible in any ways. Allies do not gain the benefits of another characters tower shield (including the blocking effect of attacks) or anything else.

If you GM wants to make a bunch of house rules to increase "realism" thats fine, but Pathfinder isn't realistic. It doesn't attempt to be a game of realism. Trying to make it such just isn't fruitful in my opinion.


bobthedead18 wrote:

this is my friend ulfgar

http://i59.tinypic.com/aa8v36.jpg

he fights with a shield strapped to his back to deflect slashes at his head and shoulders and arrows from behind. don't tell me it is not feasible. I have seen it work in person I have fought against it, it sucks. and where else do you plan on carrying a shield when it is not wielded but on the back? carrying a shield on your arm gets very tiring.

I speak from experience SCA, and various LARPS

I'm not sure that's really a TOWER sh-

Nevermind, doesn't matter.

Rules-wise, no. Putting your shield in position takes too long, and just wearing the shield on your back doesn't count to your AC. I mean, protection-wise it's not much different than wearing regular plate armor, except maybe more restrictive and awkward. Looking at your friend, the shield is going to restrict his axe-swings; not so much he can't fight but enough to be relevant.

So, let's talk "how I get what I want to do done."

First, you keep the shield on your arm, because rules, because figuring out the exact rules for wearing a shield on your back and which way you're facing and no we're keeping it a TINY bit simpler.

Second, you either get your +4 from it being a shield (good plan) or spend a standard action setting it in the sand in order to use it for cover (not THAT mechanically useful).

Third (and probably next round), you use your other (empty) hand to cast your healing spell, grab'n'drag, or whatever while keeping his body positioned (pretty sure its within the rules) so that your body (and shield) provide him cover. Probably not as effective as dropping a healing spell and letting him walk but what the heck do I know about your battle's situation and incidentals?

In fact, the grab'n'drag is going to be next round regardless, since you (presumably) already used a move action getting to your buddy and can't move again.

This DOES go both ways, mind you. Not being able to wear a shield on your back for cover bonus is balanced out by the fact that turning completely around to (defensively I should hope) cast a spell on your buddy leaves you no more open than if you were facing a baddie down and punching him in the face with a Bad Touch spell.

...

That's all I can think of.

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