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Tower Shields have always kind of tripped me up. Wanted to get some clarification on how they tick.:
When employing a tower shield in combat, you take a –2 penalty on attack rolls because of the shield's encumbrance.
1) So if you use a tower shield to grant cover, does it grant total cover even in situations that wouldn't normally grant total cover such as:
M X X
X P X
X X X
(M= Monster, X = empty space, P = Player with the shielded edge on the north side of 'P')
This situation would normally only grant normal Cover but am I reading it right that it would grant Total Cover instead?
2) If you are large sized and use a tower shield to grant total cover. Do you only get a single spaces edge of cover or do you now have an edge that is two space-lengths long?:
M X X
X P P
X P P
(M= Monster, X = empty space, P = Player's space with the shielded edge on the north side of 'P')
3) In either of the above scenarios are you, the wielder of the shield, not subject to these cover penalties? Can you make AoO from behind the shield at no additional penalties (beyond the -2 the shield gives as as normal). How about your teammates?
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To Question #1: I would say the player could, and in this case should, call out the northwest diagnal (where 'M' is) as the direction of cover. It doesn't really matter much in this case though as all 'X' spaces are empty and the monster only needs to 5ft step to attack the player.
In all practical cases the player is either blocking an entrance, hallway, or at a far distance from ranged creatures where choosing an edge really makes a difference. Obviously, the farthest distance in a direction from M to P in a straight line is the direction that the ranged weapon's path would take, unless it's a boomerang or something which I'd consider to "loop" around.
Question #2: Character is large sized but is the tower shield medium sized or large sized? If the tower Shield is large sized it's reasonable to consider both spaces on the edge you pick to provide cover. The rules you provided also state to pick an edge and consider the entire edge to be total cover so there's no sense in it only affecting 1 space of a 2 space length edge.
Hope this info helps. Tower shields are a lot of fun. You can totally block people from leaving buildings and such but just be prepared to get bull rushed a lot lol.
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Thanks for the answer Kysune.
1) I figured on them 5ft stepping. I had that setup as that was where the enemy was after their 5ft step from being right in front of me. Can you actually call a diagonal corner, I'm not really getting that impression from the items description?
2) Makes sense :)
3) Added a third question too last minute.
Yeah, it seems fun. I'm working on a Bodyguard build that will be heavily employing a tower shield to protect himself (and his allies with Shield Wall). Should work out wonderfully if I can get the kinks hammered out.
On question two, the description says to choose "a single edge of your space". Your space is the entire space you take up, so a Huge creature wielding a tower shield gets to block a 15-foot-wide area.
Technically, RAW, the tower shield says nothing about sizing, so a Huge creature wielding a tower shield sized for a Medium creature still blocks a 15-foot-wide area. Oddly.
I think for question #1, you do in fact get total cover against diagonal attacks. This actually makes the tower shield better than an actual wall in that case.
For question #3, the tower shield only counts as cover for "attacks targeting you". So you can attack just fine, as can your allies.
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Yeah, nothing stated for sizing of the tower shield but if you're using a huge or bigger humanoid/creature that's using a medium sized tower shield then you're setting the game up for some poor visualization. How a medium tower shield spans a 15ft reach for a huge creature but only 5ft for a medium breaks all sorts of logic.
RAW you can't actually call a diagonal corner as an edge, but unless the edge counts as a hard corner, I'd allow someone to if the player wanted to. Now if the called edge "wall" counts as a hard corner then monsters aren't able to attack from the diagonal spaces in that direction, which would make things a bit less complicated.
Response to MaxAstro, are you saying that the edge you designate counts as a hard corner to where the creature can't attack you from a diagonal from the direction of the edge you designated as total cover?
#3, MaxAstro is correct. You're using your standard for your round to set it up as a wall, but you still have your move and swift action and # of available AoO's to use still.
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An edge is corner to corner. Due to the wording of the tower shield if you would have gained cover from the shield's "wall" then you will gain total cover. It points specifically to the rules for cover in the combat section which I will quote and link below:
To determine whether your target has cover from your ranged attack, choose a corner of your square. If any line from this corner to of the target's square passes through a square or border that blocks line of effect or provides cover, or through a square occupied by a creature, the target has cover (+4 to AC).When making a melee attack against an adjacent target, your target has cover if any line from to the target's square goes through a wall (including a low wall). When making a melee attack against a target that isn't adjacent to you (such as with a reach weapon), use the rules for determining cover from ranged attacks.
So if they are shooting at you and it will go through the side you choose for the shield to block including the corners to connect to any cover the shield is fully effective.
In melee if a line from any corner of their square passes through the facing of the side you choose for the shield to block including the corners then again the shield is fully effective.
So any of the three squares that are touching the side you choose to block will be blocked by the shield. Fan out from there.
As the edge is the entire length of your space if you are large or larger then it will cover everything allow the edge of your space you choose. Realize however that large (and larger) creatures also get to choose how they are affected by cover differently than so this might be less effective for them or against them depending on the sizes and positioning involved.
The tower shield specifically states that it works only for attacks targeting you -- meaning any and all attacks (including your own unless you are targeting yourself) that are not targeting you are completely unaffecting -- giving you your normal AoO's (with the -2 from the tower shield of course).
Normally this means that your allies are not gaining any benefit from your tower shield, however if you use shield wall then your allies may benefit from it as well.
Remember that if you have cover of any type you cannot be targeted by attacks of opportunity.
Abraham has it exactly right.
Tower shields are pretty boss. I got to run a boss battle in my Way of the Wicked campaign with a pair of Giant-template tower archons who could basically set their shields so as to nullify all attacks from one direction and force the party to circle around them and eat attacks of opportunity.
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Okay, kinda necropost here, but i guess it will be nice to answered here.
Does "covering" tower shield counts as "character`s item" or "separate object"? I mean - By the rules of sunder you simply can`t sunder it because your target is in "total cover", so - you just damage it as separate object or must use sunder to damage it?
Oger, you must use sunder to damage it. It is not an unattended object if you have it equipped, as you must to use it, for total cover or otherwise.
To answer another question above, although the shield grants total cover to you against enemy attacks, when you make attacks (such as Attacks of Opportunity or an extra attack with a hero point), your enemy does not have total cover from you! The rules say, "As a standard action, however, you can use a tower shield to grant you total cover until the beginning of your next turn." That is YOU gain total cover. No other creature gains total cover.
A couple posters above mention that an enemy can five-ft-step around a tower shield, and therefore it is useful mostly for blocking doorways, from a distance, etc. NOT SO! Here is a trick to make better use of your tower shield:
You must use a standard action to set a tower shield for total cover. You can program the use of a standard action with a trigger via the Ready action. So you can Ready the use of your tower shield like this ... "I'll use my tower shield for total cover, triggered by being attacked, in the direction from which the attack comes."
For more on this topic, check out my blog post on using tower shields:
http://www.cayzle.com/screeds/book086.html
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Oger, you must use sunder to damage it. It is not an unattended object if you have it equipped, as you must to use it, for total cover or otherwise.
To answer another question above, although the shield grants total cover to you against enemy attacks, when you make attacks (such as Attacks of Opportunity or an extra attack with a hero point), your enemy does not have total cover from you! The rules say, "As a standard action, however, you can use a tower shield to grant you total cover until the beginning of your next turn." That is YOU gain total cover. No other creature gains total cover.
A couple posters above mention that an enemy can five-ft-step around a tower shield, and therefore it is useful mostly for blocking doorways, from a distance, etc. NOT SO! Here is a trick to make better use of your tower shield:
You must use a standard action to set a tower shield for total cover. You can program the use of a standard action with a trigger via the Ready action. So you can Ready the use of your tower shield like this ... "I'll use my tower shield for total cover, triggered by being attacked, in the direction from which the attack comes."
For more on this topic, check out my blog post on using tower shields:
http://www.cayzle.com/screeds/book086.html
Thanls a lot for claryfing that. That realy helps, maybe my shield will be alive (i used it in a narrow tunnel vs 5 gnolls and it got rekt into pieces in 1 round. howerer nobody truly knows what that ability does so i used it to grant cover for my allies that were unzipping weapons. I guess i need adamantine tower a lot)
Keep in mind that although Tower Shields have to be made of wood (sorry, no adamantine ones), you can boost any item's hardness and hit points by making it magical.
A Base Tower Shield has Hardness 5 and 20 hp.
However, "Add +2 [to Hardness] for each +1 enhancement bonus of magic items ... Add 10 hp for each +1 enhancement bonus of magic items."
So a +2 Tower Shield has Hardness 9 and 40 hp.
If you happen to be Large in size, for example, if you are a liontaur or centaur, then double the base hit points (20 x2 = 40). Then add more for being magical. A +2 Tower Shield sized for a Large creature has 60 hp and hardness 9.
Darkwood has the same number of hit points and base hardness, but half the weight, which is nice. For just an extra 450 gp (+900 for a large creature, but still worth it), I think.
Note that before the hardness or hp of your shield even matters, an enemy has to successfully hit your CMD with a sunder attack. Therefore, anything you can do to boost your CMD is a good thing. Per the rules, "A creature can also add any circumstance, deflection, dodge, insight, luck, morale, profane, and sacred bonuses to AC to its CMD." That means your Ring of Protection, your Dodge feat, and your +1 AC Ioun Stone all boost your CMD, so make sure you prioritize those options over, say, an Amulet of Natural Armor or Bracers of Defense.
Also consider feats that are designed to boost your CMD, such as Shield Specialization (from the APG) and Defensive Combat Training (from the Core rules). The former lets you apply your +4 shield bonus to your CMD, so it is great at low levels; the latter lets you use your hit dice in place of your BAB to calculate CMD, so it is great at higher levels if you are not a fighter-type.
Finally, although the visuals may or may not appeal to you, consider the advantage of using two shields. Use a Large Shield (spiked, if you like, or just regular for bashing) in one hand and your Tower Shield in the other. You cannot use the Shield bonus from both at the same time; they do not stack -- you have to use the better one. So you have two choices: Choice One, use your Tower Shield for its AC bonus and your Large Shield to bash enemies. Or Choice Two, use your Tower Shield for total cover and your Large Shield for its bonus to AC from the other directions.
And with the Improved Shield Bash feat, you can even use your Tower Shield for total cover, use your Large Shield for its bonus to AC, and bash foes as well -- at least, if they provoke Attacks of Opportunity. If your DM uses hero points, you can use a Hero Point for an extra standard action to gain total cover, and use your remaining full attack to bash (multiple times if you have BAB +6 or higher or a haste effect, say).
There is also the hardening spell.
Keep in mind that although Tower Shields have to be made of wood (sorry, no adamantine ones), you can boost any item's hardness and hit points by making it magical.
So, are we just going to ignore that there are magical mithral tower shields in Ultimate Equipment?
