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The feat is worded to specifically allow you to KEEP the AC bonus from the buckler regardless of what you are doing with the other hand, whether that is to cast spells or wield another weapons with it (including 2 handed weapons). Essentially, you never had to worry about losing that shield bonus.

Yeah, this seems to be perfectly clear and I have no qualms about it.

This also lets classes that require the offhand to be free (or a monk, which can not use a shield without losing their features) to use a buckler regardless, and keep the AC bonus.

This is what really bothers me. It just seems to be redundant with the default rules. Just because you are wearing a buckler doesn't mean either of your hands is occupied. It is strapped onto one of your arms. The respective hand is still free, isn't it? heck, in the buckler's descriptions, it mentions using it with your "shield arm", not a "shield hand". Having a buckler does not hinder one's usage of, say, crane wing or the precise strike deed in any way.

What I'm trying to get at here is that a very literal interpretation of this feat, at least in my opinion, allows the player to have a "virtual free hand". The player wears a buckler, and the hand of that respective arm is "is considered free for the purposes of casting spells, wielding weapons, and using any other abilities that require you to have a free hand", even if that hand is already doing something else and not actually free, such as spell-combat, holding an object, etc.

This interpretation is, obviously, very questionable. Hence I am here asking for opinions from fellow gamers. Do you think this interpretation is absurd? Is there any official ruling for this?

You are accustomed to fighting with your shield.

Prerequisite(s): Shield Focus, base attack bonus +6 or fighter level 4th, proficiency with bucklers.

Benefit(s): You still gain a buckler’s bonus to AC even if you use your shield hand for some other purpose. When you wield a buckler, your shield hand is considered free for the purposes of casting spells, wielding weapons, and using any other abilities that require you to have a free hand or interact with your shield, such as the swashbuckler’s precise strike deed or the Weapon Finesse feat.

Special: A monk with this feat is not considered to be using a shield for the purposes of his AC bonus, fast movement, or flurry of blows.

Hello all, I came aross this feat in the Armor Master’s Handbook yesterday, and its wording seems extremely confusing. The first part,"You still gain a buckler’s bonus to AC even if you use your shield hand for some other purpose.", is fine, but what does the rest mean?

Say you have a buckler, strapped onto your left arm, you can nevertheless use your left hand to cast a spell, wield weapons, or "use any other abilities that require you to have a free hand" even without this feat. You only lose the shield AC if you use a weapon wielded by that hand. If you are a swashbuckler, you can use the precise strike deed regardless of whether you have this feat or not.

Does this feat mean that your shield hand is considered free even if it's otherwise occupied? For example, can I take the unhindering shield feat, and start TWF with precise strikes, spell combat with slashing grace, or cast a spell with somatic components even if both of my hands are occupied?(Since, after all, one of my hand has a buckler and is considered "free"?)

If not, what is this feat's intended usage? It seems that half of what this feat does is already a given. If possible, I would like to hear both RAW and RAI intepretations.

hello all,

as the title says, I'm currently playing a lvl1 melee-oriented wyrm singer skald with the community-minded trait. In the next session or so we are expecting to level up, and I just wanna ask whether it's worth it to delay my skald class progression by 1 level for bloodrage.

Right now I'm looking at the id rager archetype, specifically the anger focus. It nets me power attack and intimidate focus (compliments cornugon smash quite well). With draconic rage, bloodrage, and Atavistic Avatar all active, I get a +2/+2 morale on atk roll/dmg, +4 morale on strength, and +2 untyped str from strength focus.

If I calculated this correctly, then it's a total of +5/+5 on ab and damage. However, my ac also gets a -4 penalty... Is this a good trade(also considering that I'm one level late at getting rage powers for teammates)? If it is, how do I build up my ac with minimal investment to mitigate the loss? (I'm using a greataxe and wearing chainmail)