The search engine is temporarily down, and I would like an answer as soon as possible. An odd situation came up in the last game session I ran, and the party (and me) are now divided into two camps over the issue. The player was carrying his shield (heavy steel) in his primary hand, intending to use it to shield bash opponents as a non-lethal option in combat. The issues are: 1) I considered that to be an unusual method of wielding the shield (as it was in his primary, not secondary, hand) and therefore got the -4 for non-proficiency (he is a fighter and does have shield proficiency). Another player said that shield bashing is something anyone trained in a shield can do, regardless of which hand it was in. A third opinion was that the attack could occur, but should have the -4 for using a lethal weapon in a non-lethal manner. The player wanting to do the shield bash didn't think he should have any minuses, because he was using a weapon in a primary hand, and 'just trying to bonk him'. I would really appreciate help untangling this, in case he tries it again.
A shield bash treats the shield as a one handed weapon and deals leathal damage. So by the rules, dealing non-leathal damage with a shield would require a -4 to hit penelty.
That's by the rules.
====== Wolf logic:
The odd thing about a shield and bashing with it,is that it is the only 'weapon' that is really intended as an off-hand weapon only in effect reversing the off-hand penelty. In other words, when using a shield to bash with your primary hand you would take a -4 to hit with the 'off-hand'. But, in gameplay that is needlessly complicated and it would probably be best to ignore these ramblings.
