Please help with a homebrew on shields


Pathfinder First Edition General Discussion


Making this real short. I feel shields need more defense. I'm fine with the AC bonuses i just want something more beefy.

My idea:
Similar to the parry feat(maybe not a real feat as i can't find it).

Rules:
Any off-hand shield attacks that you possess (through the two weapon fighting feat) may be foregone in order to block an attack on your opponent's turn. You must choose which offhand attack is foregone before you make your attack action for the round. This must be used along with a full attack action(you must actually take the attack just on the opponent's turn). When an opponent strikes you on their turn after yours you may make an attack roll, modifier equal to the foregone attack, against their attack roll. If you beat their attack roll... attack is negated, damage is halved, something along those lines.

My question: does this seam reasonable? How would you do it? If you do not agree that the shield is underpowered in a defensive way feel free to refrain from posting due to disagreeing with the underlying cause of this original post.


What you describe is the "Parry" ability that the Duelist Prestige class offers.


stuart haffenden wrote:
What you describe is the "Parry" ability that the Duelist Prestige class offers.

The parry duelist ability simply adds AC i'm trying to work something into the shield as described that gives it a more active blocking feel and makes it maybe a bit more defensible.


vox6464 wrote:


Rules:
Any off-hand shield attacks that you possess (through the two weapon fighting feat) may be foregone in order to block an attack on your opponent's turn. You must choose which offhand attack is foregone before you make your attack action for the round. This must be used along with a full attack action(you must actually take the attack just on the opponent's turn). When an opponent strikes you on their turn after yours you may make an attack roll, modifier equal to the foregone attack, against their attack roll. If you beat their attack roll... attack is negated, damage is halved, something along those lines.

I also feel that shields are underpowered, but I think trying to make up a rule for active defense might be a bit too complicated. After all, the Dodge feat doesn't give you an extra chance to avoid an attack, right? I also don't think you should need the Two Weapon Fighting feat to be able to do neat stuff with your shield. I'm terrible with a sword in my off hand, but with a shield I have no problem doing shield sweeps and weapon traps. Sure, I do a lot of active blocking with my shield, but for D&D/Pathfinder, I prefer the idea of "active" feats that give bonuses to your passive AC.

One change I made was to boost the AC bonus for light and heavy shields by +1. That way bucklers are +1, light shields are +2, heavy shields are +3, and tower shields are +4. I then designed a few feats that allow a character using a shield to do (what I consider) cool things with the shield. The feats generally add an AC bonus to the shield carrier or to one of his or her adjacent allies, depending on the action being taken. None of them are complicated, and none of them require additional rolls. Everything works inside the rules. It makes things much easier.

Randy


vox6464 wrote:
stuart haffenden wrote:
What you describe is the "Parry" ability that the Duelist Prestige class offers.
The parry duelist ability simply adds AC i'm trying to work something into the shield as described that gives it a more active blocking feel and makes it maybe a bit more defensible.

Um no the parry ability lets them give up an attack to counter an incoming attack that would normally hit.

If I was to make a feat of similar bent I would probably do it as follows:

Shield Block
Prerequisites: Shield Focus, Two weapon fighting
Benefits: You may give up your off hand attack with a shield to instead intercept an incoming attack that would normally hit you. Make an attack roll with your shield with a bonus equal to your shield AC bonus plus you shield enhancement AC bonus (include feats that increase your shield's AC bonus too) with a DC equal to the attack roll of your opponent. If you roll higher than your opponent you block his attack with you shield.

The wording isn't great but you get the basic idea... I might include a line where the shield takes the damage as if it had be the target of a sunder attack with an Improved Shield Block that negates the shield getting damaged.


Abraham spalding wrote:
vox6464 wrote:
stuart haffenden wrote:
What you describe is the "Parry" ability that the Duelist Prestige class offers.
The parry duelist ability simply adds AC i'm trying to work something into the shield as described that gives it a more active blocking feel and makes it maybe a bit more defensible.

Um no the parry ability lets them give up an attack to counter an incoming attack that would normally hit.

If I was to make a feat of similar bent I would probably do it as follows:

Shield Block
Prerequisites: Shield Focus, Two weapon fighting
Benefits: You may give up your off hand attack with a shield to instead intercept an incoming attack that would normally hit you. Make an attack roll with your shield with a bonus equal to your shield AC bonus plus you shield enhancement AC bonus (include feats that increase your shield's AC bonus too) with a DC equal to the attack roll of your opponent. If you roll higher than your opponent you block his attack with you shield.

The wording isn't great but you get the basic idea... I might include a line where the shield takes the damage as if it had be the target of a sunder attack with an Improved Shield Block that negates the shield getting damaged.

TY for the reply, something to consider. The parry ability he was referring to was from the duelist class (unless you mean Pathfinder classes checking now) and it does not allow such an ability, just AC. Though i do remember an ability that does allow active parrying but I can't find it.


vox6464 wrote:
Abraham spalding wrote:
vox6464 wrote:
stuart haffenden wrote:
What you describe is the "Parry" ability that the Duelist Prestige class offers.
The parry duelist ability simply adds AC i'm trying to work something into the shield as described that gives it a more active blocking feel and makes it maybe a bit more defensible.

Um no the parry ability lets them give up an attack to counter an incoming attack that would normally hit.

If I was to make a feat of similar bent I would probably do it as follows:

Shield Block
Prerequisites: Shield Focus, Two weapon fighting
Benefits: You may give up your off hand attack with a shield to instead intercept an incoming attack that would normally hit you. Make an attack roll with your shield with a bonus equal to your shield AC bonus plus you shield enhancement AC bonus (include feats that increase your shield's AC bonus too) with a DC equal to the attack roll of your opponent. If you roll higher than your opponent you block his attack with you shield.

The wording isn't great but you get the basic idea... I might include a line where the shield takes the damage as if it had be the target of a sunder attack with an Improved Shield Block that negates the shield getting damaged.

TY for the reply, something to consider. The parry ability he was referring to was from the duelist class and it does not allow such an ability, just AC. Though i do remember an ability that does allow active parrying but I can't find it.

You mean this ability?

"Parry (Ex): At 2nd level, a duelist learns to parry the attacks of other creatures, causing them to miss. Whenever the duelist takes a full attack action with a light or one-handed piercing weapon, she can elect not to take one of her attacks. At any time before her next turn, she can attempt to parry an attack against her or an adjacent ally as an immediate action. To parry the attack, the duelist makes an attack roll, using the same bonuses as the attack she chose to forego during her previous action. If her attack roll is greater than the roll of the attacking creature, the attack automatically misses. For each size category that the attacking creature is larger than the duelist, the duelist takes a –4 penalty on her attack roll. The duelist also takes a –4 penalty when attempting to parry an attack made against an adjacent ally. The duelist must declare the use of this ability after the attack is announced, but before the roll is made."

Cause that's the ability the duelist gets. That would be what he was referring too.

Here's a link to the PrC for pathfinder, which is different from the 3.5 version:

pathfinder duelist

What you seem to be confused with is the Duelist's Canny Defense ability.


stuart haffenden wrote:
What you describe is the "Parry" ability that the Duelist Prestige class offers.

Ah yes i see, I was looking at the 3.5 duelist. I agree with that ability except for with a shield is exactly what I was looking for thank you.

Community / Forums / Pathfinder / Pathfinder First Edition / General Discussion / Please help with a homebrew on shields All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.