| IkeFromSpain |
Hello, sorry for the horrible english:
I'm having some trouble with magic shields and Pathfinder.
While Pathfinder states that magic armor gets its enhancement bonus applied to the armor bonus to AC (thus not to skill check penalties, etc..)and that magic armor must be masterwork (improving its skill check penalty), it says nothing about shields.
What's more, there's no mention about shields in the Magic Item Creation Section.
Since I have played 3.5 before I'm assuming that the same rules that apply to magic armor must be used with magic shields, but in Pathfinder both armor and shields are two different concepts.
The way enhancement bonuses are used in Pathfinder is also a bit of a mistery to me. In 3.5 there was a section that said that enhancement bonuses improved a property of an item or creature, I can't find that rule in Pathfinder. Instead Pathfinder says that the enhancement bonus of an armor improves its armor bonus (instead of being a bonus to AC) and makes reference to various rules about what stacks. Again it doesn't say the same about shields. I'm sticking to 3.5 rules about it (i.e. a heavy shield +4 gives just a +6 shield bonus, and I don't want to hear from my players about stacking it with the shield spell or any other idea that makes the game even more complicated), but more clarifications would be ok.
Any help is appreciated, many thanks.
Alizor
|
The way it works in PFRPG is the exact same as 3.5. As a note, you really shouldn't be differentiating "shield" and "armor" too much, as they are effectively under the same "umbrella" of item.
Armor/Shield Bonus: Each type of armor grants an armor bonus to AC, while shields grant a shield bonus to AC. The armor bonus from a suit of armor doesn't stack with other effects or items that grant an armor bonus. Similarly, the shield bonus from a shield doesn't stack with other effects that grant a shield bonus.
In general, magic armor protects the wearer to a greater extent than nonmagical armor. Magic armor bonuses are enhancement bonuses, never rise above +5, and stack with regular armor bonuses (and with shield and magic shield enhancement bonuses). All magic armor is also masterwork armor, reducing armor check penalties by 1.
Shields: Shield enhancement bonuses stack with armor enhancement bonuses. Shield enhancement bonuses do not act as attack or damage bonuses when the shield is used in a shield bash. The bashing special ability, however, does grant a +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls (see the special ability description).
A shield could be built that also acted as a magic weapon, but the cost of the enhancement bonus on attack rolls would need to be added into the cost of the shield and its enhancement bonus to AC.
As with armor, special abilities built into the shield add to the market value in the form of additions to the bonus of the shield, although they do not improve AC. A shield cannot have an effective bonus (enhancement plus special ability bonus equivalents) higher than +10. A shield with a special ability must also have at least a +1 enhancement bonus.
Enhancement bonuses simply add their bonus to AC for an armor or shield(so a +2 breastplate has an AC enhanced to 8), or attack and damage on to a weapon. I hope this clears up confusion.