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Regarding the Shield Wall tactical feat, is it limited to 2 people working in tandum or is the bonus granted for all adjacent shield using allies? It doesn't specify.
Regarding the Shield Wall tactical feat, is it limited to 2 people working in tandum or is the bonus granted for all adjacent shield using allies? It doesn't specify.
If it doesn't specify we would look at the basic rules for stacking that state: "most bonuses of the same type don't stack."
I could also point to the introduction to the feats that says: "teamwork feats, which function only when two characters with the same feat work together." and make the facetious claim that with three people they don't work at all.
It appears to be an untyped bonus to your shield bonus? As such, they should stack afaik but that's not how we run it. We run it that they don't stack. Probably should be marked to clarify later.
It appears to be an untyped bonus to your shield bonus? As such, they should stack afaik but that's not how we run it. We run it that they don't stack. Probably should be marked to clarify later.
"Bonuses without a type always stack, unless they are from the same source."
Unfortunately, Paizo moved this from a general section in the 3.5 rules to under spell effects, so, an argument can be made that this wouldn't apply. I gotta go, I'm off to see how I can abuse that loophole.
However this question is about characters who have more than one other person around them. Therefore the bonuses are coming from different sources, right?
I would say the source of the bonus is the feat itself not individuals on the battlefield.
I can see the argument that fighter B, who is flanked by fighters A and C, all of whom have the Shield Wall feat, is better protected than either A or C due to the overlapping protection of three shields versus two. It's not how we use the feat in our game, but it does have me curious if stacked bonuses are RAI or not (I suspect not, but who knows?).
I think everyone in the shield wall (if everyone has the feat) gets the bonus.
<necro>
How about if you have three people with Shield Wall around you? How about eight, for a testudo-style formation?
Well, the opinion of the few posters in this thread from way back (myself included) is that you only get the bonus once regardless of how many people with the feat are adjacent to you. If you have an ally on every side of you (in the 8-man shield wall you mention) then you would also have cover from most enemies I would imagine.
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Here's the actual feat:
Shield Wall (Combat, Teamwork)
You form a unified defense with those around you.
Prerequisite: Shield Proficiency.
Benefit: Whenever you are wielding a shield and are adjacent to an ally wielding a shield who also has this feat, the AC bonus from your shield increases, depending on the shield wielded by your ally. If your ally is wielding a buckler or a light shield, your shield bonus increases by +1. If your ally is wielding a heavy shield or a tower shield, your shield bonus increases by +2. You keep these bonuses even if your ally loses his shield bonus due to making a shield bash attack. If an adjacent ally with this feat uses a tower shield to grant total cover, you also benefit if an attack targeting you passes through the edge of the shield (Core Rulebook 153).
I would have to join the posters stating that this is an on/off feat, not a per ally feat. If an lly standing next to you meets the requisite conditions, you gain the appropriate bonus. Additional allies don't further increase the bonus.
This sort of makes little sense to me. Logically if you have a guy standing on both your left and your right with great as tower shields and are using them to protect you (the entire purpose of this feat), you are significantly harder to hit than if it was simply one person.
Eg. I have a guy on my right blocking all attacks from my right, I can still be attacked from my left.
I now also have someone on my left removing that avenue of attack, am i not harder to hit?
Logically, you also can't see the enemy's attacks as well either. This would limit your ability to dodge and deflect them.
And, having all those boards around you will limit your attacks due to the limits on your range of motion. A spear might work great, but a spiked chain is gonna be horrible.
Real life does not work well with all of the game rules and very few times does it actually apply.