I could have sworn that wearing a shield affects your attack bonus with the weapon in your primary hand. Just as if you were wielding a weapon in the off-hand. Light shield incurs light penalties, heavy shield incurs normal penalties, but for the life of me I can't find that in the rules now. Have I completely lost my mind?
I could have sworn that wearing a shield affects your attack bonus with the weapon in your primary hand. Just as if you were wielding a weapon in the off-hand. Light shield incurs light penalties, heavy shield incurs normal penalties, but for the life of me I can't find that in the rules now. Have I completely lost my mind?
Only the Tower Shield does this (-2) in normal combat.
If you are two-Weapon Fighting, using a weapon and shield to bash with, you get TWF penalties based on the size of the shield. Light shield is light offhand weapon, heavy shield is one handed offhand weapon.
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A character who wears armor and/or uses a shield with which he is not proficient takes the armor's (and/or shield's) armor check penalty on attack rolls as well as on all Dexterity- and Strength-based ability and skill checks. The penalty for nonproficiency with armor stacks with the penalty for shields.
It only changes it if you're trying to hold both at the same time. You can hold a buckler and a shield in the same hand.
Okay, I think I just found why I thought that. In the descriptions of all the shields it has the mechanical text for shield bashing.
You can bash an opponent with a
light shield, using it as an off-hand weapon. See “shield,
light” on Table 6–4 for the damage dealt by a shield bash.
Used this way, a light shield is a martial bludgeoning
weapon. For the purpose of penalties on attack rolls, treat
a light shield as a light weapon. If you use your shield
as a weapon, you lose its AC bonus until your next turn.
I'm pretty sure that a long time ago when I initially read through these rules I took that text and translated it into attack penalties regardless. Now that I look at it though I realize that they are just saying IF you shield bash as part of your attack you incur two-weapon penalties.
WOW! Just wow! I've been doing it wrong and hampering my PCs needlessly for a long time. I'm going to have to make that up to them somehow.
Thanks to those that responded so quickly.
Now that I look at it though I realize that they are just saying IF you shield bash as part of your attack you incur two-weapon penalties.
Also note, you only take the TWF penalties if you use TWF. You can bash like any other normal weapon without penalties.
If your BAB is high enough for multiple attacks, you can interchange them. Sword at +6, Shield Bash at +1. (or bash+6/sword+1 or bash +6/+1 whatever) FAQ here