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I was just looking at the RAW, anticipating a Paladin for possible use in PFS. I don't think in our home games we have ever made the "sword and board" paladin sheath or drop his weapon to swift action heal himself during a fight. However, it does seem to be RAW. If so, it would make me lean towards a two-handed weapon version if I felt the LOH in a fight would be important.
Hows does the fact that you can "melee touch attack" to "use this healing power to deal damage to undead creatures" play into the equation? Can that be addressed by whacking someone with a weapon? And would it be damage in addition to the normal melee/power attack/whatever attack damage?
Thanks all!
It does say you need one free hand but their are no rules for changing grips and you can hold a two handed weapon one handed. Use a light shield and you still have a hand free. Also light shield are better for bashing.
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RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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I was just looking at the RAW, anticipating a Paladin for possible use in PFS. I don't think in our home games we have ever made the "sword and board" paladin sheath or drop his weapon to swift action heal himself during a fight. However, it does seem to be RAW. If so, it would make me lean towards a two-handed weapon version if I felt the LOH in a fight would be important.
Alternatively, if you're okay with not shield bashing, use a buckler as your shield. You'll be able to LoH yourself with that hand. You might be able to do the same with a light shield (the hand is "free" enough to carry items), but you might find some table variation there, which can be frustrating. But the only advantage to a light shield over a buckler is shield bashing or a small handful of shield-related feats, so a buckler would be my suggestion. It even gives you the option to two-hand your weapon if you're willing to take -1 to hit and lose your shield bonus to AC for that round.
Hows does the fact that you can "melee touch attack" to "use this healing power to deal damage to undead creatures" play into the equation?
For that, you'll definitely need a free hand. Again, the buckler will work (with the aforementioned consequences), but the light shield will not (unless you pass your weapon into your shield hand, touch with your now free hand, then pass the weapon back - but some GMs balk at this).
Can that be addressed by whacking someone with a weapon?
No. That's the Magus' Spellstrike class feature. You need to touch them.
Hope all that helps!
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Okay. To use Lay on Hands you must have a hand 'free' the same way it needs to be free for spellcasting. This precludes a Heavy Shield, but not a Light Shield or Buckler.
To make a touch attack with it, the hand would need to be truly free, so you'd need to be using a buckler and lose that buckler's AC bonus in the round you used the touch attack.
Can that be addressed by whacking someone with a weapon?No. That's the Magus' Spellstrike class feature. You need to touch them.
Grabbing a Conductive weapon also works for this.
Can a paladin do LoH with during combat when holding a sword and light shield?I believe so. A light shield allows spellcasters to use their hand to cast, and lets you carry an object; the only thing it actually prevents is wielding a weapon. Since lay on hands only requires you to touch someone, you could indeed use this ability while wearing a light shield.