I have been looking at making a shielded fighter lately. i have seen the captain andoran build it look good. does any body have a guide to using a shield has your main weapon?
I had a few questions.
if using a shield has a weapon you cant enchant it with melee weapon abilities right? like flame or shock
can you enchant it with ranged weapon abilities like returning or ranged?
I guess I am confused on how to make a shield worth while, I was thinking of a brawler archetype with brass knuckles, or cestus and shield.
it feels really complicated and hard to put together feat wise it seems like from what I understand you have to focus on twf and shield and ranged weapon feats
has any body ever played a captian america character well
can you walk me through the basic feat challenges and the shield has a weapon mechanics?
any body buhler?
Search for "Captain Andoran" A PFS character built around the shield.
I did I saw that it looked good but I am looking for more of a in the weeds info
so if I fight with a shield using TWF can I make multiple attacks with just the shield or do I need another weapon to qualify for the off hand attacks?
if you have only a shield in your hand (and shields are used in the off hand), how can you have off hand attacks? Do you want to shield bash and cast spells with one hand?
Just say what you want to do . . . .
I don't think you can put just returning on a shield but you can put throwing on it and then returning.
And I could have sworn you could enhance shields as melee weapons, just not both that and armor.
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Lobolusk:
There are to ways to take a "shielded fighter".
First) Shield as a Shield Bash attack, this is complicated but can be done.
Second) Shield as a thrown weapon. This, in my opinion, can never be a primary fighting style. It can look really cool, but never plays out in terms of damage output. This style also creates some AC issues, as you have tossed your shield away on certain rounds. If this is your intent let me know and I will re-work it in my mind. When I was building my shield fighter I determined it was not a viable build, super fun, but caused more trouble than he was worth.
As for the shield slam master: There are likely many ways to jump in and out of multiple classes and perform well with a shield. The two primary concerns for a shield fighter; ONE get the feats, as early as possible, TWO is to recognize that the shield is your PRIMARY weapon, not your secondary.
I built my shield fighter using a straight ranger. The Weapon and Shield combat style allows you to reach some of the shield feats 5 levels earlier than a FIGHTER!! You most likely have to go human, because of the volume of feats required. Your first goal in feats is to get to shield slam as QUICKLY as possible. This can be taken without two weapon fighting as a second level ranger. With this feat, and having improved shield bash, you are not only shield bashing as your primary attack, you are always pushing the enemy away from you. The second most important feat for this chain and where two-weapon fighting really takes off is at 6th level the ranger can take Shield Master. Once you have taken this feat you can two weapon fight and your primary heavy weapon will NEVER take a penalty.
My current shield fighter is in the guise of a spartan warrior. Shield first. When it gets gritty he draws a short sword from his wrist sheath attached to his shield and begins hacking and bashing. It has been an incredibly fun character to play.
Secondly you will notice that at 6th level while taking shield master (which requires normally a BAB of 11) your numerical bonus on your shield for AC is now your numerical bonus as a weapon. Using this feat you will never have a flaming shield. But for the cost of a +3 armor bonus you are ALSO receiving a +3 weapon enhancement. I personally place the bashing property on my shield so as to increase the variable damage output.
With those two feats you are forcing other characters around the board AND two weapon fighting with only a single weapon taking a -2 to it's attack. Add in the favored enemy bonuses, animal companion, spells *lead blades* and you are a serious force to be reckoned with..
The other feats you can and should take are almost all shield and two weapon fighting focused, but the two feats above are the MUST HAVE feats to make a shielded fighter work.
And my rant is done.
if you have only a shield in your hand (and shields are used in the off hand), how can you have off hand attacks? Do you want to shield bash and cast spells with one hand?
Just say what you want to do . . . .
I didnt know that a shield was always off hand what I wanted to do is use my shield has my primary weapon and use my fist/brass Knuckles has a secondary. and throw my shield at enemies.. basicly captain america.
I assume this build is very feat intensive so that is why I was asking.
it seems you cant have both you can only have throwing or bashing.
I dont like the idea of 2 shields that is weird
Although it may not be what you are exactly looking for, check out the Sacred Shield paladin archetype. The ability to half the damage for your entire party is awesome. You could do that with as little as 4 paladin levels.
I like MoMS 2/ unarmed fighter 6. Snake and crane style with light brawling armor and a shield for throwing or bashing using all your other fighter feats to enhance your shield combat. Crane and snake keep you well defended and let you negate and riposte a couple different attacks while snake keeps you swinging even when it's not your turn.
I never saw the Cap build, but this is how I would do it.
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I have not put too much thought into this, but here is a concept:
If you have a Monk(any kind) and take 1 lvl of Weapon Master(Throwing Shield), I believe this would work. In combat you would do something like:
If shield is in hand and no one is in range, throw shield and move. Doing this gives you your unarmored monk AC.
If someone is in range, drop shield and engage. Keep the monk AC and be able to flurry.
Either way, you would be able to use your shield to attack as you are wanting. You would get a free bonus feat from fighter, and weapon proficiency in the exotic throwing shield. You would have the un-armored bonuses from monk when you throw your shield, so in essence it would be better for you to throw it away all the time.
Eventually you could put returning on the shield. Not sure if there is a "Bouncing" effect you could put on it, but that would be cool too.
Just an idea.
I am just going to go with my Kobold Ninja Lawyer that seems like a better plan.
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Loblusk-
Now that it is evident you want to throw the shield it only changes a few things from the "basher build"..
1) It has to be a thrown shield, still make it your primary, but it requires another feat to use as it is exotic, other than that almost nothing changes.
2) you want the returning property as soon as possible or the shield never, well returns.
3) bash when you like, hit with your fist when you like, and toss that shield like an american warrior.
By going two weapon fighting, shield fighting, and throwing honestly doesn't take much more effort. So let me attempt to create this on the fly.
HUMAN Ranger 6 (focusing only on feats, with an 16 strength, 16 Dexterity, and a +1 magic returning shield for purposes of the exercise)
Ranger 1 (Human)
Feat - Bonus: Exotic Weapon Proficiency (throwing Shield)
Class: Improved Shield Bash (retain AC)
Ranger 2
Feat - Combat Style: Shield Slam
Ranger 3
Feat - Two Weapon Fighting
Ranger 4
Feat - None
Ranger 5
Feat - Shield Focus - in truth this is your first free feat pick what you want! It is not essential for the build in any way.
Ranger 6
Feat - Shield Master
At Lv 6:
Attack (melee - heavy steel shield) 3 (Str) + 6 (BAB) + 1 (magic - Shield Master) = 10
Dmg (Heavy Steel Shield) 3 (str) + 1 (magic) = 1d6+4
Attack (melee - Knuckes) 3 (Str) + 6 (BAB) = 9
Dmg (Knuckes) 3 (str) = 1d+3
IF TWO WEAPON FIGHTING ONLY YOUR KNUCKLES TAKE A PENLATY
Attack (Ranged - Heavy Steel Shield) 3 (Dex) + 6 (BAB) = 9
Dmg (Heavy Steel Shield) 3 (Str) = 1d6+3
As you can see this is very viable, but the feat requirements along with switching between ranged and melee combat makes it much less effective to take feats such as power attack or deadly aim.
If you want to play the CAPTAIN, by god play the Captain. This is the best way, in my opinion, to allow the rules to easily fit within the concept of the character. He would be a lot of fun to play.
I hope that helped.
Cap is a paladin at heart, but he needs more feats and skills than what your standard paladin package has to offer.
That "off-hand" thing for shields has been errata'd out. Can be used as main hand attack. Even two-hand fight with it.
Don't forget that "returning" throwing weapons only return in your *next* turn. In other words, it only works on your last (weakest) iterative attack of the turn, and you'll be without shield on the opponent's turn. It's a trap, not a feature.
I don't think a GM would mind you doing that as a shield enchant. Especially if you were going all Captain America.
Wear two cesti for offhand and backup weapons.
Brawler Fighter or Ranger do it best. I will add cap america builds to my Ranger and Fighter guides one day....
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Hmmmm... I could see a Monk of the Empty Hand for this, using the shield as an improvised weapon with the Empty Hand treatment of improvised weapons, using it to Flurry, and so on. The monk could us Ki points to give it returning, and should already have throw anything, so wouldn't need to give it throwing.