New feat for entry into shield-bash tree

[CountMRVHS]

My wife is playing a fighter who wants to go axe-and-board, and I suggested she think about the shield bash line of feats. She's really interested in them, but the problem is that they're all dependent upon two-weapon fighting, and her Dex is 12.

It's just the 2 of us playing (I'm GMing), so when she wondered if we could make up a feat to allow it, I thought about it. Here's what I've come up with:

Stonearm
You use brute strength rather than agility to bash foes with your shield.
Prerequisites: Str 15, base attack bonus +1
Benefit: You are treated as having the Two-Weapon Fighting feat, but only when fighting with a shield in one hand. In addition, you may use your Strength instead of your Dexterity to qualify for Improved Two-Weapon Fighting and Greater Two-Weapon Fighting, but these feats only apply when you fight with a shield in one hand.

I wonder if I should change that second sentence to allow all two-weapon fighting feats to be keyed to Str instead of Dex ... but it might not be necessary, since all of those (such as TW Rend, etc.) already have Imp. TWF etc. as prerequisites?

Anyway, what do you think of this? I'm not worried about this being overpowered, but I want to make sure there aren't any unforseen consequences out there, or other things I should consider.

[Detect Magic]

You could always increase her point buy, or allow a re-roll, or something. It's just the two of her, so "balance" isn't really an issue. I mean, hell--granting her the "Advanced Template" wouldn't hurt, and it would qualify her for the "Two-Weapon Fighting" feat.

That said, the feat is fine, considering she's the only player. As I've stated previously, balance is largely unimportant when there's only one player. It's fine if she outshines NPCs, or does things they normally can't do--that's the point of being a PC, after all.

If the two of you are having fun, you're doing it right.

[Gherrick]

True, but I always wondered why TWF should have such a high dex req.

Have you looked into the Shielded Fighter archetype?

[Detect Magic]

Using two weapons at the same time is difficult. You need to be coordinated, hence a Dex requirement. Perhaps 13 would be more appropriate, but the game has placed it at 15 for some reason (placing it well out of reach for all but the most devoted NPCs, for example).

[CountMRVHS]

Thanks for the replies.

I think I'm going to just go with this made-up feat, since she doesn't love tweaking build points and stuff - that's more of a me thing. :)

I hadn't looked too much into Shielded Fighter - thanks for the link! - but I don't think it will appeal to her. The first granted ability is somewhat restricted, the 5th-level thing doesn't really let her bash more often - like many of the archetypes it doesn't get that interesting until much later on, and our characters typically don't get very high in level in the first place.