Mithral heavy shield considered light or heavy?

[Marios]

Well, subject says it all!

A mithral heavy shield weighs 5 lbs and, quoting the PRD,

PRD wrote:

is much lighter than a standard steel shield. It has a 5% arcane spell failure chance and no armor check penalty

Compare this to a standard light steel shield which weighs 6 lbs and has a -1 armor check penalty. It seems obvious that the light steel shield is heavier (6 lbs vs 5 lbs) and more awkward (-1 armor check penalty vs 0 armor check penalty) than the mithral heavy shield.

Rules as interpreted by James Jacobs allow casting spells with somatic and material components while wielding a one-handed weapon and a light shield (such as a light steel shield).

As far as I know there is no rule concerning what I'm asking but there sure is a rule that mithral armor is considered one category lighter than it's specification.

So, even if it isn't RAW, would you think it would be logical to houserule that mithral heavy shields to be considered light?

Thanks a lot in advance!

[DonDuckie]

By RAW shield don't have weight catagories like armor, they are just two different kinds of shield. And it would still be a heavy shield.

About the houserule:
The rules say you can carry other objects when using a light shield, and that this is due to it's weight. This may be the reasoning behind JJ's "can cast spells with light shield".

You can argue borh ways:
against) it's still a heavy steel shield, requiring more straps or whatever to utilize properly.
for) the weight makes it a bigger (but still) light steal shield, and you can cast spells and hold objects.

I think it's a reasonable houserule, because it creates a consistency.

[Matthew Downie]

It's still physically large and you still need to grip a strap with your shield hand to hold it in a balanced position or you don't get the AC bonus.

[Marios]

Matthew Downie wrote:

It's still physically large and you still need to grip a strap with your shield hand to hold it in a balanced position or you don't get the AC bonus.

Ahhh... that's interesting! So, you *can* do it, you just lose the shield's AC bonus for the round you cast the spell?

[Matthew Downie]

Adjusting a shield like that is a move action.

[Marios]

Matthew Downie wrote:

Adjusting a shield like that is a move action.

Hmmm... is this RAW?

[Matthew Downie]

P153
Readying (strapping on) a shield is only a move action.

Removing a shield from the arm and dropping it is only a move action.

As to whether you can remove a shield from your hand without dropping and have a shield flopping about giving you no AC bonus and no other penalties... I don't know.

[Marios]

Do you really need to actually *remove* the shield from your hand? Why? It's strapped, it won't fall! As for further penalties... hmmm... why would it give more penalties? If you were just carrying it from the straps would it give penalties? I doubt it!

But, anyway, that's for my GM to decide! :)

[FrodoOf9Fingers]

Well... The difference I see between light shields and heavy shields is partly due to how they are carried.

A light shield only uses straps to the arm, hence you can carry objects.

A heavy shield requires your hand to be holding part of the shield, in addition to the straps.

With a mithril buckler, you'd still lose the shield AC bonus when you cast a spell. Not sure where the rule is, but I've seen it mentioned alot.

Hope that helps!