Imagine my shock when I realized that a wizard could use a mithral buckler or small shield without penalty, despite non-proficiency! (I know this is old news for some, but it blew me away.) The question, then, is what the difference is between the two. If I'm reading the rules correctly, the only advantage the light shield has over the buckler is that it can be used for bashing, right? Other than that, the buckler is cheaper, lighter, and can be used with a bow without getting in the way? Am I missing anything? Stacked up that way, it looks like the buckler is a much better option for a wizard, since any wizard who ends up in a situation where he needs to do shield-bashing is in pretty deep. So is there any reason to take a light shield over a buckler?
I was under the impression he could hold something in the buckler hand and choose round to round whether he was wielding the weapon (as opposed to just holding it) or using the buckler's protection. One or the other, but not both. Same for a bow. That's why it looks so much more flexible than the light shield, no?
For a Wizard, you might not want a Buckler since some items or actions may require both hands. In addition, it won't stack with spells like Shield since they both offer Shield bonuses to AC.
On top of which, the money you'd end up spending to make the Buckler a relevant armor item is money you should be spending for awesome spells or neat equipment that help you out in spellcasting more than a couple AC or a silly property.
**EDIT** If given the choice between the two, Buckler wins out hands down; but if given a third option to not bother with it at all, that would probably reign supreme over the other 2 options.
The only mild benefit to a wizard using any shield is for enchanting purposes. Not exactly jazz-hand worthy.
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You could hold something in your buckler hand and if you don't use it you can still cast. If you do use it you forfeit the AC bonus for one round. As for the actual Question, You take a Buckler if you have metamagic rods or arcane bond and you can have the benefit of versatility. You choose a Light Shield because its cheaper and you sometimes need an extra 10 gp, and if you are willing to settle for a familiar/amulet/ring/etc. then a buckler provides no benefit other than rods/staves. Or you could just invest in Haramaki Armor and have the same bonus as a shield while retaining it when using metamagic rods. Also, the difference btw. a light shield and a buckler is really for a full-martial character that uses a 2h weapon (Buckler) or is pressed for money (light).
When, considering you don't have to buy weapons, enchanting a mithral buckler (and/or haramaki) is perfectly feasible...
Now, Haramakis are a bit usess, since you already have Mage Armor (but you can enchant it with things like Fortification or Energy Resistance! :D)
The "Shield" spell, however, doesn't last nearly as long as Mage Armor, so a mithral Buckler is a pretty good investment (it keeps your hands free, you can even handle a Greatsword while donning a buckler, albeit with a -1 penalty to attacks, but that's doesn't matter for wizards)
Light Shields, however, do keep your hands busy, so Buckler is a much better choice.
Getting a +2~+3 Buckler is pretty cheap. At the very least, it's cheaper than buying Bracers of Armor... A good investment IMO, although stat stat boosters and Cloaks of Resistance take precedence, of course...
You know what else is cool? Buy a +1 Gauntlet and give it the Dueling enhancement! BOOM! +4 Initiative!
The "Shield" spell, however, doesn't last nearly as long as Mage Armor, so a mithral Buckler is a pretty good investment (it keeps your hands free, you can even handle a Greatsword while donning a buckler, albeit with a -1 penalty to attacks, but that's doesn't matter for wizards)!Wizards who get the delusion that they are front line fighters aren't long before a character creation process comes about.
Indeed. I didn't mean to imply that they'd have no problem wielding a Greatsword... Quite the contrary, actually... The penalty to attack rolls made with 2-handed weapons doesn't matter because Wizards don't use such weapons... Or any other weapon, actually...
Being a squishy, however, is even more of an incentive to invest in AC. Hopefully you won't need it, but as the saying goes... Better safe than sorry.
I've had wizards who used a buckler at low levels.
Then again, I've had wizards who've worn armor at low levels. And even mid levels.
The thing about a buckler isn't the AC, it's the other stuff you can enchant it with, like fortification...
The thing about a buckler isn't the AC, it's the other stuff you can enchant it with, like fortification...
You can have both... Use the Buckler for AC and enchant a +1 Haramki for cool armor enhancements. It's cheaper that way.
Since light shield bash is a light weapon, you can acutally enchant the light shield as a +1 dueling weapon. No need for an extra cestus or gauntlet.
Or you can have a haramaki and a buckler with two beneficial enchantments :)