I have 2 questions about shields. My first is if I have a mithral heavy shield is it considered to be a heavy shield for the purpose of being able to use that hand to hold an item?
You strap a shield to your forearm and grip it with your hand. A heavy shield is so heavy that you can't use your shield hand for anything else.
Heavy armors are treated as medium, and medium armors are treated as light, but light armors are still treated as light
Mithral has no statement about what happens if a shield is made of mithral.
Second a light shield says that you can hold an item in that hand but you can't use a weapon.
You strap a shield to your forearm and grip it with your hand. A light shield's weight lets you carry other items in that hand, although you cannot use weapons with it.
While wielding a light shield could I use a metamagic rod in that hand since it isn't considered a weapon?
Not RAW, but I'd say that you could hold both the rod and the shield in that hand, but not use both in the same round. So on the round you use the rod, you get no AC bonus from the shield.
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As has been said many, many times: Shields are weapons. Even Heavy Shields are weapons, as indicated on the Martial Weapon chart, the Fighter weapon group options, and many other areas. When making a shield out of Mithral you treat it as if it were a weapon, not a piece of armor.
