Shield Enhancements

[Malwing]

Like a !of of people, I imagine, I'm making a shield as a weapon fighter (Captain America Style) but after some research I am still confused about one thing...

How does shield enhancements work?

Specifically, the enhancement bonus applies to AC not attack or damage, but can "be modified into a weapon in its own right" so do I have two separate lines of enhancement bonuses for armor and weapon or must they be separate but share the same +10 limit?

[blackbloodtroll]

Easy way to imagine this.

Spiked Armor.

You enchant the Armor Spikes with any of the Weapon enchantments you want.

You enchant the Armor(not the Spikes) with any Armor enchantment you want.

Those will never increase the cost, or effect the enchantment of another.

This is how enchanting a shield works.

So, you can enchant it as a weapon, and as Armor(shield).

[Jurkal]

basically u make a spiked shield, the spikes are enchanted so you hit harder and do more damage the shield itself is enchanted to provide more ac

[DM Beckett]

They are completely different. It's one item, but it can be enchanted as both (separately) an Armor/Shield and a Weapon.

If you enchant it as an Armor, your Shield Bonus to AC increases. If you enchant it as a Weapon, your Attack rating and Damage increase. If you do both, than you only use the appropriate amount for each as it applies.

So a +2 Large Shield that is also a +1 Shocking weapon offers a total of +4 AC, and if used as a weapon deals an extra 1d6+1 damage, and hits for an extra +1.

Total cost (outside masterwork Large Shield) is:
4,000 gp for a +2 Armr/Shield
+
8,000 gp for a +2 equivalent Weapon
=
12,000 gp

[Malwing]

OK, so it is effectively like a double weapon if one end were a weapon and one end is AC? Can you do this without spikes? My character uses a shield because he's against killing living creatures and spikes makes this less believeable.

[TGMaxMaxer]

You don't have to have the spikes, that's just for ease of reference.

You can have both enchants for armor and weapon on a shield as if it was a double weapon, paying for each separately.

Most people use the spikes, because shield spikes and the bashing enchant make a heavy shield a 2d6 weapon.

[Phoebus Alexandros]

I don't see why not. Use the shield's rim, if you want, or the shield's boss. Or just use the shield, period, twice - as offered above.