Shields on an Animal Companion

[Amoran]

Other than I find it hilariously stupid to have my T-Rex companion with his little fore-arms wielding a shield defensively like its going to do something, is there any rules reason I could not have my T-Rex benefit from wielding a Darkwood Shield?

[LazarX]

Amoran wrote:

Other than I find it hilariously stupid to have my T-Rex companion with his little fore-arms wielding a shield defensively like its going to do something, is there any rules reason I could not have my T-Rex benefit from wielding a Darkwood Shield?

Lack of any effective prehensile arms would seem to nail it for me. And you know that the T-Rex has absolutely rubbish for arms, not to mention the rubbish brain for shield tactics.

[Gol Zayvian]

I'd consider letting it go on a primate, but otherwise I'd probably say no dice.

[Amoran]

Yes I understand it's ridiculous. But is there anything anywhere saying an animal companion cannot use a shield?

[Nefreet]

Animal Archive lists which animals are allowed what slots.

Few have the "Shield" item slot.

[Amoran]

Good Point, I'll look into the Animal Archive

Animal Archives wrote:

The following table presents all of the animal companions and familiars available to characters, divided into general categories that

loosely define their body type as well as which magic item slots are available to them. Available slots followed by either “(saddle)” or
“(horseshoes)” denote that creatures of that body type can only wear magic items in the appropriate slots as long as they are either saddles or
horseshoes, respectively (for instance, a hoofed quadruped can wear a saddle of the sky-river, but not a belt of dwarvenkind).
Creature body types marked with an asterisk (*) are able to grasp and carry one object at a time in their paws, claws, or hands, including
weapons, rods, wands, and staves, though they may not be able to use such items effectively (GM’s discretion) and take penalties for
nonproficiency as usual.

Table Entry:

Biped
(claws/paws)*
---------
Armor, belt, chest, eyes,
headband, neck, ring,
shoulders, wrist
----------
Dinosaur (allosaurusB2, deinonychus, iguanodonB3,
pachycephalosaurusB3, parasaurolophusB2, spinosaurusB3,
tyrannosaurusB1, velociraptor), kangarooB3

T-rex can wear Armor, and can hold items in their hands. It looks like to effectively use them would be up to the GM though. Seems like this is mainly for Magical item slots, though.

[Nefreet]

"Shield" is a magic item slot.

[Barathos]

Nefreet wrote:

"Shield" is a magic item slot.

So only apes (and baboons) can use shields? Sounds about right.

[Amoran]

Hmmn. You're right.
http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/magicItems.html#magic-items-on-the-body

So looks like if I just want to do this for comedic effect, I could have him just hold it in his claws, but with no mechanical bonus. OR If I was really into it, I could have him take Extra Item Slot(Shield) to have him wield one. Hehehe.