Does Two-Weapon Defense work with a Shield?

[spectrevk]

I'm curious; two-weapon defense says that it requires you to be wielding two weapons, and doesn't work unarmed or with natural weapons. However, shields do appear on the list of martial weapons, they're in the Close Weapons group for Fighters, and you can use Two-Weapon Fighting with a shield, so...it seems like this would work. Combined with Shield focus, you could get as much as +4AC from your shield, unless Shield bonuses don't stack.

[Ian Bell]

Shield bonuses don't stack.

[chbgraphicarts]

You're better off taking Dodge.

[spectrevk]

Ian Bell wrote:

Shield bonuses don't stack.

Aw...for a minute there I actually felt clever :(

[Komoda]

So, it might work like this:

If you use your shield as a weapon, you lose the AC to it. BUT since you don't have a shield AC, Two Weapon Defense could now kick in.

I don't know WHY you would do it, but it should work.

[B. A. Robards-Debardot]

Komoda wrote:

So, it might work like this:

If you use your shield as a weapon, you lose the AC to it. BUT since you don't have a shield AC, Two Weapon Defense could now kick in.

I don't know WHY you would do it, but it should work.

Maybe if you were TWF with two shields? If you decide to get Shield Master, shields are probably the best weapons for you to TWF with.

[Komoda]

But if you go shield master, you already have improved shield bash, which means you keep your Shield Bonus.

[Durngrun Stonebreaker]

Unless you're a ranger.

[Komoda]

Ahhhh, yup.

[Scavion]

In which case, you're better off grabbing Improved Shield Bash instead of Two Weapon Defense which never scales...

[NikolaiJuno]

So if you are using just light shields, and don't want to enchant them as shields, and you might want to two-weapon fight without any shield at all it could be better than just taking Improved Shield Bash.

[James Risner]

spectrevk wrote:

... Shield bonuses don't stack.

+1 fixed your post ;-)