This is for a gnome Gunslinger 1/Bard 7 in a nautical campaign. I'd hate to see my double-barreled enchanted musket lost forever beneath the waves, so I want to protect it with a weapon cord. I'd also like to benefit from a buckler on rounds I cast spells rather than shoot. Is this like both having and eating cake?
If I hold the musket in my off hand while not shooting, can I also employ the buckler using that arm? Alternately, if the musket is slung across my chest, is there enough play in the weapon chord to use the buckler effectively?
Benefit: You can also use your shield arm to wield a weapon (whether you are using an off-hand weapon or using your off hand to help wield a two-handed weapon), but you take a –1 penalty on attack rolls while doing so. This penalty stacks with those that may apply for fighting with your off hand and for fighting with two weapons. In any case, if you use a weapon in your off hand, you lose the buckler's Armor Class bonus until your next turn. You can cast a spell with somatic components using your shield arm, but you lose the buckler's Armor Class bonus until your next turn. You can't make a shield bash with a buckler.
If you only lose your shield bonus when you're actually using the weapon; if it's not in use, you get the shield bonus. A weapon cord is unnecessary, IMO, but you're free to use one as well if you so desire.
Weapon cords are 2-foot-long leather straps that attach your weapon to your wrist. If you drop your weapon or are disarmed, you can recover it as a move action*, and it never moves any further away from you than an adjacent square. However, you cannot switch to a different weapon without first untying the cord (a full-round action) or cutting it (a move action or an attack, hardness 0, 0 hp). Unlike a locked gauntlet, you can still use a hand with a weapon cord, though a dangling weapon may interfere with finer actions.
I'm asking whether "may interfere with finer actions" prevents me from using the buckler effectively.
•Having a heavy rifle swinging wildly from my left arm by a 2-foot cord would make it very difficult to intercept attacks with a tiny shield. So while the musket has been disarmed or dropped, it seems unbelievable that I could use the buckler.
•If, instead of hanging loosely, the musket is slung or sheathed, the 2-foot cord attached to my wrist might hamper my use of my buckler arm by being too short.
•If I hold (not wield) the musket in my buckler hand, the the strap will not hamper my movements. However, the combined weight of the buckler and musket is now more than that of a heavy steel shield... is this a problem?
A weapon cord is unnecessary, IMO, but you're free to use one as well if you so desire.
On land this is less of an issue. If you were regularly fighting over water, would you not worry about your expensive stuff? Do you another way to recover things dropped in the sea?
I'm asking whether "may interfere with finer actions" prevents me from using the buckler effectively.
Given that you can't wield a weapon in the same hand, I suppose it would be reasonable to deny you the shield bonus, but only if that same weapon cord would also deny spell casting with somatic components (which I suppose it would). If you had the gun firmly in hand (i.e. wasn't making use of the weapon cord), I wouldn't deny you the bonus.
On land this is less of an issue. If you were regularly fighting over water, would you not worry about your expensive stuff? Do you another way to recover things dropped in the sea?
From a game mechanics standpoint, this is unnecessary unless you think you might get stunned or disarmed while swimming. If you're fighting on the deck of a large ship (as opposed to a raft or something), a dropped gun will naturally fall to usually onto (and usually stay on) the deck, and can easily be recovered later.
If you mean thematically... Large objects were seldom tied to the wrist due to the fact that your arm would be unusable for anything else with something so large dangling from it. In a fight, someone could take advantage of the long dangly part hanging off of you much like they could a cape or long hair (and arguably even moreso than either of those normally would).
I could see someone doing it if they were very concerned over possibly losing their investment, and I wouldn't fault them for doing so, but I wouldn't fault them for not wanting to do so either.
Thanks for your thoughtful response!