This idea came to me when I looked at the Shield Master feat and realized something.
You do not suffer any penalties on attack rolls made with a shield while you are wielding another weapon. Add your shield’s enhancement bonus to attack and damage rolls made with the shield as if it were a weapon enhancement bonus.
So... what if you only wield multiple shields? Lots of them? Lots and lots of them?
Here's a very simple try at a build demonstrating this, put together to maximize the number of multi-weapon-wielded shields, assuming:
- a 20-point buy
- that synthesist eidolon BAB can be used to qualify for feats (albeit ones that will only work while the eidolon is active)
- that retraining has been used to select multiple feats that require BAB +11
- that the extra attack from Improved Two-Weapon Fighting applies once to each off-hand weapon (e.g. multiple times with extra sets of arms)
Super Confused Power Turtle (with eidolon active)
Half-elf fighter 2/summoner (synthesist) 11
CN Large humanoid (elf, human)
Init +6; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, scent; Perception +4
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Defense
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AC 30, touch 15, flat-footed 24 (+6 Dex, +12 natural, +3 shield, -1 size)
hp 115 (13 HD; 11d8+2d10+41)
Fort +11, Ref +11, Will +11 (+1 vs. fear, +4 morale bonus vs. Enchantment spells and effects); +2 vs. enchantments
Defensive Abilities evasion; Immune sleep
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Offense
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Speed 30 ft.
Melee (L) +1 heavy shield bash +19/+14/+9 (4d6+21/19-20) and
. . (L) +1 heavy shield bash +19/+14/+9 (4d6+11/19-20) and
. . (L) +1 heavy shield bash +19/+14/+9 (4d6+11/19-20) and
. . (L) +1 heavy shield bash +19/+14/+9 (4d6+11/19-20) and
. . (L) +1 heavy shield bash +19/+14/+9 (4d6+11/19-20) and
. . (L) +1 heavy shield bash +19/+14/+9 (4d6+11/19-20) and
. . (L) +1 heavy shield bash +19/+14/+9 (4d6+11/19-20) and
. . (L) +1 heavy shield bash +19/+14/+9 (4d6+11/19-20) and
. . (L) +1 heavy shield bash +19/+14/+9 (4d6+11/19-20) and
. . (L) +1 heavy shield bash +19/+14/+9 (4d6+11/19-20) and
. . (L) +1 heavy shield bash +19/+14/+9 (4d6+11/19-20) and
. . (L) +1 heavy shield bash +19/+14/+9 (4d6+11/19-20)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.
Summoner Spell-Like Abilities (CL 11th; concentration +16)
. . 8/day—summon monster VI
Summoner (Synthesist) Spells Known (CL 11th; concentration +16)
. . 4th (3/day)—lesser planar binding (DC 19), overland flight, thaumaturgic circle
. . 3rd (5/day)—charm monster (DC 18), displacement, evolution surge (DC 18), protection from energy
. . 2nd (5/day)—detect thoughts (DC 17), lesser evolution surge (DC 17), haste, resist energy, see invisibility
. . 1st (7/day)—endure elements, enlarge person (DC 16), infernal healing, protection from evil, snowball (DC 16), unseen servant
. . 0 (at will)—arcane mark, detect magic, light, mage hand, mending, read magic
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Statistics
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Str 36, Dex 22, Con 17, Int 14, Wis 14, Cha 21
Base Atk +11; CMB +22; CMD 41
Feats Bashing Finish, Greater Two-weapon Fighting, Improved Critical (shield, heavy), Improved Shield Bash, Improved Two-weapon Fighting, Power Attack, Shield Master, Shield Slam, Skill Focus (Use Magic Device), Two-weapon Fighting
Traits shield bearer (ulfen), shield-trained
Skills Craft (baskets) +10, Knowledge (arcana) +18, Knowledge (planes) +11, Perception +4, Spellcraft +18, Use Magic Device +27; Racial Modifiers +2 Perception
Languages Common, Elven, Halfling, Sylvan
SQ devotion, elf blood, fused eidolon, fused link, maker's jump, shielded meld
Other Gear +1 bashing shield spikes heavy steel shield, +1 bashing shield spikes heavy steel shield, +1 bashing shield spikes heavy steel shield, +1 bashing shield spikes heavy steel shield, +1 bashing shield spikes heavy steel shield, +1 bashing shield spikes heavy steel shield, +1 bashing shield spikes heavy steel shield, +1 bashing shield spikes heavy steel shield, +1 bashing shield spikes heavy steel shield, +1 bashing shield spikes heavy steel shield, +1 bashing shield spikes heavy steel shield, +1 bashing shield spikes heavy steel shield, belt of physical might +6 (Str, Dex), headband of alluring charisma +6
(Incidentally, pop Enlarge Person and those attacks go up to 6d6 base each.)
Of course, one complication here is that buying magic shields by the dozen gets really expensive, on top of the cost of keeping Dex high enough to qualify for Greater TWF with the eidolon active.
i like shields
basically its the centipede synthesis, but with shields instead
i like shields
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DjOL2we8ko
basically its the centipede synthesis, but with shields instead
Yeah, aside from it being shields specifically, and being able to completely ignore TWF penalties, it's more or less a standard Kali-type eidolon build.
I went for the staidly cautious version here, but depending on your specific intepretation of Shield Master's wording, this might apply to *any* attack penalties with a shield - at which point there's assorted shenanigans with using Power Attack, Combat Expertise, Dazing Assault, fighting defensively, etc all at the same time.