On the Subject of Shields

[Theliah Strongarm]

Can you use two shields in either hand? And which shield would be considered the main weapon for a shield bash attack? Can you wield two Tower Shields at the same time? Do shield bonuses stack if they're equal?

[Melkiador]

You can only ever benefit from one magic shield as a shield because of magic item slots. You can however equip another shield as a weapon. There's no solid rules for this but most assume you pick your "main" shield at the beginning of your turn.

[Mark Carlson 255]

IMHO,
Your main shield is the shield you are defending with or are least offensive with. ie your main weapon would be the shield you are most offensive with.

IMHO,
Using two tower shields or any two shields should be dependent on the creatures size (could be modified by feats/class abilities and other such things).

IMHO,
Using two shields should provide more of a defensive bonus than just using 1 shield but should also require you to be completely defensive (no offensive action, no spell casting, no spell concentration, etc, you just turtle)

MDC

[Theliah Strongarm]

So, what I've gathered is the following:
a) Two shields used together stack in terms of AC bonuses but not if one is used to shield bash while the other is used for defensive measures.
b) You can wield 2 tower shields but not do anything else when using both at the same time.
Is this correct? Is this in the CRB?

[Chess Pwn]

shields don't stack ac ever.
You can wield two shields, only one is your "shield" per round, even if you don't attack. If you have shield bash you can attack with both but still only one is your shield.

[Bob Bob Bob]

Theliah Strongarm wrote:

So, what I've gathered is the following:

a) Two shields used together stack in terms of AC bonuses but not if one is used to shield bash while the other is used for defensive measures.
b) You can wield 2 tower shields but not do anything else when using both at the same time.
Is this correct? Is this in the CRB?

a. No. A shield provides a shield bonus, shield bonuses do not stack. And in case of the usual followup, an enhancement bonus to a shield increases the bonus the shield provides, it only applies to the shield it's on.

b. You can use two tower shields, I think you'd need someone else to strap the second one on. Also you can't shield bash with them, and you can't use that hand for anything else. In the Tower Shield description: "You cannot bash with a tower shield, nor can you use your shield hand for anything else." Unless you have a feat or class feature or something that says otherwise.

And for your OP, you can absolutely use two shields at once. "Main Hand" is absolutely irrelevant unless you're two-weapon fighting, even if you're two-weapon fighting you decide which hand is "main" and which is "off", it's entirely arbitrary and up to you. It does matter for TWF penalties and other stuff, but it's entirely player choice. The shield bonus thing is already covered by a.

[James Risner]

Also, you can't do +5 shield and +1 defending valorious shield and get the benefit of a +5 defending valorious shield or whatever.

Pick one, it's your shield.

The other could be your weapon.

[Halek]

James Risner wrote:

Also, you can't do +5 shield and +1 defending valorious shield and get the benefit of a +5 defending valorious shield or whatever.

Pick one, it's your shield.

The other could be your weapon.

Why cant you do this? Wouldnt it be like getting a keen weapon and casting greater magic weapon and getting a +3 keen weapon?

[Ascalaphus]

Is there actually such a thing as a "shield magic item slot"? You can only get one shield AC bonus, but is there even such a thing a shield slot?

[James Risner]

Well your example is still one item, so irrelevant to how to handle two shields.

Because the rules don't cover how to work out a second shield at all.

When the rules worked out (Armored Kilt) a second armor, you needed to pick one to be your armor and the kilt simply added +1 to your AC.

So if you translate the rules for multiple armors (Armored Kilt) to shields, you get only one of them function for the purpose of your shield.