Hooked Boss:
The struts on this reinforcing boss bear large, sturdy hooks, which can be used to snag an opponent’s clothing or armor, causing it to stumble. You can attempt trip combat maneuver checks with this shield. If the combat maneuver check is successful, the opponent does not fall prone, but is considered flat-footed until the beginning of its next turn.
Assuming this enhancement has been added to my Tower Shield, may I use my tower shield to snag an opponent as a standard attack action? This would convert the tower shield into a weapon for purposes of quick draw and BAB +1. Am I reading more into this then I should?
You cannot bash with a tower shield, nor can you use your shield hand for anything else.
That would be an "anything else"
Is that your RAW answer? I ask because I can use my Tower as total concealment, place the spell storing feature on it and cast a spell with it, scribe spells into it, use it as a consecrated holy symbol, I can throw it like a Frisbee, I can insert a sunrod into it as a source of light, I can hostel a familiar, protect an ally or teach it to dance. I can even use it for firewood if I get cold enough. Help me out guys, what else can it do? Specifically, under what circumstances could a Tower shield be considered a 'weapon'.
I ask because these things change the nature of the item and the specific overrules the general. Hooked boss is a specific enhancement to a shield and nowhere in the description does it mention the need to do a shield bash. It doesn't mention the type of action at all, just that it's a trip maneuver. It doesn't mention if this might cause an AoO. It doesn't mention how this is combined with two-weapon fighting, full attack or charge. What it says is "You can attempt a trip combat maneuver checks with this shield."
I'm no good at reading RAW which is why I ask. Using a Hooked Boss on a Tower or Buckler, can I snag an opponents armor or clothing forcing them off balance. Would this ability change the nature of the shield to add the weapon quality? If not, what trickery would allow a tower shield to be used as a weapon?
@ Cavall: Those rules were written before Shield Bossing was a thing, so the specifics of Shield Boss would overwrite the general rules regarding Tower Shields.
Shield Embossing wrote: A shield boss is a sturdy steel device that fastens to the front of a shield, providing metal support struts that radiate outward from the center of the shield, reinforcing its structure. A shield boss can be added to a buckler, light steel or wooden shield, or heavy steel or wooden shield. Tower shields are too large for a typical shield boss, though one can be crafted to fit a tower shield for an additional 300 gp. Attaching or removing a shield boss requires 10 minutes of work and a successful DC 15 Craft (armor) check; on a failure, the shield boss is not successfully attached or removed and the shield takes 1d6 points of damage that bypasses any hardness.
A reinforcing boss provides extra protection to a shield, increasing the shield’s current and maximum hit points by 10. The boss makes the shield 10 pounds heavier and more unwieldy—if the shield imposes a penalty on attack rolls, as do bucklers and tower shields, the penalty increases by 1. Common improvements to the basic reinforcing boss include the following.
Based on the bolded part and the specifics in regards to the Hooked Boss, you're performing a Trip with the shield in question. So yes, you can perform it as a stand-alone Attack Action, as an Attack of Opportunity, or even as part of a Full Attack Action.
However, I doubt it would count as a weapon in this case though, since you still can't use that Tower Shield to attack for hit point damage like you can with any other weapon (or weapon-like object).
There are half a dozen arrows, including arrow (trip), that do no damage. They are listed as ammunition, not technically a weapon. Featherweight dart does no damage in the ranged category. the line gets thin.
But its the lasso, net, net (snag) that prove weapons can do no damage.
foggy1 wrote: There are half a dozen arrows, including arrow (trip), that do no damage. They are listed as ammunition, not technically a weapon. Featherweight dart does no damage in the ranged category. the line gets thin.
But its the lasso, net, net (snag) that prove weapons can do no damage.
Fair enough, but those are listed in the weapons table.
Tower Shields are not.
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