At first I was quite neutral in feelings about Pathfinder 2nd edition. Then I read up on the shield block mechanic and became quite interested. So for those who don't know already, in 2nd edition you can use 1 of your 3 actions to ready your shield (assuming you have one of course). This grants your character a bonus to AC (I believe it was +2 circumstance though it may vary from shield to shield or I have it all wrong entirely) and also gives you the option to use the block reaction if attacked by an enemy before the start of your next turn. Now assuming the hardness values are the same from 1st edition, this means using a metal shield would block a whopping 10 damage! For early game that's a great amount. Furthermore assuming the magic item rules and Adamantine material values are the same you could spec into blocking real well and get the hardness of a shield all the way up to 30 (20 for making the shield Adamantine and 10 hardness if you made it a +5 magic item since each +1 adds 2 hardness).
Also I was thinking of making a conversion for this mechanic to go in 1st edition right away for some friends of mine in our next campaign. The way I thought of ruling it would be as a swift action you can ready your shield. This would still let you full attack if you were able to minus your last attack. Before your next turn starts, if an enemy attacks you, you could choose to block it. I would rule it differently than readying an action since that screws with turn order making combat too confusing and have it so it simply happens (maybe make it use up your attack of opportunity). What do you all think about that? Would there be some way to make it more balanced? Let me know what you think.
