One of my players on my online server is playing a Gamla (technically a Feelkha, but potato, potahto) Warder. He's using a Medium-sized longsword but a Large-sized shield (cuz we figured using a Medium shield would offer less protection). Anyway, the reason for this is this trait of the Gamla:
Undersized Weapons: The gamla have crude ungulate hands which make it difficult for them to wield properly sized weapons. As such, gamla’s ability to wield manufactured weapons is determined as though the gamla were one size category smaller than they actually are.
The issue arises because he's using Iron Tortoise and needs to make shield bash attacks for his counters, but he takes the the -2 penalty for using an inappropriately sized weapon, because the shield is too big for his clumsy elephant hands.
I'm just... somewhat unsure what to do about this, so I'm hoping for some advice. We're a big community with lots of players, so I can't just make a snap ruling like I would for a home game.
Organized Play Developer
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
So, technically he can't actually wield the shield as a weapon at all, because the inappropriately-sized weapon penalty isn't the full ruling on that-
The measure of how much effort it takes to use a weapon (whether the weapon is designated as a light, one-handed, or two-handed weapon for a particular wielder) is altered by one step for each size category of difference between the wielder's size and the size of the creature for which the weapon was designed. For example, a Small creature would wield a Medium one-handed weapon as a two-handed weapon. If a weapon's designation would be changed to something other than light, one-handed, or two-handed by this alteration, the creature can't wield the weapon at all.
Since he's treated as a Medium-sized creature for the purposes of what weapons he can wield the shield is a two-handed weapon, and he'd need a way to sheath his longsword at the end of his turn every round if he wanted to wield the shield as a weapon.
The easiest fix here is for him to just use a Medium-sized shield. While it might be a little small for his enormous body, he's at least got the reach to swing it around wherever he needs it. He could also skip using the longsword entirely and just wield the shield as his primary weapon (though he'd want something like Improved Shield Bash to make sure he doesn't lose his shield bonus to AC.)
Another thing you could potentially do is houserule it that he can use his trunk to balance the large shield and wield it without penalty or weapon juggling, but he can't use the swift action retrieval ability or make attacks with the trunk until the end of his next turn after attacking with the shield. That's not RAW, but it's a suggestion coming from the guy who wrote the gamla (and the book it was published in), if that helps.
Oh damn, I completely forgot about that. Good catch, thank you. Also, thank you so much for writing the Akashic stuff, we're having a blast with it!
|
Organized Play Developer
|
Oh damn, I completely forgot about that. Good catch, thank you. Also, thank you so much for writing the Akashic stuff, we're having a blast with it!
Of course!
Just as a smidge of shameless self-promotion, if you like Akashic Mysteries, I recently did some akashic expansion materials for Lost Spheres Publishing, who are doing a planar campaign setting called "City of 7 Seraphs". Akashic Trinity has three new classes and a ton of new veils (these also support the daevic, guru, and vizier, significantly expanding their veil lists). I also wrote Classes of the Lost Spheres: Zodiac, which adds even more veils, some additional akashic feats, and the zodiac class, which acts like a kind of akashic summoner who can either create champions to fight on their behalf or create constellation-themed akashic weapons, armor, and equipment.