Has anyone ever come across this concept. All this talk about aromor and defending spikes got me thinking about spiked shields.
That train of thought, after a fashion, turned into an idea for a fighter taking two weapon fighting and improved shield bash and dual weilding spiked shields (light sheild in his off hand). At first this just seemed like a really cool NPC to throw in my games. But the idea feels a little too good. I can see a powergamer grabbing the idea and with armor optimazation and two weapon defence and likely some other supplimental crap quickly turning into an AC monster. Anybody come across this befor?
Actually!
I'm currently playing a lvl 11 fighter that has two heavy steel shields(stilleto shields from the Arms and Equipment guide), both with enchanted shield spikes and the improved shield bash feat. Works quite well I must say. It costs a bit, your opponents will laugh at you for the first turn. After that you've usually knocked his teeth out.
I think we house-ruled that. Since you are using two shields, and you are using them to defend yourself. Somewhat similar to using two weapons and(logicly) having two weapons to attack with.
This cuts damage mind you, it creates a tank, first and foremost.
How is your AC looking there Rift?
Well, the character would only get the best shield bonus of the two to his AC. So that wouldn't really be an issue, any more than any other character who uses a shield. The character would be able to make one shield for the enhancement bonus and add abilities to the other shield (such as having a +4 heavy shield and a +1 moderate fortification light shield) - but that's taking away money that another PC would spend buying a +2 keen evil outsider bane bastard sword. It evens out. Especially since if he wants to use them to bash, he'll have to enchant them separately for that, too.
30-ish.
Can't check right now because my DM snatches our char sheets from right under our noses the minute we stop playing, afraid we might lose it or something.
But my AC usually goes a bit higher with full defensive fighting and combat expertise. Mind you I'm only using full plate, two shields and my dex, nothing else yet.
And unless the PC in question is a Dwarven Defender, he's got his touch AC to worry about, too. (It might actually behoove him to NOT wear armor, since he needs such a high Dex for Two Weapon Fighting feats.)
That's a cool idea with the stilleto shields Rift.
I was trying to figure out a half-orc fighter with 2 tower shields a while back. But he was meant to be more of a wall and just block for other party members. I wanted him to be able to shield bash, but seeing as you can't with a tower shield, it kinda killed my idea. (I think you should be able to, provided your strength is high enough)
-Kurocyn