enchanting shields

[rangerjeff]

So I'm going the bashing route with my offhand, and found for a klar it's quite clear, the blade and the shield must be enchanted separately. +1 to the shield for 1000gp does not get you +1 to attack and damage as well, and +1 to the blade for 2000gp does not get you +1 AC as well.

I'm thinking for a spiked shield it should work the same way, enchant spikes and shield separately.

But what about a normal shield? There's not two clearly separate parts to enchant. And I've heard that some think you just need to enchant the shield for 1000gp and then not only do you get +1 AC but also +1 to hit and damage. Doesn't seem quite right, hope somebody can point out some rules that clarify this.

[Slacker2010]

At +11 BAB you can get the SHIELD MASTER feat which does what you want.

[Grick]

rangerjeff wrote:

And I've heard that some think you just need to enchant the shield for 1000gp and then not only do you get +1 AC but also +1 to hit and damage.

Shield Bash Attacks: "An enhancement bonus on a shield does not improve the effectiveness of a shield bash made with it, but the shield can be made into a magic weapon in its own right."

Shield Spikes: "An enhancement bonus on a spiked shield does not improve the effectiveness of a shield bash made with it, but a spiked shield can be made into a magic weapon in its own right."

Magic Armor wrote:

Shields: Shield enhancement bonuses stack with armor enhancement bonuses. Shield enhancement bonuses do not act as attack or damage bonuses when the shield is used in a shield bash. The bashing special ability, however, does grant a +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls (see the special ability description).

A shield could be built that also acted as a magic weapon, but the cost of the enhancement bonus on attack rolls would need to be added into the cost of the shield and its enhancement bonus to AC.

As to how exactly to make a shield into a magic weapon, the rules don't really say.

Grick wrote:

Shield weapons are a huge mess, and I don't see any real RAW result coming from it without a full blog post or something. To enchant as a weapon it must be masterwork, does a masterwork shield (150gp MW armor) count for that or does it need to be a masterwork weapon first (300gp) and if so, does it need to be both when it's created (450gp)? Can spikes be attached and removed? Do spikes change the weapon, or can you still choose to bash with the blunt part or stab with the spike part? Does the +10 enhancement limit apply to weapon and armor enchants, or are they each separate? Does the 50% cost increase happen when using both armor and weapon enchantments on a shield? Blargh.

[rangerjeff]

Thanks Grick! Sounds like you were scratching your head over this long before I was!

As I'm playing PFS, level 11 is a long way off, and probably towards the end of my career, so can't really wait for Shield Master, though it's a great feat. I'll probably start with a mithral light spiked shield, add +1 shield enhancement for 1000gp, then +1 weapon enhancement for 2000gp (mithral gets around the mwk question, since mithral means it's already mwk.) From there though +2 to shield enhancement for another 3000gp is probably as far as I'll go with it, focusing instead on the longsword in my main hand. Come level 11, if I get there, sure I'll grab that feat and spend another 5000gp to get the shield to +3.

[Grick]

rangerjeff wrote:

I'll probably start with a mithral light spiked shield, add +1 shield enhancement for 1000gp, then +1 weapon enhancement for 2000gp

It would only be 1000 gp more to get Bashing instead of a +1 weapon enchant, and bashing not only treats it as a +1 weapon, it also increases the base damage dice.

(Bashing is generally considered to not stack with shield spikes, so you're looking at 1d6 B instead of 1d4 P)

[rangerjeff]

Ooo! Protip! That'll do just fine, and save me 1000gp.