Are there any interesting ways, besides hiding behind your party members or a large boulder, to shoot from cover? I've got this image in my head of a tower shield on a tripod, stuff like that. Magic is fine, but non-magical means prefered.
Valet Familiar with a tower shield, using the Shield Wall teamwork feat to grant you total cover.
The least feat-intensive way to achieve this is to dip into a class granting a Familiar, such as Bloodrager for Full BAB, or Arcane Warden Wizard that also gives you a teamwork bonus feat at 1st level.
Valet Familiar with a tower shield, using the Shield Wall teamwork feat to grant you total cover.
Does a Familiar need a specific Feat/Archetype to be able to carry a tower shield? If not, that sounds pretty OP out of the gate, and I'd question why more Wizards aren't doing this...
Does a Familiar need a specific Feat/Archetype to be able to carry a tower shield?
Nope. But they do need to be able to carry items to actually wield the shield, which means that many familiars don't qualify.
Some creature body types are able to grasp and carry one object at a time in their paws, claws, or hands, including weapons, rods, wands, and staves, though they may not be able to use such items effectively (GM’s discretion) and take penalties for nonproficiency as usual. These are indicated by “Yes” in the “Grasp/Carry” column in the table below.
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If not, that sounds pretty OP out of the gate, and I'd question why more Wizards aren't doing this...
Lots of reasons.
They aren't aware it's an option. They don't want to send their familiar into combat. They must take a specific familiar archetype. They don't want to spend a feat on it. They don't have shield proficiency so they'd have to spend another feat on the gimmick.
What about the Warhammer version of the jezail (the skaven "jezzail") where a crew of two operated an immensely long rifle and a large shield to prop the barrel up on and offer protection while they set up the shot?
What about the Warhammer version of the jezail (the skaven "jezzail") where a crew of two operated an immensely long rifle and a large shield to prop the barrel up on and offer protection while they set up the shot?
There's the artillery team feat for that. Works with a valet familiar or technically with a hunter's animal companion. The ape or whatever can provide you with cover.
There's the artillery team feat for that. Works with a valet familiar or technically with a hunter's animal companion.
I'd probably just hire some shmo to carry a big shield. Familiar and animal companion shenanigans are entertaining, but they tend to feel more than a little jokey in an otherwise grounded story.
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"Carry"? No. Use (as an equipped shield, unlocking item functionality)? Yes. (See below.)Does a Familiar need a specific Feat/Archetype to be able to carry a tower shield?
Some creature body types are able to grasp and carry one object at a time in their paws, claws, or hands, including weapons, rods, wands, and staves, though they may not be able to use such items effectively (GM’s discretion) and take penalties for nonproficiency as usual.
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GM: "Does your familiar have fighter levels?"Player: "No..."
GM: "Does it have Tower Shield Proficiency?"
Player: "Uh..."
GM: "Does it even have *Shield* Proficiency?"
Player: "I may have to dismiss this familiar and pick up a different one that has learned those feats..."
GM: "How big is your familiar? Tiny?"
Player: "It's a monkey. With opposable thumbs!"
GM: "Can you cast 'Speak With Animals'?"
Player: "Why would I need that? It's a familiar."
GM: "Unless you're casting 'Speak With Animals', or are 5th level in the class that gave you the familiar, or some such, then you cannot effectively relay complicated verbal commands like 'Hey monkey! Move to my left, then rotate the shield to the left, and keep an eye on that dude over there, and adjust the shield as needed so he can't shoot me!' --But let's suppose you have all of that squared away, and your monkey attempts to wield a tower shield, a five-foot tall object with a carrying-handle three feet from the bottom. He jumps up and grabs the handle...and your tower shield is now "carrying" a monkey. He struggles and yanks, his feet paddling furiously a foot off the floor, and manages to tip it over. *Splat!* Your familiar is now enjoying full cover while being squashed under an object weighing 45lbs, which is three times the tiny creature's STR:3 heavy-load maximum carrying capacity of 15lbs, and he can't even lift it off the ground to squirm out from under it. You should probably go help him before he suffocates."
Player: "Monkey? You're *fired*! I'm getting an imp when I hit 7th. They're only small-sized, and have a strength of 10. And they fly, so short legs aren't a problem."
GM: "You're going to throw three feats at this gimmick for a Tower Shield Proficient Advanced Familiar, on top of a multiclass dip to qualify for having a familiar in the first place?"
Player2 "An imp? My paladin will Smite that booger straight back to Hell the moment he sees it."
Player1 "You can't do that!"
Player2 "Watch me. This isn't PFS."
GM: "You know, I think I'm going to allow it. Eagerly support it, in fact. I can have a lot of fun with an imp in the party. What's your human archer's will-save, BTW?" <gm makes evil mwahaha face>
Player2 (to monkey) "You poor, abandoned thing! Let me help you breathe..." <removes tower shield><Lay on Hands>
well...
1: you don't need a tower shield proficiency to use and carry one (the familiar would take a lot of penalties to attack and such but he's not attacking is he?)
2: the tower shield only need to be sized for him. so he can have a tiny tower shield (tiny armor is 1/10th of normal so i guess the tiny tower shield would be 4.5 lb?) AND grant you cover. (i can hear the laws of physics crying n the corner).
3: trait beastkin (going for monkeys?) fix the talking problem
since valet get your team feats, you only need a normal shield proficiency so you can take the teamwork feat shield wall. (since as mentioned you don't need tower shield proficiency to use it)
"ohh look how adorable that tiny monkey is with his little shield. his master must really care for him to protect him so much..well let's kille'm.."
3 rounds later
"..how can that shield block all of these arrows? it's like they are veering straight to it or something!!"
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GM: "Does your
Player: "No..."familiarWizard have fighter levels?"
GM: "Does it have Tower Shield Proficiency?"
Player: "Uh..."
GM: "Does it even have *Shield* Proficiency?"
Player: Well, no. But none of that is needed to wield a Tower Shield, right? I would just apply the ACP to my attack rolls like the rulebook says?
GM: Hahahahaaah... you fool! Did you think the rules would protect you!? You blabbering simpleton, you absolute imbecile, you ridiculous halfwit!
I AM THE RULES! MY WORD IS LAW! BOW BEFORE YOUR SHINY GOLDEN GOD!
Player: ...
GM: ...
Player: Jeez Pete, this happens every time you convince us to let you GM.
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But as zza ni put it, there's nothing except a GM that prevents the familiar from using a Tower Shield. There's also plenty of ways to solve the talking problem, like the Ring of Eloquence, ranks in Linguistics, or simply choosing a familiar that can talk.
Considering it can actually be more intelligent than the Orc frontliner I'd say the familiar is perfectly capable of making judgement calls when needed. It's not like you arbitrarily decide that the Int 7 fighter loses their shield bonus in the middle of combat because they lack the mental capacity to "rotate the shield to the left".
Especially if the familiar has through an Extraordinary ability been granted the technique and knowledge of how to protect an ally with their Tower Shield in combat.
about tiny shields covering for medium or larger masters.
i find that the best way to prevent players from going to far with rulayering is to remind them that the other guys can do that too. and army of kobolds with the front using shield brace and tower shields (and heaving reach weapons for aoo) covering the back archers can go straight into the kobold level in that famous mine.
as zza ni put it, there's nothing except a GM that prevents the familiar from using a Tower Shield.Assuming a single-level dip into a familiar-granting class, he'll be restricted to tiny or diminutive familiars wielding "appropriately"-sized tiny or diminutive tower shields. Problem: Tiny (and smaller) creatures do not have 5' reach, and any GM (not just "Pete") is very liable to determine that it's tiny tower shield doesn't block the entire side of a 5x5 square. (Meaning that familiar could gain cover from attacks to itself, but not much else in that square, or past it, using as precedent the rule that large creatures aren't granted soft-cover by smaller ones.)
There's also plenty of ways to solve the talking problem, like the Ring of Eloquence, ranks in Linguistics, or simply choosing a familiar that can talk.
The only 1st-level familiars that talk are tiny, Str:2 birds, whose anatomy isn't suitable for maneuvering a tower shield while remaining mobile (i.e., ravens don't have "Hover", and a GM would probably rule that the shield is carried by their feet underneath them while flying rather than held sideways as would be by a bipedal humanoid).
For all the rigamarole involved, for 9,180gp, you could just buy an +1/Animated tower shield, and not need a familiar at all, let alone a dip-out multiclass or multiple friend-of-critter feats spent gaining one. To be sure, you won't have one at 1st-level, but you reasonably should well before the 7th-level necessary for Improved Familiar.
Assuming a single-level dip into a familiar-granting class, he'll be restricted to tiny or diminutive familiars wielding "appropriately"-sized tiny or diminutive tower shields.
Or the Small-sized Dodo and Wallaby. Both capable of grasping, with the Wallaby being bipedal and all.
For all the rigamarole involved, for 9,180gp, you could just buy an +1/Animated tower shield
This special ability cannot be added to a tower shield.
And an Animated Tower Shield would not give Total Cover, which is what we're really after.
The other problem is, the bigger and more pertinent-to-combat the familiar gets, the more obvious it is. --I.e., it won't just disappear into "hammerspace" like most non-combatants do once the fight starts.
True that. But luckily it's for an archer firing from the backline so I don't expect there to be many complications with movement and such.
If this works with familiars, is there any reason why it wouldn't work with animal companions? Assuming INT 3+ and the whole "Armor for Unusual Creatures" thing. That applies to Shields, right?
Should work. A hunter or Sacred Huntsmaster giving away teamwork feats to their companion could do it rather early.
But the difference between a familiar and companion is that the companion requires much more investment. The familiar has your BAB, your saves, and half your HP no matter what your effective master level is. All of those things are dependent on your effective master level for the companion.
Had a halfling on a dog once, and the GM tried to murder that thing every encounter. Had a cleric on a horse once, and the GM never took a shot at it. (And I never let on that it was just an ordinary horse, not a bonded mount, and got away with it all the way until 9th level, when it finally croaked in an AoE.)