Shielded fighter archetype

[Belloque]

A player of mine picked this archetype - Shielded fighter - and is wondering about some abilities.

Shield fighter at lvl 5 and Shield mastery at lvl 19 seem like they are both worse than the regular fighter abilities. Could anyone explain how these differ from the original abilities. Especially Shield mastery.

[Diego Rossi]

Belloque wrote:

A player of mine picked this archetype - Shielded fighter - and is wondering about some abilities.

Shield fighter at lvl 5 and Shield mastery at lvl 19 seem like they are both worse than the regular fighter abilities. Could anyone explain how these differ from the original abilities. Especially Shield mastery.

An archetype shouldn't be evaluated piece for piece, it should be evaluated as a gestalt.

If the archetype is well crafted the one taking it will trade several abilities for several different abilities and the total cost would be on line with the total benefit. But the single exchange of abilities for a piece of the archetype can end in a loss or a net gain.

Besides that, several are overall weaker than the main class but stronger in a specific field. It is a good idea if the GM and the player speak before deciding what archetype should be chosen, as sometimes the campaign can be inappropriate for some archetype.

[MargarineMeadow]

Shield fighter (lvl 5) is essentially weapon training 1 but for shields only. However, he also technically loses the weapon training class feature which impacts feats and items that can be used in connection with the ability. It is a downgrade from weapon training but is part of the overall package.

Shield mastery (lvl 19) provides the same DR5/- with the added limitation that he must be wielding a shield. Simply wearing armor isn’t enough. Again, it is a strict downgrade but part of the overall archetype package.