Two Handed Weapons and Shield Bashing

[shadowdoogen]

Hello everyone, I made this account because I need some sort of official ruling on this and the forums seem to be the best place to get it.

As the subject states, I'm curious about the rule regarding Two-Handed Weapons and Shield Bashing. Obviously without any feats or abilities it's not possible, but you can wield a buckler with penalty on an arm and use a Two-Handed Weapon. With the feat Unhindering Shield, it removes the penalty to attacks and says your buckler arm is treated as free for all purposes. The feat Upsetting Shield Style allows you to shield bash with a buckler as a Light Steel Shield. Does this mean I can Shield Bash with it, and attack with the Two-Handed Weapon on the same turn? It is a free action to release your hand off a Two-Handed Weapon, take an action, and then put the hand back on the Two-Handed Weapon, also a free action. If this is not the case, then how does the Fighter Archetype Thunderstriker work? According to it, you can use both a Two-Handed Weapon and a Buckler at the same time. Because it reduces the penalty for Two-Weapon Fighting at 17th level, this implies you can use both in the same attack action.

Also before anyone mentions it, I've read the FAQ about Two-Weapon Fighting and Armor Spikes/Armor Gauntlets and I don't know if that's applicable to this. Simply because the question is about Two-Weapon Fighting alone, with no feats or abilities to make their hand free. So of course it's not available to make the attack.

[zza ni]

the only way you can is if you use an extra attack from high bab or haste spell etc. you can't from 2 weapon fighting. the same reason as to why some1 who has quick draw can take his hand off the two weapon free action draw a dart and throw it only for extra attacks from haste or high bab.

the moment you use the 2 handed weapon is the moment you are supposed to use the off hand for the shield bash or dart throw. only if you get an EXTRA attack and use it for that you can.

[Derklord]

shadowdoogen wrote:

says your buckler arm is treated as free for all purposes

Incorrect - "for the purposes of casting spells, wielding weapons, and using any other abilities that require you to have a free hand or interact with your shield". Attacking with your off-hand is none of the above.

shadowdoogen wrote:

I've read the FAQ about Two-Weapon Fighting and Armor Spikes/Armor Gauntlets and I don't know if that's applicable to this.

It does, because the concept of the off-hand in an attack is compeltely seperate from the concept of a hand beign occupied, and thus things that change the latter don't stop the FAQ about the former from being relevant.

[shadowdoogen]

Okay say I agree with that, how does Thunderstriker work?

[Chell Raighn]

Thunderstriker doesn’t actually use Two-handed weapons and Bucklers at the same time. It uses “a weapon in two hands”, which while it does apply to two-handed weapons is meant more for One-handed weapons used in two hands. The archetype doesn't grant any ability to two-weapon fight with a two-handed weapon or a one-handed weapon used in two hands, so one must assume that it follows all the standard rules for two-weapon fighting before applying its penalty reductions. That means that you must use your mainhand weapon one-handed when using Two-weapon fighting.

[shadowdoogen]

Chell Raighn wrote:

Thunderstriker doesn’t actually use Two-handed weapons and Bucklers at the same time. It uses “a weapon in two hands”, which while it does apply to two-handed weapons is meant more for One-handed weapons used in two hands. The archetype doesn't grant any ability to two-weapon fight with a two-handed weapon or a one-handed weapon used in two hands, so one must assume that it follows all the standard rules for two-weapon fighting before applying its penalty reductions. That means that you must use your mainhand weapon one-handed when using Two-weapon fighting.

That's a shame, I would've figured with a 3 feat investment into it (4 if you're non-martial), making a single Shield Bash attack would be alright. Thanks for clearing up the confusion.