Hardwood Armor w / Shield

[Aristophanes]

*Wood and bark grow over your body like armor. This hardwood armor is medium armor but uses your highest armor proficiency. The wooden armor's statistics are: AC Bonus +3; Dex Cap +2; Check Penalty –2; Speed Penalty –5 feet; Strength 14; Bulk 1; Group wood. Any bonuses, runes, and magical abilities of your actual armor are suppressed, but any runes that could apply to the hardwood armor are replicated onto it.

When you use this impulse, you can also create a wooden shield in a free hand. You can Shield Block with this shield even if you don't have that feat. The hand wielding this shield counts as a free hand for using impulses. The shield decays in an instant if it becomes broken or leaves your grasp.*

Can this shield affect AC, or is it only for blocking strikes?
Either way, it's really good!

[breithauptclan]

If it wasn't allowed to use Raise Shield with, then 1) it should have said that, and 2) how would you be able to Shield Block with it?

[Baarogue]

Yeah, what breith said. It is a wooden shield, meaning you can use it as if it was a wooden shield, which it is

[Jonathan Richardson]

I have a general question about how to interpret this spell. Do you read it as armor and shield or armor or shield.

[HammerJack]

And, not or

[shroudb]

Yeah it does say "you can also" and not "you can instead".

Seems pretty clear that the shield is an addition.