Shield feats

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ugljesa94
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Joined: Fri Aug 30, 2019 9:15 am

Shield feats

Unread post by ugljesa94 »

Regarding shield feats such as shield bash, shield charge, shield slam, number of shield attacks etc.
So shield bash gets another attack at BAB 11 and another at BAB 21 if you have TWF and GTWF but i also read in game that you need improved initiative and not TWF to get another attack? Would the bonus dmg from Orcish war drummer add damage to the shield since power attack apparently does, same with bonus bludgeoning dmg from regular barbarian rage? Just having shield charge means i can charge in with a shield and knockdown my enemy without actually having knockdown as a feat? Basically, I'm just looking for someone to explain how to get more shield attacks cause the wiki and in-game description of the feats dont match ( or am i missing something?).
" The additional attack penalty while Shield Bashing mode is on is: 0 Light, 2 Heavy, 2 Tower. This excludes the default 'to hit' attack penalty for having a shield equipped, which adds another 2 in the case of the towershield. When using a towershield to bash the attacker incurs another momentary +2 during the Bash attack itself only. " - so this means during the attack with the shield the tower shield gets a -4 but other regular "main hand" attacks get the -2 penalty to hit?
Thanks for the help!
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Theodore01
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Re: Shield feats

Unread post by Theodore01 »

Wiki is right

Shield Bash can get up to 3 attacks per round:

Improved Two-Weapon Fighting will give 2 attacks/round
Greater Two-Weapon Fighting will give 3 attacks/round
Agile Shield Fighter + any 1 Shield Weapon (focus or specialization) feat will give 2 attacks/round
Agile Shield Fighter + any 2 Shield Weapon (focus or specialization) feats will give 3 attacks/round

The feat needed for the 2nd or 3rd attack is actually a Shield Weapon Specialization (that one that gives +2 dmg with that shield).
Shield Specialization (that one that gives +1 AC with Shield) doesn't give a 2nd or 3rd attack, although it´s a prerequisite to be able to pick Agile Shield Fighter.

The additional attack penalty, while Shield Bashing mode is on, is: 0 Light, 2 Heavy, 2 Tower. This excludes the default 'to hit' attack penalty for having a tower shield equipped, which adds another 2 to the penalty. The Agile Shield Fighter and Two-Weapon Fighting feats can each negate up 2 from the penalty.
Meaning you get -2 ab on all your attacks (weapon+shield) if you switch bash on - Getting Agile Shield Fighter or Two-Weapon Fighting will reduce that -2ab.


Wardrummer music does not enhance shield damage. (Bards inspire courage doesn't also).


Shield Charge Prerequisite: Shield Bash, Knockdown, Base Attack Bonus + 3
chad878262
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Re: Shield feats

Unread post by chad878262 »

Just to make sure this is known, Shield Weapon Specialization requires 4 levels of Fighter so the only way to get 3 Shield APR without having Fighter in your build is to take Greater TWF. Not a huge deal since only Fighter has enough feats to actually take the full line.

Shield Bash, Charge (requires Knockdown), Slam - 4 feats, gets you a chance at stunning when using slam, chance at knockdown with charge as well as 1 APR from Bash.

Agile Shield Fighter (requires Shield Specialization), Shield Weapon Focus, Shield Weapon Specialization - 4 feats, gets you the benefit of removing the -2 AB penalty (ASF), +1 AC (Shield Spec.), +1 AB with Shield (SWF), and +2 damage with shield (SWS) as well as 3 APR.

So the full line is 8 feats... A non-human/non-strongheart gets 7 pre-epic feats, so without Fighter or, at minimum Man at Arms the shield line is a big ask. I had a more sneak attack focused Shield bashing build and I skipped all the extra attack feats and just focused on the four feats to get the stun. If I was going barbarian I would do the same thing since spending so many feats for a couple extra shield attacks is just too expensive, makes you miss out on more important feats. If you wanted to make like a Fighter 12/AK10/X8 then I could see it, but even there you are also looking to get the full weapon focus line and weapon specialization line plus melee mastery which eats all 7 of your fighter bonus feats. Still could do it, but a few tough decisions would need to be made.

The trade off is you need 17 DEX (instead of 13 DEX) to reduce the feat requirement from 8 down to 7 (TWF, ITWF, GTWF) and you don't get all the other benefits (+1 AC, +1 AB w/ Shield, +2 Damage w/ Shield) so arguably spending the one extra feat is the better overall deal if you want to strictly be a Shield build.

Hope the above explanation helps, happy gaming.
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