Talk:Dueling Shield (3.5e Equipment)

Ratings
This seems, from a realism standpoint, completely ridiculous. So some fighter is holding a shield in two hands, protects himself with it, and uses spikes coming out of either end as a double weapon. What. Try it. Grab a pillow and mime protecting yourself with it while buffeting foe with the sides of it. Even some grandmaster warrior would look like an idiot doing this. Furthermore, this thing is mechanically inconsistent with existing rules. First of all, there's no class of "heavy" shield. The PHB describes a buckler, small shield, large shield, and tower shield. After that, it's very clear about enchanting shield spikes and when you get the shield bonus while attacking - there are feats that allow you to bash and retain the shield bonus, because normally, YOU LOSE THE SHIELD BONUS WHEN YOU ATTACK WITH IT. This should be thrown out.


 * I believe the way it's wielded is as a Klingon Bat'leth. Oh, it's a silly fantasy weapon, but no worse off than using a spiked chain as a viable weapon.  Actually, I'm kind of interested... this is a Double Weapon+Shield instead of a Weapon+Shield, which is kinda cool.  However, there are such a thing as heavy shields.  Behold: The Heavy Shield.  Shields come in buckler, light, heavy, and tower forms after all.  And extreme/exotic if you count Races of Stone.  Perhaps you got your terms mixed up, replacing light for small and large for heavy?


 * As far as rules about shield attacks and keeping shield AC, specific always trumps general. It appears you keep your shield AC on this particular weapon, save for when power attacking.  Makes sense.  -- Eiji-kun 11:12, 6 August 2012 (UTC)


 * I'm going to actually one up you a little, here, Eiji. Specific cases always trump general rules in all cases.  The only weird spots in this case are when two specific cases explicitly contradict each other. --Undead_Knave 11:16, 6 August 2012 (UTC)


 * Well I'll be darned. My mistake. I'm still stuck on old naming conventions. While the image of a Bat'leth helps a little (even though it is a silly weapon), it seems strange that an exotic weapon proficiency should basically give the benefits of improved shield bash - unless that's what you were going for. In that case, why not go all in? Of course, specific does trump general, but here there doesn't seem to be a huge difference from a doubly spiked shield. Usually, it's good to be at least informed by existing precedent, unless there's cause to believe that this is some very different case. I'm not seeing it, but at least it has raised an interesting discussion.--Quey 05:55, 8 August 2012 (UTC)

Speaking about realism...
This is a real weapon, from real life, used in real fights - or, rather, used in judicial trial-by-combat.

Duelling Shield and Longsword Freeplay