3. ApproachesSo you're gung-ho to use a shield, OK. There are two main options for using a shield effectively, the first is that you have to make the shield useful for something, the second is to have the shield not interfere with your character at all.
Making your shield useful for something- Crusader Maneuvers - Crusaders actually get some maneuvers that help in using a shield:
Shield Block - Counter 2nd level, gives an ally your shield bonus +4 in extra AC. If you want to body guard somebody this is really nice to have, remember that having a good AC is a good defense at the lower levels.
Shield Counter - Counter 7th level, make a bash attack to cancel an enemy's attack. You can't get this until around level 13 and only works on one attack. The attack doesn't need to be targeting you however, so you can keep protecting whoever you've been protecting. How good this is really depends on what type of game your DM runs, by ECL 13 some DMs are using some really weird critters that don't use conventional attacks often.
- Shield Slam/Shield Charge - These feats let you perform special attacks with your shield, Shield Charge lets you get a free trip on an opponent after a charge with a shield and Shield Slam lets you make a free attack that can Daze, the fort save is based on your strength and your level so it should get nice and high.
- Shield Ward/Parrying Shield - AC becomes less important after a while but I've found it's still useful at higher levels. Touch AC becomes more important as you go up in level and spell casters get more spells available. Most characters in full plate have adequate AC but lousy touch AC, these feats help redress this. If you are using a shield already these feats help you get more from your shield.
- Active Shield Defense - When you use combat expertise or fighting defensively you don't take the penalty on attack to AoOs. So it really needs a feat like Robilar's Gambit to make it work, as you need a source of AoOs to be able to do adequate damage. If you use both Combat Expertise and Fighting Defensively with a shield you can net a nice +15 bonus to AC over a non-shield build. That should make you near impossible to hit for most monsters until the very highest levels. Remember you can still make your attacks with your Expertise/Fighting Defensive with the penalty, also this feat only works with a light or heavy shield.
- Agile Shield Fighter - This allows you to two weapon fight with a shield. The only reason you'd want this is if your dexterity is less than 15 and you don't want to put the points into it to bump it up. Remember that TWF is only worth it if you have a significant source of extra damage, about one point per level. Also this feat can't completely replace TWF, it doesn't allow you to take any other feats to make any more iterative attacks on a high BAB. It also caps the TWF penalty at -2 for your offhand weapon, so it encourages using a heavy shield.
Make holding a shield irrelevant- Improved Buckler Defense - You get your buckler's AC even when you use that hand to attack. This lets you fight just like you don't have a shield at all (except for a -1 penalty). This is probably the easiest way to be effective while using a shield.
- Animated Shield - The second easiest way to fight with a shield while not having it get in your way. It's a +2 bonus so you probably won't be picking one up until level 8 at the earliest. Even if you aren't normally a shield user an animated shield costs nothing but gold and gives you an extra source of AC.
- Bonus Damage - If a significant amount of damage of your damage comes from a source other than strength, weapon die and power attack than using a shield probably won't hinder you. For instance a multiclass rogue can take improved shield bash and still do sneak attack damage as normal. Melee reserve feats and Tome of Battle maneuvers are also good sources of extra damage without using power attack.
- Shielded Casting - You only need one hand free to cast, so a Wizard casting with a Feycrafted Mithral heavy shield faces no impairment at all and a nice little bonus to AC. Usually they'll just buckler though. The feat Shielded Casting lets you cast in combat without provoking any AoOs, which is really nice for a melee gish whose DM like the feat Mage Slayer.
- Wielding a shield in two hands - A heavy shield is a one handed martial weapon, so you take improved shield bash, wield the shield in two hands and just power attack with that for full damage.
4. Builds:JaronK's Smitadin[spoiler]
Taken from :
Optimized Shield UseSo, I decided to put this up after someone thought that you couldn't make a decent sword and board melee in D&D without a bunch of house rules. You can, but it requires using things that specifically require you to wield your shield... otherwise an Animated Shield will always be a better option. The best options I found are Shield Charge (if you hit an enemy at the end of a charge with your shield, the you get a free trip attempt against them), Shield Slam (if you hit an enemy at the end of a charge with a shield or use a full attack action to hit an enemy with your shield, they're dazed (fort save, DC 10+1/2 character level + strength mod) for one round), Shield Counter (Crusader manuever, hit an enemy during their attack so they automatically miss with their next attack), and Shield Block (add your shield bonus +4 to an adjacent ally). So, let me present an actually decent tank SAB melee (though technically the Sword part of that hardly matters, we're mostly going for the shield).
Build 1: The D&D Smiteadin
Wolf Totem Barbarian 2/Crusader 2/Fighter 2/Crusader +14, Human.
1: Improved Shield Bash, Power Attack
2: Improved Trip
3: Improved Bull Rush
5: Shield Charge
6: Shield Slam, Extra Granted Manuever
9: Shock Trooper
12: Leap Attack
15: Shield Specialization
18: Shield Ward
General strategy: Charge enemy using a charge manuever (Battle Leader's Charge, Warleader's Charge, Warmaster's Charge, Radiant Charge). Shield Slam and Shield Charge both activate, potencially tripping and dazing your enemy. If they get tripped, make an immediate attack again. Note that you have Shock Trooper, so you do a ton of damage this way (at level 20, it's +80 damage IIRC, which should apply to both attacks). At high levels when you have Warmaster's Charge, this probably kills the enemy. Even at lower levels it's dangerous as all heck. Keep doing this each round, charging a new enemy every time and taking them out of the fight for a couple rounds (one round due to dazing, one round to get back up when they only have a standard action left). Once per day you can Rage, boosting your to hit and the save DCs for Shield Slam (which are 10+1/2 character level + strength mod). Note that at a lot of levels you'll have two or three charge manuevers readied at all times, meaning the vast majority of the time you can charge with a manuever instead of just doing a regular charge.
If anyone attacks you or attacks a friend within range, Shield Counter them or Shield Block. The combination of Iron Guard's Glare and Shield Block gives a nearby ally +20 to AC, which should handle things quite nicely. If an ally is hurt, just smack one of your downed and dazed foes with a healing strike to bring them back up. You can heal yourself that way too... and any round in which you don't use counters, go with White Raven Tactics (when it's up of course).
Basically, charge the big threats on the battlefield, making sure to charge those that get to close to your party. If you can't charge, use healing strikes, Shield Counters, and Shield Blocks to bodyguard your party's squishy people. Both when charging and when bodyguarding, regularly use White Raven Tactics to keep your party at full speed.
Gear would be pretty straight forward tank stuff, though you'll want to go with medium armour (Mithral Full Plate, perhaps) to take advantage of Barbarian speed, or maybe a Chain Shirt and Dastanas if that's allowed. For the Shield, a nice Heavy Spiked Shield that's a Martial Discipline Weapon (Devoted Spirit) + Martial Discipline Weapon (White Raven) + Valorous... not sure about other boosts, but that will give a solid +6 to hit right there when in a Devoted Spirit stance (which is likely always) and making a White Raven strike (which is every time except with the healing strikes), plus double damage when charging. Your other weapon should probably be a light mace that's Undead Bane and Disruption, since undead are immune to your Shield Slams. The other option, if allowed, would be a Skillful weapon, either a Spinning Sword or Kusari Gama, thus allowing you to increase your reach (and your Iron Guard's Glare range). A Skillfull Defending Eager Spinning Sword of Warning would be incredibly useful, in fact.
Manuevers:
Basic manuever load outs at a few assorted levels would be as follows, with starred manuevers ready normally (nonstarred manuevers are for utility, or because I might have use for them):
3: Leading the Attack*, Vanguard Strike*, Crusader's Strike*, Stone Bones*, Charging Minotaur*, with Iron Guard's Glare as the stance.
7: Leading the Attack*, Vanguard Strike*, Crusader's Strike*, Stone Bones*, Charging Minotaur, Battle Leader's Charge*, with Iron Guard's Glare and Martial Spirit as stances
10: Battle Leader's Charge*, Crusader's Strike, Stone Bones, Leading the Attack, White Raven Tactics*, Revitalizing Strike*, Covering Strike*, Shield Block* with Iron Guard's Glare and Martial Spirit as stances
15: Battle Leader's Charge*, Stone Bones, White Raven Tactics*, Covering Strike, Shield Block*, Radiant Charge*, Elder Mountain Hammer, War Leader's Charge*, Shield Counter*, Rallying Strike, with Iron Guard's Glare, Thicket of Blades, and Martial Spirit as stances
20: Warmaster's Charge*, Strike of Righteous Vitality*, Ancient Mountain Hammer, Battle Leader's Charge, White Raven Tactics*, Shield Block*, Shield Counter*, Warleader's Charge* Radiant Charge, Elder Mountain Hammer, with Iron Guard's Glare, Thicket of Blades, Immortal Fortitude and Martial Spirit as stances.
Stat priority is of course strength above all... that's the primary thing you need. A little dex for higher initiative and better AC is certainly handy, and con for hitpoints too, but really it's all about the strength. You might as well have a nice high Charisma and dump Wisdom, allowing you to rock out with Diplomacy. Intelligence is basically unneeded too, so this is a pretty SAD build.
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JaronK's Bulldozer:[spoiler]
Taken from :
Optimized Shield UseThe other option is to combine Dungeoncrasher with War Hulk, using Improved Trip, Knockback, Shield Slam, Shock Trooper, Improved Bull Rush, Power Attack, and Shield Charge. Weild a skillfull spiked shield of some kind and go nuts. Charge and shield slam/charge... now you can attack every enemy within reach at the end of the charge. If you can get your strength up to about 50 (easily done with a War Hulk) the save to avoid being dazed by your attack is DC 40... yehaw. And you trip them from the hit... which lets you attack again due to Improved Trip. Then the enemies fly away from you from two bull rushes due to Knock Back, and you can direct them into each other (if any of them somehow didn't get tripped, that gives you another trip attempt against them). Then if they hit a wall they take a bunch more damage. If they hit more enemies, those get tripped and are now in a dangerous spot indeed. The guys you hit directly can't act next turn, so charge them again (and if you can get more enemies into the group, so much the better... Shock Trooper makes that very possible). You can sweep through countless enemies this way, pushing groups of them in front of you like a psychotic spikey bulldozer from hell. And of course you'll average about 400 damage to all enemies within your reach when you charge, not including damage from bouncing them off walls.
EDIT: Just to show the actual build, it's Feat Varient Rogue 2/Wolf Totem Barbarian 2/Dungeoncrasher 6/War Hulk 10. Race is anything large with LA paydown, or a Human with Permanent Enlarge Person. Feats for the human version would be:
1: Improved Shield Bash, Shield Specialization, Power Attack
2: Improved Bull Rush
3: Knockback
4: Improved Trip
5: Shield Charge
6: Cleave
8: Shield Slam
9: Shock Trooper
12: Leap Attack
15: Shield Ward
18: Weapon Focus (Spiked Armour)
If flaws are allowed, go for Blood Spiked Charger. If you do a race other than human, just bump the feats down by one. Use a Skillfull Valorous Spiked Shield with whatever other mods you like (Skillfull is a huge one, a +2 enchantment that provides +6 to hit for this build. Valorous helps with damage). If your DM allows both Lion Totem and Wolf Totem on the same Barbarian (they do replace different things) then go for it and watch your charge damage skyrocket. The really awesome thing about this is that it's a combination charger, lockdown, and tripper, and can do all three of these things at once without losing anything. Plus, the usual weakness of chargers is multiple enemies... but that's a strength of this build. It could sure use more reach though.
So yeah, SAB characters are totally doable.
JaronK
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PhoenixInferno's Captain America[spoiler]
CL IL Feats Maneuvers Stances
1 Crusader 1 1 Shield Specialization, Improved Shield Bash Crusader's Strike, Charging Minotaur, Vanguard Strike, Leading the Attack, Douse the Flames Martial Spirit
2 Crusader 2 2 Leading the Charge
3 Fighter 1 2.5 Agile Shield Fighter, Stone Power
4 Fighter 2 3 Shield Sling
5 Crusader 3 4 Stone Vise
6 Crusader 4 5 Improved Unarmed Strike Leading the Attack -> White Raven Tactics
7 Fighter 3 5.5
8 Fighter 4 6 Active Shield Defense
9 Crusader 5 7 Superior Unarmed Strike Shield Block
10 Crusader 6 8
11 Crusader 7 9 Foehammer
12 Crusader 8 10 Snap Kick Charging Minotaur -> Radiant Charge Thicket of Blades
13 Crusader 9 11 Rallying Strike
14 Crusader 10 12
15 Crusader 11 13 Combat Reflexes Shield Counter
16 Crusader 12 14 Stone Vise -> Entangling Blade
17 Crusader 13 15 White Raven Hammer
18 Crusader 14 16 Leadership Aura of Triumph
19 Crusader 15 17 Mountain Tombstone Strike
20 Crusader 16 18 Rallying Strike -> Strike of Righteous Vitality
This build uses ToB to recreate the Marvel superhero Captain America, who is kind of iconic for using an adamantine shield.
Rescued from the abyss by cru.
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Reserve Feat Cleric[spoiler]
Fighter 1/Cloistered Cleric X
-War Domain
-Divine Magician/Force Domain
3:Knowledge Devotion, 6:Blade of Force, 9:Holy Warrior
This is really all you need to get going. With an adequate intelligence your bonus from knowledge devotion should match the BAB you lost from going Cloistered Cleric. That is before you add on Lore of the Gods to boost your knowledge devotion. Your first level feat(s) are open so conceivable you could cram in DMM with the right flaws. You need the War Domain to be able to take Holy Warrior, choosing Divine Magician allows you to learn some Sorcerer/Wizard force spells so you can use Blade of Force. You don't do as much damage in straight combat as a Leap Attacking Shock Trooper, but you should do more damage than a similar core only character and you keep your AC after a charge, which can be a life saver.
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Active Shield Defense + Robilar's Gambit[spoiler]
Full BAB class 12
1 : Shield Specialization
3 : Combat Reflexes
6 : Combat Expertise
9 : Active Shield Defense
12: Robilar's Gambit
How this works is, every round you declare full Combat Expertise, Fight Defensively and Robilar's Gambit then you make your regular melee attacks with the penalty. When your opponent makes any attacks on you he provokes an AoO, those attacks don't have the penalty from Combat Expertise or Fighting Defensively. So you can gain a nice bonus to AC without any real penalty to attack. You can tweak the order of these feats, your priorities might shift depending on what melee class you choose to build on. You can start using this earlier than level 12 with Karmic Strike, but it's not great synergy you need to get hit to use Karmic Strike, but this setup is all about boosting your AC.
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