Talk:Two-Handed Spear Shield (3.5e Equipment)

It's not that complicated. Compare: masterwork two-bladed sword and +2 buckler vs. two-handed spear shield. They have the same AC bonus, but the first one only applies when you aren't attacking with both ends of the sword, and costs 400 for the sword and 2315 for the buckler. You get +1 to hit with one end of the sword, but only deal 4.5 average damage instead of 5. When using weapon finesse, you take a -1 to attacks when using the spear shield, but you get to apply your dex to both ends; the masterwork buckler has no ACP, but even with a very generous reading of the rules you can only use it for your offhand attack, if that. This is a somewhat interesting concept, but there's got to be some semblance of balance. And it needs a price. JazzMan 20:04, 22 January 2012 (MST)

so with that being said you can tell i'm inexperianced with generating content for this game.

Care to help me out a bit? What do you suggest? --Mugenkira 20:27, 23 January 2012 (MST) (i have no sig, Mugenkira)

For starters, I would say reduce the AC bonus to +2 maximum, remove the ability to use with Weapon Finesse, and perhaps require an additional feat to be able to attack without losing the AC bonus. And there needs to be some sort of guidelines for the shield price. JazzMan 13:49, 24 January 2012 (MST)

I have no idea about the prices whatsoever. But the shield and spears are one whole piece. Which is what I was trying to get at so thier would be only one price.

I'm fine with removing weapon finesse but why exactly would the AC bonus be +2 maximum when it is a very large shield held in two hands?

And I seem to have written down double-weapon damage wrong, it should be 1d2/1d2 for small and so on, my mistake there. --Mugenkira 15:58, 24 January 2012 (MST)

It's a very large shield... that doubles as a weapon. Take the weapon away for a second: say it's bigger than a large shield but smaller than a tower shield, and from that perspective should probably be a +3. But then add back in the weapon and it's going to lose effectiveness. You can't swing it around as easily for fear of stabbing yourself or your friends, and when you are poking someone with the pokey bits you can't be blocking strikes with the boardy bits. As for damage, there's no "set" for double weapon damage; that pretty much has to be balanced against the rest of the weapon and accounted for in its description. You could probably even safely bump it up to 1d4/1d6/1d8 (s/m/l). And as for price, it should be no less than a shield and a double sword. 150-200gp should be plenty; if someone wants to change the materials they can use the already existing rules (probably in terms of weight, the shield portion would have to default to wood, with no steel variation, much like the tower shield.) JazzMan 15:33, 1 February 2012 (MST)

so would this be good? --Mugenkira 21:48, 7 February 2012 (MST)

I think the changes are more reasonable. It's an intriguing idea. Pyper 30Jun12