Mehrune Fighting Shield [TCS]

[Lord Iames Osari]

These steel shield is specially made with sharpened edges for slashing at enemies.

Note: This weapon is presented without taking into account Tyrath's nonstandard critical system.

{table="head"]One-Handed Exotic Weapons|Cost|Damage (S)|Damage (M)|Critical|Type|Weight
Mehrune Heavy Fighting Shield|30gp|1d6|1d8|x3|Bludgeoning or slashing|15 lb.
Mehrune Light Fighting Shield|20gp|1d4|1d6|x3|Bludgeoning or slashing|6 lb.[/table]

[Matthew]

In the context of the default D&D Weapon Tables, these seem too powerful to me, even as Exotic Weapons.

[Lord Iames Osari]

Yeah, they are powerful. I ran them through Rebonack's weapon builder, and if I remember right, they came out at 9 points - a full 1.5 points above the "typical" point value for 1-handed exotics.

On the other hand, I don't think something that weighs 15 lb. is going to deal a mere 1d6. I suppose I could decrease the threat range to 20.

[Talyn]

Of course, something that weighs 15 pounds isn't going to be a weapon that most people can fight with for an extended period of time. Even the heaviest two-handed medieval weapons topped out at eight or nine pounds for the biggest polearms, with most being closer to three or four...

[Lord Iames Osari]

That's also true. *shrugs* Meh.

[Eighth_Seraph]

Question: can this be used as a shield to grant an AC bonus? If so, that'll seriously overpower them. Also, think of the abuse from Animating these things. With that crit range? A bit too dangerous for my tastes. I think, though, that if you give it the straight x3 crit, this'll be both a good and balanced weapon, er, shield.

[Lord Iames Osari]

Yes, they can be used as normal shields. Keep in mind that they do not grant their shield bonus to AC while you use them to attack with unless you have the proper feat (Improved Shield Bash, I think it is). Also, animating these would not allow them to attack. For that, you would have to enchant them separately as dancing weapons.

Crit changed.

[Eighth_Seraph]

Oh? Alright then. Balanced it is, in my opinion. Knowing you, however, there's some major flavor behind this which isn't shown here. Care to elaborate?

[Lord Iames Osari]

Weeeelll.... basically, I decided that the warriors of this one nation used the shield as their national weapon. Because of the open terrain, they also have a large focus on cavalry. Normal spiked shields would be kind of awkward to use from horseback, hence the Mehrune Fighting Shield.

[MeklorIlavator]

Have you ever read the CW, specifically the exotic weapons in the back? There is one kinda like this.

[Icewalker]

I really like it. Especially with it being the nations national weapon, I think that'd come out being pretty cool. As exotic weapons they'd be a little harder for the PCs to get, and with those stats, they seem pretty balanced to me. Pretty powerful once you get that feat so they can attack and give an AC bonus, but I've always thought that fighters sometimes don't get enough compared to some casting classes. fighter: 1 bonus feat. Sorcerer: +3d6 on the fireball, as well as getting it an additional several times per day, as well as other spells....
I dunno, new weapons are always nice to have though.

[Lord Iames Osari]

@ Melkor: The dwarven buckler-axe? Yeah, I know it.

@ Icewalker: Only sometimes? Non-casters are consistently overshadowed by casters. There are multitudes of threads about it in Gaming.

[MeklorIlavator]

@ Melkor: The dwarven buckler-axe? Yeah, I know it.

Oh! I was thinking of the Gnomish one