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Specials on Shields

September 19th, 2012

Joshua Zaback

Magic Market Archive

            Hello everyone and welcome to another fantastic edition of Magic Market, where we bring you a great selection of new magic item each week in order to keep Igor’s Fine Magik Curio Shoppe stocked, and the dragon’s horde nice and desirable. Earlier this week I created a magus archetype called the shield mage and gave it a class feature where they could apply various magical shield abilities to their shield. Sadly, while shields are better than armor in this respect, the number of shield special abilities with a base price expressed in an equivalent enhancement bonus was somewhat lower than I would like. With that in mind, here are more for you to consider. Enjoy.

 

Avenging

            Among the most potent of any shield special ability, avenging shields have the power to turn attacks back against their originator. Up to three times per day, the wielder of a shield with this special ability can speak a command word to activate the shield’s magic. The next attack which successfully damages the wielder of a avenging shield deals half its damage to the wielder and half its damage to the attacker.

Aura: faint abjuration; CL: 3rd; Craft Magic Arms and Armor, shield other; Price: +5 bonus.

 

Dragon Warding

            Originally crafted for dragon slayers, shields of this sort offer a potent protection useful to adventurers of all kinds. A shield with this special ability reduces the damage the wielder suffers from cones and lines by blocking some of the damaging energy. Whenever the wielder of a dragon warding shield is subject to a special attack or spell that has an area of effect that is expressed as either a cone or a line and that requires a saving throw, any damage that would be dealt to him as a result of that special attack or spell is reduced by half. This shield has no effect on cones or lines which do not deal hit point damage, and in the case of cones or lines which deal hit point damage and also have additional effects, a dragon warding shield has no effect on the latter.

Aura: moderate transmutation; CL: 7th; Craft Magic Arms and Armor, jump; Price: +4 bonus.

 

Protection

            Shields with this special ability are versatile, in that they provide the wielder with protection against traditional violence, as well as against the unconventional dangers adventurers so often face. As a swift action, the wielder of a protection shield may choose to “exchange” some of his shield’s enhancement bonus to AC in order to gain a like resistance bonus to all saving throws. When he uses this ability, the wielder chooses an amount of enhancement bonus to exchange, up to the item’s total enhancement bonus, and gains an equal resistance bonus to his saving throws. A second swift action can be used to regain any enhancement bonus exchanged in this fashion (losing the resistance bonus to saving throws at the same time). This ability has no effect on any resistance bonuses the wielder possesses from another source, such as a cloak of resistance.

            Once a character has decided how many points of the protection shield’s enhancement bonus he wants to exchange, he cannot change this amount without a new use of the ability.  Thus, if a character has already chosen to exchange 2 points of his +3 protection shield’s enhancement bonus, and wanted to increase his resistance bonus to saving throws to +3, he would have to use a swift action to reverse the bonuses, and then use another swift action to exchange the shield’s +3 enhancement bonus to AC for a +3 resistance bonus to all saving throws.

Aura: faint abjuration; CL: 1st; Craft Magic Arms and Armor, resistance; Price: +1 bonus.

 

Rushing

            Rushing shields are the favorite of warriors who use their shields as weapons. Whenever the wielder of a shield with this special ability successfully damages a creature with a shield bash, he may choose to make a bull rush combat maneuver as a free action against the target of this attack. The wielder gains an enhancement bonus to the bull rush combat maneuver check equal to the enhancement bonus of the rushing shield.

Aura: faint evocation; CL: 5th; Craft Magic Arms and Armor, Improved Bull Rush, gust of wind; Price: +2 bonus.

 

Soldier’s Friend

            Typically applied to tower shields, this special ability makes shields exceptionally easy to use. As a result, the wielder never suffers a penalty to attack rolls that would be incurred by wielding the shield.  This includes penalties for not being proficient with the shield, as well as penalties that are an innate property of the shield (such as the constant -2 penalty to attack inherent to wielding a tower shield).

Aura: faint transmutation; CL: 1st; Craft Magic Arms and Armor, magic weapon; Price: +2 bonus.

 

Thorny

            Shields with this special ability surround their wielder in an invisible barrier of foot-long thorns, which reach out at those with hostile intentions towards the wielder, and shy away from those offering assistance. Whenever the wielder of a thorny shield is damaged in combat by a natural attack or by a melee attack made by a manufactured weapon without reach, the attacker suffers damage equal to twice the thorny shield’s enhancement bonus to AC. For the purposes of overcoming damage reduction, the damage dealt by a thorny shield is treated as though it were dealt by a magic weapon with an enhancement bonus equal to the thorny shield’s enhancement bonus to AC.

Aura: moderate conjuration; CL: 9th; Craft Magic Arms and Armor, wall of thorns; Price: +3 bonus.