Shield

You strap a shield to your forearm and grip it with your hand. When using a shield you must grip your weapon with only one hand. The exception to this rule is the Buckler, which may be used with bows and crossbows without penalty, and with two-hand or off-hand weapons with a -1 attack penalty.

Shields come in five basic varieties: Buckler, Light, Heavy, Tower, and Spiked.

You can make a bash attack with all shields, except bucklers. Spiked shields are specifically for bashing and cause extra damage.

Shields grant a shield bonus to the wearer's armor class. This number represents the protective value of the shield. The bonus does not stack with other effects that grant a shield bonus, such as the shield spell.

Shields grant an armor check penalty.

If you do not have the feat Shield Proficiency you incure an attack penalty equal to the shield's armor check penalty as well as to any strength or dexterity based checks.

NWN Comparison
Characters without the shield feat could not equip a shield at all.

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