Magic Shields
- Go back to the Epic Path page.
- Go back to the Magic Item Crafting Rules page.
Creating Magic Shields
To create a magic shield, a character needs a good heavy workshop. There must be a powerful heat source such as a blown forge or magical fire. There must be a strong anvil and high-quality tools of many, many kinds. There must be adequate room to work, with benches and tables. Finally, there should be a supply of materials, the most obvious being the shield or the pieces of the shield to be assembled. A good forge can be a cozy affair, or a massive workshop that sprawls and rambles through many rooms of a castle. In no case is any workspace ever portable.
A shield that is to be made magical must be a masterwork shield, and the masterwork cost is added to the base price to determine final market value. Additional magic supply costs for the materials are subsumed in the cost for creating the magic shield—half the base price of the item. If the character has a Craft:Shield skill they can roll to make their own masterwork shield, although it is usually fastest to purchase a masterwork item from a less-skilled NPC smith.
Creating a magic shield has a special prerequisite: The creator's effective caster level must be at least three times the enhancement bonus of the shield. If an item has both an enhancement bonus and a special ability, the higher of the two caster level requirements must be met. A magic shield must have at least a +1 enhancement bonus to have any armor or shield special abilities.
If spells are involved in the prerequisites for making the shield, the creator must have either 1) prepared the spells to be cast (or must know the spells, in the case of a sorcerer or bard), 2) Purchased scrolls of the spells, 3) Have the spells otherwise available such as in a wand, or 4) have worked out with the GM in advance any allowed substitutions (a jug of white dragon saliva from a dragon of the proper challenge rating to substitute for a polar ray spell, for example) and must provide any material components or focuses the spells require. The act of working on the shield triggers the prepared spells, or integrates any allowed substitutes. The spells are not available to cast, and the substitutes are consumed in making the item. (Those spell slots are expended from the caster's currently prepared spells, just as if they had been cast.)
Creating some shields may entail other prerequisites beyond or other than spellcasting or substituted materials. See the individual descriptions for details.
- Time Required: Crafting magic shields requires one day for each CL of the item, minimum of seven days.
- Feat(s) Required: Creator.
- Skill(s) Required: Divinity, Naturalism, Reason, Spellcraft, Spycraft or Warcraft
Magic shields have three types of improvements that may be applied to them:
- Enhancements
Magical enhancements range from +1 to +9. As a firm rule, the maximum enhancement a shield may have is equal to one quarter of the campaign level, round up. This maximum Enhancement Bonus cap must not be exceeded at normal play levels to maintain balance. Any attempt to wield a shield more magically enchanted than this results in the character taking a non-proficiency penalty, with the possibility of even more dire consequences (such as insanity, or becoming dominated by the shield's will). At level 36 and higher all restrictions are lifted, and shields may be enchanted in any way the characters can afford and the referee will allow.
While shield enhancement bonuses are nearly always used to increase the AC bonus, some shields contain innate properties from special materials, which may also be increased via the enhancement bonus. An example of this is a bloodsilver shield's -3 Bleed property. Players may dedicate enhancement bonuses to increasing these innate properties instead of the shield's AC bonus. However, the shield's total enhancement bonus is always the sum of any of these, and no shield may ever have an enhancement bonus greater than +9 before the Apotheosis. For details on special material innate properties, and the effects of using enhancement bonuses to increase them, see the Dweomermetals And Other Special Materials page. Enhancement bonuses may never be used to apply a property that the shield does not already have innately from its special materials.
- Properties
Magic Item Properties are additional traits, bonuses or effects that magic shields grant or perform on top of the normal functionality of that shield. Shields must have at least a +1 enhancement bonus before any magic shield properties may be added to them. The limit to the total value of all shield properties that may be added to a magical shield is one quarter of the campaign level, rounded up. This maximum Magical Properties cap must not be exceeded at normal play levels to maintain balance. No item may ever have the same property twice. At level 36 and higher all restrictions are lifted, and shields may be enchanted in any way the characters can afford and the referee will allow.
- Absolute Bonus
By adding together the plus values of the Enhancement Bonus and Magical Properties of a magical shield, you determine the shield's Absolute Bonus. For example, a +2 Energy(10/Sonic) Resistance Warshield has a +4 Absolute Bonus, since the Energy Resistance property has a +2 cost associated with it. The Absolute Bonus plus the special material costs (if any) determine the total magic item cost of the item. The maximum possible Absolute Bonus of any magic weapon, armor or shield is +18, though the maximum allowed in a given campaign varies by the campaign's current player level (See the tables below for details). At level 36, all restrictions are lifted, and weapons, armors and shields may be enchanted in any way the characters can afford and the referee will allow.
- Materials
Mundane shields are assumed to be made of forged iron or crude leathers and wood. Fragile shields are usually made of crude iron, untreated hides, or bone. Masterwork shields are assumed to be made of exotic woods and leathers, or high quality steel, similar to historical Damascus or Wootz (forging good steel was often a happy accident before the chemistry was fully understood). Shields made from fantastic materials are possible as well, such as the classic mithril and adamantine. A list of special materials and their properties can be found on the Dweomermetals And Other Special Materials page. In all cases, only ONE material may be used in the construction of a single shield, even after the Apotheosis. Unless the referee allows it, of course.
Table: Magical Shield Enhancement Limitations
| Campaign Level | Max Enhancement Bonus | Max Magic Properties | Absolute Bonus | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 - 4 | +1 | no properties | +1 | 1,000 |
| +1 worth of properties | +2 | 4,000 | ||
| 5 - 8 | +2 | no properties | +2 | 4,000 |
| +1 worth of properties | +3 | 9,000 | ||
| +2 worth of properties | +4 | 16,000 | ||
| 9 - 12 | +3 | no properties | +3 | 9,000 |
| +1 worth of properties | +4 | 16,000 | ||
| +2 worth of properties | +5 | 25,000 | ||
| +3 worth of properties | +6 | 36,000 | ||
| 13 - 16 | +4 | no properties | +4 | 16,000 |
| +1 worth of properties | +5 | 25,000 | ||
| +2 worth of properties | +6 | 36,000 | ||
| +3 worth of properties | +7 | 49,000 | ||
| +4 worth of properties | +8 | 64,000 | ||
| 17 - 20 | +5 | no properties | +5 | 25,000 |
| +1 worth of properties | +6 | 36,000 | ||
| +2 worth of properties | +7 | 49,000 | ||
| +3 worth of properties | +8 | 64,000 | ||
| +4 worth of properties | +9 | 81,000 | ||
| +5 worth of properties | +10 | 100,000 |
Table: Epic Magical Shield Enhancement Limitations
| Campaign Level | Max Enhancement Bonus | Max Magic Properties (Note: +5 is the minimum allowed for Epic) | Absolute Bonus | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 - 24 | +6 | +5 worth of properties | +11 | 200,000 |
| +6 worth of properties | +12 | 400,000 | ||
| 25 - 28 | +7 | +5 worth of properties | +12 | 400,000 |
| +6 worth of properties | +13 | 800,000 | ||
| +7 worth of properties | +14 | 1,500,000 | ||
| 29 - 32 | +8 | +5 worth of properties | +13 | 800,000 |
| +6 worth of properties | +14 | 1,500,000 | ||
| +7 worth of properties | +15 | 2,500,000 | ||
| +8 worth of properties | +16 | 4,500,000 | ||
| 33 - 35 | +9 | +5 worth of properties | +14 | 1,500,000 |
| +6 worth of properties | +15 | 2,500,000 | ||
| +7 worth of properties | +16 | 4,500,000 | ||
| +8 worth of properties | +17 | 7,500,000 | ||
| +9 worth of properties | +18 | 11,500,000 | ||
| Apotheosis! | unlimited | unlimited | unlimited | impossibly expensive |
- Caster Level for shields
The caster level of a magic shield with a special ability is given in the item description. For an item with only an enhancement bonus, the caster level is three times the enhancement bonus. If an item has both an enhancement bonus and a special ability, the higher of the two caster level requirements must be met. As always, caster level can either be a character's 'native' caster if they actually cast spells, or their Effective Caster Level they gain from having the Creator feat and ranks in either Divinity, Naturalism, Reason, Spellcraft, Spycraft or Warcraft. Note that even spell casters must have the Creator feat to make magic items.
- Interaction between Shields and Armor
Shield enhancement bonuses stack with armor enhancement bonuses. Shield enhancement bonuses do not act as attack or damage bonuses when the shield is used in a shield bash. The bashing special ability, however, does grant a +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls (see the special ability description).
A shield can be built such that it also acts as a magic weapon. This requires the shield to be equipped with shield spikes, and is handled as if the shield was a double weapon, namely, two sets of enhancements are applied to the shield and the costs are tracked as though they were two separate items, even though they aren't. Because shield spikes on a shield are really only one item, it is important to remember that like bonuses do not stack on the same item. For example, a property which grants an armor bonus to AC from the shield spikes would not stack with the armor bonus provided by the shield itself. Also, as a note, some magic weapon properties, such as the Defending magic item property, require you to use your shield or armor as a weapon to gain its benefit of the property. The GM may rule that when using the shield or armor spikes as a weapon means you lose the actual shield or armor bonuses until the start of your next turn, just as if you used your shield for a shield bash.
Magic properties built into a shield add to the market value in the form of additions to the bonus of the shield, although they do not improve AC. A shield cannot have an absolute bonus (enhancement plus special ability bonus equivalents) higher than +18. A shield with a special ability must also have at least a +1 enhancement bonus.
- Activation of Armor and Shields
Usually a character benefits from magic armor and shields in exactly the way a character benefits from non-magical armor and shields: by wearing them. If armor or a shield has a special ability that the user needs to activate, then the user usually needs to utter the command word (a standard action).
- Shields for Unusual Creatures
The cost of a shield for non-humanoid creatures, as well as for creatures who are neither Small nor Medium, varies. The cost of the masterwork quality is also affected to the same degree. IE, if armor costs four times as much because it is size large, it costs 4 times as much to make it masterwork. The cost to enchant a size large shield is unchanged, however, nor does the shield's size increase the time required for enchantment.