Sorry if this is in the wrong place, I have a question I'm looking for help on.
First, I point to the Pact of the blade's ability to summon a weapon.
What I'm looking for, (mostly for character flavour reasons), is the ability to summon a shield or even maybe armour, though I'm aware armour might be a stretch, what with the don/doff time for armour being more than one turn
Basically, the character I have in mind would be walking around in peacetime unarmed, then when trouble starts, summon a weapon and shield, but I cannot find a reasonable way to do this.
Note: I have seen someone speaking about “conjuring”, which I take it they mean take a level in conjuration wizard, though it wasn't really specific, and someone mentioning a magical item of gloves (I forget the detail) that acted like a bag of holding, and something that looked like a home-brew called “pact of the shield”
Also, I am aware a bag of holding might be an option, but still runs the risk of being taken from the character. What I'm shooting for is a shield that can be summoned when needed, like the hex blade's weapon.
I'm willing to take all suggestions, be it something that takes a bonus action or even a full action. I would prefer it to be charisma based but am willing to consider multi classing if needed.
Can it be done with official rules? Have I missed something? Or are we talking making a home brew rule with my DM?
I am even willing to take a shield instead of weapon if need be, provided it doesn't involve the wizard / sorcerer due to their low hit dice.
If, however, it has to be home brew, I was thinking I would offer, “when using your pact feature, as a bonus action, you also summon a shield – otherwise you may summon a shield as a seperate action”.
So, there's the invocation that lets you mage armor yourself at will.
Other than that, not really.
I have a barbarian/hexblade concept that I've never played, who's partly built around the idea of being able to go straight from "defenseless" to "murder", but it's tricky to try to make it work due to all the stat requirements.
RAW no, you can't make your shield your pact weapon (it specifies a melee weapon, which a shield is not). However, your DM might agree to let you do it anyway. I personally don't see a problem with it. I probably wouldn't let you have the shield and a weapon though, you'd have to pick - although I'd let you flavour it as being summoned. As mentioned, Mage Armour is the best bet for armour.
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If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
You have confirmed what I already suspected, but hey, never hurts to ask right? After all, this site is full of people who know more than me about this, seems a shame to waste such a resource of knowlage and wisdom just because I can't find a previous post.
There are a few built-in options to consider as "armor" in that they help the character not take damage.
Picking up Blade Ward could be manifested as "armor" that reduces the damage taken. This lets you start with a bit of "I don't think that did what you think it did." immediately. Resistance won't' stop all damage, but it's sure nice!
Armor of Agathys gives you mild hit point deflection that stacks up with Blade Ward for the round.
With these two, you can turn 10 hp of damage into 5 (Blade Ward) and then 5 to 0 (Armor of Agathys). All via "armor" that the character doesn't have to wear/carry/produce.
Not enough? How about skipping enemies from targeting your character? Shadow of Moil can grant you heavy obscurement in dim light and light obscurement in normal areas.
None of this grants the character physical armor, and all of it requires spell slots, but... a focus on defense can be done, and, as a DM, I'd let the player change the visuals for their character so it looks like armor and works like the spell. Fun fun fun!
Lizardfolk carry a "Spiked Shield" which is legally a weapon, so it's easier to make an argument for summoning it as a pact weapon. (It's not strictly RAW since the rules for pact weapons state you can only summon simple or martial weapons, and spiked shields aren't on those lists, but it's closer to rules-legal than summoning a nonweapon as your pact weapon, so your GM might go for it)
There's also the new Boomerang Shield which is supposed to be wielded by players, that might be straightup legal to bond to as your pact weapon.
In an old 2e Spelljammer campaign, I played an Elven Spirit Warrior. Spirit Warriors were elves who uses a sort-of-undead magically altered insect-like entity as armor/mecha. The character stored his Spirit Warrior in a pocket dimension and on command a portal would open and the Spirit Warrior step and and open up for the character to step into it. This worked well in the magitech world of Spelljammer.
My point being, there are many ways to reach the same practical effect.
Sadly Marvel stole my idea for Iron Man and did not pay for it!
I guess another way to do this would be with an Animated Shield, a Bag of Holding, and a lenient DM. If the DM agreed to the AS being in your BoH as you "holding" it (or you stick your hand into the BoH to touch/hold it; I'd just require a free hand) then you could "summon" the shield by speaking the command word and having it rise out of the BoH.
my pipe dream was they were going to make armor of shadows more like a pact of armor invocation, which allowed armor/shields at whatever balance point they felt fit and pact of the blade would encompass dual wielding, basically you can summon 2 hands worth of weapons whether its a pike or 2 short swords is up to you. I'd of also ditched eldritch blast but baked ranged attacks into pact of the blade, it would be baked into the class and scale with warlock level. but oh well 2024 was a much smaller change than i wanted.
Another iffy option is to rely exclusively on improvised shields, like barrel lids or barstools or books or dropped enemy shields or anything you can passably justify as a protective barrier held in one hand. Since every shield in D&D has the same flat +2AC, so long as your DM signs off on the thing qualifying as a shield it can provide the mechanical benefit that every shield that ever existed does. (Especially when you consider this character's not really doing anything they wouldn't be capable of doing by just carrying a regular shield, it's almost just flavor except for some very niche edge cases). The main downside is that you might occasionally find yourself in a situation where you can't find an improvised shield, but in most situations there should be something nearby to wield in your offhand as a blocker.
Another iffy option is to rely exclusively on improvised shields, like barrel lids or barstools or books or dropped enemy shields or anything you can passably justify as a protective barrier held in one hand. Since every shield in D&D has the same flat +2AC, so long as your DM signs off on the thing qualifying as a shield it can provide the mechanical benefit that every shield that ever existed does. (Especially when you consider this character's not really doing anything they wouldn't be capable of doing by just carrying a regular shield, it's almost just flavor except for some very niche edge cases). The main downside is that you might occasionally find yourself in a situation where you can't find an improvised shield, but in most situations there should be something nearby to wield in your offhand as a blocker.
I would say this falls more under the Defensive Duelist Feat of blocking with a weapon rather than treating a book as a shield. You might get away with a barrel lid that has a handle, but I would rule against a barstool or a book as being called a shield.
Shields take an action to don because you typically have to strap it to your arm, not just hold it in your hand. And since there are no rules or references on "improvised shields" I would say picking up a book for a +2 AC is outside of the RAW and RAI.
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Sorry if this is in the wrong place, I have a question I'm looking for help on.
First, I point to the Pact of the blade's ability to summon a weapon.
What I'm looking for, (mostly for character flavour reasons), is the ability to summon a shield or even maybe armour, though I'm aware armour might be a stretch, what with the don/doff time for armour being more than one turn
Basically, the character I have in mind would be walking around in peacetime unarmed, then when trouble starts, summon a weapon and shield, but I cannot find a reasonable way to do this.
Note: I have seen someone speaking about “conjuring”, which I take it they mean take a level in conjuration wizard, though it wasn't really specific, and someone mentioning a magical item of gloves (I forget the detail) that acted like a bag of holding, and something that looked like a home-brew called “pact of the shield”
Also, I am aware a bag of holding might be an option, but still runs the risk of being taken from the character. What I'm shooting for is a shield that can be summoned when needed, like the hex blade's weapon.
I'm willing to take all suggestions, be it something that takes a bonus action or even a full action. I would prefer it to be charisma based but am willing to consider multi classing if needed.
Can it be done with official rules? Have I missed something? Or are we talking making a home brew rule with my DM?
I am even willing to take a shield instead of weapon if need be, provided it doesn't involve the wizard / sorcerer due to their low hit dice.
If, however, it has to be home brew, I was thinking I would offer, “when using your pact feature, as a bonus action, you also summon a shield – otherwise you may summon a shield as a seperate action”.
Is this fair and balanced? Any other suggestions?
Thanks in advance
So, there's the invocation that lets you mage armor yourself at will.
Other than that, not really.
I have a barbarian/hexblade concept that I've never played, who's partly built around the idea of being able to go straight from "defenseless" to "murder", but it's tricky to try to make it work due to all the stat requirements.
Thank you for the reply and for replying so quickly.
I have to admit to overlooking that option.
While it's not exactly what I'm looking for, it does seem to be the only real option.
It * does * cover the “no armour to armoured” aspect, which I wasn't expecting.
I will certainly take this into consideration moving forward.
Thanks again.
RAW no, you can't make your shield your pact weapon (it specifies a melee weapon, which a shield is not). However, your DM might agree to let you do it anyway. I personally don't see a problem with it. I probably wouldn't let you have the shield and a weapon though, you'd have to pick - although I'd let you flavour it as being summoned. As mentioned, Mage Armour is the best bet for armour.
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
Thank for taking the time to reply
You have confirmed what I already suspected, but hey, never hurts to ask right? After all, this site is full of people who know more than me about this, seems a shame to waste such a resource of knowlage and wisdom just because I can't find a previous post.
Anyway, thanks again.
There are a few built-in options to consider as "armor" in that they help the character not take damage.
Picking up Blade Ward could be manifested as "armor" that reduces the damage taken. This lets you start with a bit of "I don't think that did what you think it did." immediately. Resistance won't' stop all damage, but it's sure nice!
Armor of Agathys gives you mild hit point deflection that stacks up with Blade Ward for the round.
With these two, you can turn 10 hp of damage into 5 (Blade Ward) and then 5 to 0 (Armor of Agathys). All via "armor" that the character doesn't have to wear/carry/produce.
Not enough? How about skipping enemies from targeting your character? Shadow of Moil can grant you heavy obscurement in dim light and light obscurement in normal areas.
None of this grants the character physical armor, and all of it requires spell slots, but... a focus on defense can be done, and, as a DM, I'd let the player change the visuals for their character so it looks like armor and works like the spell. Fun fun fun!
*Face palm* redacted.
I'd just like to take a moment to thank everyone who has offered suggestion / feed back
thank you for taking time to do so
Lizardfolk carry a "Spiked Shield" which is legally a weapon, so it's easier to make an argument for summoning it as a pact weapon. (It's not strictly RAW since the rules for pact weapons state you can only summon simple or martial weapons, and spiked shields aren't on those lists, but it's closer to rules-legal than summoning a nonweapon as your pact weapon, so your GM might go for it)
There's also the new Boomerang Shield which is supposed to be wielded by players, that might be straightup legal to bond to as your pact weapon.
Boomerang shield is classified as armor on its entry- it has an option to behave like a weapon, but for item type purposes it doesn't qualify.
In an old 2e Spelljammer campaign, I played an Elven Spirit Warrior. Spirit Warriors were elves who uses a sort-of-undead magically altered insect-like entity as armor/mecha. The character stored his Spirit Warrior in a pocket dimension and on command a portal would open and the Spirit Warrior step and and open up for the character to step into it. This worked well in the magitech world of Spelljammer.
My point being, there are many ways to reach the same practical effect.
Sadly Marvel stole my idea for Iron Man and did not pay for it!
I guess another way to do this would be with an Animated Shield, a Bag of Holding, and a lenient DM. If the DM agreed to the AS being in your BoH as you "holding" it (or you stick your hand into the BoH to touch/hold it; I'd just require a free hand) then you could "summon" the shield by speaking the command word and having it rise out of the BoH.
my pipe dream was they were going to make armor of shadows more like a pact of armor invocation, which allowed armor/shields at whatever balance point they felt fit and pact of the blade would encompass dual wielding, basically you can summon 2 hands worth of weapons whether its a pike or 2 short swords is up to you. I'd of also ditched eldritch blast but baked ranged attacks into pact of the blade, it would be baked into the class and scale with warlock level. but oh well 2024 was a much smaller change than i wanted.
Another iffy option is to rely exclusively on improvised shields, like barrel lids or barstools or books or dropped enemy shields or anything you can passably justify as a protective barrier held in one hand. Since every shield in D&D has the same flat +2AC, so long as your DM signs off on the thing qualifying as a shield it can provide the mechanical benefit that every shield that ever existed does. (Especially when you consider this character's not really doing anything they wouldn't be capable of doing by just carrying a regular shield, it's almost just flavor except for some very niche edge cases). The main downside is that you might occasionally find yourself in a situation where you can't find an improvised shield, but in most situations there should be something nearby to wield in your offhand as a blocker.
I would say this falls more under the Defensive Duelist Feat of blocking with a weapon rather than treating a book as a shield. You might get away with a barrel lid that has a handle, but I would rule against a barstool or a book as being called a shield.
Shields take an action to don because you typically have to strap it to your arm, not just hold it in your hand. And since there are no rules or references on "improvised shields" I would say picking up a book for a +2 AC is outside of the RAW and RAI.