I believe you you are arguing Semantics currently. You are right, picture I posted is not a buckler, which is a small shield held in the fist with a knob on the front. Once it is attached to the forearm is no longer a traditional buckler. However is did say, if only where was a way to put one on the forearm, to which you said nothing of the kind existed in history. Though it is not a buckler, I was using the word as a reference to a small shield. So, there have been historical accounts of such a thing existing correct?
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Drow enthusiast Lover of lore and magic. -The White Crow-
Oof don’t turn this into a home brew buckler thread, ESPECIALLY one that harps on historical accuracy rather than game balance. Bucklers as free-hand shields may or may not be a historical thing, but they’re certainly a D&D trope from past editions, and if they (and Tower Shields) aren’t in 5E the reason for that probably starts and stops with streamlining equipment types, and class proficiency/expected AC balance, not a belief that they’re not realistic enough.
I am not “arguing semantics,” I am educating people as the the historical inaccuracy of what people think a buckler was. Confusing a buckler and a lantern shield is a lot like confusing a tunnel and a bridge. Sure, they both connect two bodies of land across a body of water. But much like trying to strap a buckler to your arm, if you try to drive through a bridge, you’ve done it wrong.
Oof don’t turn this into a home brew buckler thread, ESPECIALLY one that harps on historical accuracy rather than game balance. Bucklers as free-hand shields may or may not be a historical thing, but they’re certainly a D&D trope from past editions, and if they (and Tower Shields) aren’t in 5E the reason for that probably starts and stops with streamlining equipment types, and class proficiency/expected AC balance, not a belief that they’re not realistic enough.
Well said. I'm sure the devs would say "If you want them in your game then go ahead, but if you play as written then there is only one shield." then I would nod and my player would have what i said before and be a stone slinging legend. Sorry for flooding the thread with a shield name technicalities debate.
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Drow enthusiast Lover of lore and magic. -The White Crow-
The OP has completed the character. That said, I just played a PC based on Magic Stone through levels 1-8 with excellent effect. My PC was a Shepard Circle Druid. The PC was an animal trainer who specialized in befriending and training small animals. Like capuchin monkeys. My PC trained these animals to throw pebbles upon command. PC would always have three trained capuchin monkeys (1 hp each) riding on head and shoulders. PC played like a full caster, avoided attracting attention and taking damage.
Monkeys were trained to do the following in combat: Ready an action to grab one magic stone from the PC, if it was on offer, and throw it at the designated target.
In order to get GM buy-in on this 'unconventional' approach I also worked out rules for rolling to see how well these tiny monkeys performed. PC had to make an Animal Handling check whenever the monkeys had a chance to throw rocks. On a bad roll some of them would fail to perform. This made the process entertaining, silly, and prone to failure, so the GM allowed it.
Funny detail: Shepard Circle druids give out of a lot of temp HP. Those 1 hp capuchin monkeys could soak a lot of damage before dying!!!!
This tactic sometimes failed, and a lot of monkeys died, but it also sometimes worked really well. Arguably this worked a lot better than a Rogue firing Magic Stones with a sling. P.s. The sling loading rules are STUPID, as 1) There are historical examples of slingers using shields 2) Anyone who has used a sling can tell you that it's perfectly possible to hold a shield and load a sling at the same time. With a bit of practice a shield neither hinders accuracy nor slows loading. Slings just don't get any love in D&D. Oh well.
I needed erupt earth to get stones, earth genasi for pass with out trace to stealth for sneak attack for high damage. Add sorcerer (I can't use money online so unless I want try utility warlock I convinced the dm to give me a ring that let me cast magic rock at will to try it, druid meant slower growth in the stone count because no erupt earth and no spell slot converting) get bag of holding learn to make rough terrain to exploit. use mage hand to give aacoraka magic rocks to throw. Get a +2 sling(first session do to random) realize it is now less reliable to use magic rock is for anything but the 31 to 60 feet range. aacoraka barbarian starts carrying me pass with out trace ranged flight works good he takes levels in druid gets bird friends both give them magic stones really good. Enter cave leave birds outside find out melee is also really good. do out of game research find out combo stays good because suprise two people is better than one. evil laugh
I believe you you are arguing Semantics currently. You are right, picture I posted is not a buckler, which is a small shield held in the fist with a knob on the front. Once it is attached to the forearm is no longer a traditional buckler. However is did say, if only where was a way to put one on the forearm, to which you said nothing of the kind existed in history. Though it is not a buckler, I was using the word as a reference to a small shield. So, there have been historical accounts of such a thing existing correct?
Drow enthusiast
Lover of lore and magic.
-The White Crow-
Oof don’t turn this into a home brew buckler thread, ESPECIALLY one that harps on historical accuracy rather than game balance. Bucklers as free-hand shields may or may not be a historical thing, but they’re certainly a D&D trope from past editions, and if they (and Tower Shields) aren’t in 5E the reason for that probably starts and stops with streamlining equipment types, and class proficiency/expected AC balance, not a belief that they’re not realistic enough.
But that’s neither here nor there, Magic Stone!
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I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
I am not “arguing semantics,” I am educating people as the the historical inaccuracy of what people think a buckler was. Confusing a buckler and a lantern shield is a lot like confusing a tunnel and a bridge. Sure, they both connect two bodies of land across a body of water. But much like trying to strap a buckler to your arm, if you try to drive through a bridge, you’ve done it wrong.
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Well said. I'm sure the devs would say "If you want them in your game then go ahead, but if you play as written then there is only one shield." then I would nod and my player would have what i said before and be a stone slinging legend. Sorry for flooding the thread with a shield name technicalities debate.
Drow enthusiast
Lover of lore and magic.
-The White Crow-
Thank you the character has been completed.
The OP has completed the character. That said, I just played a PC based on Magic Stone through levels 1-8 with excellent effect. My PC was a Shepard Circle Druid. The PC was an animal trainer who specialized in befriending and training small animals. Like capuchin monkeys. My PC trained these animals to throw pebbles upon command. PC would always have three trained capuchin monkeys (1 hp each) riding on head and shoulders. PC played like a full caster, avoided attracting attention and taking damage.
Monkeys were trained to do the following in combat:
Ready an action to grab one magic stone from the PC, if it was on offer, and throw it at the designated target.
In order to get GM buy-in on this 'unconventional' approach I also worked out rules for rolling to see how well these tiny monkeys performed. PC had to make an Animal Handling check whenever the monkeys had a chance to throw rocks. On a bad roll some of them would fail to perform. This made the process entertaining, silly, and prone to failure, so the GM allowed it.
Funny detail: Shepard Circle druids give out of a lot of temp HP. Those 1 hp capuchin monkeys could soak a lot of damage before dying!!!!
This tactic sometimes failed, and a lot of monkeys died, but it also sometimes worked really well. Arguably this worked a lot better than a Rogue firing Magic Stones with a sling. P.s. The sling loading rules are STUPID, as 1) There are historical examples of slingers using shields 2) Anyone who has used a sling can tell you that it's perfectly possible to hold a shield and load a sling at the same time. With a bit of practice a shield neither hinders accuracy nor slows loading. Slings just don't get any love in D&D. Oh well.
That’s pretty cool! Poor loyal monkeys 😭
dndbeyond.com forum tags
I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
I needed erupt earth to get stones, earth genasi for pass with out trace to stealth for sneak attack for high damage. Add sorcerer (I can't use money online so unless I want try utility warlock I convinced the dm to give me a ring that let me cast magic rock at will to try it, druid meant slower growth in the stone count because no erupt earth and no spell slot converting) get bag of holding learn to make rough terrain to exploit. use mage hand to give aacoraka magic rocks to throw. Get a +2 sling(first session do to random) realize it is now less reliable to use magic rock is for anything but the 31 to 60 feet range. aacoraka barbarian starts carrying me pass with out trace ranged flight works good he takes levels in druid gets bird friends both give them magic stones really good. Enter cave leave birds outside find out melee is also really good. do out of game research find out combo stays good because suprise two people is better than one. evil laugh