Title.
I'm making a shield dual-wielder and need to decide if I'm taking Tavern Brawler.
Yes I know I only get the 2AC once.

Edit: Just in case anyone needs a reminder:
The improvised weapon rule says an improvised weapon can be considered to be a normal weapon.
I believe the example they use is a wooden table leg becoming a club.

I go for:

Standard Shield = d4 Bludgeoning damage

Spiked (Shield with a spike protruding from the center) = d4 Piercing

Bladed (Shield with a sharpened edge) = d4 Slashing

You could potentially combine 2 of those so you could have a standard/spiked shield and have the option of bashing for bludgeoning or thrusting the spike for piercing or a bladed spiked shield so you could swing for slashing damage or thrust for piercing or a standard bladed shield so you swing for slashing and bash for bludgeoning, so that would give you a couple of damage option.

Also I do Dragonscale, MIthril or Adamantine versions of shields change damage dice to d6.

Just to throw some ideas out there:

A shield with a bladed edge could be treated as an ax;
A shield with a long spike could be treated as a dagger or rapier;
A plain blunt shield could maybe be treated as a club or mace.

I'd be more inclined to limit the damage to d4 initially just because the shield is a defensive item, table leg = club is a fairly simple comparison but shield = axe/rapier is a bit more of a stretch due to blade sizes if you go hand axe/short sword then you could swing it to a d6 but a rapier has about a 40inch blade so the spike shouldn't do that much damage, the spike itself is likely only going to be about 12inch a most.

Shields don't make good weapons. A d4 is good enough.

Well 1d4 + strength mod.

Quote from Rob76 >>

I go for:

Standard Shield = d4 Bludgeoning damage

Spiked (Shield with a spike protruding from the center) = d4 Piercing

Bladed (Shield with a sharpened edge) = d4 Slashing

You could potentially combine 2 of those so you could have a standard/spiked shield and have the option of bashing for bludgeoning or thrusting the spike for piercing or a bladed spiked shield so you could swing for slashing damage or thrust for piercing or a standard bladed shield so you swing for slashing and bash for bludgeoning, so that would give you a couple of damage option.

Also I do Dragonscale, MIthril or Adamantine versions of shields change damage dice to d6.

 

 I do like the idea of rare, powerful shields doing a little extra damage, but yeah... even a shield built to do damage is not going to be as versatile as a proper, well-balanced weapon.

We do a d4 for a lite shield (buckler +1 to AC).  And a d6 for a standard shield.  But no Strength bonus to damage.

I treat a shield as an improvised weapon unless you have this feat (I have to go back and add that characters can add their proficiency bonus to the attacks though). I treat a buckler as the shield version of this weapon. (I haven’t made one in the builder yet, but you get the idea. They only get the +1 if they’re magic of course.)

We allow a shield bash as a bonus action if they made a melee attack with their action.  So in effect it operates somewhat like an off hand weapon attack.  But they don't get any strength bonuses to damage.

I just added a custom attack to my sword and board player called Shield bash/throw and gave it 1d4+str.

gave it a thrown range of 20/60. I disregard the action to doff a shield,  but still require an action to don.

Simple, fun, not at all overpowered.