cool

Shield Sword. Chill....

P.S. If anybody can come up with a chill name for this than I will be oh so happy.

block and then kill

Ace sword

I'd make this a hammer. Call it the Block and Tackle

No, bad...

why is this a legendary item? the spell Shield is better than this, what a useless and disappointing piece of trash.
now, some might say, ''at least its still a +3 weapon, it's not trash!'', however while it is still a +3 weapon, a regular +3 weapon is more easily found and wouldn't be a campaign arc reward like something of Legendary status should be.

It _is_ a distinct upgrade over the Very Rare +3 weapon, though. So...  ¯\_ (ツ)_/¯

I agree that as a campaign arc reward, I would be disappointed if this came very late. This feels more like one of those "Let's give the gimpy character a shiny that'll help them not die." even though I can think of several scenarios in which this would be a great weapon to have.

Interesting concept. Only wish it would add the bonus to saving throws as well when boosting the AC. Would feel more complete. 

I think this item is perfect if you're going for a ridiculous armor class, get a plus 2 shield some plus three armor and then get the defender on top of it. Stack on a shield of faith, 28 ac with plate armor

Would be a fun weapon to combine with a +3 weapon and the Dual Wielder Feat! get the AC bonus from the dual wielding and the bonus from the sword (while also not having to take a light weapon option for the extra bit of damage). Dual wielding with this bad boy, +3 Full Plate, Ring of Protection, and any other goodies you can get your hands on to improve AC. Hot damn that mighty AC bonus on top of dishing out damage like a beast. 

Thing is, the shield spell will of course use up a spell slot as well as your reaction, while the effect of this sword wouldn’t. And depending on your dm, the sword may actually pull from more then just the +3 the sword naturally gives and use both your strength/dex and proficiency bonus.

1. Not everyone can cast shield.

2. A tank's job is to survive damage. This helps.

3. This is an option with options.

4. 30 AC fighters are possible.

5. Or +3 AC and a greatsword.

Quote from YasasNeko >>

why is this a legendary item? the spell Shield is better than this, what a useless and disappointing piece of trash.
now, some might say, ''at least its still a +3 weapon, it's not trash!'', however while it is still a +3 weapon, a regular +3 weapon is more easily found and wouldn't be a campaign arc reward like something of Legendary status should be.

Yes, shield does give a better AC benefit. But the shield spell only lasts until the start of your next turn and costs a reaction and spell slots to use each time while this buff lasts for as long as you want without using any resources or extra actions. Additionally, this is a weapon you typically give to Melee classes like Fighter, Barbarian, Paladin, or Rogue, none of which get the shield spell by default, cross comparing the two like that is a terrible argument.

It's on the lower tier of Legendary Items, sort of like how the Staff of the Woodlands is a higher tier Rare item. The Defender is supposed to be more of an interesting item mechanic as opposed to the atypical "OPAF legendary item". The real reason it has the Legendary status is because any item that can buff your AC is instantly very powerful and it's the same reason Armor, +3 is legendary instead of very rare like a Weapon, +3.

My guess is you're just salty your paladin got this instead of a Holy Avenger though.

Edit:

Quote from SolarFluxation >>

Quote from YasasNeko >>

why is this a legendary item? the spell Shield is better than this, what a useless and disappointing piece of trash.
now, some might say, ''at least its still a +3 weapon, it's not trash!'', however while it is still a +3 weapon, a regular +3 weapon is more easily found and wouldn't be a campaign arc reward like something of Legendary status should be.

Yes, shield does give a better AC benefit. But the shield spell only lasts until the start of your next turn and costs a reaction and spell slots to use each time while this buff lasts for as long as you want without using any resources or extra actions. Additionally, this is a weapon you typically give to Melee classes like Fighter, Barbarian, Paladin, or Rogue, none of which get the shield spell by default, cross comparing the two like that is a terrible argument.

It's on the lower tier of Legendary Items, sort of like how the Staff of the Woodlands is a higher tier Rare item. The Defender is supposed to be more of an interesting item mechanic as opposed to the atypical "OPAF legendary item". The real reason it has the Legendary status is because any item that can buff your AC is instantly very powerful and it's the same reason Armor, +3 is legendary instead of very rare like a Weapon, +3.

My guess is you're just salty your paladin got this instead of a Holy Avenger though.

Edit:

 That last point is very likely.

sword be good

Rolling this on a moon blade would be sick

Unless you are a monk and really need the ac boost

It _is_ a distinct upgrade over the Very Rare +3 weapon

Is it though? The atunement requirement sorta kills it. It's an interesting weapon, with nice tactical turn to turn decsion making and rewards paying attention to the way the fight is going. But by the time you're getting legendary items, there's just so much more to use those limited slots on.

If it didn't have the atunement requirement, I'd understant the legendary a lot more.

Quote from Clayalien >>

It _is_ a distinct upgrade over the Very Rare +3 weapon

 

Is it though? The atunement requirement sorta kills it. It's an interesting weapon, with nice tactical turn to turn decsion making and rewards paying attention to the way the fight is going. But by the time you're getting legendary items, there's just so much more to use those limited slots on.

If it didn't have the atunement requirement, I'd understant the legendary a lot more.

The attunement requirement is only a major detriment if you already have three attuned items that are all better than this; which is certainly possible... but in that case cry me a river? 

As others have noted, this lands near the lower end of Legendary items, so I'd generally expect to see it given out as one of the first Legendary items a party gets. If given out after a multitude of better Legendary items, such that everyone in the party who might benefit from it already has three attuned items preferable for them, that's pretty near end-game where martials just don't compare to casters even if items are given out very disproportionately.

By the time the attunement slot is really a deal-breaker, I'm not sure that matters because nothing short of favoritism is going to level the playing field against high-level casting anyway, & if everyone already has awesome items then getting one that's sub-par for its rarity should be a non-issue. 

And yeah, swappable +3 on attacks or AC (at any ratio: +1\+2, +2\+1, etc) is definitely an upgrade from a static +3, so a bump in rarity is called for whether a party is already stacked with Legendary attuned items or not.

Attunement is a highly conditional detriment, whereas the flexibility of this weapon over a standard +3 weapon is a significant buff: Attunement alone wouldn't be an appropriate cost whereas Legendary rarity is. 

All that said, the attunement requirement probably is the first thing I'd change if rewriting this item: Without an attunement requirement, this item would easily surpass Very Rare utility.