Shield Sphere

Main > > Combat > Combat Spheres List > Shield Sphere

Practitioners of the Shield sphere master shields, bucklers, and tower shields, leveraging more power and utility out of such equipment than most warriors ever dream of.

Practitioners of the Shield sphere gain the following ability:

Active Defense

If you are using a shield and you are attacked by a creature you are aware of while not flat-footed, you may spend an attack of opportunity to increase your shield bonus to AC against that attack by +2. This decision must be made before the roll is made.

You may expend your martial focus in place of spending an attack of opportunity.

For every 4 points of base attack bonus you possess, the increase to your shield bonus provided by this talent increases by 1.

Base Talents

Shield Talents (Deflect)

These talents grant additional effects to this ability. Each use of active defense may only benefit from one (deflect) talent.

Catch Blade

Whenever an attack misses a creature benefiting from your active defense, if the attack was made with a piercing or slashing melee weapon, you can allow the weapon to strike your shield.

If you do, the attack hits your shield, dealing damage to the shield as normal, and the weapon becomes bound. As long as the creature’s weapon is bound, they cannot move from the square they currently occupy. A creature whose weapon is bound may release the weapon as a free action or attempt to break the bind as a standard action by making a successful combat maneuver check against your disarm CMD.

If the bound weapon is a natural attack or unarmed strike, the creature must succeed at a successful combat maneuver check to break the bind.

If any effect, including this attack, renders the shield broken or destroyed, this effect ends immediately.

You cannot attack with, receive any shield bonus from, nor use active defense with the shield used to bind a creature as long as the bind is in effect.

Forced Rebound

Whenever a melee attack misses a creature benefiting from your active defense, you may initiate a bull rush combat maneuver against the attacking creature as a free action that can be taken even when it’s not your turn.

You may add your shield’s shield bonus to AC (including enhancement bonus) as a circumstance bonus to the roll.

Jarring Block

Whenever a melee attack misses a creature benefiting from your active defense, you may initiate a disarm combat maneuver against the attacking creature as a free action that does not provoke an attack of opportunity and that can be taken even when it is not your turn.

This must target the weapon used for the triggering attack, and must be accomplished with your shield, rather than a weapon you are wielding. You may add your shield’s enhancement bonus to AC to your disarm check.

Redirecting Shield

Whenever a weapon attack (not including siege weapons, or other massive weapons) misses a creature benefiting from your active defense, you may choose a new target for the attack within its original range (for ranged attacks) or reach (for melee attacks) as a free action that can be taken even when it’s not your turn, comparing the original attack roll, with a -2 penalty, to the new target’s AC and resolving the attack as normal on a successful hit.

Sacrificial Shield

You may spend an immediate action to redirect the damage from a successful attack against you to your shield. This action is taken after the result of the attack roll is known but before the damage is revealed.

Attacks that do not target you directly or which do not deal hit point damage cannot be redirected in this manner.

Smashing Counter

Whenever an attack misses a creature benefiting from your active defense, you may make a shield bash attack against the attacking creature as a free action that can be taken even when it’s not your turn.

Shield Talents (Improved Active Defense)

Battering Defense

If you deal damage to or succeed on a combat maneuver against a creature that missed an attack against a creature benefiting from your active defense before the end of your next turn, that creature becomes battered for 1 round.

Cover Ally

As long as you have martial focus, you may use active defense to benefit an ally when an ally within your shield’s reach is targeted by an attack.

Extensive Defense

You may expend martial focus as a free action that can be taken even when it’s not your turn to apply your active defense against all valid triggering attacks until the start of your next turn without spending attacks of opportunity.

If you possess the Cover Ally talent, you may apply this benefit to all allies within reach.

Greater Deflect

When using active defense, you may expend martial focus to apply two (deflect) talents instead of one.

Interposing Shield

Creatures benefiting from your active defense bonus (including yourself) gain DR/- equal to the bonus from active defense against attacks that hit despite active defense. This damage reduction stacks with damage reduction from other sources.

Punch Block

When you use your active defense, you may choose to make an attack roll as if making a shield bash and must use the result of this attack in place of your AC for resolving the attack, even if lower. You must be capable of making shield bash attacks with the shield to use this ability

Shield Talents (Improved Defense)

Blockade

When affected by an area attack, you may spend your martial focus as an immediate action to use your shield to cushion the blow, granting you the benefits of the evasion ability (regardless of armor worn), and adding your shield bonus (but not your active defense bonus) to your Reflex saving throw against the triggering effect.

If you already possesses evasion, you instead gain improved evasion.

All allied creatures in a cone originating from your space and facing away from the effect’s point of origin gain the benefits of this ability. Medium creatures create a 15-ft. cone.

For every 4 points of base attack bonus and for every size category you are larger than Medium, the size of the cone increases by 5 ft.

The size of the cone decreases by 5 ft. (minimum 5 ft.) for every size category you are smaller than Medium.

Deflecting Shield

Your shield bonus to AC applies against touch attacks.

Flexible Cover

You may spend a move action to use a shield to grant you cover until the beginning of your next turn. Bucklers, heavy shields, and light shields provide partial cover while tower shields provide total cover.

When using a shield in this way, you must choose one edge of your space. That edge is treated as a solid wall for attacks targeting you only. You gain cover for attacks that pass through this edge. The shield does not, however, provide cover against targeted spells; a spellcaster can cast a spell on you by targeting the shield you are holding.

Cover granted this way is insufficient to enable you to make a Stealth check to hide and the shield may be targeted as an attended object.

As an immediate action, you may change the selected edge of your space even when it is not your turn.

If you expend martial focus, you may use this talent as an immediate action.

Reactive Defense

Whenever you take the total defense action while wielding a shield, creatures that miss you provoke attacks of opportunity from you.

You may make these attacks of opportunity, but take a penalty on the attack rolls as if you were fighting defensively.

Shield Talents (Other)

Bashing Shield

You do not lose your shield bonus to AC when making an attack with your shield.

Additionally, you may make shield bash attacks with a buckler as if it were a light shield. Reduce the damage as if the shield bash was one size smaller when used this way.

Associated Feat: Improved Shield Bash.

Hardened Shield

Any shield you have equipped gains a competence bonus to its hardness equal to your base attack bonus.

Shield Skate

When moving down an incline or using the charge action, you may spend a swift action to throw your shield down in front of you and use it to skate across the ground. This gives you a 10 ft. circumstance bonus to your land speed for that round.

For every 5 points of base attack bonus you possess, the circumstance bonus to your land speed increases by 10 ft.

You may reclaim and reequip your shield as a free action at the end of your movement.

You do not benefit from your shield bonus to AC during your movement while using this ability.

You may make overrun attempts against any creature in the path of this movement without provoking attacks of opportunity. Add your shield bonus to AC to your combat maneuver bonus for these checks.

Shielded Focus

While wielding a buckler, shield, or tower shield, you may spend a move action to regain your martial focus whenever you choose to fight defensively as part of an attack action.

Additionally, whenever an attack misses a creature benefiting from your active defense, you may regain your martial focus as an immediate action.

Advanced Talents

Shield Talents (Deflect)

Perfect Redirection

Prerequisites: Deflecting Shield, Redirecting Shield, base attack bonus +7.

You may use your Redirecting Shield talent against spell effects that include an attack roll or touch attack.

Life’s Shield

Prerequisites: Sacrificial Shield, base attack bonus +5.

Whenever an attack would reduce you to 0 or fewer hit points you may activate your Sacrificial Shield talent as a free action that may be taken even when it is not your turn.

If your shield would be broken or destroyed by this effect, you retain your shield’s enhancement bonus (if any) to your AC for a number of rounds equal to your base attack bonus.

If you possess the Soul’s Shield talent, you also retain your resistance bonus to saving throws for a number of rounds equal to your base attack bonus.

Shield Talents (Improved Defense)

Soul’s Shield

Prerequisites: Base attack bonus +5.

You gain a resistance bonus to all saving throws equal to your shield’s enhancement bonus to AC.