# Forum > Gaming > Roleplaying Games > D&D 3e/3.5e/d20 >  If I can only use light armor, can I use a shield?

## Zhepna

Hi,

if my character can only use a light armor (I only 3 level of cloistered cleric), can I use a shield? I see nothing about that in the class and nothing about that in the shields.

Since I'll never use arcane spell, a was looking to use a tower shield but I was wondering what are the drawback to it.

I can't believe in all those years playing, I never used a shield...

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## pabelfly

You're not proficient with a tower shield (unless you have a race or feat that gives you the proficiency).

If you aren't, you take the armor check penalty from the shield on attack rolls, and on all Strength-based and Dexterity-based ability and skill checks. You also have the normal bonuses and penalties from having a shield, such as DEX cap, not being able to use two-handed weapons (tower shields at least), problems with somatic components, and your boost to AC.

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## Ottriman

Last I checked armor and shield proficiency are separate, so it should say in your class description whether you are proficient with shields or not. Should be under Weapon and Armor proficiency, you can be proficient in shields without being proficient in medium or heavy armor.

Notably, regular Clerics do not start with proficiency in Tower Shields and Cloistered Cleric doesn't add it. So you'd be not proficient unless you took a proficiency feat for it.

As to downsides, there are some.

Tower shields have a massive ACP of -10, which will massively penalize some skills. They also weigh 45 lbs which is quite a bit, and give a -2 to attack rolls.

The +4 AC is a solid bonus, however it doesn't apply against touch attacks which is a bummer. Now the Tower Shield is a cut above others in that you can get the awesome defensive benefit of Total Cover if you give up attacks, however it specifically cannot protect against targeted spells which are some of the scariest things you'll encounter at mid to high levels.

So the shield has a lot of flaws for a decent but not amazing defensive benefit. There are ways you can optimize shield use if you really want, but I will leave that to an expert on the topic.

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## Crake

Keep in mind, that you also need a hand free to perform somatic components for spells, so you can't wield both a shield and a weapon AND cast spells, unless you have a feat called somatic weaponry, which allows you to use a wielded weapon to perform the somatic components for your spells.

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## kosh49

Regular clerics get proficiency with all armor (light, medium, and heavy) and all shields except tower shields.

Cloistered clerics "gives up some of the cleric's combat prowess", and the only armor proficiency listed is light armor.  No shields are listed, so I assume the intention is that you are not proficient with any shields unless you are getting that proficiency from something other than your class.

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## Crake

> Regular clerics get proficiency with all armor (light, medium, and heavy) and all shields except tower shields.
> 
> Cloistered clerics "gives up some of the cleric's combat prowess", and the only armor proficiency listed is light armor.  No shields are listed, so I assume the intention is that you are not proficient with any shields unless you are getting that proficiency from something other than your class.


Anyone can wield a mithril heavy shield without penalty though, so it's not a huge deal past early game

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## Darg

> You're not proficient with a tower shield (unless you have a race or feat that gives you the proficiency).
> 
> If you aren't, you take the armor check penalty from the shield on attack rolls, and on all Strength-based and Dexterity-based ability and skill checks. You also have the normal bonuses and penalties from having a shield, such as DEX cap, not being able to use two-handed weapons (tower shields at least), problems with somatic components, and your boost to AC.


While the table says tower shield gives a max dex, the text however says that shields do not limit your max dex. Text has priority over table.

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## AnonJr

> While the table says tower shield gives a max dex, the text however says that shields do not limit your max dex. Text has priority over table.


Seems to depend on the edition of book? The Premium edition (which IIRC had some stealth errata) clarifies:




> Shields: Shields other than tower shields do not affect a characters maximum Dexterity bonus.

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## Darg

> Seems to depend on the edition of book? The Premium edition (which IIRC had some stealth errata) clarifies:


That's what I get for only having the older edition. Though I do prefer the older version of the rules. Especially spring attack and shot on the run feats. They have parity with the mobile spellcasting feat.

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## Particle_Man

You are not proficient.  Your best bet is likely mithral buckler.  It leaves your hand free to cast spells (although I suppose attacks with touch spells using that hand would have a -1 attack penalty).

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## spectralphoenix

You don't even need a mithral buckler, even a masterwork one has 0 ACP. It leaves your hand free for spellcasting, so if you don't want TWF or THF, there's no downside to spending 165 gp for an extra point of AC. You can also use it as a second base for enchanting - +2 armor costs 4000 gp, but +1 armor and a +1 buckler cost 2000 for the same AC.

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## Crake

> You are not proficient.  Your best bet is likely mithral buckler.  It leaves your hand free to cast spells (although I suppose attacks with touch spells using that hand would have a -1 attack penalty).


Keep in mind, if you use your offhand to attack with a weapon (which I would imagine would include weapon-like spells), you also lose the buckler's AC unless you have the improved buckler defense feat.

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