Shields and Casters

[Laraso]

Does wearing a shield if you're a caster give any good benefits? If you are wearing a robe, is there any advantage to wielding a buckler for the AC bonus, or would that impede spellcasting too much?

[lucy_ferre]

Yes. All of my spell casters use a shield of some sort. Usually a buckler. The extra defense outweighs the minor casting penalty.

[colma]

Yes. All of my spell casters use a shield of some sort. Usually a buckler. The extra defense outweighs the minor casting penalty.

Ditto. using a nice buckler is more than worth the negligible penalty to spell casting.

On my current game I just found a Bullseye (+15 shield) for my fire DECj .

[szanth]

Generally the advice I've always been given is this: Are you physically capable of wielding a buckler? If so, then use a buckler.

[Laraso]

Oops, somehow the title ended up saying "Shields and Summon Imps". It was supposed to say "Shields and Casters".

[Sealer]

Yeah, the buckler's spellcasting penalty is pretty much irrelevant for normal-size species (and nonexistent for large species),

Large species can't wear bucklers at all.

[Kate]

Centaurs and Nagas are large and can wear bucklers (and so have no penalty for doing so). Ogres and Trolls are large and can't wear bucklers. Draconians aren't large and can't wear bucklers.

[tcjsavannah]

What about archers? Does the slower rate of fire for a buckler make an impact or are is the better defense still worth it?

[Stormfox]

What about archers? Does the slower rate of fire for a buckler make an impact or are is the better defense still worth it?

For slingers, the buckler doesn't affect rate of fire at all, so protect yourself.

For bow and crossbow archers, it can definitely make the difference between getting in 2 shots or 3 before the monster closes to melee range, but unless that extra shot is consistently making a difference in killing monsters, then use the buckler so that you have some protection when the monster does get close.

Either way, a buckler's effect on your rate of fire usually isn't enough to warrant not using it. A bigger shield does make enough impact that you wouldn't want to.

[tcjsavannah]

Thanks for the tip. After I asked that question, my Arcane Marksman found an elven shield of reflection - larger shield, so I definitely noticed the lower rate of fire. I have some intriguing decisions with him right now - dragon armor + shield of reflection to tank him up, or continue as he is right now with lighter fare but raining "death from above" from the longbow.

[Laraso]

What about casters? Does using a shield larger than a buckler have significant enough effects to be better off without it?