Is there any reason to keep Tower Shields on Valerie?

[konokono]

I'm building her as a straight Fighter/Stalwart Defender. But is there any reason to keep a tower shield on her if I have other shields that give the same AC? It seems to me that the TSS's bonuses are just about reducing the penalties of Tower Shields but doesn't actually give any bonus to using them?

[Dixon Sider]

Take the better AC, but you will find better tower shields than any other shield eventually. So it is nice to invest in TSS

[Mork]

It depend on how much DEX she currently have.

TSS level 3+ get more max DEX bonus on armor while using a towershield.

For exemple:
A TSS level 3 with a fullplate + towershield = maximum Dexterity bonus 4
vs
TSS level 3 with a fullplate + heavy shield = maximum Dexterity bonus 2

[UR|wRÅR]

Originally posted by konokono:

It seems to me that the TSS's bonuses are just about reducing the penalties of Tower Shields but doesn't actually give any bonus to using them?

This isn't true.

[Dixon Sider]

Ya, my first post was kind of ambiguous. What I always did was (while fully buffed) swap equipment in and out with 2 pieces I wanted to compare, and watch how the AC changes. Always go with the highest AC you can. This means casting the +4 DEX spell on Val before comparing. You also have to keep in mind her encumberance. That will limit her DEX as well, so you may want to cast a +4 STR spell on her for that. Your tower shield should pass her into some crappy encumberance thresholds where a normal sized shield would not.

[Cheb]

Bonuses to reflex, movement speed with tower shields, touch ac etc.
I'd prefer regular fighter any day of the week, but yeah, weigh up what specifics you've unlocked from TSS and compare it to what items you have available to you. You'll only be able to go up to Defender 10 anyway, so a 10/10 spread is likely.

[aramintai]

The game has some very good tower shields and heavy armor so might as well use it to it's best potential.

[Včelí medvídek]

Heavy armored fighter have already those penalties so big so it hardly matter, in time tower shields are superior - both by those you find and by that stacked bonus you reach much better AC -that is the most important you want form tank character right?

Btww I tried both 10/10 TSS/SWD and 20TSS and maybe I am alone but full TSS worked much better for me.

There is almsot nothing SWD gets over TSS (DR is same, bonus to dodge is countered by extra dextrerity from armor, self heal and fear+sickkness immunities can be handy but redundant with priest in party...) -

Flanking - TSS is simply immune., while uncanny dodge is overriden by enemy rogue levels.

Defensive stance vs get improved evasion and better reflex saves agaisnt spells by TSS. I do not like how stance make you immobile for fatigue cost if you need move during the fight and in fact with high enough AC you need more that spell defense.

So unless you really want squeeze bit more offense, I dont see SWD as so good choice Ssure both is probably suboptimal to some multiclassing with monk and/or alchemist... But I like that heavy armor fighter archetype and imho pure TSS is winner here.

[Remove skull merchant]

Originally posted by konokono:

I'm building her as a straight Fighter/Stalwart Defender. But is there any reason to keep a tower shield on her if I have other shields that give the same AC? It seems to me that the TSS's bonuses are just about reducing the penalties of Tower Shields but doesn't actually give any bonus to using them?

The TSS class tree does have some minor bonuses for using Tower Shields. But some people just simply make her a Mirror Image Bard, which works better if you can prevent long fights.

[thorsson64]

Bard, with 4 levels of DD for the Natural AC (and Str) bonus, makes her very strong and has the advantage that you don't need Linzi. She makes a better Bard than Linzi anyway.

[Remove skull merchant]

Originally posted by thorsson64:

Bard, with 4 levels of DD for the Natural AC (and Str) bonus, makes her very strong and has the advantage that you don't need Linzi. She makes a better Bard than Linzi anyway.

DD ?

[UR|wRÅR]

Dradon Disciple.

[razvedchiki]

by lvl 9 a tss will get his tower shield ac to touch ac (no other heavy armor build can do that), will have no penaly to hit with them and will be able to equip belts with big bonuses to dex.
lvl 13 is where they get the immunity to getting flanked.

[InEffect]

Thing is, we don't need touch AC in this game. We need mirrors and concealment. Touch AC is a meme. And being flanked is meaningless if the enemy can't hit you anyway.