Class Acts: Fighters

Shield fighters just got a looot more interesting. For starters, they get 13 new exploits that all demand the use of a shield. Each attack is basically a shield slam in various flavors, often invoking some form of forced movement, but there is a healthy variety of interrupt and reaction attacks that evoke a fluid image of a fighter parrying an attack only to follow up with a shield-uppercut.

There arent a lot of feats, two for Heroic and Paragon tiers, but they back quite a punch. Encouraging Shield is a heroic feat that gives you a Will bonus from your shield, while Ubiquitous Shield is a paragon feat that always negates combat advantage if you have a shield equipped.

Dayam.

The most humorous thing about this article is the snapping testudo paragon path, which requires that you use two shields. You can burn an action point to gain a considerable defense boost, get a passive AC and Reflex boost while carrying two shields, and eventually at level 16 grant an ally superior cover from ranged attacks. The exploits granted by the path all require two shields to use. The attacks target Reflex and have slide, daze, and prone kickers. The utility lets you slide enemies around that you hit.

There are four magic shields, which basically have properties that let them double as magical weapons of various categories.