Shield (Item)

Shields come in three basic varieties: light shield, heavy shield and tower shield. (Spiked shields and Bucklers were not implemented in NWN2). You strap a shield to your forearm and grip it with your hand. When using a shield you must grip your weapon (if any) with only one hand.
== Light Shield ==
*AC Bonus: 1
*Maximum dexterity bonus: N/A
*Arcane spell failure: 5%
*Armor check penalty: -1
== Heavy Shield ==
*AC Bonus: 2
*Maximum dexterity bonus: N/A
*Arcane spell failure: 15%
*Armor check penalty: -2
== Tower Shield ==
*AC Bonus: 4
*Maximum dexterity bonus: N/A
*Arcane spell failure: 50%
*Armor check penalty: -10
*Feat required: Tower Shield Proficiency
*-2 Attack bonus
The tower shield is a veritable wall of protection, though it can be quite cumbersome to carry on an adventure.
===Notes===
*As of v1.23, the attack penalty applies to all weapons, except unarmed attacks. In prior versions it applied to no weapon, though it was displayed on the character sheet.
*Small stature prevents a character from equipping a tower shield. This is true even when the small character has Monkey Grip, or is under the effect of Enlarge Person.
*As NWN2 was built from pre-1.69 NWN1, the tower shield weight bug is present. It remains unfixed as of version 1.20. (v1.23?)
* Shields grant a shield bonus to the wearer's armor class. This number represents the protective value of the shield. The bonus does not stack with other effects that grant a shield bonus. The Shield (spell) grants Shield Enhancement AC, which does not stack with enhancement bonus of a shield, but it does stack with its base AC.
* Shields have an armor check penalty.
* While fleeing; Ranged attacks are Parried instead of Tumbling.
* Unlike in D&D 3.5, you CANNOT make a bash attack with shields. You also cannot equip a shield without the appropriate Shield proficiency feat.
== D&D 3.5 comparison ==
You could also equip a shield without the appropriate feat, but you incurred an attack penalty equal to the shield's armor check penalty as well as to any strength or dexterity based checks).