TOPIC: How do the Archers' Bucklers work now?

During the preliminary token development Jeff mentioned that he didn't realize how the Archer's Buckler was being implemented by coaches and the various apps, and indicated that he expected it to work differently. Did this lead to a change on how the old Archer's Buckler (and therefore the new +2 Archer's Buckler) works?

My understanding: when a character has a shield for melee combat, they can't use that shield for ranged combat if they are using a 2-handed weapon. That's where the Archer's Buckler comes in; it gives a +1 to AC for ranged combat mode only, somewhat making up for the lack of a real shield.

But for characters who don't equip a shield for melee mode (because they are using a 2-handed melee weapon, for example), the Archer's Buckler actually leads to a higher AC for ranged combat than during melee combat.

Is anything changing around this?

My understanding from token development was at the end it went back to the way it has been, where yes you could have higher AC in Ranged, and the buckler can ONLY be equipped in ranged and ONLY with a 2 handed weapon. The initial "Archer's Shield" token sets were phased out after the first round of development.

That is my understanding as well. I know our rangers AC is higher ranged.

The real issue is how it gets handled by DM's. Its hard to track what the player is using for which AC to use. I know from experience as a DM that this is one pain point in DMing is tracking which AC to use as its based on the PLAYERS weapon, not CREATURES attack.

cmdrworf wrote: That is my understanding as well. I know our rangers AC is higher ranged.

The real issue is how it gets handled by DM's. Its hard to track what the player is using for which AC to use. I know from experience as a DM that this is one pain point in DMing is tracking which AC to use as its based on the PLAYERS weapon, not CREATURES attack.

I agree completely, I'm sure I regularly use the wrong AC column without intending to...

Kirk Bauer wrote: How do the Archers' Bucklers work now?

exactly like they always have:

• Increases AC when used in conjunction with a two-handed ranged weapon
• May not be used with any melee weapon nor with a one-handed ranged weapon
• May only be equipped in the missile off-hand slot

Druegar wrote:

Kirk Bauer wrote: How do the Archers' Bucklers work now?

exactly like they always have:

• Increases AC when used in conjunction with a two-handed ranged weapon
• May not be used with any melee weapon nor with a one-handed ranged weapon
• May only be equipped in the missile off-hand slot

Also - if you look at the final token wording it implies all that - it specifically says it may be used with 2 handed ranged weapons only on the token now.