# Can you shoot a bow and wear a shield at the same time?



## Darkmantle26 (Jan 21, 2016)

I'm in playing D&D game at a comic book store and one of our players is wearing a shield while simultaneously shooting a longbow, but wouldn't that weigh your arm down while you shoot?


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## Lanliss (Jan 21, 2016)

There is little distinction of shields in 5E so, by RAW, it would not work. If the Player were to have a special shield, perhaps a light shield that only adds 1 to AC, strapped to the forearm, it might work out. Or just the Animated Shield magic item.


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## Noctem (Jan 21, 2016)

Darkmantle26 said:


> I'm in playing D&D game at a comic book store and one of our players is wearing a shield while simultaneously shooting a longbow, but wouldn't that weigh your arm down while you shoot?




No, the shield takes up a hand and you need both to use a bow.  The bow is listed as having the two-handed property making it impossible to simultaneously use a shield.  You can look for yourself in the PHB under the equipment section, page 147 for two-handed property and 144 for shields specifically stating that a shield takes up one hand.  Unless the character has 3 hands, what he's doing is not possible by the rules.  Happy gaming


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## zaratan (Jan 22, 2016)

by RAW, not even with a handcross you can use a shield, since "Loading a onehanded weapon requires a free hand.". But some accept repeater crossbow...


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## JackOfAllTirades (Jan 22, 2016)

Anyone who's ever handled any type of bow knows this is absolute nonsense.


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## Sunseeker (Jan 22, 2016)

By raw, no.  A bow requires two hands, just like a greatsword.  A shield occupies one hand, not to mention it would be a major annoyance while trying to fire a bow.


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## bganon (Jan 22, 2016)

There's quite a bit of ancient art, actually, depicting warriors using shortbows with a shield strapped to the arm holding the bow.  Usually a smallish round shield with a shortbow, and they used the bow from a kneeling or half-kneeling position.


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## Whirlingdervish (Jan 22, 2016)

I would say it depend on the type of shield..... Buckler sure no modifier , any centerheld shield or a roman Scutum no. an arm strapped shield yes  but you don't get the AC bonus and you are at a disadvantage  for the shot but if you are being charged you can drop your bow  and draw your sword as move action of course if i am adding shield types i absolutely  need  to add different weights, possible stat  req, and  AC modifiers


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## Jester David (Jan 22, 2016)

JackOfAllTirades said:


> Anyone who's ever handled any type of bow knows this is absolute nonsense.




Using a shield and a bow is nonsense or it's nonsense that you can't?


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## JackOfAllTirades (Jan 22, 2016)

Jester Canuck said:


> Using a shield and a bow is nonsense or it's nonsense that you can't?




Unless it's strapped to your back (which is still likely to make things difficult) NO, it's not possible to carry a shield on one arm and fire a bow and arrow at the same time with any accuracy. All I can say to anyone who disagrees is go give it a try and get back to me.


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## Jester David (Jan 22, 2016)

JackOfAllTirades said:


> Unless it's strapped to your back (which is still likely to make things difficult) NO, it's not possible to carry a shield on one arm and fire a bow and arrow at the same time with any accuracy. All I can say to anyone who disagrees is go give it a try and get back to me.




Just wondering. The subject of the sentence was vague and I just wanted a clarification. 
I agree.


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## Lanliss (Jan 22, 2016)

JackOfAllTirades said:


> Unless it's strapped to your back (which is still likely to make things difficult) NO, it's not possible to carry a shield on one arm and fire a bow and arrow at the same time with any accuracy. All I can say to anyone who disagrees is go give it a try and get back to me.




Considering it is a game of Magic and Miracles, where Herculean feats of strength happen every day, I do not think it would be unreasonable, as long as it met the previously listed requirements of leaving both hands open. I do not doubt that it is next to impossible in the real world though.


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## PnPgamer (Jan 22, 2016)

No. You should smack him with a trout.


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## Li Shenron (Jan 22, 2016)

Darkmantle26 said:


> I'm in playing D&D game at a comic book store and one of our players is wearing a shield while simultaneously shooting a longbow, but wouldn't that weigh your arm down while you shoot?




Ouch... that kind of question can get you down a long path of useless discussions about "realism".

I can only tell you that in general my ruling on shields has always been "if you use a shield, one of your hands is permanently allocated to it", and thus you cannot use 2-handed weapons including bows and crossbows (except hand crossbows). End of discussion at my table.


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## delericho (Jan 22, 2016)

shidaku said:


> By raw, no.  A bow requires two hands, just like a greatsword.




This. Unless the character has more than two hands, he can't use both a bow and a shield.



zaratan said:


> by RAW, not even with a handcross you can use a shield, since "Loading a onehanded weapon requires a free hand.".




Surely in that case he can _use_ it, he just can't reload it?


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## strider13x (Jan 22, 2016)

PnPgamer said:


> No. You should smack him with a trout.



Salmon would work just as well.

I would say a shield could be "worn" (as in you do not have to drop the item), but you gain no AC benefit on the round the bow was used.


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## Noctem (Jan 22, 2016)

delericho said:


> Surely in that case he can _use_ it, he just can't reload it?




Correct.  You can fire it but not reload as long as you don't have a free hand.  It does allow for things like starting combat, shooting the hand crossbow, dropping it, drawing your melee weapon as part of an attack you make and then continuing along for example.


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## zaratan (Jan 22, 2016)

delericho said:


> Surely in that case he can _use_ it, he just can't reload it?




He can carry more than one repeater crossbow too. But if the DM doesn't allow repeater crossbow, he can carry a bag with lot hand crossbows and only shoot one time per round. Shoot, drop, catch another, repeat in the next round.

a hand crossbow weighs 3 lbs, a guy with strength 10 could carry 50, lol.


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## Cap'n Kobold (Jan 22, 2016)

Riiight. You put even 5 mediaeval crossbows into a sack, loaded and under tension. Now carry it around for a bit, then try reaching in there and grabbing one out in 4 seconds or so ready to use. Bearing in mind that trigger guards and safeties weren't generally around then.

As to the original question: Think of how much strength is required to use a warbow; not just to draw it, but to keep it steady when drawn to aim. Now consider doing that with a weight strapped to your aiming arm and holding the shield handle as well as the bow in your hand.


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## GMMichael (Jan 22, 2016)

Lars Andersen could use a shield and shoot.

Which arm, while we're on the subject, would be wearing said shield?  A shield on the drawing arm might slow down your reloading, but let me check my SRD...


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## cmad1977 (Jan 22, 2016)

Since donning/doffing a shield takes an action(guess it could be move action/standard action) I'm not sure it really matter.


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## Noctem (Jan 22, 2016)

cmad1977 said:


> Since donning/doffing a shield takes an action(guess it could be move action/standard action) I'm not sure it really matter.




standard actions don't exist in 5e.  And donning/doffing a shield is specifically stated to take your action for the turn.  You can't use an item interaction action, move, bonus or whatever else


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## cmad1977 (Jan 22, 2016)

Noctem said:


> standard actions don't exist in 5e.  And donning/doffing a shield is specifically stated to take your action for the turn.  You can't use an item interaction action, move, bonus or whatever else




I guess. It says action, doesn't seem to specify what type on the chart.


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## Noctem (Jan 22, 2016)

cmad1977 said:


> I guess. It says action, doesn't seem to specify what type on the chart.




here are the types of actions in 5e that you can take on your turn:

Action
Move
Bonus
Item Interaction
Reaction

from there, you have things that can be used as one of the above:

Attack Action
Opportunity Attack Reaction
Perception Action
Stealth Action
Cast a Spell Action
Two-Weapon Fighting Bonus Action
etc..

But all things you can do are basically contained within those top 4.  In this case, donning and doffing a shield is considered an Action.  You only get one of those per turn unless you can use something like Action Surge (fighter L2 feature).  You'll note that Action Surge also gives you another Action for your turn, which allows you to use anything that would require an Action to use.   Sometimes you can combine them, like the rule that allows you to draw a weapon (item interaction) when you make an attack (Attack Action).  This is the action economy in 5e.


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## cmad1977 (Jan 22, 2016)

Oh yeah. I guess move/action aren't exactly interchangeable.


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## AaronOfBarbaria (Jan 22, 2016)

cmad1977 said:


> I guess. It says action, doesn't seem to specify what type on the chart.



There is no chart.

Actions are actions.
Movement is movement (not a move action).
Bonus Actions aren't even a thing until some feature or spell gives you one and tells you how you can use it (extremely different from prior edition's "free actions" and "minor actions")


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## Noctem (Jan 22, 2016)

cmad1977 said:


> Oh yeah. I guess move/action aren't exactly interchangeable.




Right, unlike 4th edition where you could downgrade:

Standard -> move 
Standard -> minor
Move -> minor

You can't downgrade or swap actions in 5e.  So you always have 1 Action, Movement, 1 item interaction, 1 bonus action and 1 reaction.  Unless something grants you more


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## cmad1977 (Jan 22, 2016)

AaronOfBarbaria said:


> There is no chart.
> 
> Actions are actions.
> Movement is movement (not a move action).
> Bonus Actions aren't even a thing until some feature or spell gives you one and tells you how you can use it (extremely different from prior edition's "free actions" and "minor actions")




There is a chart regarding time it takes to don/doff various armors. But yeah, actions are things.


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## JackOfAllTirades (Jan 22, 2016)

Lanliss said:


> Considering it is a game of Magic and Miracles, where Herculean feats of strength happen every day, I do not think it would be unreasonable, as long as it met the previously listed requirements of leaving both hands open. I do not doubt that it is next to impossible in the real world though.




Yes, with magic it would be possible. So if someone shows me a character sheet with a magical bow that can be fired accurately with one hand (not listed in the DMG) or a magic shield that requires no hands (DMG p151) that's perfectly reasonable.

But if the only explanation is "Hey it's magic!" or "Well if the wizard gets to do cool stuff then so should I!" then no. Archers get the Sharpshooter feat, a fighting style, extra attacks, magic bows, magic arrows. (And how about an animated shield? Why not?) 

They do NOT get a third arm, FFS.

Trout are too small. Smack him with an Aboleth.


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## Hriston (Jan 22, 2016)

In 5e, a buckler strapped to your forearm is a piece of fluff that doesn't add to your AC. It's the same thing as whether you want to describe your character wearing a helmet. It's perfectly acceptable, but there's no mechanical effect unless you house rule it.


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## zaratan (Jan 22, 2016)

Cap'n Kobold said:


> Riiight. You put even 5 mediaeval crossbows into a sack, loaded and under tension. Now carry it around for a bit, then try reaching in there and grabbing one out in 4 seconds or so ready to use. Bearing in mind that trigger guards and safeties weren't generally around then.
> 
> As to the original question: Think of how much strength is required to use a warbow; not just to draw it, but to keep it steady when drawn to aim. Now consider doing that with a weight strapped to your aiming arm and holding the shield handle as well as the bow in your hand.




Because of that, RAI >>>> RAW in many cases.


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## Shaghayegh (Jan 25, 2016)

Buy a real shield and bow and figure it out.


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## Lanliss (Jan 25, 2016)

Shaghayegh said:


> Buy a real shield and bow and figure it out.




Since OP is presumably average, or a "Commoner" in game terms, he will have to train up to the required strength and dexterity of the example adventurer. I would aim for a pair of 15s, to be safe. Since Olympians are considered something like 10-12, this may take a while.


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## n00b f00 (Jan 25, 2016)

The rules of 5e preclude this action normally speaking. It is intentional from a thematic and mechanical perspective. Legolas and Robin Hood weren't holding tower shields while they were smoking fools up. And mechanically they wanted ranged users to be a little less resilient than melee. Ranged users already have distance and likely cover on their side as far as AC goes. So it's not really balanced.

Now they can get this effect if they use the aforementioned magic shield,  or if they have extra arms, go bugman! But generally no. Now in real life I'd buy that some archers had tiny bucklers on one arm hoping they didn't eat one to their wrist / center mass. But I imagine it was not super common, and it would do little in melee. 5e doesn't bother modeling how sword and board fighters regularly used shields as devastating weapons, or rapier plus dagger, they're not likely to model a +1 AC from ranged attacks for a fsorly obscure practice. 

I can imagine a superhuman Legolas clone being fast enough to quick draw a shield to protect himself. But I'd rule it AC fluff, as again not particularly balanced. Also I'd imagine that he's not getting full AC value using it that way.

So rules wise no. Flavor wise perhaps, but mechanically it's too strong IMO.


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## Traxe (Jan 25, 2016)

Native Americans were known to ride horses and shoot bows while having a small shield strapped to their hand. The shield would be equivalent of a buckler except made out of animal hide. They didn't actively use both at the same time (i.e. shoot a bow and block an attack simultaneously) but they did shoot bows with their shield strapped to their arm. (I think I've seen this in some western movies... granted they are movies but it does provide a visual example at least).

By RAW, it isn't allowed.  However, I wouldn't have a problem allowing it with a buckler but you would not receive any benefit from the buckler while doing so.


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## CaptainWaffles90 (Nov 21, 2020)

JackOfAllTirades said:


> Anyone who's ever handled any type of bow knows this is absolute nonsense.



well this might change your mind


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## CaptainWaffles90 (Nov 21, 2020)

JackOfAllTirades said:


> Anyone who's ever handled any type of bow knows this is absolute nonsense.



This might change your mind


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## Iry (Nov 21, 2020)

strider13x said:


> I would say a shield could be "worn" (as in you do not have to drop the item), but you gain no AC benefit on the round the bow was used.



This is my vote. There are documented examples of people using small shields strapped to the arm while firing a bow. If they can do it, mildly superhuman characters that can lift thousands of lbs or turn into dragons can do it. But you should gain no AC benefit on the round the bow is used.


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## TheLibrarian (Nov 21, 2020)

Completely possible.  Couple examples below.  

That said... the videos below don't show what kind of accuracy the shooters have.  They seem like they're more for historical demonstration.  And I question how much defensive value the guy with the buckler really gets.  

I'd probably allow it, but craft some kind of feat or feat tree to make it useful.


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## Oofta (Nov 21, 2020)

The pictures are not of someone wielding a shield though.  It's someone hanging a shield on their arm and what we would consider in D&D terms a buckler.  I could see a potential houserule for such items that grant a +1.

That's different from using a shield a shield works in D&D.   In the game it needs to be wielded and strapped to your arm.  You need to have both hands free to wield a two-handed weapon.


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## Charlaquin (Nov 21, 2020)

Old thread is old.


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## Mannahnin (Nov 23, 2020)

The videos are a cool addition to this old thread, and demonstrate ways to attach a shield to your arm/kit where it doesn't obstruct your shooting, but it's also not being used for active defense at all. 

As I believe a lot of folks have done, I have introduced the buckler as a house rule- only gives +1 to AC but doesn't occupy the hand.  But in any round when you're wielding something else with that hand, it gives no AC benefit. 

The Scythian vid is interesting and new to me, but again, the shield isn't being used actively for defense, and it looks like that setup will only really work with the short bow shown. I would consider allowing this as a piece of specialized kit, and let it grant AC vs missiles only while the archer is shooting, but limit it to being used with shortbows.


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## GreyLord (Nov 23, 2020)

Not a shield or a buckler, but can be used to block weapons like a shield (especially if metal, though I only use a leather one normally) is a bracer.

I use a bracer when I shoot (if the bowstring slaps the forearm, or snaps as it might if you don't keep a watch on wear and tear it protects the forearm) many times and it could be considered somewhat of a shield.

Not that it's the same thing as using a massive shield like the videos show.


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## Mannahnin (Nov 23, 2020)

I would consider bracers part of most normal suits of armor (not of a gambeson or hauberk, but if you're front-lining you'd want bracers in addition to either of those if you couldn't get steel cuirass or a set of brigandine). 

I've done hobby fighting wearing bracers, and I've done it wielding shields, and they're really not comparable IMO.


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## Oofta (Nov 23, 2020)

GreyLord said:


> Not a shield or a buckler, but can be used to block weapons like a shield (especially if metal, though I only use a leather one normally) is a bracer.
> 
> I use a bracer when I shoot (if the bowstring slaps the forearm, or snaps as it might if you don't keep a watch on wear and tear it protects the forearm) many times and it could be considered somewhat of a shield.
> 
> Not that it's the same thing as using a massive shield like the videos show.



Wouldn't that just be a vambrace?  Which is part of a full set of armor to begin with.


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