Dungeons and Dragons – Mystara
Weapons Mastery – Shield – Heavy
A single handed directional piece of armour used to help protect against attacks.
Shields can range from a dueler’s fencing buckler to the tower shields of mercenary armies. You may wield two shields, but only gain the defensive benefits of one shield at a time. When it is used to attack, a shield is treated as an improvised weapon that deals 1d4 bludgeoning damage.
Donning a shield grants no benefit to Armor Class if you are not proficient with shields, and you are unable to take cover behind it, plant it on the ground, or sacrifice it.
A creature one size category larger than the shield was designed for treats it as a shield that is one degree lighter, while a creature one size category smaller treats it as a shield that is one degree heavier. If that would make a light shield lighter or a heavy shield heavier, the shield cannot be used by that creature
- 5E Stats – One Handed Martial Shield, Costs 35 gp and has a weight of 20 lb.
- Weapon Options (Available to learn) –
Weapons Mastery – Shield – Heavy
Weapon Mastery Non-Proficient – Attacks are with disadvantage, and damage is halved rounded down. Non-Proficient use does not grant access to most of the weapon special properties.
(Non-Proficient)
Shield – Heavy Attack +Str to hit one target
Basic Hit: 1d4+mod bludgeoning (Halved)
Weapon Abilities – Portable Cover,
Weapon Mastery Proficient – This is the standard weapon stats from sourcebooks.
(Proficient)
Shield – Heavy Attack +Str + Prof to hit one target, Shield Bonus +2,
Basic Hit: 1d4 +Str mod bludgeoning
Weapon Abilities – Portable Cover, Sacrifice
Weapon Mastery Skilled – Weapons do an extra dice of damage. Gain abilities to activate as a bonus action on your round, or a reaction.
(Skilled)
Shield – Heavy Attack +Str +Prof to hit one target, Shield Bonus +2
Basic Hit: 2d4 +Str mod bludgeoning
Weapon Abilities – Base DC, Defensive, Deflect, Portable Cover, Sacrifice
Weapon Mastery Expert – You gain an expertise on your attack, and weapons do an extra dice of damage. Abilities with weapons improve. Can use weapon options with this weapon.
(Expert)
Shield – Heavy Attack +Str +Prof +Prof to hit one target, Shield Bonus +2
Basic Hit: 3d4 +Str mod bludgeoning
Weapon Abilities – Base DC, Defensive, Deflect, Portable Cover, Sacrifice
Weapon Options (Available to learn) –
Weapon Mastery Master – Your gain advantage on your attack, weapons do an extra dice of damage. Abilities and Options improve.
(Master)
Shield – Heavy Attack +Str +Prof +Prof to hit one target, Shield Bonus +2
Basic Hit: 4d4+mod bludgeoning
Weapon Abilities – Base DC, Defensive, Deflect, Portable Cover, Sacrifice
Weapon Options (Available to learn) –
Weapon Mastery Grand Master – A natural 1 counts counts as a critical hit, and if both dice deal a critical hit, then all dice in the attack are maximised. Weapons do an extra dice of damage. Abilities and Options improve.
(Grand Master)
Shield – Heavy Attack +Str +Prof +Prof to hit one target, Crit (1 or 20), Shield Bonus +2
Basic Hit: 5d4 +Str mod bludgeoning
Weapon Abilities – Base DC, Defensive, Deflect, Portable Cover, Sacrifice
Weapon Options (Available to learn) –
Beyond Grand Master in Weapon Mastery – While not possible to learn at this level, some abilities and magical items might push skill above grand master, and if it does it adds an extra dice of damage and improves abilities and options as per the weapon progression.
Weapon Abilities – Shield – Heavy
Weapon Ability – Base DC – Some of the effects produced by weapons masters has a saving throw to resist. This saving throw is calculated as 8 plus the ability modifier used in the attack roll, your weapon mastery bonus, your Weaponologist bonus, your weapons mastery feats and Archetypes.
Base DC = 8 +Ability Mod +Prof +WM Bonus +Circle Bonus +Feat Bonus +Arch Type Bonus (Martial +2)
Associated Weapons – Bardiche, Bastard Sword, Battleaxe, Bill, Blackjack, Blowgun 1H, Blowgun 2H, Bola, Cestus, Club, Dagger, Dart, Flail, Glaive, Greataxe, Greatclub, Greatsword, Guisarme, Halberd, Hand Crossbow, Handaxe, Hat, Heavy Crossbow, Heavy Shield, Holy Symbol, Horned Shield, Javelin, Knife Shield, Lance, Lasso, Light Crossbow, Light Hammer, Light Shield, Lochaber Axe, Longbow, Longsword, Mace, Maul, Medium Shield, Morningstar, Net, Orb, Partisan, Pike, Poleaxe, Quarterstaff, Ranseur, Rapier, Ring, Rod, Scimitar, Scythe, Shortbow, Shortsword, Sickle, Sling, Spear, Spetum, Spontoon, Staff, Sword Shield, Tome, Tower Shield, Trident, Tusked Shield, Unarmed or Natural, Vaulge, Wand, Warhammer, Warpick,
Weapon Ability – Defensive – If you spend your bonus action this round on this quality you gain a bonus for your armour class until the start of your next round as long as you still have your reaction. Each level above skilled adds +1 WM Bonus to the Shield bonus provided.
Defensive (Skilled Bonus Action) – This weapon provides a +1 Shield bonus to your armour class as long as your still have your reaction. If an attack would have hit you, but misses because of using defensive, you deflect the attack and expend your reaction. (Martial weapons add +1 to the shield bonus, A shield weapon does not use up reactions but can trigger retaliate instead)
Associated Weapons – Bardiche, Bastard Sword, Battleaxe, Bill, Bola, Club, Flail, Glaive, Greataxe, Greatclub, Greatsword, Guisarme, Halberd, Handaxe, Heavy Crossbow, Heavy Shield, Horned Shield, Lance, Light Crossbow, Light Hammer, Light Shield, Lochaber Axe, Longbow, Longsword, Mace, Medium Shield, Morningstar, Net, Partisan, Pike, Poleaxe, Quarterstaff, Ranseur, Rapier, Scimitar, Scythe, Shortbow, Shortsword, Sling, Spetum, Tower Shield, Tusked Shield, Voulge, Warhammer,
Weapon Ability – Deflect – If you spend your bonus action this round on this quality, you can attempt to deflect attacks with your weapon. Your Base DC becomes your armour class against ranged or melee weapons of your size or smaller until the start of your next round while you still have a reaction. If an attack would have hit you, but is lower than your Base DC, you deflect the attack and your weapon takes half the damage. Each level above skilled adds +1 WM Bonus to the Base DC. (Magical Implements don’t take damage from spells or use up their reactions when deflecting spells)
(Expert Spell Deflection) You can redirect the spell to a target with a cone opposite from the spell caster as long as its still within range, expending your reaction to do so.
(Master Spell Deflecting) You can redirect the spell to a target with the remainder of the range, and expend your reaction to do so.
(Grand Master Spell Deflecting) You add your range extension to the redirect.
Associated Weapons – Bardiche, Bastard Sword, Bill, Club, Flail, Glaive, Greataxe, Greatclub, Greatsword, Guisarme, Halberd, Heavy Shield, Light Shield, Lochaber Axe, Longsword, Medium Shield, Partisan, Pike, Poleaxe, Quarterstaff, Ranseur, Rapier, Scimitar, Scythe, Shortsword, Spetum, Staff, Tower Shield, Voulge, Wand, Warpick,
Weapon Ability – Portable Cover – You gain an expertise die on Dexterity saving throw. When you take the Dodge action while wielding a heavy shield, you may instead take cover behind your shield, gaining an expertise die to your Armor Class until the start of your turn. You have disadvantage on Dexterity (Acrobatics) and Dexterity (Stealth) checks while wielding this shield, and you cannot squeeze through spaces smaller than your size category. Tower shields also gain the following action.
Plant Shield (skilled Tower Shield only) On your turn, you may use an object interaction to plant it in the ground, gaining half cover (+2 bonus to AC, Dexterity saving throws, and ability checks made to hide) and advantage on saving throws made to resist being shoved or knocked prone and while you remain behind it. Unplanting a tower shield requires a bonus action.
Associated Weapons – Heavy Shield, Tower Shield
Weapon Ability – Sacrifice – When you take a critical hit, you can use your
reaction to block it and sacrifice your shield, turning the critical hit into a regular hit. Afterwards your shield is broken, or if your shield is magical it instead becomes mundane for 1 hour.
Associated Weapons – Heavy Shield, Light Shield, Medium Shield, Tower Shield
Weapon Options – Shield – Heavy
Design Details
I have still to add in weapon options for the shield..
Weapons Mastery Version 1.0
No version 1.0 of this weapon was created.
Content Updates
- 2022-05-24 – Created at version 2.0 of my weapon mastery rules.
Weapons Mastery
Overview, Downtime for Weapons Mastery, Secret Craft: Weaponologist
Simple 1H or Versatile: Blackjack (or Sap), Cestus, Club (or torch), Dagger, Handaxe (or Tomahawk), Javelin, Lasso, Light Hammer, Mace, Quarterstaff, Sickle, Spear, Unarmed
Simple Ranged: Bola, Dart, Light Crossbow, Shortbow, Sling
Martial 1H or Versatile: Bastard Sword, Battleaxe, Flail, Lance, Longsword, Morningstar, Rapier, Scimitar, Shortsword, Spontoon, Trident, Warhammer, Warpick, Whip
Martial 2H: Bardiche, Bill, Glaive, Greataxe, Greatsword, Guisarme, Halberd, Lochaber Axe, Maul, Partisan, Pike, Poleaxe, Ranseur, Spectum, Voulge
Martial Ranged: Blowgun 1H, Blowgun 2H, Hand Crossbow, Heavy Crossbow, Longbow, Net
Martial Shield: Heavy, Horned, Knife, Light, Medium, Sword, Tower, Tusked
Magical Implement: Hat, Holy Symbol, Orb, Ring, Rod, Staff, Tome, Wand
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