Shield Guardian

A crash rings out, a scream and a cry for help, knights are brushed aside, and magic casters are made useless. A civilian is in the sight of a dragon's visage, opening it's maw it readies a burst of death coated in flames as if fate seemed to have willed it; however a tower of a man stands between the civilian and the dragon a large metal bulwark in both hands. Slamming the metal barriers down he create a wall that part the incoming flames like a boat through the water keeping the innocent safe.

Style Training

At level 2 you find yourself wanting to branch out from using just a shield, you are now allowed to pick and train into three types of shield fighting styles see list below

• Light: Nimble and quick are calling to you, you gain proficiency in light shields. You gain +1 in Damage Rolls in light type shields, you also lose the extra AC bonus given by this class but gain access to light bonuses on certain shields, and will regain 1 AC per turn

• Medium: Heavy but still not clunky you find yourself in the middle of everything, a jack of all trades. You can make use of every shield, you are proficient in all shield types and gain +1 to Damage Rolls in medium type shields, and gain access to bonuses on all shields, and will regain 2 AC per turn, you are also proficient in Light Armor, Medium Armor, and Heavy Armor

• Heavy: Huge, slow and clunky but able to shrug off most anything. You gain +1 to Damage Rolls in heavy shields, alongside this the AC bonus on shields given by this class is doubled. You also gain access to heavy bonuses on shields and will regain 3 AC per turn, you are also Proficient in Medium and Heavy Armor

Shield Throw (Optional)

At level 3 you've been using shields long enough to channel your energy into making Light and Medium Shields able to be thrown. As an action you can throw the shield 30/60 feet for the damage of the respective shield shields will also return to the thrower on a successful hit, a critical failure will require the user to spend an action forcing the shield to return. The Shield Guardian can expend 1 AC per target to have the shield bounce between targets. Attack rolls must be made preemptively

Protection

At level 3 your allies are important and as such once per turn you can make a reaction to expend 1 AC and choose for any creature within 5ft of you to impose disadvantage, half the damage taken, or take the damage for yourself

Taunt

At level 4 you find your allies getting hurt too gruesome and upsetting as a result you gain the Taunt action. Once per turn you can take an action and choose any creature and have them make a wisdom saving throw of 10 + your proficiency bonus + your strength bonus, You lose 1 AC per creature you choose

Bash

Also at level 4 once per turn you can take an action and expend 2 AC to bash a target and shove them or stun them. If you shove them, make an attack roll and if you succeed you can shove them up to 10ft and impose attacks of opportunity. If you stun them make an attack roll and if you succeed the enemy must make a DC14 Constitution save or be stunned until the start of their next turn

Ability Score Improvement

When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can't increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.

Shield Creation

At level 5 you can create your own shields without needing to buy or commission them from a blacksmith and make them out of different materials with varying changes, however it will take a select amount of time to make depending on the shield and material. See list below for types of shields and materials

All abilities and features from shields are once per turn unless stated otherwise

• Wood: Simple to create with and even simpler to find, most light and medium shields are made of this. Shields made of this material are light but no extra AC is given but it will give an extra 10ft of movement and add an extra point of Dexterity.

• Leather: Used when wood isn’t enough and is even lighter than wood, as a result shields made from this will give an extra 15ft of movement speed but no extra AC is given, alongside this Dexterity is increased by 2

• Stone: Heavy and as common as wood, shields made from this will give 1 AC alongside the AC bonus listed, however they reduce movement speed by 5ft and add an extra point of Constitution

• Metal: Not as light as leather or wood but not as heavy as stone, shields made from this give 2 AC alongside the AC bonus listed with no movement penalty and add two extra points of Constitution

• Dragon: Never seen done but still possible dragon scales are heavier than stone and costly, making shields like these rare they will give 3 AC alongside the AC bonus listed, lower movement speed by 10ft, and will give you resistance to the elemental damage of the type of dragon scales used.

• Buckler (Light Shield): +1 AC. 1d6 Bludgeoning. The simplest shield offered, materials casted into a small circular shape, Light Style can use the shield to parry once per round you can use 1 AC as a reaction to reduce damage by 1d8. Medium Style can also use the parry feature listed before. Heavy Style gains no benefit.

• Target Shield (Light Shield): +1AC. 1d6 Bludgeoning. Similar to the buckler it's small stature allows for similar defensive capabilities however more eye catching for ranged attacks, Light Style once per round can use 1AC and can use the Missile Deflection reaction for non magical projectiles and make an attack roll to deflect the attack back. Medium Style can once per round use 1 AC as a reaction make ranged attacks have disadvantage. Heavy Style gains no benefit.

Extra Attack

Beginning at 5th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.

The number of attacks increases to three when you reach 11th level in this class and to four when you reach 20th level in this class.

Power Shields

Starting at 6th level, your shields count as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage

Shield Tinkering

At level 7 you can modify your shields with a makeshift or blacksmith made enhancement. See list below for items.

• Painting: You can paint your shield to gain a +1 to attack or increase an attribute by 1 depending on the symbol depicted.

• Spike: All shields can be modified to have a spike put on them allowing for an extra 1d8 Piercing damage when attacking. This bonus increases to 2d8 at level 10, 3d8 at level 13, and 4d8 at level 16

• Reinforcement: Shields can be reinforced with metal plating to add advantage to attack and saving rolls alongside doubling the AC of Light and Medium shields and adding 1 AC to Heavy Shields

• Blades: Light and Medium Shields can be given a bladed edge to add 1d6 Slashing damage. This bonus increases to 2d6 at level 10, 3d6 at level 13, and 4d6 at level 16

Guardian

At level 9 once per encounter you can gain the ability to guard your allies from damage, all styles as a reaction can spend half their movement speed and 2 AC to dash in front of an ally and absorb the damage for their ally

Expert Style

At level 11 you have crafted an art with shield combat and have grown to be an expert with your style as such each style has a unique talent as listed below:

• Light Style once per long rest can take a bonus action to restore themselves, using 2d8 to regain health and 1d6 to regain AC, if hit before using this, this bonus will be unable to be used

• Medium Style once per long rest can use an action to expend 2 AC to bulk themselves up and gain 4 extra damage, they can also expend as much AC needed up to a maximum of 10 AC for a maximum of 20 extra damage this bonus lasts for the whole fight.

• Heavy Style once per long rest can use a bonus action to plant themselves in place for 2 AC and all movement and action impairing non-magical attacks will have disadvantage or give adva, additionally you may not move until your next turn.

Steadfast

At level 13 you gain the ability Steadfast, once per long rest as a reaction upon taking lethal damage you can expend 5 AC to negate the lethal damage and keep fighting at 1 HP but after four turns you will render yourself unconscious.

All Guard

At level 15 once per encounter you can expend 2 AC as a reaction to block magical attacks for half the damage they would normally do; however , your shield can only block three magical attacks per encounter and cannot block radial based magic. The tower shield is the only exception and can half radial magic.

Ethereal Shield

At level 18 once per encounter as an action you can channel your inner protectorate and cast an ethereal shield on three targets of your choice and raise their AC by 2, at the cost of 1 AC per target.

Ascendant Guardian

At level 20 you are the one everyone seeks for protection and have perfected the way of shield combat and are a master of your style as such you gain another unique ability for your style as listed below.

• Light Style once per long rest can expend 5 AC as an action to make two semi-ethereal copies of themselves with half their maximum HP and AC they will always attack after the user and the caster can turn invisible alongside summoning the familiars

• Medium Style once per long rest can expend 5 AC and use three shields instead of two, the third will be mentally projected as an ethereal shield copy of the main hand shield with 1 less AC bonus and cannot perform the bonus listed for the shield and attacking with it is a bonus action instead of an action this shield grants resistance to psychic damage

• Heavy Style is unaffected by the movement penalty of heavy shields and once per long rest can surge themselves and reduce the AC cost of any action by half and can attack a third time per turn at the cost of 3 AC unaffected by the feat, they can also use their shield bonus twice per turn at the cost of 5 AC. Not halved by the AC cost reduction. They can also spend every point of AC as a reaction to ignore damage once per long rest. Not affected by the AC cost reduction.