Shield Rush

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The shield-rush is an attempt to knock someone down by running into them with your shield. The character must have 10 feet (2 spaces) of running room to make an effective shield-rush. Making a shield-rush is treated as a Charge Attack for purposes of guarding characters with set spears. When the character makes a shield-rush, he makes a normal attack against his enemy's AC. Some shields may provide modifiers or bonuses to the rush. After a shield has been used for a rush, it provides no AC bonus for the rest of the round for its bearer. Making a shield-rush also costs the character a normal attack, but it isn't considered an off-hand weapon like a shield-punch.

If the shield-bearer hits with his attack, he makes an opposed Strength roll against his opponent to see if he knocks him down. The loser of the opposed roll falls down; if both characters fail their Strength rolls, they both fall down. The following modifiers apply to the attacker's Strength score:

4-point bonus or penalty for each size difference of the attacker versus the defender

+3 if the defender was unaware of the shield-rush

-2 if the defender has four legs or more

As noted before, monsters can be assumed to have a Strength of 3.5 per size category plus their Hit Dice. Instead of an opposed roll, the DM can substitute a saving throw vs. paralyzation for the defender to save time. If the shield-rusher misses with his attack roll, he must roll a successful Dexterity check to stay on his feet as he rushes past his target. If he fails, he falls down.​

Key Points

Must be proficient in shield

Shield-Rush attack is in coordination with your move initiative. On your base initiative, you may move 1/2 and perform the Shield-Rush attack. Other attacks may happen at their speed factor.

You may move up to your full movement and shield-rush, however, no other attacks may be made.

The amount of movement you wish to make with the rush must be declared, specifically, before moving or attacking.

you may use Shield-Rush as a charge and follow the same rules as charge, but using the Shield-Rush for the attack.