does one need to ‘don’ a shield to gain the AC benefits? Cheers PHB pg 146 specifies you need to take the full time to don a piece of armor or a shield to gain its AC benefits.
Shield's donning time is 1 action.
— Dan Dillon (@Dan_Dillon_1) April 17, 2020
You do know that only JC is able to issue RAI. I recommend that policy be amended to include Dan because he’s been more active of late. I can point out text in the books or the Sage Advice compendium that answers questions. Any sort of official interpretation beyond that comes from Jeremy and no one else. 🙂
— Dan Dillon (@Dan_Dillon_1) April 17, 2020
Problem is that this question arose because a shield is not armor and the donning and doffing rules (and proficiency rules) only apply to armor. Barring official RAI to the contrary, there is an ambiguity that leads to endless online arguments. "The time it takes to don or doff a type of armor OR A SHIELD…"
"This is the time it takes to put on THE ITEM. You benefit from its AC only if you take the full time to don it."
"Shield Don: 1 action"
It's all there.
— Dan Dillon (@Dan_Dillon_1) April 17, 2020
The text reads, “The time it takes to don or doff armor depends on the armor’s category.” And, “This is the time it takes to put on armor. You benefit from the armor’s AC only if you take the full time to don the suit of armor.” Perhaps you are looking at an older version of the text. Here’s mine: pic.twitter.com/MTQS9qNb8m
— Dan Dillon (@Dan_Dillon_1) April 17, 2020
Uncool. I have an older PHB. So, I checked DnD Beyond. I checked the PHB errata. That text doesn’t appear in either. If y’all are going to make changes, it really helps for the errata to be current. Here’s the entire equipment section from the 2020 PHB errata. I will pass that along!
— Dan Dillon (@Dan_Dillon_1) April 17, 2020