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The Dueling fighting style doesn't seem to state anything about shields, stating that the character can only wield one weapon while fighting to gain the benefit. Does a shield count as a weapon or otherwise stop the damage bonus from occurring?

SevenSidedDie
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Aviose
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3 Answers3

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No! The shield is not a weapon, this is designed to be a sword and board feature.

Shield is definitely not a weapon (no weapon stats), and there are currently no enchantments to make it a weapon. This is a feature designed for a brawler style (hand free for grappling) or a sword and board fighter.

wax eagle
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    Forgot the spellsword, who'd want a free hand for somatic components. –  Dec 11 '18 at 20:25
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Jeremy Crawford (D&D designer at Wizards of the Coast) tweeted that dueling works with a shield:

"does the duelling [sic] fighting style work with sword and shield?"

It sure does!

This tweet was formalized into the Sage Advice Compendium as follows:

Is the Dueling fighting style intended to support a shield?
Yes. A character with the Dueling option usually pairs a one-handed weapon with a shield, a spellcasting focus, or a free hand.
(Ref: SA Compendium, v 2.3, 2019, p.3)

Community
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Tim Grant
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0

A shield is armor, not a weapon so it works while wielding a shield. The fighting style was probably even created to be used with a weapon in one hand and a shield in the other.

Kerrick
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Joris Wegner
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