Tower Shield Proficiency bug?

[Audiiophile]

Hi Folks -

Relatively new to Pathfinder (and even newer to the forums here, forgive me if this is posted in the wrong place), after the most recent update - I noticed my armor master’s initiative and attack bonus had taken a severe drop. After some playing around, it seems like the +1 Tower Shield is what’s reducing these stats, even with Tower Shield Proficiency. This didn’t seem to be the case prior to the update, is this a bug?

For context, I’m using the ipad version of Hero Lab (v14.16), level 7 armor master.

Thanks for any help in advance!

[Mathias]

There's a bug right now that's only seen if the Ultimate Combat Piecemeal armor rules are turned on, that is applying ACPs to attacks and initiative even if you're proficienct. If your character doesn't actually have any piecemeal armor, turn that optional rule off to get around it. If turning that off doesn't remove the penalty, please report this as a bug.

[Audiiophile]

Thanks for the reply Mathias -

I turned off the Ultimate Combat Piecemeal Armor rules and that returned my initiative to normal, but the attack bonus appears to remain penalized. I'm seeing a +4/-1 on my attack bonus with the following:

+1 Warhammer
Masterwork Full Plate
+1 Tower Shield

+4 Strength (19 STR)
+2 Dexterity (14 DEX)

Advanced Armor Training
Armor Specialization (Full Plate)
Armor Focus (Full Plate)
Armor Proficiency (Heavy)
Weapon Focus (Warhammer)
Greater Weapon Focus (Warhammer)
Weapon Specialization
Martial Weapon Proficiency - All
Shield Focus
Shield Proficiency
Tower Shield Proficiency

Would I report a bug by using the "Contact Us' section of the Lone Wolf Development page? Or is there another mechanism for this?

Thanks again for the assistance!

[Mathias]

Remember that tower shields impose a -2 to hit that's separate from the ACP - check the last paragraph in the tower shield item's rules. You'll need the entire Mobile Bulwark Style feat chain to remove that (there's probably other ways, too - that's the one that I remembered, so I could look up the feat names quickly).


In this forum, in the stickied thread named "General Hero Lab Support & Community Resources" is the link to the bug tracker, if it's something other than that -2.

[Audiiophile]

I expected some reduction due to the tower shield, but prior to the patch, I was seeing +13/+8 to hit.

After exiting and restarting the app (after I had turned off the Ultimate Combat Piecemeal Armor as you suggested), it looks like my to hit is back to +13/+8. The to hit adjusting must have just needed a restart.

Really do appreciate the help - actually feeling a bit fortunate the bug prompted me to make an account here and find these forums!

[Audiiophile]

And after reading up on the Mobile Bulkwark Style chain, I think I know where Stoutrick's gonna be headed at level 8!

[Farling]

The reason the bonuses didn't immediately change is because of an "optimisation" that doesn't always fully re-run all the rules. You can manually force all the rules to be run again using an option in the developers menu.

[Audiiophile]

Thanks Farling, that makes sense!

[TheIronGolem]

Originally Posted by Audiiophile

After exiting and restarting the app (after I had turned off the Ultimate Combat Piecemeal Armor as you suggested), it looks like my to hit is back to +13/+8. The to hit must adjusting must have just needed a restart.

Another thing you can do when it looks like something isn't updating correctly is go to the Develop menu and select "Trigger Full Evaluation Immediately". This makes HL recalculate everything from scratch, but you don't have to wait for it to start up and load the game system.

[Mathias]

If you can find a specific set of steps that can get to the point where the fast evaluation doesn't update (like, starting with this saved character, delete X, or turn off this rule), please report that to us as a bug, so that we can get it fixed.