Animated Shield 5e: A Shield's +2 AC With Both Hands Free

The Animated Shield in 5e is a very rare Shield that requires attunement. While holding it, you spend a Bonus Action to make it float in your space for up to 1 minute, protecting you as if you were wielding it, so you keep a Shield's +2 AC with both hands free for a greatsword, a second weapon or spellcasting. The 2024 version drops the command word, so you no longer have to speak to activate it. The verdict: strong for a two-handed fighter or a caster who wants a Shield, expensive for what it gives, and bad for a monk.

Table of Contents

• •Animated Shield Rules Text
• •How the Animated Shield Works
• •Animated Shield: 2014 vs 2024
• •Is the Animated Shield Worth It?
• •Animated Shield for DMs
• •Frequently Asked Questions

Animated Shield Rules Text

The 2014 card (SRD 5.1), then the 2024 card (SRD 5.2.1):

How the Animated Shield Works

Turning it on

You have to be holding the Shield, then you spend a Bonus Action (2014: speak its command word as a bonus action). It leaps up and hovers in your space. The trigger is "while holding", not "while wearing", so you don't need to spend the action (2014) or Utilize action (2024) to don it first: pick it up with your free object interaction and animate it the same turn.

The AC is a normal Shield's +2. The Animated Shield has no +1 or +2 of its own.

How long it lasts and how it ends

The effect ends after 1 minute (10 rounds), when you end it with another Bonus Action, or when you're incapacitated or die. When it ends, the Shield drops to the ground, or into your hand if one is free.

There's no limit on uses. The text has no charges and no "until dawn", so you can animate it again whenever you're holding it. After it lands at your feet, picking it up is your free object interaction for the turn, and animating it again costs another Bonus Action.

What "as if you were wielding it" means

The Shield counts as wielded for every rule that cares:

• •Training. In 2024 you get a Shield's AC only with Shield training. In 2014 the shield is on the Armor table, and wearing armor without proficiency gives disadvantage on Strength and Dexterity checks, saves and attacks and stops you casting spells. Since the animated Shield protects you "as if you were wielding it", both apply to it.
• •One Shield at a time. Both SRDs let you benefit from only one Shield, so you can't animate this one and wield a second for +4.
• •Monks. Unarmored Defense for Monks works only when you aren't wielding a Shield (both editions). An Animated Shield turns that feature off, so a monk usually loses more AC than the Shield gives.
• •Barbarians. Barbarian Unarmored Defense allows a Shield, so it works fine there.
• •Bracers of Defense. They need you to be using no Shield; the two don't combine.

What you do with free hands

• •Two-handed weapons. A Two-Handed weapon only needs both hands when you attack with it, so you can hold a greatsword in one hand and the Shield in the other, animate the Shield, and then grip the greatsword with both. That's +2 AC for a great weapon fighter.
• •Two weapons. Wield two Light weapons and keep the Shield's AC. The catch: the Light property's extra attack (2024) and two-weapon fighting (2014) both use your Bonus Action, which is also what animating the Shield costs. Turn one of a fight is the expensive one.
• •Spellcasting. Somatic components need a hand, and so does holding a focus. A cleric or a caster with Shield training can keep a weapon in one hand, a focus in the other and the Shield floating.
• •Utility. Climbing, carrying a torch, holding a rope or an unconscious ally, all without losing AC.

Animated Shield: 2014 vs 2024

What changed at the table: only the activation. Without a command word, the 2024 Shield works while you're gagged, silenced or inside a zone of silence. Everything else is the same.

Is the Animated Shield Worth It?

Its job is to give +2 AC to a character who isn't using a Shield. Whether that's worth a very rare item and an attunement slot depends on what else you'd get:

Best fits:

• •Great weapon fighters, barbarians and paladins with Shield training who want a two-handed weapon. +2 AC is the difference between being hit on 9+ and 11+ by an attacker at +7 against AC 16 versus 18.
• •Clerics and other casters with Shield training who keep running out of hands.
• •Two-weapon fighters, if they can spare the Bonus Action on the first turn.

When it's a trap: for a monk (it costs Unarmored Defense), for anyone who already uses a regular Shield (a +2 Shield gives more AC with no attunement), and for a character without Shield training (no AC at all in 2024).

Animated Shield for DMs

Placement. Very rare, so a deep dungeon, a high-level treasure hoard or a reward from a powerful patron. It makes most sense where a warrior would have needed both hands: a giant-slayer's tomb, an armory of two-handed weapons.

What it changes. Mostly AC, and only by 2. The bigger change is action economy. A greatsword fighter who used to choose between damage and defense now gets both, which shifts a few more attacks to the rest of the party.

Pricing. The 2024 SRD values very rare items at 40,000 GP; add 10 GP for the Shield. The 2014 SRD has no prices; any 2014 figure comes from the Dungeon Master's Guide, not the SRD. The magic item rarity calculator and the very rare item list help you place it among the rest of your loot.

Rulings to settle. Can enemies target or grab the floating Shield? The text doesn't say. DM ruling: it's part of the protected creature's equipment, in their space, and can't be attacked separately. Keep it simple; the item's cost is the attunement slot.

Hooks.

• •A famous duelist fought with two blades and an Animated Shield. Her tomb has the Shield; the blades are missing.
• •A guard post's Animated Shield still animates every time someone picks it up, and the old command word painted on its rim has been scratched out.
• •A fire giant smith forged an Animated Shield for a hill giant ally who keeps dropping it. The party can find it, or find the giant.

Which character attuned to what is easy to lose track of between sessions. Loreify records the game and keeps the loot in the recap.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the Animated Shield require attunement?

Yes, in both 2014 and 2024. It's a very rare item that takes one of your three attunement slots.

Can you use an Animated Shield with a two-handed weapon?

Yes. Once it's animated it protects you as if you were wielding it while leaving both hands free, so you can swing a greatsword and keep the Shield's +2 AC.

How long does the Animated Shield last?

Up to 1 minute per activation. It ends early if you end it with a Bonus Action, die or are incapacitated. There's no daily limit, so you can animate it again whenever you hold it.

Does the Animated Shield work for a monk?

It works, but a monk loses Unarmored Defense while wielding a Shield, and the animated Shield counts as wielded. Most monks end up with lower AC.

How much is an Animated Shield worth?

40,010 GP under the 2024 SRD: 40,000 GP for a very rare item plus 10 GP for the Shield. The 2014 SRD gives no prices.

Item text: System Reference Document 5.1 (2014) and 5.2.1 (2024), Wizards of the Coast, CC-BY-4.0. Analysis, rulings and ideas are Loreify's own.