Really?  Intruiging...  I didn't see that in 3.0 either, and I missed anything about shields.  Still, far be it from me to tell a DM not to make a prestige class only available to members of an apropriate guild, secret society, exculive martial arts school, or the like.<br/><br/>Hm...  What about Eldrithc Knight?  And does Mithral Fluidity feat lower Arcane Spell Failure?