Shield Rules try #146 - Todd E. Schreiber Blocking Shield Wt Base Per Rank MD Loss Buckler 2 0 6% 0 Small Round 5 6 5% 2 Large Round 10 12 4% 3 Kite 15 18 3% 4 Tower 25 24 2% 6 Shield Rank is common to all shields, you do not rank with each shield. Unranked defenders get a shields base block added to their defense. At rank 0, MD is added to base blocking %. At ranks 1 and higher, the "Per Rank" % is added to MD and base block, thus a person with a shield rank of 3 would gain 15% to their defense with a small round shield, plus base block of 6% as well as their modified Manual Dexterity. Or, Defense = Base Block + Mod. MD(for ranked wielders) + (block% x Rank) + Mod. AG A shield can be used to block any one attack from the melee zone until the wielder reaches Rank 2, at which time he can block any 2 attacks from the melee zone. At Rank 4, maximum rank, the defender is able to block 3 melee attacks. Attacks through rear hexes may not be blocked. In the case of a rider on horseback, the shield can only be used to protect his forward hex, and the two flanking hexes on his shield side. A missile weapon that enters through a melee hex may be blocked. Missile weapons that enter through a rear melee hex cannot be blocked with a shield. The rules for a horseback rider apply as with melee attacks. The number of missiles that can be blocked in any given pulse depends upon the shield size. A buckler can be used to block 1 missile, a small round shield can block 2, and so on until tower, which can block 6 missiles in one pulse. Alternately, the GM can opt to add an additional missile block according to rank as with melee weapons. The GM should also take into account the situation, where blocking more than one missile weapon is not possible due to the fact that they arrive at the target nearly simultaneously from different directions, such as may occur during a surprise/ambush situation. Shields become damaged, whenever they successfully block an opponents weapon strike. This occurs whenever a roll to hit misses due to a portion of the shield's added defense value, rather than just a straight out miss, or a miss due to the character's modified agility. Example: The defender has a modified agility of 15, and is third ranked, using a small round shield with a total defense of 35. His rank*%block is not used to determine a hit, therefore, at 3rd Rank * 5% per rank for the shield, 15% of the 35% is not used to guage a hit. The attacker has chance to hit of 90 minus 15 due to agility, minus 15 due to rank with shield, and minus 20 due to shield base block and MD. A roll of 40 or less is a hit on the defender, a roll of 41-60 is a hit on the shield, and a roll of 61-75 is miss due to wielder's skill with the shield, and a roll of 76 and above is a clean miss. Skill with the shield does not impart damage to the shield due to the following possible reasons: Edge of shield is used to pro-actively deflect weapon before a full blow is delivered; movement of shield causes attacker to aim at a difficult to hit area that is unprotected by the shield, but which subsequently misses, and many other possibible reasons. A shield takes damage equal to its weight in lbs before becoming useless, i.e. a buckler would take 2 pts. of damage before becoming useless, a small round would take 5 pts., etc. There is no depreciation in shield defense as they become damaged, for ease of game play. Class A weapons do 1 pt of damage to shields for every full 5 lbs, including missile weapons, thus a 6 lb long bow would do 1 pt of damage to a shield, a trident (5 lbs) would also do 1 pt, and a rapier (2 lbs) would do none. Class B & C weapons of less than 5 lbs do 1 pt of damage, 5 lbs and over weapons do 2 points of damage, 10 lbs and over do 3 points, and so on. Special Attack - Attacking an opponent's shield: You may decide that you want to destroy an opponents shield, by attacking the shield rather than the opponent. You must be weilding a class B or C weapon of 5 lbs or greater to attempt this maneuver. If you do choose to attack an opponent's shield, your chance to hit the shield is equal to your chance to hit, minus the defenders modified agility and shield rank block%*rank, plus any other defensive benefits he may have, other than the shield base block and manual dexterity. Any roll that results in a miss, is a clean miss, and does not strike shield or wearer. A successful strike indicates that you have struck your opponents shield, delivering a crushing blow, which causes damage equal to your regular damage minus 8, with a minimum damage of 2, which is the same amount of damage normally delivered by a 5 lb. Class B or C weapon. The 8 is the shields absorption ability, similar to armor. Example, Glug swings his battle Axe at his enemy's small round shield rather than his enemy. His chance to hit with his axe is 90%, the defender is rank 3 with his shield and his modified agility is 12. Subtract the defenders agility (12) and his shield rank * %block [5%(for small round shield) x 3rd Rank = 15%] for a total of 27. Glug's chance to successfully strike his opponents shield would be 90 - 27 = 63%. He rolls 52, and he successfully hits. His damage is +5 since he is using his axe two-handed. He rolls a 7 for damage, plus the 5, for a total of 12 points, minus the 8, equals 4 points of damage to the shield. Its got 1 point left, and Glug's next blow will destroy the shield, making it useless. A blow that would result in damage directly affecting endurance (15% of the chance to hit) does damage to the shield without the armor value of 8 being subtracted, and has an opportunity to damage the wearer. Thus if Glug scored such a hit, his damage of 12 would destroy the shield, and pass on the remainder of the damage to the opponent, however, his armor (if he's wearing any) will absorb damage. Thus if the defender were wearing leather, with a protection of 4, the shield would absorb the first 5 pts of damage, and the leather would absorb the next 4, passing 3 onto the defender's Fatigue, or Endurance, if Fatigue is previously 0. Using this tactic, it's possible to destroy a shield very quickly, thus enabling you an easier opportunity of hitting the target once the shield is destroyed. Of course the proper weaponry is required to enable this maneuver.