And now for something different this is the first article of series I'm working on.
Woodclaw's armoury
Aisle 1: ShieldsShields are arguably one of the most ancient, if not
the most ancient, piece of personal armor created by mankind. Despite the variations in size, shape, thickness and materials the basic idea behind remain consistent since prehistory: having a piece of portable cover.
Mechanical considerationsFirst of all it's better to clarify one point, save special cases (like bracers or pavises) a shield always occupies the hand/arm using it.
From the mechanical point of view we can separate the shields into 3 broad categories based how the thing is used: Bucklers, Standard Shields and Pavises.
Bucklers
Bucklers are possibly the smallest category of shields ever used. They appeared first around the XII century, at the time they were rarely used in proper combat, and more of a self-defense tool used by soldiers while off-duty. With the progressive reducion in weight of the blades and the passage from slashing blades to thrusting blades the use became more widespread. According to XVII century fencing manuals the use of the weapon was basicly geometric: all the possible thrusts formed a cone with the top along the sword handle, placing a obstacle, however small, very close to the tip of it will negate the attack entirely.
Contrary to popular belief the buckler was rarely, if ever, strapped onto the forearm since its use required it to be thrusted forward to meet the opponent blade rather than simply blocking it. Given it's small size (45 cm/18" diameter) a buckler is essentialy useless against projectiles but quite effective in close combat.
According to the
"Tower Manuscript" the buckler has 5 main uses:
- Hand protection: The primary use of the buckler was to protect the sword hand.
- Deflector: The buckler's lightness and curved center made it excellent for deflecting attacking blades. Such a deflection would leave the attacker open for a rapid counter-attack.
- Blinder: The light blades used in conjunction with the buckler depended on rapid movements, which meant that a single second was an important advantage. The wielder of the buckler could use the buckler to shield his sword-hand's position from view, keeping his opponent from guessing his next strike.
- "Metal fist": A buckler can be used to directly attack an opponent by punching with either its flat face or its rim.
- Binder: The buckler can be used to bind an opponent's sword hand and weapon as well as their buckler against their body. The buckler is also very useful in grappling where it allows an opponent's arms to be easily wrapped up and controlled.
Some of these functions are difficult to represent in M&M terms, due to the system limitations (for example there is no way to properly represent the binding effect), but the basic buckler should have stats similar to these:
Buckler (3ep)
- Enhanced feats 2 (Improved block 1, Weapon bind; PF: Alternate power 1)
-- AP: Strike 1 (PF: Mighty)
Some Bucklers will also include a small hook or some kind of slit meant to lock the opponent blade and make disarming easier, these bucklers will add the Improved disarm feat to their options and will cost 4ep.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Shields
This category encompass all those device that people usually associates with the word "shield", from round Viking shields, to bulletproof riot shields, to Cap's star-spangled manhole cover. Opposite to the buckler, these shields are large enough to be useful against missile weapons and to provide some form of actual cover.
Obviously all these shields use the homonymous power as base, with a rank variable from 2 to 4 depending on the size of the shield itself. All the shield also includes the Dedicated dodge feat. I decided to include this to represent the facing of the shield. Under normal circumstances a character is assumed to swing the shield around to meet incoming attacks, but in certain situation it might be more efficient to set a sturdier defense against a particular opponent.
Generally we can further differentiate shields into 3 large categories based on the amount of cover they provide, but the basic mechanic is the same for all of them.
- Small (or light) shields are the smallest, they usually cover the torso and the abdomen of the user. The round Viking shield, the Roman parmula, the rondache and Cap's shield all pertain to this category. These shield are usually issued to troops that either requires more mobility than protection, or to those that lack the proper training to use a larger shield without slowing themselves down.
Small shield (3ep)
- Shield 2 (PF: Dedicated dodge)
- Medium shields offer a substantial larger cover going from the shoulder down to the crotch, sometimes even lower,halfway to the thighs. Many examples of medieval shield are large enough to fit into this category. The heraldry escutcheon, its relative the knight shield and the Roman clipeus pertain to this category. This is usually the maximum size for cavalry shield, albeit certain units in the Roman legions used even larger exagonal shields.
Medium shield (4ep)
- Shield 3 (PF: Dedicated dodge)
- Large (or heavy) shields cover almost 4/5 of the user granting a superior degree of protection, unfortunatly they are also heavy and very clumsy to manuver and usually slow down the user considerably. The most famous example was the Roman scutum which was used in tight formation where each soldier protected himself as well as the soldier to his own left.
Large shield (4ep)
- Shield 4 (PF: Dedicated dodge; Drawbacks: Bulky [the user can't move all-out; -1])
At GM discretion certain shields might be larger or smaller and provide a proportional amount of cover. Smaller shields (Shield 1) are usually more akin to bracers and part of a suit of armor (like the
Protect Gear left arm bracer). Larger shields (Shield 5) are usually closer to Pavises.
Material and bulletsHigh penetration attacks - like crossbow bolts and, later, firearms bullets - were for many centuries the bane of every shield user. Until the recent introduction of lightwight composite armor and polycarbonate, shields were essentialy useless against firearms. In real life even a composite shield is useless against high power bullet, like those of an assault rifle, but in fiction they usually works quite well.
If a campaign includes both high and low speed projectiles then any shield unable to withstand one or the other will get an appropriate Power loss drawback or a Limited flaw, depending on the diffusion and precision of the weapon.
In settings with a lower technological level the only appreciable difference between wood and metal shield is in terms of weight and toughness.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Pavises
The last type of shields are the pavises, which are more similar to a piece of movable cover than to a proper shield. The idea of using movable shields to cover archers during reloading is extremly old, a first example was in the
Iliad book VIII. The pavise was never strapped on the user arm or held in hand given its size and weight, it was simply lodged into the ground and used as a cover.
Representing the use of a pavise in M&M is both very simple - use standard cover rules - and a little complex - how to price it - my personal solution is to calculate the cost based on a Flawed Create Object effect with the addition of some ranks of Protection to simulate the increased toughness of the material.
Pavise (5ep)
Provides a standard cover (core rules pp. 160-161), the shield is considered to have Toughness +7 for the purpose of breaking. It requires a Standard action to be set in position or removed from the ground, but no action to maintain.
- Create object 3 (Extra: Duration 1 [continuous]; Flaw: Limited [cover only])
- Protection 4 (Flaw: [shield only])
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Shield featsAside from their most obvious use, shields can be pretty useful in close combat, but clearly using them on offesive has some drawbacks. First of all, it's very likely that you'll lose your main defense if you attack with them, second the damage output isn't likely to be very high, no more than an improvised weapon (+1/+2 at best). Still the large surface of impact is likely to provide a good amount of leverage, making a shield bash a convenient manuver to make way through a crowded battlefield.
New Feat: Shield Bash (Combat)
When armed with a shield you can execute a shield bashing attack, if you do so you lose the shield's Dodge bonus for the current round. The shield's damage is +1, modified by the user Strength, Small shields had one rank of the Knockback feat added to this, Medium and Large shields two ranks.
Mechanicly this feats add the following AP to any shield used:
- AP: Shield bash [light shield] (Strike 1; PF: Knockback 1, Mighty)
or
- AP: Shield bash [medium/large shield] (Strike 1; PF: Knockback 2, Mighty)
Another use of shields in melee is to cover one's weapon to make more difficult for the opponent to guess the direction of the attack. Clearly this can only be done with certain weapon and requires some training to execute properly. Also this limits the shield movements since it must be focused against a single opponent.
New Feat: Shield Feint (Combat)
When armed with a shield you can use it to cover your weapon and make you attack harder to counter. At GM discretion certain weapon/shields combination (axe and buckler for example) won't be able to benefit from this manuver.
Special: at GM discretion this feat can also be used with a buckler or cape provided the blade is small or light enough (rapier, short sword or dagger) to benefit from such reduced cover. In this case the user must declare who is the target of the Shield Feint at the beginning of the round and it can't be changed before the start of a new round.
Mechanicly this feats works as Defensive Strike and Improved Feint, but only as long as the user increased his defense using the Shield Dedicated Dodge feat against that particular opponent
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Improvised shieldsQuite obviously some handheld object can be used as improvised shields, rather than weapons. Usually these improvised protections are rougly equivalent to a buckler or a small shield at best.
When a character use a object as an improvised shield this will grant him a Dodge bonus depending on his size and weight:
- Metal pot cover: grants a +1 to block rolls
- One handed implements (Garbage can cover, Stool): Shield 1
- Two handed implements (Chairs): Shield 2
- Larger items (Tables): works as an improvised pavise
An improvised shield will break after a number of attacks equal to its Toughness, or a single blow with a damage equal double its Toughness.
there's nothing fancy or tricky about Rock, he is just what he seem a highly efficient PL6 soldier. He is undercapped by one point on damage to allow him enough room to use a service rifle in place of the Thompson SMG
UPDATE: I followed JD suggestion and added the Direct Inspiration feat to the Helmet, I also rechecked the math and corrected the Doctor final cost
