Shield Use

Shield Use is a skill a character trains in to increase their skill with a shield, therefore increasing defensive strength when the shield is in the character's off-hand.

Ranks and Training Point Costs

Type	Square			Semi			Pure
Profession	Rogue	Warrior	Monk	Bard	Paladin	Ranger	Cleric	Empath	Savant	Sorcerer	Wizard
Max Ranks Per Level	2	3	2	2	2	2	1	1
1	1
Training Point Cost	4/0	2/0	8/0	5/0	3/0	5/0	13/0	13/0
13/0	13/0

Defensive Strength Calculation: Blocking

Shield use is essentially the Blocking part of the Evade/Block/Parry system. The defensive strength generated by the shield is as follows:

((Shield Ranks + TRUNC(STR bonus/4) + TRUNC(DEX Bonus/4))/(1.5)) = Base DS bonus

Base DS bonus × Stance Modifier × (1.0 + Shield Size Modifier) + 20 + Shield enchant = Final DS bonus

0.5 + (Stance/2) = Stance Modifier

where shield size modifiers are as follows:

• Small shield: -0.15
• Medium shield: 0.00
• Large shield: 0.15
• Tower shield: 0.30

and stance is given by:

• offensive: 0
• advanced: .2
• forward: .4
• neutral: .6
• guarded: .8
• defensive: 1.

Note: the use of a large shield benefits the defensive strength generated by the Shield Use skill and the shield, however, larger shields harm the defensive strength provided by the Dodging skill. The larger the shield, the more harmful the shield is. A small shield lowers dodge DS by 20% where a tower shield lowers it by 50%. Shields generated by the bard song, Sonic Shield Song (1009) may be less harmful depending on how much Elemental Lore, Air training the bard has.

Shield Maneuvers

This system provides Warriors, Rogues, and Paladins with exclusive access to new options and abilities related to the Shield Use skill. The SHIELD (verb) provides access to this new system. The goal of this release is to provide new capabilities to the shield use character builds within the martial classes, so that those character builds can better compete with the powerful twohanded and ranged weapon builds.

The system is broadly similar to the existing CMAN and ARMOR systems. Each rank in the Shield Use skill provides the warrior, rogue, or paladin with one (1) Shield Training Point, which they may then use to buy ranks in the various SHIELD skills via SHIELD LEARN. Skills may be unlearned via SHIELD UNLEARN, and you may view the lists of skills to learn via SHIELD LIST. SHIELD HELP provides you with detailed information on each of the skills.

List of Available Shield Maneuvers

Shield Use Skills

Shield Skill	Paladin	Warrior	Rogue	Description
Small Shield Focus		Yes	Yes	Gain +2 bonus per rank to offensive shield attacks, a +2 bonus per rank against Sunder Shield, and a +1 bonus per rank to CvA.
Medium Shield Focus	Yes	Yes	Yes	Gain +2 bonus per rank to offensive shield attacks, a +2 bonus per rank against Sunder Shield, and a +1 bonus per rank to CvA.
Large Shield Focus	Yes	Yes		Gain +2 bonus per rank to offensive shield attacks, a +2 bonus per rank against Sunder Shield, and a +1 bonus per rank to CvA.
Tower Shield Focus	Yes	Yes		Gain +2 bonus per rank to offensive shield attacks, a +2 bonus per rank against Sunder Shield, and a +1 bonus per rank to CvA.
Shield Bash	Yes	Yes		Attack your foe with your shield to do improved crushing damage, longer stuns, greater chances for knockdowns, and more stance forcing over Shield Bash.
Shield Push	Yes	Yes		Attempt to push your foe away with your shield. Creatures can be pushed completely out of the room, players will merely be pushed back, both suffering Roundtime. You may specify a direction or exit to push a creature, or simply not specify a direction for a random direction.
Shield Pin		Yes		You launch an diversionary shield bash that deals no damage, immediately followed by a weapon attack. If your initial shield bash is successful, your subsequent weapon attack will gain additional critical weighting based on the initial shield bash's margin of success. The initial shield bash uses your ranks of Shield Bash for determining success, modified by your ranks in Shield Pin (-20 to success chance at Rank 1, -15 at Rank 2, -10 at Rank 3, -5 at Rank 4, and no penalty at Rank 5).
Shield Swiftness		Yes	Yes	The shield penalty to Dodge DS is reduced by approximately half the difference between a small and medium shield per rank.
Shield Brawler	Yes	Yes	Yes	The penalty to the Multiplier Modifier (MM) while wielding a shield during unarmed combat is reduced by -2 per rank.
Prop Up	Yes	Yes		Gain a 1/3 chance per rank to avoid being knocked to the ground due to critical damage. Gain a +5 bonus per rank against Sweep, Tackle, Bullrush, and Hamstring attacks.
Adamantine Bulwark		Yes		If a physical attack would inflict Roundtime (RT) on you, it inflicts 20%/35%/50% less RT at Ranks 1/2/3.
Shield Forward	Yes	Yes	Yes	For 15 seconds after using an offensive shield attack, you gain a +10 per rank enhancive bonus to Shield Use ranks for defensive purposes.
Shield Spike Focus	Yes	Yes	Yes	Reduces the penalty when using a spiked shield in conjunction with a shield attack by -5 per rank.
Shield Spike Mastery	Yes	Yes	Yes	Reduces the penalty when using a spiked shield in conjunction with a shield attack by -5 per rank.
Deflection Training		Yes	Yes	Upon successfully blocking a ranged missile or thrown weapon attack while in a forward or greater stance, there is a chance that the attack can be redirected against another enemy creature in the same room (or even the original attacker). This chance is 35%/55%/75% at Ranks 1/2/3.
Deflection Mastery		Yes	Yes	You gain a +2 per rank bonus against all CML attacks and a bonus per rank against other creature maneuver attacks.
Block the Elements	Yes	Yes		Reduces the damage dealt from elemental flares and ball spell explosions. Each additional rank provides for greater damage reduction, as do larger sized shields.
Deflect the Elements		Yes	Yes	Provides a chance to deflect the discharge of an elemental flare or ball spell explosion harmlessly away from yourself. Each additional rank allows for a greater chance to successfully deflect the elements, as do smaller sized shields.
Steady Shield		Yes	Yes	The penalty applied to your blocking chances while stunned is halved at Rank 1 and removed altogether at Rank 2.
Guard Mastery		Yes		At Rank 1, your chance to block an attack on your guarded ally is increased to 75% of your normal blocking chance (instead of the default 50%). At Rank 2, it is raised to 100% of your base blocking ability. At Rank 3, you no longer suffer the 25% penalty to your own blocking chances while guarding another.
Spell Block	Yes	Yes	Yes	Allows the blocking of magical ball/bolt spells at 25% per rank of your normal block chance, provided that you are using an ensorcelled or anti-magical shield to do so.
Shield Mind	Yes	Yes	Yes	Upon activation, you are placed in stance defensive and given a 10 second period where any warding spell cast upon you by another is automatically blocked (provided that you still are in stance defensive).
Protective Wall	Yes	Yes		At Rank 1, you halve the Defensive Strength (DS) penalty imposed on stunned, webbed, immobile, unconscious, rooted, or prone group members. At Rank 2, this benefit also applies to yourself.
Shield Strike	Yes	Yes	Yes	Launch a minor shield bash at your foe, followed by an immediate weapon strike at the same foe. The minor shield bash uses your ranks of Shield Bash for determining success, modified by your ranks in Shield Strike (-20 to success chance at Rank 1, -15 at Rank 2, -10 at Rank 3, -5 at Rank 4, and no penalty at Rank 5).
Shield Strike Mastery	Yes	Yes	Yes	When making a focused multi-attack, in addition to your normal strikes, you may end with a free minor shield bash.
Shield Trample		Yes		If you are successful upon attacking your primary target, it will be sent careening into another foe on the battlefield before falling to the ground. If a secondary maneuver check is passed, that foe will also be knocked down. All foes successfully affected by this maneuver will suffer Roundtime.
Shield Trample Mastery		Yes		Each rank of Shield Trample Mastery adds an additional foe to the maximum number of targets of a Shield Trample attempt.
Steely Resolve	Yes	Yes		For 30 seconds, you gain +15 Block DS per rank and a +15% chance per rank to block incoming attacks. There a 5 minute recovery period after using this ability, where it cannot be re-invoked.
Phalanx	Yes	Yes	Yes	There must be at least two capable Phalanx-trained members in a group before the Phalanx bonus may be activated. Each party member that is trained in Phalanx gains a [(Phalanx Rank * Combat Maneuvers Rank) / Level] bonus for themselves to their Block chances, plus a bonus (using the same formula) from the highest two trained Phalanx members. Each party member that is not trained in Phalanx gains half this bonus from up to three other party members. In order for a party member to count towards the Phalanx bonus, they must be able to have a chance to block the incoming attack on their own (which injury or insufficient levels may prevent).

Shield Martial Stances

Shield Skill	Paladin	Warrior	Rogue	Description
Disarming Presence		Yes	Yes	This is a Martial Stance. When you successfully block a melee weapon attack while in a forward or greater stance, you have a chance to attempt to knock the weapon from the attacker's grasp. The chance to react is 30%/50%/70% at Ranks 1/2/2. The disarm attempt takes 2 seconds of RT and are limited to one every (6 - Rank) seconds.
Tortoise Stance		Yes		This is a Martial Stance. While in this stance, you gain an additional chance to block attacks. This chance activates 75% of the time at Rank 1, and is automatic at Rank 2 or greater. You suffer an attack strength (AS) penalty of -50 at Rank 1, -35 at Rank 2, and -20 at Rank 3.
Shield Riposte		Yes	Yes	This is a Martial Stance. When you are struck by a melee attack while in a forward or greater stance, you have a chance to respond with a free reactive shield bash. This bash deals no damage, but instead knocks your opponent off-balance and into greater roundtime (RT). The chance to react is 50%/75%/100% at Ranks 1/2/3. Larger shields apply a penalty to the reaction chance (-5% per shield size above small), but apply more RT upon a successful bash. Shield Ripostes are limited to one every (6 - Rank) seconds.

Changes since GemStone III

The effectiveness of a shield in Gemstone III depended heavily on the enchantment of the shield, in a formula where the shield's benefit was calculated with (Enchantment Bonus + 20). Therefore, a 4× shield produced, literally, twice as much defensive strength as an unenchanted shield, where an 8× shield produced three times as much defensive strength as an unenchanted shield. Also, there was no difference, mechanically, between a buckler and a tower shield.

External Links

• http://www.play.net/gs4/info/combatguide.asp#factors
• http://www.play.net/gs4/info/skills.asp#shielduse
• http://www.play.net/gs4/info/armory/armorshields.asp