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:
where shield size modifiers are as follows:
- Small shield: 0.85
- Medium shield: 1.00
- Large shield: 1.15
- Tower shield: 1.30
and stance modifier is given by:
- offensive: 0.5
- advanced: 0.6
- forward: 0.7
- neutral: 0.8
- guarded: 0.9
- defensive: 1.0
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.
Example 1
Shield DS for a character with:
- Shield Ranks: 60
- Strength Bonus: 20
- Dex Bonus: 18
- Shield Enchant: +20 (4x)
- Shield Size: Large (1.15 factor)
- Stance: Offensive (0.5 factor)
- Step 1 (Base Value) Calculations
- (60 + trunc(20 ÷ 4) + trunc(18 ÷ 4)) / 1.5 = 44 Base Value
- Step 2 (Shield DS) Calculations
- 44(Base Value) × .5(Stance) × 1.15(Shield Factor) + 20 (Shield bonus) + 20 (Enchant bonus) = 65 DS
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.
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 4X shield produced twice as much defensive strength as an unenchanted shield, where an 8X 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.