Revised Shields III

These rules were created to reflect the distinct advantage that a shield using 
person has over a non-shield using person, in accordance with information gathered 
from people who do battle reenactments, and use weapons and shields in medieval 
combat contests.

Type		    Buckler  Small Round     Large Round       Kite	  Tower
Weight		      3		 5 lbs		10 lbs		15 lbs	   25 lbs
MD loss		      0		 2		 3	 	 4	    6
PS Required	      8		11		14		17	   20
Base Block	     -6		 0		 6		12	   20
Max shield rank: 4

At rank 0, add MD to blocking %
Add 4% per rank to blocking %
Blocking %, or shield defense = Base block + MD + Rank *4
Defense % = Modified agility + shield blocking %

There is no blocking set up for a main gauche, as that weapon evolved around 
fencing with lighter swords, such as the rapier, and would be generally innefective 
against larger and heavier combat weapons.  If the situation does arise, where 
characters with rapier and main gauche do fight, use the rules as stated in the 
book, giving an extra defense of 2 per rank.

Small and large round shields are made of wood and hides, while kite and tower are 
made of metal, therefore only the kite and the tower affect magical casting.

Also note that agility loss may decrease TMR.  

Blocking % is used depending upon the situation.  
Modified agility is still always subtracted from any strike check

A shield can block a number of attacks according to rank:
1 attack at ranks 0-1, 2 attacks at ranks 2-3, and 3 attacks at rank 4.



Optional Rule for attacks from large weapons:

If a weapon outweighs the shield, then the shield cannot stop the blow of the 
weapon, and should simply add additional protection similar to armor.  This would 
occur any time a large weapon hits the shielded person, other than directly 
affecting endurance hits.  The amount of protection the shield should add is 
equal to:
	
   10 points - (weapon weight - shield weight) with a minimum of 1 point of protection.

Example: Battle Axe striking a buckler would be:
	10 - ( 5 lbs axe - 3 lbs shield) = 8, so the shield bearer would greatly 
	reduce the damage of the battle axe.

This rule was put into affect, to account for the possibility of a character being 
hit by a massive weapon such as a giant mace (25 lbs), where putting up a  small 
shield would hardly absorb the force of the blow.  Only a tower shield would help 
much in this instance, all other shields would only add 1 point of protection.  
Against human sized creatures, the large round shield would be affective at stopping 
almost all weapons.