Shields

[JollyGreenGiant]

I saw something in another thread, some time ago, about when you have a shield wielded, but no weapon.  I didn't really pay much attention to it at the time, but recently, I experienced it first-hand.  If you have a shield but no weapon, the game seems to be treating it as if you're fighting completely unarmed.  I suppose technically, you're "unarmed" at that point, but it seems wrong, somehow.  If you were offwielding even a dagger, you'd block more blows than if you're holding just a shield, which doesn't seem quite right.  Is this something that should be fixed, or that even can be fixed?

[Dan]

Get better with your shield is all I have to say. I had an assassin without parry and was disarmed. I must have blocked four rounds of attacks before realizing I had been disarmed, then grabbing up my weapon. Shielding is a highly underrated skill as it is.

Also what helps when having just one weapon as opposed to just a shield is the attacker's self-preservation. One might be a little more wary on the attack when there's a chance they're going to take a stab in the side.

But also, get better at shield_use

I had a half-giant bynner who could only use a shield in sparring for a good while. And I can say that it never felt like I was 'unarmed', in a sense of just being hit. My shield would catch maybe 1 out 5 when I first started, and gradually built up to where I was blocking maybe half the time, and then another 25% being actually hitting my shield, and then getting hit or dodging the last 25%.

It also helps if you wield the shield instead of holding it if you have no weapon.

[JollyGreenGiant]

But also, get better at shield_use

K.  

Thanks for the replies, btw.  You people are amazingly useful.

[creeper386]

From my experiences it's probably going to be a fairly older character before you get good enough to make a shield useful.

Personally think shields should be the easiest form of defense.

Creeper

[Lazloth]

From my experiences it's probably going to be a fairly older character before you get good enough to make a shield useful.

I completely disagree.

[Anonymous]

I recently had a shield wielding character and the shield was handy right off the bat. After 2 days it was very nice, could handle a couple of gortoks at the same time.

[Gar]

With an experienced shield user, you will block quite a few blows, unarmed.

[Jacques]

Wanted to start off by agreeing with many of the above posts. With shield_use, you can do AMAZING things with a shield. To say nothing of posing nude, and holding it in front of your naughty bits! But that's another topic...

I will also say that for characters who DON'T have shield_use, I've seen a BIG difference in the amount of times I hit them when sparring. It's a case of being hit EVERY round versus being hit two out of every three, or a similar proportion. Sure, you're still getting hit, but you're getting hit less.

And in this case, less is more! Less hits, more fighting time!  :twisted:

[spawnloser]

Wow...some guilds don't get shield use???

[Dan]

Wrong, every guild gets shielding and dual wielding.

Some are far better at it than others.

[spawnloser]

That's what I thought...hell, even merchants get shield use and dual wield...not that they can dual-wield anything other than shields.  (Note: Do not do this...I'm joking.  It is frowned upon, from everything I've heard.)