-- SHIELD DAMAGE / WEAPON DAMAGE --
Shields take damage in two ways under the Core 2E rules. The first is through a successful Sunder attack against the character's shield. The second occurs under the optional rule on page 174 (the Weapon Breakage Rule). When the character is using his Parry AC, and his foe's attack exactly equals the character's Parry AC, then, using the page 174 rule, a sunder attack is considered to be delivered equal to the amount of the damage. I always check the character's shield first (if he has one) before I check the weapon.
As an optional rule, why not allow a character's shield or weapon keep soak up some of the damage inflicted by a hit that does 20+ points of damage? This will sure keep a player's character alive longer in this gritty, dangerous game.
The rule would work like this:
1. Foe delivers 20+ points of damage to the character.
2. The character must be using his Parry AC. If using his Dodge AC, then use the Massive Damage rule and the Armor Damage rule as written in the Core rulebook.
3. If the attack throw is odd, then the character's Shield or Weapon will absorb some of the damage from the blow. If the attack throw is even, then use the Massive Damage rule and the Armor Damage rule normally.
4. If the character has a shield, and it was used to parry (it wasn't be used in a shield bash, and the character was using his Parry AC), then consider the shield first. If the character doesn't have a shield, consider that the character was defending using his weapon.
5. Consider that the total amount of damage was delivered to the shield or the weapon as a successful sunder attempt. Any left over damage is laid on the PC.
Example.
A Vanir warrior swings his double bladed axe at the character, hitting, doing 28 points of damage. The character is defending himself using his Parry AC, and he uses a targe.
As a successful sunder, the 28 points of damage are delivered to the target (which has Hardness 6 and 6 HP. Smash!, the shield caves in twain, but 6 points from the shield are removed from the damage. So, the character suffers 22 points of damage. That's still enough to trigger Massive Damage check.
The character makes the check, so the character does not die. But, he still takes the remaining 22 points of damage.
Shields take damage in two ways under the Core 2E rules. The first is through a successful Sunder attack against the character's shield. The second occurs under the optional rule on page 174 (the Weapon Breakage Rule). When the character is using his Parry AC, and his foe's attack exactly equals the character's Parry AC, then, using the page 174 rule, a sunder attack is considered to be delivered equal to the amount of the damage. I always check the character's shield first (if he has one) before I check the weapon.
As an optional rule, why not allow a character's shield or weapon keep soak up some of the damage inflicted by a hit that does 20+ points of damage? This will sure keep a player's character alive longer in this gritty, dangerous game.
The rule would work like this:
1. Foe delivers 20+ points of damage to the character.
2. The character must be using his Parry AC. If using his Dodge AC, then use the Massive Damage rule and the Armor Damage rule as written in the Core rulebook.
3. If the attack throw is odd, then the character's Shield or Weapon will absorb some of the damage from the blow. If the attack throw is even, then use the Massive Damage rule and the Armor Damage rule normally.
4. If the character has a shield, and it was used to parry (it wasn't be used in a shield bash, and the character was using his Parry AC), then consider the shield first. If the character doesn't have a shield, consider that the character was defending using his weapon.
5. Consider that the total amount of damage was delivered to the shield or the weapon as a successful sunder attempt. Any left over damage is laid on the PC.
Example.
A Vanir warrior swings his double bladed axe at the character, hitting, doing 28 points of damage. The character is defending himself using his Parry AC, and he uses a targe.
As a successful sunder, the 28 points of damage are delivered to the target (which has Hardness 6 and 6 HP. Smash!, the shield caves in twain, but 6 points from the shield are removed from the damage. So, the character suffers 22 points of damage. That's still enough to trigger Massive Damage check.
The character makes the check, so the character does not die. But, he still takes the remaining 22 points of damage.