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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Elder-Basilisk" data-source="post: 294848" data-attributes="member: 3146">My thoughts on this:D&D shields are meant to be used in conjunction with armor. (Because bonusses to AC are more significant as a character reaches the high end of the AC scale for his level).A character with no armor but a sword and large shield is AC 12+dex. Not too impressive. Odds are good that a first level fighter will hit him roughly 50% of the time (as opposed to 60% of the time without the shield).OTOH, a first level fighter with chain mail and a large shield is AC 17 +dex. The same first level fighter will hit this character approximately 25% of the time (as opposed to 35% without the shield).In the conjunction with armor, a shield reduces the amount of hits a character sustains by almost 50%. Not too shabby. Without armor, however, the shield isn't much help. (It blocked about 17% of the damage the character would have taken).At higher levels, enchanted shields are essential for high armor classes. A 10th level fighter with +3 fullplate, a ring of protection +1 and an amulet of natural armor +1, and a 12 dex is AC 24. That character probably has a +15/+10 to +18/+13 attack bonus so against similar foes, he will usually take it on the chin.On the other hand, a character who had a +3 large shield as well would have AC 29 and will take a lot less damage (even the high end attack bonus stands only a 50% chance of hitting with the primary attack).This will break down, however, if a campaign reduces the amount of magic available. If magic fullplate isn't available, even a +1 shield will only take the character's AC to 24. And most attacks will still hit the character. If magic shields arent' available, the situation will become even worse for armor. Characters will often be better off eschewing heavy armor entirely and relying on spring attack to reduce damage and two handed weapons or dual wielding to inflict damage more quickly than their foes. In such a reduced magic campaign, characters need some way to scale their armor class with level. Increasing the power of shields across the board is one way to do this (Neverwinter Nights didn't break anything by making tower shields normal shields that gave a +3 armor bonus). A better way of dealing with the lack of magic would be to add a defense bonus similar to the mechanic in Wheel of Time or Star Wars d20. That would help make up for the lack of armor enhancements.</blockquote>

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