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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Pinotage" data-source="post: 2751652" data-attributes="member: 15194">E.N. Armoury: ShieldsE.N. Armoury: Shields is the second volume in the E.N. Armoury line from E.N.Publishing, the other volume being E.N. Armoury: Chainmail Bikinis. The pdf is written by Adam Windsor and includes some good material on expanding shields, including new variants, new feats, prestige classes, spells, magical enhancements and a good variety of optional and new rules material. The pdf is 33 pages long, 30 pages of which contain actual content. E.N. Armoury: Shields normally retails for $4.95. This review was done as part of Crothian's Review Project. Disclaimer: Note that the reviewer is a d20 freelance writer with recent published material through another publisher. All effort has been made by the reviewer to ensure that this is an impartial review.Initial Impressions:E.N. Armoury: Shields is the latest product in the E.N. Armoury line. It comes as a single pdf file, fully bookmarked, and barring the blue cover not too graphics intensive to make printing difficult (the chapter headings, for example, are not solid fill, but rather outlined letters). Having recently reviewed two products from the E.N. Arsenal line, which shares the layout template with the E.N. Armoury line, I was very pleased to see that some significant changes had been made. For one, while the greyscale background images that herald new chapters are still there, they're much lighter and thereby making reading a lot easier and the image no longer interferes with the text. In addition, there is no duplicate art in the pdf, yet, with the addition of a few photographs of variant shields such as the zulu hide shield, the number of art pieces remains roughly the same. As usual, a full table of contents is provided, although this time there is no table of tables. Overall, I was pleased with the layout and the readability of the pdf, and the changes made for a much easier and enjoyable read.The Details:Like other products in the Armoury and Arsenal lines, the pdf is divided into five chapters, each detailing a different aspect of shields. I have to admit that I appreciate the similarity in layout and structure of these pdfs, as it makes it feel more like a series, rather than a bunch of separate books. Adam Windsor does a good job with the writing, and, being familiar with some of his other work for Clockwork Golem workshop and Malhavoc Press, this is another excellent pdf from him. But, it's shields you came here to read about, so on with the details of what the pdf contains.Chapter 1 - Shields: This chapter starts with a brief history on shields, and draws from material presented in Tarassuk and Blair's 'The Complete Encyclopaedia of Arms and Weapons'. It's not presented in great detail, and I certainly would've appreciated some more detail on the development of the shield, including advances made by the Romans, for example. The chapter continues by providing statistics for the different types of shields, and brief discussions on the typical shields found in the d20 game. This includes statistics for different sizes of shields (particularly relevant when used for bashing), and optional rules for primitive shields and using inappropriately sized shields. The chapter concludes with racial preferences, and, understandably there aren't many specific preferences. The thing I like most about this pdf is that it presents material that will put something back into the 'sword and board' fighter that seems to have been superseded by the two-handed power attacker. A good and well-presented overview, but by no means complete.Chapter 2 - Shield Variants: This chapter looks at new shield variants, new shield materials, additional craftsmanship work that can be performed on shields, and a new special material. New variants include the discus shield that can slash and be thrown, the great shell shield which is a tower shield variant made from turtle shells, the locking shield for troops in formation, the parrying stick, and the pavise, a tower shield used by archers during the 16th century. Full details on each of these shields is provided, both defensive and offensive capabilities. New shield materials include the hide shield used by, for example, the zulu warrior, or the wicker shield. Useful tables are provided that summarise the properties of these shield variants, as well as their special characteristics, such as the parrying stick only providing a shield bonus to AC against melee attacks. I can certainly see the use of some of the shields in any campaign, particularly the locking shield and the pavise.The chapter continues with additional features that can be crafted into shields, thereby making them harder or more durable, or even adding a disarming spike to a shield so that it can be used to disarm. A new special material, serpentwood, is provided, and a new weapon (also usable by monks) called the steel sleeve. Overall I found a lot of useful material in this chapter, with some good descriptive flavor.Chapter 3 - Fighting and Feats: This chapter provides a number of new uses for shields in combat and new feats for shieldbearers. Shield uses include dazzling opponents with highly polished shields, using oversized shields for cover, using a shield for sledding (for all you Legolas fans out there!), using a shield as a stand to bridge gaps, or even more mundane uses as a digging or eating utensil or even firewood. A useful table is provided to indicate which of the new variant shields is suitable to each of these new uses. Overall I think this is a good addition to any game, and provides material that most DMs and players will find some use for.The next part of the chapter involves feats. The pdf states that these are drawn from other sources and rewritten (twice actually in a rare editing error), although the OGL section 15 doesn't mention any of these sources. There are a total of ten new feats provided, which include Shieldbearer that allows a shield user to protect and ally with his own shield, Shield Expert granting more defensive use from a shield, Tower Shield Mastery for those that want to excel at the use of the tower shield, Buckler Strike to bash with a buckler, and Shield Parry, to forgo bashing in favor of defence. One feat called Raging Power Attack caused a slight raise of the eyebrow, as it allows any character within a rage to gain +2 damage per -1 attack modifier (as for a two-handed weapon) when using a one-handed weapon. This allows raging barbarians with this feat to be brutal and gain the AC from a shield, which I thought may be a bit too strong. Overall, though, a good selection that will encourage characters towards sword and board rather than two-handed weapons.Chapter 4 - Classes of the Shield: Prestige Classes. The two products from the Arsenal line that I've reviewed were particularly weak in this area. I'm very pleased to say that for this pdf, the prestige classes shine, and are by far the best part of the pdf. Each offers enough background and flavour to go with the text, and the prestige classes have a sense of direction in their abilities. Almost all of them encouraged me to think about using them, and I hope to get the opportunity to do so. Very nice selection of prestige classes. The prestige classes presented include the Faithwarden (a defender of faith and religion), the Knight Herald (a warrior standing between his liege and his enemies, a diplomatic knight), the Ramshield Berserker (barbarians from the mountains that have developed their own shield-based fighting style), the Shieldmage (an abjuration specialist competent in the use of a shield to drive his magic), and the tower legionnaire (elite mercenaries proficient in warfare and formation fighting, particularly with tower shields - I'd looking forward to having elite hobgoblins within this class using locking shields as well!). All of these are good, offering a range of roleplaying opportunities and have solid and balanced builds, although the Ramshield Berserker does gain the Raging Power Attack feat as described above, and eventually the ability to do so outside of raging. The shieldmage and the tower legionnaire will certainly be in the back of my mind in the next adventures I run.Chapter 5 - Shield Magic: The last chapter in the pdf concentrates on magic - spells, shield enhancements, special shields and more. It also presents a new deity and two domains based on shields and protection. Of the spells Summon Shieldward is a great little spell, where a living shield in summoned and attached to a wearer's arm. I really like the idea, and its usefulness, basically akin to a living ring of force shield. Enhancements include resonating to protect against sundering, transforming to change the type of shield, and hideous to frighten enemies.One of the nice things about this pdf is that all the material ties together nicely with the new material presented in this pdf, and material found in the core rules. Almost all of the content is useful in some form, but its the prestige classes that are the best part of the pdf.Conclusions:E.N. Armoury: Shields is a pdf product focused on the shield, and includes some useful, eclectic, and exciting material for those interested in expanding your shield horizons or showing that greatsword weapon wielder that it's not all about power. This is a good little product from E.N. Publishing, and well worth a look at. Based on content, much improved layout, usefulness of material, excellent prestige classes and general clear writing, I'd grade this pdf with four stars, or a very good pdf.</blockquote>

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