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Message: <blockquote data-quote="aspqrz01" data-source="post: 8140504" data-attributes="member: 7026713">Shields ARE Armour ...Another thing that virtually all RPGs grossly mishandle -- Shields.For most people in the Medieval (and Classical) period, the only armour they could afford was a Shield ... possibly supplemented with Textile Body Armour (more on which in a later Update).Yet RPGs provide little benefit to characters whose only armour is a Shield - and only minimal benefit to characters who carry a Shield and wear body armour ... requiring the PC to actively parry in order to provide any protection at all.This is, of course, complete rubbish. Round, Kite and Heater Shields (overwhelmingly the most common types in the medieval period) covered all of the body from neck to knee or below ... except the weapon arm, of course ... so something like 75-80% of all combat hits should automagically hit the shield without the need to parry.And Shields were tough ... according to ancient authors, it took an average of 32-33 arrows to 'break' a Shield, and some report Shields peppered with more than 100 arrow and still intact. Despite some ridiculous YouTube videos of faux-Viking shields made out of softwood (well, maybe not faux ... little is known for certain about Viking shields from Scandinavia, but it seems unlikely anyone would bother with a poorly made softwood shield which can barely survive 3 or 4 blows) the evidence suggests, and this is period evidence, that the prime target of the initial flurry of combat in battle was for an attacker to attack the defender's Shield, with a view to hacking it to pieces.And even that was mostly done after their Spear (their primary weapon) had broken or been discarded for some reason ... before that, Spears were used overhand to attack the defenders by bypassing the Shield. Of course, this meant aiming for a much smaller target than the whole body, which is basis for hit chances in pretty much all RPGs.So, Medieval looks at ways of making Shields as powerful as they were in real life ...Of course, you don't carry these large Shields in Town ... but you don't wear armour there openly, not under most circumstances ... but you do on the Battlefield.</blockquote>

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