Shields and Protection Roll and Blocking

[obatron]

For protection rolls, do the shield Dice add to the armor dice if they were not used to block, or is that what the Shield Skill means by "Characters without Shield Trianing must actively block with a sheild in order to gain its benefits?"

I'm guessing it means that if I have the shield skill, I can add the dice to my protection roll. If I don't, then I can add the dice only if I do a shield block.

Does the dice add to the Block action if I do not have the shield skill?

Or am I completely off the mark?

Bob

[Kublai]

Unused shield dice are not added into the armor roll. They are unused and wasted.

Shield training allows you do get the Block and Strike bonus which automatically gives you Block dice.

Without the training, you must script Block or Counterblock in order to use the shield.

Think of shield dice to be used in conjunction with a skill instead of with armor.

[obatron]

Pardon my density... :oops:

So, if I have the shield skill and script say a strike on Volley 1 and someone else scripted a strike against me, I'd get a "free" block attempt? Would this still use the weopon skill dice, or just the shield dice?

Bob


Unused shield dice are not added into the armor roll. They are unused and wasted.

Shield training allows you do get the Block and Strike bonus which automatically gives you Block dice.

Without the training, you must script Block or Counterblock in order to use the shield.

Think of shield dice to be used in conjunction with a skill instead of with armor.

[Kublai]

You have a choice of how react to the incoming blow. With the magnificent Shield Training skill, you create one large pool of dice by combining your weapon skill with the shield dice (make sure to keep shield dice a seperate color since they are affected by VA). Then you can split up that pool as you see fit.

Using your example, we'll say you have a weapon skill of B4. You have a shield which grants two dice. Using the Block and Strike option gained from the Shield Training, you can split up six dice any way you'd like to, much like a Counterstrike, but I think the minimum dice put into your block should be equal to the shield bonus. So you could go 3 strike and 3 block, or 4 and 2, or 2 and 4, or 1 and 5!

[luke]

Hi Bob,

Page 107 of the BW goes over this in detail.

Shield is a training skill that roots off of your weapon skill. So if you have a Sword and Shield fighter, he can use his Sword skill for his Shield Blocks. He's been trained to do this.

When he scripts a Strike, he may use just the Shield's dice to protect him while he lunges, or he may add his skill dice into the Shield's to offer better protection.

[eruditus]

This can really be confusing, especially with the talks on the boards.

1) Shields do not count toward armor rolls.

2) Without Shield Training shields only give you a bonus to Block and Counterstrike actions. If you do not script those actions you do not use the shield.

3) If you do have the Shield Training skill you get an additional choice of actions called Block & Strike. On a Strike action the combatant may now allocate dice from his Weapon pool (plus his bonus shield dice) to a defensive roll. The Shield dice can only be used toward the defensive roll.

Hope these varied explanations clarify things for you.