Are Shields usefull ?

[Lifepath]

Hello everyone, I noticed shield armor is said to be ignored in their description in the wiki.
Does it mean they are useless or is it still good to carry one ?
Thanks a lot for any answer.

[Ameena]

I think any extra AC you get from carrying a shield is probably negligible. I never bother carrying any - they just take up space and weight capacity. I always have my chars carry a flask in their left hand - saves swapping it there every time I want to make a potion (which is quite often ).

[zoom]

yeah, it is a bit sad.
For looks and feel I sometimes give all my chars shields in hands.(really tedious, flasks are better as Ameena suggests)

The level in DM, where you first meet the coutal snakes that fly and get the first large shield comes to mind.
I have fond memories of equipping this shield(next to all the decent armor lying around there ) . Somehow felt better.

oh well, after all shields are nothing but useless crap.
(shields should really reduce likeliness of wounds of the hand. Hit attack option is useless, too.)
In DSB shields work differently (they have an effect there I think).

[Sophia]

In default DM I think it has been established that shields don't do anything.

In most modern remakes (like DSB and RTC) the clone authors decided to make them actually useful.

[Lifepath]

Thanks a lot for these answers !

[Christopher]

They were made somewhat useful in DM2. Some had various spells they could cast and you could actually successfully block thrown objects. However, this also keeps you from using two weapons per front row character, so even in DM2, they aren't that great. Shields are like the worm rounds of the armor class.

[Lord_BoNes]

Shields are like the worm rounds of the armor class.

LOL!

I'm making a dungeon. In my dungeon, I intend on making armor & shields far more useful... a metal shield being as good (defensively) as a torso plate.

In the real world, if two armies (dark ages style) met on the battlefield... identitical except one army had shields, one didn't... the one without shields would most likely be slaughtered. The shield was always better then even the most solid of armors. I feel that DM should be the same.

[Ameena]

I suppose it'd depend on the armies themselves...I mean, if the dudes with shields were huge, massive hulks of muscle who moved really slowly and the guys without shields instead wielded two swords and were really quick and agile, they could just sort of dart around/behind the big guys and stab 'em between the armour plates whilst avoiding getting hit .

[Lord_BoNes]

In that example, I said "two armies, identitical except one army had shields, one didn't"... But, yes you may have a point there... still, projectile weapons (bow & arrow) firing at guy with a shield, the shield at least does something... unlike in DM.

<RANT>
It'd be cool if RTC had an enable-able durability counter (like in Diablo)... So you're sword could go blunt or a bowstring could snap...
BoNes thinks evil thoughts
I'd only use it on armor though, make it so that the AC of the item would depend on the durability (50% of max durability, means 50% of max AC) with the "defense" value in the editor being the max AC.
It'd make an interesting mechanic.

With that mechanic, you could give a shield a high AC to start with... Then wear it down with damage.

Anyways... I've decided to end my rant here...
</RANT>

[Paul Stevens]

With that mechanic, you could give a shield a high AC to start with... Then wear it down with damage.

No problem. Use a Monster Attack Filter

[Lord_BoNes]

In RTC, there isn't any way to detect which member got "whooped", so there is no way to wear his/her shield down.

I was meaning that the amount damage taken off by the shield (AC) should be used to calculate the amount of durability to take off... so the more damaged it is, the less use it is, but the longer it will last.

Also fighting BIG monsters (like a dragon) would beat down your shield far quicker than, say, fighting screamers or mummys.

The durability of an item would have to be a floating point, but just rounded-up for display. When an item reaches 0 durability, there should be a convert tab, like when an item expires. That way you could make it break, turn to ash or rust, etc.

I'm an "outside-the-square" kind of guy... I like to think of things that no-one else does

[beowuuf]

Heh, you could do it with CSBwin

Edit: Infact, I was going to do it with CSBwin, but it was one of the many mechanics I never got around to, and constructing all the mechanics first stopped me actually doing the dungeon itself!

[ian_scho]

... and constructing all the mechanics first stopped me actually doing the dungeon itself!

Wow, it's like this in DSB too. There are soooo many funky features to play with that you forget you are working on a tight timescale (your lifetime).

[Jan]

...you forget you are working on a tight timescale (your lifetime).

[Gambit37]

you forget you are working on a tight timescale (your lifetime).

Yeah, it's kind of scary when you put it like that. I first started thinking about the Codex 10 years ago!!!!! WTF? Still, never say never...

[andyp3001]

Just a quick question. If you had shields in both hands, would that give better protection? It would theoretically block almost everything.

[Duckman]

They are far from useless, at least if ye can trust the hint books (i think it was "the lost scrolls of mt.anaias", for original, but they are same egine). They cover ALL parts of ye'r body. I have not tested but I think it is so. If ye ask me it's not usually worth carrying them if ye have one or two champions but wit' three or four ye should keep at least 2 wit' ye.

[Duckman]

Shields are like the worm rounds of the armor class.

LOL!

I'm making a dungeon. In my dungeon, I intend on making armor & shields far more useful... a metal shield being as good (defensively) as a torso plate.

In the real world, if two armies (dark ages style) met on the battlefield... identitical except one army had shields, one didn't... the one without shields would most likely be slaughtered. The shield was always better then even the most solid of armors. I feel that DM should be the same.

CERTAINLY would, as ye can always discard the shield if ye get so wounded ye cannot use ye'r weapon well with one hand.

[Duckman]

Just a quick question. If you had shields in both hands, would that give better protection? It would theoretically block almost everything.

I think aye, but only for THAT champion. and I nay think it would be nearly everythin' they block.