I was made aware that I did not do my job correctly in my last post and may not have done my due diligence. Let's try to rectify that now. Hopefully.
 |
| Image courtesy of Paizo, Inc. |
But it is not perfect and I think the system is a bit
inconsistent in how they approach them. If you read the class entries you get
the idea that if you dedicate some class feats to using shields you're going to
be blocking all the time, but then you get to the treasure section and you
realize that you can only do that semi-regularly if you use one specific magic
shield. There are a couple other shields that you can use for a couple levels,
but then it's back to the only one that scales with you. Eventually, this will
probably be rectified as Paizo releases more and more shields that are okay at
shield blocking.
I spoke in a slight hyperbole in my last post when I said
there were no options to make Shield Block useable beyond the Sturdy Shield. It
is still the primary option keeping that feat-locked action that has so many
feats that modify it viable, but there are others.
Shields
*** Before I get called out for this as well, I'm primarily
only looking at Standard Grade precious materials. I only use Standard Grade
because it greatly simplifies crafting. It has nothing to do with this shield
house rule. On the positive note, looking through them, there is such a
minuscule difference between the stats of almost all the standard and
high-grade shields that nothing that I'm saying below gets nullified by using
the high-grade version vice the standard. ***
The "shields made for blocking" (a silly argument
since all shields are made to block damage. It'd be like saying a weapon
doesn't do damage because you get a special ability with it) from the core
rulebook are as follows:
- The many iterations of Sturdy Shield – Default option. High Hardness, Hit Points, and Break Threshold.
- Spined Shield – This is okay around the level you get it at, but in about 4ish levels it's going to be only slightly better than any of the other shields. As a level 7 item, it only has 6 hardness, 24 hp, 12 bt, but it effectively has an additional 30 hp if you don't make use of its ability to shoot one of its five jagged spines at enemies (each spine is 6 hp).
- Arrow-catching Shield – 10 hardness, 60 hit points, level 11 item. It's fine. It'd be better if it's hardness and hit points actually kept up with the damage output of monsters since its only ability is about shield blocking. Being one step behind every iteration of Sturdy Shields (since it's got a special ability) would make this more functional long term.
- Indestructible Shield – The blocking shield if you want pure longevity. The four highest versions of the Sturdy Shield all have the same hardness as the Indestructible Shield (13), but you only need to worry about it's hit points if it gets hit by a disintegrate spell. It cannot get damaged otherwise. It's effectively DR 13 anytime you shield block that stacks with all other DR on your person. It's great. It's also an 18th level rare item, so not too many people are going to get that.
- Orichalcum Shield – This looks like it is supposed to be a "blocking" shield. It has a solid hardness, 14 (16 for high-grade), but it's hit points are only 56 (64 for high-grade). This is a 17th level rare item. That amount of hit points means that you should be able to block a single average hit probably the rest of your career before it breaks, but two will break it.
- Adamantine Shield – This isn't bad for an 8th level item (hardness 10/13, hp 40/52), but it's going to quickly become useless as the damage outpaces it's hit points.
That is it for "blocking" shields in the core
rulebook. One shield you have to keep tossing away for the next model, one
that's a level 18 rare item, and three that are passable for a short window
(except the Orichalcum Shield).
Other shields in the book (I'm only going to call out the
standard-grade precious material standard shield for my own sanity). Note: * = uncommon,
** = rare, (#) = level of the item, HD=Hardness, HP/BT=Hit Points/Break
Threshold
- Cold Iron (7) – HD 7, HP/BT 28/14
- *Darkwood (8) – HD 5, HP/BT 20/10
- *Dragonhide (8) – HD 4, HP/BT 16/8 (immune to one damage type, otherwise it might as well be a piece of paper)
- *Mithral (8) – HD 5, HP/BT 20/10
- Silver (7) – HD 5, HP/BT 20/10
- *Dragonslayer's Shield (9) – HD 8, HP/BT 32/18 (somehow this is only resistant to a damage type as opposed to immune, and isn't a Dragonhide Shield despite being a shield covered in dragonhide.)
- *Floating Shield (11+) – HD 6, HP 24/12 (the level 11 version floats for a minute once per day, 16th can float as often as you want. Basically a +2 bonus to AC aeon stone you don't have to invest.)
- *Force Shield (9) – HD 8, HP/BT 32/16
- *Forge Warden (10) – HD 10, HP/BT 24/12 (half of its special ability is apparently designed to destroy the shield to protect an ally since its activation ability triggers a shield block for an adjacent ally).
- Lion's Shield (6) – HD 6, HP/BT 36/18
- *Reflecting Shield (18) – HD 6, HP/BT 24/12
- Spellguard Shield (6) – HD 6, HP/BT 24/12
That's 12 shields that are "not meant for blocking,"
five of which have zero special ability that makes them more appealing than a
Sturdy Shield (not counting dragonhide's damage immunity since you generally
can't block purely elemental attacks and mithral's lighter bulk weight).
The average amount of HP across all the shields (minus the
Indestructible Shield, since it's hit points don't matter for shield blocking
purposes, and the Sturdy Shield, since it's the only shield that scales)
is 28.75. The average hardness (with the same removals) is 7.25. Let's say
shields are generally balanced around a hardness of 7 and 30 hit points with a
break threshold of 15.
That means with the average special shield, that has no way
of improving via runes or crafting as weapons and armors do (remember, this is
a world without the one shield that does actually scale and the level 18 rare
shield that takes no damage), a total 22 damage breaks it and 37 damage
destroys it flat out.
Most of these shields should be dropping into player's lives
around level 7 or so. According to the GMG, the average damage for a creature's
primary attack is around 20 for a level 7 creature. The average damage for a
creature only one step higher breaks this average shield. An average critical
could do enough damage to destroy most shields at the level you should be
getting them. It only gets worse as the creatures start out leveling the shield
by a handful of levels.
But that's the average special shield, not the shields made
for blocking. Let's look at those.
The Adamantine shield requires 30 points of damage before
being broken in a single strike and 50 before being destroyed in a single
strike. Around the time you might get it, you'll be able to block two average
damage strikes.
The Arrow-catching Shield probably starts popping up around 9th-10th
level and it's a solid shield. Requires 40 hp to break in a single blow, 70 to
be destroyed. You'll be able to block 2ish average attacks and probably be able
to block a single average hit for a while.
Throw in the appropriate level Sturdy Shield, and you can
soak about three average hits before the shield is no longer useable. Except
for the lowest level version which can block about five.
Based on this, around the time you get access to a shield,
most are good for about one block before becoming broken, Sturdy Shields are
good for about three, and the other "blocking" shields are good for
about two average hits before becoming broken. This is a gross simplification
and only applies around the level the item becomes available. After about 4ish
levels this breaks down hard.
Shield Cantrip
Looking at the shield cantrip, this spell seems to
lend credence to the idea that a shield block is supposed to remove the shield
from the fight based on the 10-minute recharge if you shield block with it.
BUT, the cantrip costs you nothing, you never have to repair
it, you never have to worry about its hit points, it has no bulk value, it
doesn't take up a hand, it's hardness scales with you automatically, and can
block magic missiles. Additionally, when it breaks, it's not a useless
lump on your arm weighing you down until you drop it and if it gets destroyed
(if it could) you don't have to pay for another magic item that is priced
around the same as a permanent magical weapon that has no real chance of being
broken through normal use.
Improving Shield Survivability
Unlike weapons and armor, there are very few ways to improve
a shield barring getting the next Sturdy Shield or getting a high-grade shield
(since most tables probably use high-grade items), with a HUGE nod towards the
Sturdy Shield. But there are a few.
Consumables
Two consumables improve a shield's survivability: the
Fortifying Pebble and Mending Lattice. Both are uncommon talismans.
- The Fortifying Pebble, once affixed, can reduce the amount of damage an item takes by 10 for that batch of damage. Not terrible and it's a level 4 item. It might allow you to get an additional block in before the shield is broken, or maybe save it from being destroyed.
- The Mending Lattice is a 13th level talisman that negates all damage from an attack to the item and fully repairs it. This is an amazing talisman that can make any shield last your entire carrier, as long as you have a bag of holding full of them.
The biggest issue with these is that there is no other combat
tactic that relies on a consumable of that expense to make viable without
having some kind of way of making them built into the class or adding improved
levels of the item. It'd be like making all of the foundation runes into
consumables instead of permanent runes.
As an added bonus, there is the 7th level,
uncommon talisman: the Swift Block Cabochon that allows you to trigger it as a
free action and use the Shield Block reaction, even if the shield wasn't raised
and if you didn't have the Shield Block feat.
Feats
There are a couple of things that can extend the life of
your shield in terms of feats.
- Quick Repair – This skill feat can technically let you repair your shield in the middle of combat once you're a master in Crafting, but still requires you to place the shield on a stable surface and using a repair kit. So limited usefulness in combat and more about reducing the amount of downtime between fights.
- Shield Paragon – A 20th level champion feat that treats your shield as always raised, doubles its hp/bt, and if it were to be destroyed, it regenerates during your next daily preparations.
- Shield Salvation – A Bastion feat that saves a shield you are using from being destroyed, instead, being reduced to 1 hp and useless for the rest of the fight.
- Everstand Stance – An uncommon Champion and Fighter feat that is available to members of the Knights of Lastwall. By giving up a weapon, you use a shield in both hands, increase the damage die of the shield a step, and improve the hardness by 2.
Then there are a bunch of feats that increase the number of
times you can shield block or modify it.
- Shield Warden – A Champion, Fighter, and Bastion feat that allows you to shield block for an adjacent ally, but doesn't actually make the shield tougher. Also, there is almost no scenario where it is worth it for a champion to take this feat. The champion's reaction is almost always a better option and has no chance of breaking.
- Quick (Shield) Block – A Champion, Fighter, and Bastion feat that gives you an extra reaction each turn that you can only use to shield block, but doesn't actually make the shield any tougher.
- Shield of Reckoning – A Champion feat that allows you to trigger your champion's reaction when you shield block. Very nice, but doesn't actually make your shield any tougher.
- Shield of Grace – A Champion feat that allows you to split the damage between yourself and the ally you used the shield block for, but doesn't actually make the shield any tougher.
- Aggressive Block – A Fighter feat where you can Shove as a free action when you shield block, but it doesn't actually make your shield any tougher.
- Reflexive Shield – A Fighter and Bastion feat that allows you to shield block damage that you take from something that requires a Reflex save, but doesn't actually make your shield any tougher. It does have the very good other bit of its ability where you get to add your shield's AC bonus to your Reflex save when you have your shield raised – so still a good feat regardless of the shield you use.
- Improved Reflexive Shield – A Fighter feat that allows you to protect adjacent allies as well as yourself when you use shield block vs damage from something that requires a Reflex save, but doesn't actually make your shield any tougher.
- Boundless Reprisals – A 20th level Fighter feat that allows you to gain a reaction at the start of every enemy's turn. Technically a bit of a stretch here since it doesn't actually say you HAVE to use Shield Block to take advantage of this (as Quick Shield Block does), but it could be an incentive if you are a shield minded Fighter.
- Disarming Block – A Bastion feat that allows you to Disarm as a free action when you shield block but doesn't actually make the shield any tougher.
- Then there's this feat that is directly counterproductive to a shield's survival (though extremely beneficial to your own)
- Destructive Block – A Bastion feat that hates you having a shield that functions. You reduce the damage you take by double the shield's hardness when you shield block, but you apply double damage to the shield (before hardness). Not only does it not make your shield any tougher, but you are also pretty much guaranteed to explode your shield on anything other than a Sturdy Shield (and maybe then too).
There are a handful of other shield-based feats, but they
have no impact on a shield's health, hardness, or shield block. They are
usually about Raising your Shield or allowing you to control a space better
while wielding a shield.
That is an awful lot of feats that give you additional
instances where you can use your shield block and make the shield block action
better so that you can do that once or twice before the shield is useless or is
destroyed for almost all shields at the level you get them with no way of
making them better beyond trading over to the one shield that's good at it.
That's a VERY steep price for those feats for a very small return if you want
an interesting shield. Especially since the two main classes that get all these
feats already have a good or great use for their single reaction.
Even the feats that improve a shield's survivability are a
steep ask. The Everstand Stance requires you to give up a weapon to turn your
shield into an okay weapon that will still be useless if you take advantage of
the other half of the feat's ability once or twice. Shield Salvation doesn't
come into play until 12th level, can only be used once per day, and
still results in having a useless lump on your arm if you got lucky (unlucky?)
enough to block a hit that brought you to just above your break threshold
before blocking again. Shield Paragon is great, no question, but it's a 20th
level feat. Not going to get a whole lot of use out of that one.
Class Features
There is one class feature that improves a shield's
survivability: a Champions Divine Shield Ally that adds 2 to your chosen
shield's hardness and increases it's hit points and break threshold by 50%.
Observations
From what I've found, "effect" shields (ones
"not meant for blocking") can block about one average hit, "blocking"
shields can block about two average hits, and Sturdy Shields can block about
three average hits around the levels they start showing up before breaking. There
are some outliers, but not enough to really be a factor.
If shields were really only meant to block one to two
average blows per repair before breaking, why not just say that? Why hide it
behind maths and hit points? Why is Shield Block locked behind a feat if it's
that restricted of a bonus? Why are there so many feats that expand the use of
Shield Block? Why do shields cost as much as permanent weapons that don't have
the same risk of breaking when you use them (for attack or defense)? Is
reducing the damage by about 6-10 (usually, but a small handful have around
12-15) once or twice per combat really THAT big of a game-breaker when a
champion can reduce WAY more damage AND have another cool effect and literally
do it every round without having to worry about losing it?
None of that makes sense.
Yes, shields have the +2 bonus to AC if you raise them, but
that is a different thing. To get that you are using up one of your three
actions on your turn instead of doing other things. Is it a great use of an
action? Absolutely, but you're giving up a lot for it as well (a free hand to
use maneuvers or interact with things and an action that could be used for
other things primarily). I've no issue with that mechanic. It's a great effect
at a reasonable cost. Additionally, Pathfinder has a few other ways to gain the
same bonus without using a shield.
Shield Block has additional costs to it. You have to have
the Shield Block general feat, you have to have your shield raised (using an
action on your turn), and you have to use your one reaction per round. All to
block an average of 7 damage once or twice a round (not counting the Sturdy
Shield) before you can't even use the Raise Shield action anymore. That's a
HUGE cost for a very minimal gain, especially when so many classes can almost do
just about the same thing while never having to risk the need to replace it
(the barbarian's renewed vigor, a cleric's replenishment of war, the champion's
divine reaction for others, etc).
Questions
So from the year or so of play, discussions on the Paizo
forum, and writing this article I've really nailed down what I have a problem
with in how shields and the shield block reaction interact. There are two
sticking points I have: One, there are too many feats that encourage you to
shield block while limiting you to primarily one shield; two, if you like a
shield and want to shield block as often as you could with it when you first
got it, there is no way to improve that like there is for other permanent combat
equipment.
There are two main questions regarding shields and the
shield block action if we want to look at how to possibly address them:
How many times should you be able to use Shield Block before repairing it?
This one is tricky and a lot stickier of the questions based
on the backlash about expanding the number of times shields can be used for
Shield Block.
Before all this and the discussions last week, I would have
said I'd be happy with about three to five blocks before becoming useless.
Maybe an additional time with a chance of either being broken or destroyed (a
la the overcharging rules for wands).
After all the discussions, that's probably better as an
upper limit.
Should a shield be able to be destroyed outside of effects that specifically state that they destroy items?
Initially, my answer was, "yes, of course they should.
You're throwing them directly in the way of damage!", and that seems to be
the consensus of people. I could go either way.
Options
Two main things need to happen here: a shield's blocking
ability needs to scale with a character without breaking the balance of things
(my previous rule failed a bit to a lot here depending on the shield) and
preferably allow those who devote some of their class feats to
expanding/improving shield blocking to not feel like they need to use the
Sturdy Shield.
- You could numerically scale the shields in one of two ways: Take the bonuses that a Sturdy Shield has over the others shields and turn each of those into Runes that can be applied to all shields (other than Sturdy Shields) or make it an inherent bonus tied to a character's level. This has been done all over the internet, so I'm not going to further explain the numbers for this one. Both of these suffer from the main complaint to my previous rule in that they improve some shield's hardness or hit points are brought into useable range while others are pushed beyond reasonable.
- You could remove the brake threshold from shields so that they are either okay until they reach zero hit points. This pretty much doubles the number of times you can block with a shield before it's useless. I would not have a shield become destroyed at this point, it would only be Broken. I supposed you could throw a "if it takes an amount of damage past 0 that would equal it's maximum hit points, it is destroyed instead of broken." This unfortunately doesn't change much except allow shields to mostly block about twice as much, making Sturdy Shields immensely powerful while the weaker shields are useable for a bit longer.
- Figure out how many times you are comfortable with players being able to shield block before the shield becomes useless and needs repaired and ignore the hit points and break threshold altogether. All this does is remove the math behind shields much like the way that Paizo did with Encumbrance and Experience Points/Leveling. This is effectively just giving each character an innate bonus to an equipped shield's hit points equal to the exact amount that they need to block exactly the same number of hit points that it needs to block exactly the same number of times as when it first appears. Apparently, this is similar to how shield blocking worked in the playtest but was abandoned.
- Use a similar idea as the previous one by Samurai on the Paizo forums. I like that one, but a saving throw every time is more than I want for such a small benefit when other options have less of an action tax. Other than that, shields would only be broken or destroyed by things that specifically call that out.
Solution 2.0
The option I like the most is the one that removes the
maths.
- The shield block reaction gets rewritten as follows: "You snap your shield in place to ward off a blow. Your shield prevents you from taking an amount of damage up to the shield's Hardness. If the damage was greater than the shield's Hardness, you take any remaining damage and the shield suffers one Dent. When a shield takes its last remaining Dent, you must make a DC 10 flat check. On a success, the shield is broken. On a failure, it is destroyed."
- Unless otherwise stated, bucklers can take one Dent, shields take can take two Dents, and tower shields can take three.
- Adamantine, Arrow-Catching, Forge Warden, and Reforging Shields can take three Dents, while Sturdy Shields can take four Dents.
- Dragon's Slayer Shield treats its Hardness as 10 points higher when blocking the element it's strong against when determining if it takes a Dent or not.
- Indestructible Shield doesn't take Dents and works as normal.
- Exploding Shield can trigger on taking a Dent, destroying the shield in the process.
- The Fortifying Pebble would absorb the Dent instead of the Shield.
- The champion's Shield Ally would increase the number of Dents a shield can take by one, while Shield Paragon would increase it by two.
- Destructive Block causes the shield to take two Dents instead of one.
- Shield Salvation means that a failure on the flat DC 10 check is treated as a success once per day.
I'm pretty sure that's everything. It looks like a lot of
roll down, but most of it you should be able to come up with on the fly
extremely easily.
The potential downside is that you can "waste" a
shield block on an attack that just barely bypasses a shield's hardness. It should
even out over the long run by being able to block just as many immensely strong
blows.
This pretty much just simplifies the existing shield
blocking rules (small pool of Dents vs a bunch of hit points) and fixes the
issues with shields scaling and doesn't increase the actual effectiveness of
each shield's ability beyond what it started as. It doesn't fix the issue of
funneling everyone towards Sturdy Shields, but it at least eases it a bit since
the non-Sturdy Shields that are "meant for blocking" stay relevant
for the rest of your career. As Paizo releases more shields in that middle
ground area, that will hopefully fix itself. Additionally, I don’t know that
this makes any of the shield block focused class feats more attractive to take
outside Reflexive Shield, but I don’t know that you can do that without upsetting
the applecart.
Perhaps adding a three-tiered rune that adds +1/+2/+3
Hardness and 1/2/3 Dents with a level and cost equal to the Resilient Rune? It
would be very expensive, but it could be too much. I don’t know.
I haven't play-tested this at all and I won't until after my
current campaign is done (since we're so close anyway) so I'll have no idea if
it actually does what I want it to, but I'm hopeful and this is a more
reasonable (and less disruptive) house rule to shields than my previous one.
Comments
Post a Comment