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Old 07-10-2017, 12:24 PM   #19
Anaraxes
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Default Re: Shields, explosions, area effects, cones and large area attacks

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth View Post
Again, cover (and armor) does work against explosions as the general GURPS rule.
And the standard "dive for cover" / "dodge and drop" rule seems to work just as well for hiding behind your shield. The diving for cover example is "like a trench" as the sort of cover you might dive for that's a step away, but it's hardly exclusive to slit trenches. And the shield is even closer than one step. "Hiding behind my shield" is just fluff text for why you get the Dodge bonus.

Cover also reduces damage from large-area injury by shielding entire hit locations behind the cover, which applies to area and cone attacks (and even has dragon's breath cited as an example).

It's not obvious to me that a new rule is even needed; Basic seems to cover (er...) the situation, even though it doesn't spend a lot of time detailing how the rules apply with medieval equipment to dragon attacks. The wording has the fairly natural default assumption that it's most relevant in a modern-day setting full of hand grenades and artillery.

Per the existing dive-for-cover rule, the cover DR itself doesn't apply to the attack that caused you to hide, though it does to subsequent attacks. You still get the bonus to Dodge for avoiding the attack, but some people will probably be unhappy about applying this clause.

Note that since the shield-bearer gets the DB as a bonus to all his Active Defense rolls, that includes the Dodge that's the dodge-and-drop, so the shield-bearer will in fact be better at hiding from area attacks than equally dodgy people without shields. (I point this out in anticipation of player complaints, as presumably they're looking for a special bonus just for their character, not a reason to justify doing something anyone could do.)

The Overpenetration rule explicitly applies to shields even if you're not tracking damage to shields. (Cover DR is DR + HP / 4, as for any Homogeneous object).

Also note that cover (including shields) counts against the calculations for large-area attacks.
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