Quote:
Originally Posted by Hide
But, can't a buckler or a shield block an attack just once?
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If you're not using the advance rules in Martial Arts, you can only block one attack per turn. That's still one less attack you have to Dodge.
I'm assuming you're a fairly competent swashbuckler, with a Dodge of 11 and enough Acrobatics to make one Dodge per turn an Acrobatic Dodge. Assuming no predictive shots, you've got an 85% of Dodging a single arrow per turn, a 50% chance of dodging two, a 33% chance of Dodging three, and a 20% chance of Dodging four arrows in a turn.
If you had a DB 1 shield and Shield-16, you have an 85% chance of blocking the first arrow, a 90% chance of Acrobatically Dodging the second, and 75% chance of Dodging each of the next the next two - which puts your cumulative chances of avoiding two arrows at 75%, three arrows at 57%, and four at 40%.
So picking up a shield gives you a better chance of getting through 3 arrow hits per turn than you had of getting through two arrow hits without a shield.
Even if you had a DB0 shield boss buckler, it still ups your chances of getting through two arrow hits per turn unscathed by 10%. But get a fine light balanced light shield - they're cheap for what they do for you. They also give you defense options when fighting people with flails or extremely heavy weapons: most pole-arms can break fencing weapons, so having a shield is useful.