Mycenaean Shields (Low Tech)

[Dalren]

Regarding shields, Basic Set: Characters says

"DB: Defense Bonus. The bonus the shield gives to all of your active
defense rolls (see Defending, p. 374) against attacks from the front
or shield side, even if you have no skill at all with a shield".

According to Low Tech, Mycenaean Shields have a DB of 3 and use only the guige for control. This is how the guige is described:

"Guige: Any shield controlled by a neck strap and not the
hands – it’s wielded hands-free. You can ready the shield in
a number of seconds equal to its DB, and drop it in one second.
You may not use it for a shield bash or a shield rush".

Does this mean that one can wear a Mycenaean Shield (without having any points in the shield skill) and benefit from the DB on parries and dodges? For example, one could have both hands free to make unarmed Brawling parries and benefit from the DB on those parries?

[DanHoward]

One of the problems with the way Low-Tech was published was that some really useful rules were not included in the main book. Look at p. 19 of Low-Tech Companion 2 for more on using guiges.

[Dalren]

That clears things up a bit. I was starting to think that sounded too good. How about parrying using a hand using a shield (not a buckler) strapped to the arm. Does the DB apply to the parry? Does Brawling skill take the -2 from "Shield-Hand Weapons" while parrying or attacking? Is parrying even possible with an arm that has an attached shield?

[Ulzgoroth]

While I am always in favor of the extended rule options, I must note that Low Tech provides fully functional instructions on using a guige. The 'Guige' section continues onto page 114, where it indicates -3 blocking at -3.

The rest of the questions are just borrowing trouble. Anything not pointed out as a difference is going to be the same as the base case, because that's how rules work.

One can wear or wield any shield without any points in the skill, and benefit from the DB on dodges and parries. Since there is nothing saying that neck-strap shields are an exception to that, they are not. So you assuredly can make unarmed (or armed) parries with both hands while using such a shield.


Parrying with shield-hand weapons, that's interesting...while a RAW answer looks simple enough to draw, it seems like that might not have been an intended use-case...

While the shield-hand weapon rules are technically about objects in hand, I don't see any reason not to use the same rule for unarmed attacks. And using unarmed attacks that way has the advantage that readying your fists takes no time.

[Dustin]

B287 says that the hand used with a strapped shield may hold but not wield a weapon. I generally treat unarmed attacks as similar to armed attacks with weapons, but I can see allowing unarmed Parries with the shield hand at a penalty equal to the shield's DB, so the shield DB ends up as a wash.