Passive cover bonus from shield and cloak?

[tbone]

Originally Posted by Anaraxes

...The weakness here is that there's no rule in Basic specifically detailing what locations are covered by various sizes of shield...

That's part of what I'm talking about, yes. There are rules for penetrating a shield that was successfully used in an active defense, but nothing for intentionally aiming "around" the shield (as one would aim around a wall or other cover).

And – unless I'm really missing something – there's nothing in the rules that has a shield do any good if it's not used for an active defense. That is, if two guards are standing unaware - no AD – as a dozen arrows streak toward each, the fact that one guard stands behind a large shield, and one has no shield at all, makes no difference; no active defense means the big shield does nothing (in Basic Set, anyway) for the guy standing behind it.

That's the "no rules for shields as cover" I refer to; maybe it's better expressed as "no rules for any passive benefit from shields".