Main-gauche vs. Dagger

[TippetsTX]

Originally Posted by David Bofinger

It's easy to get hung up on this distinction, but the TFT level of resolution is rough enough that it can just disappear anyway. My preferred example is that I am fighting an opponent that does 1d damage, and I have either (a) a shield that stops 1 point of damage or (b) a shield that protects only my most vital point, so it completely blocks a roll of 6 but has no effect on any other damage roll. These might sound like very different shields, but actually they're exactly equivalent in mechanical terms, with the same distribution of damage getting through. So sometimes worrying about how it works is effort misdirected.

I'm not sure that logic holds up when talking about the larger shields that provide significant cover of more/most vital points and heavy weapons that do 2, 3 or more dice damage. The 'hits stopped' mechanic will ultimately get overrun by TFT's escalating damage potential. DX penalties, on the other hand, remain viable much longer.

If we're going to continue debating different game design approaches for shields, however, we should probably start a new thread.