New Release: Shields Up! from Gaming Ballistic; Nightmare Fuel launches Oct 13

Varyon · 10-25-2022, 09:41 AM

Messing around with the "Captain Hyrule" character (looking up an online English-Old Norse dictionary, I've opted to name the character Lykkja, meaning loop or knot, which is the closest I can find to link, with bonus points for looking/sounding similar; the gender is wrong, but a female Link works too), I have a couple questions/clarifications.

First, I note there are some things, like shield rushes, where shield DB gives a damage bonus (I believe thrown shields also do this, although it's not explicitly noted that they do so - more just that small shields deal thr+1, medium thr+2, and large thr+3). Meanwhile, Shield Mastery gives +1 to shield DB per level. Would it be appropriate for Shield Mastery to also give a bonus to damage for shield rush (and maybe thrown shields)?

Next up, Captain Fantastic seems like it allows you to only throw the shield at one enemy a round, with the shield automatically returning at the start of the next round. Would it be appropriate to allow a character to throw their shield and have it bounce between enemies as a Rapid Strike (so -6 per additional attack, or -3 with appropriate Weapon Master)? Might it be an option to go a step further and allow this to result in the character being able to attack a foe from a different angle (throw it past an enemy, hit someone behind him/her, then have it attack the first enemy from behind; I'd treat this like a runaround attack rather than giving the foe no defense, however)?

Finally, an idea I had for Lykkja was to have her armed with a heater shield (from LT) that is sharpened on the sides/bottom, but not the top. I figure this would just be the Bladed modifier (still +0.5 CF, no price discount) and would work normally in melee (bash for cr, swing with the edge for cut), but when thrown the weapon would have a 1/3 chance to deal cr, 2/3 to deal cut. I further figured Lykkja would be able to take a penalty (bought off as a Technique) to be able to choose which surface struck the target. To hit with cr (useful against skeletons, foes wearing mail*, etc), the sharp edges functionally give the target 4/6 protection, for -3 to hit; to hit with cut, the blunt top portion functionally gives the target 2/6 protection, for -1 to hit. Does that make sense, or do you think Captain Fantastic should just give Lykkja that level of precision without needing to worry about paying [4] for a Technique?

*Unless the shield is metal, hardened, and/or fine/very fine, in which case the bonus to cut damage generally makes that a better option against mail.

10-25-2022, 09:41 AM	#14
Varyon Join Date: Jun 2013	Re: New Release: Shields Up! from Gaming Ballistic; Nightmare Fuel launches Oct 13 Messing around with the "Captain Hyrule" character (looking up an online English-Old Norse dictionary, I've opted to name the character Lykkja, meaning loop or knot, which is the closest I can find to link, with bonus points for looking/sounding similar; the gender is wrong, but a female Link works too), I have a couple questions/clarifications. First, I note there are some things, like shield rushes, where shield DB gives a damage bonus (I believe thrown shields also do this, although it's not explicitly noted that they do so - more just that small shields deal thr+1, medium thr+2, and large thr+3). Meanwhile, Shield Mastery gives +1 to shield DB per level. Would it be appropriate for Shield Mastery to also give a bonus to damage for shield rush (and maybe thrown shields)? Next up, Captain Fantastic seems like it allows you to only throw the shield at one enemy a round, with the shield automatically returning at the start of the next round. Would it be appropriate to allow a character to throw their shield and have it bounce between enemies as a Rapid Strike (so -6 per additional attack, or -3 with appropriate Weapon Master)? Might it be an option to go a step further and allow this to result in the character being able to attack a foe from a different angle (throw it past an enemy, hit someone behind him/her, then have it attack the first enemy from behind; I'd treat this like a runaround attack rather than giving the foe no defense, however)? Finally, an idea I had for Lykkja was to have her armed with a heater shield (from LT) that is sharpened on the sides/bottom, but not the top. I figure this would just be the Bladed modifier (still +0.5 CF, no price discount) and would work normally in melee (bash for cr, swing with the edge for cut), but when thrown the weapon would have a 1/3 chance to deal cr, 2/3 to deal cut. I further figured Lykkja would be able to take a penalty (bought off as a Technique) to be able to choose which surface struck the target. To hit with cr (useful against skeletons, foes wearing mail, etc), the sharp edges functionally give the target 4/6 protection, for -3 to hit; to hit with cut, the blunt top portion functionally gives the target 2/6 protection, for -1 to hit. Does that make sense, or do you think Captain Fantastic should just give Lykkja that level of precision without needing to worry about paying [4] for a Technique? Unless the shield is metal, hardened, and/or fine/very fine, in which case the bonus to cut damage generally makes that a better option against mail. __________________ GURPS Overhaul