Unbreakable Shield, Breakable Wielder

[Tallor]

If a character is in the possession of an "Unbreakable" shield (let's say DR appropriate to stop a giant with a maul), can a huge impact still damage the arm/torso of the wielder? I would say so, but how much force would that take?

[Warlockco]

Realistically, even if the shield has the DR to stop the attack with no effect, the wielder would at the very least still be subject to knockback.

[MIB.6361]

There's a character in my Dungeon Fantasy game that has an unbreakable shield. When he takes a square hit (not deflected), I subject him to the knock back of the damage even though his shield will be unharmed.

[Balor Patch]

Blunt Trauma injury to the arm would be reasonable.

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by Tallor

If a character is in the possession of an "Unbreakable" shield (let's say DR appropriate to stop a giant with a maul), can a huge impact still damage the arm/torso of the wielder? I would say so, but how much force would that take?

Make sure that you aren't making the character with the unbreakable shield worse off than the character with a normal one.

[Tomsdad]

Originally Posted by Balor Patch

Blunt Trauma injury to the arm would be reasonable.

That's how I'd do it, but I'd make it less* severe then normal, otherwise even human level combatant's will be doing damage through shields

maybe, double (or even triple) the thresholds for CR & Cut damage and ignore Pi & Imp?

But I think knock back is also the way to go here



*shields are rigid and often padded after all, even if they are strapped to the arm

[aesir23]

I agree, blunt trauma and knockback are the right mechanics to deal with this, and both of those rules should be applied to all shields, including those with finite and reasonable DR and Hit Points.

Originally Posted by johndallman

Make sure that you aren't making the character with the unbreakable shield worse off than the character with a normal one.

Although, realistically, some force is spent when a shield breaks, bends, or dents, so an unbreakable shield could very reasonably transfer more energy to the arm than a traditional one.

Either way, if you would have succeed your block without the shield DB, then you deflected the blow rather than taking the force straight on--in those cases you shouldn't take any damage regardless of how strong your shield is.

[Tallor]

Originally Posted by Balor Patch

Blunt Trauma injury to the arm would be reasonable.

My thought exactly!

PS. It's not a Vibranium shield that deflects energy off at an improbable angle--it's just a REALLY sturdy shield. Maybe titanium diboride or some other awesome-sounding metal.

[Nereidalbel]

Apply knockback/knockdown, depending on the angle of the swing. While that first hit may not cause Injury through the shield, well, a prone target is not going to block very well.

[ArchonShiva]

In a heroic game, I'd much rather have heroes flying off and taking damage from hitting walls or the floor, sometimes both. Effects are more interesting than HP.

If I want something more realistic, for both blocks and parries there is a point where you get hit in the face with your own shield or weapon - it's just too fast and heavy to glance off. If I needed to run this on the fly, I might say halve damage, subtract Lifting ST, and take the rest. This means no effect up to 2xST, which seems like a good "we don't usually have to worry about this" threshold - an opponent probably needs ST 40+ to even start threatening this.