House Rules for Shield DB in RMSS

by Michael T Sterrett

Date: Mon, 4 Mar 1996 17:59:17 -0500 From: Michael T Sterrett To: Multiple recipients of list Subject: Shield DB in RMSS

After mulling over the recent thread about shields I have been considering ideas to improve shild DB's, in part to counter martial artist and in part because I have always thought it absurd that a fighter could parry better with a sword than his shield.

I rejected the idea of a seperate shield skill. I used this idea in my previous RM campaign and had the fighters develop the two weapon combo with sword & shield to get full use out of it, but this lead to VERY high DB's and was somewhat confusing ( but hey, this is RM, right? ).

Instead I am going to add the each characters profession bonus with the weapon group to the shields DB. Fighters will benifit the most, gaining an additional 20 DB when using a shield. Mages & such will not get any additional benifit whatsoever. This would simulate the combat oriented classes being able to use their shields more effectivly than the classes that focus on stealth or magic.

I will also allow the use of 1 backgroud option to inprove the shield DB by +10 for any class.

Furthermore, if a character is without a weapon, but retains his shield, he may use his one-handed concussion DEFAULT skill to parry with. That is he may use the one-handed concussion group skill - 15 to add to his shield DB against ONE opponent.

To my way of thinking this is a more equitable and realistic way of treating shields than the current "official" rules.

Now I just need to decide what to do about those funky martial arts that use shields as their main weapons .....

Sidewinder

(Don't laugh about the shild martial art, there really is at least one chinese style that does this....)


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