shield mechanics

[Redeyes]

Originally Posted by JonBrave

What about arrows, please? Assume parry irrelevant, do arrows always have to by-pass shield protection??

It's actually shield protection that's irrelevant when dealing with projectiles.

For an arrow to hit someone with a shield it needs to beat the shield's parry in a straight DRN roll, which for a 4 parry shield is equivalent to an attack 10 unit attacking a defence 14 target. The protection of the shield doesn't matter, if the attack doesn't beat the parry roll the target takes no damage.

Magical arrows get +2 to the roll to beat shield parry.

[JonBrave]

Originally Posted by Redeyes

It's actually shield protection that's irrelevant when dealing with projectiles.

For an arrow to hit someone with a shield it needs to beat the shield's parry in a straight DRN roll, which for a 4 parry shield is equivalent to an attack 10 unit attacking a defence 14 target. The protection of the shield doesn't matter, if the attack doesn't beat the parry roll the target takes no damage.

Magical arrows get +2 to the roll to beat shield parry.

Wow! I thought the rule was that protection was what counted with arrows, while defence is melee-only and ignored. And I thought parry was part of defence. What you're saying (and I'm sure you're right!) is that it's the other way round for shields Why is it that way?

[Redeyes]

I figured it is because large shields are supposed to block more than small ones.

It is a bit funny now because a shield blocks a stone thrown by markata as well as it blocks a crossbow bolt.