Gear: Shields

Shields

Shields provide armor to the arm that carries them (assumed to be hit location 3 in the tables). If a number is in square braces after the protected hit location, this is the Acivation for that armor – small shields like bucklers can't always cover the entire arm. Shields can also provide cover over a 120° arc to several adjacent hit locations, or be used to actively block attacks by providing their Def score (but not both at the same time). Unlike most melee weapons, a shield does provide its Def bonus against ranged attacks, but if the Def bonus makes the difference to whether the attack hits or misses the shield merely acts as a barrier to the attack instead of providing complete defense. The number of adjacent hit locations provided cover is given in the armor table in curly braces.

You can take cover behind your shield. You lose your Def bonus, but can increase the number of hit locations given cover by +1 RS, or +2 RS if kneeling or if the attack comes from overhead.

Shields have a split Def score. The first number is for defense, the second for offense.

Most shields are transparent. They will protect you from laser beams if you are the target, because at tight focus the laser is so intense it will degrade the transparency of the shield material. But you can shoot a laser beam through your own shield, because the beams start off wide and without enough intensity to damage shield material. Shields that are not transparent prevent you from seeing anything the shield is giving you cover from if it is giving cover to your head.

Shields can be used to attack, like a melee weapon, by punching with the shield boss or edge. The stats for this are listed in the shield tables.

Shields for different sizes

The effect of Size of a shield's Def, Bulk, Pen, and Wound all follow the same rules as for melee weapons. Armor Score and Injury thresholds do not change with the user's Size. The number of hit locations that can be covered by the shield are row shifted a number of rows given by the shield's design Size minus the user's Size.

Alternately, a shield may be scaled up or down for a character of a different Size when it is made. The mass, price, and (if listed) power are row shifted by twice the shield's design Size, the design Size is added to Bulk, WSize and WLen, and the injury thresholds are row shifted by the shield's design Size.

Basic Shields

DescriptionDef
(Size 0)
ProtectsArmor ScoreInjury
Susc.
BulkPen
(size 0)
WoundPowerMassPriceWSizeWLen
MechBurnArc
Riot Shield+5/+13+{7}+9+9+4 -7¼ +4½+2 RS+37120+1½
Heavy Shield+5/+13+{7}+11+11+6 -9¼ +4½+2 RS+315250+2
Energized Shield+5/+13+{7}+11+11+10½+4+4½+1½ RS+320 W5120+1
    powered down+6+6+1 -4¼    

  • Riot Shield: A transparent carboplast tower shield.
  • Heavy Shield: A transparent carboplast tower shield.
  • Energized Shield: A shield made of transparent carboplast supported by an affector screen. Stores enough energy internally to last for 180 kiloseconds (2 days). Regenerates one Sv Injury every combat round and draws ten times its resting power to do so. The Armor Score is reduced by 1 for every Ex Injury the shield sustains, down to a minimum of its unpowered Armor Score.

Gummi Protective Hats

The "hat" is a common form of Gummi clothing (in fact, it is pretty much the only form of Gummi clothing). It is a shell-like covering the Gummi carries along over the top of its body. Most hats are made of normal materials and provide negligible protection, but Gummis venturing into high threat areas often wear hats made of carboplast or energized carboplast. Gummi hats are almost never transparent, but they can otherwise be treated in the same way as the listed basic shields. Gummi hats are usually curved, allowing the Gummi to hunker down with the hat entirely covering its body, sticking to both the ground and the underside of its hat with its suckers.

Primitive Shields

Primitive shields are made of wood (or sometimes hide, metal, or bark). The shields are not transparent - if the shield is providing cover to your head, you can't see anything it is covering you from.

DescriptionDef
(Size 0)
ProtectsArmor ScoreInjury
Susc.
BulkPen
(size 0)
WoundMassPriceWSizeWLen
MechBurnArc
Buckler+3/+13[9]+{1}-2+0+5+10½+1½+0 RS+311.8-1-2½
Small Shield+4/+13[7]+{2}-2+0+5+9+3+1 RS+324+0-1½
Medium Shield+5/+13[5]+{3}-2+0+5+8½+3½+1 RS+335
Large Shield+5/+13+{5}-2+0+5+7¾+4+1½ RS+34.58+1+0
Tower Shield+5/+13+{7}-2+0+5+7+4½+2 RS+3612+1

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