This skill allows the player to use a Buckler Shield in combat. The Shield Use skill is needed to activate any magical abilities a Shield may have.

A Buckler is defined as a shield whose longest dimension does not exceed 18”, and total square inches does not exceed 300.

Just as a weapon, a shield must pass a safety check and may only be of a certain size for safety purposes. A shield must be of either all foam construction or of wood construction with a padded edge of no less than ¾”.

A shield may be used to block physical damage in melee, and tagline effects that are direct attacks suck as a packet thrown for “10 fire”. The shield must intercept the attack to block it, simply wearing a shield does not grant its protection; one must be actively holding and trying to use it.

A Buckler Shield will not protect against area of effect Tagline effects such as “20 Fire 10-foot radius”.

A properly made Buckler Shield may be used by archers as well, while using their Bows or Crossbows

For more on Taglines and their effects please refer to the chapter on Combat in this book.

A shield will not block spells in fact if a spell strikes a Shield then it counts the same as if the packet had struck the player.

There are certain spells which are combined with Shield use, as well as various Runes which can only be used with a Shield. These spells and Runes require the bearer have skill in their shield to use and may require additional skills as well to activate. See the Chapter on Spells and Magic for more information regarding Spells and Runes.