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

A Medium Shield is defined as all shields which fall between the maximum of a Buckler Shield and minimum of a Tower Shield. So, any shield whose longest dimension is greater 18” but less than 36”

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

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

A shield will not block spells. 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.