Shield ER (STR)


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Slime Squisher

Posts: 392

Joined: Sunday, 11th September 2016, 17:21

Post Friday, 9th September 2022, 18:09

Shield ER (STR)

I propose making STR mitigate shield ER similar to how it mitigates armour ER. Partly for consistency, as it seems intuitive that if STR makes it easier to bear the weight of heavy armour that it would also do so for heavy shields. And partly to make shield usage a more appealing choice for STR-based characters. As-is, playing a STR-based Fighter makes avoiding investment in Shield skill and dropping the buckler as soon as a 2-handed weapon is found feel like a no-brainer, whereas if STR reduced shield ER, it would make the choice between 2-handed vs. weapon and shield much more interesting.

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andrew, petercordia

Lair Larrikin

Posts: 19

Joined: Saturday, 6th August 2016, 21:55

Post Friday, 23rd September 2022, 00:57

Re: Shield ER (STR)

It was a decision they made because they thought shields were too powerful and using one was a no-brainer. It is kinda weird tho how you start with a shield on the heavy armor background, and most of the races that have good shields proficiencies have good armor proficiencies.

Slime Squisher

Posts: 392

Joined: Sunday, 11th September 2016, 17:21

Post Friday, 23rd September 2022, 02:21

Re: Shield ER (STR)

To be clear, I'm not suggesting to make the shield ER completely removable by increasing STR... I'm suggesting that shield ER should work like armour ER, such that skill increases reduce it by a flat percentage, then each point of STR reduces the remaining burden subject to diminishing returns but never completely negates it. If the base ER shield penalties need to be increased to balance out the reduction from STR, I don't see a problem with that.

Zot Zealot

Posts: 1004

Joined: Thursday, 16th August 2018, 21:19

Post Friday, 23rd September 2022, 09:08

Re: Shield ER (STR)

Currently the formula is
  Code:
2/5 * encumbrance^2 / (20 - 3 * size_factor) * (27 - shield_skill) / 27

where encumbrance is 5, 15 or 25 for bucklers, kite shields and tower shields respectively, and the size factor varies from +4 for spriggans to -2 for the big boys.

I could think of alternate formula like
  Code:
2/5 * encumbrance^2 / (20 - 3 * size_factor) * enbumbrance^2 / (encumbrance + shield_skill)^2 * 10 / (10+ strength)


but what should a shield penalty formula try to achieve?
Without goals it's unclear whether a formula is "good".

My own ideas:
  • Shield skill should have diminishing returns, with a characteristic point around where shield_skill = encumbrance for normal species
  • species which are "good with shields" should actually be good with shields, meaning with a size_factor of -2 and 20 shield_skill, you should have less encumbrance than with a size_factor of 0 and 27 shield_skill

But as for how to weave strength into that. The big question for me is whether you'd want strength to change the characteristic skill level where the diminishing returns become prominent. Also most of the species which are "good with shields" are also very strong, whereas Spriggans are very weak, so putting strength into the encumbrance formula actually interacts with the two goals I listed above.
Strength could add to shield skill, such that for example having 2 more points of strength is equivalent to having 1 more point of shield_skill, at least for the purpose of encumbrance. Strength could be a separate multiplier for your shield encumbrance. Strength could also act as a multiplier for shield_skill itself. Or something else altogether could be best.

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