The stalwart knight raises his shield against the dragon's searing jet of flame. Axe bites into shield as the two sea raiders begin a duel of honor. The wild barbarians crash and break like the sea against the well-ordered legion's tight shield wall. The brave warrior's crushed and bloody body is carried home on his shield.
Shields are an iconic part of ancient and medieval warfare, and naturally of fantasy roleplaying games as well. They are also the subject of this week's Improved Armor Tables. The last edition of Improved Armor Tables focused on the fantasy staples of hide and chitin armor, but from here on out they will largely be focused on bringing historical accuracy to the armor tables. I have a degree in medieval history and I'm using it to shake things up in the world of fantasy RPGs. Unlike my Fixing the Weapons Table posts, these fixes should be considered entirely optional and a GM should carefully consider whether they want to use them in their game, because it might mean a lot of tweaking stat blocks behind the scenes. These changes are designed for GMs who love history and want their fantasy worlds to be a little more grounded in it.
In the d20 system, melee fighters face a dilemma: strap on a shield for a boost to your armor class, or leave that hand free to wield a two handed weapon - or maybe two weapons - to deal extra damage. It's a trade off every RPG player is familiar with, but historically speaking it is not the only trade off about when to use a shield. In ancient times, the Greek hoplite was the ultimate heavy infantry unit. It didn't matter whether he was wearing bronze armor, leather or simple linen, as long as he had that great round bronze shield - the hoplon, the hoplite's namesake. Think of Roman legionnaires and you'll probably picture them with those iconic tower shields, perhaps taking the impenetrable testudo formation. The vikings had those round wooden shields, three feet in diameter and rimmed with iron. But as time went on, the shields got smaller. The long Norman 'kite' shield gave way to the smaller knightly 'heater' shield. In the later Middle Ages, the small buckler - a foot or less in diameter - rose to prominence for foot combat. As armor improved, cavalry and heavy infantry abandoned shields altogether, even in tournament jousts. Why? Because shields are heavy and cumbersome. In ancient times, when armor was less advanced, larger shields meant more protection - for some warriors, a shield was the only armor they had. But knight in full plate is actually more protected without a shield than with it because the shield weighs him down and slows his movements.
To reflect this, I have completely reworked shields. They have gained a boost to AC, but have more taxing armor check penalties and max Dex bonuses. There are more types of shields now, to reflect the greater historical variety of materials they were made from. These different types are largely distinguished from each other by weight and by their hardness and hit points, which I have added to the table - this is important when someone tries to sunder a shield, or when you roll a natural 1 on a reflex save vs a fireball. You will also notice that I have scrapped the light/heavy shield dichotomy. There are now small and large shields (and tower shields), and light shields form a separate class of shield. Read on to learn more!
The following items and rules in gold and their accompanying tables are available as Open Game Content under the OGL. Open Game Content is ©2015 Jonah Bomgaars and d20 Despot.
Buckler
This small shield
is less than one foot in diameter and constructed entirely of steel. In contrast with larger shields, it is held
at arm’s length in front of the body so as to present as large a target as
possible. It forms part of a dynamic
defense in conjunction with the wielder’s weapon. Aside from being used to deflect attacks, it
can also be used offensively. A buckler
is a light martial weapon dealing 1d3 bludgeoning damage (1d2 for Small
creatures). A buckler can be spiked to
enhance its offensive capabilities.
Historical Notes: Shields as small as
bucklers can be found throughout history and across the world, but bucklers
really came into their own as a defensive tool in the late Middle Ages, especially
in Italy. The first manuals describing
sword-and-buckler combat began to appear in the 14th century. Bucklers continued to be used into the early
modern period. The term ‘swashbuckler’
derives from this type of shield.
Light Shields
These are
primitive shields constructed from cheap or readily available materials. Such shields can be made from wicker or woven
basketry, leather or hide supported by a framework of sticks, or any other
light, simple material. Small light
shields range in size from bucklers under 12 inches in diameter to round or
oval shields 2 to 3 feet in diameter.
Large light shields protect more of the body and can be 3 to 5 feet in
length and up to 3 feet wide.
Light shields
cannot be used to make a shield bash, and they cannot be augmented with shield
spikes.
Historical Notes: The most recognizable shield of this type
from history is the cowhide shield used by Zulu warriors. Whether made of leather or woven from reeds,
light shields were in use globally amongst Stone Age cultures. Most Native American tribes used shields of
some sort in their warfare; some of them were buffalo-hide stretched across a
frame of sticks, some were large woven basketworks. Wicker shields continued to be used well
beyond the Stone Age in some civilizations, especially in the Near East. Most notably, the famous Persian Immortals carried
wicker shields.
Other Names: Zulu - ishlangu
 |
| Italian steel shield, Scottish targe, Indian dhal, and Chinese shield - Royal Armouries, Leeds |
Small Shields
Small shields come in many shapes, from
circular or oval to square or the classic rounded triangle ‘heater’ shield
favored by mounted knights. The smallest
are round shields one and a half feet in diameter. The largest are two feet wide and three feet
tall.
Wooden shields
are the simplest form of small shield and the easiest to break. The best wooden shields are made of hard
woods like fir or alder that are difficult to split. They may have a metal boss in the center to
act as a handle and protect the hand, and the edges of the shield may be
reinforced with a leather band to protect against splitting.
Reinforced
shields are made of wood as well, but augmented with leather and metal to make
them stronger. The simplest means of
reinforcing a shield is to cover it with tough leather or hide, which protects
the wood backing from taking damage. A
metal boss in the center can further protect the shield and its user, as do
metal strips along the outer edge or across the face of the shield.
Steel or bronze
shields are generally made of a sheet (or multiple sheets) of metal across a
thin wooden backing, although some small shields are made entirely out of
steel.
A small shield
can be used to make shield bash attacks, acting as a one-handed martial weapon
dealing 1d4 bludgeoning damage (1d3 for Small creatures). A small shield counts as a light weapon for
the purpose of determining two-weapon fighting penalties with a shield
bash. It can be spiked to further enhance
its offensive capabilities.
If a steel or
bronze shield, or a shield reinforced with metal, is destroyed by a rusting
effect, such as the touch of a rust monster, what remains counts as a small
light shield.
Historical Notes: Wooden small shields were widespread in
ancient times due to the simplicity of their construction. They continued to be used into the medieval
era, especially by Germanic peoples like the Saxons. Shields reinforced with leather seem to be
the most common type, historically. The
‘heater’ shield most often associated with knights was usually wood faced with
hardened leather. The highland targe of 17th
and 18th century Scotland is another example.
Bronze shields were common in the Bronze Age naturally - the famous
Battersea Shield is a good example that fits within the dimensions of a small
shield. Small steel shields, including
ones made entirely of steel, seem to be most common in the Near East and Late
Medieval Italy. The small, round shields
of India and Persia were either of steel or wood-backed hide.
Other Names: India - dhal; Persia - sipar; Scotland - targe
 |
| Shield, leather over wood - Royal Armories, Leeds |
Large Shields
Large shields
are designed to protect as much of the body as possible. They can be large circular shields 3 to 4
feet in diameter or long oval, square, or kite-shaped shields 2 to 3 feet wide
and 4 feet high.
Wooden shields
are the simplest form of large shield and the easiest to break. The best wooden shields are made of hard
woods like fir or alder that are difficult to split. They may have a metal boss in the center to
act as a handle and protect the hand, and the edges of the shield may be
reinforced with a leather band to protect against splitting.
Reinforced
shields are made of wood as well, but augmented with leather and metal to make
them stronger. The simplest means of
reinforcing a shield is to cover it with tough leather or hide, which protects
the wood backing from taking damage. A
metal boss in the center can further protect the shield and its user, as do
metal strips along the outer edge or across the face of the shield.
Steel or bronze
shields are made of a sheet (or multiple sheets) of metal across a thin wooden
backing. They are not made entirely of
metal because the amount of metal needed to make it as strong as a wood-backed
shield would also make it too heavy to function. The exception is mithral, which is light and
strong enough to make a large shield out of.
A large shield
can be used to make shield bash attacks, acting as a one-handed martial weapon
dealing 1d6 bludgeoning damage (1d4 for Small creatures). It can also be spiked to further enhance its
offensive capabilities.
If a steel or
bronze shield, or a shield reinforced with metal, is destroyed by a rusting
effect, such as the touch of a rust monster, what remains counts as a large
light shield.
Historical Notes: The classic Viking shield would best be
represented here by a large wooden or reinforced shield. Aside from the classic tower shield, Roman
legionnaires also employed a large reinforced oval shield. The wooden kite shield, as seen on the Bayeux
Tapestry, was favored by the Normans. A
large bronze shield (called an aspis
or hoplon on Greek) is the classic
shield of the hoplite and many other cultures of the ancient
Mediterranean. Large bronze shields were
also status items amongst Celtic tribes.
Other Names: Greek - aspis, hoplon; Philippines - kalasag;
Roman - clipeus
 |
| Pavises at the Royal Armories, Leeds |
Tower Shield
This large, heavy
shield is 4 to 5 feet high and 3 feet wide.
It is made of wood covered with boiled leather or reinforced with metal
strips.
As a standard
action, you can use a tower shield to grant yourself total cover until the
beginning of your next turn. When using
a tower shield in this way, you choose one edge of your space (two edges on a hex
grid) to treat as a solid wall for attacks targeting you only. You gain total cover from attacks passing
through this edge and no cover for attacks that do not pass through this
edge. This does not grant you cover from
targeted spells; a spellcaster can cast a spell on you by targeting the shield
you are holding.
Alternately, as
a standard action, you can plant the tower shield in the ground (assuming the
ground is softer than stone). This
grants total cover, as above, but you are no longer wielding the shield - it
counts as an unattended object. This also grants cover against targeted
spells, although spells can instead be targeted at the shield. When the shield is planted in this way, you
can also use it as partial cover (+4 AC) while fighting around it. This imposes a -2 penalty on your melee
attack rolls, but ranged attack rolls can be made without penalty.
You cannot bash
with a tower shield.
Historical Notes: Look to the Romans for
the classic tower shield, rectangular in shape, curved along the horizontal
axis to further strengthen it. They
could be used to present a strong shield wall, or put into the testudo formation to cover the group
from all sides, including above. In the
later Middle Ages, the tower shield experienced a revival. Called a pavise, it was used to provide
mobile cover for crossbowmen and gunners, or sometimes for polearm
fighters.
Other Names: Pavise; Roman - scutum;
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You might notice that the tower shield actually got a lot better. This is largely because in the d20 system, a tower shield weighs 45 pounds. Do me a favor and carry 45 pounds around on one arm all day. Unless you are Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, you probably can't, because that is ridiculous. Based on archaeological evidence, the Roman scutum weighed about 22 pounds, which is the upper limit on how heavy a shield can be before it can't be used as a shield anymore. Once I dropped the weight down to 20 pounds, I changed the armor check penalty too. It didn't make sense to me that someone naked except for a tower shield would have a worse armor check penalty than someone wearing full plate and a heavy steel shield. They also lost their default -2 penalty to attack rolls, because - again - they don't weigh 45 pounds. Another reason tower shields got better is because I incorporated the concept of a pavise into them, allowing them to act as mobile cover that can be fought around.
Now your basic shield (a small shield, here) grants +2 instead of +1, and the heavier option (a large shield) grants +3 instead of plus two, taking the one step closer to tower shields. To counterbalance this, sheilds now have more demanding max Dex bonuses and armor check penalties.
The historical notes and alternate names I have provided are intended to help GMs decide how to incorporate these shields into various campaign settings or regions of a campaign setting. You will be seeing more of them in future Improved Armor Tables posts.
-your shielded d20 despot
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