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Post by fenris on Feb 19, 2020 17:23:22 GMT -5
Nick - I had a question regarding shields and posted a thread on the Paizo forums for some help to better understand how reactive blocks work. The question I had is when a shield is used to reactively block an incoming attack, is the damage roll known or unknown to the blocking player before he/she decides to block it. If it is unknown then the attack may straight up destroy the shield. This makes shields consumable items. Doesn't matter if it is a standard shield, magical shield, bears the family crest, or it is a divine focus for a cleric/paladin. If the damage is known, then the player can choose to block or not block and take the full damage thereby saving the item. It is a weird case and shields are the items that work this way. Take a look at this thread and let me know what you think. Paizo forum thread |
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Post by gamedave on Feb 19, 2020 17:42:30 GMT -5
Also, AFAIK, there aren't clear rules on how to repair a damaged shield. I think you're supposed to just treat them as consumables? Which is somewhat historically accurate, but...
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Post by cassusaevum on Feb 20, 2020 0:06:59 GMT -5
I think repairing a damaged shield would work the same as any item, using the Repair action. The wacky part is the "GM determines the DC" but for most things it would be determined by item level as on page 503 adjusted by difficulties (as on the following page or two). That's probably what we'll use, anyway.
Regardless, I'm totally cool with players knowing the damage first. Mostly because I don't want to have to remember to ask every time and it's always frustrating when the GM rolls and tells you damage but you didn't have a chance to decide.
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Post by fenris on Feb 20, 2020 7:51:18 GMT -5
I think that was how it was intended but I wanted to double check with you.
To be honest, the way PF handles shields in this edition is a little odd. No explicit rules on repairing or crafting items. I do like how they want to use them as ablative armor which gets damaged and possibly destroyed. There is some historical accuracy with that but some things don't translate well to a tabletop rpg. I don't want to see squires (*cough Hirelings from older editions) running around replacing a warrior's shield in the middle of combat or relying on bags of holding to carry around lots of spares. It would also suck to finally get a shiny magical shield and have it destroyed by a critical hit from a random monster encounter. At least knowing the incoming damage will allow the player to decide whether to have the shield soak a nominal amount of damage or just take it on the chin.
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Post by cassusaevum on Feb 20, 2020 10:32:02 GMT -5
I think the gamemastery guide is supposed to clarify a bunch of the questions and, coincidentally, comes out soon.
As far as the ablative armor effect, the good news is, it's always optional (and I think requires a feat, but can't remember off the top of my head). The game is specific about items not taking any damage unless the enemy (or player I suppose) is specifically targeting them. So armor, shields, weapons, etc... don't take damage from anything (even AOE stuff) unless they are the nominated target of the attack, sunder-style (which might also require a feat or class ability... again, not 100% on some of the nuances yet) or the use of an ability like the damage soak. I think in play, you won't even notice it except as an, "Oh shit, I want to keep my character up... gonna sacrifice my shield and reaction to do it" type situation.
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