Shields in DCC

 

Shields in DCC are covered under simple rules, you do or don’t have a shield, it grants +1 to AC and a -1 check penalty. This is simple, this is elegant, this is good. There is nothing wrong with it and I think that for an overwhelming majority of games this is more than sufficient.

But...

We have so many other things about there for shields. A great many tables i’ve played at considered the rules from Crawl! #2 to be cannon and very important to the table, specifically the rule for Shattered shields and the expanded shields list. Its a great rule that adds something important and dramatic to the game. The shield list is fun, it gives us some fun new options. Without any additional prompting, the buckler is just strictly better than the normal shield because you can use it with a weapon in hand or with a ranged weapon but it costs 10gp more. 

I’ve played with a Judge who did something I really liked, he had some special rule for a volley of arrows with basically “get behind cover” and the guy with the normal shield was able to make himself small behind it but the guy with the buckler had to dive under a wagon. Mechanically, there is nothing there in the rules to support that. The Judge just made a call knowing a thing or two about the actual size of these shields and vaguely recalled old D&D 2e rules that talked about shield sizes and % chance for blocking ranged attacks, but he made a good “rulings, not rules” moment out of it I really liked this. It got absorbed into my games.

This really got me thinking, could homebrew for other types of shields be covered? Why not? Would it just make things needlessly complex? We have a brief line in the dwarf section about spikes or rounded edges on shields to deal more damage with a shield bash, so I kinda take that to be more or less covered. This is the big Strength of DCC, flavor it yourself. In it’s magic, in it’s classes, even in it’s equipment, flavor it yourself. I love this part of the game. Sometimes your warrior is a proper nobleman who is the typical chivalrous knight, sometimes they are a barbarian warlord, its just flavor you’re handling yourself without some mechanic getting in the way. So what could we do with shields to make them more nuanced? That's what I want to do here, list some alternatives to the standard round shield offering suggestions but not strict mechanics for them. So with no further rambling, here are some alternative options for shields.

Hungarian Targe:

This is essentially a buckler that runs the length of the forearm and then some, ending with a spike past the fist. This works by enhancing the natural shape of the arm and allows for use of a bow or second weapon, just like the buckler from crawl, while also being it’s own option for a two weapon fighting combination, should you choose to fight like that. It can be used with a two-handed weapon while still granting it’s AC bonus but isn’t going to be doing the user any favors against ranged attacks, not granting it’s AC bonus against ranged attacks.

Cost: 20gp, Bonus: +1, Check penalty -1

From: Wulflund

 

Leather or Rawhide:

This type of shield might seem like a bad idea on the surface, a steel weapon might punch right through it, right? Not always true. There are plenty of examples of these being used historically and in reality, you aren’t trying to go through your opponent’s shield but around it. Even a shield made of what could be perceived as lesser materials still serves it’s purpose. There are a lot of factors in this, such as the animal the hide came from, the methods used to make it into a shield, if it’s stuffed with anything and what with. We also have historical accounts of some of these leather shields stopping early black powder weapons. The other small advantage was that, if someone did get through your shield, their weapon is very likely now stuck and leaves them open to an attack. 

When used as part of a deed to disarm the user may choose to forgo their shield bonus in order to grant a +1 to their deed die. This shield cannot be used to block fire attacks, using it as part of your AC against flaming attacks will render the shield damaged beyond usability.

Cost: 40 gp, Bonus +1, check penalty +0

Medicine Shield via PittRivers Museum 

Nguni shield:

Another form of hide shield, these are lightweight and serve well to stop arrows and spears. They are tall and made with no armor in mind and are made to provide cover to a full body. Given the inspiration for these you might question how this could ever be useful against the kind of weapons present in DCC but I ask my readers to suspend disbelief for a world in which magic and the supernatural exist. This shield is often accompanied by a spike on one end of the staff used to support it. They work best in formations and are often painted in colors and patterns to designate the unit, company, or rank. 

This shield is best in the hands of someone unarmored using just this shield. But an armored user may still use this shield with diminished results. It is too large to be used on horseback.

Cost: 40gp, Bonus +2 (armored)/ +4 (unarmored), Check penalty -4 (armored) -0 (unarmored)

Nguni Shield via Internet Archive

 

Pavise (Archer’s Shield):

This is less of a shield and more of a personal deploy-able fortification. This is a large, usually wooden, shield that is planted in the ground and braced, providing cover to archers and crossbowmen to fire over and around. These cannot be used in an arm or in melee, it’s bonus only applies against ranged attacks from the direction it’s facing, for this reason they aren’t seen often outside of battles but use cases can be made for them for adventurers. In settings with black powder weapons we might see versions of this where there is an opening for sliding the weapon through without ever stepping out from behind the shield and some kind of metal plate with holes punched to allow sighting the shot.

Cost: 20gp, Bonus +6, check penalty: N/A

 

Pavis shield User:Julo - Ugo Pozzati, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link 

Shield Sconce:

This isn’t a shield but a torch sconce with straps on it to allow for shields to hold a torch. This is a specialist tool that should be hard to come by due to it’s niche use among adventurers. When this is strapped to a shield a character may plug their torch into the sconce and have a torch and shield in the same hand. The drawback is that if the shield is used in defense while the torch is attached, the torch will go out. 

Cost: 25gp

These few options by no means commit to the list of possible shields, of which history has thousands. Do all of them need to be accounted for? No, the rules of DCC covered shields well enough in my opinion. Did the shields I listed need to be accounted for? Also no, I’m just a guy posting about things he’s done at his table to shake things up a little bit. The DCC rules cover most shields well enough, just the occasional oddity is just fun to think about. You want a targe? Get a buckler and give it a spike. Covered under the DCC and Crawl rules cleanly. You want a kite shield? Standard shield. You want a round wooden shield, standard shield. You want the roman legionary shield? Tower shield. It can be as simple as you want it to be and should only ever be as complex as you want.