Sunday, March 31, 2013

Happy Easter Sunderday!


I hope everyone is having a relaxing Easter Sunderday so far. I know I’m exhausted from chasing around chocolate enhanced children all day. But being the glutton for punishment that I am (and notorious low sleep getter that I am), I’m backing up to do an all night Movie Marathon (Hansel + Gretel, GI JOE Retaliation and Jack Reacher), then going straight to 8 hrs of work! I am going to be one tired boy come Monday night...

So today, I’m going to give you something from a race I consider quintessential shield users, the Dwarves. Their work with alchemically treated stone to create armor has been successful, but being the pragmatic people they are, they also wanted more protection to go with it. Enter the Stone Shield. A Stone Shield has all of the same properties as a Tower Shield (except cost), save that it is only the size of a Heavy Steel Shield and therefore cannot be set as cover like a Tower Shield can. Different varieties exist, some using a single piece of stone and others being made from interlocking stone pieces, but all function in the same way. The cost for a Stone Shield is 50gp.

Dwarven Mastersmiths have also perfected a Shield Wall variant for use by their greatest heroes using a Stone Shield as its base. Not surprisingly, this shield also bears the name Stone Shield and so it can sometimes be confusing to non-Dwarves as to whether or not a particular shield is magical or not.

Shield Wall
These shields come in many different varieties, the Stone Shield is described below.
All Walls brought into creation by a Shield Wall can only be formed vertically and cannot be moved or pushed in any way.
To create a Wall, the bearer must place the shield in front of herself at the midpoint of where she wants the Wall to be formed. The Wall then comes into being from a point touching the facing edge of the shield. A Wall always lasts for 1 round per Caster Level and cannot be dismissed early. Each Wall ability can be used three times per day, although any other abilities the Shield may possess are always active. Unless stated in the Description, they require a Standard Action to activate.
A new Wall cannot be brought into existence until any previous Wall has expired.
 
Stone Shield
Aura Moderate Conjuration; CL 14th
Slot shield; Price 93,720gp; Weight 45 lb.
DESCRIPTION
This shield is favored by Dwarven heroes and is made from a single piece of stone. It has the properties of a +2 Stone Shield (see above) and can be used to create a wall of stone as per the spell.
It also has the Bashing and Light Fortification special abilities.
CONSTRUCTION
Requirements Craft Magic Arms and Armor, bull’s strength, limited wish, wall of stone; Cost 46,860gp