Damage Shield & DCV from Foci

[mudpyr8]

Heroic Characters
Alpha has a HKA Damage Shield (spiky stones) and carries a large shield (+3 DCV). OCV 3/DCV 6 (w/ Shield)
Monster is a generic creature with HKA (claws). CV 6

Monster attacks Alpha and rolls a 12, missing. However, he missed only because Alpha has a large shield. Without his large shield, that would have been a hit.

Story-wise, it seems the blow was deflected by the shield. Mechanically, it was a clean miss.

Is Monster affected by the Damage Shield (spikey stones)?

[Steve Long]

No. The Damage Shield rules state that the attacker has to “make[] a successful HTH Combat attack” against the character with the Damage Shield to take the damage. Why he missed is irrelevant. If you wanted to simulate a power where the character would still take damage when a miss occurs only because of the use of a shield, you could buy a Triggered attack.