Shields and DCV against ranged attacks

[Paragon]

I suspect this was a deliberate change on your part from 4th to 5th Edition, but since a player asked and I could see the question going either way, I thought I'd bring it to you.

 

In Hero 4th, there was a concept that someone using a set of combat levels that normally didn't apply to ranged defense (5 point melee combat levels or 3 point levels applicable to sword and shield or a martial art applying to those) could apply them to ranged defense on the idea they let them use the shield (which applies to ranged defense) more effectively. Searching through both the Combat Handbook, the discussion of levels in the core book, and even Fantasy Hero, I can't find any suggestion this is still the case. So is there any difference here, or is the shield irrelevant to the applicability of levels to missile defense?

[Steve Long]

Re: Shields and DCV against ranged attacks

 

There's no such rule in 5E. Shields aren't irrelevant to Ranged attacks, though -- they're built with DCV Levels, which apply to all attacks. But they don't convert HTH-based CSLs into other types of CSLs.