Penalties on shield bash a little much?

[Demonsong]

Your average swordsman, gets a -3 penalty for off hand and a – 2 shield penalty (with a med. shield) . So your average Joe Swordsman is a t a -5 to shield bash. Am I missing something here, or is that just a little harsh. I don’t know about any one else, but on two occasions I have padded up grabbed a wooden shield and a blunted sword and gotten beat to a pulp. But I am here to tell you that a shield bash is not that difficult to do. I know, I have done it several time, err, ummm, I got disarmed a lot. But that just goes to prove my point. If I can do easily, a trained fighter should be able to do it with out a -5 penalty.

 

OK, average Soldier, DEX10, OCV 3, with one level of Hand to Hand, that is a total OCV 4. This guy can only shield bash on a 10-, then opponents DVC 3 (5 with a shield) and he needs a 7- (5-with shield)! Wow that’s not going to happen very often.

 

Maybe I am not thinking it trough all the way. Thoughts?

[Dr_Jones]

The Shield building rules state it as being bought as a multipower with 2 slots. The second slot being the 'Bash' slot. It has a limitation on it that sets an OCV penalty as equal to the DCV to simulate a large shield is unwieldly and hard to 'bash' with (Fantasy Hero page 198).

 

The underlying principle in Hero is there is no ONE right way to build anything. In fact the flexibility means there are numerous equally right ways to do EVERYTHING. That is what makes it the system par excellance!

 

If you want more bash in your shields, drop the OCV penalty. Or drop the off hand penalty. Or you can assign a surprise bonus for the attack. Or if you really want to simulate bashes as being easy use the DCV modifier as an OCV bonus for bashes. Do any or all of the above. Its your game, or your GM's, and you should do what makes the most sense to you. If everyone is having fun and everyone agrees then the rule works, if not make it so it does.

The difference between game designers and us, is practice and a paycheck

[slaughterj]

A lot of the maneuver penalties are excessive in general, given the % drop in chance of success. Funny how Move-Thru in Hero has an OCV penalty while the same maneuver Charge/Ram in Mutants and Masterminds has a bonus to hit?!

[Victor]

Another option would be to use the Bind maneuver with the shield. It's a +0/+0 half-phase maneuver, and since it's OCV vs. OCV, the shield's size should add, rather than detract, from the chance of success.

 

Granted, you won't do any damage this way, but when followed up by an attack with the character's primary weapon, the opponent can't use the targetted weapon to block (or attack) with.

 

Binding your opponent's shield makes them a LOT easier to hit, and prevents them from doing the same to you (although personally it seems to me that BOTH weapons involved in a Bind should be locked up, not just that of the defender). It will also drop the bonus their neigbors will get in a Shield Wall, regardless of whether you can force them back a step.

 

Binding a L or L2 weapon from a non-adjacent hex is a mean, dirty, vile, and perfectly legitimate tactic, IMO.