On the cover of the new D&D Starter Set, there is a heroic warrior deflecting a dragon's breath with a shield. That's an awesome picture and all. But it really bothers me that it's depicting something that just doesn't happen in the game contained therein. Shields don't do that... but they should.
4E introduced the concept of the shield bonus, provided by shields, magic effects, and special skills. The shield bonus was added to both AC and Reflex defense. Thus was a warrior with a shield better equipped to face down blasty dangers of all sorts.
In 5E, a shield adds to AC. The problem is, almost no spells and spell-like effects target AC. Of all the spells in the Basic D&D PDF, only 7 of them include a magic attack. And those are cantrips, summoned weapons, and touch attacks.
In contrast, there are 17 spells that require Dexterity saving throws (the most used save by a good margin). And a shield doesn't help against any of it.
What's to be done? I'm not sure. My first preference would be to lose the saving throws completely and go with 4E defenses, but that aint happening. So I'd say a creative 5E solution is in order. Perhaps something like this:
- Change some (or all) Dexterity Saving Throw spells and spell-like effects to a Blast Attack.
- Attacking a character with heavy armor with a Blast Attack is made with Advantage.
- Attacking a character with a shield with a Blast Attack is made with Disadvantage.
I haven't tested the idea or done any numerical analysis, but the point is that something could be done. And something should be done... cause it's on the cover.
Yeah that's bothered me in many editions.
The simplest solution people suggest around here is to have shields grant half cover on a reaction. So that's +2 AC and dex saves. Don't know if you'd want that to stack with the passice +2 AC or replace it. Either way, it would require some kind of rebalancing.
Can shields be +X magical items?
I've been working on a rules module that lets you use your reaction to actually block with your shield. Seems like it'd be easy to implement. Not so sure about balancing, however.
How about a feat.
Shield Master
This level of modeling the world really breaks down. First off, who says blocking a dragon's breath with a shield doesn't happen? The Dex save for a warrior in heavy plate with a shield might just mean that he ducked behind his shield.
But if you're going to stat it in, what about the weight of the shield slowing the person down from being able to dodge out the way? Why doesn't the wizard with a high Int or the cleric with the Wis get a better chance of getting out of the way of a dragon breathing? Both should be smart enough to see the dragon rear back and prepare to let loose. A guy with animal handling is a lot more used to animals rearing back and attacking them when training so he should be better at dodging dragon attacks as well.
A thief in light armor should be able to avoid dragon breath better than a fighter in heavy plate, so why doesn't that get modeled in? Should padded armor protect more vs ice dragon breath since it insulates?
It just never ends and it never truly models reality well in the first place. Personally I've found that Fate models these sorts of things MUCH better than d20 can hope to and that's because it elimates a lot of these stats from the game in the first place and has mechanics in place for creating these sorts of advantages on the fly.
Goken100 wrote:
Steerpike84 wrote:
MechaPilot wrote:
Goken100 wrote:
MechaPilot wrote:
I love the fighter blocking a dragon's breath with a shield idea. In 2e, I would typically narrate a successful saving throw as a shield block. But with reactions available in the game, I wouldn't mind seeing it as an active ability instead. It's really that much cooler.
Goken100 wrote:
Goken100 wrote:
The answer is quite simple, yet elusive, as no bards tell of the tale, and only but a few wizards know it.
That shield is the shield of dragon breath protection, forged by the wizard Moldain.
The annals say that it will protect each bearer once, but only once from the breath of a dragon. As does all powerful magic, it comes at a cost. To protect the bearer, it pulls from his or her life force, lowering the constitution permanently by 2.
The annals state that a man named Elona II (named after his mother for some reason lost to the history books) grew up in a small village to the east. From childhood he loved one of the girls of the town - though his love he kept in secret. The girl, Kajsa, showed no affection toward Elona. And so in a private anguish he grew. After reaching the age of manhood, and at the urgings of his mother, he approached the girl, revealed his true feelings, and asked for her hand in marriage. Kajsa not only had no affection toward Elona, but hardly recognized his existence. Though she felt nothing for him, she was of a good (if not foolhardy) heart. Instead of crushing his spirit by telling him ‘no’, she told him that if he would slay the dragon Telnark, she would marry him. Telnark had decimated many villages over the centuries when they had failed to provide their annual sacrifice, and she knew that Elona could not succeed, and thus would not try. She underestimated the depth of Elona’s love.
Elona sought out the wizard Moldain. In a ceremony lost to the ages, Elona made a pact that for Moldain’s assistance, when Elona died, his soul would become the property of a demon from beyond the ether. And the promise of the soul then bound the demon to provide a service to Moldain. For this triangular pact, the shield was then forged. The spell cast upon the shield was one of Moldain’s own creation - born from years of research that he had previously performed. Ergo the reason few have heard of it, save those who have access to the annals. The shield was forged, the spell was cast, and Elona set out to slay a dragon and gain his love.
The story of Elona’s demise is a pitiful one, and one that I won’t retell. But suffice it to say that while the spell worked as promised, it was not enough to slay the dragon. Elona’s body fell within the Valley of Tears, his soul given up to a demon, and his mother’s soul crushed by grief.
It's said that the shield still lies somewhere within the valley, though no search has yet revealed it. The wizards who have known the story over the countless ages have searched for it in hopes of learning the secret of Moldain’s magic. If others were to know about it, they would no doubt seek it out for its power.
But the image on the bottom - the black and white one from the first edition DMG - yeah, that one’s fake.
Paraxis wrote:
Goken100 wrote:
If I remember correctly, shields gave +1 AC and Dex saves in the playtest. Perhaps it was dropped when shields increased to 2 ac?
Jenks wrote:
Tony_Vargas wrote:
Guest855761860 wrote:
Guest855761860 wrote:
CelticPaladin wrote:
FFSAA wrote:
Tony_Vargas wrote:
AaronOfBarbaria wrote:
FFSAA wrote:
Gnarl wrote:
Rastapopoulos wrote:
Adding to DEX saves is simple. That it might lead to confusion about why you /could/ do something (that doesn't happen all that often) is a point. OTOH, not adding to dex sves is simple, and might lead to confusion about why you can't do something shown on the cover, variations of which happen pretty often.
Seems pretty neutral, really. No reason not to err on the side of the shield being useful and defensive fighters actually being better-defended.
While I like the idea that a shield adds to DEX saves one thing none of you have considered is Hit Points. Perhaps the Fighter in the picture has enough HP to survive the blast and the narrative is he raised his shield in time to deflect the blow so he survives. 
Or maybe we are not seeing the next frame where the Fighter and his shield are reduced to ashes... 
This is what HP does, gives you a mechanical aspect to use in order to tell a good story. HP loss can be described in so many ways and that example is as good as any of why HP has worked for 40 years. If you can't beat it, join it!