[Runequest] Shield skill penalty query

[David Smart]

On Mon, Mar 9, 2009 at 8:22 AM, Styopa <styopa1 at gmail.com> wrote:

>
> More to the point, I recall that the explanation I was given for the
> 'widdershins' twist of ascending spirals had less to do with protecting one
> side of the defender and more to do with significantly hindering the
> attacker's swing/leverage.  I'd probably say that the defender gets no
> strength bonus for a swinging weapon in his right hand.  Plus remember that
> the defender would always have height advantage, both as a bonus to hit and
> (if you use the rule) a bonus on the hit location table.  I've found height
> advantage - with its bias toward head hits on the lower target - significant
> for my players.
>

You're absolutely correct.

I actually had the opportunity to personally demonstrate this in Warwick
Castle when my wife and I last traveled to the UK and she asked why the
stairs seemed to always wind to the right when going up.

The central core definitely got in the way as I swung my right arm as if
wielding a sword. What surprised _me_ was discovering the steepness of the
stairs really hindered someone trying to move up them at speed _and_ each
step's horizontal surface nearest the central core was actually smaller than
the length of my foot so my heel was hanging off quite a bit. Made for a
challenge to keep my balance.

Add all that to having someone desperately beating on your head and
shoulders with a gravity-assisted two and a half pound mass of iron while
you're trying to hold up a thick wooden shield against gravity and an
attacker is in for some serious problems.

And I found that walking up slowly backwards nearest the central core wasn't
all that difficult because I could use the central core as a guide by
resting my left shoulder against it. The trick is to try to always step up
and back with one's _right_ foot first..which happens to allow for a more
stable stance when swinging down at an attacker (at least for me).
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://rpgreview.net/pipermail/runequest_rpgreview.net/attachments/20090309/555672a8/attachment.html>