Shield-Rush

The shield-rush is an attempt to knock someone down by running into them with your shield. The character must have 10 feet (2 spaces) of running room to make an effective shield-rush. Making a shield-rush is treated as a charge attack for purposes of guarding characters with set spears.

When the character makes a shield-rush, he makes a normal attack against his enemy’s AC. Some shields may provide modifiers or bonuses to the rush; refer to Chapter Seven. After a shield has been used for a rush, it provides no AC bonus for the rest of the round for its bearer. Making a shield-rush also costs the character a normal attack, but it isn’t considered an off-hand weapon like a shield-punch.

If the shield-bearer hits with his attack, he makes an opposed Strength roll against his opponent to see if he knocks him down. The loser of the opposed roll falls down; if both characters fail their Strength rolls, they both fall down. The following modifiers apply to the attacker’s Strength score:

· 4-point bonus or penalty for each size difference of the attacker versus the defender;

· +3 if the defender was unaware of the shield-rush;

· –2 if the defender has four legs or more.

As noted before, monsters can be assumed to have a Strength of 31/2 per size category plus their Hit Dice. Instead of an opposed roll, the DM can substitute a saving throw vs. paralyzation for the defender to save time.

If the shield-rusher misses with his attack roll, he must roll a successful Dexterity check to stay on his feet as he rushes past his target. If he fails, he falls down.

Shield Rush

Shield Type
Size
Speed
Reach
Damage
Knockdown**
Small
S
Base*
1
1d3
0
Medium
M
Base*
1
1d4
+1
Large
L
Base*
1
1d6
+3

*A Shield Rush is performed in the attacker’s base initiative phase.

**The knockdown bonus is used during the opposed Strength check that takes place if the attack hits (see Chapter Two, page 46). If the character’s Strength check succeeds, add the listed number to the roll before the two rolls are compared.

Table of Contents