# Shields
*The Fantasy Armory, Eighty Melee and Thrown Weapons for Exodus NDS. Source: https://exodusnds.com/sourcebooks/fantasy-armory/shields*
Shields are weapons. The core rules stat them with damage, a critical rating, and a full quality line, so they appear here rather than with armour.
What a character buys is **Defensive**, which adds melee defence, and **Deflection**, which adds ranged defence. Damage on a shield is close to irrelevant; only the Bulwark treats it as the point.
**The real cost is Encumbrance, not coin.** A kite shield costs less than a dagger and weighs as much as a greatsword, so the price of carrying one is what you leave behind.
**Shields have a counter, and it is in this book.** Six weapons carry **Wrapping**, which ignores Defensive and Deflection from a carried shield: the Flail, the Bearded Axe, the Weighted Chain, the Meteor Hammer, the Shotel, and the Three-Section Staff.
**Skill:** Light Melee throughout. A shield occupies one hand and cannot be used alongside a two-handed weapon.
##### Buckler
Fist Shield, Hand Shield, Small Targe
+0
5
Engaged
1
Light Melee
35
Common
Crushing
Defensive 1, Disarming 1
A steel disc the width of a spread hand, gripped at the boss rather than strapped to the arm. It protects almost nothing and it is used actively, punched out to bind a blade or trap a hand. Light enough to wear on a belt, which is most of why duellists carry them.
##### Madu
Maru, Horn Shield, Fakir's Horns, Parrying Shield
+1
3
Engaged
2
Light Melee
110
Rare
Thrusting
Defensive 1, Pierce 1, Disarming 1
A small disc of hide or steel with a pair of blackbuck horns lashed across the back of it, points outward past either edge. It is a buckler that answers back.
It is the only shield in this book that is **Thrusting** rather than Crushing and the only one carrying **Pierce**. What it does not carry is **Deflection**: two horns and a plate the width of a hand stop nothing that arrives from a bow. A madu is for the person standing in front of you.
##### Round Shield
Aspis, Hoplon, Targe, Viking Shield
+1
5
Engaged
2
Light Melee
80
Common
Crushing
Defensive 1, Deflection 1
Planked wood, a hide facing, an iron boss. The baseline shield and the one most soldiers in most armies have carried: light enough to march with, broad enough to matter, cheap enough to replace.
##### Kite Shield
Heater Shield, Norman Shield, Almond Shield
+1
5
Engaged
3
Light Melee
100
Military
Crushing
Defensive 1, Deflection 2, Cumbersome 3
Long and tapered, strapped to the forearm to cover from shoulder to shin. **Deflection 2** is the best missile protection a character can carry and still move, which is why it was the horseman's shield for three centuries.
##### Pavise
Tower Shield, Scutum, Mantlet, Standing Shield
+1
5
Engaged
6
Light Melee
45
Restricted
Crushing
Defensive 2, Deflection 2, Cumbersome 4, Awkward 3
A body-height wooden board, often propped rather than held. It is cheap because it is a plank, and it protects better than anything else here because it is enormous.
**Awkward 3** and **Enc 6** are the whole story: a pavise is for a crossbowman who intends to stand in one place, and it is a catastrophe for anyone who intends to move.
##### Bulwark
Spiked Shield, Boss Shield, Battle Shield
+3
4
Engaged
3
Light Melee
250
Rare
Crushing
Defensive 1, Knockdown, Concussive 1
A heavy reinforced shield with a spiked or flanged boss, built to be driven forward rather than held up. It is the only shield in the book that is genuinely a weapon: it hits as hard as an arming sword, it puts people on the ground, and **Concussive** takes their next turn away entirely.
It gives up missile protection to do all of that. A bulwark is carried by someone whose plan is to reach the enemy, not to survive the approach.
