Comparing Shields: Low-Tech and Shields Up!

Comparing Shields: Low-Tech and Shields Up!

Shields Up! is one of my favorite GURPS supplements that introduces plenty of fun mechanics and patches up some holes in the rules. However, let's investigate the equipment sections of these books and see what is different. Should a GM decide between using one of these books for shields, or can he use both?

GURPS Low-Tech presents you a bunch of shields on the table that are a mix of generic shields and specific historical shields. Thus, you have a "large shield, heavy" and "mycenaean shield" or "comanche shield". Shields Up! instead gives us only generic shields and modifications to create a non-generic shield (with the inclusion of the dueling long shield that cannot be replicated via these modifications.) Then, there are some pre-built examples using this "generic shield + modifications" approach. I think this is a much sensible approach, especially for a fantasy game.

But anyway, let's check how the generic shields compare to one another:

Dueling Buckler (or Tiny Shield in SU)

LT: DB 0; $25; 2 lbs.; DR 4; HP 11; Cover DR 6

SU: DB 0; $25; 2 lbs.; DR 4; HP 10; Cover DR 6; Shield ST 7; Reach C

Shield ST and Reach are new statistics for shields, and very welcome ones, especially Shield ST. As you can see on the statline, only HP values are different. The correct value is actually HP 11, but it actually results from rounding up 10.079, so I don't really blame anyone who'd write HP 10 instead.

However, what I omitted was the "Notes" section, and those are quite different. Per LT, the dueling buckler gives +1 to Block and provides DR 4 to the shield hand (because it's a buckler). Per SU, you are not limited to buckler grip, so there is no DR 4 to the shield hand, although I think that it'd be a sensible addition to buckler-grip tiny shields. In addition, SU forbids you from using a tiny shield for a shield rush (which either implies that this is a buckler or extends the buckler rule to all DB 0 shields because they are barely shields at all), and says that the shield provides no cover (why does it have Cover DR then?) and that Dodge and Drop (Shields) is impossible. I'd combine these two rules bits into one for a generic tiny shield.

Small Shield, Heavy (or Small Shield, Standard in SU)

LT: DB 1; $40; 6 lbs.; DR 4; HP 15; Cover DR 7

SU: DB 1; $40; 8 lbs.; DR 4; HP 16; Cover DR 8; Shield ST 13; Reach C-1

How come the SU small shield is heavier? The new HP and Cover DR values are correct for the new weight. If we were to assign a ST value to the LT shield, it would have Shield ST 11. Reach is probably the same.

Small Shield, Light

LT: DB 1; $30; 3 lbs.; DR 2; HP 12; Cover DR 5

SU: DB 1; $400; 4 lbs.; DR 2; HP 12; Cover DR 5; Shield ST 9; Reach C-1

Now here's where things get more interesting. Light shields in Low-Tech are cheaper than heavy shields (it's a CF -0.25 modifier as per p. 19 of LTC2), while they are more expensive in Shields Up!, being a +9 CF modifier. SU justifies it by saying that riving down thin boards takes a long while, which is actually something LTC3 talks about too. That's from the point of view of economics, but from the point of view of game balance, I assume that the main feature of shields is blocking, not using them as cover. In SU, low weight of the shield also drastically decreases Shield ST, making a light shield much more manageable to low-ST characters and preventing the shield from becoming unbalanced. The weight decrease is 50% from the heavy/standard shield. However, the SU small light shield should have HP 13, not HP 12! If we were to assign a ST value to the LT shield, we'd have Shield ST 8. From now on, I will add the Shield ST values to the LT statlines to avoid repetition.

Medium Shield, Heavy (or Medium Shield, Standard in SU)

LT: DB 2; $60; 14 lbs.; DR 4; HP 20; Cover DR 9; Shield ST 17; Reach 1

SU: DB 2; $60; 15 lbs.; DR 4; HP 18; Cover DR 8; Shield ST 18; Reach 1

What's going on here? Despite the SU counterpart being heavier, it has fewer HP (a 15-lbs. shield should have HP 20). But that's not all. As per p. 20 of LTC2, all DB 2+ shoulds in LT have a guige factored into cost and weight, while SU basic shields are guigeless. A guigeless LT shield has -$10, -1 lb., and the weight reduction does not affect HP. Thus, the comparison should actually be like this:

LT: DB 2; $50; 13 lbs.; DR 4; HP 20; Cover DR 9; Shield ST 17; Reach 1

SU: DB 2; $60; 15 lbs.; DR 4; HP 18; Cover DR 8; Shield ST 18; Reach 1

Medium Shield, Light

LT: DB 2; $45; 7 lbs.; DR 2; HP 16; Cover DR 6; Shield ST 12; Reach 1

LT (guigeless): DB 2; $35; 6 lbs.; DR 2; HP 16; Cover DR 6; Shield ST 11; Reach 1

SU: DB 2; $600; 7.5 lbs.; DR 2; HP 16; Cover DR 6; Shield ST 13; Reach 1

Yet again, the SU shield is slightly heavier, but the HP values are correct now.

Large Shield, Heavy (or Large Shield, Standard in SU)

LT: DB 3; $90; 20 lbs.; DR 4; HP 22; Cover DR 9; Shield ST 20; Reach 1

LT (guigeless): DB 3; $80; 19 lbs.; DR 4; HP 22; Cover DR 9; Shield ST 20; Reach 1

SU: DB 3; $90; 25 lbs.; DR 4; HP 23; Cover DR 9; Shield ST 23; Reach 1

SU shield should have HP 24, not 23. SU also notes that such shield enables the Dodge and Drop and Take Cover defenses for DB-2 creatures of SM+0. Yet again, the LT shield is a bit lighter.

Large Shield, Light

LT: DB 3; $68; 10 lbs.; DR 2; HP 18; Cover DR 6; Shield ST 15; Reach 1

LT (guigeless): DB 3; $58; 9 lbs.; DR 2; HP 18; Cover DR 6; Shield ST 14; Reach 1

SU: DB 3; $900; 12.5 lbs.; DR 2; HP 19; Cover DR 6; Shield ST 17; Reach 1

Wait. SU shield should have Shield ST 16, not 17 - that seems to be a miscalculation. Aside from that, we have the usual weight and cost difference.

Dueling Long Shield (or Dueling Long Shield, Standard in SU)

LT: DB 3; $200; 16 lbs.; DR 4; HP 21; Cover DR 9.

LT (guigeless): DB 3; $190; 15 lbs.; DR 4; HP 21; Cover DR 9.

SU: DB 3; $200; 16 lbs.; DR 4; HP 20; Cover DR 9; Shield ST 12†; Reach 1

HP 21 is the correct value, not HP 20. LT (in the errata) says that there should've been a footnote "[6] Attacks at Shield-2 or Staff-4." SU says "[6] +2 to Block and can make an Armed Grappling Attack (FDG, P. 2) by using it to hook." I have no idea how this weapon works because none of the books have a proper statblock for it. I also have no idea how the ST value was derived.

That's all for the shields, but we shouldn't forget about moveable cover - pavises and mantlets. In LT, they are not shields. In SU, pavises become DB 4 shields. I'll just say that the LT pavise is 27 lbs. when the SU light pavise is 25 lbs., where as the standard pavise is 50 lbs. The SU light pavise has HP 23, but it should have HP 24 instead. The standard pavise has HP 29, but it should have HP 30 instead. The LT pavise would have Shield ST 24, but adding nails or skids (but not folding legs) would increase it to Shield ST 25. Speaking of nails - these cost $50 and add 2 lbs. in LT, but SU makes it a generic option for all shields at +$30 and +1 lb. Also, I believe that this addon probably should have a requirement of DB 2+ or even DB 3+.

So, you can see that there seem to be several miscalculations in the Basic Shields table in Shields Up!, and the shield weights are not the same as in GURPS Low-Tech. However, this is not the fault of the former, because SU actually lists shields from DFRPG Adventurers (but links to a wrong book - DFRPG Exploits), and those are based on shields from GURPS Basic Set and those are indeed not the same as in GURPS Low-Tech. But at least now you know what new SU stats generic LT shields would have.

P.S. What the hell is going on with shield DR and HP in GURPS Basic Set?