Splintering Shields by Material

"Shields Shall Be Splintered" by trollsmyth is an excellent house rule that adds more to the shield in RPG combat then one typically gets out of a simple +1 bonus to AC. It's great and should work fine in many a game. Being the rules tinker and fiddler I am I couldn't help but whip up a variant to this excellent house rule.

Splintering Shields by Material
(based on a rule by trollsmyth at http://trollsmyth.blogspot.com/)

Any time you are hit in combat you may choose to sacrifice your shield to avoid damage.
No one can choose to sacrifice a shield after they know the damage they would suffer.
Shields may not be used to sacrifice against surprise blows or those from the rear.

A shield will hold firm if the damage inflicted is equal to or less then the
ShP of a shield. Otherwise the fighter is sparred the damage but the shield is ruined.

Shields crafted from alfenwoode can be sacrificed versus a damaging spell.
Magic shields can be sacrificed vs damaging spells.

Silver faced shields can be used to defend against attacks from spectral creatures such as shadows and wraiths. Roll a d6 each time on a roll of 4 or less the shield is ruined by the experience.

Dragonscale shields may be used vs breath weapons and spells similar to the breath weapon of the dragon they are crafted from. A d6 must be rolled each time and this number is added to the saving throw and on a successful save damage is divided again by the score rolled (a 1 =gives a +1 to save but no reduction in damage). If the save fails the shield provides no benefit and is likely lost.
A dragon provides enough scales for a shield for every 4 HD it has.

Magical dragonscale shields are treated as a normal magical shield for determining it's ShP score. Use the shield plus or the d6 roll for a save onus, not both.

example: Claude the Chevalier has himself a +2 red DragonScale Shield and is the victim of a rather fearsome red dragon. he rolls a d6 and gets a 3, so he adds 3 to his save. He makes his saving throw against the 80pt breath and suffers but 1/2 from the breath as normal due to his save ...reducing it to 40 points...and that damage is again divided by 3 (as per the d6 roll) so it's reduced to but 13 points of damage the shield sacrifice saves Claude from suffering any damage but his shield is destroyed as it had but 10 ShP

A magical shield can be used against as many blows a round as they have pluses in a given round. Yes, a +2 or +3 shield is darned handy.
Magical Shields may block against spectral attacks as silver shields can and the shield bonus is added to the roll vs ruining the shield.

extra option- DM's really into tracking fiddly details can incorporate wear an tear. Each time a blow is blocked without destroying the shield reduce the ShP value of the shield by 1.

A DM need not require players to keep track of ShP unless the extra option is used as the score can easily be kept track of on a chart.


Shield Material......................ShP
Leather or
Cured Mushroom Caps............0
Bark, Wicker, heavy Hides.......1
Wood........................................2
Reinforced wood,soft meta......3
Hard metal..............................4
Hepatizon shield.................... 5
Galvrin................................... 6
Aethril.....................................7
+1 magic shield.....................5
+2 magic shield....................10
+3 magic shield....................15
DragonScale..........................4

Suggested Shield Prices
Leather........2 gp
Wicker..........5 gp
Wood..........10 gp
Brass..........20 gp
Steel.......... 35 gp
Silver.........150 gp
Hepatizon....250 gp
Galvrin.........500 gp
Aethril..........1000 gp
Alfenwoode.....350 gp
Dragonscale....500 gp

Hepatizon, Galvrin and Aethril are special metals I use in my current campaigns.
Hepatizon is a high quality bronze alloy better then steel.
Galvrin is special ferrous alloy, it's secrets are generally known only to dwarven smiths.
Aethril is a rare and magically forged metal.
+1 magical shields crafted from Hepatizon, Galvrin or Aethril have 1 ShP greater then normal for the metal.
Magical Shields of +2 or better crafted from these metals are no different from other magical shields and are often the metals used in such shields because of their inherent value.