YAUP | Shields news

For the classic Gothic game formula developed by Piranha Bytes, shields made their formal appearance in the third iteration of the franchise (and continued into Risen and Arcania and ELEX as well), where they felt like another natural addition to the "protections" system, and provided an extra slot for worn armor elements. Nonetheless, nowadays everyone knows the original developers wanted to include shields right away in Gothic II, since almost all animations for human NPCs have the shieldgear slots rigged in (for being passively worn on the back or actively being wielded in the left hand). But for reasons unknown, the shields finally didn't make it into the final version of the game.

With the next version, shields were restored and made a proper component of the game.

1. Buckler.

2. Leather Shield.

3. Hide Shield.

4. Mercenary Shield.

5. Militia Shield.

6. Reinforced Shield.

7. Metal Shield.

8. Crawler Shield.

9. Line Shield.

10. Royal Shield.

11. Tower Shield.

- Buckler (+1 Bludgeoning/Slashing/Piercing, no bonus to Fire/Magic protections)
{Strength/Dexterity required: 15/12} <Blocking Bonus +1> [50 gold].
- Leather Shield (+2 Bludgeoning/Slashing/Piercing, +1 Fire/Magic protections)
{Strength/Dexterity required: 30/17} <Blocking Bonus +2> [150 gold].
- Hide Shield (+4 Bludgeoning/Slashing/Piercing, +2 Fire/Magic protections)
{Strength/Dexterity required: 45/22} <Blocking Bonus +4> [300 gold].
- Mercenary Shield (+6 Bludgeoning/Slashing/Piercing, +3 Fire/Magic protections)
{Strength/Dexterity required: 60/27} <Blocking Bonus +6 [600 gold].
- Militia Shield (+8 Bludgeoning/Slashing/Piercing, +4 Fire/Magic protections)
{Strength/Dexterity required: 75/32} <Blocking Bonus +8> [900 gold].
- Reinforced Shield (+10 Bludgeoning/Slashing/Piercing, +5 Fire/Magic protections)
{Strength/Dexterity required: 90/37} <Blocking Bonus +10> [1800 gold].
- Metal Shield (+12 Bludgeoning/Slashing/Piercing, +6 Fire/Magic protections)
{Strength/Dexterity required: 105/42} <Blocking Bonus +12> [2700 gold].
- Crawler Shield (+14 Bludgeoning/Slashing/Piercing, +7 Fire/Magic protections)
{Strength/Dexterity required: 120/47} <Blocking Bonus +14> [3600 gold].
- Line Shield (+16 Bludgeoning/Slashing/Piercing, +8 Fire/Magic protections)
{Strength/Dexterity required: 135/52} <Blocking Bonus +16> [4800 gold].
- Royal Shield (+18 Bludgeoning/Slashing/Piercing, +9 Fire/Magic protections)
{Strength/Dexterity required: 150/57} <Blocking Bonus +18> [6000 gold].
- Tower Shield (+20 Bludgeoning/Slashing/Piercing, +10 Fire/Magic protections)
{Strength/Dexterity required: 165/62} <Blocking Bonus +20> [7200 gold].

The eleven completely new shields. Some are purchasable in the Chapter 1 and some in the later Chapters (though some can be looted from monsters or places). In combination with one handed weapons, they can be actively used in combat to block melee and ranged and magic and breath attacks; that general melee style has two tiers and each needs to be absorbed from a teacher (Cord and/or Wulfgar in Khorinis, Kjorn and/or Sengrath in VoM, Scatty in Jarkhendar, and Girion in The Halls of Irdorath) who requires a certain amount of percentage of one handed weapon skill and learning points to be had (45%/9LPs and 90%/18LPs respectively).

Their prices may be perceived as too much and the provided protection scores or Strength/Dexterity requirements not agreeable enough, but since v2.6 will also introduce helmets, and both categories shall be available from the very first Chapter, the values supplied by new armor elements and accessories need to stay low or demanding in the term of requirements, otherwise they would make the player overpowered too quickly (but certain monsters had some of their protections and damage slightly increased after all, to counter the possibility of a more armored player). The overall concept is to mimic the first Risen, where helmets, jewelry, and shields were supplementary to main body armors.

Finally, with a shield in hand, the player will be able to completely neutralize almost any type of an attack or a source of damage when actively blocking. However, a successful block will rely on the wielder's attributes plus special boni* and not some completely random percentage chance.

Overwhelmingly many thanks to Xardas Bs from WoG.de for initial contribution of the fantastic models!

*In the "Serious Client" version. In the "Regular Customer" version, the blocking with a shield mimic the behavior of Risen in that aspect.