How do shields work with melee combat?

yarse · 2016-04-10T15:38:04.000Z

Title. I figured out how to ©hange sides in the item screen, but how do shields an their encumbrance work with melee weapons and in general?

pisskop · 2016-04-10T15:41:57.000Z

???

they block crap. Automatically

yarse · 2016-04-10T15:48:05.000Z

So the encumbrance they cause doesn’t effect melee combat? If I hold a shield in my left hand and my machete in my right (implied, because I can’t find a way to explicitly hold it in my right), will it still take +16 moves to make a melee attack? How does that work with implicitly two-hand weapons like a quarterstaff?

pisskop · 2016-04-10T15:49:54.000Z

???

Im not sure if you know how encumbrance works?

Yes, encumbrance affects combat.

Stop overthinking it. It increases arm/hand encumbrance and that encumbrance causes worse rolls in melee and ranged combat. The shields dont magically make you worse/better at combat, they allow you to block with them while they are worn. Much like arm guards do. If they are worth it is up to you.

yarse · 2016-04-10T15:55:55.000Z

Haha yeah I know how encumbrance works, I’ve been playing since Whale’s Cata. Except the hand encumbrance doesn’t make sense, does it? If my left hand is encumbered from a shield it states that I have -3 to dexterity rolls for throwing weapons. Except, if I use one-handed throwing weapons (e.g. javelins) then that encumbrance shouldn’t actually effect me throwing them from my right hand, because what I’ve got strapped to my left arm doesn’t actually interfere with with what I’m doing with right arm.

pisskop · 2016-04-10T15:58:11.000Z

Unfortunately, I think there is a bug where the game will combine 2 different penalties.

So having 2 penalties on the arms (20-29 encumbrance) will result in expected results, but having ‘uneven’ penalties will combine the two penalties.

So having the right arm at 17 encumbrance and the left at 24 encumbrance will create a total penalty of 5.

Theyre trying to fix it but I can only say its worth it to test it yourself to see if you are okay with the resulting setup.
Use a shield and see. debug one in and go slaughtering. Or, like me, stick to using arm guards.