Paladin Set Shield

[Faelon]

To buff up Paladin defenses.

Works like riposte, in that you type it during combat and you are limited to a single attack per round. Doesn't stop wrath, or other spells. But setting the shield makes it so you block a ton of attacks.

[Andrael]

Is it just for taking hits, or would the paladin be allowed to retaliate?

[Andrael]

I could also see this as a potential skill for what Dav wanted to do with the ethos choice in pallies.

Maybe for Lawfuls, but I wouldn't let them do it with buckler, has to be a shield worn as a shield, not as a buckler.

[Faelon]

I agree, it shouldn't be a buckler skill. Buckler's wouldn't be big enough to set against an opponents attack.

Not a retaliation skill like riposte, but more defense then riposte. So, you get the tank trade off. You can use the one attack per round and then wrath/curatives/other various incantations.

[Andrael]

Hmm, I'd imagine they can use their shield slam... but how would it fair against a barrage skill?

[Ergorion]

If you want a buff defense, just roll a lawful Jotun paladin. Since lawful can be knights, I see no reason why there should be any nonlawful paladins. Plus, if you have all lawful Knights, you can flag anyone if two of you are on and a Justice. Regardless of whether or not the Justice is in town.

The dominant strategy here clearly seems to favor an all lawful knight cabal. Well, since there are no evil characters it doesn't make a difference.

But how about we let this most recent paladin defensive buff play itself of a bit then continue the buffing battle.

[Faelon]

I think barrage would have a reduced chance of effectiveness, as those who can use it would be used to people wailing on their shields. But a warriors chance to numb their arm might knock them out of the stance, if landed?


I'm not a huge fan of lawful only buffs, myself, but if chaotic is going damage output as Dav said previously and lawful is going tanky mctanktank, then this would fall into the lawful category I suppose.

[m1coftw]

Paladins are already OP, if anything, they need to be gimped more.

[Ashlyn]

Paladins really have three strategies right now.

A.) Flee/Murder

B.) Stand pat and spam wrath

C.) Holy Gangbang of DOOM

they change slightly depending on race, i.e. more mobility due to less health or more stability with more HP. I wouldn't say they are OP as they have advantages over every evil only class currently but adding another defense WOULD make them overpowered. You might as well just give them back dodge. I haven't tested buckler out but it seems almost superfluous as it reduces the normal tradeoff you make from choosing to do more damage with the polearm.(poor jotun dks)

[m1coftw]

Polearm pierce can be easily countered by wild slashing weapons, it hurts far more because you would have parry advantage, overcome their parry and hit like a truck.

Edit: I just scrolled through the today's stream on main page and saw Taganoth getting his ass handed to by Weawin using slash vs vuln polearm btw. But then again, only a noob gets weapon disadvantaged, so that means nothing much Only means that vuln can be defended against!

[Davairus]

I'm ok with this as long as it has to be typed in like any another skill, but it looks too much like a winning turtle strategy if it allows them to wrath. Seems perfectly ok to focus on defenses though.

[Andrael]

I would say to only allow shield slam, as it makes sense due to them already being behind it, but the wrath I'd say no. Due to them having to focus on staying behind the shield and having to focus on blocking the hits.

[Faelon]

Seems fair enough.

[Davairus]

So, I guess the question is, why does this need to be a paladin thing? Because honestly, any class seems able to just stop attacking and try to all out defend. It'd be like a last resort to avoid death. Its not a winning strategy if you can't do any damage. As a paladin I might actually prefer run and cure, or spam wraths to try to win the damage race.

[Faelon]

Primarily, without wrath, it would be a Winter or group warfare thing.