Shield Cleave

[Flying Hampster of Doom]

Why the hell can a berserker, using a whip, cleave a shield, like every fifth time...? That seems a little odd.. In fact I invite anyone to cleave a buckler of any type.. with a whip.

[Viggs]

What if the Whip is like Magic or something strange like that?

[Quiet Wanderer]

A whip should not cleave anything... unless it is made of scale or steel, in which case it more flail than whip. It's still just wrong for a whip to cleave anything... And i'm going to have to try this in game now.. It'll be funny.

[Athaekeetha]

While I agree that in most circumstances a whip should not be *as good* at cleaving weapons/shields, I wont deny the possibility of a lucky hit.

A properly wielded whip can deliver a *lot* of force. Think for instance of the sound of a whip being cracked. The reason it makes that sound is that the "tail" of the whip is breaking the sound bearier... awfully fast, with an awful lot of force.

Now, I would think that in some situations this would be sufficient force to shatter a not-so-well constructed wooden goblin buckler for instance. I can envision a whip shattering a peice of plywood for instance

Add on a little magic, as someone else suggested, and a little luck, and it could be possible (however unlikely) to hit a small flaw in a better constructed shield of some other material to similar effect.

[Avendin]

An average 17 whip is as powerful as an average 17 mace, but definitely not as concussive. Perhaps shield cleave should have a modifier based on your weapon depending on how concussive they are, maybe according to how well they parry because that seems to follow how concussive the blow from the weapon is (whips and daggers are the worst and staffs and maces are the best).

[Xonovik]

I see whips cleaving wooden shields.. no matter what the whip is.. although many shields are metal, and hard to break that material with most whips..

Cleaving anything with whips for that matter is weird.

If this is the case, then the actual cleave skill should also work with whips.

[Seryie]

[Hamp]

I believe he is talking about training it... which makes less sense.. you aren[t proficient in it but at the same time every fifth try you cleave the shield.. that makes absolutly no sense.. sorry if I've spelled shit wrong, been drinking again...

[Sebryn]

[Flying Hampster of Doom]

I would agree that there is some percentage of luck, yet every fifth time no matter what buckler is not luck, it is a percentage. And it was every fifth time like clock work, my sparring partner and I ran through around 40 bucklers really quickly, and my percentage didnt budge a damn inch.

[Emtro]

Train shield cleave with spear. Next please!

[Davairus]

Uh, his findings illustrated that the weapon wielded has nothing to do with the success rate of the shield cleave. You can expect skills like this to be hard to train, since they're a pain in the ass to have happen to you. I mean, your shield isnt just disarmed, its gone. Very frustrating for your victim.

[Dhampiri]

What you all are trying to do is mix realism with the balance of a game...Everything cannot be real...its a fantasy game. Last time I checked...I couldn't blow an ice storm out of my ass...although if one places a lighter near it and farts...you can create a fireball. The point is..its a fantasy game and balance is required to make it all fair...like Dav said...it should be hard to train..because its pretty devestating to someone who relies on a shield for defense, and suddenly doesn't have one at all.

[marsd]

lol or your shield is the uber overpowered shield of everlasting darkness or whatever..

[Dhampiri]

Well said marsd...


Oh and...

[Seryie]

This is just for Dhampiri so here we go.
quote the post where they said training before i posted? ohh whats that YOU CANT ohh fuck me. i forgot i can't actually read minds obviously you can idiot.

[Avendin]

Breathe in... breathe out...

[TheOneAndOnly]

Jesus, I know the skill is useful. But I have been practicing it for three days for about 5-8 hrs a day and it has gone up once...from 75-76. I am a giant, with quite a number of quest..is this productivity normal??

[Davairus]

Whoever is training it already found that the weapon type didnt matter is shield cleave. Thats why they posted right? I replied to confirm their findings were correct and why I thought things were left that way, I didn't actually reveal those mechanics myself. Original poster did that. There are enough other factors involved, nevermind worrying about your weapon type.

If you actually want to figure out how skills work, don't rely on roleplaying logic. While it is true that in a lot of cases, things will make good sense from most roleplayer's point of view, there are some times that sacrifices have been made for gameplay.. all that will give you is a nice place to start. But its not the whole picture. Combat skills are majorly affected by this stuff:

1) skill % in that skill
2) stat comparisons between target and attacker (strength and dex being most common)
3) fun fluff (e.g. hiding being easier in a dark room)
4) success rate caps

Now shield cleave, I see as being not unlike the dark-knight cleave skill.. you simply can't cleave somebody in half with whips, maces, staffs, etc. So I would probably take a guess that the skill ought to have been disabled completely for certain weapon types. This is the best way to avoid absurd outcomes like this... somebody probably thought it made sense for a whip to cut an obsidian shield in half.

[Dhampiri]