Using a (single) shield without holding it

[Arrakis]

Seeing the other Rules Question thread on shield use made me remember this.


I was once told that propping a shield up against your body doesn't count as using the shield and therefore you do not gain any protection from said shield; i.e., the shield doesn't block shots for you and the first shot to the shield will go through it as though it weren't there (like when a shield is broken).

Now, that doesn't sound right to me. But the situation was:

I was florentining and had been legged (left leg, I think) and had grabbed a nearby fallen shield and propped it up against my right knee. Someone said that I couldn't do that and expect to have the shield "work", so I ditched it and carried on.

I think the shield should certainly count, though if you were trying to use more than one of them that way, it would definitely get gray.

Any opinions?

[debuenzo]

i feel that a propped shield would act as a held shield and would block shots
as derian said in another thread, knocking it away would be fairly simple, so as a herald, i would allow it unless it got seriously abused


but another thing that i thought of, was if both knees were down, but on a shield (not the ground), would the both legs down rule apply?

[Skydd]

Arrakis, I'd count the shield as being there. I've seen several people prop a shield against a leg when armed before. True, some just do it to kick the shield at their opponent, but as long as you have a shield that is still unbroken between you and the swing, it should block it.

Debuenzo, if both of your knees are down, they're down. if you happen to be on a shield I'd still say the knees are down and the shot would transfer through.

[Derian]

Right about the knees down. The rule was designed in the way it is because if both knees are down (on the ground, shield, body, whatever), the attacker can't tell which leg is the one you can land a hit on, so they're both assumed to be legal targets.