by Sir_Mel » Fri Feb 02, 2007 1:14 am
to me, this doesn't seem like an issue. Weapons were almost always crafted with a specific purpose in mind, this doesn't mean they were always used for that particular purpose. I agree that if we allowed to much creative interpretation of the rule it would definitely be abused far to much, however, there needs to be a little lei way (sp?) for this kind of thing. Even if there was a rule that stated that you couldn't use a tower shield sideways 1) how many people do you actually think would follow that and 2) How many heralds will seriously call people on that rule. I know one is supposed to be objective while heralding and judging only by the rules, however, I don't think I could see myself telling someone there dead cause they turned their shield sideways. It really doesn't give any unfair advantages. If you turn it sideways you can shield someone next to you or whatever. If you have an alternate set of straps that really wouldn't help you if you're standing up (lots of bulk in front of you and no leg protection) so you would probably use it like that on your knees. Most people will try and turn a tower on it side or somehow make it easier to use anyway when your so low to the ground. I actually think it'd be a really good idea, cause from what I've seen, tower users who get legged almost always get screwed. Just makes it friendly for gimps, not some uberleet way of cheating.
I like the idea of total shield surface area scaled to users. Being a big person (6'5" fat guy) I find some of the shield restrictions to be a bit limiting. However, if this were to come into effect, we'd run into the problem of small people losing there shields in battle and picking up a really big shield (say a 45" round). That going to be paying huge attention to how big a shield is when they're running around trying to stay alive. So, it's a good idea, but it would be very hard to employ it in such a way that people wouldn't take advantage of it.
So I think we can let the sideways shield thing pass, but the adjusted shield size needs work.
Later Dudes
Sir Melannen Arqueno, The Exemplar
Knighted by Sir Kyrian Hawksword
Minister of Metal
"The rising tide raises all boats."