Dominions 3: The Awakening/Items/Shields

Shields, ranging from Bucklers to the magical shields like Shield of the Accursed, Lucky Coin and Scutata Volturnus allow the unit block attacks on defence. The shield mechanism works as following: if the attack of the attacking unit pierces the defence value of the defender the defender has a chance to block the attack with a shield. If the attacker doesn't manage to pierce the Parry value of the shield the shield's Protection gets added to the total protection of the defender. High attack values and very high damage allows the attacker to pierce shields.

Commanders wear their shield on Hand slots and it should be noted that mounted commanders cannot use Tower Shield class shields.

Shield Types
There are several types of shields.
 * Bucklers - The weakest of shields, bucklers cost few resources to make. Bucklers give the least protection from melee attacks and arrows, but it is better than having no shield at all.
 * Shield - The normal run-of-the-mill round shield is something that most soldiers should not leave home without.
 * Tower Shield - Used mainly by the Legionnaires of Pythium and Ermor, tower shields are rather cumbersome and offer the same protection from melee attacks as normal shields. Those who use tower shields, however, with be nearly immune to archers. Tower Shields can not be used by mounted troops.
 * Kite Shield - A shield utilized mainly by cavalry, kite shields offer great protection against both melee attacks and archers.