Tower shield: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 12:35, 6 October 2026

Version 0.34: This article is up to date for the latest stable release of Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup.

Name	Tower shield
Size to wear	Medium, Large, Giant
Shield Value	13
Base shield penalty	15
Maximum Enchantment	+8
Grants	nothing
Time to Wear	5
Maximum Blocks	4

A large piece of wood and metal, to be strapped on one arm for defence. It is cumbersome to wear, and impedes the evasion, spellcasting ability, and attack speed of an unskilled wearer. These penalties will be reduced and eventually eliminated with increased Shields skill.

The largest of the shields, tower shields provide high SH, but with significant penalties. High Shields skill and/or strength can reduce these. While wielding a tower shield, you can block a maximum of 4 attacks per turn. They are too large for Spriggans or Kobolds to use at all.

Egos

They can be found with the following egos:

Shield egos are relatively rare. Of the egos, reflection and protection are the most common. You can occasionally find cold resistance and fire resistance in Ice caves and Volcanos, respectively.

	Image
Mundane
Magical
Artifact
	Unrandart tower shields
Tower shield of Ignorance

History

Prior to 0.34, a tower shield could have resistance ego and could not have ponderousness ego. ^[1]
Prior to 0.31, shields did not have a maximum number of blocks per turn. Instead, the more blocks you made per turn, the less likely the next block was to be made.
Prior to 0.28, tower shields had a base EV penalty of 5, negated completely by 25 Shields skill.
Tower shields were known as "large shields" until 0.25.

References

↑ Change shield ego weighting (0.34.0-g363eb5a)

Armour
Body Armour	Leather armour • Ring mail • Scale mail • Chain mail • Plate armour • Crystal plate armour Robe • Animal skin • Troll leather armour • Steam dragon scales • Acid dragon scales • Swamp dragon scales • Quicksilver dragon scales • Fire dragon scales • Ice dragon scales Pearl dragon scales • Shadow dragon scales • Storm dragon scales • Golden dragon scales
Miscellaneous	Hat • Helmet • Cloak • Scarf • Gloves • Boots • Barding
Shields	Buckler • Kite shield • Tower shield • Orb

[1] Change shield ego weighting (0.34.0-g363eb5a)

[1]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-{{version013}}
+{{version034}}
-{{armour
+{{shield
-  |name = Large shield
+  |name = Tower shield
   |cost = ?
   |weight = 23.0
   |SH = 13
-  |EV = -5
+  |EV = 15
-  |maxenc = +3
+  |maxenc = +8
   |skill = Shields
   |size = Medium, Large, Giant
-  |weartime = 8
+  |weartime = 5
+ |maxblocks = 4
 }}
-{{flavour|A large piece of wood and metal, to be strapped on one arm for defence. It is very cumbersome to wear, and, without a great deal of training, greatly slows the rate at which a warrior attacks.}}
+{{flavour|A large piece of wood and metal, to be strapped on one arm for defence. It is cumbersome to wear, and impedes the evasion, spellcasting ability, and attack speed of an unskilled wearer. These penalties will be reduced and eventually eliminated with increased Shields skill.}}
-The largest of the [[shields]], '''large shields''' provide high [[SH]] but require a high [[Shields skill]] to avoid seeing significant attack penalties. They are most useful to characters with high [[strength]]. They are too large for [[spriggan]]s, [[halfling]]s, or [[kobold]]s to use at all, but [[ogre]]s, [[troll]]s, [[naga]]s, and [[centaur]]s find them comfortable to use. They can be found with the following brands: [[protection]], [[resistance]] ([[fire]] and [[cold]] only), and [[reflection (ego)|reflection]].
+The largest of the [[shields]], '''tower shields''' provide high [[SH]], but with significant penalties. High [[Shields]] skill and/or [[strength]] can reduce these. While wielding a tower shield, you can [[Shields#Blocking|block]] a maximum of 4 attacks per turn. They are too large for [[Spriggan]]s or [[Kobold]]s to use at all.
+==Egos==
+They can be found with the following [[ego]]s:
+*[[Reflection]]
+*[[Protection]]
+*[[Cold resistance]]
+*[[Fire resistance]]
+*[[Poison resistance]]
+*[[Positive energy]]
+*[[Ponderousness]]
+Shield egos are relatively rare. Of the egos, reflection and protection are the most common. You can occasionally find cold resistance and fire resistance in [[Ice cave]]s and [[Volcano]]s, respectively.
@@ Line 24: / Line 38: @@
 | '''Artifact''' || [[File:Large shield 3.png]]
 |-
-! || [[Unrandart]]<br>large shields
+! || [[Unrandart]]<br>tower shields
 |-
-| '''[[Large shield of Ignorance]]''' || [[File:Shield of ignorance.png]]
+| '''[[Tower shield of Ignorance]]''' || [[File:Shield of ignorance.png]]
 |}
+==History==
+*Prior to [[0.34]], a tower shield could have resistance ego and could not have ponderousness ego. <ref>{{commit ref|363eb5a|0.34.0|Change shield ego weighting}}</ref>
+*Prior to [[0.31]], shields did not have a maximum number of blocks per turn. Instead, the more blocks you made per turn, the less likely the next block was to be made.
+*Prior to [[0.28]], tower shields had a base EV penalty of 5, negated completely by 25 Shields skill.
+*Tower shields were known as "large shields" until [[0.25]].
+==References==
+<references/>
+{{armours}}
 [[Category:Shields]]