Hero wielding two shields

By zooeyglass, in Descent: Journeys in the Dark

Hello all,

I've searched for this - if I've missed it, please be so kind as to point me in the right direction.

In my group, we were playing one of the two interludes (I believe it's 'The Shadow Rune') for the base campaign. The heroes need to get the casket off the map. The heroes had, as a party, two shields, and asked whether they could give both shields to the character with the casket and he could equip both and use the bonuses from both whenever he was attacked. I looked it up in the rules.

As far as I could see, there's no ruling against it. Each shield is a one-handed weapon, so he's just using the two hand slots to hold two shields. He could attack unarmed (single blue die) as described in the combat-ish section of the rules (turns out he didn't want to attack and was just using all his actions to move, basically). The two shields were different (shield of the dark god and shield of light, if I'm remembering their names correctly) so had different bonuses (one gave full reroll allowing the previous roll to be kept if better; the other allowed a single reroll or plus one shield and the hero recovers a heart if he takes no damage).

I hesitated about allowing it - is it allowed? I couldn't find anything either way that said you could or couldn't. Anyone have any thoughts?

Heroes can obviously wield two single-handed weapons (as the skirmisher does in Nerekhall, for instance). So I allowed it. Should I have? Thanks!

Yes, a hero can choose to play completely defensive and wield 2 one-handed shields.

Yes, a hero can choose to play completely defensive and wield 2 one-handed shields.

Yup.

All it says in the rules is that heroes can equip up to 2 hand icons, 1 armor icon, and 2 "other" icons. Items without icons are unlimited. If each shield displays 1 hand icon, you can equip 2. However, attacks will then be "unarmed," that is, just rolling a blue die.

Of course if you need to attack on a given turn, you could re-equip at the start of your turn. I realize this is obvious, but it's not like you're locked in to an "unarmed" attack every turn..

Thanks, thanks and thanks. It's what I thought about equipping, re-equipping & fighting unarmed. Glad I didn't miss something elsewhere! V grateful for your help.

There's also a fun ranged weapon that only takes an accessory slot that can make one attack a turn. You can use it while using two shields. Get the Nerekhall act 2 shield, the shield of the dark god, slap both on Auger Grissom with that heavy armor that adds 2 black dice, give him that weapon, and watch him be the closest thing to invincible possible while healing every time people fail to damage him.

Whitewing... my mommy told me not to metagame...

The gamer part of me loves everything you just said though... I forgot about hand crossbow haha

Whitewing, I like what you said too, but in my opinion you may not be interpreting Augur Grisom's Hero Ability correctly. (Or else I'm not interpreting it correctly, because I don't play it as you described..).

Augur's Hero Ability states.."Each other hero within 3 spaces of you gains: Each time a monster misses or deals no damage on an attack targeting you, recover one wound."

As I interpret that, the key word there is "other". I.e. everyone (within three spaces) other than Augur gains that ability. And they gain that ability exactly as stated, in the second sentence of the ability. So when it says targeting "you", it doesn't mean Augur, it means the referenced hero that is within three spaces.

That's how I read it anyway..

I agree that "each other hero" means everyone except Augur himself. If it had simply said "each hero" then it would include Augur, but that's not what it says.

Of course, if Augur actually had all that going for him, the question of Augur himself receiving healing would be moot because I wouldn't even bother trying to hit him. =P

Maybe I'd do the odd point of damage while trying to pin him with other traps and effects, but that would be just be cake and aside from my ultimate objectives for him.

Right, forgot about the "Each other hero" part. I like Augur Grissom for it though since his speed is 3 so he's not hindered nearly as much by the stoneplate as other characters are.

Especially as the prophet, because then if he lags behind the group due to his speed it doesn't matter, he can heal continuously without line of sight or range requirements.

So no one did completely answer the OP's question, can you equip two one handed shields (yes) and can you use both?

I suspect it's the same as with combat in that you could have two weapons equipped but only use the one, my guess is this is the same for shields?

So no one did completely answer the OP's question, can you equip two one handed shields (yes) and can you use both?

I suspect it's the same as with combat in that you could have two weapons equipped but only use the one, my guess is this is the same for shields?

You can equip 2, and use 2.

You can actually use 2 weapons as well (if both are equipped,) just not during the same attack. The only reason for that is because you must declare which weapon you're using at the start of your attack. There is no such requirement listed for shields- as such, I don't see any reason why you couldn't use two simultaneously. Remember, shields aren't "weapons" - they're just items that take up hand icons.

Edited by Zaltyre

So no one did completely answer the OP's question, can you equip two one handed shields (yes) and can you use both?

I suspect it's the same as with combat in that you could have two weapons equipped but only use the one, my guess is this is the same for shields?

You can equip 2, and use 2.

You can actually use 2 weapons as well (if both are equipped,) just not during the same attack. The only reason for that is because you must declare which weapon you're using at the start of your attack. There is no such requirement listed for shields- as such, I don't see any reason why you couldn't use two simultaneously. Remember, shields aren't "weapons" - they're just items that take up hand icons.

Also, the time when shields are used is during the OL's turn, usually, so a shield that says "exhaust when attacked, for X" can always be used, so if you have two of them, both are valid.

There is no such requirement listed for shields- as such, I don't see any reason why you couldn't use two simultaneously. Remember, shields aren't "weapons" - they're just items that take up hand icons.

Also, the requirement that you pick one equipped weapon to make an attack with is part of the rules for "performing an attack." It's not an inherent property of weapons as a category of item.

I agree, you could certainly use two shields in response to a single attack if you wanted to.

The only exception might be if you had two shields of the same name equipped at once. Because then you'd be using two cards with the same name in response to the same trigger (the one attack.) So, lesson learned: if you want to equip two shields, make sure they have different names. =P

Edited by Steve-O
The only exception might be if you had two shields of the same name equipped at once. Because then you'd be using two cards with the same name is response to the same trigger (the one attack.) So, lesson learned: if you want to equip two shields, make sure they have different names. =P

You know, I never actually thought about this. I mean, I know this was the rule, but it never really dawned on me that it would be possible to end up with multiple shields that had the same name. At the very least, the base game does have 2 Iron Shields. I don't think any of my heroes have actually ever purchased two of anything ...

But you know that heroes are slippery, conniving, greedy little imps ... now I will have to watch them for yet another shenanigan move ... :o

Edited by any2cards

The only exception might be if you had two shields of the same name equipped at once. Because then you'd be using two cards with the same name in response to the same trigger (the one attack.) So, lesson learned: if you want to equip two shields, make sure they have different names. =P

This is so going to conflict with all the rules of Terrinoth style; preventing people from symmetrical fashion. A shame, really.

In more seriousness, I can only find that this rule applies to playing Overlord cards, not triggering or equipping items, so you still *could* use two shields with the same name. Shield-bearing fashionistas rejoice!

I'd be surprised if anyone in the last couple years has been attacked while wielding two iron shields. However, if a thief were to buy the lucky charm from the shop, that would raise an interesting question. I, like griton, can only find that rule in direct reference to OL cards. Except for the two cases mentioned (Iron Shield and Lucky Charm) i don't know that there are any duplicate cards to speak of, so perhaps it's not an issue.

Edited by Zaltyre