Shields
Shields are a great way to keep from getting damaged in the first place. Here is a list of the shields you’re most likely to find in the stores that sell that sort of thing. Individual statistics for each shield work as follows:
Shield Name: Shows the most commonly-used name of the shield. It may be called other things, but most shields have similar functions.
Skills: Which skills you may choose between to use the shield. The skill chosen needs to be one either the specialty or one of the subjects of any of your active facets, otherwise you cannot use the shield to any degree of effectiveness.
B/P: Shows whether the shield in question can be used to block or parry. Shields with a B can be used for blocks, and shields with a P may be used to parry. When using a shield and choosing a defense type that the shield has, you may use one of the shield's skills to make the roll along with the appropriate stat, rather than merely the stat.
Cost: How much the shield costs. Keep an eye out for sales and the ever-popular free shield left on the side of the road or next to a pile of scattered bones while you’re out adventuring!
Hands: How many hand actions it takes to use the shield. All the required hand actions must be used in the same turn, so a 2-handed shield would need two hands to use. I suppose it seems more obvious when I say it that way.
Soak: A rating of how effectively the shield helps you block damage. For simply keeping the shield in the required number of hands, you may roll the shield's soak rating and add it to your normal soak at the beginning of the turn. If you are wielding multiple shields, you only get the soak benefit from the shield with the best soak.
*A tower shield costs two hand actions to carry when your character spends their move action that turn, but 1 when the character remains stationary. If a character wielding a tower shield chooses to use only one hand action to use the shield, their movement for the turn drops to 0, but they also gain a +4 bonus to any rolls made to resist being moved against their will.