Notso
Official Terrarian
Preface
Have you ever found it strange that shields in Terraria can't be used as shields? I didn't, until my most recent RP run and my character found a Cobalt Shield in the first chest in the dungeon that he opened, and I realised it was kind of strange (from his perspective) that he couldn't wear the darn thing on his off-hand while wielding a one-handed sword.
Sure, shields provide a defense bonus, but what if they could actually be used as shields, to stop (to a certain extend) incoming damage altogether?
Now, this is where I need your help. I won't claim to be any good at balancing anything, so while I did my best to come up with a way of not making these OP, if you think this could be a good addition to the game, I'd like some help to figure out "balanced" mechanics.
Shields acting like shields
My current thoughts are:
More shields!
Craftable shields for each material that weapons and armour can be made from, e.g. from the most basic:
Wooden Shield [Crafted]
To the powerful:
Chlorophyte Shield [Crafted]
Aegis [Found] (For those who are unaware, the Aegis was Zeus' shield, and had Medusa's head as it's central boss (i.e. the dome in the middle of the shield))
To the wacky:
Umbrella [A change to the existing item - still held upright as the normal Umbrella would be]
Changes
Have you ever found it strange that shields in Terraria can't be used as shields? I didn't, until my most recent RP run and my character found a Cobalt Shield in the first chest in the dungeon that he opened, and I realised it was kind of strange (from his perspective) that he couldn't wear the darn thing on his off-hand while wielding a one-handed sword.
Sure, shields provide a defense bonus, but what if they could actually be used as shields, to stop (to a certain extend) incoming damage altogether?
Now, this is where I need your help. I won't claim to be any good at balancing anything, so while I did my best to come up with a way of not making these OP, if you think this could be a good addition to the game, I'd like some help to figure out "balanced" mechanics.
Shields acting like shields
My current thoughts are:
- A slot in the "armour and accessories" column for a shield - when a shield is equipped here, it becomes "active" (i.e. you will gain any bonuses associated with it, such as its flat defense bonus or the Paladin's Shield's damage transfer), and the player's sprite is seen wielding it (unless you choose to hide it, like you can with other accessories)
- [New mechanic alert!] In the active state, you can hold the right mouse button to "use" the shield. While doing this your movement speed is reduced (let's say, as a ball-park figure, by 75%) and you cannot attack, however...
- [New mechanic alert!] While a shield is in use, its "% shield power" reduces damage taken by all sources, rounded to the nearest integer (i.e. DoT effects can never be reduced to 0 per tick - if you're On Fire! you're bloody-well on fire)
- The damage reduction from an in use shield is directional - from the front you get the full Shield Power, from the top and bottom you get 25%, and from the back you get none
- [If 1. is implemented] the shield can be "aimed" with the cursor
- When a shield is in use, all damage the player takes (before or after Shield Power reduction?) is removed from a new not-quite-equivalent to mana bar called "Shield Stamina", and the amount removed will be some function of increasing knockback strength of the attack. Shield Stamina will not recover while the shield is in use
- [If 3. is implemented] while Shield Stamina is not at 100%, movement speed is still reduced and attack speed is lowered
- To avoid power creep, shields could give no flat defense bonuses
More shields!
Craftable shields for each material that weapons and armour can be made from, e.g. from the most basic:
Wooden Shield [Crafted]
- 20% Shield Power
- +2 defense
- 15% Shield Power
- +1 defense
- Melee attackers take damage
To the powerful:
Chlorophyte Shield [Crafted]
- 70% Shield Power
- +20 defense
- (Poofs out a cloud of damaging gas similar to the Chlorophyte Partisan when going from active to in use)
Aegis [Found] (For those who are unaware, the Aegis was Zeus' shield, and had Medusa's head as it's central boss (i.e. the dome in the middle of the shield))
- 65% Shield Power
- +23 defense
- Has a chance to petrify enemies
- Tooltip: 'Do not use with a Magic Mirror' (has a chance to petrify self)
To the wacky:
Umbrella [A change to the existing item - still held upright as the normal Umbrella would be]
- 0% Shield Power
- +1 defense
- You will fall slower while holding this
- Tooltip: 'When raining, character gains the "Singing" buff' (has a chance to cause enemies to flee from your awful recital of the famous song)
Changes
- Scrapped the distinction between 1 and 2-handed weapons
- Cactus Shield only damages melee attackers
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