Spear-Sucker
The crafty Murdholm Dwarf had not seen these new shields. Fools, he though, bigger shields won't help you when you swing like a bear.
*Thrust*
He felt the spear being yanked from his grasp. Before he knew it, his own spear slipped back to him, into him, point first.
Spear Sucker the Phalanx's Bane
Speak Sucker is a heavy, Dwarf-crafted, and very durable shield. It is made of forged steel, holding in place a thin slab of pitted stone.
History The Grand History of the Skkanden-Murdholm Wars
The Spear Sucker was developed during the Skkanden-Murdholm Clan Wars. The Skkanden Dwarves were large for dwarves, and ferocious warriors, they waded into combat with stone hammers and shields, crushing skulls and mangling their better-armored foes until they were a twisted amalgamation of metal, bone and gore. The Dwarves of Murdholm were a crafty lot, smaller with golden bears, in the face of the Skkanden's mauls and mattocks they turned to a more organized form of fighting. A phalanx of light, coned shields and long thrusting spears. The coned shields shed the hammer blows with some effort and training, and they were great openings discovered after the swings that were perfect for a spear to slip into. The Skkanden, holders of the Rek'Kurzik Stone-Holds, summoned their warrior-shamans, battlefield healers, to work their sacred stone of which many weapons and armors were made, into a defensive device.
The result was the bane of the Murdholm's fighting style, and the tides were turned. Today, both clans are extremely advanced weaponry and military tactics, having each evolved to match the other's ingenuity. They still fight over those ancestral homes, continuing their tug of war for land.
Magical Properties Well, what does it do?
The Spear Sucker Shield will absorb any weapon that strikes it, turn it around, and stick it back out. It is also knows as a Reversal Shield, and has been adapted to fit a variety of defensive needs. The original design would absorb the thrust spear and eject it in a similar manner, usually striking its original wielder.
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? Responses (9)
Ouch. Nasty :) I like it...
Not a sheild to mess with.
Even funner when storming castle walls in a hail of arrows....
I've been waiting awhile to comment on this one because I've been trying to let it grow on me. The idea is interesting -- a bit munchkin-y, to be honest -- but I can see that it would work if you had good rules for blocking with shields in your game system.
What puts me off is really its construction. These are dwarves, right? For a weapon-returning shield I would have expected a more . . . mechanical solution. Maybe something that slingshots the missile around the dwarf and back at their foe. Maybe something that uses magnetic forces. The shamanistic rock substance didn't really do it for me.
Now, I can imagine a sort of "portable portal" variant of this that might make sense (though probably not for dwarves). Instead of a rock that actually sucks the spear out of someone's hands, the shield could be a two-way portal that will simply reflect the attack back out. The enemy would still be holding onto his end of the spear, but the pointy end would now be coming at his chest. No sucking force at all, and no reason the weapon couldn't be half-out, half-in.
Just my 2c. Even if you didn't change the construction or effects of this shield in any way, it could still use some expansion.
The idea is interesting but I have trouble visualizing it. Dossta's idea of a "portable portal" is a nice twist and is easier for me to see. It is especially nasty, since all of the attacker's force is twisted back around.
This sub leaves me curious about the Skkanden. They seem more "savage" than the average Dwarf. Are they more focused on stonework than metalwork? Is their culture more tribal/animistic in nature?
I was imagining the Skkanden as having typical Dwarven features (the beards, the girth, the fondness of strong alcohol) but being a bit taller, with more upper body strength and less sturdy/stumpy legs and definitely more savage. They would focus on stonecraft over metalwork to an almost primitive extent.
I see these two clans as having very little metal in their mountains, yet fighting over a cache of various magical/god blessed stone materials. Or maybe they only have access to precious metals not suitable for war.
The Murdholm would use wooden spears and arrows, possibly with a type of well woven wooden basket-like shield.
This is as much as I have expanded the idea past the original submission.
Cool, thanks. I like the variation on the stock Dwarf archetype.
I would justify it that the Dwarven gods that grant such powers on a shield/weapon would see the spears as sacrilegious. A Dwarf using a spear? What is that. So the gods allowed the other army to create this shield that will turn the other Dwarves from their wayward path and back to true Dwarvish honor. Hammering and chopping.
I would spin it into a racial lesson learned the hard way. Honor your race and gods!
Adding to what Strolen suggested, these could work against *only* spears, as they are an 'insulting' weapon to dwarves. So the gods blessed these shields, thus lowering their magic 'powers' a bit, but giving them that added dwarven touch. So quite useful, and still powerful, but really need an opposing force that uses spears as favored weapons. :) Of course disregard all that if they aren't really dwarves, per your expansion.