v4.0 – WEapon Training Shield

Just a point of clarification… Since no background in either the A:RPG or COH grants weapon training (shield), what you are saying is that only way to start play with Weapon Training (shield) is to explicitly spend a talent on it or select one of those backgrounds that allow you to pick any weapon (or any of your region’s weapons and come from a region that gives one or more shields.)

Is this accurate?

Scott

EDIT: Please ignore this post and those that follow. I apparently misinterpreted the errata.

I think that’s what I said. I just wanted to be clear that this was the intent. The wording makes it sound (to me) like I should expect to see something like “weapon training (Heavy shield)” in a background somewhere. And nothing like that exists.

You have to have a background that gives you a choice of weapons, and you have to make that choice be a shield.

(I don’t particularly like it. But I’ll live.)

Scott

Shields are ubiquitous. I don’t understand why a Martial Archetype has to have one of 5 specific backgrounds from A:RPG (assuming that, “any one-handed weapon from your starting nation” is valid to pick a shield or 7 if you play an Elorii) or 1 specific background from CoH in order to be proficient with a shield. That just bugs me. My primary doesn’t use a shield. He uses a quarterstaff. But if I decided to switch to my light spear and shield, or my gladius and shield, suddenly I’m in trouble because I didn’t either pick a background that allows me to be proficient with a shield or spend a talent to explicitly gain weapon training (shield).

Don’t get me wrong, I understand the arguments. The fact that a shield is acting as both a weapon and a piece of armor is causing it to be a target for abuse. But a martial archetype fights with weapons. It’s who they are. They know weapons and armor. To have to go out of your way for one of these to be proficient with a shield just bothers me.

Scott

Maybe I’m missing something but Martial Archetypes still learn Proficiency with all your Nation’s Shields. That’s not changing.

John

Yeah that was added to forestall the “I get Weapon Training (Shield) and Armor Training (Shield) and now I have Weapon Mastery (Shield)”

For long term consistency, I think the fix in the next printing/edition is going to need to be a Find/Replace.

All instances of “Armor Training: Shield” (ta) become “Weapon Training: Shield” (ta). The listings under “National Armors” are moved to “National Weapons” etc.

This makes it a bit more consistant with a few other things where shields are not considered ‘armor’ for using talents like ??? (gone blank, the +1 AV when wearing no armour).