Advice on Stunts

[Bifross]

Hi all, I'm a new player to DFRPG and I'm making a very tanky, shieldbro kind of character and I wanted some insight on my stunts.

The First:
Defense is Literally the Best Offense: Can use shields both as armor and as weapons with a value equal to their armor value.

Is this stunt alright, power-level wise? Over/underpowered?

The Second:
Bodyguard Isn't Just a Word, Son: Once per scene can take a hit meant for another character.

Same question, is it alright power-level wise? And should I have to pay a fate point for this?

[Taran]

I'd say you don't need a stunt for the first.  A shield is a shield.  It provides an armour value like any mundane armour.  If you whack someone with it, it provides a weapon rating.

I'd say weapon and armour 1.

You could take a stunt that gives +2 to make blocks with your shield.  That would be a stunt.

For the second, I would generally allow someone take a hit if they had an appropriate aspect and spent a FP without needing a stunt.

There's a whole thread somewhere about body guard powers/stunts.  I'll have a look for it later. 

Maybe a stunt that let's you put up a block on an ally as a reaction.   You could make use of the first stunt if you have a shield.  You'd have to be in the same zone and probably only useable 1/scene?

[Nepene]

"Defense is Literally the Best Offense: Can use shields both as armor and as weapons with a value equal to their armor value."

If you want a weapons boost the max you can get is +1 to weapons when using a shield as a weapon.

"Bodyguard Isn't Just a Word, Son: Once per scene can take a hit meant for another character."

Generally free actions aren't a stunt thing you can get. You could get a stunt that granted a +2 to defensive blocks with a shield, with an aspect to make yourself the biggest threat around so narratively people will tend to target you. If you want to manipulate people socially some social stats to make declarations with are good.

[Mr. Death]

I had a similar thread and question back in the day.

I'm inclined to agree with Taran on principle, but disagree on the numbers -- in my game, we treated the shield as Weapon and Armor:2. I'd say it depends on the size of the shield. A buckler I'd put as 1, a bigger, circular shield like the vikings had at 2, and a full-sized riot/Roman shield at 3. Using it as a weapon doesn't need a stunt at all.

As for stunts, a +1 to attacks with the shield isn't bad, but I feel like that would make using the shield as a weapon almost too attractive -- why bother swinging the sword when your shield can do nearly as much damage and you have a +1 to hit? I've tended to favor the approach of boosting maneuvers or blocks done with a shield instead. Because while a shield can be a weapon, that's generally not its primary purpose.

For the taking a hit, yeah, that can be handled through aspects. Interestingly, I've had characters with such an aspect both invoke to take a hit and receive fate points for taking a hit in different circumstances.

Another thing to create the same effect is to roll blocks with your shield -- with the above Stunt, you could roll with the shield to create a block against enemies attacking your pals, as they have to get through you first.

[Taran]

Generally free actions aren't a stunt thing you can get. You could get a stunt that granted a +2 to defensive blocks with a shield, with an aspect to make yourself the biggest threat around so narratively people will tend to target you. If you want to manipulate people socially some social stats to make declarations with are good.

This is a great idea.  You could re-skin the 'Taunt' stunt from intimidation and have it work with weapons instead.  Create a maneuver on someone or yourself then, if an enemy attacks an ally, invoke the aspect to have them attack you instead.

Instead of aspects like 'kill annoying warrior', you create aspects like 'In the way' or 'defensive stance' etc...and you'd get +2 to those rolls.  To boot, you could tag them for other stuff as well.

I'm inclined to agree with Taran on principle, but disagree on the numbers -- in my game, we treated the shield as Weapon and Armor:2. I'd say it depends on the size of the shield. A buckler I'd put as 1, a bigger, circular shield like the vikings had at 2, and a full-sized riot/Roman shield at 3. Using it as a weapon doesn't need a stunt at all.

Those numbers for armour seem fine but a riot sheild seems a bit too unwieldy to give a weapon value of 3.  I could see a medium shield with spikes on it giving a higher value but the size wouldn't do too much.  But that's just my opinion.

Another thing to create the same effect is to roll blocks with your shield -- with the above Stunt, you could roll with the shield to create a block against enemies attacking your pals, as they have to get through you first.

This is a great non-stunt use for shields.    And takes advantage of the previous shield stunt.

Another way of doing it is re-skinning this stunt from Fists:

Step Into the Blow: When you use Fists to
defend against a close-quarters attack and fail
that defense, you may sacrifice your next action
to counterattack immediately (with Fists) at +1.

Except re-word it:

When an ally in your zone fails to defend against a close quarters attack, you may sacrifice your next action to immediately use your shield to block (with weapons) at +1.

This lets you do it as a reaction and it doesn't mess with the action economy because you can only do it once/turn.  The +1 probably wouldn't stack with the +2 from the shield-block stunt.

[Bifross]

Oh shit, sorry guys, I completely forgot to respond here! Thanks for the help, I'm a new player so I guess I've got some work to do to acquire some Dresden Files common sense.