Shattered Kingdoms

Bash has been a skill that has been complained about probably before I even started playing in 2003. My proposal is, in effect, a slight wimp to the skill as well as a slight boon to the more defensively build characters. Simply put, split the skill into two new skills, bash and shield bash.

Bash can be described as heaving one's bulk at someone, attempting to tackle them. As such, there is a possibility that both parties end up prone, thought the initiator of the bash has some advantage in the chance that they will still end up on their feet with their opponent in the dirt. Also, in the attempt to bash, the victim gets a sort of attack of opportunity to deal a bit of damage to the one trying to bash him/her, making the move more high risk/high reward.

Shield bash, just as it sounds, requires the person to be wielding a shield. The benefit to this is that they have a severely reduced chance of ending up prone as compared to a full body tackle, and instead of taking a chance at being damaged themselves, they get an increase to the damage the bash, even if they do not successfully knock their opponent down (though any damage may still be avoided). This could also require slightly reduced PE. In addition, perhaps mercenaries could specialize in shields, providing a considerable boost to the damage and the chance that they will be standing with their opponent knocked down.

I'm not sure if this really balances everything out, but it makes it slightly less desirable to grab a massive two-hander and spam bash. Thoughts?

Adding this as a new skill is a bad idea.

However, it could be interesting to make it so that having a shield changes how bash works.

1) All shield-free bashes should provoke a free riposte-like attack against the arms or chest. If someone slams their shoulder or chest at an enemy, a possible consequence would be that the enemy hits their shoulder or chest.

2) Bashes with shields should be different. They should provoke no free attack and be less likely to cause the basher to fall prone, but perhaps be less likely to succeed.

3) Some shields should do more bash damage than others, based on material and possibly on having a spike or other non-smooth form to the shield.

The degree to which these statements are true should be evaluated by someone who has a current sense of the balance between one-handed weapon and shield use, and two-handed weapon use. I am no such person.

Outside of simply not wanting to spend the time and experience on training another skill, the only reason I can see for not making it a separate skill is to give Giant's the full advantage of the bash ability. The recent changes to size could be considered a wimp on the race, so it may not be without merit to ensure they retain all benefits associated with the innate ability. If it were two skills, however, shield users would then have the option of forsaking the more defensive minded shield-bash for a full body collision should they wish to use the high-risk maneuver. I could go either way on it being a new skill or simply a change in how the current skill functions.

I could see shield bashing maybe not being as effective at knocking someone full prone, but it should certainly have a "staggering" affect that might disrupt certain skills and all spells. Still, the idea behind it is to give a considerable boon to the less offensive one-hander and shield combo and a sort of penalty to the currently popular two-handed massive weapon tactic. Imagine instead of simply throwing a punch or swatting with a shield that it is more of a bull rush with the shield firmly in place to guard against counterattack. I'd be more in favor of evening risk vs reward of the two tactics if they were two different skills, as I stated above, still giving shield wielders the ability to perform a high-risk, high-reward traditional bash.

I like the idea of certain shields having more or less offensive power. After all, some shields were given spikes or sharp edges specifically for the usage of this tactic. My only worry with that is if we get too complicated, it will likely not be worth the effort to make the change. I don't think shields even currently have subtypes, so this idea would require going through the massive amount of shields in the game to apply them to this type or that after re-writing the shield code to include said subtypes. Searching through all of the short and long descriptions of shields to discern their offensive ability only adds to the level of work. This is something we could, perhaps, look forward to in the long-term, but it shouldn't be something the change is hinged upon.

Making bash, one of the most Ronco SK skills, something with a little more complexity, load-out tactical gameplay, and active decision-making cannot possibly ever be a bad idea.