A Song of Dirt and Wind - Energy Shields

Granted, energy shields are not a big part of post-apocalyptic settings, I've been thinking a lot lately about running Fading Suns using A Song of Dirt and Wind and in that setting energy shields are a common item among the noble houses. Thus, rules for energy shields.

Energy Shields

Some advanced civilizations from before the apocalypse were able to harness the fundamental powers of the universe such they they could use gravity, magnetism, or other forces to deflect incoming attacks without need of armor.  Such devices ranged from man-portable devices meant for personal security use to massive versions meant to protect entire settlements or space stations.  Few of these have survived to current day, and the few that have are immensely prized for their usefulness.  A fully charged personal energy shield makes a soldier nigh unstoppable as long as the charge holds, while the larger shields can render a settlement invulnerable as long it does not run out of power.  Unfortunately few means to recharge such items survive in the Bonelands.  

Energy shields reduce the incoming damage of weapons by applying the class of the shield as a negative modifier to the attack’s base weapon damage before it is adjusted for the number of successes rolled.  So a Class 2 energy shield struck by a 4 damage attack will only do 2 points of health per success.  If the energy field reduces the damage to 0 that weapon cannot penetrate the energy shield at all.  Each time an energy shield is truck it consumes a number of charges equal to its Class, plus it consumes one charge each round it is active.  

The class of a shield is applied directly against falling or explosive damage, reduce the health damage of the attack by the class of the shield.  Falling damage and attacks with the Radius quality drain double the normal number of charges from an energy shield.

If an energy shield does not have enough charges to defend from an attack it provides no protection at all against that attack and then deactivates.  It will not reactive until recharged.  Recharging an energy shield requires a generator of some type and most can be recharged at a rate of one charge per minute.  

Attackers can attempt to bypass an energy shield by pulling their swing before striking the shield, fooling it into not registering the weapon as a threat.  This can only be done with a melee weapon and increases the defense of the target by +6.  If successful, each success reduces the Class of the energy shield against that attack by 1, but theses successes do not increase the damage of the attack.  So if such 3 damage attack against a class 3 shield that scores 3 successes while trying to trick the energy shield will ignore the shield since the shield’s class is reduced by 3.  

Energy shields higher than Class 3 are extremely rare, and anything higher Class 6 is practically unknown.  Energy shields cannot be worn over any armor with a Bulk value greater than 1 unless they have the Armored Field trait..

Shield Name	Class	Armor Penalty	Charges	Bulk	Cost	Qualities
Brawler Shield	1	0	20	0	1000
Duelist Shield	3	0	60	0	3000
Soldier Shield	5	-1	100		6000	Armored Field, Removable Battery
Assault Shield	6	-2	150	1	10000	Armored Field
Bounce Shield	4	-1	80	0	5000	Reflecting
Stealth Shield	2	0	80	0	7000	Stealth Field
Survivor’s Shield	2	0	50	0	2500	Recharging
Stunt Shield	4	0	100	0	6000	Wide
Juggernaut Shield	6	-3	200	1	15000	Impenetrable
Fortress Screen	8	NA	2000	NA	50000	Immovable, Removable Battery, Wide
Citadel Screen	15	NA	3000	NA	100000	Immovable, Removable Battery, Wide, Impenetrable

Energy Shield Qualities

Armored Field

Energy shields with this trait can be worn with armor that has the Energy Shield Integration quality.  

Immovable

The energy shield is designed to be attached to a structure or vehicle and requires at least four people to transport, and even then it is slow going.  The device cannot be moved while active.  The shield is projected around a single building or vehicle up to 100 yards across, though multiple shields of the same type may be linked together to protect larger areas.  Anything within the shield is considered protected by the shield, but it provides no protection from attacks that originate within the shield.  The shield does not stop the entrance of vehicles or creatures moving slow enough to not cause harm if they were to hit someone; faster moving vehicles hit the shield like a brick wall.  This also means weapons that are not thrown with great speed, like grenades, can penetrate the field.  

Impenetrable

This shield cannot be penetrated by pulling attacks, or by slow moving objects like grenades. It also does not allow anything else through, so while the shield is active the wearer must have an oxygen supply of some sort, cannot be handed supplies, his wounds cannot be treated, and the shield cannot be deactivated by anyone but the wearer.  If the wearer is rendered unconscious or dead the shield will remain on until the power runs out.  .  

Removable Battery

The energy shield has a removable battery slot that can be used with any standard battery.

Recharging

The energy shield has some means to recharge itself, such as a solar charger or using the kinetic energy of the wearer.  The energy shield will regenerate one charge per day it is not used.  

Reflecting

This energy shield not only stops attacks but reflects objects striking it back at their attacker.  When this field completely stops an attack from damaging the wearer, the field launches the object back where it came.  With melee weapons the wielder must succeed in a Challenging (9) Fighting test to keep a hold of the weapon or it goes flying 3d6 meters away.  With ranged attacks, make a Marksmanship test with 2d6 against the character who made the attack.; if successful the attack inflicts the original damage -2.  

Stealth Field

In addition to protecting the wearer of the shield it also bends electromagnetic radiation around the wearer.  The wearer gains a +2B bonus to Stealth tests, which increases of +4B when the character remains still, and shows up only as a vague blur on infra-red, radar, or ultraviolet sensors.  The field consumes two charges per round active.  

Wide

The shield is designed to stop larger threats like explosives or falls from great heights.  The class of the shield is doubled against explosive and falling damage and it consumes the normal number of charges when dealing with such threats.  

New Weapon Qualities

Bleed Through

Weapons with this trait have the capacity to penetrate energy shields since they rely more on heat than kinetic energy.  Such weapons reduce the class of the shield by one for each 6 used in the final attack roll, so unused bonus dice do not count.  This is normally found on plasma and fire based weapons.