Lets assume generic fantasy setting with magic and magical creatures and shit

>bucket helm, plate armor, AND shield

...

>Protection from breath attacks
A valid point.

What about opponents with other projectile attacks?

>What situations would warrant an adventurer already glad in full plate armor to also yield a shield?
Shield can be enchanted with magic you don't want to have on your armor. This way shield can act as cage armor, disrupting harmful effects while being farther from your precious body and cheaper to replace than expensive armor.

In some cultures shields bear dreadful images of monsters and gods. These images can either strike fear in enemy's hearts or take enemy magic onto themselves acting as lightning rod for it.
>Also, which systems differentiate using weapon and shield for protecting yourself from incoming attacks?
In the Riddle of Steel and its successors shields are awesome. They benefit greatly from Favoring rules which allows to protect your body from several directions at once and use Passive defense when its needed the most.

I need to take a look at that system.

Favoring rules are described in the Flower of Battle supplement. That book is absolutely awesome and has lots of new maneuvers, weapons and other useful stuff. Here is archive with the core game and its supplements.

mediafire.com/file/cqrpzf3c3vxnvpc/The Riddle of Steel.rar

Why arent you carrying two-handed swords and other two-handed weapons when you go in full plate?

>What situations would warrant an adventurer already glad in full plate armor to also yield a shield?
Shields work great for protection against arrows and bolts
Also shields are tools in their own right, whether it's a full metal shield or a wooden shield with metal frame, if you swing it at someone it's gonna have impact.
What's probably most important is the controlled response to the shock of various impacts, a strong blow against your armored body might not wound you but it could knock you out balance and cause you to fall over. The same can be much easier to receive with a shield.

A shield is a tactical thing. It takes up space and prevents enemies from entering that space to stab through your visor or through chinks in the armor around the armpits. It can be used to protect other, as well, and are great at defusing blows.

If you have a tower shield, it can provide cover while you load your crossbow.

Not him, but holy shit, calm the fuck down. Stuff like this is literally just a game we play on days we aren’t working or whatever we do for our primary livelihood or education.

It’s been that way since I started playing when I was like twelve years old. Relax.

>What situations would warrant an adventurer already glad in full plate armor to also yield a shield?
Well, assuming a generic D&D type thing, lost of monsters and usually certain enemies will have attacks that you pretty much want to in no way hit your body, armored or not, so a shield might be helpful in reflecting bursts of fire or ice or whatnot that might otherwise heat up or freeze armor or melt it or whatever.
>Also, which systems differentiate using weapon and shield for protecting yourself from incoming attacks?
This is a harder question to answer.
The primary issue is that in the end not a lot of publishers try to compete with D&D in the basic “D&D” style fantasy setting because D&D has had that market locker down for four decades at this point. You might be better off with a generic system I think.
That said, it seems like most games that aren’t D&D have shields work differently from armor.

>benchpress refrigerators
...user, the heaviest regular fridges are about 250 lbs

I'm asking for system because I need research material for building my own system. I'd like to make it so that the choice between shield+one hander or two hander is meaningful.

>Fuck you first of all.

???

Good thing the armor is made from fantasy metal that's tough enough to help against those kinds of things.

This is the kind of decision I want to have my players make.

>In a non mundane setting all protection would still be mundane
Well here's some autism I've not seen before.

Quite a lot of situations in Warhammer Fantasy I guess?

I take some measure of solace knowing im not the only one who gets OCD about this....

Really? This is the go to standard autism when ever the martial-caster divide comes up. One is allowed to be fantastical the other is held to real world standards.

It can be used for parrying attacks in ways a single weapon wouldn't be able to
>Opponent swings wide to your left
>Put shield in way
>Their side is open and their weapon is behind your shield
So yeah, it does exactly what shields do; stop attacks and leave people open. Armor just stops attacks, the people that wear it just learned to fight in ways to make their own openings. A knight with a shield would be all about tiring an opponent out rather than straight-killing them; even past the shield, attacks don't do damage because the armor.
As for situations where someone would do that, a knight with a shield serves as great bait. Knights themselves are seen as huge threats to unsavvy opponents, so without a good leader behind them to recognize the party's plan, groups of human enemies would attack them first unless they had a better situation to attack someone else. Animals would still prefer to attack unarmored opponents; easier prey.

>all magical artifacts self-update to cutting edge military technology of present times

>>fire melts army.
I mean this isn't true in most games with rules.

Not even particularly true outside of games, considering Beowulf.

There are very real and very viable anti-magic techniques and maneuvers that require the use of a shield.

Armour gives damage reduction, shield allows you to more easily/readily parry incoming attacks.
At least that's how it is in warhammer fantasy

What would be the difference between parrying with shield versus parrying with weapon?

>What situations would warrant an adventurer already glad in full plate armor to also yield a shield?
The assumption that shields are redundant due to plate is only applicable with weapons driven by human-like strength. Basically, humans are not strong enough to damage metal plated humans with weapons they can swing. You could use more protection then just plate provides as soon as this is not the case.

Typically in a fantasy setting, because the more enchantable items you carry, the more effects you can have active at once.

A shield makes it easier and less strenuous, and a two handed weapon can't block projectiles.

Breath attacks can be dissipated around the shield-user mostly harmlessly with a large shield and shields can also be polished to a mirror finish to reflect gaze attack from some particularly nasty beasties.

>man, why do soldiers even wear helmets? Bullets go straight through them!
>jeez, who would bring armor to a bear hunt? One swipe can take a man's head off!
>electricians ought not to wear such thick rubber gloves if a strong enough current just melts them anyway!

Shields can be used offensively or can be used to provide additional protection to the user, particularly against magic.

>wear the fuck-you-bear-suit
>get an itchy nose
what do

In dragon age Inquisition it's mentioned by Iron Bull that Templars specifically train with shields to deflect acid and fire away from their bodies, downward. If a shield is large enough and constructed with the proper anachronistic knowledge, it could be planted into the dirt to act as a grounding rod to prevent electricity from jumping through your body. There's also cover protection from arrows and other projectiles

But the biggest reason? +2-3 ac you fucking goon

Channel the irritation into more hatred against bears.

>a two handed weapon can't block projectiles
speak for yourself

Some good systems where shield and armour work differently:

Agone: in which you don't have a static TN to be hit, but you roll "passive defence" dodging or partying (shields give huge bonuses to parrying), and armour provides damage reduction. And in this rpg getting swarmed by attacks is stupidly lethal.

SIFRP: or the Chronicle system if and when the new core book comes out. In which shields increase your static TN and armour (again) provides damage reduction.

gorgeous

Monster bites into your shield, you drop it.
Monster bites into your chestplate or gauntlets, you're fucked.

This picture is kinda cool, but Veeky Forums corrupted me so much I can only see a fedora tipper going "m'lady".

Well, when you parry with a shield, your weapon is unoccupied while theirs is. When you parry with a weapon, you are using your weapon to parry them, occupying both yourselves, with the only real advantage being where your sword is in the mix-up and the fact that you know what's going on, which would exist in the shield situation as well. By simple law of hand economy, it's much simpler to attack someone when you're not using your weapon to parry them than otherwise. Not that attacking from parrying is or should be difficult to anyone who actually knows how to do it, it's just plain easier to parry with an item designed for parrying and then attack with a weapon designed for attacking.

Fedora tippers ruined lawful good.

Thanks for the breakdown.

>What situations would warrant an adventurer already glad in full plate armor to also yield a shield?
The shield has the face of a dragon on it, the dragon breathes fire
Replace this with another of the countless possible magical effects the shield could have if you don't like it
Or accept that a knight in shining armor with a sword and shield is cool and stop being autistic

Shield can be used offensively as well. Its also better at making your ribs not cave in from a mace or something.
Don't know any systems that properly integrate it

Well I'll shoot an arrow at you and we'll see if you can block it okay?

I'll be as autistic as I want in my pursuit of realistic fantasy.

That too. I mean it is true in some fantasy settings sure, ASOIAF comes to mind immediately since it is a visual medium, and I feel like Smaug, let alone larger dragons from middle earth could fuck up whole armies, but it is far from the norm or standard.

First off: Escort mission. Being in full plate doesn't mean shit if whatever you're trying to protect is unarmed.
Second is if the shield is enchanted and magical. I'd carry a magic shield with me if I was in sci-fi power armor.
Third is if they use it as a bludgeon. It's basically more arm to hit people with

>ASOIAF
>visual medium

KYS