Arrows, bolts, pointy things, and shields

[Lethandis]

I was just thinking, arrows and especially crossbow bolts and jarids could definitley have a chance (a good one in some cases) of punching through a shield. However, they would do relatively little damage to the shield itself. So, what I was thinking, what if some attacks could pierce shields to a degree, rather than gaining bonus to the damage the shield takes. Here's an example of what I mean:

Shields block a percentage of damage, taking the damage blocked onto themselves. Some weapons are better at penetrating a shield, while others are better at breaking up the shield. The examples are listed as follows:

Sample Attack - Damage Blocked (% range) - Special features

Cutting(general) - 95 to 100% - No special features
Bashing(general - 80 to 100% - Shield takes full damage of the blow, regardless of how much damage it stopped
Piercing(general) - 75 to 100% - Shield takes half the damage it stops
Axes - 95 to 100% - Shield suffers 150% of the damage it blocks
Crossbows - 60 to 90% - Shield suffers 1/4 the damage it blocks
Javelins/Jarid - 75 to 90% - Shield suffers 75% of the damage it blocks.

Thus, piercing weapons would be able to penetrate a shield well, but not really batter it to pieces that much. Conversely, an axe or a bludgeoning weapon will break down a shield much faster than most other weapons. This does seem to leave swords lacking, but since they tend to be faster than the other weapons, you will be able to attack around shields more often.

 

[NikkTheTrick]

A bolt that penetrates a shield would have lost most of its energy and, therefore, would do little harm to somebody in a chainmail...

 

[Balor]

Depends on a bolt.
However, since we don't have real siedge crossbows, you might as well be right.
However, simply allowing damage 'leak through the shield' is lame and unrealitic.
On the other hand, it would be very nice to implement stuck projectiles to slow shield blocking down (imagine how it would be to manuever your shield when you'll have a few throwing spears stuck in it!)
Or, it will have 'additional weight' points, that would depend on your str... and once they run out, you'll have to discard your shield as unuseable to block.
This way, javelin throwers will be ph3ared as much as they deserve.
(Arrows will add much smaller 'extra weight' emount, bolts - more, but not too much).
I think that full-metal (the most expencive variety, yea) shields may have advatage in terms of projectiles rebounding from it, not adding extra weight, yet they'll have like 12 str and more to be able to wield them at all!

 

[Lethandis]

A bolt that penetrates a shield would have lost most of its energy and, therefore, would do little harm to somebody in a chainmail...

Of course, what was I thinking, it's not like you have your arm strapped to the back of the thing and a piercing arrow could jump right through and be in an artery. . .

Now, my example was specifically referring to shields. So, what's stopping you from applying your armor to the penetrating damage? Nothing, then, blows that get through rightly still have to overcome whatever armor you are wearing. However, I think armor should have hard and soft types, because a suit of chainmail wouldn't do crap for stopping a good hammer blow, in fact, it just adds little serrated spots to the hit