Palladion

Palladion (•)

 * Regalia
 * Action: Permanent

The Noble adds a shield to her Regalia, standing steadfast in battle. The shield is Size 2 and, like a mundane shield, protects the Noble from close and ranged attack. In any turn she doesn't use it as a weapon, the Noble adds the shield’s Size to her Defense and applies its Size as a concealment penalty against ranged attacks. When used as a weapon, the shield does Damage 1 and, for anyone but the Noble, requires a Strength of 2 and applies -2 to Initiative. The Noble ignores both; for her the shield is an extension of her arm. In addition, each time she attacks with it, she may choose to inflict either bashing or lethal damage. The Noble may not use the shield as a weapon if she has used it for Defense or concealment during the current turn.

In addition, the Noble can apply an Invocation to her shield, making it easy to maneuver. If she attacks with the shield, applying an Invocation adds its dots to her dice pool. If she defends with it, she adds her dots to either her passive Defense or her Dodge dice pool for one turn. A bonus from the Quality upgrade is applied the same way.

Durable
The Noble’s shield withstands even the most forceful blows. Its Durability equals 1 + her Inner Light.

Enlarged
The Noble can enlarge her shield with a transformation action. If she does so, the shield becomes Size 3 and does Damage 2 when used to attack. The required Strength rises by 1 and the Initiative penalty increases by -1 for all wielders except the Princess.

Towering

 * Requires Enlarged

The Noble can make her shield large enough to conceal her completely. When she does so, she can move at half Speed to use her shield as opaque cover against ranged attacks [CofD 92]. When not so used the shield is still effectively Size 3.

Soaring
The Noble can fling her shield, spinning it toward an enemy. The throw follows the normal rules for throwing objects [CofD 90] except that the Noble can throw the shield regardless of her Strength and may apply an Invocation to her dice pool. The shield is aerodynamic when the Noble throws it, though not for anyone else. Throwing the shield counts as using it as a weapon.

Slick

 * Requires Acqua •

The shield is coated with ice or a film of oil, making it nearly frictionless, and the Noble can use it to pull her enemies out of position. When she applies Acqua to improve her Dodge pool, any close attacker who hits her (gets at least one success before dodging is considered) has his blow slide off the shield, exposing him to counterattack; if the Noble uses her next action to attack him, she reduces his Defense by her Acqua.

Thunderous

 * Requires Aria •

The shield reverberates when struck, with a crash of thunder. When the Noble applies Aria to improve her Dodge pool, any close attacker who hits her must succeed on a Stamina + Athletics roll, penalized by her Aria, or take the Deafened Tilt [CofD 281] in both ears from the noise blasting through his skull. If she applies Aria to an attack with the shield and does damage, her target must make the same roll to avoid deafness.

Tangling

 * Requires Legno •

The shield becomes a burr that can trap whatever strikes it. When the Noble applies Legno to improve her Dodge pool, any weapon that hits her gets tangled in the shield and wrenched out of the attacker’s hand. Unarmed attackers have their striking limb trapped, giving them either the Arm Wrack [CofD 280] or Leg Wrack [CofD 285] Tilt until they spend an action extracting the limb.

Acid

 * Requires Tempesta •

The shield corrodes anything that strikes it. When the Noble applies Tempesta to increase her Defense or Dodge, any melee weapon used against her that does no damage loses one point of Structure, bypassing its Durability. Unarmed attackers take one lethal damage as the corrosive eats into their striking limb. Applying Tempesta to an attack with the shield adds 1 to its Damage.