Tower shield of Ignorance

Version 0.30: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

A shield unearthed from the remains of a ruined city. It bears an inscription written in an ancient language. Scholars and wise men laboured for countless hours to decipher it, and in time, a translation was finally settled on: "With a shield like this, who needs to think?"

the +10 tower shield of Ignorance

+10 tower shield

-4 Intelligence
rN+

Desirability

The tower shield of Ignorance is certainly a large shield. Kobolds and Spriggans are unable to wield it, while other species will need high Shields skill and/or strength to mitigate the shield encumbrance. The intelligence penalty only makes it harder to cast spells. However, it offers better protection than regular tower shields, and comes with a nice resistance.

Overall, while casters and Gnolls may want a different option, most characters who'd use a tower shield will appreciate this one. A +8 tower shield of resistance might be preferable, but you first need to find a tower shield of resistance, then use scrolls of enchant armour on it.

Note that, on low Int characters, the intelligence penalty can put you in real risk of stat zero. If your character has low intelligence, wear with caution.

History

• Prior to 0.25, this was known as the large shield of Ignorance.
• Prior to 0.20, this shield gave +4 AC, reduced intelligence by 6, and only had a +6 enchantment. Also, it had *Curse property (33% chance to recurse itself on equip).
• Prior to 0.19, this shield had +2 EV and only a +2 AC bonus.
• Prior to 0.15, this shield had a +8 enchantment level.