Difference between revisions of "Tower shield of Ignorance"

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{{flavour|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:
 
{{flavour|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:
  
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==Desirability==
 
==Desirability==
For most characters, the '''tower shield of Ignorance''' is ruled out simply by virtue of it being a [[tower shield]]; [[size|smaller]] characters can't wield it, and medium-sized characters need to invest a tremendous amount of [[experience]] into their [[Shields skill]] to mitigate the severe penalties large shields apply. Large characters and [[formicid]]s have a significantly easier time of it, but the arguments against the shield continue. -4 [[intelligence]] is a huge penalty for any spellcaster, and since any non-[[Trog]] character can benefit from learning at least a little magic, this is significant in almost all cases. Finally, while it does offer an impressive amount of shielding plus a rank of occasionally-helpful [[negative energy]] resistance, it's often more tempting to take advantage of the [[fire]], [[cold]], or [[poison]] resistances you can find on non-artefact [[buckler]]s and [[kite shield]]s.
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Not a great find for a mage or a gnoll, but definitely worth considering for any bruiser.
  
However, for the fighters and non-gnolls among you, this shield is a terrific boost to your survivability. Swinging a melee weapon, you do not have to wait until you have reached 25 in Shields to offset its penalty. The inherent +10 enchantment allows you to put all your enchant armour scrolls on your remaining armour slots. And if you have found an amulet or scarf with reflection, not only will you block a lot of the projectiles fired at you by yaktaurs and giants, but you will send them right back to where they came from.
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For most characters, the '''tower shield of Ignorance''' is ruled out simply by virtue of it being a [[tower shield]]; [[size|small]] or smaller characters can't wield it, and medium-sized characters need to invest a tremendous amount of [[experience]] into their [[Shields skill]] to mitigate a tower shield's severe penalties. Large, hybrid, and [[formicid]] characters have a significantly easier time of it, but the arguments against the shield continue. -4 [[intelligence]] is a huge penalty for any spellcaster, and since any non-[[Trog]] character can benefit from learning at least a little magic, this is relevant in almost all cases. Finally, while the shield of Ignorance offers an impressive amount of [[sh]]ielding plus a rank of occasionally-helpful [[negative energy]] resistance, it's often more tempting to take advantage of the [[fire]], [[cold]], or [[poison]] resistances you can find on non-artefact [[buckler]]s and [[kite shield]]s.
  
In summary, not a great find for a mage or a gnoll, but definitely one for any bruiser.
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However, for heavily armoured fighters that don't particularly care about spellcasting, this shield offers a tremendous boost to survivability, and a tower shield's penalties to physical combat are quite manageable even with a relatively moderate investment of 15 Shields. Also, the shield's high enchantment allows wearers to invest the [[scrolls of enchant armour]] they would have used on a more mundane tower or kite shield into the rest of their equipment. Just be wary of sources of intelligence damage -- characters who would choose to make use of a tower shield are unlikely to prioritize intelligence, and some wearers might find the shield leaving them dangerously close to [[stat zero]].
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The shield of Ignorance combos particularly well with an [[amulet of reflection]]; reflect all the projectiles you'll be blocking back at your attackers!
  
 
==History==
 
==History==

Revision as of 00:08, 19 January 2021

Version 0.26: 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?"

Shield of ignorance.png the +10 tower shield of Ignorance

+10 tower shield

-4 INT
rN+

Desirability

Not a great find for a mage or a gnoll, but definitely worth considering for any bruiser.

For most characters, the tower shield of Ignorance is ruled out simply by virtue of it being a tower shield; small or smaller characters can't wield it, and medium-sized characters need to invest a tremendous amount of experience into their Shields skill to mitigate a tower shield's severe penalties. Large, hybrid, and formicid characters have a significantly easier time of it, but the arguments against the shield continue. -4 intelligence is a huge penalty for any spellcaster, and since any non-Trog character can benefit from learning at least a little magic, this is relevant in almost all cases. Finally, while the shield of Ignorance offers an impressive amount of shielding plus a rank of occasionally-helpful negative energy resistance, it's often more tempting to take advantage of the fire, cold, or poison resistances you can find on non-artefact bucklers and kite shields.

However, for heavily armoured fighters that don't particularly care about spellcasting, this shield offers a tremendous boost to survivability, and a tower shield's penalties to physical combat are quite manageable even with a relatively moderate investment of 15 Shields. Also, the shield's high enchantment allows wearers to invest the scrolls of enchant armour they would have used on a more mundane tower or kite shield into the rest of their equipment. Just be wary of sources of intelligence damage -- characters who would choose to make use of a tower shield are unlikely to prioritize intelligence, and some wearers might find the shield leaving them dangerously close to stat zero.

The shield of Ignorance combos particularly well with an amulet of reflection; reflect all the projectiles you'll be blocking back at your attackers!

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.