Major Shield

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Major Shield
GP Cost 100
Learnt At 79 in faith.rituals.defensive or faith.rituals.defensive.target
Skills Used faith.rituals.defensive.self/target
Requirements Symbol and a shield
Granted By Pishe, Gufnork, Gapp, Sandelfon, Fish, Hat and Sek
Best Baton(s)

Pale Yellow

Best Cane

Forest Green


Provides a powerful defensive shield

Description

Probably the most used ritual by priests. This ritual covers the target in a protective layer of shielding which soaks up damage. It is effectively a complete covering of armour which weighs nothing. Unfortunately it is not very good against specials, but can soak up a large amount of base round damage at high bonuses.

You need a shield to perform the ritual. A mounted pewter shield is the lightest, but has a severe penalty from using it in that your major shield will be harder to perform, weaker in strength and shorter in duration. A "proper" shield, although heavier (the lightest is a small leather shield, at 2 lbs), does not have the penalty. Other than the effects mentioned here, the type of shield has no effect whatsoever on the ritual.

Each deity has a different appearance of major shield, coming in at least 2 types depending on the strength.

  • Pishe: Layer of translucent fog, Blanket of fog
  • Gufnork: Layer of fluff
  • Gapp: Translucent cloth robe, Translucent <style> fabric
  • Sandelfon: Wall of dust, Ethereal wall, layer of translucent stone
  • Fish: Slimy seaweed cloak, Green kelp
  • Hat: Translucent feathers
  • Sek: Crackling flames, Bright crimson flames

If you have a magical impact shield, that will always absorb hits first, with the major shield only having any effect after it has been destroyed.

Duration

The duration of Major Shield depends largely on your bonus. With no ritual penalties or bonuses, the duration seems to be:

2 * ROUND((400 * (ln(bonus + 75)) - 2082.5) / 2)

Note that it is divided by two (inside the rounding function) and then multiplied by two--this is because base durations appear to all be even numbers, suggesting that it may be internally measured in heartbeats (which are generally two seconds each), rather than in seconds per se.

This function means that there are somewhat diminishing returns as your bonus increases. For example, the base duration is barely over four minutes with a bonus of 262, barely over five minutes with a bonus of 313, just over six minutes with a bonus of 382, and just over seven minutes with a bonus of 456.

Duration can also be affected by ritual bonuses and penalties. It appears as though this works by raising or lowering your "effective" bonus according to the following table:

Modifier Increase or decrease to effective bonus
At own high altar +12
actively worshipping +7
rain/snow/sleet (Pishe) +7
carrying fluff (Gufnork) +7
fluffy surroundings (Gufnork) +3
wearing stylish clothes (Gapp) +4
stylish surroundings (Gapp) +3
indoors (Sandelfon) +7
underwater (Fish) +14
floating in the water (Fish) +7
in company of other priests (Hat) +16
trespassing on other deity's high altar (Hat) +9
in combat (Sek) +5
ritual assistance set to 1% ("the hand of <deity> guides you") +3
near high altar +3 to +9
far from high altar -2 to -8
1 priest minion -4
2 priest minions -8
3 priest minions -13
4 priest minions -17
out of alignment -5
performing from faith rod varies, but high penalty
drunk -33
poisoned -33
at wrong high altar -45
in witch/wizard-owned area -45


It can be extended by "stacking". For example, if casting the ritual once leads to a 2 minute duration, casting it 4 times in a row stacks it to an 8 minute duration. It can also be extended with Minor Shield, however this will weaken the major shield and is not recommended. It's better to use the stacking method as mentioned. Extending it with another Major Shield performed with greater penalties or fewer bonuses, or by someone with a lower bonus will also weaken it, though it's unknown exactly how much. Likewise, you can also strengthen your shield by performing with higher bonuses or with ritual bonuses (Bless, Prayer beads, performing at your Gods altar).

You can see how long your shield will last by typing "shields". This will give you an approximate time until your major shield expires. These are the messages you will get for Major Shield or Minor Shield.

  • You are (protected|really protected|shielded) by the (power|protective armour) of <deity>. You will be protected for less than five minutes.
  • You are (protected|really protected|shielded) by the (power|protective armour) of <deity>. You will be protected for at least (five minutes|a quarter hour|half an hour|an hour|a couple of hours).
  • You are (protected|really protected|shielded) by the (power|protective armour) of <deity>. You will be protected for more than (a quarter of a day|half a day|a day).
  • You are (protected|really protected|shielded) by the (power|protective armour) of <deity>. You will be protected for more than (two|three|four|five|six|seven|eight|...) days.

Major shield can give the "protected" "really protected" and "shielded" messages. The crossover point between "protected" and "really protected" appears to be around a 310 bonus with "shielded" at around 400 bonus. It does not correspond to the crossover point for the improved long description message (such as "He is surrounded by a blanket of fog" instead of the weaker "layer of translucent fog").

Help File

Major Shield will place a protective shield around you that acts as a layer of armour against blows. It provides significantly more protection than the Minor Shield ritual. You'll need a holy symbol consecrated to your god and a shield to perform this ritual.

Example

> perform major shield on me
You speak a short prayer.
You call upon Fish to protect yourself.
You are protected by the power of Fish.

Granted By

Pishe, Gufnork, Gapp, Sandelfon, Fish, Hat and Sek

Learnt At

Skills Used

Base GP Cost

100 GP

Requirements

Holy symbol and a shield

Meditate

Type Defensive
Step Count2
TargetOthers, Self
ComponentsHoly symbol, Shield
Required PowersSpeech
Will Attempt to Resist No
Will Be Angered No/Unknown