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ShieldsWhile weaponry remains largely ballistic, advancements in energy field technology continued to progress through the years. One of the most notable inventions in this field of discover is the availability of personal shielding units. Although there are many manufacturers that have delved into the technology in order to offer people protection from various forms of hazardous environments or professions, there is a reasonable standard put in place in the form of power constraints for the individual devices. In their earlier days, shields were a response to the creation and brief proliferation of energy weapons. As ballistic weaponry was able to pierce through the energy field with no significant loss of power, the popularity of laser and plasma-based weaponry dropped off rapidly. Eventually shielding technology caught up however, using advances in magnetic manipulation and kinetic response to be able to slow-- or sometimes outright stop --a speeding bullet. Personal Shielding Units are usually worn either around a wrist in the form of a bracer or around the waist in the form of a belt, though other models do exist. This is decided at the point of purchase. In addition to the location style of the unit, the emitter power level and type must also be chosen at purchase; Kinetic Screen, or Ray/Particle. Kinetic Screen Emitters cannot deflect faster moving ballistic projectiles but are capable of Point-of-Impact defense to deflect slower strikes and protect against melee attacks, while Ray/Particle Emitters are on constantly but do not have the field density capable of stopping a melee strike and will only be effective against ranged attacks. It is also worth noting that both types of shield emitters can deflect any Ranged weapons with an [Energy] damage tag, but those weapons deal an additional die of damage against a shielding units' SR. Energy damage is not passed through to the wearer while a shielding unit still has SR prior to the attack, and therefore extra energy damage is only applied to see if SR is reduced due to exceeding damage. A weapon must have the [Piercing], [Slashing], or [Bludgeoning] damage tags to pass damage on over a shield's SR. Personal Shielding Units have enough power to operate for ten minutes, and can be activated as a reaction. Recharging the internal battery requires three hours and access to electrical facilities such as a starship, or a Power Generator. Shielding Units are rated in effectiveness by their Classification and SR. Personal Shielding UnitsSRSR-- or Shield Rating --functions similarly to DR (Damage Resistance) by reducing a measure of damage up to its Shield Rating. If an attack exceeds the current SR of a unit, it reduces the available SR by 5 until the unit can be recharged. This reduction is cumulative, meaning that a shield unit can eventually be reduced to SR:0. A device can be recharged by spending three swift actions on the same or consecutive rounds to make a DC20 Mechanics check. If successful, the SR of a device is increased by 5 up to its maximum SR rating. WeightThe weight of the emitter in kilograms (slanged to "kegs" in the Red Star Chronicles) that the character is carrying. Even while being worn properly, the emitter's weight value applies to the character's carrying weight. If they are carrying too much equipment, or the emitter is too heavy, this may cause the character to be carrying a Heavy Load, reducing their movement speed, or applying other negative modifiers. ClassificationJust like worn armor, shields have three Classifications; Light, Medium, and Heavy. These Classifications are a general grading referring to the bulkiness, restriction, or the weight of the emitter device. Wearing a shield Classification that a character does not have the proper Armor Proficiency for can cause a penalty to their functionality, and certain Modifications can only be fitted to shields of a specific Classification. Armor Proficiency feats are a chain. You start with none by default, then progress naturally. (AP:Light > Medium > Heavy) Wearing shields without proficiency incurs a penalty depending on the type of emitter you are wearing. Without any proficiency this penalty is scaled respectively: -2 (Light Shields) > -5 (Medium Shields) > -10 (Heavy Shields) Having a proficiency reduces this penalty for the higher up models to the following:
Base PriceAn shield's Base Price is its cost in Standard Credit (slanged "credits" or "creds" -- the nigh universal currency of the Red Star Chronicles) prior to adjusting its Manufacturer, Qualities, or Modifications. Other factors may also effect the price of an item, such as generally being disliked by the Merchant.
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