Interesting idea for an actual shield

[Verdite]

A while ago i posted about support magic... The wolf gave me good info...

This is one of SoM's more disappointing problems. You can get the duration to save by selecting an attack spell and setting its stats, saving and then switching back to a support spell model. But, Todd noticed that the screen effects for support spells last the correct amount of time, but the actual stat boosts, fizzle out early. They only last about 1/10 the duration of the screen effects.  You can still set up curative support spells, but anything with a 'duration' doesn't work well 

This got me thinking. What about having an actual shield model that appears instead of a normal support magic graphic. You could set it to 3 seconds, and be able to have the defence increases, meaning if you were hit the damage would be lessened. You could still attack, but raising your shield would mean high mp consumption and a slow regen rate for balancing. I'm not sure how this would work with 2 handers... But its a perfect for spears and one handers.

If the player picked up a shield, then the player would learn magic. Or, the player would start with a round shield and have it strengthen over time.

[dmpdesign]

I would think you would want to make the mp cost 0 with a high regen time to mimic a shield?  that way you dont actually run out of the ability to 'cast' or use the shield?

[Verdite]

But you'd use it all the time and that'd be a bit abusive. Id rather have the player use mp 'to block' and only when they really need to. If i cant have a shield durability ill have to limit it somehow :)

[HwitVlf]

This is a neat thought! Having a manual block can be a very fun gameplay mechanic. I'm not entirely sure how SoM would handle the concept, but might work well.

Maybe you could merge your and Todd's concepts by triggering an event that stopped the player from walking when the shield was up (paralyze triggered when the shield spell's specific amount of MP was consumed). That would prevent abuse while still having a quick recharge rate.