Kite shield

[   kite shield
Appearance	kite shield
Slot	shield
Base size	large
AC	2
DR	0
MC	1
Magical item?	no
Properties	(none)
Base price	10 zm
Default weight	100
Base material	iron

A kite shield is a type of shield that appears in dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack. It is large-sized and has a base material of iron.

The kite shield is renamed from the large shield of NetHack, as dNetHack and its variants have multiple possible sizes for armor and other items.

Generation

Knights that are not dwarf Knights start the game with a +0 kite shield.

Heroes of certain races in roles that start with a kite shield will be given a race-appropriate shield instead:

• Dwarven heroes that would start with a buckler will be given a dwarvish roundshield.
• Elven heroes that would start with a buckler will be given an elven shield.
• Orcish heroes that would start with a buckler will be given an orcish shield.

Kite shields make up ¹⁄₂₀₀ (0.5%) of all armor randomly generated on the ground, in general shops or as death drops. Used armor dealerships and antique weapon outlets can also stock kite shields. Sea garden shops run by yurians in Elshava can stock shell kite shields.

Human smiths, Dracae Eladrin and Oona are all capable of smithing a kite shield for a hero paying to request the service.

A kite shield is generated on the Drow Healer quest goal level during level creation, where it is randomly placed outside the walls of the central area.

Three kite shields are placed randomly on the Knight quest home level during level creation.

Two iron kite shields are always generated on the Mordor Fortress level of the Mordor Ruins Quest during level creation: both a black-colored unholy +4 iron kite shield and a blessed rustproof iron kite shield are placed within the shield-filled chest in the room that lies beyond the throne room of the ogre emperor.

Iron golems and green-steel golems that are killed leave behind special death drops that include multiple kite shields made of iron or green-steel respectively.

Monster starting inventory

Many monsters can be generated with kite shields:

• Corvian knights have a ¹⁄₈ chance of generating with a kite shield.
• Pararsitized knights always generate with kite shields.
• Doom knights always generate with black-colored kite shields.
• Y-cultist fighters have an effective ¹⁄₆ chance of generating with a kite shield.
• Drow matrons, drow matron-mothers and Y-cultist matrons have a ¹⁹⁄₂₀ chance of generating with a kite shield.
• Anulo dancers have an effective ¹⁄₆ chance of generating with a kite shield.
• Sir Aljanor always generates with a blessed kite shield that has an enchantment of at least +3.
• Alliance vanguards always generate with kite shields.
• King Arthur always generates with a blessed +3 kite shield.
• The Rebel Ringleader and militant cleric always generates with a kite shield.
• A mercenary that is not a Yendorian army fighter being created in the Law Quest will have an effective ¹⁄₆ chance of being generated with a buckler whose base AC counts towards their total target AC.
• Plumach Rilmani that generate with a mace have a ¹⁄₃ chance of generating with a kite shield.
• Argenach Rilmani that generate with a broadsword have a ⁵⁄₆ chance of generating with an uncursed and fixed silver kite shield that has an enchantment of at least +3.
• Justice Archons always generate with kite shields, with the exception of those generated in the Drow Healer quest.
• Shield Archons always generate with kite shields.
• Coure Eladrin have a ¹⁄₄ chance of generating with a kite shield.
• Angels and minions that are lawful, neutral or chaotic, do not have monster-specific rules governing their inventory, are not a lord or overlord to their kind, and are generated with a weapon that is not two-handed have a ³⁄₄ chance of generating with a non-cursed +0 silver kite shield.
• Deminymphs have two different chances of generating with a kite shield.
  • They have a ¹⁄₁₆ chance of generating with a knight kit that includes a kite shield with an enchantment ranging from +0 to +3.
  • They also have an effective ³⁄₆₄₀ chance of generating with a drow-themed madperson kit that includes a kite shield with an enchantment ranging from +1 to +3 (with equal probability)—the kite shield has an equal chance of being made of mithril, silver or metal.
• Bright walkers always generate with kite shields.
• Undead knights always generate with uncursed +0 kite shields that have 1 level of erosion.
• Warriors of sunlight always generate with uncursed +3 kite shields.
• Erinyes that are generated in Gehennom or slated for good equipment have a ¹⁄₅ chance of generating with a kite shield.
• Fallen angels that are generated in Gehennom or slated for good equipment have a ¹⁄₆ chance each of generating with an armor set that includes either a black-colored iron kite shield or a silver kite shield.
• Alrunes has a ¹⁄₂ chance of generating with an armor set that includes a kite shield.
• Some player monsters and related monsters can be generated with kite shields:
  • Knights are always generated with kite shields.
    • The tame knight accompanying a Drow Healer hero at the start of the game is also generated with an uncursed +0 iron kite shield.
  • Valkyries, awakened valkyries and transcendent valkyries that are slated for "good" equipment will be given a set of armor that includes a kite shield.
  • Player monsters generated on the Astral Plane have an effective ⁷⁄₆₄ chance (~10.94%) of being given a kite shield that replaces their initial shield.
  • Except for the Drow Healer's tame knight, each kite shield has a ¹⁄₃ chance of being erosion-proofed, and otherwise there is a ¹⁄₂ chance (effectively ¹⁄₃ total) of it being greased. It has a ¹⁄₃ chance of being cursed followed by a ¹⁄₃ chance of being blessed, and it will otherwise be uncursed. The kite shield's enchantment has a ³⁄₅ chance of ranging from +0 to +4, a ³⁄₁₀ chance of ranging +4 to +7, and will otherwise range from -1 to -3.

Description

While worn, a kite shield grants 2 base AC, 0 base DR and MC1. Like other shields, kite shields gain no bonus to DR from their enchantment, but add their full enchantment to AC.

A worn kite shield's spellcasting penalty and AC bonus from the hero's shield skill depends on the kite shield's weight relative to the hero's own physical size: the weight threshold for determining a small shield versus a large one is 25 for medium-sized and smaller heroes, 50 for large heroes, 75 for huge heroes, and 100 for gigantic ones. 'Small' kite shields have a lower spellcasting penalty while worn but will only gain a +1 AC bonus at Skilled and +3 AC at Expert, and they also deal lower damage than other shields when used for the shield bashing style of knightly stance, which reduces the AC bonus granted by the hero's skill to +0 for Skilled and +2 for Expert—large kite shields have a higher spellcasting penalty in comparison, but gain a higher bonus of +1 AC bonus at Basic, +3 at Skilled and +3 AC at Expert; they also deal more damage when shield-bashing, and their bonus is reduced to +0 for Basic, +2 for Skilled and +5 for Expert.

Origin

A kite shield is a large, almond-shaped shield that is rounded at the top and curving down to a point or rounded point at the bottom: the name comes from the shield's unique shape and its supposed similarity to a flying kite, although "leaf-shaped shield" and "almond shield" have also been used in recent literature. A typical kite shield was at least three to five feet high and constructed of laminated wood, stretched animal hide, and iron components. Records from Byzantium in the 1200s suggests the shield frame accounted for most of the wood and iron; its body was constructed out of hide, parchment, or hardened leather, similar to the material used on drum faces. Since the most prominent examples of kite shields have appeared on the Bayeux Tapestry, where most of the English are depicted on foot with kite shields, it has become closely associated with Norman warfare.

Kite shields were equipped with enarmes, or leather gripping straps, which held the shield tight to the arm and facilitated keeping it in place even when a knight relaxed his arm—this was a significant departure from most earlier circular shields, as they possessed only a single handle; some kite shields were apparently also fitted with an additional 'guige' strap that allowed the shield to be slung over one shoulder when not in use. Byzantine infantry frequently carried kite shields on their backs while on the march, sometimes upside down. At the time of the First Crusade, most kite shields were still fitted with a domed metal centrepiece (shield boss), although the use of enarmes would have rendered them unnecessary; the shields may have been fitted with both enarmes and an auxiliary hand grip. It is often speculated that the shield was developed for mounted cavalry, and that its dimensions correlate to the approximate space between a horse's neck and its rider's thigh.

Kite shields gained popularity throughout Western Europe during the 1000s: Aside from Normandy, they also appeared early on in parts of Spain and the Holy Roman Empire, though it is unclear from which of these three regions the design originated; a theory is that the kite shield was inherited by the Normans from their Viking predecessors, but no documentation or remains of kite shields from the Viking era have been discovered, and they were not ideally suited to the Vikings' highly mobile light infantry. Kite shields were depicted primarily on eleventh century illustrations, largely in Western Europe and the Byzantine Empire, but also in the Caucasus, the Fatimid Caliphate, and among the Kievan Rus'—they also appear on the Bab al-Nasr in Cairo, which was constructed around 1087. Arab historians usually described them as tariqa or januwiyya.

Kite shields were introduced in large numbers to the Middle East by the First Crusade, when Arab and Byzantine soldiers first observed them being carried by Norman crusaders: these left such a favourable impression on Byzantium that they had entirely superseded round shields in the Komnenian army by the mid twelfth century. Around the mid- to late twelfth century, traditional kite shields were largely replaced by a variant with a flat top rather than a rounded one, making it easier to hold the shield upright without limiting the holder's field of vision—these flat-topped kite shields were later phased out by most Western European armies in favour of much smaller, more compact heater shields, but were still being carried by Byzantine infantry well into the thirteenth century.