dungeonhavoc:

D4 Shields

The magic is in the details! (Also the devil, but that’s a different post). So let’s add a bit of zip to one of the most common items the game; the shield.

Roll on the table for your unique shield and who might be wilding it.

Animal Parts: Turtle shells, beetle carapaces, and bones all add a primal nature to your NPC while characterizing the local fauna.

Doors: It’s fun throwing hulking thugs at the PCs using broken of doors and portculliss as protection. It shows that those NPCs are ‘unhinged’.

Small Creatures: Nothing says baddie like a villain who uses the living as a shield. An ogre that lashed the mayor’s daughter to his forarm just conveys a level of evil.

Torn Steel: Have your NPCs use torn fragments of breastplates and rent shields of dead foes to create a collage of past victories. Make your players wonder ‘will my armor just be another shield in their horde?’