Has the advantage of being silent when walking. Chainmail - better protection, but the wearer loses more fatigue points when running. Platemail - best protection, prevents fatigue loss from bashing weapons, but slows wearer down and tires him or her out when running. Shields cannot be worn by creatures wielding two-handed weapons. Shields only protect in the direction a creature is facing, but they can, unlike weapons, parry missile weapons such as arrows.
Shields enable creatures to go into a Defensive mode.
In this mode, the shield takes up almost all of the screen, the wearer cannot run or attack, but the creature's parrying percentage increases dramatically.