Shield of Balduran

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The Shield of Balduran is an medium shield +3 in Shadows of Amn which weighs 4 lb and offers an armor class bonus of 4. It reflects the rays of beholders. The only disadvantage of wearing this shield is that it lowers the strength of the wielder by one point while in use.
==Acquisition==
*Sold by Deidre at the Adventurer's Mart in Waukeen's Promenade, Athkatla
==Technical Mechanics==
The shield reflects certain beholder rays back at their source. It implements this using Opcode 197 "Bounce Projectile". The shield bounces two projectiles, No. 208 and 320, which are exclusively used by the gauth, beholder and Magic Golem. 
In the unmodded basic and EE games, the most frequently fired projectile by a gauth or beholder is the "Cause Serious Wound" beholder blast ray, which is projectile No. 208, and will bounce off the shield, and return the blast to the source. 
There are some other beholder blast projectiles that are not bounced by the shield, such as the Anti-Magic Ray. 
However, most harmful eye rays such as the Paralyze Ray, Death Ray, Disintegrate Ray etc. are reflected back to the source with the shield equipped.
See the creature article pages for Gauth or Beholder for more projectile and eye beam blast information.
==Gameplay==
It is highly advisable to bring this shield before embarking to the Underdark. While the Cloak of Mirroring will prevent a few of the rays from striking you, and Chaotic Commands to protect the psyche and intellect, their "Anti-Mage ray" has a Dispel Magic component. Items that grant immunity to some of the innate beholder blasts and especially charm immunity and instant death effects (such as Death Ward) are needed to be able to survive and destroy them without this shield. The battles become much more difficult and complicated when exposed to multiple beholder blasts, with varied detrimental effects. 
The Cloak of the Sewers is a more affordable alternative to handle the beholders as part of the Cult of the Eyeless quest, but its Mustard Jelly polymorph time is limited, requiring one to perhaps rest multiple times in order to clear the entire lair should one want to.
==Trivia==
Players often refer to this item as the "Shield of Cheese", as it trivializes the threat from Gauths, and to a lesser extent, Beholders. Even worse, the unmodded game artificial intelligence does not give a beholder a means to recognize that its rays are being reflected back at themselves, and so it is somewhat overpowered, and reduces the game challenge level. See Mod Content below for a method to revise this. 
==Notes==
* Though not obtainable via normal means, this shield is part of the Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear game code.
==Achievements==
===In Balduran's Image===
Don the sword, shield, helm, and plate of Balduran.
==Bugs==
* In the original Shadows of Amn, the description falsely states the shield's weight as being 5 lb; this is fixed in the Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition.
* Also, the list of classes that can't use the shield is incomplete.
==Gallery==
Korgan Shield of Balduran BG2.png|Korgan fights against a group of beholders under the protection of the Shield of Balduran.
OG SOB 1.png|thumb|A Death Tyrant fies the Anti-Magic Ray at a PC with the Shield equipped. This ray ignores the shield, and the target has all dispellable magic removed.
OG SOB 2.png|The same tyrant has had the Death ray, Paralyze ray. and multiple Cause Serious Wounds rays bounced back. The creature seems to ignore this and continue blasting eye rays until it kills itself.
OG Shield of Balduran.png|Minsc has been avoiding most affects from a Death Tyrant, Hive Mother and Elder Orb with the Shield. Eventually, the Elder Orb is able to remove Minsc with an Imprisonment spell. Farwell brave one, and Boo too.
==Mod Content==
Installation of the Sword Coast Stratagems Mod and the "Smarter Beholders" component changes how beholders react to the Shield of Balduran. The beholders can now use their telekinesis power to steal the Cloak of Mirroring and the Shield of Balduran. They don't do it in the first couple of rounds, then they have a 1/3 chance per round (per beholder). The idea isn't to make the items useless but to block the move of just giving them to one person and sending them in. If it annoys you, you can turn it off at the console: set DMWWDisableBeholderTheft to 1.
 
SCS also has another component that is optional, that allows the Shield of Balduran to be removed from the game entirely, if you should wish to take away the temptation to use such an item in gameplay, making it lactose free from cheese.
==Mod content gallery==
Screenshot (510).png|thumb|Beholder's Telekinesis Ray steals the Shield of Balduran from PC. An Anti-magic ray follows, both in the same round. A text message display says "The beholder has used its telekinesis power to snatch the Shield of Balduran from your arm"
Category:Bugs
Category:Items of Balduran
Category:Overpowered elements
Category:Infobox upgrade