Model: Riot Shield
Type: Personal Shield
Scale: Character
Skill: Melee parry: Personal Shield
Cost: 1500 Credits
Availability: 2,3
Game Notes: The user makes a melee parry skill roll to deflect incoming attacks, be they from melee weapons or blasters. Success indicates that the shield absorbs the damage. The shield has a Strength of 5D. If the damage roll is greater than the shield’s Strength roll, excess damage causes the user to stumble and become vulnerable.
Background: A riot shield was a type of physical shield or personal deflector shield that was carried by hand. It was primarily used by security forces, law enforcement and the military. The primary use of the riot shield was to protect the user from lightly armed aggression in crowd-control by law enforcement, however they were also used in battle.
One such example of a riot shield being used in a military situation was at the Citadel prison during the Clone Wars, when the droid commandos that guarded the prison carried riot shields at the Battle of Lola Sayu. The clone trooper CT-1409 attempted to use a riot shield to prevent the droid commandos from destroying the Republic squad’s escape transport during the battle, but the riot shield was ineffective against the laser turret and he was nearly killed in the explosion that followed.