Type of Shields

[SmartyPants]

There seem to be two types of shields: Mind Shields and Kinetic Shields.  One protects you from mental harm, while the other protects you from physical harm.

Craig wrote, "Mind Shield erects a basic psychokinetic shield around the target that wards off attacks of every Element. Mind shields are typically not that durable, however, and cannot increase the target's defenses beyond their ordinary maximum".

Set said, "Ever tried hitting someone inside a kinetic shield?  You look downright silly.  You look like a mime trying to punch some imaginary wall."

[bugfartboy]

So what are you trying to discuss?

[SmartyPants]

So what are you trying to discuss?

I am unsure about whether mind shields protect one from physical harm or if they only protect from the elements and mental attacks.  These games' shields in general make little sense to me, so I was hoping you guys would help me understand how shields "heal".

[bugfartboy]

As has been explained by Craig previously, mind shields do not heal. What they do is protect one from farther harm, to a degree.

[Rob]

I have always held a theory that, because the characters on the battlefield can survive things that would kill any person in this world (such as getting impaled with enough force to injure the person behind them or being burnt with a flame thrower), all characters on the battlefield with more than about 8 hp have a sort of shield around them on the battlefield. As the combatants receive injuries, damage is done to the shield, but not the actual combatant. When a combatant's hp falls to zero, their shield has been penetrated, and they receive a lethal blow. A healer would strengthen the shield around the combatant, thus allowing them to take more damage. This theory would mean a combatant could fall off the roof of a building and not break a leg (which Arman can do in one mission). This would also explain why you or your teammates' health increases with an increase in psy defense. Combatants do not need to grow physically stronger to survive more; they just need to increase their mental defensive abilities. So, if my theory were correct, shields do not "heal", but they do increase the strength of the preexisting shield around the combatant, which weakens as it receives damage but protects the combatant from lethal blows, thus preventing them from dying in a few sword strokes or spear jabs like ordinary people would.
I hope I was not too confusing.

[bugfartboy]

That actually made a whole lot of sense.

[SmartyPants]

I came up with the same theory as Rob, while I was playing Halo, yet I didn't want to post it untill I figured out how to cover the major holes in the theory.  My big issue with the theory is that how do the Gift-less benifit from a psy shield when they don't have a psy defence?  How do non-psy soldiers such as Qudssi and Helena gain higher health?

[bugfartboy]

Hmm... Perhaps Gift-less, when their Psy-Defense is boosted, they're actually being trained to lower their own mental defenses in a manner that allows Psychokinetic shields to be put around them before going into battle, and then maintained during battle.

Did that make any sense? I can clarify further what I mean if I need to.

[ArtDrake]

Just putting it out there: Physical is an element.

And originally, Health was not the thing being protected. "Mental Integrity" was. The Mind Shield only served to block the mental assaults of Shadowlings and fellow Psys. In this context, the role and the capabilities of the Mind Shield can be better understood. The Shield was for the purpose of bolstering one's own mental defenses; however, they could not be strengthened beyond a person's normal limits in this regard.

Then, in TRPG2, Mental Integrity became Health, and the explanation had to be revised to another that (sorry, Craig) made slightly less sense. However, my suspicion is that all Gifted units have an existing psionic defense that prevents that unit from experiencing physical harm which can be strengthened by the training of his / her / its Psy Defense, and which is merely renewed by a Mind Shield.

The non-Gifted units are also given the Mind Shield, and on the non-Gifted units, the shield utilizes the strength and vital force of the person for staying up, and thus cannot exceed the normal limits of these. This is why Shielded units that may have broken bones or damaged organs appear to have no reduction in performance, despite their injuries; the Shielding of the unit keeps the life force and strength of the unit intact. Static Shields are always kinetic shields, and, by their nature, exceed normal defense limits. However, they can tie into neither the psionic defenses nor the vital force of units they are applied on past the normal limits, explaining why the Static Shielded units don't function at even higher levels than units at full health.

This explanation might be correct, but it also might be a load of       ; it's 100% unauthorized and unofficial.

[SmartyPants]

Just putting it out there: Physical is an element.

I answered my question right after I posed when I read ""Mind Shield erects a basic psycho-kinetic shield".  "Psycho" means it protects from mental attacks, while "kinetic" means it can protect from the user from everything else.