More about shield and evasion

[Kant]

I believe it makes sense when equipped with shields reduce the chance of dodging. And with that, the rogue class earn a passive skill that encourages the use of non-shield and gain dodge chance. The warrior class earn a passive skill that encourages shield use with perfect defense probability of success. For cleric and mage class could have an off-hand item that would reflected damage and a passive skill that define the damage and chance to reflect.

 

[ClockworkGhost]

Having actually used a shield in Medieval re-enactment groups myself, this really doesn't hold in the 'real world', unless you are in a shield formation of some kind, your shield is absolutely massive, or your mobility is severely limited.

A shield isn't a wall - you still have to maneuver in combat, you can't just plant your shield like some kind of pill-box and fight from it or you will get quickly out maneuvered and eliminated. Shields are more for deflecting blows, like sloped tank armour, not for taking blow after blow straight on - what will quickly happen is your shield will become match wood as people hack bits off it.

The idea of alternatives to shields is a good one, but not alternative types of shields having different applications, as thats covered through the comparative armour values of the shields themselves. Evasion based skills that no longer apply if the user has a shield are also quite feasible in real-world mechanics, but may prove overly complex in gaming terms, or open to extreme meta gaming abuse.