The kicking animation is the funny cousin of cRPG combat. It's useful, sometimes, but it's effect is largely dependent on how unexpected it is because most often it's too pointless to consider in a fight. To remedy this, and to give a little boost to 1-handers, I propose somebody more intelligent than me figure out a new shield-bump animation. For those of you that haven't heard about this tactic before: soldiers in the time before would use their shields to smack enemy really hard to disorient them and scramble their footing. Small shields have a tough time doing this because much of the force in such swings comes from a shield's forward momentum being augmented by the relatively weak force of a backhanded swing. The Romans, being the smart cookies that we all know and love, attached a big metal stud to the centre of their shields to add more force and a focal point to their shield smashes (
http://historyshop.piratemerch.com/images/roman_shield_801068.jpg). Consequently, a shield-shove animation may be good for 1-handers who have a high enough shield skill. This would keep shield shoving for dedicated 1-handers and help differentiate the value of a 1h+shield vs a 2h who has a small shield for arrows.
Some quick reasons to consider, discuss, and debate:
- historical accuracy isn't the primary goal of cRPG but it's worth noting
- 1handers need a bit of a boost:
-- they have the slowest average reaction time
-- they carry a lot of weight
-- always need to use two weapon slots when other melee classes only need one
- kicking when you've got a shield is silly
