Silver Bracers but no Bronin Vest?!

[oldskool]

Aplogies if this topic has been covered but I cannot find a thread realting to it, so I was hoping someone at Aon could clarify this.

How come Joe allows you to carry over the Silver Bracers but not the Bronin Vest which is given to you at the same time?
And for that matter if you can keep the Silver Helm then why not the Shield? Given the fact that without these items by the time you get to fight the Deathlord of Ixia you are facing the wrong side of -9 in the combat ratio (even with maxed out stats) this seems a little absurd to lose 5CS points, especially given the idea of rewarding players who have played since book 1 with "loyalty bonuses". I mean the Silver helm is carried from book 3 so why not the shield from book 2?
I mean I dont mind a challenge but that seems a little harsh.

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.

[Al]

I always wondered that myself... but my guess is with the shield he was trying to emphasize the Kai being a ranger type character, but the vest? I am not sure.

Al

[outspaced]

It was probably to limit the number of Special Items being taken into the Grand Master series; otherwise, a tooled-up character might take 12 power-ups into the series, and would need to drop some to take required Special Items anyway. Perhaps he could have given a longer list but limited the reader to only taking x of them, but it seems to work OK as written, even if it does seem a little arbitrary.

[Zipp]

Also, you don't have to hold to these rules. By all means, take along the shield if you wish. Call it "easy" mode.

[oldskool]

Thanks guys for the help. Well....I come out in a rash if I cheat, but at the same time I guess I could interpret the text in a realistic fashion and make an informed decision. It seems almost "purer" for a Kai Grand Master to not have a shield.

Have actually found other topics now relating to the issues of veterans and rookies embarking on the Grand Master books and it would seem ultimately that most people just make up their own minds regarding their stats.

But there is no doubt that unless you start of CS 19 and EP 29 you end up pretty buggered by book 11. It must have been a logistical nightmare for Joe to weigh up the balance needed to keep veterans and newcomers happy, although I think a kinder bias could have been given to us oldies.

Still.....it is only a game I suppose....(sigh)