If you were to tally up the average time I spend each day on each activity in the Burning Sands, you'll get in order: Sleeping, riding, keeping order and morale in my troop, some flavor of logistics, training, relaxing and finally fighting.
Even in troubled lands, battles do not happen everyday, and are most of the time an one-sided quick affair. I'm best versed in the blade than the bow, yet I've still defeated more opponents with a burst of arrows from horseback than in that kind of fight. A soldier seeks for efficiency before all.
So, while I do have seen a lot more of the world than most people my age, if I was to meet on the road someone with a similar number of years but who has dedicated themselves solely to the art of the blade – your sensei might have been part of that category in her own youth – I'll likely get my ass kicked.
That is, if I were to accept a fair fight. Since you've also got some experience in fighting in small groups in the wild, you've likely seen how the terrain can be exploited to wipe out the advantage of superior number or skill. That's a good lesson to learn and prefect."
She grimaced:
"Not our proudest story, but the Unicorn once got spanked hard because some commander made the mistake of pursuing a fleeing opponent in the Ivindi jungle. Turns out the same body of cavalry that was invincible on the open field will become helpless when unable to maneuver at all."
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The rules are not super clear. I would say the shield get damaged by consistency with other armors, but that would be a GM call really.Makes sense! And this leads me to another question btw - with a critical that would damage armour, if you're wearing a shield does it damage the shield instead? Or your choice between the shield and the armour?