Flail vs Shield

Presume the PC has a Shield and NPC has a Flail. When the NPC attacks, FG notes the PC has the shield and the shield is ignored if the attack is a flail. This works nicely.

But how do I make this work if the PCs has a Flail and the NPC has a Shield? I drug a Shield over to the equipment line of the NPC. It created Shield [Parry +2, Cover +2] on the equipment line. But it does show up on the Combat Tracker (no increase in Parry, and no note about the Flail). I even cleared the equipment line and just had the shield info but it did not work (this surprised me as I had just put a Torch on an NPC and that did apply the effect to them in the CT and on the map)

If I put "Shield [Parry +2, Cover +2]" as an effect in the CT it does work as expected (parry is increased, and FG states its ignored if the attack is a flail).

If I create a special ability with the Shield [Parry +2, Cover +2] as the effect this works as well.

So perhaps the simple question is: is there a natural way to get the shield to work for an NPC, or does it and other non-weapon equipment effects need to be created through the Special Abilities section?

Thanks!

NPCs can't equip gear, so they can't get the benefits of item effects. It's like they have no hands and can't hold things. So it's either special ability or effects in CT. I use special abilities so I don't have to remember to put stuff in CT. Sometimes remembering stuff is hard.

I would suggest a gear section for NPCs to more naturally capture these effects, especially with Savage Patherfinder.

If you add it to the idea informer, I'll vote for it. I could have used this a few times. It would be nice to have in campaigns that use lots of item effects (high magic, high tech, cyberware).

Vote for Item NPC Item Section

https://fgapp.idea.informer.com/proj/fgapp?ia=136582

Savage Worlds NPC gear section does support effects already. However, they are only processed when adding NPC to CT. During the add, all effects expressed in gear section will become CT effects. You should have prepared gear before adding NPC to CT.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ikael

Savage Worlds NPC gear section does support effects already. However, they are only processed when adding NPC to CT. During the add, all effects expressed in gear section will become CT effects. You should have prepared gear before adding NPC to CT.

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I think the reason I did it the other way is the new "you can unlock and NPC and add gear on the fly". So this is really a Test version item or limitation (one can obviously add weapons, but the shield was not working "on the fly").

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ikael

Savage Worlds NPC gear section does support effects already. However, they are only processed when adding NPC to CT. During the add, all effects expressed in gear section will become CT effects. You should have prepared gear before adding NPC to CT.

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Thanks Ikael, I didn't realize this is how it works. Probably because I did it backwards like amerigoV. I'll do it the other way around now.