🛡️ Health — Shields¶

📦 Folder Overview¶

This folder contains the shield layer for the Health system.

Shields intercept damage after PRE rules and before HP is mutated by HealthSystem.

They are optional, modular, and composable.

🎯 Purpose¶

Shields provide a victim-side layer that can absorb or reduce incoming damage before it reaches health.

🧩 What Lives Here¶

Built-in Shields¶

Concrete implementations of shield behaviour.

Implement IShield for runtime absorption
May implement IShieldPreview for preview support

Examples include:

Capacity-based shields
Regenerating shields
Reduction-based shields
Overheal or temporary HP
Shield chains

Shield Pools¶

Value aggregators used for UI, FX, and stacking systems.

Do not absorb damage
Track shield contributions

Internal Helpers¶

Non-public utilities supporting shield selection and composition.

⚠️ Important Notes¶

Execution Order¶

Shields run after PRE rules and before HP mutation:

Receive folded damage value
May reduce or fully absorb it
Pass remaining damage to health

Behaviour¶

Shields may:

Reduce incoming damage
Consume from a capacity pool
Fully absorb damage
Pass a remainder to health

Shields do not:

Run as part of the rule pipeline
Own health state
Replace damage rules
Handle networking or authority

Preview Behaviour¶

If a shield implements IShieldPreview, it participates in:

HealthSystem.PreviewDamage(...)
AI evaluation
UI damage estimation

If not implemented:

Preview may overestimate damage
Runtime behaviour remains correct

Boundaries¶

Use shields for damage absorption.

For other concerns:

Damage math → use Rules
State ownership → use HealthSystem
Lifecycle behaviour → use Handlers

🧠 Usage Guidance¶

Treat shields as victim-side damage layers
Compose multiple shields where needed
Keep implementations simple and focused

Shields — Builtins
Shields — Pools
Shields — Internal
Rules
Health System