deathmachinept: Does having a shield(buckler) matter if you use dodge?
UniversalWolf: It matters in that it will negatively affect your combat performance.
You should take
either Dodge, and use no shield,
or Block, and use a shield. Do not mix them.
One or the other, but not both.
Unless you're using dodge and you're up against lots of ranged opponents, in which case using a shield with a high vsRanged value may be useful. In such cases you will use dodge against melee attacks, and block against ranged attacks - but only if your block skill + vsRanged (of the shield you have equipped) > your dodge skill.
There are a couple of fights where the above is useful for a dodge character - unless your dodge is already higher than any shield + your block skill.
