[Snake]

I disagree with the shield giving 'Guard' status to people around you. Why? Guard denies Evasion, and it can actually become more harmful for dodges, snake dancers and duelists, than helpful.

I'd rather it give an unique buff that works the same as guard, but doesn't deny Evasion.

[Autumn]

Perhaps it could extend Protect's range instead, since thats supposed to be fixed in the next update.

[Shujin]

Its actually meant, like you said, Koonie. It's not giving guard to your allies but it's just giving some sort of damage reduction.

I was thinking about protect aswell, maybe increase the damage it "Soaks" but, not only for soldiers. And I was hesistant to say protect considering how great it has worked in the past as a skill and almost no one picked it up, simply cause most people use autohits anyway. Thats why I thought a general reduction, aslong as they stay in the tiles around the Guarded (maybe something akin to a "Formation tile" with that level (half users guard) for aslong as the user is guarding and not KD/Guard broken.) I generally had some sort of magical forcefield in mind, but eh! It can also be a protect extension. I just wanted to have something in the game thats really useful for tanking for your team/bodyguard stuff. The only other shield that has something like that is magentic shield. Which I love, but its also rarely sees the light of the day, unfortunately.