Well, I have played alot of RPG's and MMO's and I always liked shields for some strange resson.
But don't you think Fable III should have atleast some sort of shield. Becuase some players liked the knight aspect of Fable which The DLC in 2 gave us what we wanted. But how about a shield to go with ure oh so shiny sword? And giving it a special use.
For example you are defending againts bandits and you have ure shield back, by holding a button you charge up a flourish like move maybe known as shield smash. Which would end up you ramming the shield into the bandit and they fall back. I think it would add a nice aspect to the game.
On the otherhand Fable III would still be in the guns and rifles era. So shields would be useless. but I can still dream can I? =]