Sohei with shield?


Rules Questions


Can a sohei flurry with a shield?


Only if he has the Unhindering Shield feat.

Without this feat, even the Sohei cannot flurry with a shield equipped.

Sovereign Court

Well, maybe. It's disputed.

The sohei can flurry while wearing light armor. Now I remember that in the discussions leading up to that FAQ, the point was made that the Sohei's new weapon and armor proficiency paragraph completely overwrites the base Monk's paragraph. So the prohibition against using armor and shields is lost. In the case of armor, that's clearly the intention (why else give armor proficiency).

A monk using armor normally uses some abilities: AC bonus, flurry and fast movement. Of those abilities, AC bonus and Fast Movement both state in their own section that if you wear armor, you lose them. As it happens, the Sohei trades away fast movement, and per the FAQ, indeed loses his AC bonus if he wears armor.

The flurry of blows section does not repeat the prohibition against armor. So if you completely overwrite the prohibition in the Weapons & Armor section, then a monk can flurry in armor. Hence, the Sohei.

So that all makes sense for armor. But what about shields? Fast movement doesn't mention shields, but Sohei don't get that. AC bonus mentions shields, so a Sohei with a shield doesn't get that. Flurry doesn't mention shields.

So going by a very literal reading, where you assume that the Sohei's new weapon/armor proficiency section completely overwrites the base Monk's, then you can indeed flurry with a shield.

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RAI, most likely no. The FAQ doesn't grant this exception to shields, and Sohei don't gain shield proficiency. By the time a new printing of the archetype rolls around, the loophole (if it even exists) will probably be closed.

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