Here's the thing:
A friend of mine plays a monk in a RotRL campaign.
Facing the fact that we don't really have a meat shield, he is thinking about finding a niche for his Monk.
That niche is grappling a foe, thereby removing that foe (and himself) from combat.
My question is about grappling, as I cannot really draw a satisfactory answer from RAW.
When grappling a foe, can the monk still deflect arrows?
Deflect Arrows states that you need a free hand and must be aware of the attack.
Grappled states you cannot do anything that requires two hands.
Still I think grappling someone who to all intents and purposes doe not want to be grappled should make you unaware of ranged attacks.
Is there a ruling I am missing?
grappled condition prevents use of 2-handed actions unless you have more than 2 arms.
1-handed actions are A-OK, and only if you can`t dedicate both hands to the grapple DURING the grapple action are you penalized on that grapple CMB check,
grappled doesn`t restrict your actions for an entire round unless you take the penalty.
deflect arrows doesn`t work if you are flat-footed, but grappled doesn`t do that, only pinned does.
so deflect arrows while grappled looks 100% legit (if you have an empty hand, you can`t drop things off your turn).
you can even apparently even be stunned and still deflect arrows, as it explicitly isn`t an action, nor requires an attack roll.