So I'm doing a Fighter/Monk build, going with 2 Weapon Fighting/Improved Two Weapon Fighting. My question is this, can I give the character a shield? The monk Improved Unarmed Strike reads...
A monk's attacks may be with fist, elbows, knees, and feet. This means that a monk may make unarmed strikes with his hands full. There is no such thing as an off-hand attack for a monk striking unarmed. A monk may thus apply his full Strength bonus on damage rolls for all his unarmed strikes.
So I figured, he uses a shield while kicking, elbowing, etc. Since it specifically says, "with his hands full", I assume a shield would be okay?
True?
You can use unarmed strike in conjunction with using a shield, sure. However you can't gain the monk's AC bonus or flurry of blows feature with a shield.
No worries there...its a small dip into the Monk class, the character will be wearing Full Plate. I'm not worried about the monk abilities I lose with this.
Xavram5 wrote: No worries there...its a small dip into the Monk class, the character will be wearing Full Plate. I'm not worried about the monk abilities I lose with this. then do not play a vanilla monk, mayybe you can find some archetype taht best suite yor character, like sohei.
Xavram5 wrote: So I figured, he uses a shield while kicking, elbowing, etc. Since it specifically says, "with his hands full", I assume a shield would be okay? The shield is fine, but be aware there is some controversy over two-weapon fighting with only unarmed strikes. Some consider "unarmed strike" to be one weapon, regardless of which body part you use. JJ originally said US-TWF was fine, then recanted after people used that ruling to get cheesy. You could still go with, say, a shield in one hand, unarmed strike (kick or headbutt) for main hand, and spiked gauntlet in the off-hand. The gauntlet won't benefit from the monk unarmed strike stuff, but it's a light weapon and has some of the same flavor. (Or do regular gauntlet if you like bludgeoning and don't care about die size)
Hmmm, I guess I would have to ask our DM, since the build is a Monk of Many Styles (Dragon and Snake), which takes advantage of using Unarmed Strikes. So not being able to use an unarmed strike would definately pose a problem.
Althought to me, I'm not sure how "unarmed strike" is one weapon. You're using kicks and elbows, etc, etc. Even the Monk's Flurry derives from Two Weapon Fighting, right?
Xavram5 wrote: Hmmm, I guess I would have to ask our DM, since the build is a Monk of Many Styles (Dragon and Snake), which takes advantage of using Unarmed Strikes. So not being able to use an unarmed strike would definately pose a problem.
Althought to me, I'm not sure how "unarmed strike" is one weapon. You're using kicks and elbows, etc, etc. Even the Monk's Flurry derives from Two Weapon Fighting, right?
The problem is that if it is more than one weapon, how many weapons is unarmed strikes?
4 one for each limb, or do you count fingers, how about the head, do elbows, knees, shoulders count as separate weapons?
It matters because it impacts how certain buffs get applied to unarmed strikes, and the interaction with TWF. If you rule that unarmed strike is more than 2 weapons, than technically anyone with IUS can now multiweapon fight. It is just a crazy situation.
Xavram5 wrote: Hmmm, I guess I would have to ask our DM, since the build is a Monk of Many Styles (Dragon and Snake), which takes advantage of using Unarmed Strikes. So not being able to use an unarmed strike would definately pose a problem.
Althought to me, I'm not sure how "unarmed strike" is one weapon. You're using kicks and elbows, etc, etc. Even the Monk's Flurry derives from Two Weapon Fighting, right?
Well, the Master of Many Styles removes the flurry ability, so you really only have to worry about TWF and unarmed strikes.
Unarmed strikes as one vs. two weapons becomes an issue with Magic Fang (which of the limbs did Magic Fang enhance?) and somewhat with the flurry ability (since there's no 'off-hand' in a flurry). The way I see it, as long as the player isn't trying to use fluff and flavor to abuse the rules, I'm OK with it.
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