I was looking at the student of perfection archetype and saw that it granted ki strike. When you use ki strike you can make an unarmed or flurry of blows, but I'm uncertain whether or not you spend an action to use ki strike and an additional action to flurry or attack. I'm also unsure whether or not you are granted the ability to make a flurry of blows if you do not otherwise have that ability.
It is included. All the other stuff will something like "next attack".
I don't think you get flurry of blows if you don't have it. But I could see that argument.
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It says "make an unarmed Strike or Flurry of Blows," not "make an unarmed Strike or, if you have the feature, Flurry of Blows," so technically you get to do it even if you lack the feature. That said, I'm confident the intent is that you read the "if you have the feature" clause into it.
I sort of see the “make” as a conditional where if you could not then the rest fails, for instance if you can’t make a strike at all due to some issue or restriction you don’t just suddenly gain the ability to strike.
So it should be read:
"free action- if your next action is an unarmed strike or flurry of blows, You gain a +1 status bonus to your attack rolls with the Strikes, and the Strikes deal 1d6 extra damage. This damage can be any of the following types of your choice, chosen each time you Strike: force, lawful (only if you’re lawful), negative, or positive. This action gains the verbal trait."
Or something like that?
So it should be read:
"free action- if your next action is an unarmed strike or flurry of blows, You gain a +1 status bonus to your attack rolls with the Strikes, and the Strikes deal 1d6 extra damage. This damage can be any of the following types of your choice, chosen each time you Strike: force, lawful (only if you’re lawful), negative, or positive. This action gains the verbal trait."
Basically, yes. The version from the book includes the Strike/Flurry in the casting of Ki Strike which can have some rules implications - like losing the attack(s) in case something disrupts the cast.
But for general purpose you could use your version.
And I agree with Midnightoker that it does not allow you to use Flurry of Blows unless you can already use it by default.
So with this interpretation, does that mean you can't use the shield block reaction with the shield spell unless you have the shield block feat.
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So with this interpretation, does that mean you can't use the shield block reaction with the shield spell unless you have the shield block feat.
It does not mean that. The sidebar with the reaction says
The shield spell works like a raised shield, and it also gives you the ability to use the Shield Block reaction.
So with this interpretation, does that mean you can't use the shield block reaction with the shield spell unless you have the shield block feat.
The Shield spell specifically states it grants you the ability to use the shield block reaction, with some caveats that the reaction granted by the spell is "special", since it allows you to block magic missiles. The Ki Strike entry lacks any such specific language. I don't think it would be wrong to ask for some dev clarification on Ki Strike, though. I can certainly understand how one might interpret it as allowing you to make a flurry even if you didn't have the class feature.
So with this interpretation, does that mean you can't use the shield block reaction with the shield spell unless you have the shield block feat.
The shield spell is different.
The shield spell specifically says you can use the shield block reaction. After you do, your shield spell ends, and you can't use it again for 10 minutes.
While perhaps inelegantly written, I think the best reading of the ki strike spell is that it works with flurry of blows if you have the ability. It does not grant it to you. The spell was originally written for the monk class, and all monks have that ability.
Happy gaming...