Monks with shields??

[IceBear]

Corwin, you mentioned that you believed that the Sage made the ruling that shields didn't stack with mage armor. What we pointed out was that the Sage *NEVER* said that. The PHB states that shields and armor give an armor bonus and this armor bonus doesn't stack with mage armor.

IceBear

 

[Caliban]

Sheesh, you try reading the PHB. If it is so darn clear cut, why must it be clarified in the FAQ? Everyone must be so much more dense than you since none of these types of issues ever bollix you in the least. It must be nice to see everything so clearly.

Actually, I interpreted it the wrong way myself at first.

It took e-mails from all three of the main game designers, as well as Sean Reynolds to convince me of the error of my ways.

However, once it was pointed out to me forcefully enough, I read the text of the PHB carefully, and found that it does indeed state it clearly on page 104. The problem come from the fact that the Armor Bonus entry is in a seperate column from the text that explains that all the entries on page 104 and 105 refer directly to the columns on the Armor Table, and that the combat section of the PHB makes reference to a Shield Bonus.

It seems that the combat section was written by a different person than the equipment section, and used the term "Shield bonus" to differentiate between the armor bonus from a shield and the armor bonus from armor. This simplification is the root of all the confusion, in my opinion.

 

[Artoomis]

Corwin, you mentioned that you believed that the Sage made the ruling that shields didn't stack with mage armor. What we pointed out was that the Sage *NEVER* said that. The PHB states that shields and armor give an armor bonus and this armor bonus doesn't stack with mage armor.

IceBear

Correct. technically, shields CAN be used with Mage Armor, but their armor bonuses don't stack. So you could bash with it, or have it give you a resistance bonus or something if that's how it was enchanted.

 

[Arcane Runes Press]

Well, there are at least a pair of shields that monks should (in a perfect world ) be able to use:

1) Rattan Shield- The woven rattan shield is a staple of Southern style Kung-fu. It's very lightweight and steeply rounded (almost the exact shape of Captain America's shield) and designed to actually AID martial artists in tumbling to close with long poled weapons (specifically spear and tiger fork). The shield and butterfly sword set is a famous one in Hung-gar style.

2) Paired Tiger Steel Shields- Very rare. These are lightweight, narrow (1' wide, perhaps 3' long) shields that are used as both weapons and shields. They come to a long, razor sharp spearpoint that projects perhaps 6" past the hand and are used to stab.

Do I think monks should be able to use normal shields? Probably not, simply for game balance reasons. Should they be able to use Rattan shields and Paired Tiger Steel Shields? Sure, with the appropriate EWPs, as Paired Tiger Steel Shields especially are practically the textbook definition of a Exotic Weapon.

 

[IceBear]

Correct. technically, shields CAN be used with Mage Armor, but their armor bonuses don't stack. So you could bash with it, or have it give you a resistance bonus or something if that's how it was enchanted.

Man...that's getting into technicalities and semantics again. You knew what I meant

IceBear

 

[Mark]

Here's Monte's response to the question, "Are shields armor?"

"It was our intent that shields are indeed armor. No shields for monks."

It is posted on his board here-

http://pub58.ezboard.com/fokayyourturnfrm2.showMessage?topicID=493.topic