Hey all, I'm running a third party game for some friends and one of the subclasses for monk grants proficiency to shields for them at level 3. I set this up properly for the proficiency option but the issue that comes up is that once the shield is equipped, it overrides monks unarmed strike from DEX to STR. I'm not sure how to change this besides adding an additional Unarmed Strike on the class feature itself that specifies DEX and then build in the normal dice leveling options as well.

Any help would be appreciated to fix the disconnect from the base Unarmed Strike instead of having to create a whole second option.

Thanks in advance!

The Monk's Martial Arts feature specifically only allows using DEX for melee strikes when they're not armored or carrying a shield.

So how would you change it to allow proficiency and not take away from martial arts?

We are running the Odyssey of the Dragonlords campaign (the third party one) and the ability of the monk functions like this:

Starting when you choose this tradition at 3rd level, you gain proficiency with shields. Additionally, wielding a shield does not impede your Martial Arts, Unarmored Movement, or Unarmored Defense features. You may also use your shield as a “free hand” to catch and hold missile weapons with your Deflect Missiles feature.
As long as you are wielding a shield, opportunity attacks against you are made with disadvantage.

You can't. Martial Arts - Unarmoured Movement and Unarmoured Defence are all base class features - and those cannot be modified at present.

You would have to add your own version of those abilities as subclass features to essentially re-allow them while wearing a shield - and I don't even know if that's possible for all of them.

Quote from Emmber >>

You can't. Martial Arts - Unarmoured Movement and Unarmoured Defence are all base class features - and those cannot be modified at present.

You would have to add your own version of those abilities as subclass features to essentially re-allow them while wearing a shield - and I don't even know if that's possible for all of them.

 It’s not. The simplest solution would be to create Wondrous item named Monk Shield that conferred a +2 AC. Basically, make a shield that isn’t a shield.

Quote from IamSposta >>

Quote from Emmber >>

You can't. Martial Arts - Unarmoured Movement and Unarmoured Defence are all base class features - and those cannot be modified at present.

You would have to add your own version of those abilities as subclass features to essentially re-allow them while wearing a shield - and I don't even know if that's possible for all of them.

 It’s not. The simplest solution would be to create Wondrous item named Monk Shield that conferred a +2 AC. Basically, make a shield that isn’t a shield.

Yea that's exactly what I would have done. Path of least resistance.

Thanks for all the feedback folks! I'll keep an eye on how it works out for now for how I have it set up. It's odd that granting proficiency doesn't override other parts but hard coded items are harder to modify.

Well if you think about it - simply granting proficiency in shields in homebrew can't do anything to the other features - for the same reason that a Monk multiclassing into Fighter (to get shield proficiency) can't do anything either. Martial Arts and the other Monk features all specifically preclude the use of a shield in their wording - whether they are proficient in shields or not.