I think its a design concept so that you're not locked into a single way to increase your AC or play your class in a certain way. If you decide you want to do something like wield a Javelin or Spear as well as a Shield you can do so to gain the AC benefits of that all while wearing something like Leather. This would help if you happen to have an average Dex/Wis score, and/or come across a magic item that would you would like to use.
So in this case, with a 14 Dex and 14 Wis, you'd have +4 to your AC due to Unarmored Defense giving you a 10+4=14 total. However, if you had Leather armor and a shield you'd have 11 + Dex +2 for the shield which would give you 15.
So while I can't answer this for the designers, it stands to reason that the more options you have with your character build and concepts, the better off you are. Plus its able to make up for some really terribly rolled stats as well ;)
DDB isn't perfect. It appears to be a technical limitation with the way features interact (or rather how they don't interact) with a shield. I'm guessing it's because they coded Unarmored Defense to work with a shield for Barbarian, and probably just used the same code for Monk (sloppy coding).
While DDB lets a Monk equip a shield (which you have no proficiency for using) and still use the Unarmored Defense AC formula, it does accurately disable all Martial Arts benefits to your attacks while the shield is equipped.
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You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
Well, you can equip a shield (i.e. pick it up and hold it, same as you would any other item), but you don't gain the AC bonus from it because you lack proficiency.
Well, you can equip a shield (i.e. pick it up and hold it, same as you would any other item), but you don't gain the AC bonus from it because you lack proficiency.
That is not correct, you can wield a shield if you are not proficient and get the AC bonus from it but you have disadvantage of ability checks, saveing throws and attacks that rely on strength or dex so it is rarely a good idea. This means that even if a monk does get proficiency in shields (e.g. through multi-classing) it would rarely make sense to actually wield one.
Also as a monk many of your features are dependent on you not wielding a shield (e.g. martial arts, unarmored movement) in fact losing unarmored defence means your AC is likely to go down if you wield a shield
In the PHB, it says that monks can't use a shield with their unarmored defense, but DDB lets monks use a shield. 'SPLAIN!!!
I think its a design concept so that you're not locked into a single way to increase your AC or play your class in a certain way. If you decide you want to do something like wield a Javelin or Spear as well as a Shield you can do so to gain the AC benefits of that all while wearing something like Leather. This would help if you happen to have an average Dex/Wis score, and/or come across a magic item that would you would like to use.
So in this case, with a 14 Dex and 14 Wis, you'd have +4 to your AC due to Unarmored Defense giving you a 10+4=14 total. However, if you had Leather armor and a shield you'd have 11 + Dex +2 for the shield which would give you 15.
So while I can't answer this for the designers, it stands to reason that the more options you have with your character build and concepts, the better off you are. Plus its able to make up for some really terribly rolled stats as well ;)
DDB isn't perfect. It appears to be a technical limitation with the way features interact (or rather how they don't interact) with a shield. I'm guessing it's because they coded Unarmored Defense to work with a shield for Barbarian, and probably just used the same code for Monk (sloppy coding).
While DDB lets a Monk equip a shield (which you have no proficiency for using) and still use the Unarmored Defense AC formula, it does accurately disable all Martial Arts benefits to your attacks while the shield is equipped.
You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
Well, you can equip a shield (i.e. pick it up and hold it, same as you would any other item), but you don't gain the AC bonus from it because you lack proficiency.
That is not correct, you can wield a shield if you are not proficient and get the AC bonus from it but you have disadvantage of ability checks, saveing throws and attacks that rely on strength or dex so it is rarely a good idea. This means that even if a monk does get proficiency in shields (e.g. through multi-classing) it would rarely make sense to actually wield one.
Also as a monk many of your features are dependent on you not wielding a shield (e.g. martial arts, unarmored movement) in fact losing unarmored defence means your AC is likely to go down if you wield a shield