The Reconstruction – Fixing the Pathfinder Monk
To get to the actual Archetype built in this article, skip down to the very end. The section you’re looking for is “Archetype: The Wandering Warrior.” Everything else is a justification of the changes made by that archetype, and why those changes are vital. I know I’ve written a great deal in the coming section to explain these changes, but if you read the entire post, I think you will agree with them.
Let me begin by saying I do not mean to offend. Everything I say here is in the spirit of enhancing or improving my favorite game of all time. I’m a D&D geek who loves both 4th Edition and Pathfinder. This causes problems at times. I’m also a martial artist. This causes problems at times as well, especially when I start thinking about everybody’s favorite Bare-fisted brawling class: The Monk.
The Monk has been riddled with problems in 3.5 D&D and Pathfinder, and it’s a class that deserves better. Whenever a class is updated from one iteration of a system to the next, there develop “Sacred Cows” that a creator feels cannot be discarded from the previous edition. 4th Edition took the vast majority of cows to slaughter, giving us a magnificent selection of beef cuts to choose from, but preventing the enjoyment of the tasty milk we’ve grown to love over years of playing the wonderful D&D 3.5 system. Pathfinder kept most of the cows alive, killing only the ones too old to give the milk of enjoyment that is good game mechanics. The beef was tasty, but they kept a number of Monk’s cows from 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, edition alive that should have been wiped out a long time ago. Well I’m hungry, and I want me some beef. It’s time to kill us some cows, ladies and gentlemen.
The sacred cows that are going to the slaughterhouse are cows that exist on the purely in game, mechanical level, and on the psychological, meta-level of Pathfinder in the minds of GMs, Players, and Designers. Frankly, the Pathfinder Monk is a class that was supposed to be an Eastern-style martial artist. Then a few too many sacred cows were alive, and not enough thought was put into how Eastern-style martial artists work. The unmodified Monk is nearly unplayable in its standard form at this time. However, there’s good news: all the parts and concepts are there to make a totally awesome class. I think we can rebuild this glorious martial combatant with just one new archetype!
This article will focus primarily on the issues with Pathfinder Monk, and how to fix them. Portions of this will be extremely wordy. There’s a reason for that: trying to explain WHY certain things will be changed the way they must be changed, and giving historical reasoning for how martial arts have worked, and how that applies to Pathfinder.
For now, lets start with the basics. The goals of this article are:
-To rebuild the Monk as an effective combatant with a clearly defined role in the Pathfinder System. Pathfinder attempts to classify the Monk as a highly mobile frontline fighter, so that’s what we’re going to build it as. We’re also going to add “Light and/or Exotic Weapon Fighter” to that to better define their role.
-To rebuild the Monk with a clear specialty: That specialty will be Combat Maneuvers, as defined by the Pathfinder System. The monk will also be able to act as a Skirmishing Combatant the way it was originally intended to in earlier editions.
-Monks have a huge case of Multiple Attribute Dependency (MAD). This needs to be solved in a manner that sticks to the conception of Monk that designers and players prefer: the strong and graceful warrior. Not what actually occurs which forces players to use Dexterity as the only logical dump stat. (See also TreantMonk’s Guide to the Monk.)
-To make Monk Weapons useful. They’re the mostly ignored section of Exotic Weapons, and that MUST change. This is the easiest fix, and it does not require the alteration of ANY existing weapons.
-To solve ALL of these problems with a single new Monk Archetype, which will be listed at the bottom of this article. If you’re just looking for the stats, skip to there. However, if you’d like to avoid sputtering in rage, I suggest you read this entire article so you can understand the changes.
-To solve ALL of these problems without making awesome feats from Ultimate Combat useless.
Our first step, is to define the Monk:
The Monk is an Eastern Martial Artist
Eastern Martial Arts confuse people. You see people in uniforms, punching at the air, or performing complex and fascinating looking techniques packaged together in a balanced set called a “kata”. Without going into the vast, extensive, and varied histories of the martial arts worldwide, I’ll discuss a broad overview of how martial arts often developed and how they apply to the Pathfinder Monk.
It should first be stated that the Martial Artist has existed in the east and in the west since the dawn of man. The Pathfinder Fighter is the generic European Man-At-Arms, the expert martial artist of the West. Western Martial Arts primarily focused on weaponry. There were vast amounts of iron deposits in the western areas where the European Man-At-Arms did his dirty work, so there was easy access to weaponry and armor of all kinds. With the best materials at hand, unarmed combat was something that rarely, if ever happened. You had a big stick with a pointy metal bit on the end, or a big honking sword, a shield and armor for defense, and you beat the crap out of the other guy. Everybody else had these big honking swords, shields, and armor, so you didn’t have to switch things up all that often. This was the traditional approach to European Warfare, and it worked pretty well.
In the East, in diverse areas as China, India, Thailand, Japan, Okinawa and many other locations, a very different approach developed. They had the same constant warfare of the west, but a very distinct problem with resources. Namely, they didn’t have them. Vast iron deposits and steel deposits were not readily available in some places. Cultures and small states vied for control, and it was all very messy. Eastern Marital Artists adapted to their environment, which was one of uncertainty and improvised warfare.
You didn’t know when you’d be fighting. You didn’t know who you’d be fighting. So you improvised. You started with the basics: your bare hands, feet, and any other part of your body that could be turned into a weapon. Armor was that thing that your invaders were likely to have, and you never knew if you would actually have it on hand. So you improvised and learned how to defend as you attacked, or to position yourself in a manner that your opponent’s weapon couldn’t easily hit you from. You were still at a huge disadvantage against a well trained opponent with a weapon, but if you knew what you were doing you might disarm said opponent. Then it was a whole different kind of fight.
In this area, the Pathfinder Monk MUST diverge from reality. Because we love our Wuxia and Martial Arts movies, and beating an enemy down with your bare hands is just too awesome an image to lose. It can’t just be fighting with your bare hands until you steal someone else’s weapon.
One fact from Reality does remain however: weapons became important for eastern martial artists in areas where they were hard to find, hard to make, or where oppressive regimes made weapons illegal. Once again, they had to improvise and come up with something that would let them stay relevant against their oppressors. The Okinawans developed the martial art of Te, which eventually evolved into Karate. As this process occurred, they determined that they needed decent weapons. Between their Japanese oppressors, and just keeping things clean with their fellow Okinawans, they had to have a way to fight weapon on weapon with tools of their own. No one picks up a long stick and says “I’m going to take on that guy with a steel sword using this hunk of wood” without first determining that they don’t have a better option. Karate Staff technique was formed from this need. Tonfa, originally a grain-threshing tool, gave a Karate practitioner a way to perform armed combat techniques using their unarmed training. Then they added a few other techniques specific to the Tonfa to their unarmed combat style, and they were ready for any enemy that came their way.
While many eastern martial arts begin with just the unarmed, unarmored body of their practitioner, they often come to a point where a weapon is applied. The weapon always made use of whatever materials were on hand (steel and iron if the practitioner was very lucky), and was wielded in a way that that allowed the practitioner to make use of their previous unarmed combat training: concepts and techniques that applied while the practitioner was without a weapon could now be applied to the weapon.
This was not always true. Some weapons were styles in and of themselves, or applied the fighting concepts of a martial art without applying the same movements. However, a martial artist who had training in an unarmed combat style who wielded a weapon that worked within that combat style was a terrifying warrior indeed.
The Pathfinder Monk has no need to wield a weapon. This is not a bad thing, but the Pathfinder Monk actually handicaps himself by wielding a weapon! This needs to change.
Our concept here is of the Eastern Martial Artist, The wandering warrior of legend, movies and television. Informed by real world martial arts, but modified for the sake of dramatic convenience.
Sacred Cow #1: Arbitrarily Increasing Unarmed Strike Power. The Foul Beast 2d10.
Lets talk about the mechanic that is simultaneously the greatest advantage of the Pathfinder Monk, and the greatest disadvantage. Steadily increasing Unarmed Strike damage dice. It’s almost synonymous with Monk. When people think of Monk, the first two things that pop into their heads are “Flurry of Blows” and “2d10 Damage Dice”. It starts at 1d6 at level 1, at level 4 it increases two potential damage points to 1d8, and so on and so forth until you hit level 12 when it becomes 2d6. It’s still 2 potential damage points higher, but it’s also got a much higher average damage due to the increase in actual dice rolled. This becomes 2d8 at level 16, (4 more potential damage, higher average damage), and finally the dread 2d10 at the pinnacle of power that is level 20. You know this mechanic and you probably swear by it. It’s the sacred cow you might cuddle with at night.
There is no reason to do so. This is possibly the worst mechanic ever. It handicaps you at low levels with weak damage. The concept is that you eventually become a Lord High Godking of Close Combat with that epic 2d10. Except that the designer who’s put himself in the corner with that mighty 2d10 suddenly realizes what exactly he’s done. He’s created the most powerful weapon in all of D&D/Pathfinder: the Monk’s Bare Hands. They can be used in a grapple, you can use your unarmed strike to punch/elbow/headbutt your way out of restraints when they finally count as adamantine. If someone restrains your arms or legs somehow, too bad! You can still hit him. Forever.
The designer may very well have just invalidated the Barbarian and the Fighter with the foul beast 2d10. He hears 2d10 growling in the shadows, and he tries to restrain it. The Monk wants his unarmed strike to get enchanted so that it can keep up with the fighting ability of the other party members? Too bad, it will cost the monk four times the gold if he pays for an Amulet of Mighty Fists. As it is, the designer has completely invalidated all of the wonderful monk weapons he’s come up with because of the dread beast 2d10’s massive damage output. He restricts anything that would actually enhance the power of a Monk’s attacks. If the monk wants weapon focus, specialization, or anything that gives a steady attack/damage increase, he’s not going to find it. 2d10 must not be allowed to grow stronger. That is why Flurry of Blows is always a Flurry of Misses, and why even when it hits, it probably doesn’t do actual damage. Potential Damage is completely useless without any guaranteed damage to back it up. In Pathfinder, guaranteed damage and stacking on entire potential damage dice are the true source of power. The only source of actual damage that a Monk can actually apply to their unarmed strike comes from their Strength stat. They have the Double Slice feat effectively built into their flurry of blows. They have zero off-handed attacks during Flurry of Blows. This is the means by which you do damage. An effective monk requires a massive strength stat, as it is their only hope of delivering actual damage in combat.
In the real world, physical strength is a useful thing to have when training in the martial arts. My dojo has a very well defined physical fitness regimen designed to build the kind of strength and endurance a martial artist needs. Physical Strength only adds power, however. Technique multiplies it. A Karate expert I know can demonstrate all the things that add into the power of a proper Karate-style punch. You fire a punch from the hip, and twist your hip at the end to throw your weight into the punch. This multiplies the power of the punch. You turn your fist at the moment of impact, which further multiplies the power of the punch. There is no force in the punch until the exact moment of impact, when you squeeze your fist and press forward, which even further multiplies the power of the punch. By listing three individual portions of the punch, I’ve explained how power is multiplied three times before it’s actually applied to the target of the punch! If the technique of a punch is bad, it will not have great power. If you challenged an Olympic weightlifter to throw a punch at something that could measure force output, and challenged a skilled martial artist to do the same thing, you’d determine one thing very quickly: The skilled martial artist probably doesn’t have the same raw strength as the Olympic Weightlifter, but through technique and skill he’ll be able to project far more power.
In short: the current iteration of monk makes no account for martial arts technique beyond 2d10. And when the amount of power that good technique can apply to an attack can be measured in anything from 2 to 20 damage, depending entirely on luck and prayer and not the skill of the combatant, then the system is flawed. While actually MULTIPLYING the damage done by a monk’s attack would not actually work in D&D game mechanics (let’s just say, I think Karate Practitioners make very solid use of the Vital Strike feat tree when they fight), there is another way to fix the problem of the dread beast 2d10 while simultaneously making Monk Weapons an awesome investment. It would also be balanced to keep Monk Unarmed Strike relevant as a weapon across 20 levels.
The Fix:
Monk Unarmed Strike: Unarmed strike does not increase at level 4 and above.
Martial Arts Training (EX): At levels 4th, 8th, 16th, and 20th, the monk gains +1 to Attack and Damage with their Unarmed Strike and all Special Monk weapons.
Why?: The Monk’s greatest weakness is it’s incredibly low bonus to Attack (usually due to the Dread Beast 2d10 preventing any increases in bonuses to attack rolls), and it’s incredibly low Guaranteed Damage. (Again: Dread Beast 2d10.) They get plenty of Potential Damage from the dread beast 2d10 that almost NEVER pans out for a monk. Plenty of mighty eastern martial artists have fought with deadly weapons over the years. Thus, the fix allows for the traditional eastern Martial Artist to use their normal portfolio of awesome weapons of legend without being rendered pointless by the dread beast 2d10. The monk who does not wield weapons still remains effective across 20 levels with his unarmed strikes. It also reduces MAD problems by including a steady, static bonus to attack and damage. It’s now possible to play a monk with Middling Strength or Dex. The increased steady bonus to attack and damage works thematically to represent awesome martial arts training. The increased steady bonus also allows Unarmed Strike to remain viable at all levels. Sadly, there’s no way to include some kind of two-handed spear as monk weapon. This is a great loss, as the Spear was commonly used by eastern martial artists. However, the way Flurry of Blows works would make that impossible, giving such a massive amount of damage as to render every other class useless by the power of a two-handed spear in the hands of a monk with the current version of Flurry of Blows. If someone wants to play a Monk spearman, then they should probably play the Sohei variant from Ultimate Combat. It should be noted that the Sohei is one of the best designed monk variants currently in play, but that is neither here nor there. The killing of this sacred cow also works to fix a vast number of rules on the Meta Level of Pathfinder.
Lets talk about the Meta-level for a moment. Why did Paizo say “Improved Natural Attack” doesn’t work for Monk Unarmed Strike? Because of the dread beast 2d10. Using this unarmed strike progression means that Improved Natural Attack can again be an acceptable Monk Feat. The designer is no longer paranoid of 2d10 becoming the deadly leviathan 3d10. Because Pathfinder Monk has always had decent damage output IF you played a high strength monk, and 3d10 is such powerful damage that it probably would have gone beyond matching Monk Damage with the Fighter and Barbarian, and blown everything else in the game out of the water. Potential damage isn’t often worth all that much statistically speaking, but 3d10 per attack with up to 8 attacks in a round means that something is getting disintegrated. It also means that the Amulet of Mighty Fists no longer needs to be four times more expensive than any other weapon enchantment, because Unarmed Strike is no longer an unstoppable beast of 2d10. It also allows for more interesting and deadly combinations. There is however, a truly elegant and wonderful change that we’ve created here that most people wouldn’t think of.
You see, this fix doesn’t actually weaken monk unarmed strike. It makes Monk Unarmed Strike and Monk Special Weapons much more awesome. In fact, by giving this steadily increasing bonus to Attack and Damage, we’ve made them more powerful without creating imbalance. No one can argue that 1d6 + 5 is better than 2d10 in total damage, but the average damage between the two is about the same. The increased attack bonus for monks allows them to more easily use feats such as Power Attack and Combat Expertise without losing their chance to hit their target, which easily makes up the difference. If the monk decides to Skirmish and attack on the run in spite having a medium BAB when not using Flurry of Blows, they’ll have a much better chance to hit. Anyone who is worried about not having enough damage across 20 levels with this static base damage of 1d6 +5 as opposed to 2d10 should also keep in mind that they have Flurry of Blows with no “off-hand” weapon. Flurry of blows, left unchanged and attached to this, makes for a deadly combatant indeed. Most importantly of all, by changing our unarmed strike to this, we’ve redefined the Monk: fast, mobile, light weapon specialist. No Monk Weapon does more than about 1d8 damage, with a few fun exceptions introduced in Ultimate Combat. A total amount of bonus attack/damage of +5/+5 puts the Monk on par with what a Fighter or Barbarian can stack onto their weapons through class features and feats across 20 levels.
(And what can they stack without magic weapons? +6/+8 Max for a fighter through weapon focus/specialization/greater weapon focus/greater weapon specialization and Weapon Training with the first weapon group being the one that has the weapon you’re specializing in. Barbarians meanwhile are a case of +4/+Lots for a Raging Barbarian with a two-handed weapon. We’ll say Lots, just because we don’t know what the Barbarian’s base strength is at that point, and if their strength mod is +6 or higher. There’s no hope of someone catching up with their damage without a lot of nice equipment.)
Previously, the Monk was entirely dependent on the dread, steadily growing beast of 2d10 for increased damage. Every player will tell you that the beast was kind of useless: no guaranteed damage meant that you were lucky if you ever got a solid hit with any attack. And because of it, there was no reason to actually try one of those cool looking monk weapons. Previously, you might just touch a monk weapon for levels 1 to 4 before unarmed damage hit 1d8. Now however, you could specialize with a special monk weapon, and actually play around with mechanics that have been completely ignored previously due to the awesome power of the dread beast 2d10. The monk is now playable as Paizo intended: fast, light, mobile fighter.
But this is only the first fix needed. We’ve nerfed Monk Total Damage while increasing Monk Average Damage, and gave players a reason to try Special Monk Weapons. Repeatedly hitting with those Monk combat options is now viable thanks to the increased attack bonus. Now we need to compensate for some of our lost damage. This brings us to Sacred Cow Number 2, which is in fact a Design Philosophy Cow.
Sacred Cow #2: The Fighter Does Everything Better
There is an unwritten rule of D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder that goes something like this: Anything a non-magic class can do in open, weapon-based combat in the game, the Fighter MUST be able to do better.
No one’s ever said it out loud, but this revelation should not come as a surprise. Barbarians are better damage dealers when they rage, but when you add up all the feats and class features, the Fighter has better over-all damage and they have it all the time. They are not dependent on Rage to get things done. The new Gunslinger class has some of the best gun-based mechanics in the game, but if you JUST want to hit your target and do damage and nothing else…you’ll actually get better damage with a fighter, weapon training, and the weapon focus/specialization feat tree. This isn’t true if the Gunslinger in question managed to get a Dexterity modifier of +8 or higher. On the other hand, no one says that you can’t take the first five levels of gunslinger to get your dexterity bonus to damage, and then take 15 fighter levels to add on all the relevant Fighter class features and feats on top. However, this will only help a character with flat out damage and won’t grant access to the amazing Grit abilities that a higher level Gunslinger can earn. Still, in terms of Flat Damage, Fighter usually takes the cake.
There are exceptions. Paladins were boosted from 3.5 to Pathfinder, with a major upgrade to their smiting ability. They are now by far the highest damaging melee fighting characters, but only against evil creatures, and only against one evil creature at a time. If it isn’t evil then they’re still heavily disadvantaged. Worse, Paladins can only use this a very limited number of times per day. Meanwhile, the Fighter comes in with his bonuses to attack and damage that apply all the time, every time. Cavaliers can pick one truly powerful enemy, and become one of the highest damaging melee fighters, assuming they’re not just wiping people out using Mounted Combat-related abilities…
Once again, Fighters have clearly defined damage against everything in any situation. Somewhere along the line, someone decided that they also had to have the highest combat maneuver bonuses at all times. After all, Fighters are the most versatile combat class, obviously their ability to specialize should include being able to specialize in Combat Maneuvers to a degree that beats out anyone else.
Monks need to become another exception to this rule. The biggest change between 3.5 and Pathfinder, was that Monk was supposed to be redefined as a Combat Maneuver Specialist. While Maneuver Training and the Wisdom Bonus to CMD gives the monk serious advantages when dealing with CMD, it doesn’t really help that the Monk can’t actually TAKE any combat maneuver feats beyond the basic “Improved” feats. Not without reworking their build to specifically take all the prerequisite feats. Furthermore, it would cost a further feat to make some combat maneuvers such as Bull Rush or Reposition able to be done quickly. There needs to be a fix within the monk class that effectively addresses combat maneuvers, and allows a Monk to truly specialize in them without using up all the feats they’ll need to develop their combat strategy. Don’t say the “Maneuver Master” from Ultimate Combat is the answer to that. That is an Alternate Archetype with serious issues.
The Fix:
All of the “Improved (Maneuver)” feats for Combat Maneuvers are added to the monk’s feat list at level 6.
Secret Technique (EX): The Monk picks one combat maneuver. When using that maneuver, they gain a +2 bonus to perform that maneuver, and they can reduce the action cost for that maneuver by spending a ki point. (A Standard Action is reduced to one of the monk’s attacks in the round, one of the monk’s attacks in the round is reduced to a Swift Action). These benefits stack with the Quick (Maneuver) feats (Such as Quick Bull Rush or Quick Reposition). At level 17, the monk can apply these benefits to another combat maneuver. This ability replaces Wholeness of Body and Tongue of the Sun and Moon
Why?: Our combat maneuver specialist is outclassed by the Fighter at all turns on feat selection. (with the honorable and deadly exceptions of Ki Throw, Improved Ki Throw, and Greater Ki Throw, none of which apply until around level 10 or so!) Our combat maneuver specialist has no actual special ability that applies when they actually perform combat maneuvers. Every other class that specializes in something has a special ability that gives them an edge in their specialty. Monk does not. Now they do, and in a way that doesn’t imbalance the entire class. Wholeness of Body never actually did anything that the party cleric or other healing capable class wouldn’t have done for the monk anyway. I would also ask what Tongue of the Sun and Moon did for a monk that a Spellcaster couldn’t achieve 12 or more levels earlier. Now however, we’ve got a special ability that allows a monk to treat two combat maneuvers they know as though they have the greater version of it in terms of CMB. Furthermore, they can reduce the action cost of really useful maneuvers while still gaining a fantastic benefit from feats like “Quick Bull Rush” or “Quick Reposition.” Of course, a monk could work their entire feat selection around one specific combat maneuver, allowing them a bonus of +6 to use that maneuver. Otherwise, classes could only manage +4 beyond what their base attributes and base attack bonus gave them through feats. This is not a serious issue. If a monk wants to do this, let him. A player can Bull Rush or Trip something of their size all they’d like, but they’ll have to hit it eventually. The risk here of course, is that a player might take “Janni Style” and it’s related style feats, allowing them a massive potential bonus on a trip or bull rush of +10 on that check. Of course, if they took the Dimensional Dervish tree to the point of Dimensional Maneuvers, and stacked all of it’s feats on top of this, they’d max at +14. That’d be their base attribute for the check, plus base attack bonus, +14.
As terrible as that could be, it’s not that much of a game changer. This would require that a monk spend their feat selection entirely on one combat maneuver, and all the gods help them if their enemy is flying when they’re trying to do such foolish things as “trip” or “Bull rush” it. Has tripping or bull rushing ever made a difference against a dragon? Let’s also keep in mind, the speculated upon feat tree listed out above requires that a character be nearly level 20, the time when ALL classes gain ridiculous and potent special abilities. If a character wants to be a wanton god of Tripping or Bull Rushing, then that should be their right. Not to mention that the Advanced Players Guide has already made it so that certain classes can effectively become immune to combat maneuvers. (I’m looking at Human Fighters, and their ability to pick any two combat maneuvers to get +1 on their CMD against at every level.) Now we’ve at least got ONE class that can even the playing field.
Fighters will always be able to specialize and use incredible builds based on their massive feat selection. Monks are currently unable to use their “specialty” with any degree of skill compared to other classes. Let’s kill the sacred cow, and actually let the Monk spread their wings and gain some actual mastery over combat maneuvers.
But this brings us to another problem that Monks have that fighters don’t:
Sacred Cow #3: MAD Monks.
Multiple Attribute Dependency. They fixed it for Paladins, by making it so that all paladin abilities were keyed to Charisma. (In 3.5, they needed Strength, Constitution, Wisdom, and Charisma to be effective. In pathfinder, they only need Strength, Constitution, and Charisma.) Paladins are now awesome for a variety of reasons, and if you have the stats to play one, you get the awesome powers that come with the package.
Monks do not get awesome powers to make up for their MAD. A monk currently requires Strength (to hit and do damage), Dexterity (To not get hit and for half their class skills), Constitution (They’re a melee class. They need the HP to take hits.), and Wisdom (for ALL of their decent class abilities.) All of this assuming that the monk doesn’t want to make use of their decent skill selection, in which case you might toss Intelligence onto the list. Some might say you can dump Dexterity as per the wisdom dispensed by Treantmonk in his guide. While I understand the statistical and logical reasons for this, I despise them for existing. Monks can be brawny bruisers, but I LIKE the archetype of the well balanced unarmed combatant who fights with style and grace. Others use Weapon Finesse and a High Dex, but Monk Damage is only reasonably high IF you have good strength to fuel your unarmed strike. This means that Style and Grace are rather useless to the Pathfinder Monk.
Something’s got to give. One of those stats needs to be removed from the list in order for the Monk to work. So it’s time to try something completely ridiculous.
The Fix:
Indomitable Spirit (EX): The monk has trained in a variety of methods that have infused their bodies with mighty Ki. Even if they don’t know how to actively make use of it yet, it makes them tougher and more able to take hits. The monk uses the higher of their Wisdom or Constitution modifiers to determine their bonus HP at first level, and every level after first. This ability only affects levels in monk. Levels in a previous class are unaffected, as are levels in a future class. This ability replaces Empty Body
Why?: Empty Body is a really cool ability that’s very flavorful. But if Monk is going to be fixed with a single archetype, then “strong” fanciful abilities need to be given up for a couple of practical ones that bring Monk in line with its development concept. As per why we’re making CONSTITUTION a possible dump stat, of all things, the answer is simple: Fixing Monk MAD is a maddening process (no pun intended). Strength can’t be removed because strength SHOULD be an integral part of damaging someone. Historical and Modern martial artists do tend to be pretty strong from their training. Worse, we’ve already created a method for the idea of fighting skill to come into play with the new archetype’s steadily rising bonus to Attack and Damage. You can’t take dexterity out of Monk, because Monks have it hard enough as it is without Armor. A high Wisdom Stat can negate that problem, but you still need decent Dexterity to match. Unless you have a ridiculous Wisdom Stat, you probably count as wearing “light armor” for all intents and purposes with your Monk’s wisdom modifier added to AC. This leaves us with one completely ridiculous option: Constitution. A monk’s got to have HP if he’s going to be a frontline fighter, even if he IS geared toward light fighting and skirmishing. But this is where we do something completely ridiculous: Constitution’s steadily rising bonus to HP is the main reason that monks need to have it high, because they really don’t need help with their saves. All that needs to be done is to change that part of the equation, and suddenly the entire game is different. Now the Monk only really needs Strength, Dexterity, and Wisdom.
There are those who would tell you that a Monk does not need Dexterity. They would quickly reference Treantmonk’s guide to the Monk. While I respect that opinion, and understand the statistical nature of that pronouncement (AKA: the fact that it’s entirely true in the current iteration of Monk), I’d ask that everyone consider: which is more in tune with their idea of a martial artist? The martial artist who can’t dodge, lets himself get hit in a ridiculously painful fashion, and takes it like a man? Or the martial artist who defends himself with lightning quick dodges, maneuvers, and counterattacks? The vast majority of people will think of the second idea when they think of the martial artist. It’s time to make Dexterity a part of being a Monk again. With this one quick, easy replacement, we’ve eliminated MAD from the Monk. With Wisdom as their attribute keyed to gaining more HP, explained by the monk’s training in the use of Ki; they now only require Strength, Dexterity, and Wisdom to be played effectively. Their Fortitude Saves will be hurting if you don’t have at least something in their constitution score, and god help the Monk who takes a hard hit of CON Damage from an effect, but constitution now becomes a distant 4th in terms of stat priority. This also fits thematically with the idea of the ancient martial artist whose body has aged, but whose power has only grown thanks to their wisdom and skill. Everybody has wanted to play the Old Master Monk whose been training all his or her life at one point or another. Now it’s plausible at lower levels.
Sacred Cow #4: Slow Fall is a Useful Ability.
I’ve been playing D&D and Pathfinder for 11 years now. I have never used Slow Fall. I have never been in a position where I could use Slow Fall. This is not to say there weren’t situations where I could have used it, but you’d be surprised how hard it is to be where you could touch a wall in order to actually slow your fall. Slow Fall is an awesome idea, but in practice it’s basically replicating a 1st level spell (Feather Fall) as a steadily growing class feature, and simultaneously making it weaker by having a tricky requirement. It doesn’t work.
In this case, a player known online as “Master Arminas”, came up with a better solution. The Catfall. To quote his work: “Catfall (Su): At 4th level or higher, a monk can fall incredible distances without suffering damage. When falling, a monk always lands on his feet. In addition, he reduces the damage inflicted from a fall by 1d6 per monk level he possesses, to a maximum reduction of 20d6 at 20th level. Unlike magical spells (such as feather fall) with similar effects, a monk is not slowed during his descent, making this ability a favored method for higher level monks to rapidly descend great distances quickly.”
It sticks to the archetype of the wandering Movie Martial Artist, give them an awesome ability that synergizes well with High Jump, and generally make the class stronger. However, it seems a little inelegant at this point. With the death of the foul beast 2d10 though, the Monk could handle a small boost.
The Fix:
Safe Landing (EX): damage from any fall is reduced by 1d6 at level 4, which increases by 1d6 every 2 levels after 4th. At level 20 this ability improves further, and the monk no longer takes damage from a fall at any height. This ability replaces Slow Fall
Why?: Because Slow Fall is a useless mechanic. This makes it useful without resorting to just making it “spend 1 ki to gain the effect of feather fall”, which doesn’t really fit the idea of Monk leaping around and performing awesome feats of skill. Master Arminas’s Catfall is a brilliant idea, and the above Fix is BASICALLY Catfall with fall damage removed at the same rate as the original Slow Fall and flat removal of fall damage at level 20. The only reason why we shouldn’t just say, “Turn Slow Fall into Cat Fall” is just because we’re trying to fix Monk with a single, balanced archetype instead of a complete rewrite. We should stick to the Slow Fall progression for this one.
Sacred Cow #5: The Monk is the Fastest Thing Ever.
Every single person that has ever read up on monk has said “Wow, I have a 90 foot base land speed at level 20! That is the most epic thing ever!”
Every single person that has ever played monk has said, “Wow. I have a 90 foot base land speed, and I can’t actually do anything with it.”
It’s as simple as that. Monks were originally meant to be high speed skirmishers that attacked while they moved, playing havoc with a group of enemies. As it currently stands, as of 3rd edition D&D, no monk has had any reasonable or decent skirmishing ability.
Why is this? It’s not for the reason most people would assume. It’s because of mounted combat. Mounted combat is the most powerful skirmishing and melee combat option in Pathfinder. A character using Mounted Combat is heavily armored, probably wearing Fullplate and wielding a shield, but still moving with a minimum of a 50 foot base land speed because of their mount, which is doing all of their moving for them. They can even get off a full attack action if their mount does a double movement for them, or have both the character and their mount perform a full attack action if they’re already in melee with a target. You can charge with your mount, doing double damage if you’re wielding a lance, and triple damage if you have the Spirited Charge feat. Of course, this deadly and amazing combat style requires a massive expenditure of feats and gold.
Meanwhile, if a designer allowed the Monk with it’s potential 90 foot base land speed move and attack, they’d basically let a normal lightly armored human fight and skirmish the way another character whose spent thousands of gold and four to six feats does. The monk would not hit nearly as hard, but they’d still run the risk of invalidating an entire combat style.
However, as things currently stand, the Monk is incredibly fast but cannot actually do anything with that speed. Combat Style feats from Ultimate Combat do address this problem, but they do not solve it without the expenditure of 2 to 3 feats. The Dimensional Agility/Assault/Dervish feat tree can solve the problem completely, but not until level 17. Monk needs something built into the class to allow them to skirmish on some level, because what happens now just doesn’t work without a significant expenditure of resources.
Many people are probably confused by the fact that I don’t include the Pathfinder version of Flurry of Blows or Monk Medium BAB on the list of sacred cows to be slaughtered. The reason is because the Pathfinder version of Flurry of Blows now allows us to do this:
The Fix:
Highly Mobile Combatant (EX): at 8th level, as a standard action, The Monk may spend a point of Ki to attack at it’s highest base attack bonus, and then make it’s second iterative attack. At level 15 this power improves, allowing the monk to deliver one attack at a monk’s highest base attack bonus, then it’s second iterative attack, and it’s third iterative attack. He can use each of those attacks to perform Combat Maneuvers at his normal CMB instead, but only if those Combat Maneuvers can be performed as attacks in a round. This ability replaces Monk Fast Movement at levels 6, 12, and 18.
Why?: Even with the Monk’s top speed reduced to 60 feet, it is still by far the fastest character class in Pathfinder. He can no longer move almost as fast as a Mounted Combat character on horseback whose mount makes a double-move action, but he’s still really fast. He can perform a full attack action like a mounted combat character, but his special rules for using his full attack action while moving prevent him from ever outstripping the mounted combat specialist in damage, and he must have Ki in his Ki pool to skirmish effectively. Once again, the nature of Combat Maneuvers makes it so that this power is VERY useful for disrupting an enemy line by delivering a fast set of combat maneuvers on arrival into a group of enemies. The monk can only ever perform three attacks or combat maneuvers with this power, and that third attack can’t happen until level 15. This prevents someone trying to dip into monk for this ability, and it also has decent chances of hitting when used, thanks to the bonuses to attack and damage that Monk now has as it levels.
The Monk is now a capable Skirmisher. He’s not as good as the Mounted Combat character, but he can certainly do some damage if he has to with a skirmish-type fighting style. The Monk can’t do it all that often though; it costs Ki, and that means that being able to skirmish effectively becomes one of the items covered by the Monk’s spendable daily resources, just like everything else a class gets that’s of a certain degree of power.
Conclusion:
This has been my attempt to Reconstruct the Pathfinder Monk as it was intended. These were some sacred cows that needed killing, and I hope people will agree.
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The Complete Pathfinder Monk Fix
Archetype: The Wandering Warrior
Indomitable Spirit (EX): The monk has trained in a variety of methods that have infused their bodies with mighty Ki. Even if they don’t know how to actively make use of it yet, it makes them tougher and more able to take hits. The monk uses the higher of their Wisdom or Constitution modifiers to determine their bonus HP at first level, and every level after first. This ability only affects levels in monk. Levels in a previous class are unaffected, as are levels in a future class. This ability replaces Empty Body
Monk Unarmed Strike: Unarmed strike does not increase at level 4 and above.
Martial Arts Training (EX): At levels 4th, 8th, 16th, and 20th, the monk gains +1 to Attack and Damage with their Unarmed Strike and all Special Monk weapons.
Safe Landing (EX): damage from any fall is reduced by 1d6 at level 4, which increases by 1d6 every 2 levels after 4th. At level 20 this ability improves further, and the monk no longer takes damage from a fall at any height. This ability replaces Slow Fall
Bonus Feats: All of the “Improved (Maneuver)” feats for Combat Maneuvers are added to the monk’s feat list at level 6.
Secret Technique (EX): The Monk picks one combat maneuver. When using that maneuver, they gain a +2 bonus to perform that maneuver, and they can reduce the action cost for that maneuver by spending a ki point. (A Standard Action is reduced to one of the monk’s attacks in the round, one of the monk’s attacks in the round is reduced to a Swift Action). These benefits stack with the Quick (Maneuver) feats (Such as Quick Bull Rush or Quick Reposition). At level 17, the monk can apply these benefits to another combat maneuver. This ability replaces Wholeness of Body and Tongue of the Sun and Moon
Highly Mobile Combatant (EX): at 8th level, as a standard action, The Monk may spend a point of Ki to attack at it’s highest base attack bonus, and then make it’s second iterative attack. At level 15 this power improves, allowing the monk to deliver one attack at a monk’s highest base attack bonus, then it’s second iterative attack, and it’s third iterative attack. He can use each of those attacks to perform Combat Maneuvers at his normal CMB instead, but only if those Combat Maneuvers can be performed as attacks in a round. This ability replaces Monk Fast Movement at levels 6, 12, and 18.
