Monk - Pathfinder RPG Preview #9


General Discussion (Prerelease)

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Pathfinder Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Shouldn't the Acrobatics be +14 (+22 for jump) instead of (+30 for jump)?

Where is the extra +8 coming from?

Liberty's Edge

SuperSheep wrote:

Shouldn't the Acrobatics be +14 (+22 for jump) instead of (+30 for jump)?

Where is the extra +8 coming from?

Speed bonus, I assume.


DM_Blake wrote:

You know, I hadn't really thought about it. I guess I was too busy reveling in monk crunchy goodness and then chasing elephants...

But yeah, why is this so complicated?

For some held-over inexplicable reason, the monk gets mediocre BAB for his least effective attack, and then for all the stuff he really wants to do, he gets full BAB.

With Flurry of Death and CMB of Deadly Death, how often will monks actually choose to do something else that limits them to their lower BAB?

Answer: Never. Except when they have to move more than 5' and are facing something that just doesn't seem applicable to any CMB stunts, like maybe a ghost - can't grapple or trip them, nothing to disarm or sunder, and no benefit to overrunning or bullrushing them.

Yeah, OK, so when a monk wants to hit a ghost that's at least 10' away, yeah, then he will have his lower BAB.

But all the rest of the time, he won't.

Wouldn't it have made more sense just to cave and give him full BAB, and then not have to worry about the extra wonky rules about when to use class level instead of BAB to calculate stuff that normally would use BAB?

Needlessly complicated?

Kirth Gersen wrote:

One thing really bugs me.

The way monks are set up now, BAB-wise, is in a way worse than they were before. How can that possibly be? Well, the monk has two main gimmicks: (1) great mobility and (2) lots of attacks. The best way to make the monk more viable, and to give him a unique niche, would be to integrate those two things -- not ensure that they can never be used together.

The new monk in essence gets a scaling penalty to attacks when he moves (3/4 vs. the full BAB he gets when standing still). So the new monk, rather than running up and attacking, has a very, very strong incentive to stand still and just hope someone comes within reach. Which begs the question, if it's so disadvantageous for him to move -- why give him a speed that scales up with level, when the level-based attack penalty makes him less and less likely to use that speed?

I just don't get it.

The Monk gets abilities and has access to a lot of feats that use standard actions rather than full attacks; apparently even more in the Final than there were in the Beta. So the Monk will have reason to be mobile at times as well as full attack at times and perhaps the designers thought the monk needed 3/4 BAB to balance against their mobility for the rounds in which the choose to run up and stun a target or perhaps they didn't want to give the monk access to BAB related feats as early as other classes.

Majuba wrote:


Umm.. Considering Sajan has 10 feats, 8 of his choosing, by 8th level, no, I don't think 11th to get 7 feats.

Technically, the monk would have to be at least 10th level so that they can qualify for Medusa's Wrath as a Monk bonus feat. As a regular feat the Monk would have to wait until level 15 to meet the BAB requirements for Medusa's Wrath.


Monk's get their level as BAB for Flurry, not a full BAB. That's a big difference if you multiclass.


Kyle Baird wrote:
Monk's get their level as BAB for Flurry, not a full BAB. That's a big difference if you multiclass.

Also important to note for access to various high end feats such as Imp. Vital Strike, etc.


Kirth Gersen wrote:
hogarth wrote:
It's not "worse".
It's "worse" in the sense that the new monk is even less likely to want to take advantage of his speed, given the huge incentive to stand in one place. It's worse in terms of integration of his class features, not in terms of numerical bonus. And the higher level he is, the worse it gets in that regard.

That's weird logic, though. That's like saying an awesome new 6th level wizard spell makes wizards worse because Tenser's Transformation is an even worse choice.

I agree that it's unfortunate that it doesn't improve a bad situation (e.g. single attacking monks), but "worse" is an odd way to look at it.

Paizo Employee CEO

Jason Bulmahn wrote:

Ding. Ding. Ding. We have a weenah! You win a prize!*

:-)

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

*Prize has no actual value. Prize may or may not actually exist. Do not taunt the prize. Some assembly required. Prize not included in prize. If you experience a prize lasting more than four hours... um, nevermind.

I think the prize could very well be the first sample of Jason's new collectible thing game, "Thing In A Box" which he unveiled to all of us at Paizocon. Hmmmm, what thing could be in the box?

-Lisa


Kyle Baird wrote:
Monk's get their level as BAB for Flurry, not a full BAB. That's a big difference if you multiclass.

Again, I assume it's written in the same way as the Beta monk's Maneuver Training ability (which specifically addresses multiclassing).

Scarab Sages

evilvolus wrote:
Xaaon of Xen'Drik wrote:
This actually scares me a little bit if they can take improved vital strike, and vital strike will be a no brainer...
Isn't Vital Strike the damage bonus to a single attack after a move action? The way to compensate a melee character for loss of a Full Attack?

Uh no..

This is the Beta version:

Vital Strike (Combat)

By taking one less attack, you can focus your remaining attacks to deal more damage.
Prerequisites

Base attack bonus +11.
Benefit

When performing a full-attack action, you get one fewer attack (usually the one at your lowest bonus).

Any other attacks that hit as part of this full-attack action deal additional damage. Roll the damage dice for all such attacks twice, but do not multiply damage bonuses from Strength, weapon abilities, such as f laming, or precisionbased damage, such as sneak attack. This bonus damage is not multiplied on a critical hit. You must choose to use this ability before rolling any of your attacks.

Lisa Stevens wrote:
Jason Bulmahn wrote:

Ding. Ding. Ding. We have a weenah! You win a prize!*

:-)

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

*Prize has no actual value. Prize may or may not actually exist. Do not taunt the prize. Some assembly required. Prize not included in prize. If you experience a prize lasting more than four hours... um, nevermind.

I think the prize could very well be the first sample of Jason's new collectible thing game, "Thing In A Box" which he unveiled to all of us at Paizocon. Hmmmm, what thing could be in the box?

-Lisa

"What's in the booooox?"

hopefully it's not a winner...or as Jason put it...a Weenah...

Jadeite wrote:
Xaaon of Xen'Drik wrote:


This actually scares me a little bit if they can take improved vital strike, and vital strike will be a no brainer...

+18/+18/+13/+13/+8/+8/+3 at level 20 vital strike making each of those attack 2d6+2d6+misc bonuses...

That is a lot of potential damage (of course the lame end iterative attacks always miss...but that's a decent chance of 16d6 dmg without any additional bonuses, and a slight chance of 28d6...

if Improved Vital strike is available, egadz 35d6...

No Improved Natural Attack (unarmed strike) for 12d8 points of damage with each attack? And even without it, he should do 4d10 points of damage with vital strike, 6d10 with improved vital strike.

Yeah, you're right, I wasn't referencing muh books at work and was a bit distracted...luckily Improved Vital Strike should be +16 BAB requirement still

so 35d10 hopefully won't be a reality.

"The human guard is unconscious"

"I pummel him to death with an improved vital strike flurry" really evil monk...(more deadly than a coup de grace)

Liberty's Edge

Xaaon of Xen'Drik wrote:

Uh no..

This is the Beta version:

Vital Strike (Combat)

By taking one less attack, you can focus your remaining attacks to deal more damage.
Prerequisites

Base attack bonus +11.
Benefit

When performing a full-attack action, you get one fewer attack (usually the one at your lowest bonus).

Any other attacks that hit as part of this full-attack action deal additional damage. Roll the damage dice for all such attacks twice, but do not multiply damage bonuses from Strength, weapon abilities, such as f laming, or precisionbased damage, such as sneak attack. This bonus damage is not multiplied on a critical hit. You must choose to use this ability before rolling any of your attacks.

The Valeros preview already told us that Vital Strike works substantially differently in the final, and that there is now a Vital Strike (BAB +6), Improved Vital Strike (BAB +11) and Greater Vital Strike (BAB +16). Valeros is described as using Vital Strike and Improved Vital Strike as part of a charge action, which is utterly impossible for the beta version; unfortunately, all that means is that something is changed, but we don't actually know what.

Scarab Sages

I forgot about that...hmmm we'll have to see how the final product works...

Thanks Shisumo!


Pathfinder Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Alright someone please help me out with this. I've never had a TWF character and I can't get to +9/+9/+4/+4 with flurry using any combination of TWF and Flurry of Blows.

How exactly are they getting an additional attack at +4 without Improved Two-Weapon Fighting?

I understand the +9/+9/+4, but where's the extra +4 coming from?

Liberty's Edge

SuperSheep wrote:
I understand the +9/+9/+4, but where's the extra +4 coming from?

Seems to be inherent in flurry of blows - they get all the TWF extra attacks, not just the basic one.


Xaaon of Xen'Drik wrote:

I think the prize could very well be the first sample of Jason's new collectible thing game, "Thing In A Box" which he unveiled to all of us at Paizocon. Hmmmm, what thing could be in the box?

-Lisa

"What's in the booooox?"

hopefully it's not a winner...or as Jason put it...a Weenah...

(Flashes back to Justin Timberlake on SNL: "At Christmas time...! At your parents' house...! On Hanukkah...!")


Zark wrote:


....yes I hate checking my posts for errors almost as much as formatting my posts to make them less confusing...or even more.

Fixed it for you ;-P

Paizo Employee Director of Game Design

Hey there all,

Couple of comments before I get back to my monster stat crunching.

1. The monks BAB and HD were not changed for a wide variety of reasons, many of which have already been mentioned here. One of the biggest was the compatibility issue. All of the monk-ish feats and pclasses were designed with 3/4 BAB in mind and changing this would mess with their balance. On top of this the monk was identified as the class that came with certain limitations, but had a number of focused ways to get around them (hence the feats that you see, and the BAB increase with flurry). The class dipping specter also reared its head during the design, as has been mentioned earlier.

2. The +9/+9/+4/+4 comes from the fact that the monk's attacks at 8th level function as if the monk had Two Weapon Fighting and Improved Two Weapon Fighting (granting two additional attacks with the off-hand, one at full BAB, one at -5). This progression continues to add attacks as the monk gains levels.

3. That's "weenah"... like a carnival barker would say. Not at all like Justin Timberlake would say.. with a box.

4. Concerning what is in the box... who knows. Anything could be in the box, that is the wonder of "Thing in a Box".

5. There have been some concerns over the monks split focus. This is quite intentional. The goal here is to have a monk that is versatile and quite capable in different situations. I think Sajan shows that off rather well, instead of being a one trick pony.

6. The CMB and CMD are correct. The number of feats is correct. The selection of feats for his level is correct.

That is all for now... Hope that helps clear some things up.

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

The Exchange

Adventure Path Charter Subscriber
Shisumo wrote:
The Valeros preview already told us that Vital Strike works substantially differently in the final...unfortunately, all that means is that something is changed, but we don't actually know what.

I wasn't 100% sure I remembered the name of the feat correctly, but at PaizoCon, Jason Bulmahn mentioned the Vital Strike chain as a way of allowing a fighter to move and deliver a single blow that deals more damage than his regular attack, but less than if he had the chance to full attack. Basically, a compromise between the 3.5 system, and the hordes clamoring for the ability to iterative attack after a move.


Pathfinder Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Jason Bulmahn wrote:

Hey there all,

Couple of comments before I get back to my monster stat crunching.

1. The monks BAB and HD were not changed for a wide variety of reasons, many of which have already been mentioned here. One of the biggest was the compatibility issue. All of the monk-ish feats and pclasses were designed with 3/4 BAB in mind and changing this would mess with their balance. On top of this the monk was identified as the class that came with certain limitations, but had a number of focused ways to get around them (hence the feats that you see, and the BAB increase with flurry). The class dipping specter also reared its head during the design, as has been mentioned earlier.

2. The +9/+9/+4/+4 comes from the fact that the monk's attacks at 8th level function as if the monk had Two Weapon Fighting and Improved Two Weapon Fighting (granting two additional attacks with the off-hand, one at full BAB, one at -5). This progression continues to add attacks as the monk gains levels.

3. That's "weenah"... like a carnival barker would say. Not at all like Justin Timberlake would say.. with a box.

4. Concerning what is in the box... who knows. Anything could be in the box, that is the wonder of "Thing in a Box".

5. There have been some concerns over the monks split focus. This is quite intentional. The goal here is to have a monk that is versatile and quite capable in different situations. I think Sajan shows that off rather well, instead of being a one trick pony.

6. The CMB and CMD are correct. The number of feats is correct. The selection of feats for his level is correct.

That is all for now... Hope that helps clear some things up.

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

What about the +30 to jump? Does the monk get double its level added to jump checks?

Also it would be very nice to know when the monk gets these TWF and Improved TWF and Greater TWF feats.

Paizo Employee Director of Game Design

SuperSheep wrote:

What about the +30 to jump? Does the monk get double its level added to jump checks?

Also it would be very nice to know when the monk gets these TWF and Improved TWF and Greater TWF feats.

Jump - No, but there is a speed bonus in there...

TWF - Sorry, but I am not going to let all the cats out of their bags just yet. Just a little bit more than a month to go.

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing


SuperSheep wrote:
What about the +30 to jump? Does the monk get double its level added to jump checks?

No, just a 1x level bonus:

+8 for 50' land speed
+8 for High Jump ability (as per PF Beta rules)


Pathfinder Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Jason Bulmahn wrote:
SuperSheep wrote:

What about the +30 to jump? Does the monk get double its level added to jump checks?

Also it would be very nice to know when the monk gets these TWF and Improved TWF and Greater TWF feats.

Jump - No, but there is a speed bonus in there...

TWF - Sorry, but I am not going to let all the cats out of their bags just yet. Just a little bit more than a month to go.

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

From whence does the speed bonus apply? I'm not seeing it in the BETA, but I don't really know where to look.

Edit: Also if there's a speed bonus, is there a speed penalty?


If the monk can use his special weapons in a flurry, shouldn't there be a flurry of blows breakdown for his shuriken attack?

If weapons can take a quality like flaming without being +1, this would solve the magical ammo problem - at last, a reason to look for magical arrows again!

Sovereign Court

Xaaon of Xen'Drik wrote:


Thurgon wrote:
Fable the Blade wrote:
I see that Monks become immune to Disease, Does that mean that they can't become a vampire?

In D&D Vampirism isn't a disease, so yes they could still become vampires.

However if they are immune to all diseases, like a paladin is, then they can't be werewolves.

Isn't lycanthropy in mythology a curse?

The modern distinction between a disease, a virus, and a curse is just that: modern.

Back when our myths were being formed the advantages of post-enlightenment kit like microscopes was not available.

RPGs have to decide where to go with these things but have very little guidance in myths and legends.

Seeing as curses aren't real, what is a curse but a disease/virus you cannot explain?


Jason Bulmahn wrote:
I am not going to let all the cats out of their bags just yet. Just a little bit more than a month to go.

As a chairman of Mankind for Ethical Animal Treatment (M.E.A.T.) I must demand you cease this cruelty to animals at once, or steps will be taken. (And cake. Cake will be taken. From you. Your choice: Be silent, or eat cake)

Stebehil wrote:
Giving the Monk full BAB and d10 hit dice would nerf the backwards compatibility, so that may be the reason to keep it.

Minor thing, especially with other classes getting new HDs and flurry of blows (the monk's main attack form) being changed now)

Stebehil wrote:


EDIT: and Jason needs something to improve for pathfinder 2.0 :-))

There's plenty, especially all the stuff that cannot be changed in a revision.

Not that PFRPG doesn't kick serious ass. It's still better than everything else.

But I think the next one will be even better.

Liberty's Edge

SuperSheep wrote:
From whence does the speed bonus apply? I'm not seeing it in the BETA, but I don't really know where to look.

Page 55 of the Beta, in the description of the Acrobatics skill, right at the bottom of the lefthand column.

SuperSheep wrote:
Edit: Also if there's a speed bonus, is there a speed penalty?

There was in 3.5, but it appears to have been dropped from the Beta.


Pathfinder Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Shisumo wrote:
SuperSheep wrote:
From whence does the speed bonus apply? I'm not seeing it in the BETA, but I don't really know where to look.

Page 55 of the Beta, in the description of the Acrobatics skill, right at the bottom of the lefthand column.

SuperSheep wrote:
Edit: Also if there's a speed bonus, is there a speed penalty?
There was in 3.5, but it appears to have been dropped from the Beta.

Not sure how I missed that 4 freaking times. Thanks.


Jason Bulmahn wrote:
stuff

Don't ever get to recover? When do you get time to sleep? Hopefully on the 14 of august...perhaps not. Anyway. Thanxs for for everyting!


Count Buggula wrote:
I'll throw my hat in with those who like the new monk, but can't figure out why they don't just give him full BAB and call it good. I mean...what does the monk get? All the other full BAB classes get at least as many extra crunchy bits as the monk does if not more, so the Monk would've matched the new Paladin, Ranger, or Fighter quite nicely in the full-BAB role. Instead we get a class that has the same amount of extras as those, yet with only 3/4 progression...except that for most purposes it is actually full-BAB. Needlessly complicated. Oh well, I suppose there's always house rules.

Maybe it has to do with the fact that all d8 creatures have average BAB while the ones with d10 have high BAB?


Matthew Morris wrote:

I find it interesting that no one has yet complained about the ki point pool vs the bardic music pool.

** spoiler omitted **

Damn you MM, Seeker, and the rest of the BT players for reminding me how much I miss playing the game. I have a regiment of painted 'mechs in storage.

Funny spoiler though.

Now back to the thread at hand.


"If the monk can use his special weapons in a flurry, shouldn't there be a flurry of blows breakdown for his shuriken attack?"

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing... I doubt it is a rule change, since I don't recall many people complaining about their games being broken because of too much shuriken flying around.

Hmmmmm ... Flurry of flying short swords...

I see many good reasons not to go for a full BAB, especially considering the monk has the best saves, resistances and immunities, speed, and spell like abilities. (Don't get me wrong, I see merits to full BAB, but I think it's good they stayed with 3/4)

I don't buy the argument that the monk is weaker because they have separate abilities that can't be used in the same round. It is all options with situational advantages and disadvantages - which make it a more interesting class to play.


Zark wrote:
Jason Bulmahn wrote:
stuff
Don't ever get to recover? When do you get time to sleep? Hopefully on the 14 of august...perhaps not. Antway. Thanxs for for everyting!

August 14th he'll be at Gen Con, one of the busiest times of the year :) [Though I'm sure it's got some competition *this* year.]

Speed Bonus/Penalty: There was discussion whether the "base land speed" mentioned in the Acrobatics section would annul jump bonuses from things like Monk speed, etc. Looks like not anymore at least. Still question on spells and such. The penalty used to be -6 for every ten slower than 30, fwiw.

CMD and all feats are right hmm... interesting. BAB = Monk level on offense only makes the most sense.

Lycanthropy is considered both a disease *and* a curse in D&D. I'm not sure if that extends to all magical diseases or not. [And unless I'm thinking of Mummy Rot, if not both.]

Oncehawk: you're right, there probably should be a flurry for the shuriken. Not requiring a +1 base is a specified feature of the Amulet.

Vital Strike definitely makes for some solid "move-attack" hits for monks, possibly in conjunction with scorpion style, etc., and eliminates the craziness of really high full attacks.


Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber
Matthew Morris wrote:

I find it interesting that no one has yet complained about the ki point pool vs the bardic music pool.

My only reason for not commenting is I really don't have a good feel for how valuable the ki point pool is. Since I play a bard I can very easily access the bardic music pool. BTW, given all of the other upgrades to the bard I don't feel the bardic music pool is going to be a problem. My current bard is 15th level and a blend between a healer and a swashbuckler. With the 3.5 system I can never even get close to using all of my music pool.

I am also glad it did not become such a contentious point.

Scarab Sages

Lisa Stevens wrote:
Jason Bulmahn wrote:

Ding. Ding. Ding. We have a weenah! You win a prize!*

:-)

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

*Prize has no actual value. Prize may or may not actually exist. Do not taunt the prize. Some assembly required. Prize not included in prize. If you experience a prize lasting more than four hours... um, nevermind.

I think the prize could very well be the first sample of Jason's new collectible thing game, "Thing In A Box" which he unveiled to all of us at Paizocon. Hmmmm, what thing could be in the box?

-Lisa

I still need the address or PO Box to send in my first box. I eagerly await my first Thing!


Ooh, here's a question: in his gear, our monk has an oil of g. magic fang +3. If he applies it, are his fists still firey? Or does the oil bonus replace the amulet's property?

I also urge that magic fang oil be replaced with a magic fang lotion - get magic bonuses and prevent dryness and cracking! (I suppose we could do a toothbrush of magic fang...but good luck applying it!)


Karui Kage wrote:
Lisa Stevens wrote:
Jason Bulmahn wrote:

Ding. Ding. Ding. We have a weenah! You win a prize!*

:-)

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

*Prize has no actual value. Prize may or may not actually exist. Do not taunt the prize. Some assembly required. Prize not included in prize. If you experience a prize lasting more than four hours... um, nevermind.

I think the prize could very well be the first sample of Jason's new collectible thing game, "Thing In A Box" which he unveiled to all of us at Paizocon. Hmmmm, what thing could be in the box?

-Lisa

I still need the address or PO Box to send in my first box. I eagerly await my first Thing!

"Things" include belly button lint from Paizo staffers, half-chewed jelly beans, thoroughly agitated cans of carbonated beverage, turds (whether real or simulated is determined at random) and Thousand-Year-Twinkies in the first set. No two items are exactly alike, so be sure to collect them all before the second expansion set is released!


Oncehawk wrote:

Ooh, here's a question: in his gear, our monk has an oil of g. magic fang +3. If he applies it, are his fists still firey? Or does the oil bonus replace the amulet's property?

I also urge that magic fang oil be replaced with a magic fang lotion - get magic bonuses and prevent dryness and cracking! (I suppose we could do a toothbrush of magic fang...but good luck applying it!)

In 3.5 you get both. If you are a 12 level cleric with a +1 flaming mace and cast greater magic weapon it would be a +3 flaming mace.

No new rules in the beta so i guess you still get both flaming and +3.


Zark wrote:
Oncehawk wrote:

Ooh, here's a question: in his gear, our monk has an oil of g. magic fang +3. If he applies it, are his fists still firey? Or does the oil bonus replace the amulet's property?

In 3.5 you get both. If you are a 12 level cleric with a +1 flaming mace and cast greater magic weapon it would be a +3 flaming mace.

No new rules in the beta so i guess you still get both flaming and +3.

D'oh, that's right, you can only have the highest enhancement bonus. Thanks Zark!

Sczarni

Someone earlier mentioned they should open the "monk weapons" to more weapons. I agree. All melee weapons a monk is proficient with should count as monk weapons (especially since you start out-damaging melee weapons with unarmed pretty quick!)

I kept waiting to see a Pudao (Chinese Glaive and martial arts weapon) appear in 3.5. It never happened.

...or at very least, there should be an extra feat to convert a non-monk weapon into a monk weapon.


That's is something I always houserule, each order of monks to me should have it's own list of what it's "monk" weapons are. I also do the same thing with monk feats.

What I would have liked was a line saying "Monks weapons may change by order or region, Ask you GM about this"


seekerofshadowlight wrote:
What I would have liked was a line saying "Monks weapons may change by order or region, Ask you GM about this"

I notice that the whole "monk weapon" thing didn't get cleaned up -- or at least, short swords don't get to flurry, which implies to me that there is still a class of "special monk weapons." Which is incredibly annoying, because a kama is a sickle. Period. There is no difference between them!

Liberty's Edge

John John wrote:
Count Buggula wrote:
I'll throw my hat in with those who like the new monk, but can't figure out why they don't just give him full BAB and call it good. I mean...what does the monk get? All the other full BAB classes get at least as many extra crunchy bits as the monk does if not more, so the Monk would've matched the new Paladin, Ranger, or Fighter quite nicely in the full-BAB role. Instead we get a class that has the same amount of extras as those, yet with only 3/4 progression...except that for most purposes it is actually full-BAB. Needlessly complicated. Oh well, I suppose there's always house rules.
Maybe it has to do with the fact that all d8 creatures have average BAB while the ones with d10 have high BAB?

What I'm saying is maybe it's time to just say the monk should be a d10/high BAB class. When you compare it against the other 3/4 classes, you have full spellcasters (druid/cleric), etc. What do monks have? A few special attacks (stunning fist, etc) and a small splattering of special abilities like jumping, feather fall, assorted immunities, etc. The "extra" abilities fall directly in the realm of rangers, paladins, and fighters for power, and certainly don't go anywhere close to druids, who they share average BAB with.

If the primary class feature is hitting things really hard with your fists, and we've had to create a whole bunch of artificial rules to make the attacks use full BAB anyways, why the heck not just bump it up to full BAB and make things much simpler?

So far the only argument I've seen against that is for backward compatibility. Screw that - make the game just work, and if needed, modify the old stuff to better fit the new game instead of the other way around. Most of us will just wait 'till we have PRPG versions of those prestige classes anyways.

As for dipping, a good DM will never allow arbitrary class dipping just to pick up extra abilities, and the improvements in all the core classes in PRPG have made that tactic much less valuable anyway.

Either way, in my games I'll most likely just houserule the monk to have full BAB for simplicity sake, since it's used for almost all calculations that use BAB anyways.


Count Buggula wrote:
So far the only argument I've seen against that is for backward compatibility.

I've seen 3 others:

1. Some people seem to be overly concerned about qualifying earlier for feats and prestige classes. In terms of feats, if the monk is supposed to be a combatant, the sooner he gets access to them the better, and his low-level feats get chewed up quickly because all of the 3.5 improved maneuver feats now occupy 2 feat slots in the Pathfinder rules. As for PrCs, the only one I ever wanted to take with a monk was Psionic Fist, and that's not exactly core Pathfinder. Therefore, unless you run a splatbook-heavy free-for-all in terms of PrCs, that consideration should hardly be an issue.

2. Jason hinted that allowing the monk to move and get a standard attack at full BAB is too much, and discourages "interesting tactical choices." I might personally disagree, but it is a specified reason that has nothing to do with backwards compatibility.

3. Finally, Jason mentioned discouraging a 1-level dip into monk for all the class goodies. By making 1st level a +0 BAB level, that problem is mitigated. I can definitely see this... but really, most of the goodies you get (except the saves) are no good if you wear armor or use actual martial weapons -- so a paladin, fighter, or barbarian is probably not going to go that route. A caster would seem to stand to gain the most, except that they'd be giving up a caster level either way, which is already a pretty steep price for dipping.


Kirth Gersen wrote:
I notice that the whole "monk weapon" thing didn't get cleaned up -- or at least, short swords don't get to flurry, which implies to me that there is still a class of "special monk weapons." Which is incredibly annoying, because a kama is a sickle. Period. There is no difference between them!

On this I will agree, I hate the monk weapons as a whole as it limits the monk to just One type of monk. I would have loved to see just one line saying weapons would change by order or something. I will do it anyhow but it sucks plying in other folks games when they do not


baron arem heshvaun wrote:

Gorbacz wrote:
climbs into his Madcat and loads up incendiary missiles

I much prefer the Ragnarok and Gauss Rifle.

I'm funny like that. (We were ranked number 1 in the world on xbox live for Mech Assault here and there, we were always in the top 5. Good times!)

Nova cat and a nice waist-deep arctic pond to run around in.

[EDIT]

I was dearly hoping for a complete rebuild. New custom body, new gearbox, maybe a nice spoiler. It looks like instead they're trying to jam a bigger engine in the same old Chevy Nova.

With the "clarification" that flurry doesn't stack on TWF, I honestly see no reason to ever make a HtH character that isn't a Fighter.

I still love you, Paizo. I just don't like everything you do. It's not you, it's me.


seekerofshadowlight wrote:
On this I will agree, I hate the monk weapons as a whole as it limits the monk to just One type of monk. I would have loved to see just one line saying weapons would change by order or something. I will do it anyhow but it sucks plying in other folks games when they do not

Me too, I like they idea of built in customisation. Monk weapons, fighter weapon groups, barbarian weapons etc etc.


Adventure Path Charter Subscriber
Demon Lord of Tribbles wrote:
Pulls up a chair, butters his popcorn and waits

Brings 12 pack of bud, bottle of wiskey and another chair.


Adventure Path Charter Subscriber
Jason Bulmahn wrote:
Kvantum wrote:
Are any of the remaining previews going to be at high (15+) level, or are they all going to stay in the 8-12 range? Seelah and Valeros were nice, but still, I want more insight on the high end of the game! At least one high level iconic would be nice to see.

Fear not, I've got a few high level iconics lined up in the coming weeks.

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

Hopes keenly for a wizard!


I don't know why but I could have sworn we had seen the wizard already...

But I'm sick so maybe I'm just imposing what I remember from the sorcerer forward...

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