[Tweaked and rejigged] Flurry of blows and non-monk weapons - p.28

[Locworks]

Note
This tweak, inspired by some recent discussions, allows monks to use other weapons than the special monk weapons to perform a flurry of blows. The requirements and limitations are steep in order to maintain the balance between the number of attacks and the damage output.

Tweaked rule
When using flurry of blows, a monk may attack with unarmed strikes and with special monk weapons (kama, nunchaku, quarterstaff, sai, shuriken, and siangham). He may also use flurry of blows with a simple or martial one-handed weapon with which he is proficient and for which he has taken the Exotic Weapon Proficiency feat. He may also use flurry of blows with a one-handed exotic weapon (other than the special weapon monk weapons) for which he has taken the Exotic Weapon Proficiency and Weapon Focus feats.

He may attack with unarmed strikes and appropriate weapons interchangeably as desired. When using weapons as part of a flurry of blows, a monk applies his full Strength bonus to his damage rolls for all successful attacks, whether he wields a weapon in one or both hands. The monk can’t use any weapon other than the weapons specified above as part of a flurry of blows.

In the case of the quarterstaff, each end counts as a separate weapon for the purpose of using the flurry of blows ability. Even though the quarterstaff requires two hands to use, a monk may still intersperse unarmed strikes with quarterstaff strikes, assuming that he has enough attacks in his flurry of blows routine to do so.

[Locworks]

With the Ki pool and ki powers rejigging, I see the monk relying even less on weapons. The suggestion above is now more of a design exercise and a way to humour players who really want to flurry with one-handed martial and exotic weapons.