Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4, Legendary Games
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Two abilities, similar in concept:
1. I like the add of supernatural diseases to purity of body. Makes it work like the paladin and also brings it into class relevancy, as most of the diseases PCs end up getting are (Su).
2. Wholeness of body I like in concept, but the amount of healing is far too weak for the cost in ki points and the cost of a standard action. I would suggest one of the following:
A. A monk can heal her level in hit points as a standard action for 1 ki point.
B. A monk may spend more than one ki point each time she uses this ability. The total amount healed equals her monk level plus the number of ki points spent (7th level, 5 ki points, 35 points of healing).
C. A monk may heal 2 points of ability damage (or negate 2 points of a temporary ability penalty, such as from fatigue, exhaustion, or ray of enfeeblement) or 1 point of ability drain as a standard action for 1 ki point.
D. A monk may use wholeness of body as a swift action by spending one additional ki point.
I'd still venture that the healing from this power is nothing to write home about, but it doesn't need to be awesome. A monk doesn't need to be a cleric or even a paladin. Having a little healing they can use on their own is good enough.
Director of Games
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Couple of things,
First, supernatural and magical diseases are now included in Purity of Body. (Edit: Sorry, I misread that, my bad)
Second, I think that you might be right on Wholeness of Body. The healing is a bit weak for the cost, but this ability was never intended to allow the monk to fully heal himself, but rather to gain an easy boost when no healer is around. That said, I think it could work better in that role.
Having it work faster might be the answer, but I am not yet convinced.
Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing
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Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4, Legendary Games
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Couple of things,
First, supernatural and magical diseases are now included in Purity of Body.
I know. I said "I like the add" that you already did!
Second, I think that you might be right on Wholeness of Body. The healing is a bit weak for the cost, but this ability was never intended to allow the monk to fully heal himself, but rather to gain an easy boost when no healer is around. That said, I think it could work better in that role.
Having it work faster might be the answer, but I am not yet convinced.
I was reading the playtest of the paladin LOH usable as a swift action it seemed like a pretty positive result. Again, it was not a super-healing ability, but something to help keep the character in the fight. For a monk, whose primary combat role is in melee, they are already light on BAB (to help end fights more quickly) and hit points vs. fighters and their kin. Their saves are great, AC is usually fine, but a bit of useful in-battle self-healing would help them stand their ground.
Honestly, if you were a 7th level character up against level-appropriate foes, would you spend a standard action in the middle of combat to quaff a potion of cure light wounds? That's pretty close to what a 7th level monk is doing with wholeness of body. He saves a little money but spends a different finite resource (ki points).
If it's intended as an after-battle patch job, then I suppose it's fine the way it is. Minor healing to get yourself back together.
In looking at the monk's other ki powers, though, the basic precedent is set in the 4th level ki pool ability of the extra attack, speed, or dodge AC bonus being swift actions. Likewise the high jump is swift.
I would look carefully at the idea, as a matter of design simplicity and class feature clarity, that it might be good idea to make ALL activations of the monk's ki pool a swift action.
Most of the ki effects are already there. Look at the other ones:
1. Wholeness of body (well, see above).
2. Abundant Step. This is pretty nice as a quick escape route, but because dim-door dazes you until your next turn, it doesn't open up the "dim-door pounce" tactic for the monk (though this might be something you think about as either a higher-level monk ability or perhaps a monk feat - if this is something you did want to enable). So, nice, but not outrageous. Besides, it's already a move action. The game effect step-down from move to swift is a lot smaller than the stepdown from standard to move.
3. Empty Body. Most of #2 applies here as well, especially the last sentence. You still have to dismiss the effect (standard action) to rematerialize prior to the end of the one minute, so no ether-pounces.
So as it is, there are only 3 ki pool powers that aren't already swift actions, and I don't think any of them would be broken by making them swift.
Even my suggestion of making Quivering Palm a ki pool power doesn't really hurt, because you can activate it as a swift action, but you still have to deliver it by a normal attack roll, so you can't hand out quickened death-strikes.
Anyway, enough wall of text. Feeling a little more convinced yet? :)
In looking at the monk's other ki powers, though, the basic precedent is set in the 4th level ki pool ability of the extra attack, speed, or dodge AC bonus being swift actions. Likewise the high jump is swift.
I would look carefully at the idea, as a matter of design simplicity and class feature clarity, that it might be good idea to make ALL activations of the monk's ki pool a swift action.
Most of the ki effects are already there. Look at the other ones:
1. Wholeness of body (well, see above).
2. Abundant Step. This is pretty nice as a quick escape route, but because dim-door dazes you until your next turn, it doesn't open up the "dim-door pounce" tactic for the monk (though this might be something you think about as either a higher-level monk ability or perhaps a monk feat - if this is something you did want to enable). So, nice, but not outrageous. Besides, it's already a move action. The game effect step-down from move to swift is a lot smaller than the stepdown from standard to move.
3. Empty Body. Most of #2 applies here as well, especially the last sentence. You still have to dismiss the effect (standard action) to rematerialize prior to the end of the one minute, so no ether-pounces.
You should put in a clarifying sentence in Abundant Step and Empty Body that specifies that they ONLY affect the monk. It's suggested in the text, but saying "as if using the spell DD/etherealness," you open up rules arguments about whether you can take passengers as you can with those spells.
So as it is, there are only 3 ki pool powers that aren't already swift actions, and I don't think any of them would be broken by making them swift.
Even my suggestion of making Quivering Palm a ki pool power doesn't really hurt, because you can activate it as a swift action, but you still have to deliver it by a normal attack roll, so you can't hand out quickened death-strikes.
Anyway, enough wall of text. Feeling a little more convinced yet?
Well you've got my vote at least, seems simple, straight forward, compares well with what's been done to other classes (the paladin's swift self healing), and it gives the monk some interesting options and abilities. The only thing I see that might be a bit too nice would be a monk that found a way to get pounce (say from polymorph or a prestige class) as he'd then be able to pounce, abundant step away, and repeat it all again the next round.
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Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4, Legendary Games
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Well you've got my vote at least, seems simple, straight forward, compares well with what's been done to other classes (the paladin's swift self healing), and it gives the monk some interesting options and abilities. The only thing I see that might be a bit too nice would be a monk that found a way to get pounce (say from polymorph or a prestige class) as he'd then be able to pounce, abundant step away, and repeat it all again the next round.
I don't know that that's necessarily a bad thing. It's a not a tactic the monk can do very many times (2 ki points per abundant step will burn through it pretty quick). If you only have one battle a day, sure it's nice, but if your typical adventuring day involves multiple combats you probably can't do it more than once per battle on average. Plus, pounce requires straight-line charging with no blockers and no difficult terrain, which is not the easiest thing in the world to guarantee in a fight.
PS - Glad you enjoyed.
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Well you've got my vote at least, seems simple, straight forward, compares well with what's been done to other classes (the paladin's swift self healing), and it gives the monk some interesting options and abilities. The only thing I see that might be a bit too nice would be a monk that found a way to get pounce (say from polymorph or a prestige class) as he'd then be able to pounce, abundant step away, and repeat it all again the next round.I don't know that that's necessarily a bad thing. It's a not a tactic the monk can do very many times (2 ki points per abundant step will burn through it pretty quick). If you only have one battle a day, sure it's nice, but if your typical adventuring day involves multiple combats you probably can't do it more than once per battle on average. Plus, pounce requires straight-line charging with no blockers and no difficult terrain, which is not the easiest thing in the world to guarantee in a fight.
PS - Glad you enjoyed.
Very good point. flavor wise, all ki powers should be swift, leave slower ki dependent ability for feats.
Also, the pounce should be some sort of feat that allow for the pounce strat, sort like 'Sun School' tactical feat from Complete Warrior.
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Also, the pounce should be some sort of feat...Pounce should be a ki ability. Instead of ki making monks temporarily more monk-like (slightly higher speed, slightly faster attacks) - but little more effective for it - ki should allow monks to combine their existing high speed with their existing rate of attack (via pounce).
Very true; but i was more on the side of ki abilities being swift, this would be more slow taking a full round or at least a standard action.