Monk thinktank (Houserules)

[Pezmerga]

I am one of those gamers who feel the Monk is subpar as is. I've put a lot of thought into this and it seems like the monk wants to do a lot, but it doesn't do anything exceptionally.

One ability of interest to me is the fast movement of the monk. While this is decent, it really never helps if you want to flurry (As a monk you want to do this!).

I propose this: Either let the monk have a ki ability to move and flurry in the same turn (maybe even give up one of the attacks if you feel it balances it better), or let them take 10 foot steps if they have ki points in their pool. While this is not a total fix, it would at least help the monk position itself better (flanks, etc.) and would give the monk unique options in combat. I also feel it fits flavor-wise.

The Monk is still MAD, but I personally let the players in my campaign have the option of a feat that lets the monk add Dex to damage instead of Str. Instead of using brute force a monk utilizes precision based pressure point attacks. Weapon finesse is a Prereq.

[E I]

Well, I'm not sure if this is what you want, but there are other avenues you can explore with a monk. Granted, some sort of DEX to damage is necessary to reduce MAD if you plan on doing damage.

However, if damage dealing is not your route, there are other options.

For example, as a backup character I've been kicking around is something of a highly intelligent pacifist monk. Not entirely original, I know, but he can be quite viable with some 3.5 feats. Namely, Kung-Fu Genius (Dragon Compendium p.109 or so) and Versatile Unarmed Strike (PH2).

Now for the Monk itself, I layered Ki Mystic and Monk of the Lotus. Kung-Fu genius makes all monk abilities use INT instead of WIS. With the Ki Mystic bonuses to knowledge, the monk can be quite a nice repository of info.

That's great for out of combat stuff. I imagine it less as being wise, and more as being incredibly smart like the History Monks of Terry Pratchett. Now for the point of Versatile Unarmed Strike. This allows you to change your unarmed strikes to a different type. With this, we can now take levels at duelist at level 11, and use all the fancy stuff you can do with unarmed strikes.

Also, duelist adds INT to AC, specifically to the DEX mod part. Combined with the INT from monk bonuses, and the monk bonuses to natural AC, and you'll have AC way above the baseline. What does this mean? You can weave through combat soaking attacks of op that rarely hit, and placing touch of serenity on multiple opponents, or tripping and disarming others (obviously, Agile Maneuvers is a must for this).

Just my 2 cp.

[zmanerism]

since this is in the house rule section and the idea of combat maneuvers are dear to my heart but they suck at higher levels would be to let the monk add their level to combat maneuvers.

With the addition of the metal knuckles (cannot remember the exact name from the advanced players guide) the idea that the monk has to buy the insanely expensive amulet of mighty fists can be thrown out the door. Yet with the metal knuckles it seems silly that the monk will have to do mega hits with one fist. My suggested rule would be to let the monk enchant his whole body. In addition to this, the monk might be able to change the enchantments every 4 levels.