More Monk-y Business


Homebrew and House Rules


I just kicked off a campaign that, because of the fluff (I'm drawing inspiration but not necessarily actual details from various Indian and Asian sources) needs to have monks be at least...somewhat viable. I know. I thought about crying too. But I dove in and came up with a few ideas.

My first fix that I've pondered (and luckily I still have time to change my mind, since the only monk in the party is 2nd level) is simple: a monk *always* gets to take his bonus movement. Even if making a full-round attack. Even if there's impediments magical or physical. I'm not sure yet if I'll go all the way to make it a freebie "ring of free action" ability, but that's the general gist.

Next, I had the same idea everyone has: let the Wisdom modifier stack with Strength (or Dexterity, for Weapons Finesse/Ranged combat builds) for combat. That seems relatively benign to me; it still leaves the monk behind in the arms race vis-a-vis a martial character going two-handed with a weapon with qualities attached to it, but it does mean that the monk can actually contemplate trying to hurt people.

But then I thought, Wisdom stacks with Dex for AC already; I'm going to stack it with Strength for To Hit and probably damage; what if I stack it with Constitution for hit points?

At that point I balked somewhat--I'm guesstimating that it would give a monk around 80 more HP at 20th than a full-BAB PC with equivalent stats (i.e., primary Strength and secondary Con vs the monk's primary Wisdom and secondary Strength). That seems like a lot. It *is* a lot. But then I thought about Treantmonk's summary of the monk as a fighter--"You should see the other guy"--and I wondered if it wouldn't be too unbalancing.

I'm also thinking about a milder version: the Wisdom mod is a bonus to your attack, and also gives bonus *non-lethal damage* (the rationale is that this damage comes from pins and holds--also, I don't mind the extra paperwork), and you can *substitute* Wisdom for Con instead of stacking them.

So I dunno. I have a few weeks before next session to tinker with this stuff...and I was wondering if any of the (more experienced) game-tinkerers here had some thoughts on those ideas.

The Exchange

A bit more comprehensive of a rewrite, but if you are looking for a more viable monk, may I suggest TOZ's?

Link to the Thread with it

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Wow! That's a fantastic rewrite.

I'm torn, though--I play in one incredibly houseruled campaign (to the point where I now assume that I have to ask about every. single. rule. in *Core*), so I'm trying to keep close to Core for this campaign--less my somewhat arbitrary exclusion of half the Core races, clerics *and* druids (in favor of a Pathfinderized shaman from OA class), and, oh yeah, spell points.*

Nertz. Maybe I *should* use this rewrite. :O

TOZ's rewrite is definitely something to ponder, though it might be a bit too Tome-of-Battle-y for my personal tastes. I might offer it to the player of the monk to see what he thinks...

--Cat

*To be fair, most of my work has been *excluding* things or reworking races--it's surprising how much kender look like halflings, *ahem*--than rewriting the rules. Except for spell points, but even there I'm just using the UA rules. Which I know suck. And I don't care. Because I can hit casters with the nerf hammer all day and they'll still run the game.

The Exchange

tortiekat wrote:


My first fix that I've pondered (and luckily I still have time to change my mind, since the only monk in the party is 2nd level) is simple: a monk *always* gets to take his bonus movement. Even if making a full-round attack. Even if there's impediments magical or physical.

Good idea.

tortiekat wrote:


and you can *substitute* Wisdom for Con instead of stacking them.

My character is WIS-based and has a feat for this. Getting it for free would be pretty powerful. Maybe make it an alternative for another monk ability?


Wisdom for Con is only for hit points, although my girlfriend and I were kicking around the idea of allowing Wisdom to substitute for the base ability of all the saves. That's probably too powerful :D

I don't mind doing Wis for HP for the monk because his major issues are MAD and being ill-suited to his combat role. Basing everything on Wisdom *is* pretty powerful, but it gives him some flavor that the other classes don't get...and I'm keeping monks as a 3/4 BAB class. So they have to pay for that.

And even with those changes, cleric/druid still kick his ass. ;-)

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