a monk uses their normal BaB. the BaB used in flurry of blows is just for that.
so a lvl 10 monk has a BaB of 10 with flurry, but 7 for an aoo or a standard attack.
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pg. 180 under attacks of opportunity, the last line says "All these attacks are at your full normal attack bonus" not "full normal BAB".
if you're a fighter taking a full attack with power attack , all the penalties from power attack apply. if you're two weapon fighting same. its your highest attack bonus from that round. So I think the monk would attack with his highest attack bonus from the round if he's flurrying, or with his single unarmed attack's calculated bonus if he's not flurrying that round ( which can be worse than his flurry total ).
What bonus does a monk use for attack of opportunity? Just their BAB? Even though this ends up being lower than their primary attack in a Flurry of Blows? That seems weird...
13th level monk, Flurries with +11/+11/etc, etc, but when he does an attack of opportunity, his BAB is only 9, a 2 point decrease.
Again, seems weird, is this right?
Yep. But then you can trip, grapple or disarm as an AoO, which can often be more effective in terms of stopping someone doing what they want to.
if you're a fighter taking a full attack with power attack , all the penalties from power attack apply.
This is correct, because Power Attack explicitly says that its effects last until your next turn.
if you're two weapon fighting same.
This is incorrect, because Two-Weapon Fighting only applies "when fighting this way" which only happens when gaining an extra attack, which can only be done during a full-attack. If you're not making a full attack, you can't be gaining an extra attack, so you can't be TWF.
Flurry of Blows is a full-attack action, and as such it cannot be made as an attack of opportunity, so the bonuses and penalties of Flurry do not apply, even if you used Flurry earlier in the round.
The upside to this is a monk can use a two-handed weapon to make an attack of opportunity and get 1.5xStr to damage, which he doesn't get for attacks made during a Flurry.
In short, your "normal attack bonus" is not under penalties (or bonuses) of TWF or Flurry.
My monk makes a STANDARD attack...it uses his BAB, not his Flurry bonus. So when making a single attack, he's actually got LESS of a chance to hit than when making a full round attack.
At level 9 and up, yes.
But if he moves into combat and does a standard action to attack, it seems weird that this has less of a chance to hit than his opening attack(s) of his full round Flurry of Blows action.
Characters are almost always better off with a full attack rather than a standard.
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if your opponent is standing up from prone and you have an ao take it at bab and enjoy the -4 ac he has from being prone. that is about the same as being full bab vs a standing opponent. or disarm them. my monks always have trip and disarm its just nice to make everyone play a game you came prepared for.
my quote to my dm from years back "well i don't have a weapon so i don't feel you should either"
One of the most annoying (and effective) things you can do as a Monk is Trip, then Disarm on the AoO from standing up, then Trip again when they provoke from retrieving the weapon. Just keep cycling that, or toss on Grapple for penalty stacking (Prone, + Grapple = -6 to melee AC, Prone + Pinned = -8 to melee AC plus denied dex which could give further penalties to AC and sneak attacks).
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if you're a fighter taking a full attack with power attack , all the penalties from power attack apply.Flurry of Blows is a full-attack action, and as such it cannot be made as an attack of opportunity, so the bonuses and penalties of Flurry do not apply, even if you used Flurry earlier in the round.
The upside to this is a monk can use a two-handed weapon to make an attack of opportunity and get 1.5xStr to damage, which he doesn't get for attacks made during a Flurry.
In short, your "normal attack bonus" is not under penalties (or bonuses) of TWF or Flurry.
if you're taking a single attack, you use you full bab. In a round where you're TWF or Power attacking, the AoO's have the same penalty as your regular attacks.
If your character is +6 to hit normally, +4/+4 with light weapon and TWF feat, and take an attack of opportunity in a round where they've taken a full attack action, the AoO is at +4 , not +6.
Since a flurry works as if the monk possessed the TWF feats, the flurry works the same.
"you make your attack of opportunity at your normal attack bonus, even if you've already attacked in the round" refers to not having to take attacks of opportunity with an iterative attack's bonus.
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But if he moves into combat and does a standard action to attack, it seems weird that this has less of a chance to hit than his opening attack(s) of his full round Flurry of Blows action.
RAW that is how it plays out for a monk. When they Flurry they're able to get into a better rhythm of attacks and strike more effectively.
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In a round where you're TWF or Power attacking, the AoO's have the same penalty as your regular attacks.
Power Attack: "You must choose to use this feat before making an attack roll, and its effects last until your next turn."
Two-Weapon Fighting: "If you wield a second weapon in your off hand, you can get one extra attack per round with that weapon. You suffer a –6 penalty with your regular attack or attacks with your primary hand and a –10 penalty to the attack with your off hand when you fight this way."
Fighting that way means wielding a second weapon in your off-hand to get an extra attack. This can only happen as part of a full-attack. An attack of opportunity is not a full attack.
You cannot Two-Weapon Fight as an attack of opportunity. This means during an attack of opportunity, you do not suffer those penalties, because you are not fighting that way.
Since a flurry works as if the monk possessed the TWF feats, the flurry works the same.
You cannot flurry as an attack of opportunity. As such, the bonuses, penalties, and other rules of flurry do not apply.
You cannot Two-Weapon Fight as an attack of opportunity. As such, the bonuses, penalties, and other rules of TWFing do not apply.
The bonuses (and penalties) of Power Attack, Combat Expertise, and Deadly Aim last until your next turn because they explicitly state they do.
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"when you fight this way"
in a round that you twf, you're fighting this way. wielding two weapons.
when someone runs past you, and you've got both weapons out and have just been fighting that way, you take the same penalty.
you're not suddenly "not two weapon fighting" from the moment your turn ends to the moment your next turn starts.
edit:
from the FAQ to the core books
http://paizo.com/paizo/faq/v5748nruor1fm#v5748eaic9onf
In other words, once you decide you're using two-weapon fighting to get that extra attack on your turn (which you have to decide before you take any attacks on your turn), that decision locks you in to the format of "my primary weapon gets my main attack and my iterative attack, and my off hand weapon only gets the extra attack, and I apply two-weapon fighting penalties."
When I play, I understand that to mean for the next round, you're considered Two Weapon Fighting, and take those penalties. Similar to how with a Meteor hammer you choose as a free action which stance you are in and that effect stays in play until you change it at the start of another action as a free action. You don't read it that way, so we disagree. FAQ it if you'd like.
you're not suddenly "not two weapon fighting" from the moment your turn ends to the moment your next turn starts.
You're not "still two weapon fighting" outside the action used for two-weapon fighting (full attack).
Just like you're not still casting after you've cast the spell, or still falling after you've fallen, or still doing anything once you've stopped doing that thing.
The orc provokes. Are you currently making a flurry of blows? No? Then you don't take Flurry penalties/bonuses/etc.
That answer can never be yes, because even if the orc provokes in the middle of your flurry attack routine, the AoO interrupts it and is it's own action, which is not a full round action, which means it can't be a flurry.
When I play, I understand that to mean for the next round, you're considered Two Weapon Fighting, and take those penalties.
Why do you think it applies for one round instead of one minute or one hour?
Why the whole round and not just during your turn?
Why not just the action in which you're actually fighting with two weapons?
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because when you're carrying two weapons, and threatening/ fighting with them, you take a penalty on all your attacks. you don't suddenly put a weapon away or drop a weapon when its time to make an attack of opportunity.
round 1: you twf
round 2: you twf
round 3: you twf
the intent is you're two weapon fighting.
you're two weapon fighting. and taking penalties in doing so.
Your intent is to fight with two weapons, so you take a penalty.
You took a full round action and made an attack with more than one weapon, you had a penalty on all of those attacks b/c its hard to fight with two weapons. until your next action you're "two weapon fighting".
why not for an hour? because it depends on what you were doing last round. thats all i'm saying.
as a plus, when taking an attack of opportunity with two weapons out: you can choose which to attack with if one would be more beneficial ( like bonuses on a trip attack ).
Maybe they didn't think it needed explaining like the power attack/deadly aim/fighting defensively/combat expertise write ups needed.
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because when you're carrying two weapons, and threatening/ fighting with them, you take a penalty on all your attacks.
This is incorrect.
You can carry two weapons all day without penalty.
You can fight with both of them without penalty. You can alternate, and if you have multiple attacks, you can even attack with both of them during a full attack without TWF penalties.
The only time you have TWF penalties is when you are using the TWF style to gain an extra attack. This can only be done as part of a full attack.
why not for an hour? because it depends on what you were doing last round.
No, the reason it's not for an hour is because the rules don't say so. Just like it's not for one minute, or one round.
The only time you take the penalties is when fighting with two weapons to get an extra attack.
as a plus, when taking an attack of opportunity with two weapons out: you can choose which to attack with if one would be more beneficial ( like bonuses on a trip attack ).
You can do this even if you didn't make any attacks last round. It has nothing to do with TWF.
Maybe they didn't think it needed explaining like the power attack/deadly aim/fighting defensively/combat expertise write ups needed.
The other option is that it is intended to work as written.
Gricks knowledge of what the rules say is very good. I would question his inferences though, but that's OK - he adds dimensions I never thought of!
AoO have always worked the way Gricks says they does in my games.
Power Attack, Combat Expertise and Defending weapons work in a different way because the rules say they does.