Many Monk Questions

[Krojun Turtle Gripper]

I have several questions regarding monks that I cannot find an official answer. It is easy enough to come up with a solution for these conundrums for home play but it would be nice to have a unified ruling for Pathfinder Society Organized Play.

First of which, and probably the most common, is: can a monk apply his unarmed strike damage dice to attacks made with certain weapons (such as brass knuckles, cestuses, dan bongs, gauntlets, knuckle axes, and spiked gauntlets)? Furthermore, do these weapons count as an unarmed strike when qualifying for feats that require you to choose one type of weapon (such as Improved Critical, Weapon Focus, or Weapon Specialization)?

The next set of questions has to do with the dan bong in particular. Does the “+2 bonus on [the wielder’s] combat maneuver to grapple” granted by a dan bong also apply to CMD? Can someone wielding a magic don bong apply the enhancement bonus to grapple checks and/or CMD? Does making a grapple check while wielding a dan bong in one hand and with the other hand free impose the normal –4 penalty on the combat maneuver roll for attempting to grapple a foe without two free hands? If no, can someone make a grapple check while wielding a dan bong in each hand and apply the bonuses from both weapons? If a wielder is not proficient with a dan bong, does the wielder suffer the –4 nonproficiency penalty to grapple checks and/or CMD? Although the description of the dan bong does not say to explicitly, does the cord on a dan bong act like a weapon cord by allowing you to recover it as a swift action if it is dropped or disarmed? Does the feat Weapon Finesse allow someone to use their Dexterity modifier instead of their Strength modifier for calculating CMB when making a grapple combat maneuver while wielding a dan bong?

The following question deal with the Pathfinder Society losing the Lantern Lodge. The Lantern Lodge filled an important void in the monk’s weapon proficiencies by allowing members of the Lantern Lodge to learn a monk weapon (or certain other oriental themed weapons) through the trait Weapon Style and the prestige award Familiar Weapons. Will there be another way for monks to gain proficiency with these weapons without spending a feat after the Lantern Lodge is phased out?

[Rynjin]

Krojun Turtle Gripper wrote:

First of which, and probably the most common, is: can a monk apply his unarmed strike damage dice to attacks made with certain weapons (such as brass knuckles, cestuses, dan bongs, gauntlets, knuckle axes, and spiked gauntlets)? Furthermore, do these weapons count as an unarmed strike when qualifying for feats that require you to choose one type of weapon (such as Improved Critical, Weapon Focus, or Weapon Specialization)?

No. There's a dev quote (SKR, to be specific) somewhere saying no to the first but I don't have it on hand ATM. The second is a no because they're all different weapons regardless.

Krojun Turtle Gripper wrote:

The next set of questions has to do with the dan bong in particular. Does the “+2 bonus on [the wielder’s] combat maneuver to grapple” granted by a dan bong also apply to CMD? Can someone wielding a magic don bong apply the enhancement bonus to grapple checks and/or CMD?

Yes. Since you're making the grapple check with the weapon, essentially, anything that applies to said weapon to raise attack rolls works for maneuvers made with it. Including Weapon Focus.

Krojun Turtle Gripper wrote:

Does making a grapple check while wielding a dan bong in one hand and with the other hand free impose the normal –4 penalty on the combat maneuver roll for attempting to grapple a foe without two free hands?

I don't believe it does since it has that special property, but I'm not sure.

Krojun Turtle Gripper wrote:

Although the description of the dan bong does not say to explicitly, does the cord on a dan bong act like a weapon cord by allowing you to recover it as a swift action if it is dropped or disarmed?

Doubtful, not least because as far as I know the Dan Bong has no cord (it doesn't say so in the description, an dnot all variants of the weapon IRL have it either) and even if it did that would be another special property it would likely mention.

Krojun Turtle Gripper wrote:

Does the feat Weapon Finesse allow someone to use their Dexterity modifier instead of their Strength modifier for calculating CMB when making a grapple combat maneuver while wielding a dan bong?

It should, yeah.

Quote:

If I have Weapon Finesse, can I apply my Dex bonus to my combat maneuver checks instead of my Strength bonus??

It depends on what combat maneuver you're attempting. Disarm, sunder, and trip are normally the only kinds of combat maneuvers in which you’re actually using a weapon to perform the maneuver, and therefore the weapon’s bonuses apply to the roll. Therefore, if you're attempting a disarm, sunder, or trip maneuver, you can apply your Dex bonus instead of your Str mod on the combat maneuver check (assuming you're using a finessable weapon, of course). For other combat maneuvers, you use the normal rule for determining CMB (Str instead of Dex).

But as you're using a dan bong to grapple, it affects that too.