Monk Bonus Feats.


Rules Questions


1 person marked this as FAQ candidate.

I have been looking, and I haven't found anything in any new printings, but does anyone know of any errata for Monk bonus feats.

Since the Core Rulebook only lists 19 Feats for Monk Bonus Feats, and the Core Rulebook only has just over 100 Combat Feats.

With printing of all the new books and such, the combat feats have increased to over 400 in total, Fighters automatically have access to all of these bonus feats since they are marked as combat feats. But there has been no new list of "Monk Feats" from what I can find. You would think with increasing the list of Combat feats by over 4 times the original amount, that Monks would have access to 4 times as many bonus feats, so 60-80 choices, rather than 19, but have found no such list, has anyone else?


There isn't one. The monk bonus feats are not a comprehensive list of all feats that a monk might find useful - note that Scorpion Style, which is in the CRB, is not on the list.


It is worth noting that there are feats out there which have a special note at the end of their description that states the level at which a monk can take that feat as a bonus feat.

Example: Binding Throw, 14th level. (ultimate combat)


There are special exceptions as thenobledrake notes, but for the most part, sadly, access to additional bonus feats has been done by archetypes instead of classification. So anyone playing a standard monk loses out.


Majuba wrote:
There are special exceptions as thenobledrake notes, but for the most part, sadly, access to additional bonus feats has been done by archetypes instead of classification. So anyone playing a standard monk loses out.

Anyone playing any monk loses out, standard or not. The archetypes with better bonus feat lists are all ranch and no vegetable tray because they trade out flurry and with it the ability to actually maybe hit things.


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Atarlost wrote:
Majuba wrote:
There are special exceptions as thenobledrake notes, but for the most part, sadly, access to additional bonus feats has been done by archetypes instead of classification. So anyone playing a standard monk loses out.
Anyone playing any monk loses out, standard or not. The archetypes with better bonus feat lists are all ranch and no vegetable tray because they trade out flurry and with it the ability to actually maybe hit things.

May I Introduce The Talented Monk

It solves both this AND the bonus feat issue. Trade out only the abilities you want to for the things you want from more then one monk archetype, and see a vastly expanded bonus feat list.


Atarlost wrote:
Majuba wrote:
There are special exceptions as thenobledrake notes, but for the most part, sadly, access to additional bonus feats has been done by archetypes instead of classification. So anyone playing a standard monk loses out.
Anyone playing any monk loses out, standard or not. The archetypes with better bonus feat lists are all ranch and no vegetable tray because they trade out flurry and with it the ability to actually maybe hit things.

Man, until level 17, that's all of a +2 bonus to hit, but you make it sound like a +10. Monks already get higher base damage on their unarmed strikes, so you can invest in a higher + on your AoMF rather than going for damage enhancements like Flaming.


Bizbag wrote:
Atarlost wrote:
Majuba wrote:
There are special exceptions as thenobledrake notes, but for the most part, sadly, access to additional bonus feats has been done by archetypes instead of classification. So anyone playing a standard monk loses out.
Anyone playing any monk loses out, standard or not. The archetypes with better bonus feat lists are all ranch and no vegetable tray because they trade out flurry and with it the ability to actually maybe hit things.
Man, until level 17, that's all of a +2 bonus to hit, but you make it sound like a +10. Monks already get higher base damage on their unarmed strikes, so you can invest in a higher + on your AoMF rather than going for damage enhancements like Flaming.

Actually statistically +x will yeild a higher average damage then the +1d6 energy enhancements on a weapon. So the +x is already the better option for anyone enhancing a weapon, the scaling damage of unarmed strikes doesnt really dictate what kind of enhancement a monk should take.


Either the APG or Ultimate Combat specifically listed three new feats as bonus feats monks can take. They are Ki Diversity (any level), Ki Throw (level 10), and Improved Ki Throw (level 14). No other additions or errata, as far as I know. Something to remember is that monks don't have to meet ANY of the prereqs for those feats listed. Everything introduced at levels 6 and 10 are also at least nice to have, if not downright great. So, they're not necessarily missing out on THAT much with this class feature.


I have to ask, what is this obsession with the AoMF?

Take a good look at brass knuckles. You still get your increased unarmed strike damage and flurry, but it is a regular weapon so its way cheaper.

Brass knuckles: "These close combat weapons are designed to fit comfortably around the knuckles, narrowing the contact area and therefore magnifying the amount of force delivered by a punch. They allow you to deal lethal damage with unarmed attacks. You may hold, but not wield, a weapon or other object in a hand wearing brass knuckles. You may cast a spell with a somatic component while wearing brass knuckles if you make a concentration check (DC 10 + the level of the spell you're casting). Monks are proficient with brass knuckles and can use their monk unarmed damage when fighting with them.


Kolokotroni wrote:
Bizbag wrote:
Atarlost wrote:
Majuba wrote:
There are special exceptions as thenobledrake notes, but for the most part, sadly, access to additional bonus feats has been done by archetypes instead of classification. So anyone playing a standard monk loses out.
Anyone playing any monk loses out, standard or not. The archetypes with better bonus feat lists are all ranch and no vegetable tray because they trade out flurry and with it the ability to actually maybe hit things.
Man, until level 17, that's all of a +2 bonus to hit, but you make it sound like a +10. Monks already get higher base damage on their unarmed strikes, so you can invest in a higher + on your AoMF rather than going for damage enhancements like Flaming.
Actually statistically +x will yeild a higher average damage then the +1d6 energy enhancements on a weapon. So the +x is already the better option for anyone enhancing a weapon, the scaling damage of unarmed strikes doesnt really dictate what kind of enhancement a monk should take.

Although the fact that the +x on fists costs 2x more than the +x on a weapon and caps out at +5 instead of +10 like any other single weapon in the game or a cumulative +20 as it would if you were using 2 weapons to fight is really confusing.


Lord_Malkov wrote:

I have to ask, what is this obsession with the AoMF?

Take a good look at brass knuckles. You still get your increased unarmed strike damage and flurry, but it is a regular weapon so its way cheaper.

Brass knuckles: "These close combat weapons are designed to fit comfortably around the knuckles, narrowing the contact area and therefore magnifying the amount of force delivered by a punch. They allow you to deal lethal damage with unarmed attacks. You may hold, but not wield, a weapon or other object in a hand wearing brass knuckles. You may cast a spell with a somatic component while wearing brass knuckles if you make a concentration check (DC 10 + the level of the spell you're casting). Monks are proficient with brass knuckles and can use their monk unarmed damage when fighting with them.

Check the errata, they removed that feature from brass knuckles. Monks dont get unarmed damage with them.


I think the OP's question has been sufficiently answered. Unless anyone can find any additional feats that allow themselves to be taken as monk bonus feats.


Lord_Malkov wrote:

I have to ask, what is this obsession with the AoMF?

Take a good look at brass knuckles. You still get your increased unarmed strike damage and flurry, but it is a regular weapon so its way cheaper.

Paizo decided to rule differently. So, you can no longer wear enhanced brass knuckles and also get increased unarmed damage.


Are wrote:
Lord_Malkov wrote:

I have to ask, what is this obsession with the AoMF?

Take a good look at brass knuckles. You still get your increased unarmed strike damage and flurry, but it is a regular weapon so its way cheaper.

Paizo decided to rule differently. So, you can no longer wear enhanced brass knuckles and also get increased unarmed damage.

I believe I can say with some surety that that was a really stupid thing to do when their version of a magic weapon for monks is like one quarter as good as just having a magic weapon if not worse than that.


Kolokotroni wrote:
Lord_Malkov wrote:

I have to ask, what is this obsession with the AoMF?

Take a good look at brass knuckles. You still get your increased unarmed strike damage and flurry, but it is a regular weapon so its way cheaper.

Brass knuckles: "These close combat weapons are designed to fit comfortably around the knuckles, narrowing the contact area and therefore magnifying the amount of force delivered by a punch. They allow you to deal lethal damage with unarmed attacks. You may hold, but not wield, a weapon or other object in a hand wearing brass knuckles. You may cast a spell with a somatic component while wearing brass knuckles if you make a concentration check (DC 10 + the level of the spell you're casting). Monks are proficient with brass knuckles and can use their monk unarmed damage when fighting with them.

Check the errata, they removed that feature from brass knuckles. Monks dont get unarmed damage with them.

Really? Lordy do they hate monks or what?

Dark Archive

Lord_Malkov wrote:


Really? Lordy do they hate monks or what?

YES


Lord_Malkov wrote:
Kolokotroni wrote:
Lord_Malkov wrote:

I have to ask, what is this obsession with the AoMF?

Take a good look at brass knuckles. You still get your increased unarmed strike damage and flurry, but it is a regular weapon so its way cheaper.

Brass knuckles: "These close combat weapons are designed to fit comfortably around the knuckles, narrowing the contact area and therefore magnifying the amount of force delivered by a punch. They allow you to deal lethal damage with unarmed attacks. You may hold, but not wield, a weapon or other object in a hand wearing brass knuckles. You may cast a spell with a somatic component while wearing brass knuckles if you make a concentration check (DC 10 + the level of the spell you're casting). Monks are proficient with brass knuckles and can use their monk unarmed damage when fighting with them.

Check the errata, they removed that feature from brass knuckles. Monks dont get unarmed damage with them.
Really? Lordy do they hate monks or what?

Sometimes I wonder. Luckily Owen Stephens apparently likes them :P, seriously check out the Talented monk, it solves like 90% of the monk's issues simply by making all of its options modular including things like making scaling damage an option for any combat style, and the ability to get full bab without requiring flurry of blows.


Kolokotroni wrote:
Lord_Malkov wrote:
Kolokotroni wrote:
Lord_Malkov wrote:

I have to ask, what is this obsession with the AoMF?

Take a good look at brass knuckles. You still get your increased unarmed strike damage and flurry, but it is a regular weapon so its way cheaper.

Brass knuckles: "These close combat weapons are designed to fit comfortably around the knuckles, narrowing the contact area and therefore magnifying the amount of force delivered by a punch. They allow you to deal lethal damage with unarmed attacks. You may hold, but not wield, a weapon or other object in a hand wearing brass knuckles. You may cast a spell with a somatic component while wearing brass knuckles if you make a concentration check (DC 10 + the level of the spell you're casting). Monks are proficient with brass knuckles and can use their monk unarmed damage when fighting with them.

Check the errata, they removed that feature from brass knuckles. Monks dont get unarmed damage with them.
Really? Lordy do they hate monks or what?
Sometimes I wonder. Luckily Owen Stephens apparently likes them :P, seriously check out the Talented monk, it solves like 90% of the monk's issues simply by making all of its options modular including things like making scaling damage an option for any combat style, and the ability to get full bab without requiring flurry of blows.

Yes, yes. I've already bought the pdf and it's companion pdf. I even went for a cigarette after building a talented monk. So now can we all just use Talented Monk and stop it with the monk threads?


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Sure, there is a lot of helpful 3pp material, but it is often difficult to get this to be accepted for actual game use.

And frankly I understand why. The Agile and Guided weapon enchantments are unequivocallybroken. They are absurdly powerful for a minimal cost. Agile seems to be one of the go-to answers to making a good monk but I would never allow it.


Lord_Malkov wrote:

Sure, there is a lot of helpful 3pp material, but it is often difficult to get this to be accepted for actual game use.

And frankly I understand why. The Agile and Guided weapon enchantments are unequivocallybroken. They are absurdly powerful for a minimal cost. Agile seems to be one of the go-to answers to making a good monk but I would never allow it.

Agile isnt 3rd party. Its in a paizo product...


Neither Agile nor Guided are 3PP, though ;)

[Edit: Agile is from "Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Pathfinder Society Field Guide", while Guided is from "Pathfinder Adventure Path #10: A History of Ashes". The latter was written for 3.5, however.]


They aren't core either :)

But yes, clearly Paizo hates the monk. Clearly.


Either way 3pp or from an AP , anything outside of the core books is GM discretion at best

The devs have spoken about this material, saying efdectively that they don't worry about balance for these PrCs or feats or items because they are not part of the base ruleset and will always be optional. This is also why there is never any FAQ material or specific feedback on it.

Furys fall has been debated for a long time and the devs will stay silent because it isn't core material.


I would be quite surprised if a developer has actually said that they "don't worry about balance" for rules options outside the core game. They may not produce FAQs or errata for those products, but that's not the same thing as not worrying about balance.


Oh, for sure Are.

But they have said that the non-Core lines are sometimes used for "Experimental" rules, and neither of those two weapon properties have made it over to the Core line, despite other things in PFS FG being moved over (in Agile's case).

Guided was never even made into a Pathfinder ability. It was for 3.5.


I don't know if this counts but, the players companion Faiths & Philosophies added 9 mediation style feats that the monk can use his bonus feats on.

Grand Lodge Archives of Nethys

Jinjifra wrote:
I don't know if this counts but, the players companion Faiths & Philosophies added 9 mediation style feats that the monk can use his bonus feats on.

Do you have a link/source on these? I cannot find them anywhere.


Majuba wrote:
I think the OP's question has been sufficiently answered. Unless anyone can find any additional feats that allow themselves to be taken as monk bonus feats.

There was a thread recently arguing that a couple of specific Kitsune feats have extra language saying "Special: You can take this any time you could take a feat", which makes no sense at all unless you assume that the intent is to specify that they can be substituted for class bonus feats (such as wizards, fighters, and monks get). In which case I guess those exist.


Partizanski wrote:
Jinjifra wrote:
I don't know if this counts but, the players companion Faiths & Philosophies added 9 mediation style feats that the monk can use his bonus feats on.
Do you have a link/source on these? I cannot find them anywhere.

Archives of Nethys. (d20pfsrd hasn't gotten around to this supplement yet.)


seebs wrote:
Majuba wrote:
I think the OP's question has been sufficiently answered. Unless anyone can find any additional feats that allow themselves to be taken as monk bonus feats.
There was a thread recently arguing that a couple of specific Kitsune feats have extra language saying "Special: You can take this any time you could take a feat", which makes no sense at all unless you assume that the intent is to specify that they can be substituted for class bonus feats (such as wizards, fighters, and monks get). In which case I guess those exist.

See my response here. Short version: None of those feats actually have that "Special" line.


Partizanski wrote:
Jinjifra wrote:
I don't know if this counts but, the players companion Faiths & Philosophies added 9 mediation style feats that the monk can use his bonus feats on.
Do you have a link/source on these? I cannot find them anywhere.

Here is the source Faiths & Philosophies I don't think the book is up on the SRD yet.

Here is the relevant text about how monks can take the feats :

Monks and Meditation Feats: A monk may take a
meditation feat in place of a bonus feat. She must meet all
of the prerequisites to take the feat as normal.


Cerberus Seven wrote:
Either the APG or Ultimate Combat specifically listed three new feats as bonus feats monks can take. They are Ki Diversity (any level), Ki Throw (level 10), and Improved Ki Throw (level 14). No other additions or errata, as far as I know. Something to remember is that monks don't have to meet ANY of the prereqs for those feats listed. Everything introduced at levels 6 and 10 are also at least nice to have, if not downright great. So, they're not necessarily missing out on THAT much with this class feature.

It would have been nice if the monk was able to take style feats in place of bonus feats, and it would mean the monk actually gained more from Styles than any other class, a situation they do not currently enjoy. No, scratch that: the dip-friendly Master of Many Styles means that other classes can gain MORE from Styles than the monk can, except the MoMS which is actually a sucky archetype if not used to just dip a few levels for the styles.

gnomersy wrote:
I believe I can say with some surety that that was a really stupid thing to do when their version of a magic weapon for monks is like one quarter as good as just having a magic weapon if not worse than that.

The logic goes something like this:

The Amulet of Mighty Fists is a monk-intended item, therefore it's the go-to item for monks to use. Therefore no other item should supplant it and provide better for the monk than this.

The AOMF is also very powerful when used by druids, animal companions, and monsters. Therefore we shall not raise the cap on it to match a normal magic weapon.

Result: monks are nerfed for their main attack-form, in a combat class that can only do melee unless you take a specific archetype.

My fix is to give the monk a magic fang-style enhancement to hit and damage scaling from 4th to 16th level, so the AoMF can be used for properties only.


Cerberus Seven wrote:
Either the APG or Ultimate Combat specifically listed three new feats as bonus feats monks can take. They are Ki Diversity (any level), Ki Throw (level 10), and Improved Ki Throw (level 14). No other additions or errata, as far as I know. Something to remember is that monks don't have to meet ANY of the prereqs for those feats listed. Everything introduced at levels 6 and 10 are also at least nice to have, if not downright great. So, they're not necessarily missing out on THAT much with this class feature.

Also, Binding Throw (Ultimate Combat) at 14th.


Hamatulatsu as a monk bonus feat (level 6) from the inner sea world guide


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Aside from the the people complaining of Monks in general, there are several feats you can take as bonus feats for monks, just no list has been compiled, but thus far from this forum, we've discovered:

Binding Throw (14th)
Ki Diversity (any)
Ki Throw (10th)
Improved Kit Throw (14th)
Hamatulatsu (6th)
Bend With the Wind (Meditation)
Body Control (Meditation)
Body Mastery (Meditation)
Combat Meditation (Meditation)
Meditation Master (Meditation)
Meditative Concentration (Meditation)
Perfect Awareness (Meditation)
Perfect Center (Meditation)
Slow Time (Meditation)

That does give Monks 14 more feats to chose from for bonus feats, if anyone else finds others that I've missed, please feel free to post them, hopefully we can make a short list for an easy reference.

Thanks everyone so far for your input on discovering these feats.


Well nine of those feats are not yet in the SRD, but it's nice to know they could be coming soon.


As a GM, I find that it is totally reasonable to institute the following:

Bonus Feat: At 1st level, 2nd level, and every 4 levels thereafter, a monk may select a bonus feat. These feats must be taken from the following list:
Catch Off-Guard, Combat Reflexes, Deflect Arrows, Dodge, Improved Grapple, Scorpion Style, and Throw Anything.
At 6th level, the following feats are added to the list:
Gorgon's Fist, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Disarm, Improved Feint, Improved Trip, and Mobility.
At 10th level, the following feats are added to the list:
Improved Critical, Medusa's Wrath, Snatch Arrows, and Spring Attack.
A monk need not have any of the prerequisites normally required for these feats to select them.
A Monk can also take any select any feat that lists Improved Unarmed Strike as a prerequisite as a bonus feat, but they must meet all prerequisites for such a feat in order to take it.


Do martial artist monks get to add fighter feats to this list? as it is any ki based feats are useless for that archetype. but they are allowed to take fighter only feats. is it reasonable to say that those fighter only feats get added to the list.


No, they don't.


Have there been anymore new Monk bonus feats since the last post here?


Lord_Malkov wrote:

I have to ask, what is this obsession with the AoMF?

Take a good look at brass knuckles. You still get your increased unarmed strike damage and flurry, but it is a regular weapon so its way cheaper.

Brass knuckles: "These close combat weapons are designed to fit comfortably around the knuckles, narrowing the contact area and therefore magnifying the amount of force delivered by a punch. They allow you to deal lethal damage with unarmed attacks. You may hold, but not wield, a weapon or other object in a hand wearing brass knuckles. You may cast a spell with a somatic component while wearing brass knuckles if you make a concentration check (DC 10 + the level of the spell you're casting). Monks are proficient with brass knuckles and can use their monk unarmed damage when fighting with them.

Because, due to various trials and tribulations in the rules forum and FAQs, brassknuckles do not gain the benefit of unarmed only feats. For example, they can't be used for pummeling style.

Admittedly, pummeling style makes AoMF kind of redundant since it tears through DR, and you could honestly just go with a nice greater magic fang or weapon spell for most purposes.

Overall- they like monks, but they have problems with where they want to set their limits. Like a kid dipping his toe into the pool water for 10 minutes straight to see if it is alright.

Anyway, I heard someone say that the archetypes that get good bonus feats don't have flurry. But I have an observation- the sohei arhcetype uses the term 'may' when it goes on about mounted feats, and it does not appear to explicitly say that this option trades out the normal bonus feat options. So does that mean that mean you can pick the normal options? If so, then it is a great unarmed archetype, since the weapon training and armor also lets you grab gloves of dueling and brawling armor for two seperate +2's to unarmed attack and damage (a total of +7 that normal monks never see).

With pummeling style there to ensure that you almost never have to do a standard action act....well, sohei seems to edge out on brawler for pure DPS from what I can see.

Oh, and a lovely feat that monks can grab via bonus feats that works fantastically with pummeling style- Horn of the Criosphinx . x2 strength bonus is a nice little boost, no?

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