Monk's Flurry

[shadow_of_doom]

I'm a bit new to this, and I'm curious as to how the monk's flurry of blows works. So I looked over it and I'm wondering if this is how it works at level 1(assuming I have proper equips and such)
I can use flurry to do two attacks at -1/-1 OR
I can use flurry and an additional attack for -3/-3/-2
Then at level 8 it would be
flurry +6/+6/+1/+1
flurry and extra attacks +4/+4/+4/+1/+1/+1

Please let me know if I'm right, since it took me like 15 min to grasp the additional attacks part.

[Torbyne]

At level one you can make a single attack as a standard action with +0 to hit or flurry as a special full round action at -1/-1 to hit.

[Torbyne]

Once you get to level nine you actually have a better hit chance on a flurry than a standard attack by the way. Also a monk can flurry with a single weapon and doesn't have off hand strength penalties. They can't use the two handed strength bonus while doing a flurry though but they do get the better ratio when power attacking with a two hander in a flurry. Monks are interesting like that.

[Kazaan]

Basically, when it says -1/-1 for your lvl 1 flurry, that second -1 attack is your extra attack for using Flurry because a character with less than +6 BAB only has a single iterative attack available (the first -1).

Monks are a bit odd because of how their BAB works (among many other things). They're a mid-bab class meaning they get +3 BAB for every 4 class levels. But, specifically when they use FoB, they count as if they were a full-bab class which gets +4 BAB for every 4 class levels. Two-Weapon Fighting normally imparts a -2/-2 penalty if you both have the TWF feat and wield a light weapon in your off-hand. So, for a normal lvl 1, mid-bab class which starts at +0 BAB and, for the sake of example, a +2 Str modifier their standard single attack would be made at +2 (d20 +0 BAB +2 Str) or they could make a full-attack with both their weapons at +0 (d20 +0 BAB +2 Str -2 TWF Penalty). But for a Monk, their single attack remains the same while their full-attack goes up to +1 (d20 +1 BAB +2 Str -2 TWF). So starting out, your Flurry is less accurate and you'd probably be better making single attacks unless the target is very easy to hit. But later, since your effective flurry BAB is going up at a faster rate than your normal BAB, at lvl 11 you attack at +10 for your single attack (d20 +8 BAB +2 Str) and +11 (d20 +11 BAB +2 Str -2 TWF) for your full-attack which now includes a total of 5 hits at +11/+11/+6/+6/+1.

[Kazumetsa Raijin]

shadow_of_doom wrote:

I'm a bit new to this, and I'm curious as to how the monk's flurry of blows works. So I looked over it and I'm wondering if this is how it works at level 1(assuming I have proper equips and such)

I can use flurry to do two attacks at -1/-1 OR
I can use flurry and an additional attack for -3/-3/-2
Then at level 8 it would be
flurry +6/+6/+1/+1
flurry and extra attacks +4/+4/+4/+1/+1/+1

Please let me know if I'm right, since it took me like 15 min to grasp the additional attacks part.

This is how it works:

At level 1, let's pretend you have +4 Str mod. Your BAB is 0. Your FBAB is -1/-1.

Let's say you have a Masterwork Weapon(+1 attack).

You can swing with one attack as a standard action at +5 total Attack value, or you can swing twice as a full-attack action at +4/+4.

Simple as that! :)

At level 8, let's say you have a +6 Str Mod. Your BAB is +6/+1. Your FBAB is +6/+6/+1/+1. Let's say you have a Magic Weapon +3.

You can swing with one attack as a standard action at +15 attack value, or you can swing as a full-attack action using your BAB at +15/+10, or finally you can swing as a full-attack action using FBAB at +15/+15/+10/+10.

Let me break down why you get 4 attacks with FBAB and only 2 with BAB:
One for existing as a character. One for your Flurry of Blows Level 1. One for reaching a +6 BAB with your Flurry of Blows. One for your Flurry of Blows Level 8. 4 attacks total. A full-attack that you will use often.
For your BAB, you get one for existing as a character. You get one for reaching +6 BAB. 2 attacks total. A full-attack that you will never use.

Easy math to remember for calculating your Standard Attack:
BAB listed on Monk chart+ Str Mod(Unless you're doing something weird like Weapon Finesse or Guided) Weapon Enhancement + Class Abilities = Total Attack Value

Easy math to remember for calculating your Flurry Attack:
FBAB listed on Monk chart + Str Mod + Weapon Enhancement + Class Abilities

Hope that helps! :)

[Brf]

I seem to remember in the D&D-3.5 FAQ Forums they said a Monk could use a combination of Flurry and TWF and get three attacks at -3/-3/-2 as the OP suggested. That was too cheesy for PF.

[Taenia]

Flurry is treated as TWF so you can't combine them.

[Brf]

Taenia wrote:

Flurry is treated as TWF so you can't combine them.

Yes. In PF they do not allow that cheese. The FAQ Forum for D&D 3.5 did allow it though, as I explained.

[Bobson]

Brf wrote:

Taenia wrote:

Flurry is treated as TWF so you can't combine them.

Yes. In PF they do not allow that cheese. The FAQ Forum for D&D 3.5 did allow it though, as I explained.

Actually, in Pathfinder they built the "cheese" right into the class (and disallowed stacking it), so you don't have to spend the feats to get the same benefits.

A 3.5 Monk with the full set of feats would have a sequence at level 20 of +13/+13/+13/+8/+3//+13/+8/+3. A Pathfinder monk has a sequence of +18/+13/+8/+3//+18/+13/+8. It's one less attack overall (effectively losing the Greater Flurry ability), and only two of them are at full BAB (instead of 4), but they also have +5 to all offhand attacks and are replacing two of the +13s with a +18. And the pathfinder monk has 3 more feat slots available for other things.