Is it worth it?
I'm currently building a Monk and I'd like to know if it's worth going for the Two-Weapon chain if I'm fighting with a Quarterstaff.
The reason I ask is that the TWF Feat implies a -4/-4 on all Attack Rolls and the Monk has a BaB of +0 at Lv1! So is it even worth it, or should I wait until later levels?
Am I missing something obvious here? Is there something, like a Feat or a Trait that I'm not thinking of that could help me do this better?
The quarterstaff is a Monk weapon, which means a Monk may use Flurry of Blows with it, which means using TWF is completely unnecessary and counterproductive. Flurry is not only automatic TWF, but you can make all attacks with one 'end' of the staff and get full two-handed Power Attack bonus (and only enchant one end of the staff, as well).
A double weapon is never -4/-4 from TWF, because the second part of a double weapon is considered a light weapon when using TWF. But again, flurry of blows makes the whole question moot.
A. Quarterstaves are monk weapons, which means you can use it with flurry of blows. Monk weapons do not bring special penalties into flurry, no matter whether they are light, 1 handed, or 2 handed
B. Flurry of blows is basically TWF already. You cannot TWF and Flurry at the same time.
C. Quarterstaves are double weapons. This special ability means they can count as a 1 handed/light combo, or as a 2 handed weapon. However you like it. So you can wield it as the combo for TWF when you full attack, and you can wield it as a big 2 handed weapon when you do standard action attacks. Rather useful for rangers and slayers, who can do str TWF.
D. The fact that they are double weapons does not matter in this case. They are monk weapons. Monks can use any monk weapon for any attack in their flurry. You can wield just one end of the quarterstaff for all your attacks
With core monk, all of the attacks do x1 str damage no matter what, but if they are being 2 handed, then they get x1.5 power attack. Unchained monks get an even better deal, since they get x1.5 for both on all of the attacks. So there is no reason for a monk with flurry to ever wield a quarterstaff as anything other than as a 2 handed weapon.
So yes, there is a reason to use a quarterstaff over just punching (more power attack, easier to enhance)...although if I was going weapon wielding I would use the temple sword proficiency instead (can be made of metal, has 19-20/x2, has better damage dice). But eh, you might get someone to cast that druid spell that makes your quarterstaff hit like a greatsword.
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Once you get into higher levels in monk, quarterstaves become pretty useless. They are much weaker than your unarmed strikes, and are also made of wood, which means you can't make them out of special materials like mithral or adamantine to bypass damage reduction, which your own unarmed strikes can do at higher levels. I like my monks to just use their bare fists. Maybe a siang on you made of adamantine or something in case a monster has DR.
Once you get into higher levels in monk, quarterstaves become pretty useless. They are much weaker than your unarmed strikes, and are also made of wood, which means you can't make them out of special materials like mithral or adamantine to bypass damage reduction, which your own unarmed strikes can do at higher levels. I like my monks to just use their bare fists. Maybe a siang on you made of adamantine or something in case a monster has DR.
Well, if we are talking about high levels of monk, then it could just get through that with enhancement bonus since you can just cheaply enhance one end to +4 without anywhere as much trouble as an amulet of mighty fists.
Not to say quarterstaves aren't generally terrible compared to other weapons, but it is just getting by through being '2handed monk weapon'.
you could also take Ascetic Style with your Quarterstaff so that you can apply all your Monk Unarmed Strike Goodness to your Staff