This has both a Rules question and a Homebrew component (I didn't really want to make two topics).
1) Something that has come up in a current game that I'm not quite sure about has to do with the UMonk's bonus feats. Specifically: Can a player (2nd level UMonk) use the bonus feat to gain Mobility, since she meets all the prerequisites (and Mobility is a feat on the monk's bonus feat list), or does she absolutely have to wait until she becomes a 6th level monk to gain Mobility (using the monk's bonus feats)?
My thinking was to say yes because she both meets the prerequisites and it's on the Monk bonus feat list.
This brings me to the 2nd part.
2) Someone on Reddit make a google doc of all the monk bonus feats (and as far as I'm aware it is still correct after 3 years): Here. This really seems like quite a tiny list of possible feats in addition to quite a few of them only being available quite a few levels later than they should be able to get them. Spring Attack comes to mind as an example.
I don't want to open it up to 'All Combat Feats', especially since the monk's bonus feats allow them to skip prerequisites, so what would be some reasonable additions to the list? Would offering a second list the monk could use for their bonus feats be reasonable, if they had to meet the prerequisites of this second list, and if so, the question still applies, 'what feats would be reasonable'?
Thanks.
The rules are very specific as when the feats are added to the list. Mobility is not added to the list until 6th level so cannot be taken before that.
Personally I would leave the list as it is. Some of the feats on the list are there because a monk may have trouble qualifying for, but that should have. Monks being a MAD class usually doesn’t buy up their INT so don’t qualify for combat expertise which means they can’t get improved trip. This is something that makes sense for a monk to be able to do, so it is a bonus feat. The other feats are usually things that are very common for monks to take. Improve grapple is a good example of this.
Dodge, Mobility, and Spring attack, all three of which I've never seen a monk not have, are all able to be picked up by a UMonk by 5th level. Yet, Mobility is 6th and Spring Attack 10th. Deflect Arrows and Snatch Arrows could easily be picked up by 3rd level (1st level human), and yet again, Snatch Arrows is locked off until 10th level.
Dirty Fighting made it quite simple to bypass the need for the Int 13 and Combat Expertise, or the need for the Improved (insert maneuver here) if flanking, while giving a neat bonus if you are flanking. That said, having the Improved (insert maneuver here) feats at monk level 6 feels, mostly, okay since it allows the monk to use the first levels to focus on building a base of sorts for their character.
Perhaps I've never played with someone who optimized a character for it, but maneuvers have always seemed to me like more of a trap option since CMD scales much faster than CMB (which monks do not gain a bonus to) so they quickly become obsolete except on trash or wizards (and the like, if you can reach them).
Something I've considered is allowing them to use their bonus feats to select Style feats, but they must meet the prerequisites for them.
Dodge, Mobility, and Spring attack, all three of which I've never seen a monk not have(...)
Wait, what? You've never seen a Monk without Spring Attack? Or was the double negative unintended?
Dodge, Mobility, and Spring attack, all three of which I've never seen a monk not have(...)Wait, what? You've never seen a Monk without Spring Attack? Or was the double negative unintended?
It's not a double negative.
Never seen a monk with out dodge or mobility either apparently... I have only ever once taken dodge on a monk rest of the time I have had better feats to take not to mention spring attack is kind of really bad.
Whether you think it's bad or not has nothing to do with this thread.
If you think their selection of bonus feats is good, that's great, if you have nothing to add then there's no reason to post here.
I made this with the question being, 'What are some reasonable feats to add to the Monk Bonus Feat list?' Not, 'Do you think it's reasonable to add more feats to the Monk Bonus Feat list?' It's a subtle difference, I know.
It's not a double negative.
I'm sorry, are you literally trying to tell me that "never (...) not have" wasn't a double negative?