Bandededed
2008-03-31, 06:52 PM
I really like monks, as an idea and as a class. That being said, they do seem to be underpowered when paired with other core melee classes (do not even start with wizards). Thus, I conceived a few tweaks, some minor and some major, that I felt would close the gap. What do you think?
Tweaks:
Full BAB
AC bonus: Can add wis to AC when wearing light armor, but still not when carrying a shield or encumbered. The max dex armor quality applies to this bonus too. EX: With a wis mod of +5 (and +5 dex), Mina the monk would have an AC of 20 unarmored, an AC of 22 in leather armor (+2 armor, +6 max dex), and an AC of 22 in a chain shirt (+4 armor, +4 max dex)
Flurry of Blows: Standard action.
Abundant step: 3 + Wis mod times per day, minimum 3. As dimension door, but can act afterwards (it is a standard action to use this ability).
Bonus feats: The following feats are addition options to the bonus feats that a monk could normally choose.
Level one: blind-fight, run
Level two: stealthy + alertness, combat expertise
Level six: Spring attack, Armor proficiency (light)
Gain:
Uncanny dodge: lvl 2
Imp Uncanny dodge: lvl 9
Drop:
Slow Fall (all)
Reasons for Tweaks
As I see it, monk should be a melee primary class. As such, I gave it full BAB.
I've always felt a monk should be able to use light armor, and, while I don't really like to book too much, ToB justified me with the AC bonus of a Swordsage. Note that while monks can use light armor, they are not initially proficient with it, and would take the armor check penalty on attack rolls unless they took the appropriate feat.
Flurry of Blows: When your primary lead over other classes is mobility, why would one of your main abilities not reflect this? Standard action works much better for this.
Abundant step: Well, no one should have a class ability that is a spell, otherwise any caster can overshadow you quite easily in that area. Thus, more uses per day (which still won't be that many, usually) and a little boost over the spell version.
Uncanny dodge and Improved UD: Why wouldn't a monk have these? They fight unarmored as per core, and if your monk doesn't concentrate on finding opponents before they find him, he loses his dex bonus to AC. With Wis as the main stat, I don't know why a monk wouldn't have the senses of a Barbarian, thus, I gave the monk these abilities.
So, horribly unbalancing? Still not enough? Pathetic attempt? Perfect in all forms and aspects? What do you think?
Tweaks:
Full BAB
AC bonus: Can add wis to AC when wearing light armor, but still not when carrying a shield or encumbered. The max dex armor quality applies to this bonus too. EX: With a wis mod of +5 (and +5 dex), Mina the monk would have an AC of 20 unarmored, an AC of 22 in leather armor (+2 armor, +6 max dex), and an AC of 22 in a chain shirt (+4 armor, +4 max dex)
Flurry of Blows: Standard action.
Abundant step: 3 + Wis mod times per day, minimum 3. As dimension door, but can act afterwards (it is a standard action to use this ability).
Bonus feats: The following feats are addition options to the bonus feats that a monk could normally choose.
Level one: blind-fight, run
Level two: stealthy + alertness, combat expertise
Level six: Spring attack, Armor proficiency (light)
Gain:
Uncanny dodge: lvl 2
Imp Uncanny dodge: lvl 9
Drop:
Slow Fall (all)
Reasons for Tweaks
As I see it, monk should be a melee primary class. As such, I gave it full BAB.
I've always felt a monk should be able to use light armor, and, while I don't really like to book too much, ToB justified me with the AC bonus of a Swordsage. Note that while monks can use light armor, they are not initially proficient with it, and would take the armor check penalty on attack rolls unless they took the appropriate feat.
Flurry of Blows: When your primary lead over other classes is mobility, why would one of your main abilities not reflect this? Standard action works much better for this.
Abundant step: Well, no one should have a class ability that is a spell, otherwise any caster can overshadow you quite easily in that area. Thus, more uses per day (which still won't be that many, usually) and a little boost over the spell version.
Uncanny dodge and Improved UD: Why wouldn't a monk have these? They fight unarmored as per core, and if your monk doesn't concentrate on finding opponents before they find him, he loses his dex bonus to AC. With Wis as the main stat, I don't know why a monk wouldn't have the senses of a Barbarian, thus, I gave the monk these abilities.
So, horribly unbalancing? Still not enough? Pathetic attempt? Perfect in all forms and aspects? What do you think?