[3.R] Rizban's Revised Monk

[Rizban]

I don't think the swordsage's maneuver recovery method is a good one. From what I understand, swordsages typically actually recover their maneuvers by using the Adaptive Style feat.

Monks can qualify for that feat under this revision. If I changed their recovery method, I'd want to change their maneuver progression as well.

Instead of the normal AC bonus, I'd recommend an ability called "Ki Armor." It provides an armor bonus to AC equal to 4 + 1/3 your monk level. Being an armor bonus, it doesn't stack with any actual armor worn.

Wisdom to AC I'd then save for a later level. When it is given, I'd have the maximum dexterity bonus of any armor worn apply to the sum of dex and wis. This provides an incentive to eschew armor, without being so heavy-handed as to forbid wearing armor.

That weakens the ability, because armor bonuses don't apply to touch attacks. It also complicates the issue by having two very similar abilities that have different conditions as to when and how they apply. I'm really not a fan of that change.

I don't see any particular reason that Ki Strike couldn't be allowed to apply to monk weapons too. I mean, why do we go to all the trouble of having special monk weapons if we're going to set it up so that they never get used after a certain level?

That's a good point. I think I'll apply that.

And on the subject of allowing monk weapons to be viable at high level, how about a class feature that allows you to use your unarmed damage in place of the weapon's normal damage figure? So a kama wielded by a 20th-level monk would deal 2d10 damage.

Now, of course, we wouldn't want to go so far as to ensure that no monk ever usel actual unarmed strikes. And real weapons have the advantage of being easier to enchant. So unarmed strikes still need some kind of exclusive. I think the Versatile Unarmed Strike ability could remain an unarmed-only thing. The overcoming DR thing too.

There's a magic item in Magic Item Compendium that allows unarmed damage to apply to weapons. I think that's something I'd like to keep in the realm of magic item rather than as class feature. I think there should be special weapons attuned to ki or something rather than just any/every weapon a monk picks up.

Have you considered adding the ability to bypass DR as if silver and cold iron? I feel like we don't want to force monks to switch over to manufactured weapons whenever they encounter specific enemies. And bypassing all the common DR types would help with that.

Giving them the metalline ability had crossed my mind. I decided last minute not to grant it; however, I'm leaning towards adding it back in.

For the Versatile Unarmed Strike ability, I think you could allow switching damage types as a free action, and it wouldn't be a problem. Heck, go ahead and use wording that allows you to change on individual attacks of opportunity too. As long as it's just one damage type at a time. Though I would push the ability back later than 1st level. Maybe grant "Tiger Claw" at 3rd level, then "Spear Hand" at 6th level.

I feel like Still mind is an ability that doesn't need to be there. I mean, "+2 to saves against a specific thing" is the sort of thing I try to avoid when homebrewing. I've also never understood why monks got Wholeness of Body. And with this revision in particular, if you want monks to be able to heal, you could just give them access to the devoted spirit discipline.

I left Still Mind and Wholeness of Body intact and in place, because I was trying to maximize backwards compatibility. Those are used as prerequisites or are substituted out for other features frequently enough that I didn't want to scrap them and then need to rewrite a few dozen other things.

Class is still MAD as hell
I would strongly recommend giving the ability to substitute, for some very specific functions, Wisdom for Strength, Dex OR Constitution. For example, Wisdom could replace Strength's to-hit and damage roll, but leave carrying capacity unaffected. Wisdom could replace various skill use, ranged attack rolls but leave initiative and reflex unaffected. Bumping Constitution could increase HP and time allowed before drowning yet leave Fortitude untouched.

This choice would be made at character creation and cannot be changed.

Yeah, but in the wider context of this revision, I feel like it'll work out okay. I'm also in the process of nerfing down the higher tier classes. My overall balance point for all classes is tier 3 or low tier 2. There's definitely going to be a rebalancing pass through after I get all the classes finished out and posted. For now, I'm going to leave it as it is.

Adding Wisdom to specific rolls as you suggest, to me, seems like something that should come from feats or prestige classes. I may reconsider and add some of that into the base class, but it's something I'm going to want to think about some more as I work through the overall revision.

Fist count as Material means the monk is useless until the defense is useless
Instead, give the monk Punch Through: When centered, a monk's unarmed attacks gains a penetration value equal to the monk's level. Each point of Penetration allows the monk to ignore 1 point of DR from non-adamantine armor, or half as much from other, typed sources. By spending 1 Ki point, for one round, the monk may treat all types of DR as DR from non-adamantine Armor for the purpose of Punch Through.

That's... That's actually a good idea! I'm going to think on that a bit and work something up. So, scrap my previous comments about adding in metalline. I'm going to do something along these lines instead.

Still Mind, Purity of Body, Diamond Body and Timeless Body are far more fluff than useful
I would replace them all with: "Mens sana and corpore sano" (not a typo): Whenever the monk would be affected by a poison, a disease or a status effect such as shaken, fascinated or nauseated, he may spend 20% of his total HP (or 1 Ki), rounded up. If he does, he ignores the poison, disease or effect. This is a third level ability.

As I said above, I mostly kept these features for backwards compatibility with feats, prestige classes, and alternative class features. It's something I'm planning to address on a later pass through on the class as the overall system is further developed.

As far as I know, a few wands / scrolls still make Acrobatics (Dex), Athletics (Str), Insight (Wis), Perception (Wis), Perform (Cha), Persuasion (Cha), Profession (Wis), Stealth (Dex) useless.
Monks need to jump (or be thrown) high enough to land on a dragon, clear pits by running on a wall or stealth better than a wizard using invisibility. Maybe fuel those ability through Ki / monopolize maneuvers known and readied as those do not need to be free, but they need to be possible.

That's just the case with magic. Rather than trying to give Monk the tools to compete in all situations that a tier 1 caster currently dominates on, I'll be toning down magic to reduce its overwhelming strength and flexibility. Monk does get maneuvers that allow for some things, and I'm no against giving them more that they can do. However, I think that at this exact moment, I need to wait until I get a few more classes polished and posted so that I can more accurately hit my intended balance point. Good thought though.

I both love and hate Armor as DR
It makes sense. It makes armor relevant past level 11 even if not maxed out. It makes you recalculate AC and DR of every monster you use only to make you realize it screwed up the maths so much encounters are still completely unbalanced. And assuming it is 100% like Pathfinder's Armor as DR rule, it somehow makes Gargantuan and Colossal creatures more unfair.

I'm not familiar with PF's version of the rule. I'm using 3.5's version, which doesn't have any modifications based on creature size. I do plan to eventually post a new version of every SRD monster for use with this revision so that DMs can use it without needing to convert on the fly.

As a side note, a 3/4 BaB and d8 Hit Dice always was completely retarded. Now that you add the "armor as DR" variant, it either is only fuel for power attack which serves to overcome DR, or somehow "AC" (which isn't armor anymore) is boosted by BaB or some other form of level progression in which case the fighter benefits way too much as comparison.

Unless you want everyone to be completely dependent upon magic items for their defense which is, IMHO, the second worst sin of 3.X. The first being caster supremacy.

First off, I'm expecting AC to evade attacks entirely to be lower and rebalancing with that in mind. Second, I'm limiting the number of effects that grant attack bonuses outside of BAB and Str/Dex.

I'm not using a built in defense bonus progression; however, some of the more martial classes are getting additional defensive benefits.
Monk is intended to be the high AC/low DR class that dodges attacks but doesn't take hits well.
Barbarian is the high DR/low AC class that gets hit more often but takes less damage.
Fighter is the mid DR/mid AC class that sits between the two.

Ranger will slot in between Monk and Fighter.
Paladin will be between Fighter and Barbarian.

Highest AC Lowest DR	<---- ---->	Average AC Average DR	<---- ---->	Lowest AC Highest DR
Monk	Ranger	Fighter	Paladin	Barbarian

At least, that's my design goal. It's probably not quite there yet, but I'm working towards it.

Ki Strike: is not enough by any measuring tool I know of.

As I said above, I'm limiting attack bonuses. This will be one of the very few ways I'm planning to give out direct enhancement bonuses to attack.

4th level characters have access to adamantine gear. Also, your Monk never adequately deals with Fey or Licanthrops.

I've responded to this above. I'm going to be developing a "punch through" type ability as Gorum suggested.

Wholeness of Body: is still next to worthless. You can boost it without hesitation.

Good point.

Why did you nix Slow Fall? In many Monk fixes I've seen it was even upgraded.
I'd make it a (Su) effect that mimics the spell and is always active as long as the monk is awake.

Huh. I had thought that I'd put it in as a unique maneuver similar to how I handled the Water Step and Wall Walker ACFs, but... I apparently didn't post it. I'll get that posted up shortly. Until then, it's a 1st-level maneuver, activated as an immediate action, duration of 1 minute/until discharged, and reduces falling damage distance by 5ft/initiator level.