Monk Basics is up!

[Klaus]

Lots of goodness for monks here: Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game Official Home Page - Article (Monk Basics)

Internalize The Basic Kata is great for Slayers that multiclass into monks, allowing full Dex for basic attacks using the monk unarmed strike. Piercing Palm allows for sneak attacking with the monk unarmed strike, while Slashing Kama Style fives proficiency and benefits with the kama (sickle). There are other good feats, including a new monk multiclass one.

Deflect Arrow is awesome, and so elegant, giving you superior cover against ranged attacks for one round. Water Gives Way seems to be lots of fun, and really flavorful, mimicking the "use the enemy's momentum against it" techniques of many martial arts.

And mechanics aside, there's some good ideas for making your monk unique. Plus, love the half-orc monk in the art!

 

[UngeheuerLich]

finally...

 

[Kzach]

Focuses way too much on what is a terrible mechanic (the Unarmed Combatant) in an attempt to make it not suck when the simpler fix would've been to simply go the Essentials route and make it a Dex-based attack in the first place. Taking a feat to give the class something it should have from the outset isn't a fix, it's a feat-tax.

 

[RangerWickett]

Some of it is nice. I'm just reminded how disappointed I am at 4e multiclassing.

Piercing Palm is lame, because all it does is remove a restriction, not provide any benefit. Why would my rogue/monk punch things instead of using a rapier? I mean, sure, it's niche if you happen to be a rogue/monk anyway, and you want a back-up in case you're disarmed, but I'd much rather have sneak attack work already on unarmed attacks.

The staff feat, though, is nifty.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Ok, I also see the rogue sneak attack feat as a tax. They should probably make it count as a multiclass feat instead and also give acces to a skill...

the res however is quite nice. Allowing flurry to use on an oportunity attack makes the tax less severer...

 

[Wednesday Boy]

The multiclass feat is great for Brawler Fighters. It makes they as accurate as weaponmasters but you won't be able to use weapon enchantments.

 

[Klaus]

Some of it is nice. I'm just reminded how disappointed I am at 4e multiclassing.

Piercing Palm is lame, because all it does is remove a restriction, not provide any benefit. Why would my rogue/monk punch things instead of using a rapier? I mean, sure, it's niche if you happen to be a rogue/monk anyway, and you want a back-up in case you're disarmed, but I'd much rather have sneak attack work already on unarmed attacks.

The staff feat, though, is nifty.

The kama feat is also nice for rogues, since the sickle is a light blade.

The monk unarmed strike is a +3/1d8/off-hand weapon that can become +3/1d10/off-hand, so it is quite potent. I agree that Piercing Palm should have some other minor benefit when you deliver a Sneak Attack with a monk unarmed strike, though.

The quarterstaff feat can be coupled with the staff-as-rogue-weapon option from the Staff Fighter article.

Internalize the Basic Kata does more than grant "Dex for basic attacks", it also allows for flurry of blows with opportunity attacks (it removes the "during your turn" restriction).

 

[JPL]

Glad to see the monk unarmed strike become available to other classes. Goes nice with brawler fighters, as already noted. You can do a real nice arena fighter build with this, too --- a Jackie Chan type who fight unarmed, or with improvised weapons, or with whatever exotic wu shu hoo-hah he can grab.

 

[Zaran]

The only thing I wish they had talked about more was the "when" you can use a flurry. I've been allowing my players to stick their flurry of blows right in the middle of their attack power. like I have seen him hit , flurry (w/slide) and then then teleport the target using the slide to move them an extra space. If you can't use it in the middle like that there are times when you can remove the ability to use Flurry by pushing them away.

 

[flashedarling]

The only thing I wish they had talked about more was the "when" you can use a flurry. I've been allowing my players to stick their flurry of blows right in the middle of their attack power. like I have seen him hit , flurry (w/slide) and then then teleport the target using the slide to move them an extra space. If you can't use it in the middle like that there are times when you can remove the ability to use Flurry by pushing them away.

Short answer is it happens whenever the player chooses it to happen. When resolution of actions is ambivalent you rule in the players favor. The technical answer is it triggers after you confirm the attack roll hit and before you apply the HIT or EFFECT lines. So you and your players have been doing it correctly.