Monk Basics is up!

[MrMyth]

You are being much too generous. When you are attacking you want to take down the enemy now, not in 3 rounds. If you are regularly taking 3 rounds to down normal opponents then your party is doing something wrong.

On going damage of the same type doesn't stack either. So if you hit the same target a second time often you won't be getting full value.

Well, yeah. That's why I put all those disclaimers in my post warning of those exact downsides.

1.5 is probably a good baseline as an easy way to eyeball how much you'll get out of it. It really depends a lot on style of play, and how much you'll adjust your tactics to compensate. Do you have a character who is likely to be in a position to put the ongoing damage on non-primary targets, while still helping to focus fire on the primary enemy? That's the way you are likely to get the most of it - and as it happens, something the monk can actually be quite decent at, if they plan their actions accordingly.

On the other hand, if you are expecting to just run up against one foe and focus on them, you are much more likely to lose out on some of the benefit. So if you expect that to be a likely approach, there is no real reason to take the feat in the first place.

 

[WalterKovacs]

In any case, it's easy to grab Rapier proficiency with a number of backgrounds that also grant +1 to initiative, diplomacy, or something else (depending on which one you take).

This is of course in the games where DMs allow all backgrounds. Many do not allow the backgrounds from Scales of War and the original Forgotten Realms book since they are purely better than newer backgrounds. For those that don't get backgrounds (or those backgrounds) they have to take the rapier feat normally, and for those players, it's the same number of feats to grab the unarmed strike instead, and with an additional feat, it can be made to be d10 damage instead. It's feat intensive, but for a thief, it would increase their damage output [for others, it's a +3/d10 offhand weapon through two feats, which can be quite good for someone with offhand attacks that, for whatever reason, doesn't want to or can't get the ranger ability to dual wield bastard swords ... for most other than a barbarian or ranger it would be the same number of feats either way, then you are picking between ki focus expertise (and getting a ki focus, which would be cheaper than 2 melee weapons, and more versatile than a twined bastard sword) and heavy blade expertise (or flail expertise, since there is a +3/d10 superior flail as well).

For the tempest fighter, d10 offhand benefits from their bonus damage to offhand attacks, even before factoring in shocktrooper.

 

[Neonchameleon]

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 don't know about yours, but mine thinks that carrying a long flashy piece of steel is just a little on the obvious side. But everyone has fists, so he can just ignore the weapons check and other protections.

Hmm... I haven't checked the article, but does the Monk multiclass feat with the unarmed strike produce a trained skill? And give access to a ki focus? Because IMO Ki Focus + Skill is worth one feat. And that makes the fist upgrade competative with the rapier upgrade.

 

[Wednesday Boy]

Hmm... I haven't checked the article, but does the Monk multiclass feat with the unarmed strike produce a trained skill? And give access to a ki focus? Because IMO Ki Focus + Skill is worth one feat. And that makes the fist upgrade competative with the rapier upgrade.

Yup, it gives you the Unarmed Combatant feature, training in Athletics or Acrobatics, and proficiency with ki focuses.

Because the ki focus is an implement, I thought it could only be used with implement attacks. But it sounds like you think ki focus proficiency is pretty good. Am I misinterpreting it? Could a non-implement user make any use of a ki focus?

 

[Karmic_vegeance]

Yes, ki focuses are useful to every class, implement or weapon-using. You can use the enhancement bonuses of your ki focus on weapon attacks. From the compendium:

Ki Focuses and Weapon Attacks: If you use a magic ki focus, you can add its enhancement bonus to the attack rolls and the damage rolls of weapon attacks you make using a weapon with which you have proficiency.

 

[Wednesday Boy]

Thanks! I read that and I think what confused me is that ki focuses can be used on weapon attacks but Monk attacks have the implement keyword. It seemed redundant or something.