Monkey Grip

[Thorindale]

Is there a way for a Medium-sized fighter to use a greatsword one-handed? I believe Monkey Grip from 3.0 worked this way, but not in 3.5 (correct me if I wrong). Is there an equivalent for it in 3.5?

Thanks.

 

[Sithobi1]

Use a Large Longsword(2d6 damage)?

 

[pawsplay]

The first rule of Monkey Grip is that you don't talk about Monkey Grip.

 

[Edena_of_Neith]

I think of Monkey Grip as a quasi-magical feat of sorts: Call it a Supernatural Ability obtained through a feat.

A 4 foot tall elven woman is a medium sized being.
A medium sized long sword is, what, 3 to 4 feet long, in total length?
Within the regular rules, that elven girl can wield that 4 foot long sword, which is as long as she is. She, obviously, has very strong wrists!
Indeed, she can wield a 6 foot claymore if she holds it in both hands, since a 6 foot claymore (two-handed sword) is also a medium sized weapon.

Now, give her Monkey Grip.

Our 4 foot tall elven girl can now wield, in one hand, a weapon intended for a Large Sized being ... meaning a being that stands 7 to 10 feet high, right?
Thus, our 4 foot tall elven girl can now wield, in one hand, a long sword that is up to 10 feet long.
She could wield a claymore that was 15 feet long (using ratio and proportion: 6 to 4, 15 to 10) using both hands.
Needless to say, weapons of this size are extremely heavy, produce great torque on the wielder, and simply unsheathing them is an interesting exercise all in itself. But these are not problems for our elven girl.

Our elven girl can freely and easily do (wielding a 10 foot long sword in one hand) what no human being in the real world could ever do.
Obviously, then, this is a Supernatural Ability! (but, it is not suppressed by things that suppress Supernatural Abilities.)

I think this is a neat feat, personally. It enhances the fighter, and she needs enhancement against all those spell-casters out there.
And, the look of astonishment on the face of the big, bad ogre when the cute little elven girl draws out two 10 foot long swords and begins wielding them both simultaneously, is priceless.

Edena_of_Neith

 

[RangerWickett]

Behold, the halfling titan.

 

[Edena_of_Neith]

(grins evilly) The above picture is completely accurate. Look upon her, and know despair!

 

[Edena_of_Neith]

I believe it gets even nastier.
I think Monkey Grip affects your ability to use weapons two size categories larger than yourself.

Normally, our 4 foot tall elven girl could use a Huge sized dagger ... in both hands.
Now, she can use a Huge sized dagger in one hand, and a Huge sized long sword two-handed.
How big is a Huge longsword? 15 feet? 20 feet? 30 feet?

 

[Moonstone Spider]

Monkey Grip only gives you one size larger. You can go a level better with Weild Oversized Weapon which has monkey grip as a prereq but that's an epic feat.

Remember that Monkey Grip has a -2 penalty. Unless the improved dice on the bigger weapon amount to at least +4 average damage you'd be better off using Power Attack for the same penalty, particularly since power attack is always + damage instead of just probably and more flexible in what penalty you can take.

 

[BullMarkOne]

Remember that Monkey Grip has a -2 penalty. Unless the improved dice on the bigger weapon amount to at least +4 average damage you'd be better off using Power Attack for the same penalty, particularly since power attack is always + damage instead of just probably and more flexible in what penalty you can take.

But you're missing out on the "anime-style cool" effect, which is what Monkey Grip is really all about. It's a sub-optimal feat choice for a mainly flavor effect.

 

[urDrakas]

Can be nasty when used with a greatsword of one size category higher. One of my player's tends to do that alot, and mooks tend to explode around him. Of course, his crappy will save makes up for it.