Monks and Power Attack...what gives?

[Caliban]

And dear god, we can't allow a fighting style that requires 3 or more feats to be better than just one! That was one of the worst changes in 3.5, in my not so humble opinion. Two handed weapons already have the 1.5 stength and a higher die, twf or finnesse already required feat investment and lost damage if you didn't also have the str. Why tilt the scales further?

I'm the wrong person to ask. I'm just quoting the answer that I remember being given when 3.5 came out.

 

[Kahuna Burger]

I'm the wrong person to ask. I'm just quoting the answer that I remember being given when 3.5 came out.

oh it wasn't aimed at you, I was just reacting to that particular style judgement in the new edition. sorry.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

It's already been pointed out that Power Attack does indeed work with the Unarmed Strike.

However, it should be noted that even if it didn't, it'd work for the quarterstaff, which is a special monk weapon and therefore also allows a Flurry of Blows. And which can also be capped with special materials to help bypass DR. And which is wielded 2-handed, and therefore grants 2-for-1 Power Attack, plus 1.5x strength.

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

And which can also be capped with special materials to help bypass DR.

You know, there's nothing actually in the weapon description stating that a quarterstaff is shod in metal.

In real life, they can be, of course, but I believe that, with RAW, they can't be made with another material. (I disagree with this, BTW...and I also believe that I've seen a staff in a book that was made of "twisted rods of adamantine.")

And which is wielded 2-handed, and therefore grants 2-for-1 Power Attack, plus 1.5x strength.

I was *so* upset when I finally noticed that the attacks in a flurry are considered to be at 1x Str, not 1.5x Str if it's a two-handed weapon. It made me change my build to remove the monk levels I was going to use.

But, that aside, the quarterstaff is a good weapon for a monk for the reasons you mention. You can modify each end for different circumstances, and Ki Focus is a no-brainer for one or both ends for getting through DR.

Brad

 

[Coredump]

I have HR Powerattack to what it was meant to be.

It was supposed to work the same as str providing a 1:0.5 swap for light, 1:1 for one-handed, and 1:1.5 for 2-handed. But they decided that the math needed for continually figuring this out was too tedious, so they went with 0-1-2 instead.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

You know, there's nothing actually in the weapon description stating that a quarterstaff is shod in metal.

In real life, they can be, of course, but I believe that, with RAW, they can't be made with another material. (I disagree with this, BTW...and I also believe that I've seen a staff in a book that was made of "twisted rods of adamantine.")

This is all I found in the RAW.

Quarterstaff: A quarterstaff is a double weapon. You can fight with it as if fighting with two weapons, but if you do, you incur all the normal attack penalties associated with fighting with two weapons, just as if you were using a one-handed weapon and a light weapon. A creature wielding a quarterstaff in one hand can’t use it as a double weapon—only one end of the weapon can be used in any given round.

Items without metal parts cannot be made from adamantine. An arrow could be made of adamantine, but a quarterstaff could not.

Items without metal parts cannot be made from cold iron.

Items not primarily of metal are not meaningfully affected by being partially made of mithral. (A longsword can be a mithral weapon, while a scythe cannot be.)

The alchemical silvering process can’t be applied to nonmetal items, and it doesn’t work on rare metals such as adamantine, cold iron, and mithral.

Given the adamantine quote, the rules seem to assume that a quarterstaff is uncapped. However, since the rules do not preclude it, I'd rule that they can be capped, and a capped quarterstaff would then qualify to be made adamantine, cold iron, or silvered, but not mithral (which requires most of the weapon be metal, rather than merely that the weapon have metal parts.)

This may be a House Rule, though, since the adamantine rule does seem to indicate the designers assumed a quarterstaff to be naked wood.

 

[glass]

And dear god, we can't allow a fighting style that requires 3 or more feats to be better than just one!

As I understand it, it was nothing to do with TWF specifically. It was just that Power Attack was really good for light fighters generally, and really bad for big powerfull fighters, which is obviously counter-intuitive. So the choice was change how it works or stop calling it 'power attack'

glass.

 

[werk]

However, it should be noted that even if it didn't, it'd work for the quarterstaff, which is a special monk weapon and therefore also allows a Flurry of Blows. And which can also be capped with special materials to help bypass DR. And which is wielded 2-handed, and therefore grants 2-for-1 Power Attack, plus 1.5x strength.

"When using weapons as part of a flurry of blows, a monk applies her Strength bonus (not Str bonus × 1½ or ×½) to her damage rolls for all successful attacks, whether she wields a weapon in one or both hands."

 

[Saeviomagy]

On the upside, every attack they make gets the full power attack bonus, unlike a TWFer where the offhand can't benefit. Unless their offhand is unarmed strike of course.

 

[BlackSilver]

Ask the GM to House Rule around Power Attack and Monks.

It seems like a good idea- allow the Monk to use Power Attack with Unarmed attacks, but no weapons that are light.

Just my thoughts on it.