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Fist of Unbroken Air ... broken?
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<blockquote data-quote="jaelis" data-source="post: 7038598" data-attributes="member: 60210"><p>I don't think it is broken, but I wouldn't agree it is a trap either. (At least, not in the more liberal interpretation I'd read it as). </p><p></p><p>Yes, if you spent those points on flurries, you could do about twice as much damage. But, first, you have to hit, and if not your ki is lost. Sure you should be hitting most of the time, but not every time. And sometimes you run into opponents that are hard to hit. </p><p></p><p>But second, and I think more important, often it is more effective to do a big heap of damage in one round, rather than more total damage spread over several rounds. Because of course, the quicker you kill your opponent the less damage they do to you. Doesn't mean you should do this every fight, but it's a useful tool to have available.</p><p></p><p>You could reasonably compare this to a paladin's smite, which I think is generally held up as a very good ability. At 20th level paladin has 15 spell levels that he can burn for 54d8 bonus damage in a day. If the monk gets two short rests, he can do 60d10 (not counting Perfect Self). The paladin ability is nice because it benefits from a crit (and does better vs fiends/undead), and because you don't have to spend a spell slot on the initial attack like a monk has to spend ki. But the monk ability does give a higher one-round peak. I wouldn't say the monk ability is better, but I don't see how you can rate it as a trap in comparison. </p><p></p><p>I'd say the biggest issue in that comparison is that a paladin without spell slots is a lot more effective than a monk without ki. I think that gets into some issues with the monk class, and the elements subclass in particular. (In comparison, the open hand style actually helps with this problem.) I don't think the nova capability makes up for this, by any means. But I'd still argue that if you are stuck as an elements monk, then the nova ability is a reasonable thing to consider when the situation calls for it.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="jaelis, post: 7038598, member: 60210"] I don't think it is broken, but I wouldn't agree it is a trap either. (At least, not in the more liberal interpretation I'd read it as). Yes, if you spent those points on flurries, you could do about twice as much damage. But, first, you have to hit, and if not your ki is lost. Sure you should be hitting most of the time, but not every time. And sometimes you run into opponents that are hard to hit. But second, and I think more important, often it is more effective to do a big heap of damage in one round, rather than more total damage spread over several rounds. Because of course, the quicker you kill your opponent the less damage they do to you. Doesn't mean you should do this every fight, but it's a useful tool to have available. You could reasonably compare this to a paladin's smite, which I think is generally held up as a very good ability. At 20th level paladin has 15 spell levels that he can burn for 54d8 bonus damage in a day. If the monk gets two short rests, he can do 60d10 (not counting Perfect Self). The paladin ability is nice because it benefits from a crit (and does better vs fiends/undead), and because you don't have to spend a spell slot on the initial attack like a monk has to spend ki. But the monk ability does give a higher one-round peak. I wouldn't say the monk ability is better, but I don't see how you can rate it as a trap in comparison. I'd say the biggest issue in that comparison is that a paladin without spell slots is a lot more effective than a monk without ki. I think that gets into some issues with the monk class, and the elements subclass in particular. (In comparison, the open hand style actually helps with this problem.) I don't think the nova capability makes up for this, by any means. But I'd still argue that if you are stuck as an elements monk, then the nova ability is a reasonable thing to consider when the situation calls for it. [/QUOTE]
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