Flurry of blows and other monk questions

[Malin Genie]

(1) Can a monk flurry when grappling, to gain extra grapple checks (at -2 to each)?

(2) Can a monk flurry when grappling, to gain extra unarmed attacks (as grappling rules specifically forbid 'attacking with two weapons')?

(3) Can a monk polymorphed (or a monk/druid wildshaped) into a form with a natural attack use flurry?

(4) If transformed into a form with more than one natural weapon, can a monk strike interchangeably with any of them (as a monk can 'use any part of their body to strike with'), or must she restrict herself to using one of them if she wishes to avoid two-weapon penalties...)?

(5) If in a form with natural weaponry, can the monk use stunning attack, ki strike and other monk abilities in conjunction with these attacks?

Thanks for any replies!
MG (who is thinking of a druid/monk character...)

 

[Demogorge]

(1) Can a monk flurry when grappling, to gain extra grapple checks (at -2 to each)?

Grapples dont work exactly like attacks. The number of grapple attempts you get is based strictly on your BAB, so a 6th level ranger would get 2 grapple attempts despite his ambidexterity. Similarly, monsters with multiple natural weapons don't get to use all of their attacks for grapple checks, only an amount allowed by their BAB. So a hypothetical monster with a BAB of 6 and a bite and 4 claws would only get 2 grapple checks (+6/+1) and not 4 or 5.

Monks CAN use their unarmed attack bonus (UAB) rate for grapple checks (go monks!) but a flurry of blows would not give them any more because it's the equivalent of Ambidexterity+TWF for monks.

(2) Can a monk flurry when grappling, to gain extra unarmed attacks (as grappling rules specifically forbid 'attacking with two weapons')?

No it's the same amount of grapple checks as above. Monks are still amazing grapplers because of their unarmed damage and UAB progression.

(3) Can a monk polymorphed (or a monk/druid wildshaped) into a form with a natural attack use flurry?

Most monk abilities are supernatural and would be lost while polymorphed, but flurry of blows is not. Just think of it as an unarmed ambidexterity+twf. Just as the Ranger gets those feats for free (with restrictions), so does the monk. So yes you would retain the flurry while polymorphed.

HOWEVER, your dm may rule that the natural weapons of another form are not Monk weapons, so you can't flurry. This topic is not covered anywhere that I have seen.

(4) If transformed into a form with more than one natural weapon, can a monk strike interchangeably with any of them (as a monk can 'use any part of their body to strike with'), or must she restrict herself to using one of them if she wishes to avoid two-weapon penalties...)?

You always inherit the attack forms of the new form as long as they are not supernatural/spell-like/etc. So you don't suffer two-weapon penalties or anything even if you are not a monk. Still, you need to cover the natural weapons = unarmed question.

(5) If in a form with natural weaponry, can the monk use stunning attack, ki strike and other monk abilities in conjunction with these attacks?

Stunning attack and ki strike are supernatural so you would not keep those or any other supernatural abilities in the new form (See the Polymorph Other description).

 

[RigaMortus]

When you are grappling someone, I don't see any reason why you wouldn't be allowed to use Flurry of Blows on them. Flurry of Blows is no way equal to Two-Weapon Fighting since you do not have to use your hands to attack. I used this technique myself actually. I was grappling an opponent and made a Flurry of Blows on him. Since my hands were occupied, I described it as headbutting him twice.

 

[Demogorge]

When you are grappling someone, I don't see any reason why you wouldn't be allowed to use Flurry of Blows on them. Flurry of Blows is no way equal to Two-Weapon Fighting since you do not have to use your hands to attack. I used this technique myself actually. I was grappling an opponent and made a Flurry of Blows on him. Since my hands were occupied, I described it as headbutting him twice.

See the DnD FAQ under "Special Attacks and Damage". The rules assume you are already using your whole body to grapple, so a flurry would not give you anything to extra to grapple with.

If you're using the "attack with a light weapon" option, you could do it as a full round action, but you could not use any of the flurry attacks to pin, escape, etc.

You would just be fracturing their cranium