Flurry of Blows

[Oryan77]

Does a multiclassed Monk still benefit from Flurry of Blows as he gains levels in the other class?

The rules seem to read that you use the Monk levels as the BAB for Flurry of Blows. So if you were a 3rd level Monk and a 10th level Fighter, your Flurry of Blows attack bonus would only be a +1/+1? I gotta be misunderstanding the wording of the rule since that's lower than if the PC wielded two weapons & took the maximum penalties for not having proper feats/weapons.

Or is it just poor wording and you can add your character level as a BAB?

 

[SteelDraco]

Does a multiclassed Monk still benefit from Flurry of Blows as he gains levels in the other class?

The rules seem to read that you use the Monk levels as the BAB for Flurry of Blows. So if you were a 3rd level Monk and a 10th level Fighter, your Flurry of Blows attack bonus would only be a +1/+1? I gotta be misunderstanding the wording of the rule since that's lower than if the PC wielded two weapons & took the maximum penalties for not having proper feats/weapons.

Or is it just poor wording and you can add your character level as a BAB?

Here ya go, from the FAQ.

The monk rules for flurry of blows state: "For the purpose of these attacks, the monk's base attack bonus is equal to his monk level." How does this interact with BAB from class levels and racial Hit Dice? Does a multiclassed fighter 19/monk 1 flurry as if his BAB were only +1?
A monk using flurry treats his BAB from monk levels as equal to his monk level. He still adds BAB from other sources (such as other classes or racial Hit Dice) normally to this total.
So a fighter 19/monk 1 has a normal BAB of +19. When he flurries, he treats his monk BAB as +1 (for his 1 level of monk) and still gets BAB +19 from his fighter levels, for a total flurry BAB of +20.

 

[Oryan77]

Thanks. Common sense told me that was the case, but I needed to verify it.

Also, would a Monk using a Quarterstaff (2-handed) apply 1.5 Str damage to his Flurry of Blow attacks? The description says he adds his "full Str damage", but is that just referring to his normal full Str damage and not 1.5 for wielding a 2-handed weapon?

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

"A monk applies his full Strength bonus to his damage rolls for all successful attacks made with flurry of blows, whether the attacks are made with an off-hand or with a weapon wielded in both hands."

Pretty sure that means 1x str mod, regardless of how the weapon is held. As in most cases, 3E worded this much more clearly:

"When using flurry of blows, a monk may attack only with unarmed strikes or with special monk weapons (kama, nunchaku, quarterstaff, sai, shuriken, and siangham). She may attack with unarmed strikes and special monk weapons interchangeably as desired. 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. The monk can’t use any weapon other than a special monk weapon as part of a flurry of blows."

No room for doubt there. Oh well.

I find the more interesting argument to be utilizing the fact that monk's unarmed strike is a natural weapon combined w/ the new PF rule that if you only attack with one natural weapon and nothing else on your turn, you get 1.5x str bonus to damage and 3-for-1 power attack to argue for some extra goodies for when the monk's not flurrying (as the specific text would override in that case).

 

[Oryan77]

Good to know, thanks. I thought I got to add 1.5 Str damage until I read it again and realized what it may actually have been saying.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Well, they removed the clearly "no" answer from the 3E text, so an argument could be made about intent, as for all I know "full strength bonus" just means "the str bonus you'd apply normally." I doubt that's the case, but it is poorly worded, which is really sad when they ripped the ability right from an open source where it was worded just fine.

 

[N'raac]

To me, Flurry is simply the Monk getting 2 weapon fighting for free, but only if he is armed solely with Monk weapons or open handed strikes. He should consider himelf lucky that extra off-hand attack gets a full STR bonus, rather than only half. So I would rule that, in a Flurry, you are not effectively wielding the Staff in a two handed manner.