D&D 5E Flurry of Blows

VAPygott · Jun 22, 2019

2 Questions.

Given that the rules say that the Flurry of Blows happens Immediately after the Attack Action.

1) Can the monk move between the Attack Action and the Bonus Action if you use Flurry of Blows?
2) Can the monk move between the unarmed strikes of the Flurry of Blows?

jmartkdr · Jun 22, 2019

Yes and yes. Movement happens during an action.

akr71 · Jun 22, 2019

Yes, movement can be split up during your turn, however you like.

Pg 78. PHB

Flurry of Blows
Immediately after you take the Attack Action on your turn, you can spend 1 ki point to make two unarmed strikes as a bonus action.

The monk's Martial Arts already allows an unarmed strike as a bonus action.

So immediately after the monk Attacks, spend 1 ki point to use your bonus action to make 2 unarmed strikes, rather than the usual 1 unarmed strike as a bonus action.

Spending the ki point just turns the 1 strike into 2.

FrogReaver · Jun 22, 2019

I seem to recall jc saying no to both

DND_Reborn · Jun 22, 2019

VAPygott said:
2 Questions.

Given that the rules say that the Flurry of Blows happens Immediately after the Attack Action.

1) Can the monk move between the Attack Action and the Bonus Action if you use Flurry of Blows?
2) Can the monk move between the unarmed strikes of the Flurry of Blows?

Strictly speaking no, and no... maybe

.

You can split your movement before and after your action, so reasonably you could move, attack, finish move, bonus action.

1. However, since Flurry of Blows specifically states "immediately after you you take the attack action,..." you cannot move first after the attack action. If you move, you are not using flurry of blows "immediately". If you take out the "immediately" key word, then yes you could. But it is there, so... no.

2. You can only split up movement between attacks granted by the action. Since the attack is granted by a bonus action, you could argue no movement is allowed between the flurry of blows. Just the difference between an action and a bonus action. If you argue that the wording of action includes a bonus action, then sure.

As a DM, I would rule no on both but it would hardly be a bad thing to rule the other way.

Blue · Jun 22, 2019

Flurry of Blows
Immediately after you take the Attack Action on your turn, you can spend 1 ki point to make two unarmed strikes as a bonus action.

The "Immediately" does not refer to when you must spend the Bonus Action, it refers to when you must spend the Ki point.

So you take an Attack action, must spend a Ki point immediately, can move, can spend a Bonus Action to get two attacks.

On the other hand, you can break up you move before and after your action, and if you take an action that has multiple attacks you can move between. The rules say nothing about if you take a bonus action with multiple attacks. (All on PHB pg 190.) So by a strict reading you may not move between your Flurry attacks. As a DM, I'd allow it, I think it meets both RAI and RAF requirements.

Fenris-77 · Jun 22, 2019

Yup, sounds fluffy to me, I'd allow it. It's an edge case anyway - if you can move between multiple attacks in an action it's ridiculous that you wouldn't be able to in a bonus action. I try to avoid that sort of RAW-related silliness when I can.

jaelis · Jun 22, 2019

In fact JC says you can:
https://www.sageadvice.eu/2018/01/20/can-a-monk-move-between-the-hits-of-flurry-of-blows/

can a monk move between the hits of Flurry of Blows?
Whenever you take an action that includes more than one weapon attack, you can move between those attacks if you have enough movement to do so. This rule applies to bonus actions, which are a type of action, and to unarmed strikes, which are weapon attacks.

Teulisch · Jun 22, 2019

dont worry about it, let your player have fun with an epic kung fu battle. this becomes most relevant for the drunken master, who gets a free disengage when using flurry, or open hand who gets specific options with flurry of blows. plus, you dont have to worry about reaction, if the enemy is stunned.

I would say that 'immediately' means that after the attack, and before the bonus action, you have to declare and spend ki. a monk should use his bonus action every turn, but there are so many options that it can be hard to decide.