House-ruled monk class

[DragonTurtle]

As a base class you may want to look at the swashbuckler for balance, d10 hitdice, good BAB, 4 skill points dodge bonus to AC instead of heavy armor and a number of class abilities.

Big difference is 3 good saves in my opionion, that is a big benefit, that I am not sure is balanced. Usually Hitdice go down a bit with that many saves, d8 is still a melee capable fighter.

 

[DragonTurtle]

One more suggestion: +4 to AC in my opinion is too much to give at first level for free, if you change it to Wis to AC you make the monk work for it, this maybe balances the class a little more , then perhaps do a class based bonus at every 5 levels, this way he gets more than the +4 which is great at first but leaves him a bit in a lurch at higher levels.

 

[Izerath]

Try this one

I was going to post a number of things, but since it seems you are willing to experiment and you have a definite goal in mind, check out this refinished monk. I currently have two Monks in my group running with these rules, and they couldn't be more different. It combines some OA with some 3.5 and I reconstructed the entire feat proggression. It was a lot of work, but it accomplished 2 things: made each monk more "unique" and gave them a little more "kick" when it came to combat. These monks can hang in the front lines with the fighters, but not forever or against a flat our nasty monster that lays waste to HPs in single hits. And they have that "crouching tiger" feel to them.....

Go to my website here: http://www.kinazar.com/

then Use the pull down menu under HOUSE RULES on the far right and select Core Class: Monk.

Be forewarned - It's an MS Word Doc. Maybe my monk rework will give you some ideas.

Happy hunting for the perfect Monk!

 

[3d6]

What do people think about reducing the skill points to 2 per level, and giving the class a bad fortitude save? I can't really see dropping the good Reflex or Will save from the class.

 

[jeffhartsell]

I've been fiddling with the monk class in order to make it stronger as a melee combatant and to make monks more different from one another. I've attached what I've got so far, and any comments would be helpful.

Full bab, d10, and 3 good saves is what makes this over-the-top.

Maybe give this variant good reflex and then add great fort, lightning reflexes, and iron will as bonus feats at some point or add them to the list of selectable feats.

I'd recommend you keep the mid-bab, monk WIS to AC, and flurry of blows and up the HD to d10 and drop the saves to good reflex and use the fighter bonus feat progression and make various monk abilities as selectable abilites at the various levels.

Maybe add the ninja ki ability and create interesting things that monks can do by using up ki. Gain fast healing, gain DR, full bab, etc. for a duration.

 

[jeffhartsell]

What do people think about reducing the skill points to 2 per level, and giving the class a bad fortitude save? I can't really see dropping the good Reflex or Will save from the class.

That is a step in the right direction for sure.

Look at ranger for a comparison though: d8, full bab, and 2 good saves. If you up the HD to d10 that is a bit overpowered.

If you want the monk to be a "fighter" (a la paladin, fighter, barbarian) then it should have 1 good save. If you just want full bab, then give it two good saves and keep the HD d8.