Monks, Amulets, and Bracers

[Oni]

And yet, if one allows the monk to enhance all his weapons with the Amulet of Natural Weapons ala SS, where does that leave the Amulet of Mighty Fists?

Easier to fix or nix a magic item than it is a class.

 

[WattsHumphrey]

I'd have to respectfully disagree with most of the comments here. Because of the ruling that flurry and TWF don't stack, I'd have to assume that the monk is using at least 2 "weapons" for purposes of abilities that give bonuses to his attacks.

To make life convienient, I'd just rule that only the flurry attack happens with the off hand... or knee... or forehead... or whatever. Though I have to admit that the rules leave this vague, and therefore problems can arise with interpretation.

 

[Pax]

IMC, I ruled the Monk counts as having two natural weapons -- to keep the Necklace of Natural Weapons balanced with BRacers of Striking, in terms of cost. The Bracers cost as much as a double weapon, IOW, a pair of weapons. The Necklace should, by rights, cost similarly -- to keep the Bracers competitive.

Keep in mind, though, the chief drawback of both the BRacers and the NEcklace: you get ONE set of abilities, you can't say "one weapon is ____ and the other is ______".

 

[Hypersmurf]

Keep in mind, though, the chief drawback of the BRacers : you get ONE set of abilities...

Uh-oh

-Hyp.

 

[Mordeth]

IMC, I ruled the Monk counts as having two natural weapons -- to keep the Necklace of Natural Weapons balanced with BRacers of Striking, in terms of cost. The Bracers cost as much as a double weapon, IOW, a pair of weapons. The Necklace should, by rights, cost similarly -- to keep the Bracers competitive.

Also, under Greater Magic Fang, each casting of the spell only allows ONE natural attack to be enhanced, so say a bear would need three total, one for each paw and one for his bite.

As far as normal attacks, I would say his hand he "punches" with is one, and would work for most of his attacks. But flurry of blows, as I understand it, is more than one source of blows... akin to him having ambi-twf, and two small weapons....

Hope I didnt drift off topic, playing a druid IMC, and having to look forward to three Extended GWF spells, at least a day

 

[Hypersmurf]

But flurry of blows, as I understand it, is more than one source of blows... akin to him having ambi-twf, and two small weapons....

That's only required in the case of using two monk weapons - say, two kamas. In that case, it explicitly states that the primary attacks are with one, and the flurry attack is with the other.

If he's using one kama, then he can choose whether the flurry attack is with the weapon or unarmed.

If he's not using any monk weapons, he could theoretically make every attack in the round, including the flurry attack, with his forehead if he wanted.

-Hyp.

 

[Andion Isurand]

The monk's whole body counts as ONE natural weapon.

A good reason for the bracers costing the same as a double weapon is probably due to the fact that a monk's unarmed attacks are already very powerful to begin with.

The monk's unarmed attacks ( a monk's body )......

* are/is always "drawn" and ready to use
* deal(s) quite a bit of damage
* are more numerous
* work(s) while grappling
* cannot be disarmed, stolen, damaged, or sundered
* are/is weightless
* are/is easily disguised.. concealed.. (you know what I mean)
* are/is tied to supernatural abilities like stunning fist

 

[Pax]

A good reason for the bracers costing the same as a double weapon is probably due to the fact that a monk's unarmed attacks are already very powerful to begin with.

That logic hodls equally true in relation to the Necklace of Natural Weapons, though.

If the BRacers have to cost as much as a double weapon (IOW, as much as two weapons) ... the Necklace should cost the same.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

A good reason for the bracers costing the same as a double weapon is probably due to the fact that a monk's unarmed attacks are already very powerful to begin with.

Which is also why I believe the Amulet of Mighty Fists costs what it does. When you have a weapon that can do 1d20 damage, there needs to be a drawback somewhere. The Amulet of Natural Weapons should not come cheap, as it would if one considers the monk's whole body one weapon.

[Edit: fixed quote tags]

 

[shurai]

Which is also why I believe the Amulet of Mighty Fists costs what it does. When you have a weapon that can do 1d20 damage, there needs to be a drawback somewhere. The Amulet of Natural Weapons should not come cheap, as it would if one considers the monk's whole body one weapon.

Although I don't know how much any of the items spoken of here cost, I can say this: The monk's unarmed attacks have many drawbacks besides expense of enhancement. It's important to realize that by the time the monk is dealing that d20, other characters (for the same cost) could be dealing upwards of 3d6 with greater modifiers to damage, higher chances of hitting and the same number of attacks. The monk will be chasing the other combat characters in terms of damage though, no question. The d20 looks scary, but in reality it's nothing compared to what an ordinary fighter (or paladin, ranger, barbarian, cleric, or even druid) is capable of.

It's true that as Andion says monks fighting unarmed have many advantages over more conventional fighter-types, but the big disadvantage (some would say the overwhelming one) is that they aren't as useful in an ordinary fight because they won't be hitting as hard or as often.

Of course, this is only considering relatively unmunchkinned characters.

-S