Monks with class - missing the obvious?

[Plane Sailing]

I was just reading the Monks with Class article on the wizards.com website by Skip Williams

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/cwc/20050310a

and I have to say I'm surprised by what seem like some basic omissions from his suggestions.

Chief amongst them are:

Your flurry of blows ability is flashy and fun, but the extra attacks it provides come at the expense of accuracy. < snip >. So save your flurries for opponents you know you can hit. Otherwise, try to keep moving in a fight.

He seems to be missing the point about flurries that from 5th level you only get -1 and from 9th level you have no penalty. For more than half of the monks potential career he has no accuracy downsides to using a flurry of blows! from 11th level up he gets an extra attack too. Basically from 9th level onwards there is probably no reason why you wouldn't want to flurry if you are taking a full attack (although you might not want to take a full attack, obviously!)

Or when talking about working well with other classes

The Party's Stealth Person: If you're not the party's scout, your great speed and fighting prowess make you the obvious person to come to that character's rescue when misfortune strikes (and it often does).

Well, if you have a rogue he might thank you for aiding him in flanks so he can get sneak attacks, for using stunning fist on opponents so he can get sneak attacks, and grappling opponents so, yes, he can get sneak attacks. Not worthy of a mention?

I'm not saying that Skip says anything actually wrong here, it is just that he misses out so much that is right and possible.

Mind you, I had the same complaint about most of the "class acts" pieces that I read in the Dragon.

Ah well.

 

[Shuffle]

I would say that the articles are aimed more at newer players.

Thus the flurry advice is good, since presumeably by level 9 they'll know the mechanics well enough on their own.

Also, the articles are more for general advice, not specific tactics.

 

[Hypersmurf]

He seems to be missing the point about flurries that from 5th level you only get -1 and from 9th level you have no penalty. For more than half of the monks potential career he has no accuracy downsides to using a flurry of blows! from 11th level up he gets an extra attack too. Basically from 9th level onwards there is probably no reason why you wouldn't want to flurry if you are taking a full attack (although you might not want to take a full attack, obviously!)

Don't forget, that wasn't the case in 3E... and a lot of the time, Skip seems to give 3E-tinted answers to 3.5 questions.

-Hyp.

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

IMHO failing to mention those delicious synergies of the Monk with the Rogue is significant enough to rate as a mistake.

The hard fact is Monks have a damn tough time killing anything really dangerous single-handedly. Tumbling for flanks, getting the most out of stunning, and grappling are bread & butter tactics if you want to pull your weight.

 

[Geoff Watson]

Chief amongst them are:

He seems to be missing the point about flurries that from 5th level you only get -1 and from 9th level you have no penalty. For more than half of the monks potential career he has no accuracy downsides to using a flurry of blows! from 11th level up he gets an extra attack too. Basically from 9th level onwards there is probably no reason why you wouldn't want to flurry if you are taking a full attack (although you might not want to take a full attack, obviously!)

Even from first level, flurrying is better than not flurrying (or at least no worse) 95% of the time (the other 5% is where you need an 18 to hit normally, and flurry would put that up to 20).

Geoff.