Need Help: Monstrous Monk (Thri-Kreen)

[sledged]

I believe you are wrong. The rules clearly state that when combine attacks with natural and manufactured weapons "any natural weapons the creature also uses are considered secondary natural attacks". Nothing limits the number of secondary natural attacks one may make when also attacking with manufactured indeed since "attacks" is plural one can not assume that the limit is one.

Oops! You're absolutely right. I'll edit my original post. For some reason the XPH under thri-kreen says otherwise.

Also since attacks with natural weapons are not unarmed strikes or attacks with speacial monk weapons one can not attack with them in the same Full Attack Action in which one uses Flurry of Blows because "When using flurry of blows, a monk may attack only with unarmed strikes or with special monk weapons.".

Here's where I refer to the FAQ. It says that flurry can be combined with two weapon fighting with the normal penalties associated with two weapon fighting in addition to the penalties of flurry (if the monk still has any). The only other limitation is:

"If the off-hand attack is a weapon, that weapon isn't available for use in the flurry (if it can be used in a flurry at all, ...)."

The statement in parenthesis implies that off-hand attacks can be made with weapons that aren't monk weapons. So a thri-kreen monk could make two unarmed strikes with flurry and make three off-hand attacks with three short swords, incuring all the normal penalties for doing so (-2 for flurry, a -2 for two weapon fighting, and half str bonus on the short swords).

Given all this, if a monk can use the extra attacks granted by 2WF/MWF with any off-hand weapon, I see no reason why that same monk couldn't use the extra attacks granted for having natural weaponry.

 

[reanjr]

Okay, I'm trying to create an NPC monk for our campaign world and source book - www.aldenminor.com

I want to do a Thri-Kreen monk. I'm completely lost on how the different abilities work together or stack. The TK entry in Savage Species says that a TK gets four claw attacks at +3. So:

How many attacks would a 1st level monk get, and what would the plusses be?

How would Flurry of Blows play into this?

How would Multiattack, Multidexterity and Multiweapon fighting effect this? And how would those attacks progress with levels?

How does fighting with a weapon in two hands effect this? Can this NPC get a couple (or more attacks) with two hands, and then fight defensively or parry with a weapon (say a quarterstaff) in the other two? Could they do this with two quarterstaffs and double the defensive bonus?

I'm firmly convinced that there is no logical, easy, balanced way to have a thri-kreen monk.

 

[sledged]

We completely ignored this question, didn't we?

Now, if I'm just a fighter, and I have the multi-xxx feats, what can I do about fighting defensively with two of my attacks?

I recommend getting the feats Combat Expertise (there might be trouble with the Int requirement here) and Two Weapon Defense. For higher levels get Improved 2WD, and Greater 2WD which can be found in the Complete Warrior. They're made for two weapon fighting but can be adapted to muliti-weapon fighting easily enough: Multiweapon Defense, Improved MWD, and Greater MWD. (Why WotC made two seperate sets of feats for fighting with two hands and fighting with more than two hands, I'll never know.)

 

[Camarath]

Oops! You're absolutely right. I'll edit my original post. For some reason the XPH under thri-kreen says otherwise.

The Natural Attacks entry in the Race write-up of the Tri-Kreen does state the Tri-Kreen can make "either a biter or claw attack as a secondary attack" but the Monster write-up's attacks do follow the normal rules for combining natural and manufactured weapons attacks so I am inclined to think the Race write-up is a simplification, an oversight, or a mistake.

Here's where I refer to the FAQ. It says that flurry can be combined with two weapon fighting with the normal penalties associated with two weapon fighting in addition to the penalties of flurry (if the monk still has any).

I had not seen that New FAQ entries on Flurry of Blows. In light of those new rulings I believe you are correct that the Monk could Flurry and use weapons other that Unarmed Strikes and Monk Weapons including Natural weapons.