The Monk -- a Martial Controller

[Nifft]

Design Goals
- Be a decent Controller
- Perform tolerably well at a secondary role (either Defender or Striker)
- Split main attacks between Str and Wis, with secondary benefits from Con and Dex. Sorry, Tieflings.

• Controller stuff:
  - Hinder movement
  - Block LoS / LoE
  - Low-damage area attacks
  - Action deprivation area effects
  - "Lockdown" single-target status effects
• Defender stuff:
  - Mark opponents
  - Punish movement (moving away or moving around)
  - Forced movement
• Striker stuff:
  - Extra damage to "chosen" enemies
  - Multiple attacks

There's a bunch of synergy here, particularly regarding forced movement and status effects. Now, I don't want the Monk to be as good a Striker as a Ranger or Warlock, so I'm going to limit his extra damage ability such that it's more expensive to retarget, and such that it can't be improved to d8s with a feat. I'm also going to force him to choose between extra damage and better status effects.

Weapons: The Monk's abilities will key off of Wisdom and Strength, so he'll be good with Spears and Quarterstaves. He will also get a class ability to improve his unarmed strike (because that's part of his archetype), but 4e is balanced around weapon use, so I'm not going to try to make his unarmed attacks as good as a weapon. Still, he'll be better at naked melee than any other class, though let's hope that doesn't happen often.

What weapons other than Spears, Quarterstaves and Shuriken are appropriate to encourage? Glaives & Daggers? Katar and Spiked Chains?

- - -

The Monk

Class Traits:

• Role: Controller. You control your immediate surroundings, knocking aside arrows, hindering the maneuvers of nearby enemies, and shoving your foes where you want them.
• Power Source: Martial. You know that control of others requires superior control of self, and you have honed both your tactical maneuvers and your will itself through rigorous training.
• Key Abilities: Wisdom, Constitution; Strength, Dexterity

Armor Proficiency: Cloth
Weapon Proficiencies: Club, dagger, quarterstaff, shuriken, sickle, spear
Bonus to Defense: +1 Fortitude, +1 Reflex, +1 Will

Hit Points at 1st level: 12 + Constitution score
Hit Points per Level Gained: 5
Healing Surges per Day: 8 + Constitution modifier

Trained Skills: From the class list below, choose five trained skills at 1st level:
Acrobatics, Athletics, Diplomacy, Endurance, Heal, History, Insight, Perception, Stealth

Build Options: Agile striker, tough defender
Class Features: Improved Unarmed Strike, Mark, Quivering Palm, Stances

- - -

Monk Class Features

Improved Unarmed Strike: You gain a +2 Proficiency bonus with your unarmed attack.

Mark: Every time you attack an enemy, whether you hit or miss, you can choose to mark that enemy. The mark lasts until the end of your next turn. A marked critter takes a -2 penalty to attack rolls for any attack that doesn't include you as a target. A critter can only be subject to one mark at a time; a new mark supersedes an old mark.

Quivering Palm: When you strike a foe you've already marked with a melee attack, you may spend a Move action to set up sympathetic vibrations within its nervous system, disrupting its defenses and making your attacks more potent. Your foe remains Quivering until the end of the encounter, or until you use this ability on a new foe. (You may only have one foe subject to your Quivering Palm at a time: if you choose a new Quivering foe, the old target is free of it.)

Once per round, when you hit your Quivering target, you deal extra damage: +1d6 from 1st to 10th level, +2d6 from 11th to 20th level, and +3d6 from 21st to 30th level.

Stances: You gain access to two at-will powers, both of which have the Stance keyword:

• Poised Viper -- Monk Class Feature
  At-Will • Martial, Stance
  Move • Personal
  Effect: While you are in this stance, adjacent enemies cannot Shift.
• Dancing Crane -- Monk Class Feature
  At-Will • Martial, Stance
  Move • Personal
  Requirement: You must be wearing Cloth or no armor, and you may not be wearing a Shield.
  Effect: While you are in this stance, you gain a +4 bonus to your AC and Reflex defenses against the first attack against you each round.

- - -

At-Will Powers
I'm considering restricting these to only be usable with Unarmed Attacks, Quarterstaves, Spears and Light Blades. Thoughts?

Flurry of Blows -- Monk Attack 1
At-Will • Martial, Weapon
Standard • Melee weapon
Target: One, two or three critters
Attack: Strength vs. AC
Hit: 1[w] damage.
Special: Increase damage to 2[w] at 21st level.

Stunning Fist -- Monk Attack 1
At-Will • Martial, Weapon
Standard • Melee weapon
Target: One critter
Attack: Wisdom vs. Will
Hit: 1[w] damage, and the target grants Combat Advantage to the next attack against it before the end of your next turn.
Special: Increase damage to 2[w] at 21st level.

Sweeping Blow -- Monk Attack 1
At-Will • Martial, Weapon
Standard • Melee weapon
Target: One or two critters
Attack: Strength vs. Fortitude
Hit: 1[w] damage, and you may Push the target 1 square.
Special: Increase damage to 2[w] at 21st level.

Find the Gap -- Monk Attack 1
At-Will • Martial, Weapon
Standard • Melee weapon
Target: One critter
Attack: Wisdom vs. Reflex
Hit: 1[w] + Strength damage.
Special: Increase damage to 2[w] + Strength at 21st level.


Level 1 Encounter Exploits

One Vital Point -- Monk Attack 1
Encounter • Martial, Weapon
Standard • Melee weapon
Target: One critter
Attack: Wisdom vs. Fortitude
Hit: 1[w] + Dexterity damage, and the target is weakened until the end of your next turn.

Raging Steel -- Monk Attack 1
Encounter • Martial, Weapon
Standard • Close burst 1
Target: All critters in burst
Attack: Strength vs. AC
Hit: 1[w] + Constitution damage.

Harrying Pull -- Monk Attack 1
Encounter • Martial, Weapon
Standard • Melee weapon
Target: One critter
Attack: Strength vs. Reflex
Hit: 1[w] + Dexterity, and you can Shift two squares, and you can Pull your target two squares.
Special: You may elect to also knock your your Quivering target prone in lieu of extra damage.

Bronze Fist -- Monk Attack 1
Encounter • Martial, Weapon
Standard • Melee weapon
Target: One critter
Attack: Wisdom vs. Will
Hit: 1[w] + Constitution, and the target is Dazed until the end of your next turn.
Special: You may elect to instead Stun your Quivering target in lieu of extra damage.


Level 1 Daily Exploits

Bull Strike -- Monk Attack 1
Daily • Martial, Weapon
Standard • Close burst 1
Target: All enemies in burst you can see
Attack: Wisdom vs. AC
Hit: 1[w] damage, and Slide the target a number of squares equal to your Constitution modifier.

Dance of the Fool -- Monk Attack 1
Daily • Martial, Weapon
Standard • Melee weapon
Target: One critter
Attack: Strength vs. AC
Hit: 2[w] + Constitution damage, and knock the target prone.
Special: For the duration of the encounter, each time you hit the target with a ranged or melee attack, you knock it prone.

Limping Ox -- Monk Attack 1
Daily • Martial, Reliable, Weapon
Standard • Ranged weapon
Target: One critter
Attack: Wisdom vs. Reflex
Hit: 2[w] + Dexterity, and the target is Slowed until the end of your next turn.
Sustain Special: Hitting this target with a Ranged or Melee attack sustains the Slow effect.

Wise Wolf Reversal -- Monk Attack 1
Daily • Martial, Weapon
Immediate Interrupt • Melee weapon
Trigger: You are the target of a melee attack.
Attack: Strength vs. Reflex
Hit: 1[w] + Dexterity, and switch places with your attacker before resolving his attack.


Level 2 Utility Exploits

Leap of the Cricket -- Monk Utility 2
At-Will • Martial
Move • Personal
Effect: Make an Athletics check to jump with a power bonus equal to your Dexterity bonus. Determine the DC as though you had a running start, even if you were stationary. You may exceed your speed on this jump.

Slow Fall -- Monk Utility 2
Encounter • Martial
Immediate Reaction • Personal
Trigger: You fall.
Effect: You take no damage from the fall, regardless of its distance, and you are not prone at the end of the fall.

Tumble -- Monk Utility 2
Encounter • Martial
Move • Personal
Effect: Shift a number of squares equal to your Dexterity modifier.

Whirling Defense -- Monk Utility 2
At-Will • Martial, Stance
Immediate Interrupt • Personal
Trigger: A ranged attack targets you or an ally for whom you provide cover.
Effect: You gain a +2 power bonus to AC against ranged attacks. If you would normally grant an ally cover from a ranged attack, that ally instead gains superior cover.

Wholeness of Body -- Monk Utility 2
Daily • Martial
Move • Personal
Effect: Spend a healing surge, and recover additional hit points equal to your Constitution bonus.


Level 3 Encounter Exploits

Echo of Thunder -- Monk Attack 3
Encounter • Martial, Weapon
Standard • Melee weapon
Target: One critter you have marked
Attack: Strength vs. Reflex
Hit: 2[w] + Strength thunder damage, and you may Push the target a number of squares equal to your Constitution modifier (minimum 1).
Special: You may elect to also knock your Quivering target prone in lieu of extra damage.

Excruciating Needle Strike -- Monk Attack 3
Encounter • Martial, Weapon
Standard • Melee weapon
Target: One critter
Attack: Wisdom vs. Fortitude
Hit: 2[w] + Wisdom damage, and the target takes a -2 penalty to attacks until the end of your next turn.
Sustain Special: Hitting this target with a Ranged or Melee attack sustains the penalty.

Rapid Barrage -- Monk Attack 3
Encounter • Martial, Weapon
Standard • Close blast 3
Requirement: You must be wielding a thrown weapon.
Target: Each critter in blast
Attack: Wisdom vs. AC
Hit: 1[w] + Dexterity damage, and the target is Immobilized until the end of your next turn.
Special: You may elect to also Daze your Quivering target in lieu of extra damage.

Swift Rebuke -- Monk Attack 3
Encounter • Martial, Weapon
Immediate Interrupt • Melee weapon
Trigger: An enemy you can charge does something you don't like.
Effect: Make a charge attack against this enemy.


Level 5 Daily Exploits

Bronze Flurry -- Monk Attack 5
Daily • Martial, Weapon
Standard • Close burst 1
Target: All enemies within burst
Attack: Strength vs. AC
Hit: 2[w] + Strength damage, and the target is Weakened until the end of your next turn.
Special: You may elect to also Daze your Quivering target in lieu of extra damage.

Dance of the Porcupine -- Monk Attack 5
Daily • Martial, Weapon
Move • Melee weapon
Effect: Move up to your speed, and make a basic melee attack against every enemy who makes an opportunity attack against you.

Perpetual Opening -- Monk Attack 5
Daily • Martial, Weapon
Standard • Melee weapon
Target: One critter
Attack: Wisdom vs. Will
Hit: 2[w] + Constitution damage, and until the end of the encounter, you may make a basic ranged attack against the target as a reaction whenever it moves or shifts. (One attack per action, not per square.)

Roundhouse Attack -- Monk Attack 5
Daily • Martial, Weapon
Standard • Melee weapon
Target: One, two or three critters
Attack: Strength vs. AC
Hit: 3[w] + Dexterity damage, and the target is dazed until the start of your next turn.

- - -

That's it for now, more later.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Nifft]

(reserved)

 

[Nifft]

also reserved

 

[generalhenry]

a monk is no more a controller than a fighter is a controller.
fighters hinder movement and do aoe attacks.

two hand fighter, two hand paladins, twf rangers and brutal rogues already straddle the space between a defender and a striker.

Power Source: Martial

There's a KI power source, monks should use it.

Mark

marks are what define defenders, do we really want monks tanking dragons?

Quivering Palm

a move action is too much, and detracts from the monk's mobility. It should be a minor action.

Stances

I like the idea, but as it is the monk can choose the tank stance or the tank stance.

I'm considering restricting these to only be usable with Unarmed Attacks, Quarterstaves, Spears and Light Blades. Thoughts?

try to remember that there's very little stopping a paragon level character from picking up these abilities. All abilities need to be balanced.

Flurry of blows is plainly superior to cleave etc.

These definitely need to be toned down. I might go as far as making some of them unarmed only.

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

As far as I can tell from the information in the core books there are really only two controller qualities and one shadow quality:

1.) Controllers get cheap effective AoE or other forms of multiple attacks per round

2.) Controllers must be vulnerable in Melee combat

Shadow Quality: Controllers are going to be your second line in group combat.

As far as I can tell any other qualities like imposing battlefield limitations and long term conditions are superfluos. They work well with controller flavor, but they aren't necessary to the role itself.

I don't know if you can remain true to the spirit of the monk and fit criteria two.

 

[WOLead]

Balance wise through the features, the Monk can do too many options too easily.

It looks almost as if you were setting up a Martial Striker rather then a Martial Controller. Strikers focus on damage on one foe at a time, while a Controller deals slightly less damage to many creatures at the same time. There may be a few single target powerful attacks, but they are not common. My ideas to switch this to a Martial Controller are what follows:

The Monk

Class Traits:

• Role: Controller. You control your immediate surroundings, knocking aside arrows, hindering the maneuvers of nearby enemies, and shoving your foes where you want them.
• Power Source: Martial. You know that control of others requires superior control of self, and you have honed both your tactical maneuvers and your will itself through rigorous training.
• Key Abilities: Wisdom, Constitution; Strength, Dexterity

As generalhenry said, it is probably a better idea to change the power source to Ki.
Key Abilities: Strength, Wisdom
Secondary Abilities: Constitution, Dexterity

Armor Proficiency: Cloth
Weapon Proficiencies: Club, dagger, quarterstaff, shuriken, sickle, spear
Bonus to Defense: +1 Fortitude, +1 Reflex, +1 Will

Huh, my opinion is to drop Dagger and possibly Sickle/Shuriken(Both more of a Ninja weapon as its a tool of a farmer) and add in Mace. Possibly drop Spear as well for the assumption that Monks don't use edged weaponry. Probably isn't accurate, but eh. Focus purely on melee to separate it from the Wizard style controller.

Hit Points at 1st level: 12 + Constitution score
Hit Points per Level Gained: 5
Healing Surges per Day: 8 + Constitution modifier

Trained Skills: From the class list below, choose five trained skills at 1st level:
Acrobatics, Athletics, Diplomacy, Endurance, Heal, History, Insight, Perception, Stealth

Build Options: Agile striker, tough defender
Class Features: Improved Unarmed Strike, Mark, Quivering Palm, Stances

- - -

Monk Class Features

Improved Unarmed Strike: You gain a +2 Proficiency bonus with your unarmed attack.

Mark: Every time you attack an enemy, whether you hit or miss, you can choose to mark that enemy. The mark lasts until the end of your next turn. A marked critter takes a -2 penalty to attack rolls for any attack that doesn't include you as a target. A critter can only be subject to one mark at a time; a new mark supersedes an old mark.

Quivering Palm: When you strike a foe you've already marked with a melee attack, you may spend a Move action to set up sympathetic vibrations within its nervous system, disrupting its defenses and making your attacks more potent. Your foe remains Quivering until the end of the encounter, or until you use this ability on a new foe. (You may only have one foe subject to your Quivering Palm at a time: if you choose a new Quivering foe, the old target is free of it.)

Once per round, when you hit your Quivering target, you deal extra damage: +1d6 from 1st to 10th level, +2d6 from 11th to 20th level, and +3d6 from 21st to 30th level.

Improved Unarmed Strike is a tad weak for a class that is supposed to be tempted with Unarmed combat. Mark is out as that is a Defender move, and this class is supposed to be a controller. Quivering Palm is too much like a Striker's bonus, rather then be appropriate for a Controller.

A possibility to change Improved Unarmed Strike to +3 Proficiency with unarmed attacks instead. With pushing the unarmed strike damage up a die size[1d6]. Let a Paragon Path devoted to purely Unarmed bump that up to [1d8] later.

For Mark, that is a Defender move, not a controller. Taking it from Fighters just draws away their uniqueness and temptation to play them. Switch it to something like...

Focus: Every time you attack an enemy with a melee or close power, whether you hit or miss, you can choose to focus on that enemy after the attack is finished. An enemy you focus on takes a -2 penalty on attacks against you and -5 on Stealth checks against your Perception. Focus ends if the enemy is 5 squares away at the end of your turn. You are allowed to have multiple focused foes.

For Quivering Palm, the following changes.
Quivering Palm: Once every turn when you have hit any number of foes under your focus with a Melee or Close attack, you can spend a Minor Action, choose one defense, and place them all under the effects of Quivering Palm. Quivering Palm sets up sympathetic vibrations within its nervous system, disrupting its defenses. A foe under Quivering Palm has -2 to one defense you chose. This effect lasts until the end of your next turn. You can only choose one defense to effect all creatures you are attempting to use Quivering Palm against each turn.

Stances: You gain access to two at-will powers, both of which have the Stance keyword:

• Poised Viper -- Monk Class Feature
  At-Will • Martial, Stance
  Move • Personal
  Effect: While you are in this stance, adjacent enemies cannot Shift.
• Dancing Crane -- Monk Class Feature
  At-Will • Martial, Stance
  Move • Personal
  Requirement: You must be wearing Cloth or no armor, and you may not be wearing a Shield.
  Effect: While you are in this stance, you gain a +2 bonus to your AC and Reflex defenses.

Drop the stances from class features and switch them to Utility powers. I'll show the revisions to this in the Abilities area. As an alternative:

Choose one of the two following as a Class feature:
Trance -- Monk Class Feature
"You will yourself into a trance, ignoring any thoughts outside of battle."
Daily ♦ Martial(Or Ki), Fear
Standard - Personal
Effect: Foes under your Focus take extra half Dex modifier damage when struck by your attacks.

Iron Resolve -- Monk Class Feature
"Through your might alone, you ignore damage done against you in order to continue on."
Daily ♦ Martial(Or Ki)
Standard - Personal
Effect: You gain Resist (Half your Con Modifier) All until the end of the encounter.

Trance is for a Monk who wants to be more like a Striker. Less powerful then a Striker's extra damage, but can add extra damage against multiple foes at once. Iron Resolve for Monks who want to act more like a Defender. Doesn't make an enemy want to attack you, but allows you to survive an onslaught of attacks by yourself.

- - -

At-Will Powers
I'm considering restricting these to only be usable with Unarmed Attacks, Quarterstaves, Spears and Light Blades. Thoughts?

Personal revisions from above.

Flurry of Blows -- Monk Attack 1
At-Will • Martial(Or Ki), Weapon
Standard • Close Burst(1)
Target: Each enemy in the burst.
Attack: Strength vs. AC per enemy
Hit: 1[w] damage.
Special: Increase damage to 2[w] at 21st level.

Replacement for Sweeping Blow
Grasping Wraith Blow -- Monk Attack 1
"You slide towards a creature unsuspectingly, grasping them, and pulling them closer."
At-Will • Martial(Or Ki), Weapon
Standard • Close Burst(2)
Target: One, two, or three critters in the burst
Attack: Strength vs. Fortitude per creature
Hit: 1[w] damage, and you may Pull the target 1 square.
Special: Increase damage to 2[w] at 21st level.

Stunning Fist -- Monk Attack 1
At-Will • Martial(Or Ki), Weapon
Standard • Close Burst 1
Target: Each creature in the burst.
Attack: Wisdom vs. AC
Hit: 1[w] damage, and the target grants Combat Advantage to the next attack against it before the end of your next turn.
Special: Increase damage to 2[w] at 21st level.

Replacement for Find the Gap.
Pressure Strike -- Monk Attack 1
"You swing your weapon so harshly through the air, it compresses the air and striking the target as if you had done so with the weapon itself."
At-Will • Martial(Or Ki), Weapon
Standard • Range 5
Target: One critter
Attack: Wisdom vs. Reflex
Hit: 1[w] + Wis damage.
Special: Increase damage to 2[w] + Str at 21st level.


Level 2 Utility Powers:
Poised Viper -- Monk Utility 2
Encounter • Martial(Or Ki), Stance
Minor • Personal
Effect: While you are in this stance, adjacent enemies who attempt to shift provoke an opportunity attack from you. If your opportunity attack hits, their Shift distance drops by 1.

Dancing Crane -- Monk Utility 2
At-Will • Martial(Or Ki), Stance
Minor • Personal
Requirement: You must be wearing Cloth or no armor, and you may not be wearing a Shield.
Effect: While you are in this stance, you gain a +2 bonus to your AC and Reflex defenses.

I was tempted to switch Con and Str around, to make a weapon class that accuracy is depended on Con, rather then Strength. Similar to Rogues, their Light Blades, and Dex.

The AoE attacks are allowed, due to the limitation on weapons that should be 1d8 or less. A Fighter with Cleave can wield a much stronger weapon to damage one creature more in response. Its similar to how a Wizard can have a Close Blast for an At-Will. Each Monk power should have a limitation on it to the weapons a Monk is planned on using, similar to Rogues and Light Blades, Crossbows, and Slings.

Just my ideas on possible changes to a Monk Controller class. What do you think? Ignore or take from the above as you wish, just don't go and make the Monk so tempting to become one and running as any different Character Role.

 

[Nifft]

As far as I can tell from the information in the core books there are really only two controller qualities and one shadow quality:

1.) Controllers get cheap effective AoE or other forms of multiple attacks per round

2.) Controllers must be vulnerable in Melee combat

I think I've got both of these covered. Monks will tend to have a lower HP and AC than other melee dudes (much like a Striker), and their at-wills are cheap AoE effects.

Shadow Quality: Controllers are going to be your second line in group combat.

A Monk could be effective in that spot with a Longspear, but yeah, he's also going to be effective running around the battlefield.

Basically, they'll be okay against single-targets and great against minions, but against two big dudes they're potentially screwed.

As far as I can tell any other qualities like imposing battlefield limitations and long term conditions are superfluos. They work well with controller flavor, but they aren't necessary to the role itself.

I don't know if you can remain true to the spirit of the monk and fit criteria two.

I think we'll have to see more official Controllers before we can tell which Wizard stuff is central and which is extraneous. In the meantime, this guy should cover (1) and (2) while mostly ignoring (shadow).

Cheers, -- N

 

[Nifft]

a monk is no more a controller than a fighter is a controller.
fighters hinder movement and do aoe attacks.

two hand fighter, two hand paladins, twf rangers and brutal rogues already straddle the space between a defender and a striker.

1/ This Monk is a Controller.
2/ Fighters are sticky; Monks are less sticky.
3/ Rangers and Rogues are not Defenders; two-handed Defenders are very poor imitations of Strikers. Have you looked at damage output? There's no way to mistake one for the other.

There's a KI power source, monks should use it.

You can make yours however you want it. This one is as Martial as a Ranger.

marks are what define defenders, do we really want monks tanking dragons?

See "Design Goals".

a move action is too much, and detracts from the monk's mobility. It should be a minor action.

No, then it's treading on the Striker's role too much. The Monk dabbles in Defender and Striker, but isn't as good at either role as the classes which really have that role.

This is laid out in "Design Goals".

Flurry of blows is plainly superior to cleave etc.

No. They're different. Flurry requires three attacks; Cleave is a single attack and guaranteed damage. Cleave deals good damage to one target and clears one minion; Flurry deals low damage to three targets.

One is a normal attack with a nice side-benefit, the other is a low-damage attack against multiple foes.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Nifft]

It looks almost as if you were setting up a Martial Striker rather then a Martial Controller.

See "Design Goals". Monks do have Striker stuff in them. But shutting down a single target is certainly the domain of the Controller: look at the Orb Wizard. That's what he does all day, every day.

As generalhenry said, it is probably a better idea to change the power source to Ki.

Why is it so hard to imagine a Martial Controller?

Huh, my opinion is to drop Dagger and possibly Sickle/Shuriken(Both more of a Ninja weapon as its a tool of a farmer) and add in Mace. Possibly drop Spear as well for the assumption that Monks don't use edged weaponry.

Look at the weapons which benefit from Wisdom. Dropping spears would be inaccurate and mechanically insane.

What edition of D&D had Monks who couldn't use daggers?

Improved Unarmed Strike is a tad weak for a class that is supposed to be tempted with Unarmed combat. Mark is out as that is a Defender move, and this class is supposed to be a controller. Quivering Palm is too much like a Striker's bonus, rather then be appropriate for a Controller.

Dabbling in Defender and Striker is part of the design goal. He should be inferior to both true Strikers and true Defenders, and so far, I think he is.

A possibility to change Improved Unarmed Strike to +3 Proficiency with unarmed attacks instead. (...)

Discussed in Design Goals: I don't want to give away a class feature worth more than actual weapons. With the proficiency bonus and powers which work with unarmed strike, he's still the best naked fighter in the world.

Secondly, I do NOT want to encourage a high-level character to fight unarmed, because magical weapon prices are non-trivial. Casters need implements and warriors need weapons. The enhancement bonuses really matter. I'm not giving that away until I see a decent analysis of the high-level economy.

An enemy you focus on takes a -2 penalty on attacks against you and -5 on Stealth checks against your Perception.

That's what a Striker would want.

Flurry of Blows -- Monk Attack 1
At-Will • Martial(Or Ki), Weapon
Standard • Close Burst(1)
Target: Each enemy in the burst.
Attack: Strength vs. AC per enemy
Hit: 1[w] damage.
Special: Increase damage to 2[w] at 21st level.

Why would you power this up? Burst attacks which target only enemies are really, really strong. Daily and Encounter powers are the right place for such things, not At-Wills.

Cheers, -- N

 

[generalhenry]

Why is it so hard to imagine a Martial Controller?

LOL it's not that... it's that it's hard to imagine a martial Monk. What is the Ki power source for if not for Monks?

Secondly, I do NOT want to encourage a high-level character to fight unarmed, because magical weapon prices are non-trivial. Casters need implements and warriors need weapons.

So make Ki implements. Prayer beads come to mind.

See "Design Goals".

Yes I did read the design goals, but while I do think you have a lots of things done right, I don't think the design is really coming together.

The two best Monk renditions I've seen are both defenders

http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=1049802
http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=1042094

Not that I think it the Monk class can not be made as a controller, Just that it doesn't seam to flow naturally.