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Message: <blockquote data-quote="FireLance" data-source="post: 3316584" data-attributes="member: 3424">I thought of the following tweaks to the monk's class abilities while on the bus home from work today:1. Unarmed Damage ProgressionWhat: Instead of the current approach whereby the monk's unarmed damage dice goes up every four levels, a monk simply adds half his monk level to his unarmed damage.Why: It cuts down on the ability to exploit damage dice escalation caused by effects that create real or virtual size changes, e.g. Improved Natural Attack, enlarge, etc.Balance: A monk will deal more damage on average, especially at lower levels, but will benefit less from effects that effectively change size. Under this system, a Medium 4th-level monk will deal an average of 5.5 points of damage with her unarmed strike and 6.5 when enlarged, compared to the standard monk's 4.5 points going up to 7 when enlarged.A fighter with Power Attack and a two-handed weapon can get an equal or higher damage bonus by taking a penalty to his attack rolls equal to the difference between his BAB and a monk of the same level. With a one-handed weapon, the monk's damage advantage can be offset by Weapon Specialization and Greater Weapon Specialization.2. Flurry of BlowsWhat: A monk may use flurry of blows with the attack action. However, each attack is made at a further -2 penalty. At 11th level, he may make a second extra attack, but it adds a cumulative -2 penalty, for a total penalty of -4.Why: One of the major complaints I've heard about the monk is that the flurry of blows ability doesn't synergize well with fast movement. This tweak allows the monk to take advantage of both at the same time.Balance: If the standard flurry of blows is like Rapid Shot, this additional ability is like Greater Manyshot, and imposes an extra -2 penalty for making an additional attack as a standard action, or a -4 penalty for making two additional attacks. Since the monk eventually ignores the initial penalty for flurry of blows, the penalties for this tweak should be similarly reduced.What do you think? Would either or both of these tweaks improve the game?</blockquote>

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