...longswords. that's. that's longswords. two-handed finesse weapon. that's literally just a longsword.
Eh. The entire reason to put both hands on a weapon is to improve the force and leverage you can exert on it. However force and leverage are functions of Strength, and by definition don't do anything for finesse weapons, which apparently are dependent upon the grace and balance of their user, not force and leverage.
All else being equal, the stronger you are, the better you can use a longsword. You have more control over the blade in terms of changing its direction, your cuts are faster and shorter, giving your opponent less time to react, and you can control your opponent's weapon more effectively. Dexterity is useful, but more for defence, which is already covered in the mechanics.
but yeah i didn't even look at the strength requirements for the armors those are ridiculous lmao. 14 strength to wear a hauberk? i'd be surprised if someone with 12 strength couldn't wear plate without...halving their speed. sheesh.
Yep. I don't think that that level of restriction is necessary to martial-type characters. The current 5e requirements aren't very realistic either, but may be worth keeping for balance's sake. Pushing a secondary ability score above 14 is fairly rare in my experience and does have a cost associated with it, so requiring much higher is unnecessary in my book. There is an argument for requiring a Constitution requirement instead/as well in terms of realism, but probably not worth implementing.
those are put there for balance.
To give STR value over DEX.
So that for AC, you either invest in DEX or STR.
Also, falchion was just an example.
Yep. I understand the intent. I just don't think that I could reasonably tell a player that their reasonably-strong character can't effectively use that plate harness when most of them have seen me wear/worn one themselves.
Likewise most of them know that a falchion is a chopping blade used in one hand rather than a two-handed weapon.
I'd end up with a table full of LARFers and hysterical re-enactors.
But like I said, these are just nitpicks. I could just rename the armours, squashing down the real ones and introducing some fantastical types that would actually require massive strength to wear for that table if I was going to use it and thought that a strength that high was required for balance.
And, finesse weapons cannot be Heavy, so you are losing possibly 2 damage steps with 2Handed weapon.
d12 finesse 2Handed weapon vs. d8 finesse 1Handed weapon, seems about right.
It was a conceptual issue; I wasn't criticising your maths or judgement of balance.
It's not like the monk's fists are bigger or sharper than anyone else's, they just use them better. HP, Armor, Damage, etc are all abstractions anyways.
I agree with the overall point, but monks are magical: That is how they can bypass some physical restrictions. Getting more magical could explain their increased martial arts damage die.