D&D 5E Yes, I know what RAW says, but, Effects of allowing Sneak Attack on Monk attacks.

[Greenstone.Walker]

I'm not sure why they took that out in subsequent printings.

Its been discussed a lot on the web. They were never supposed to be on the table in the first place. Weapon enchantments (for example the magic weapon spell) and smites and similar features are not supposed to be used on fists and feet and elbows and horns, etc.

 

[neogod22]

Its been discussed a lot on the web. They were never supposed to be on the table in the first place. Weapon enchantments (for example the magic weapon spell) and smites and similar features are not supposed to be used on fists and feet and elbows and horns, etc.

They could easily state that in the description of the spells, but it's ok, monks can use weapons anyway, and at I think level 6, their attacks also count as magical, so the spells aren't necessary.

 

[Gammadoodler]

Its been discussed a lot on the web. They were never supposed to be on the table in the first place. Weapon enchantments (for example the magic weapon spell) and smites and similar features are not supposed to be used on fists and feet and elbows and horns, etc.

A reasonable question here is still...'why?'. What is the most broken possible result here?

 

[jgsugden]

An easy solution is to not change the rules, but to create an exception to them with a magic item, a boon or another bonus that allows them to ypass the troubesome rule. Being unique also makes the PC a bit more special.

 

[Iry]

Give Monks any advantage you can reasonably give them, because they need it. So yes, let sneak attack stack with it.

Heck, I allow Monk unarmed attacks to count as finesse weapons and it breaks nothing. I want spellcasters to buff Monk fists. Holy Weapon? Go for it!

 

[Hamanu]

My 2 cents, is even tho sage said no, their own book condradicts the answer. Stunning blow says you have to use a melee weapon, but monks roll stunning blow all day unarmed. So fist are weapons for one skill but not for another that's unsatisfactory. Also like others have said martial arts carries all the same stats as finesse so it's simply a bs play on words. Also, so what if monk gets flurry of blows, he can do that with daggers and short swords too so still has 3 to four chances a round for sneak attacks. He would have that many chance anyways so flurry of blows is a dead on arrival arguement. So the sages got this one wrong. And we ignore it. It really is astethics at this point because this monk will get sneak attack and flurry of blows all at the same damage out put regardless of monk weapons or fists so why the hell not.

 

[Asisreo]

The druid explodes

 

[Gammadoodler]

Just a note that this thread appeared to last die in 2020.

 

[Charlaquin]

My 2 cents, is even tho sage said no, their own book condradicts the answer. Stunning blow says you have to use a melee weapon, but monks roll stunning blow all day unarmed.

No, stunning strike says it has to be a melee weapon attack. Unarmed strikes are melee weapon attacks.

So fist are weapons for one skill but not for another that's unsatisfactory.

Fists are never weapons. Melee weapon attack is a category of attack, the other categories being ranged weapon attack, melee spell attack, and ranged spell attack. Unarmed strikes fall under the category of melee weapon attacks, even though they are generally not made with weapons (though some race features create exceptions to this general rule), because they are neither ranged attacks nor spell attacks.

Also like others have said martial arts carries all the same stats as finesse so it's simply a bs play on words.

They aren’t weapons with the finesse property. That’s not a play on words, that’s just the literal meaning of the text.

Also, so what if monk gets flurry of blows, he can do that with daggers and short swords too so still has 3 to four chances a round for sneak attacks. He would have that many chance anyways so flurry of blows is a dead on arrival arguement. So the sages got this one wrong. And we ignore it. It really is astethics at this point because this monk will get sneak attack and flurry of blows all at the same damage out put regardless of monk weapons or fists so why the hell not.

That’s not correct. Flurry of Blows specifically allows you to make unarmed strikes. It does not allow you to attack with monk weapons.

 

[ECMO3]

A rogue can already use two-weapon fighting to gain a bonus action off-hand attack for an extra chance at landing Sneak Attack - this is essentially identical to the monk's regular bonus action unarmed attack.

An unarmed strike does more damage than TWF with a TWF-eligible weapon, while the main hand monk weapon can do more as well. This is especially true at higher levels.

Moreover you can turn this argument upside down - If there really is no difference between unarmed strikes and TWF then just have the monk use TWF instead. No rules prevent a Monk from doing TWF, the reason not to do it is to get the extra ability damage, while using a higher-damage weapon for your attack action as well.