Yet another Monkey Grip thread.

Sekhmet

First Post
A buddy of mine has been really into the idea of using spears lately. He tends to get his character ideas from movies he finds to be awesome, and I imagine he was watching 300 when the idea popped into his head to have a Spear/Shield wielder that could attack reach with his Spear, and shield bash with his shield in adjacent squares.

Monkey Grip is widely considered to be a waste of a feat, since PA gives a better advantage to damage at the same penalty, but what about using reach weapons?

Just from reading the rules, it implies longspears and spiked chains and other such 15'+ two handed weapons are included in the ruling on Monkey Grip, but speaking from a logical standpoint, I can't even begin to imagine a person effectively using a 15'-25' longspear in one hand, even in a crazy, chinese martial arts movie.

What do you guys think about the subject?
 

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Just from reading the rules, it implies longspears and spiked chains and other such 15'+ two handed weapons are included in the ruling on Monkey Grip, but speaking from a logical standpoint, I can't even begin to imagine a person effectively using a 15'-25' longspear in one hand, even in a crazy, chinese martial arts movie.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdYt8Tu_uHs"]You spoke too soon.[/ame]
 
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Monkey Grip works about as well as PA (at low BABs) for weapons doing 1d8 or more damage. After a PC reaches +3 BAB, MG falls behind forever...though it can be used in conjunction with PA, should you so choose.

RAW, it has one key advantage- it has NO minimum Str requirement. Thus, for example, a Str 10 PC could use an oversized Greatspear and get to do a base attack damage of 3d6.

RAI/spirit of the rules, some (like myself) also let characters with MG (or Powerful Build) using oversized reach weapon get extra reach, a position that is supported by some of the designers, but is not RAW.
 

I appreciate the bad chinese action movie. I enjoy them immensely, but there isn't any reach weapon use with one hand in it.
There are moments when one hand is on it, but it is as part of a singular maneuver, and is always withdrawn and reset with two hands.
 

Monkey Grip works about as well as PA (at low BABs) for weapons doing 1d8 or more damage. After a PC reaches +3 BAB, MG falls behind forever...though it can be used in conjunction with PA, should you so choose.

RAW, it has one key advantage- it has NO minimum Str requirement. Thus, for example, a Str 10 PC could use an oversized Greatspear and get to do a base attack damage of 3d6.

RAI/spirit of the rules, some (like myself) also let characters with MG (or Powerful Build) using oversized reach weapon get extra reach, a position that is supported by some of the designers, but is not RAW.

Using an oversized reach weapon to gain an extra five feet seems like a good idea to me. I think I'll go with that.
Thanks Dannyalcatraz.
 



<facepalm> Of course.

I've seen a lot of different interpretations on Monkey Grip, which is remarkable considering how simple the actual description is.

As written, it simply lets you swing a larger weapon with 1 hand, at a -2 penalty. Damage bonuses, fancy maneuvers etc. are not really part of it, as written.
 

As written, it simply lets you swing a larger weapon with 1 hand, at a -2 penalty. Damage bonuses, fancy maneuvers etc. are not really part of it, as written.

More accurately, it lets you use an oversized melee weapon as if it were if appropriate size to you (for a -2 penalty), but does not work with offhand weapons.
 

15' spears historically have often been used one handed with a shield, dnd's rules prohibiting it are unrealistic. I simply used dm's fiat to allow spears and longspears to be used as one-handed martial weapons. The lower damage balances with reach/thrown.
 

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