Zen Melee

[FluidDragon]

I put the Still Mind Class ability in the feat so that Clerics could not take it.

 

[FluidDragon]

Harness Chi: (As your Chi/Ki is doing the damage, zen would be more appropriate to the attack roll not damage)

Pre-Req: Wis 15+, Still Mind Class ability

Benifit: Through meditation and clamness you have learned to harness your Chi and can enhance your UNARMED damage only. You no longer use STR to modify your unarmed damage rolls but use your wisdom modifier instead.

-fd

 

[hong]

IMO the feat seems a little too strong.

One of the monk's big disadvantages is that so many of his powers depend on different ability scores. He needs Wisdom and Dexterity to keep his AC up without armor, Constitution to avoid dying, and Strength to deal damage.

The proposed feat would make Strength far less important, allowing the monk to get double benefit for a high Wisdom score. It would be almost a no-brainer for monks to pump their Wis at the expense of Str, and then cover the downside by taking the feat.

Zen Archery is more balanced because it requires a bow, with which the monk is not automatically proficient. To get full benefit he either needs to spend a feat on MWP, or spend a level on another fighting class.

I made up a similar feat for my martial artist class, which I'll pimp every chance I get.


INSTINCTIVE STRIKE

To the astute, brawn is unnecessary. You exemplify this.

Prerequisites: Martial artist level 6th+, Weapon Focus with chosen weapon, Wis 15+.

Benefit: When using a weapon with which you have Weapon Focus, you may add your Wisdom bonus to your damage rolls in place of your Strength modifier. Unlike your Strength modifier, this bonus to damage is not adjusted for two-handed or off-hand weapons. You do not gain this benefit if the weapon you use does not allow a Strength bonus to damage.

Special: You may take this feat multiple times. Its effects do not stack; each time you take this feat, it applies to a different weapon. You can choose mighty bows or “unarmed strike” as your weapon for the purposes of this feat. A mighty bow’s Strength limit doesn’t apply to your Wisdom bonus.


You can think of it as the MA equivalent of Weapon Spec/Greater Weapon Spec.

IMO there's nothing wrong with feats that address mechanical weaknesses in a class, if those weaknesses aren't central to the class concept. Otherwise you'd never see fighters with Iron Will, or wizards with Great Fort.

I don't think "dependent on high stats" is particularly central to the monk/martial artist concept: it's just an artifact of how the rules handle such characters. And anyway, every feat that you take that fixes one of your weaknesses, is a feat that you could have taken to boost your strengths. Opportunity cost and all that.

 

[hong]

Benifit: Through meditation and clamness you have learned to harness your Chi and can enhance your UNARMED damage only.

Be one with the clam. The clam is all.

 

[krunchyfrogg]

I like the feat, but you've got to restrict it somehow, or else it's overpowered (as said above).

I like the Level 5 requirement suggested, and I'd like to also suggest that this can only be used when making a full-attack action, and I wouldn't allow Flurry of Blows to work with it.

 

[Li Shenron]

Harness Chi: (As your Chi/Ki is doing the damage, zen would be more appropriate to the attack roll not damage)
I think this would be a better idea if it worked on attack rolls, not damage.

I am not sure if I would prefer Still Mind or Ki Strike as pre-req, the latter comes at 4th, so for a single class Monk it means she could get this new feat at 6th... not sure what would be the best here.

This would be quite a must-have feat for Monks, since their Wis is almost always higher than Str, and would let a player put a lower score in Str. But Str would still be important at lower levels and for damage.

The feat would be quite for a Monk what Weapon Finesse is for Rogues, so I don't think it would unbalanced.

 

[Eltern]

aga

I think this equates to the same thing for monks (and clerics?) as Wep. Fin. is for rogues. This leads me to believe that it could very well be balanced.

Possibility: Make it just for Monks of a certain level, similar to Wep. Spec.

Eltern

 

[AuraSeer]

Re: aga

I think this equates to the same thing for monks (and clerics?) as Wep. Fin. is for rogues. This leads me to believe that it could very well be balanced.

The downside to Weapon Finesse is that it's restricted to light weapons. That puts a limit on the amount of damage that each hit will do. The damage die will not be very large, and the character cannot use Power Attack to increase his damage. (Unarmed attacks are the exception.)

As written, your feat applies to all melee attacks regardless of weapon. It'd be more balanced if you restricted it to the smaller monk weapons only, or perhaps just to unarmed strikes.

 

[Li Shenron]

Re: Re: aga

It'd be more balanced if you restricted it to the smaller monk weapons only, or perhaps just to unarmed strikes.

He said it's his idea in the first place to use it only with unarmed strikes!

 

[Eltern]

So

So, if it's understood that this feat would -only- be available to -monks-, -only- with unarmed strike, just for -damage-, could this be balanced?

Still seems like it could be a must have. But then, Wep. Fin. is practically a must have for rogues..

Eltern