Note
The prereqs for this new feat HARNESS CHI are
1. High wisdom 15+ Some STR based monks namely hobgoblins and 1/2 orcs I have seen playing the game wouldn't qualitfy. As they went a STR / DEX route. Perhaps making the requirement 16 would be better?
2. Still mind class ability. This makes teh feat available only to monks of at least 3rd level. This was put here to remove abuse from clerics, druids, rangers and paladins.
The nature of this feat and what it is based on is the internal martial arts where CHI is more important than muscle power. This takes much more training and a dedicated purpose. I did not want any character with a high wisdom to benifit from this. It is intented to be a monk only feat.
3. This works with UNARMED attacks only. No weapons. No character would really want to take this feat unless they had monk levels. If you have Improved Unarmed Strike you still only do d3 damage. It does NOT work with thrown or ranged weapons. So unless you have a STR bonus any weapon you use will do less damage.
I made this feat because IRL (ya ya ya I know D&D is not real life spare me) some styles of martial arts and many if not all martial monastic traditions focus on the development of CHI and the importance of chi over simple muscle. Internal masters only get better with age and most are far from what we would call strong. As martial artists age some external stylists move towards this aswell for obvious reasons, they get older.
From a GAME MECHANICS perspective I believe the feat is needed for a variety of reasons.
1. Monks are TOO dependant on ability scores. Characters should be able to be effective WITHOUT having a slew of high scores. Monks cannot wear armor they NEED high Wisdom for defense They need High Dex for defense and for ranged attacks and possibly for weapon finesse. Plus most of their class skills are a function of Dex. They need Strength in order to contribute to damage. All of their most effective weapons have only a x2 multiplier and only crit on a 20. All the weapons do a d6 unarmed attacks do more. They don't have access to any other means to increase damage. No specialization, no sneak attack, no favored enemy. Power attack is nice but they have a low BaB for a warrior class. They need con for HP as a d8 as again they are a warrior class they need all the help here they can get. Int you just don't want a penalty, and CHA is the only dump stat. If you use any OA feats CHA is not a dump stat as alot of the feats use the CHA bonus.
2. Monks are 2nd rate to any other combat class including rogues. They have some advantages but have a hard time helping a party unless played very well. They have a low BaB, Lower HP and no way to increase damage dealt.
3. This helps add a bit of realism and helps me at least suspend my disbeliefe and enjoy the game more. Entire martial arts and medical systems are based on Chi.
4. The feat is balanced:
- 1. only monks with a high wisdom will take it. STR based build would take others.
- 2. In order to match a high STR based monk a high DEX / WIS monk will have to spend 2 feats to equal the attack and damage bonuses of the high STR monk. The high STR monk is 2 feats ahead. These 2 feats is a big price to pay, and puts the monk2 feats behind on any other feat tree he wants to try for.
- 3. Sure most monks will take this, but most fighters take power attack, weapon focus, weapon specialization. Does this make these feats unbalanced? Is weapon finesse unbalanced? All rogues take this that focus on combat. Infact any high Dex warrior type class takes this is this unbalanced? I don't think so.
- 4. No other class but monk will really benifit. Is improved turning or item creation feats unbalanced because rogues or fighters can't take them? I don't think so.
- 5. It does NOT STACK with the STR bonus to damage, and it ONLY effects unarmed attacks and ONLY effects damage delt not hit probability.
I think that the stat dependancy that the monk has is a FLAW in the game. Do I think the monk sucks, no. But I think it could be better. This is a small boon, and makes certain kinds of monks possible. And contributes to the party as a whole. Do the game designers know anything about martial arts besides what they see in kungfu movies? Sometimes I doubt it they did a good job with 3.0 and 3.5 not perfect but a good job.
This feat will not over power a monk. 1: they have a bad BaB for a class that is expected in its primary roll to fight. Even with freeing STR up for higher widom is not going to help them hit more, just be more efective than they are. Fighters and barbarians will still be damage kings. 2: They have low HP for a combat class. They simply can't stand the heat as long as a fighter. This will not effect game balance very much
