Monk Homebrew Rule

[Wormwood74]

Monks in 3.5e were pretty useless for the most part. Has anyone played using a homebrew rule that monks get sneak attacks the way rogues do? Or did you use a slower progression than the rogue for sneak attack? How did it work out for you?

Thanks!

[LTwerewolf]

Didn't use sneak attack, used a completely homebrewed setup where monks can choose an offensive or defensive style.

Defensive was about using combat expertise (at higher levels double the effect for attack sacrificed), and getting attacks of opportunity for getting attacked in melee. Defensive monks also used grapple, trip, and bullrush profusely and counted as size categories higher than they were.

Offensive was about 2 things. Charging=flying kick which =all the normal iterative attacks combined into 1 hit. For example at level 6 a monk gets two unarmed strikes at 1d8. The monk’s flying kick damage would be 2d8. At level 11 a monk gets 3 attacks at 1d10, so flying kick’s damage would be 3d10. This did not include the extra hit from flurry. The upside to it over pounce was that it can bypass DR much easier, the downside is you only get 1 chance to hit. At lvl 20 the maximum was 8d10+whatever str and magical effects. Offensive monks also got the ability to resolve attacks on touch ac instead of full, but only for unarmed strikes, not weapons or flying kicks.

Edit: also we gave monks full BAB

[Wormwood74]

Side question: how well does the Pathfinder update to 3.5 address the uselessness of monks? Does it make them a playable class?

[Lord_Gareth]

Side question: how well does the Pathfinder update to 3.5 address the uselessness of monks? Does it make them a playable class?

There's ONE archetype that makes monks T3 (Solidly playable in all campaigns and situations) and I'm told that the Zen Archer archetype is T4 (Specialized, but highly limited). Everything else is either as-bad or EVEN WORSE.

A word to the wise - if you do choose to use the PF monk, ignore anything SKR says about Flurry. And I do mean ANYTHING.

[eggs]

On sneak attack, there's a Dragon Magazine monk variant that adds Sneak Attack (Side Winder), and it's a really easy way to make a character with high damage output along with the other Monk perks. It manages to be a big improvement, despite throwing away the first level feat and getting its bonus attack somewhat differently than flurry.

On Pathfinder, if your build was using size-stacking as a damage engine, PF stomps all over that. If you weren't, the base class is a bit of an improvement. If you weren't relying on size-stacking, and you're factoring in archetypes like Sensei, Qinggong, Tetori and Hungry Ghost, it's a healthy boost.