The Final Solution to the Monkish Question?

[visigani]

Almost universally Monks seem to be viewed as arguably the most inferior class in the game. I've often wondered what could be done about this. I believe I have found the answer.

Allow monks to learn and cast divine spells as Bards learn and cast arcane spells.

[Andreaz]

That doesn't really enter what I imagine a sublime martial artist does o.O
Some spells sure, but not a general spellcasting like that.

[limejuicepowder]

Also, they'd still be inferior in every way to a cleric with the unarmed strike feat. Not that I'm saying T1 is the bar to which every class should be held, I'm just pointing out that there is already a class that can do exactly what you proposed, and more.

[Shpadoinkle]

Yeah, it's... I guess it could work, but it's not a very elegant solution and doesn't really fix anything; the monk's class features are still largely useless (slow fall comes to mind,) incompatible with each other (fast movement and flurry,) and there's no real rhyme or reason to any of them. Would it make them a lot more playable? Definitely. But it doesn't really address any of the underlying problems the class has- you're just slapping some putty over a yard-wide (yes, wide, not long) crack in the foundation.

[Darius Kane]

Play a Swordsage. That's the solution.
Or do like my DM and combine Monk and Swordsage.

[BowStreetRunner]

Play a Swordsage. That's the solution.
Or do like my DM and combine Monk and Swordsage.

I would think granting a Martial Adept progression to the class would work better both mechanically and thematically than giving them spell-casting.

@Darius Kane: Does your DM have this class combination written out that you could send it to me? I would be very interested to see how he handles it.

[Killer Angel]

This way, you can also fix the fighter, you know? :smallamused:

[TuggyNE]

The two most popular solutions I know of are to turn Monk into a martial adept (Swordsage) or a manifester (Psychic Warrior), either straight-up renaming those classes or merging them into the progression of Monk.

[Kaeso]

The two most popular solutions I know of are to turn Monk into a martial adept (Swordsage) or a manifester (Psychic Warrior), either straight-up renaming those classes or merging them into the progression of Monk.

Makes me wonder why divine fist and enlightened fist aren't prosposed as alternatives. They're PrC's made precisely to make the monk more effective. Especially the Enlightened Fist has some cool tricks (being able to deliver all touch and ray spells as part of a full unarmed attack. Imagine this with Enervation! Not only do you deliver some nasty damage through your regular full attack, you also manage to deliver negative damage to boot! Combine this with some metamagic feats and you can probably insta-kill some higher level monsters by delivering damage while lowering their hp cap!

[Darius Kane]

@Darius Kane: Does your DM have this class combination written out that you could send it to me? I would be very interested to see how he handles it.
Other than converting it to 3.P? No. It's pretty straightforward, though. You just gestalt both classes.


This way, you can also fix the fighter, you know? :smallamused:
And that we did. Warblade+Fighter.