monks and flurry of blows

[othaero]

One of my players is a lvl 3 monk and says he can do 4 attacks. 1 weapon attack 1 bonus unarmed and by spending a ki point gains 2 more.
According to the phb monks get 1 unarmed bonus attack.
At lvl 2 they can spend 1 ki point to do 2 bonus unarmed attacks.

It seems to me by spending that ki point instead of doing just 1 he does 2 unarmed for a total of 3 attacks. Am I missing something here?

[tzar1990]

You're right about him only getting three attacks.

Martial Arts provides one extra attack as a bonus action, while Flurry provides two attacks as a bonus action. Because you only get one bonus action per turn, he has to choose which of those he wants to take, rather than using both.

[Edge of Dreams]

You are correct. Both the Martial Arts bonus attack and Flurry of Blows require you to use your Bonus Action. So he can use one or the other, but not both in the same turn. He should get 3 attacks total when he uses Flurry.

[Nibnob]

Every player has one bonus action per turn. When attacking a monk can choose to take his bonus action for an unarmed strike, or he can spend a ki-point and use his bonus action for Flurry of blows.
However, at Level 5 the Extra Attack Feature allows the monk to make two attacks with the Attack action - he can then take the Bonus Action for Flurry of Blows for a total of four attack rolls.

[Shadow]

By the RAW it's a total of 3 attacks. The Flurry changes the one bonus action attack to two.

However, you are free to allow it if you like. During one of the D&D streams the group was running the Lost Mines from the starter set (or something, maybe I'm mixing up the module they were using, but it's irrelevant to be honest). These were WotC employees playing. During that run, the monk used all of his available Ki during one turn, and the DM allowed him a veritable crapload of attacks that round.

Bottom line, the RAW may state one thing, but ultimately it's the DMs call.

[Elbacone]

Doesn't that also make the feat Polearm master worse as it doesn't give an extra attack because you need a bonus action for it? Except the second bonus ofcourse..

[odigity]

Doesn't that also make the feat Polearm master worse as it doesn't give an extra attack because you need a bonus action for it? Except the second bonus ofcourse..

You are correct that the first power of Polearm Master is pretty much redundant for a Monk (gives an extra 1d4 attack as a bonus action, which you can already do). It's the second one that's worth considering:

"While you are wielding a glaive, halberd, pike, or quarterstaff, other creatures provoke an opportunity attack from you when they enter your reach." -- PHB168

[Ghost Nappa]

One of my players is a lvl 3 monk and says he can do 4 attacks. 1 weapon attack 1 bonus unarmed and by spending a ki point gains 2 more.
According to the phb monks get 1 unarmed bonus attack.
At lvl 2 they can spend 1 ki point to do 2 bonus unarmed attacks.

It seems to me by spending that ki point instead of doing just 1 he does 2 unarmed for a total of 3 attacks. Am I missing something here?

He will be unable to do 4 Attacks per turn until Level 5.