Monk weapons how and when?

[frost890]

I have made a couple of monks and only use weapons it will bypass DR. I was thinking of making one that focused mostly on a weapon. unless they have a property like extension of self(unarmed damage through the weapon. I think it was third party) most of the weapons don't seem very useful with out investing feats in to them. for tripping or disarming. When would you use weapons?

[Sagetim]

If flavor/rp demanded it for some reason. Though, if I was going to play some kind of flying swordsman with a temple sword, I'd be playing a swordsage. I don't think I would ever use weapons on a monk unless the weapons were heavily enchanted and already monk weapons (like an adamantine temple sword +5, with other crazy bull****). The only time they seemed to have any point was in neverwinter nights 1, where you could use two weapon fighting, improved two weapon fighting, monk level, and kama's to get something like 9 attacks per round while hasted.

As it is, I think you can use two weapon fighting with your fists as a monk anyway, so the only reason to use the monk weapons would be if you had some kind of extreme advantage over the mounting unarmed damage, like +5 keen kama's and some kind of special awesomeness on critical hits. If you just need to bypass DR, then three +1 Sacred temple swords (one of silver, one of cold iron, and one of adamant) would be your cheapest options for trumping DR when needed. +1 for magical, materials as needed, and sacred provides a good alignment on the hits and +1d6 damage vs evil (thank you oriental adventures). They would count as +2 weapons for pricing. Though +1 sacred nunchaku would be pretty funny to beat a lich up with.

[Telonius]

Quarterstaff for tripping and disarming when necessary, a silver and a cold iron weapon to bypass DR, and you should be good to go. There are a couple of exceptions (like the Scorpion Kama from Magic Item Compendium which lets you deliver your unarmed damage through the weapon), but the rest of them generally aren't all that useful.

[QuickLyRaiNbow]

I don't think monks can use TWF with strictly unarmed strikes.


A monk’s attacks may be with either fist interchangeably or even from elbows, knees, and feet. This means that a monk may even make unarmed strikes with her hands full. There is no such thing as an off-hand attack for a monk striking unarmed. A monk may thus apply her full Strength bonus on damage rolls for all her unarmed strikes.

My reading of that is that, assuming you have a weapon equipped, you can use TWF to attack with an unarmed strike, then make an attack with a weapon as an offhand attack. Plus FoB and Snap Kick for additional attacks.

When would I use a weapon? Any time I wasn't planning to go for silly size stacking bonuses. Monks make surprisingly good chargers with Wallwalker and Invisible Fist, and I'd probably invest in a weapon because that's much easier than relying on Necklace of Natural Attacks.