Monk Open Hand Technique: Flurry of Blows

[visitor]

Hi:

PHB (p79): Whenever you hit a creature with one of the attacks granted by your Flurry of Blows, you can impose...


I guess I've always read that too fast: So only the 2 bonus strikes from Flurry of Blows can have the a Open Hand Technique rider effect, not the regular (one or two) attacks also?

[Occasional Sage]

That's the RAW, yup.

Frankly I find it nonsensical and ignore it.

[RickAllison]

They call out in the flavor aspect of it that it is because the monk is using his ki to manipulate that of his opponent. His regular attacks aren't infused with the energy that allows him to influence his enemies, so they do not gain the ability.

[Malifice]

Hi:

PHB (p79): Whenever you hit a creature with one of the attacks granted by your Flurry of Blows, you can impose...


I guess I've always read that too fast: So only the 2 bonus strikes from Flurry of Blows can have the a Open Hand Technique rider effect, not the regular (one or two) attacks also?

Yup, only the flurry attacks (so it costs Ki - to get the flurry up and running).

[ShikomeKidoMi]

I think that's in there specifically so you have to spend ki to get the effect, it becomes a rider on making a flurry.

You can visualize it as not knocking them off-balance with one attack, but as part of a combination of strikes.

[Seruvius]

Jup. by RAW only on the Ki costing bonus action, which is fair enough IMO. Cost 1 ki for extra attack and ability to slap enemies off the roof is a fair cost. Otherwise if it worked on all attacks a 5th+ level monk could force 4 saves on a single target, which while hilarious as a player, would defs annoy me as a DM.

[Sception]

The Open Hand techniques use Ki, but they can leech that Ki off of the Ki already applied for Flurry of Blows. If you wanted to use an Open Hand technique but weren’t otherwise looking to use Flurry of Blows, then the technique use effectively costs one Ki point, as you have to spend a point on Flurry of Blows in order to activate the technique. However, if you were already going to spend a Ki point for Flurry of Blows regardless, then applying an Open Hand Technique does not add any additional Ki cost to your attack routine.

To capture this effect, where in some contexts Open Hand techniques cost one Ki point, and in other contexts Open Hand techniques effectively cost no Ki points, we say that Open Hand techniques cost 0.5 Ki points.