Expanding Special Monk Weapons

[Thurbane]

Feats:


Double Steel Strike (ECS) - treat a two-bladed sword as a special monk weapon.
Pole Master (SoS) - treat a hafted weapon as a special monk weapon.
Serpent Strike (ECS) - treat a longspear as a special monk weapon.
Unorthodox Flurry (Dr Comp) - treat a selected light weapon as a special monk weapon. You also gain proficiency. If it is exotic, you must already be proficient.
Whirling Steel Strike (ECS) - treat a longsword as a special monk weapon.

Classes:


Shou Disciple (UE) - 3rd level treat any light melee weapon as a special monk weapon for flurry; at 5th level treat any melee weapon as a special monk weapon for flurry.
Sun Soul Monk (CoSW) - 1st level treat light mace as a special monk weapon for flurry.

Extra printed monk weapons:


Butterfly sword (A&EG)
Cutting Wheel (SoS)
Hook Sword (SoS)
Monk's Cane (SoS)
Monk's Spade (SoS)
Three-section Staff (A&EG)
Tiger Claw (A&EG)
Tonfa (A&EG)
War Fan (A&EG)

Magic items:


Aptitude weapon property (ToB): could work in conjunction with EWP (special monk weapon)

Special mention:


Brood Monkey (https://web.archive.org/web/20150921155617/http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fw/20041126a) can flurry with any simple weapon or unarmed strike as a racial ability. Note: this is not a monk flurry, as such.
OA page 34 - "All monk prestige classes allow characters to use their unarmed base attack with special monk weapons, including the butterfly sword, club, jitte, kama, lajatang, nekode, nunchaku, quarterstaff, sai, three-section staff, and tonfa."





I checked lists of stuff and did a quick search, but i didn't see anything.

Is there a list, or can we make one, of ways to add extra weapons to what is considered a "special monk weapon"?

Things like Shou Disciple, Whirling Steel Strike, Unorthodox Flurry etc?

Cheers - T

[Inevitability]

Eberron has monastic orders that lets monks add weapons without spending a feat, I believe.

The sun soul monk adds the light mace.

[Biggus]

Funnily enough, only yesterday I stumbled across a list of extra Monk weapons in the A&EG (p.5). They are: butterfly sword, tiger claw, tonfa, three-section staff, and war fan.

[schreier]

https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?166201-Monk-Weapons-(3-5)

[ShurikVch]

Secrets of Sarlona have some weapons:

A monk who is proficient with a ... can treat it as a special monk weapon.
The "..." in question are:
Cane, Monk's
Cutting Wheel
Spade, Monk's
Sword, Hook

Pole Master feat - from the same book - allow to use hafted reach weapon as a special monk weapon

[Chronos]

An expanding special monk weapon:
https://thumbs.gfycat.com/AlertSaneAustraliankestrel-size_restricted.gif

[Aceon]

Any weapon with the +1 property: Adaptive Weapon can be a special monk weapon for flurry...provided the weilder has a feat that applies to any other weapon to make that other weapon eligible for monk flurry.

So, say you are like me and want to use a bastard sword/katana as a monk weapon for...reasons.

For feat economy you could gain Exotic Weapon (some monk weapon) and then apply the benefit of that feat to the Bastard Sword, saving you the need to get EWP Bastard Sword - AND - gain the extra plus of using Bastard Sword as a monk weapon for flurries.

Of course if your character was a Bastard Sword specialist, then you would probably already have EWP Bastard Sword. You might look into various ways of picking up free EWP's that could apply.

[St Fan]

Dragon Magazine #346 adds a few martial art styles (based on those of the Unearthed Arcana), two of them adding a special weapon as the 6th-level special ability.

"Sacred Path of Heironeous" adds the longsword as a monk special weapon.
"Sacred Path of Hextor" adds the flail as a monk special weapon.


Dragon Magazine #330 has an article on alternate monk martial traditions, that replace the standard one. I like this ACF as it can make monks much more fitting within a campaign, without having to invest in costly feats to select a different special weapon.



The standard monk uses a set of weapons most commonly seen in traditional Okinawan and Japanese martial arts systems. The sai and kama, in particular, are often associated with the fighting methods of those island nations, while weapons like the quarterstaff are more widely used and practiced throughout the world. Many other fighting styles and cultures exist worldwide, and not all monks must practice the same martial arts. If your monk wants something a little different, try one of these real-world fighting styles from Southeast Asia.

THE GHURKA
Since the early 1800s, members of this Nepalese tribe have served as special forces for the British military. Noted for their stealth and ferocity in battle, the Ghurka earned great fame for themselves and their weapon of choice, the kukri. The kukri is a common tool for these people, and many children as young as five years old receive one. As the child grows, he develops great skill with the kukri, since it is used for everything from cutting wood to skinning game.

In a D&D campaign, the Ghurka (or a similar tribe) might be special agents of a great empire, or just a small but deadly tribe hidden in a faraway mountain jungle. Many of the tribesmen could be rangers or barbarians, but monks represent the true masters of their fighting art.

A Ghurka monk loses proficiency in the kama, nunchaku, sai, shuriken, and siangham and gains proficiency in the kukri, short sword (some kukri are quite large), and short bow. The Ghurka monk uses the kukri, short sword, and club as special monk weapons.

ARNIS, KALI, ESCRIMA
These three terms refer to a wide variety of Filipino martial arts systems. Each has a long and unique history, and detailing each art is far beyond the scope of this article. They do share certain common traits and training methods that can be applied to the monk class.

Filipino martial culture makes extensive use of the knife, and some Filipinos carry a blade from an early age. Classical Filipino martial arts use blades as short as daggers or as large as longswords. During training, short sticks are often used as a substitute for blades and many Filipino masters are as dangerous with a stick as they are with a blade. Many of these styles teach the use of these weapons in pairs, a tactic than can be represented with the Two-Weapon Fighting feat in D&D.

Monks trained in Filipino martial arts lose proficiency in the kama, nunchaku, sai, shuriken, and siangham but gain proficiency in the short sword, longsword, and whip. Monks using this style count the club, dagger, quarterstaff, and short sword as their special monk weapons.

KRABI-KRABONG
Movies and kickboxing competitions have helped to popularize the art of Muay Thai, but Krabi-Krabong - a Thai weapons-based art - is less well known. The art is considered by some to be a predecessor of Muay Thai, and it utilizes many of the same powerful kicks, elbow, and knee strikes that Muay Thai is famous for. Thai culture is strongly Buddhist, and Krabi-Krabong incorporates many Buddhist rituals and beliefs into its training.

Krabi-Krabong teaches the use of five weapons and three types of shields. The weapons include the daab, a heavy curved sword often used in pairs (a technique referred to as Daab Song Muun); the krabi, a short saber; the krabong, a long bamboo staff; the mae sun sowks, a tonfa-like weapon also used in pairs; and the ngao (spear). The shields consist of the dung (long shield), kaen (medium shield), and loh (round shield). Techniques are often practiced with live blades, so students must learn control as well as power and timing.

In place of the kama, nunchaku, sai, shuriken, and siangham, monks trained in Krabi-Krabong learn the short sword, spear, and short spear and treat all those weapons as special monk weapons (as well as the club and quarterstaff). They also gain proficiency with all shields except tower shields, although they do not gain additional armor proficiency.

[ShurikVch]

An expanding special monk weapon:
:smallamused: In that case - maybe also this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_P-EDvsP0E)?

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/4_P-EDvsP0E/hqdefault.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEXCNACELwBSFryq4qpAwkIARUAAIhCGAE=&rs=AOn4CLD2gM-QLtBI0bhsFPwEMEp5ecs5Bw

[Vizzerdrix]

Any way to keep abilities when using a shield?

[Saintheart]

There's the Blade Boot from FRCS: a monk using it fights as if unarmed, i.e. it's the 3.0 equivalent of the Special Monk Weapon, just like all those nominated from the A&EG are.

The Ward Cestus from A&EG might technically fit this category since it's deemed an unarmed attack when used.

There's also a technical fit in the Sidewinder Monk from Dragon Magazine: it allows you to incorporate a bite attack into a flurry of blows, albeit you take a -2 to the attacks.

Skarn Monk from MoI also treats his arm spine attack as an unarmed attack, i.e. technically another special monk weapon at least.

[PoeticallyPsyco]

I remember there being a web article with a feat letting monks flurry with a Soulknife's Mind Blade.

[A little bit of research/backtracking later] There we go, the feat is Flowing Blade, from the Blades of the Quori web article. The link I found was dead, but here's the RPG Stack Exchange answer (https://rpg.stackexchange.com/a/166783/23180) that provided it.



Flowing Blade [General]
Your mind blade is an extension of your body and soul, and you wield it with the same grace as your foot or fist.

Prerequisite: Ability to generate a mind blade, Weapon Focus (mind blade), flurry of blows class feature.

Benefit: You can treat your mind blade as a special monk weapon so that you can perform a flurry of blows with it.

Special: A kalashtar or Inspired monk can select this as a bonus feat at 2nd or 6th level, in addition to the normal options available at those levels. They must still meet all prerequisites for the feat.


And, following that rabbit hole a little further, here (https://rpg.stackexchange.com/a/166647/23180)'s somebody else's compiled list of ways to add special Monk weapons. Missing from this index are


The feat Kahiko (Dragon Magazine 352) adds all Olman exotic weapons (no idea what those are).
The feat Pole Fighter (Dragon Compendium) adds chosen "pole arm", not to be confused with Pole Master which does almost exactly the same thing.
Dragon 330 has multiple variant monk schools, each with a different starting list of weapons.
Dragon 346 adds more monk fighting styles, several of which give you a new monk weapon as your level 6 perk for completing the fighting style.

[Saintheart]

The feat Kahiko (Dragon Magazine 352) adds all Olman exotic weapons (no idea what those are).


The Olman are a tribal people from the Savage Tide adventure path in Dungeon magazine. They have some unique weapons which are primitive but interesting. I'll go look for them shortly.

[Chronos]

Quoth Vizzerdrix:


Any way to keep abilities when using a shield?


Get an animated shield.

[loky1109]

Get an animated shield.
Doesn't work.

[Thurbane]

Thanks for the feedback everyone, will update the OP as I get time.

[Biggus]

[A little bit of research/backtracking later] There we go, the feat is Flowing Blade, from the Blades of the Quori web article. The link I found was dead, but here's the RPG Stack Exchange answer (https://rpg.stackexchange.com/a/166783/23180) that provided it.


Link to the original article: https://web.archive.org/web/20161101073623/http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ebds/20050110a

[daremetoidareyo]

That flowing blade feat can be combined with those feats that change the shape of mind blades. Also, if you take exotic weapon proficiency alchemical blade, you might be able to shape them as a mind blade

[ShurikVch]

In the "Monk Guide" (Dragon #357), among the special Monk weapons listed Longstaff (Complete Adventurer), Lajatang (Complete Warrior), and Gauntlet (for Monk it's considered Unarmed Strike)