Monk: The Way of the Kensai

[Talesman]

Just looking for some Feed back on this particular Homebrew Monk Sub Class...Please let me know what you thing.

THE WAY OF THE KENSAI - Monks who dedicate themselves to the mastery of one weapon. Mixing their martial arts with those of a fighting style that incorporates one weapon as their focus for their Martial Arts. They must meditate daily on their weapon infusing it with their Ki power and envisioning their attacks becoming one with the weapon they wish to emulate. One hour of a Long Rest must be in meditation with their weapon. At 3rd Level the Monk chooses the path of Kensai, chooses (or is given a quest to go and retrieve) a monk weapon from the list of monk weapons in the PHB. The weapon serves as a focus for the Monk's Ki Power. That weapon and your unarmed strike are working in concert together to make the perfect weapon. The Kensai Monk spends his entire life mastering that weapon and will only have that weapon as a conduit for developing his skills. Your Kensai Weapon Damage follows the damage of your Martial Arts Damage Table. As you progress in damage you take the higher of the two damages between the Martial Arts Damage Table and your Weapon’s Damage.

At 3rd Level you gain the following benefits:

*You can use a Kensai Weapon in place of unarmed strikes for Bonus/extra attacks made by Flurry of Blows and Martial Arts. Your Kensai Weapon benefits from all the Ki-Empowered Strike features.

*You learn two Kensai Maneuvers of your choice from among those available to the Battle Master archetype in the fighter class. You can use these maneuvers by expending your Ki as superiority dice. You may use 2 superiority dice at 3rd Level per short rest. You get additional superiority dice per short rest at 6th, 11th, and 17th Level. These Di are rolled as 1d4. Your Kensai Maneuvers DC is your Ki DC.


6th Level, Kensai Disciple: The joining of Monk and Weapon intensifies increasing your defensive and offensive capability.
*Your defensive skill has increased wielding your Kensai weapon in a single hand, you gain +1 to your AC
*You gain one Maneuver from the Battle Master archetype and one 1d4 superiority Dice.

11th level, Kensai Expert: You gain the following benefits:
*You cannot be unwillingly disarmed of Kensai Weapons you are wielding.
*You gain one Maneuver from the Battle Master archetype and one superiority Dice.
* Your superiority Di are now based on a 1d6.

17th Level, Kensai Master - You have mastered your weapon to such a great extent that you receive the following benefits.
*Once a Kensai Monk enters melee while fighting his opponent for one turn he is able to observe where and how to make an expert killing strike. Once per long rest you can spend 3 Ki points upon a successful hit on one opponent and give a Killing Blow. They must make a Constitution saving throw vs your DC, if they save they receive 6d10 points of damage if they fail the are reduced to 0 health.
*You gain one Maneuver from the Battle Master archetype and one superiority Dice.
* Your superiority Di are now based on a 1d8.

[SwordChuck]

Monk subclasses should be kept relatively simple as their core class is very heavy with abilities and rules.

There are two types of classes. Those that rely on their subclass to give substance (fighter, barbarian) to the class and those that rely on the subclass to give small bonuses (bards, monks, wizards) to the class.

I think you may be adding to much crunch to your subclass. Hell, I think I added too much to my subclass and I'm looking for a way to slim it down.

Just my opinion on things.

Oh, you are also giving the monk, at high levels, low level fighter features... Kinda lackluster.

[Ninja_Prawn]

I don't like this. I'm AFB at the moment, but it seems like this has a lot more going for it, especially in raw damage terms, than the PHB monastic traditions.

Also, determining the power of your class abilities with a one-off die roll at level 3 is ludicrous. How are you supposed to balance a class that doesn't have a fixed power level? You have to get rid of that.

Edit: ninja'd. But I actually agree with SwordChuck of this one, so at least that's something.

[Talesman]

There are two types of classes. Those that rely on their subclass to give substance (fighter, barbarian) to the class and those that rely on the subclass to give small bonuses (bards, monks, wizards) to the class.

Great thought, I have been better informed. I guess i am looking for a open hand monk with a little different combat flavor.

I think you may be adding to much crunch to your subclass. Hell, I think I added too much to my subclass and I'm looking for a way to slim it down.

That was my fear but I wanted to get other's opinions to see. I figured the Maneuvers would add a little more flavor without over powering the class. Would removing the die and simply making those Ki abilities slim it down enough, you think? Or is that still to much?

Oh, you are also giving the monk, at high levels, low level fighter features... Kinda lackluster.

Again I am looking for a few abilities that work with the monk class and add a little flavor to the subclass. Thanks for your input.

[Talesman]

Also, determining the power of your class abilities with a one-off die roll at level 3 is ludicrous. How are you supposed to balance a class that doesn't have a fixed power level? You have to get rid of that.

Sorry I am a little slow here today. Can you explain a little more what you mean by this?

Thanks for your input.

[Ninja_Prawn]

I was talking about this:

On a D20:
1-4 Weapon of quality Normal Weapon
5-8 Keen Weapon +1 to attack only
9-12 Bright Weapon +1 to damage only
13-16 Excellent weapon +1 to attack and Damage
17-20 Family Heirloom +2 to attack only

It's hugely problematic and has to go. If you want to give a bonus to attack or damage, that's fine (in principle), but it has to be consistent and quantifiable. You can't let one good or bad roll at level 3 dictate the fate of an entire character.

[SwordChuck]

Great thought, I have been better informed. I guess i am looking for a open hand monk with a little different combat flavor.



That was my fear but I wanted to get other's opinions to see. I figured the Maneuvers would add a little more flavor without over powering the class. Would removing the die and simply making those Ki abilities slim it down enough, you think? Or is that still to much?



Again I am looking for a few abilities that work with the monk class and add a little flavor to the subclass. Thanks for your input.

Sorry I am a little slow here today. Can you explain a little more what you mean by this?

Thanks for your input.

First...

"1-4 Weapon of quality Normal Weapon
5-8 Keen Weapon +1 to attack only
9-12 Bright Weapon +1 to damage only
13-16 Excellent weapon +1 to attack and Damage
17-20 Family Heirloom +2 to attack only"

This needs to be removed, the game assumes no magic items and this also breaks bounded accuracy. It would also make multiclassing a nightmare.

Anyways...

Here is a Kensai made by another playgrounder, I would say use this or base yours off from it in some way.

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showt...-Monk-Homebrew


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Edit

I was under the assumption that the weapon was magical, ignore my comment about it above.

Though ninjaprawn is right about the rolling.

[Talesman]

Yep, I would say that the weapon scale was an optional type rule and is easily removed. I was looking to add the opportunity for questing and roleplaying for a focus weapon. I did not think that 5%-10% increase to damage or attack or both would make that much difference looking at the class from 1-20. But, I am not a numbers cruncher; that would be the reason for posting here to get a broader perspective.

I had looked at that guide before and didn't feel that it represented the original feel of a Kensai from the Oriental Adventures of 1.5 way back in the day when I first played DnD. It appears that this feel may not be obtainable through a monk type character but only through a fighter type character. And that might be where i need to look if I want to build this type of sub class. Thanks for your Input again and any other suggestions are welcome.