Monk question

[SquirrelFlight]

I just downloaded, and overall, I'm a happy camper. However...

Was it intentional that many of the monk powers were keyed to the build examples rather than class features? I'm a big fan of "hybrid" builds that sometimes have little in common with the "archetypes" presented. To depend on one of these builds for powers leaves a bit of a bad taste in my mouth... is it perhaps a typo that needs correction (like other, less critical ones throughout the book)....

[SquirrelFlight]

D'oh! This was supposed to go in the Forgotten Heros discussion...

[Tavis]

You're right that the monk doesn't correctly follow the examples in the PHB where the mechanical differences between encounter powers relate not to the build archetype but to the choice of class feature (even if, in the case of e.g. trickster rogue and artful dodger, the build is basically defined by its build choice). I don't remember now if that was something that changed during playtesting (and I couldn't say so even if it did). But it certainly is a conceptual error at this point and I can see why it gives you a bad feeling, since it "crosses the wires" by conflating a flavor archetype with rules mechanics.

There's not a simple fix, since the encounter powers key off of two archetypes (grappler, kick-boxer) but there are three class features (internal, external, weapon master). However, any one character never has more than three attack encounter powers from their class at a time, and they're designed not to be unbalanced even with the extra boost you get from choosing one that matches your class feature. So the best solution, I think, is to assume that a monk character gets the build bonus for whichever encounter powers they choose. This has the effect of making hybrids equally as strong as a single-build-focussed monk, but shouldn't break the game. Because of the way powers are balanced, I can't think of any combinations where having a grappler encounter and a kick-boxer encounter for the same character would lead to problems, although your group should still review individual characters on a case-by-case basis (always a good idea anyway IMO).

Thanks for catching that!

[SquirrelFlight]

Thanks for taking the time to answer. I figured it was something along those lines. Currently, both groups I'm in (playing one, DMing the other) are sticking to core classes... but at least in my game, I'll be allowing my players to use the FH classes, and will deal with this if it crops up.

Thanks again!