MONK FEATS
In Original and in Advanced D&D, the Monk was incoherent and over-powered but had some very distinctive and enjoyable abilities, such as the way their hand-to-hand combat power improved level upon level while their AC got better, representing their defensive maneuvers. They could slow down their bodies to feign death and enjoyed massively boosted movement.
In Expanded Lore, Szymon Piecha jettisons most of this, leaving us with a martial artist who is very effective at first level but has little to look forward to at higher levels. Expanded Lore v2 addresses a lot of these issues.
In Expanded Lore, Szymon Piecha jettisons most of this, leaving us with a martial artist who is very effective at first level but has little to look forward to at higher levels. Expanded Lore v2 addresses a lot of these issues.
Martial Arts Level: This score adds to the Monk's AC, base movement and saving throws to dodge missiles. It is also added to the number of Hit Points healed through meditating.
Monk Feats
Defensive Arts: Improve your AC by +2
Expanded Lore offered only Dodge (+1 AC) as improved defense for Monks and replaces this with a Martial Arts Level that improves AC. This Feast enables Monks to focus on self-defense.
Exotic Weaponry: gain an additional +1 To Hit and damage while fighting with exotic weapons (nunchaku, meteor hammers, butterfly swords).
A nice Feat from Expanded Lore that puts Monk's on a footing with Fighters - especially since they gain bonuses with these weapons as a matter of course: a +05% XP bonus with Nunchaku, +1 damage with a Meteor Hammer and +1 AC when wielding a Butterfly Sword.
Feign Death: When you meditate, you can slow down your heart rate and respiration and stop higher brain activity, becoming indistinguishable from a corpse and requiring no air for 2d6 hours.
A Monk ability from OD&D that needs to be referenced - feign death.
Nirvana: When you mediate, you roll the dice twice to regain Hit Points and you are immune to ESP, scrying or detection spells for the duration.
In Expanded Lore, Nirvana only improved the Monk's healing rate by +1 HP per day. In v2, the Monk heals 1d6 HP after each won battle. The former is too weak a power and the latter strikes me as too strong. Boosting the efficacy of the Monk's Meditation power strikes the balance, especially as each die adds the Monk's Martial Arts Level.
Offensive Arts: Improve your unarmed combat damage by +1 and treat this as an attack with a magic weapon; if you choose this a second time, gain a third unarmed combat attack every round; if you choose this a third time, improve your unarmed combat damage dice to d8s
This replaces the Iron Fists/Knuckles Feat in Expanded Lore v1/v2. It's better than Iron Fists and escalates, but not as powerful as Iron Knuckles (which is +2 damage) the first time it is chosen
Vital Strike: If your first unarmed attack against an opponent deals damage they are immobilised for1 round
An excellent Feat from Expanded Lore v2. I've actually toughened this one up (no save!). It already has limitations: only applies on your first attack against an enemy and only if that attack deals damage and only if they fail a saving throw. I would also rule that it only works on non-magical living creatures.
Water Walk: You can run on water (you can't however stand on water – you can't end your turn on water during battle).
An excellent Feat from Expanded Lore v2.