Talk:Monk Weapon Focus (3.5e Feat)

Ratings

	Ghostwheel favors this article and rated it 4 of 4!
	I always thought that this should be the case, and here it is. Now monks can wield adamantine staffs and use their full damage.

Blocked Rating	TK-Squared is neutral on this article and rated it 2 of 4.
	Block Reason: This is a legacy rating from before our current ratings scale. While the reasons should be valid, it is not counted in the ratings on the article page because of the inaccurate scale.Monks suck a little less.

DanielDraco likes this article and rated it 3 of 4.

Interesting feat, as it gives a few benefits that aren't apparent. It allows them to do piercing or slashing damage should they encounter DR which calls for it. It opens up possibilities for TWF (if they can manage to deal with those penalties on top of their low attack bonus). Most notably, it gives them a feasible ranged option with the shuriken. Unfortunately, the shuriken has a small range increment which, again, is a problem due to their low attack bonus. That shuriken use is really what makes this feat worthwhile, but making a Monk able to attack at a low bonus from a short distance does not mean this feat is Fighter-level. I'll bump this up to a like if the balance point is changed to Monk. The synergy with the regular Weapon Focus feats is a significant boost. Combined with those, this feat can create a respectable damage-dealer who will hit almost as often as a Fighter, and with more attacks. I'd say it's fair to call it low Fighter-level now.

	Havvy likes this article and rated it 3 of 4.
	Monks suck, but now a little less. When I was originally looking at the monk, I was thinking that they should have had this...even before I knew anything about how DnD really works or what balance is. This raises their balance up a good chunk.

	Undead Knave likes this article and rated it 3 of 4.
	This feat does help the Monk by adding in the option for magic weapons, but it's kind of bland. I said I'd bump up the rating.

Wish granted. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Genieiji (talk • contribs) at

Question

Does this apply when dual wielding Sai? 2d10 sai in each hand at level 20? It is a bit sary.--Sergejsvk 15:56, May 13, 2010 (UTC)

No worse that one weapon with this feat + unarmed strike, a scorpion kama/no feat + unarmed strike, or two scorpion kamas. This power was purchasable via gold anyway. But to answer, yes, 2d10 for each sai. -- Eiji Hyrule 16:12, May 13, 2010 (UTC)

Why is this a tagged as a fighter feat (not balance level, feat type)? --Andrew Arnott (talk, email) 20:11, May 13, 2010 (UTC)

It seemed a suitable feat for multiclass fighter/monk types to take, being synergistic with the weapon focus tree. -- Eiji Hyrule 13:26, May 14, 2010 (UTC)

On a related note, why is this tagged as a fighter feat (not feat type, balance level)? --DanielDraco 16:58, 8 January 2011 (UTC)

Because it brings monks up a tier by giving it some damage dealing options that don't suck. And if you found ways to reduce MAD, you could turn the monk into a fighter level class. At least, that is my understanding of it. --Havvy 22:34, 8 January 2011 (UTC)

Their damage potential remains exactly the same. They can just do it from slightly further away now. --DanielDraco 06:07, 9 January 2011 (UTC)

Vagueness

The bit about being able to use any effects that modify or employ unarmed strikes is not terribly clear, and could be interpreted to have some unintended effects when used with shuriken. For instance, every time you cast a touch spell, that is an unarmed touch attack. If the spellcaster dipped into monk and took Monk Weapon Focus (shuriken), by RAW they could use those shuriken to deliver the spell. Or a build based around tripping could trip at range. It's not that much of a stretch to even say that, because a martial maneuver can employ unarmed strikes, you can now use martial maneuvers with shuriken. Even stranger, this means that a monk can use shuriken to grapple -- and following the rules as written, this means that, no matter how far away he is when he does so, he moves into his opponent's space for free once he reaches step 4. --DanielDraco 21:46, 27 November 2011 (UTC)

That sounds perfectly Monk-like. The grapple thing is a bit odd, though; perhaps the Monk holds onto the Shuriken when he throws it in that case, but only if he's going to succeed on the earlier steps. --Foxwarrior 22:11, 27 November 2011 (UTC)

The first (touch spells via shuriken) is unintended, but amusing and not particularly broken so I'll leave that in. I'd also be alright with maneuvers and shurikens, they need more ranged options anyway. The grapple one is odd though. How can I word it to seal off that bit of absurdity? -- Eiji-kun 01:51, 28 November 2011 (UTC)

Replace "effects which modify or employ" with "special abilities that would be delivered through or modify an unarmed strike". Add Stunning Fist to your Snap Kick example, and then exclude grappling from your example because it is a special attack and not a special ability. Add in a line that they can also deliver touch attacks through the weapon. Profit.

Alternately, borrow the ranged pin idea and write it in clearly so that they can pin people to walls with shuriken. - Tarkisflux ^Talk 04:15, 28 November 2011 (UTC)

I stopped by to make my rating not Legacy anymore, and having reread this, I'd be entirely willing to up my rating if you actually could do stuff like grapple and trip people with shuriken with this. This is for Monks. That's the kind of stuff they should be able to do. --Undead_Knave (talk) 20:32, 9 August 2013 (UTC)

Greater Weapon Focus

A full monk can't qualify for that -- maybe monk levels should count as fighter levels for the purposes of that? --DanielDraco 22:02, 27 November 2011 (UTC)

It was intended for multiclassing monks, yes. However, if you want to you can give me an arguement for having monk count as fighter levels (or half fighter levels, either way). -- Eiji-kun 01:48, 28 November 2011 (UTC)