I am working on an Open Hand Monk. He's an urchin lotusden halfling who was headed for a life of crime before being found by a kindly old master who saw potential in him (he might end up with a rogue level or two). He's loud and braggadocious, but with the ability to back it up. Loves to fight, not because he's a violent person who enjoys hurting people, just as a means to test his abilities. He's also a bit of a hothead who can get into trouble because he can't back down from a challenge, but if he's beaten in a fight, he is a gracious loser who respects superior ability. I just love the idea of this tiny 3' tall guy walking and talking as if he was 9' tall.
Anyway, I rolled stats but I am having trouble deciding how to allocate them. I rolled three 15s, which are obviously going to Dex, Wis & Con.
For my last 3 I have a 13, 10 & 8. My initial thought was to go 8 STR, 10 INT, and 13 CHA. The CHA represents the ability to talk himself out of trouble he learned growing up on the streets. The 10 INT was mainly because I just don't like having dumb characters. And the STR seemed fine since he's a tiny guy and used DEX for attack anyway. But now I am thinking about how crappy his jumping ability is with such a low strength, while in my mind he's this acrobatic guy, and doing flippy parkour type things doesn't seem to mesh with super short jump distances. But I really don't know how to adjust it without ending up somewhere that is either personally distasteful (low INT) or makes less sense with the concept (low STR or low CHA).
Taking both mechanics and RP considerations into account, how would you place those last three stats?
And, more specifically, how dumb is an 8 INT? It's not really the mechanical stuff that bothers me about this, but whether it is possible for a low intelligence character to be witty and sharp tongued if he has the high charisma to carry that social load?
As a Open Hand monk you may want that 13 in Str for help with grapples. And an Int of 8 doesn’t have to mean stupid or dumb. Given your background it would make sense he’s just not book educated. You can still RP them as street smart with natural Witt.
Not stupid, but not educated either, I like that. Definitely fits.
I considered grappling too, but I figured I'd just use acrobatics to escape grapples and not be the guy to initiate. It'll be more fun and fit his personality more to just knock opponents prone with open hand technique. And using the charisma for intimidate will also be hilarious.
So, pending other opinions, I think I am now leaning 10 STR, 8 INT, 13 CHA.
As a monk you should consider the other benefit of "Step of the Wind". It doubles your jump distance for the turn so while normally your 10 STR halfling monk can only high jump 3 feet, or long jump 10 feet for the price of 1 Ki point you can double those for a 6 foot high jump or 20 foot long jump. That's pretty good for a halfling I'd say.
Even if you made STR your dump stat you'll be able to high jump up to 4 feet, and long jump up to 16 feet when you activate Step of the Wind.
Just a word of caution; escaping grapples generally requires a contested strength check. You’ll have to have a generous DM and some creativeness to use acrobatics.
Just a word of caution; escaping grapples generally requires a contested strength check. You’ll have to have a generous DM and some creativeness to use acrobatics.
While it is obviously up to the DM, all of the DMs I have played with go with RAW which to allow acrtobatics. I have always assumed using acrobatics is quickly getting your body of the way of their attack or out of the grapple before they have a chance to react while using athletics is preventing the grapple taking hold by force or using your strength to release the grapple.
From SRD
The target of your grapple must be no more than one size larger than you and must be within your reach. Using at least one free hand, you try to seize the target by making a grapple check instead of an attack roll: a Strength (Athletics) check contested by the target's Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check (the target chooses the ability to use). You succeed automatically if the target is incapacitated.
As a Open Hand monk you may want that 13 in Str for help with grapples. And an Int of 8 doesn’t have to mean stupid or dumb. Given your background it would make sense he’s just not book educated. You can still RP them as street smart with natural Witt.
I agree that low INT doesn't mean you're dumb. I would say that WIS applies to street-smart more than INT. INT is more of the book-smart prose and math and stuff. Low INT high WIS is really fun to play.
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I am working on an Open Hand Monk. He's an urchin lotusden halfling who was headed for a life of crime before being found by a kindly old master who saw potential in him (he might end up with a rogue level or two). He's loud and braggadocious, but with the ability to back it up. Loves to fight, not because he's a violent person who enjoys hurting people, just as a means to test his abilities. He's also a bit of a hothead who can get into trouble because he can't back down from a challenge, but if he's beaten in a fight, he is a gracious loser who respects superior ability. I just love the idea of this tiny 3' tall guy walking and talking as if he was 9' tall.
Anyway, I rolled stats but I am having trouble deciding how to allocate them. I rolled three 15s, which are obviously going to Dex, Wis & Con.
For my last 3 I have a 13, 10 & 8. My initial thought was to go 8 STR, 10 INT, and 13 CHA. The CHA represents the ability to talk himself out of trouble he learned growing up on the streets. The 10 INT was mainly because I just don't like having dumb characters. And the STR seemed fine since he's a tiny guy and used DEX for attack anyway. But now I am thinking about how crappy his jumping ability is with such a low strength, while in my mind he's this acrobatic guy, and doing flippy parkour type things doesn't seem to mesh with super short jump distances. But I really don't know how to adjust it without ending up somewhere that is either personally distasteful (low INT) or makes less sense with the concept (low STR or low CHA).
Taking both mechanics and RP considerations into account, how would you place those last three stats?
And, more specifically, how dumb is an 8 INT? It's not really the mechanical stuff that bothers me about this, but whether it is possible for a low intelligence character to be witty and sharp tongued if he has the high charisma to carry that social load?
As a Open Hand monk you may want that 13 in Str for help with grapples. And an Int of 8 doesn’t have to mean stupid or dumb. Given your background it would make sense he’s just not book educated. You can still RP them as street smart with natural Witt.
Not stupid, but not educated either, I like that. Definitely fits.
I considered grappling too, but I figured I'd just use acrobatics to escape grapples and not be the guy to initiate. It'll be more fun and fit his personality more to just knock opponents prone with open hand technique. And using the charisma for intimidate will also be hilarious.
So, pending other opinions, I think I am now leaning 10 STR, 8 INT, 13 CHA.
Thanks for the input!
As a monk you should consider the other benefit of "Step of the Wind". It doubles your jump distance for the turn so while normally your 10 STR halfling monk can only high jump 3 feet, or long jump 10 feet for the price of 1 Ki point you can double those for a 6 foot high jump or 20 foot long jump. That's pretty good for a halfling I'd say.
Even if you made STR your dump stat you'll be able to high jump up to 4 feet, and long jump up to 16 feet when you activate Step of the Wind.
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Starting low level (1 or 2 most likely) so ki points are gonna be scarce for a while. I'll keep it in mind though, thanks!
Just a word of caution; escaping grapples generally requires a contested strength check. You’ll have to have a generous DM and some creativeness to use acrobatics.
While it is obviously up to the DM, all of the DMs I have played with go with RAW which to allow acrtobatics. I have always assumed using acrobatics is quickly getting your body of the way of their attack or out of the grapple before they have a chance to react while using athletics is preventing the grapple taking hold by force or using your strength to release the grapple.
From SRD
The target of your grapple must be no more than one size larger than you and must be within your reach. Using at least one free hand, you try to seize the target by making a grapple check instead of an attack roll: a Strength (Athletics) check contested by the target's Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check (the target chooses the ability to use). You succeed automatically if the target is incapacitated.
I agree that low INT doesn't mean you're dumb. I would say that WIS applies to street-smart more than INT. INT is more of the book-smart prose and math and stuff. Low INT high WIS is really fun to play.
Please check out my homebrew and give me feedback!
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