v1.4.32
After a Monk player activates Flurry of Blows and selects an Open Hand Technique, the software should assume (default) that the player wants to attack using Flurry of Blows and the selected Open Hand Technique.
Context:
- Open Hand Monk at level 5+ makes one attack with main action.
- Player activates Flurry of Blows as Bonus Action.
- Player selects an Open Hand Technique (e.g. knock prone).
- Player uses cursor to target enemy with unarmed (or gauntlets) melee attack.
- BUG -- attack is made by default with the remaining main action, not the Flurry of Blows bonus action, and therefore the Open Hand Technique I just selected is not applied.
The player workaround here is simple: player can select the bonus action attack button between steps 3 and 4 above. However, that additional step is very counter-intuitive as it feels like if I've just finished telling the game which Open Hand Technique I intent to use, then the game should understand that my intention is to use that Open Hand Technique on my next unarmed attack.
It's not a bug mate, it's RAW.
It has been clarified quite a few times, and is overall intuitive enough to understand.
Action and bonus action have their own timing: if bonus action requires a specific action to be enabled, you must first *finish* that action, because the whole of it is the trigger.
Now check back Monk's Flurry of Blows text: "Immediately after you take the Attack action on your turn, you can spend 1 ki point to make two unarmed strikes as a bonus action."
So trigger is the action, more specifically exclusively the "Attack action", not "a single weapon attack", and you can start Flurry immediately after you finish it only.
If anything, you could argue the UI should not display Flury of Blows before you finished your Attack action, but then some people may be surprised to see it "at the last moment" and may be frustrated they forgot about it, while having it visible at all times help people keep in mind its existence when planning their turn. :)
Hi Llacote –– Happy new year. I understand the RAW, although I do appreciate you pointing it out. To clarify, I'm talking about a user experience (UX) software issue, not a game mechanic or rules issue. I will try to explain my point a different way...
From a UX perspective, here is how things are supposed to work:
A Character is a wizard with a quarterstaff. By clicking the various Action menus, the Player informs the software that the Player wants the Character to cast a spell, and the specific spell to cast is Magic Missile. At that point, the Software says to the Player, "Magic Missile is confirmed. Which enemy do you want to target with your Magic Missile spell?" The Player clicks to select the target(s), and the Character executes the Action as the Player intended. That is good software design, and it is exactly how spell casting operates in the game! 👍
In contrast, here is the buggy scenario I described in my original post:
A Character is a monk with a quarterstaff. By clicking the various Action menus, the Player informs the software that the Player wants the Character to attack using Flurry of Blows, and the specific Open Hand Technique to use is Shove. At that point, the Software says to the Player, "Open Hand Shove is confirmed. Which enemy do you want to target with your quarterstaff?" The Player is used to the spell casting mechanic and does not notice the inconsistency. The Player selects a target, and the Character executes an Action that is not what the Player intended. The Player's intention was to perform an Open Hand Shove, but the Character execute a strike with the quarterstaff. 👈 That is a UX/software issue. The bug is that the software is asking the wrong question for the specific context. The appropriate software behavior is: "Open Hand Shove is confirmed. Which enemy do you want to target with your Open Hand Shove?" (It has nothing to do with RAW/SRD.)
I appreciate you taking time to reply, and I hope this explanation clarifies the issue I am raising!
All the best,
SlowChild
AAAw ok. My bad then.
Seems indeed like a bug, a weird one to boot. I'll try it tomorrow in a one-shot (didn't play Open Hand Monk in Solasta yet and it's exclusive archetype feature probably why I never encountered the trouble).
Have a nice evening, good year to you too. :)