[RPG] the benefit of the Monkey Grip feat

dnd-3.5efeatsoptimizationweapons

The Monkey Grip feat enables you to wield a larger weapon at the cost of -2 to attack.

In the best case, a larger weapon gives you 3.5 extra damage: Greatsword 2d6 -> large Greatsword 3d6. The increase is even lower for smaller weapons.

Power Attack gives you more damage increase for -2 to attack, and it is more flexible, as you can change your attack penalty and damage benefit from round to round.

Why would I ever pick Monkey Grip?

Best Answer

You should never, ever choose Monkey Grip

Not only is it a net negative to use it, there are myriad options that can do the same thing better, for less cost.

  • Strongarm bracers, 6,000-gp arms-slot magic item from Magic Item Compendium. Lets you wield larger weapons at zero penalty, and 6,000 gp is worth a whole lot less than a feat. It explicitly does not stack with powerful build, and does not stack with Monkey Grip thanks to the particular wording.

  • Powerful build, found on these creatures. Count in many ways as a size category larger, including wielding larger weapons at no penalty. There is no way to get this benefit without at least LA +1, which is a higher cost than a feat, but it also comes with a number of other benefits.

  • Fullblades are an exotic weapon from Arms & Equipment Guide, a 3.0e source. The changes in how weapon sizes were handled between 3.0e and 3.5e are significant, and that leads to a lot of groups just deciding the fullblade is a Large bastard sword and being done with it. That said, A&EG statted it as an exotic weapon for Medium characters (with extra-special rules for Large characters), so if you maintain that, Exotic Weapon Proficiency in a fullblade would get you the damage of a Large weapon without any penalty for using a Large weapon (because you aren’t, you’re using a Medium weapon). Exotic Weapon Proficiency (fullblade) is still a bad choice for your feat, but it’s a whole lot better than Monkey Grip.

  • Just fluff it. The descriptions of the weapons are all intentionally vague to allow you to describe your character the way you like. There is no reason at all that your greatsword cannot be described as Cloud’s buster sword or the like. Your character’s appearance, including the appearance of their equipment, is largely up to you and you should never have to spend a feat on it.

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