Queries for Drunken Master Designers

[Rudolph]

I am currently playing this wonderful new class and have two questions - also for future builds - that are not answered in the wiki:
1) What determines the Corkscrew Bullrush efficacy? The combat log shows numbers/DCs - how do I raise the odds for it working?
2) This one has to do with how the improvised weapon choice was implemented: assuming the odds for each are equal, a medium character has a 25% chance of getting a bottle. What about a small one? Is his/her chance of getting one 1/3 or higher (e.g. because it replaces quarterstaff with club)? Knowing this helps with deciding about whether to take Monkey Grip...

[Nemni]

Glad you like it!

1) What determines the Corkscrew Bullrush efficacy? The combat log shows numbers/DCs - how do I raise the odds for it working?

It's 1d20+strength modifier+size modifier vs the same for your target. So raise strength to improve.

2) This one has to do with how the improvised weapon choice was implemented: assuming the odds for each are equal, a medium character has a 25% chance of getting a bottle. What about a small one? Is his/her chance of getting one 1/3 or higher (e.g. because it replaces quarterstaff with club)? Knowing this helps with deciding about whether to take Monkey Grip...

Yeah it equal chance among the remaining options, so 1/3 for bottle.

[Wyatt]

Do the improvised weapons retain any of the characteristics of the monk's unarmed attacks such as counting as magic, lawful or adamantine? If not, is there a way to turn them off so you don't end up completely unable to damage something that requires specific weapon materials to bypass DR?

[Theodore01]

Does Improvised Flaming Weapons work only on improvised weapons or also on his fists or 'normal' weapons ?

[Nemni]

Do the improvised weapons retain any of the characteristics of the monk's unarmed attacks such as counting as magic, lawful or adamantine? If not, is there a way to turn them off so you don't end up completely unable to damage something that requires specific weapon materials to bypass DR?

No they are not lawful or anything like that. They are only active when you use the ability. Unequip active weapon to cancel it.

Does Improvised Flaming Weapons work only on improvised weapons or also on his fists or 'normal' weapons ?

Only the improvised weapons.

[Rudolph]

It's such a kick-ass class that opens up interesting new (low AB) power builds as well as RP. Re. those power builds, I first thought the class might yield the best results when exploited 'against the grain' of its description, so to speak, i.e. on armored toons that give up on its Monkish feats and mainly take it for the STR buff, but now that I've played around with it a bit I think I was wrong. It mainly encourages new kinds of monk builds and - unlike, say, the blade singer or Breach Gnome - allows for quite a bit of variety!

[Wyatt]

Does anyone know how the str bonus from drink like a demon works? Does it stack with a strength item up to the maximum +12 stat bonus? So if you had a +2 str item would the +10 from max drinks stack with that up to the cap? Also, what happens if your wisdom is not at least 16. Does that limit the number of drinks you can imbibe or does the penalty just stop at 6 wisdom regardless?

[Nemni]

Does anyone know how the str bonus from drink like a demon works? Does it stack with a strength item up to the maximum +12 stat bonus? So if you had a +2 str item would the +10 from max drinks stack with that up to the cap?

It does not stack so you will reach max 10.

Also, what happens if your wisdom is not at least 16. Does that limit the number of drinks you can imbibe or does the penalty just stop at 6 wisdom regardless?

If your wisdom is already at 6 you can't handle anymore alcohol and further drinking has no effect. So yes you need 16 wis (with gear/buffs) to get max bonus.

[Wyatt]

Is there any information on the mechanics behind corkscrew rush and if there is any way to improve it's success rate or is it just a random roll with no modifiers?

[Nemni]

Is there any information on the mechanics behind corkscrew rush and if there is any way to improve it's success rate or is it just a random roll with no modifiers?

I answered that above. "It's 1d20+strength modifier+size modifier vs the same for your target. So raise strength to improve."
Do you think it fails too often?

[Wyatt]

Ahh my apologies for the repeat question. As for whether it fails too often I will have to test it more extensively. I only have 24 str max currently and I would say I succeed no more than 1/2 the time. That is against size M creatures or smaller. Orcs gnolls xvarts etc. Does it take advantage of the improved knockdown feat? Maybe that would help. As it is I dont use it much because 1 round stunned on a non sneak character is not great when you have a 50% chance to knock yourself down and lose all that ac plus your action. I dont think it should be a sure thing but right now at least for me the drawbacks seems to outweigh the benefit. between the failure rate, self knockdown, minimum range, and cooldown. Maybe in a group with lots of sneak damage it would be better.

I also don’t use the improvised weapons much yet. Their damage is less on average at level 16 with 9 drunken master levels than my +3 quarterstaff with d4 damage on it. I am hoping it will change when i get flaming improvised weapons but since it only adds ab instead of eb the 2d6 extra damage doesn’t make up the difference. I immediately drop the bottle and kama right away as without the 1.5 str modifier they arent even close in damage and you gain no benefit with using only a 1h weapon. The quarterstaff is a wash and the club is only slightly less damage than my enchanted weapon. If the fire dmg doesnt add a huge dmg boost I probably will just buy an epic qstaff to avoid the hassle of having to reequip when it breaks early in combat, losing a round of attacks and constantly having to retoggle flurry of blows.

I love the alcohol breath and cure critical wounds though I think I am getting toward the max end of their effectiveness. My weapon damage will be more for a round of combat soon. It is still great for rp though. The healing is about the same. Easier at this point for me to carry heal kits because of the long cooldown and low healing for medicinal purposes.

This is all just nit picking though. The class is super playable and the abilities are great for the rp that goes with it. The alcohol mechanic is fun to manage as well. I love the class and even if it never gets fine tuned will continue to play it with great enjoyment.

P.S. I am much more of a rper than a builder so mechanical comments should all be taken with a grain of salt. I expect many others would be much better able to take advantage of the class’ strengths.

p.p.s. The more I play the character, the more I like the fire breath the way it is. I think it is sufficient given the cooldown. I still find myself using the heal more as just healing in between battles because it is not instant like the fire breath is. I think if it were changed to be instant cast instead of taking a full action, even though it is only a ~35 hp heal or so, it would feel a lot more useful in combat even with the lengthy 5 minute cooldown. I still tend to avoid corkscrew rush unless I'm in a group that can take advantage of it and help cover me when I fail.