Is anyone else underwhelmed with the XGTE Drunken Master? Maybe it's just me because I DM and hardly play, but the perks don't seem nerely as flavorful or useful as the first three subclasses in the PHB. How often will your monk jump in between five guys just to score a few extra attacks? Is it better than I imagine in the full scope of what monks can do? I hope it's just me, because I would make this character for a game I could potentially join soon. I just need some opinions from not my head.
Performance, brewers tools, free disengage and bonus movement after flurry of blows, Make an enemy attack your choice of creatures if it misses for 1 ki, cancel disadvantage on skill checks for 2 ki, and then the final one is for wiping out a brawl with a kinda cleaving flurry of blows.
To me this sounds like I get to play Jackie Chan. Move in and out of opponents reach without them getting a chance to land a hit on you keeping you in the fight but out of the fray. The performance and brewers tools just goes for the flavor side, always willing to put on a show whether it is in combat or not. Letting the enemy believe that you are so drunk you couldn't possibly fight. That does not sound awful, is it super flashy or anything? Not really it is mostly mundane perks, but still useful same goes for the 'kip' ability to stand quickly which could be useful to avoid ranged attacks(bracers of arrow catching?). I think the redirect an enemies attack would be a lot of fun if a BBEG misses you and you make it hit its sidekick (probably murdering it). The ability to cancel the disadvantage on a roll could be incredibly useful (though expensive) if it is a clutch moment of some sort. The last one is just the barroom blitz, tons of little enemies kill a whole swath of them in a single round. Last one is situational, most of their abilities are situational.
I would agree that power wise it is low, but in terms of flavor this IS the drunken master. I feel like the only thing they didn't do was include some kind of fire breath type attack but they did away with everything requiring you to actually be intoxicated which I like. This is a super squirrely class that is hard to pin down even when you are cornered. I can appreciate that, and I think it would be fun to play.
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"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
Since I was once again looking at the various Monk subclasses I couldn't help but stereotype them.
Shadow - Ninja
Drunken Master - Jackie Chan
Four Elements - Avatar (Bending)
Kensei - Kung Fu (Bruce Lee)
Long Death - Kill Bill or Fist of the North Star
Open Hand - Mountain Mystic
Sun Soul - Goku
I also am currently wondering if it would be fun to have a group of all monks. My players may have to meet a power rangers group of monks, not sure if they will pose or not. : )
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"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
It's "up to" 5 Flurry attacks, which is in addition to your Attack + Extra Attack. In an ideal situation, your Level 17 Monk has just gotten mobbed by five of the Lich's minions, who have managed to knock you prone. No worries, you use your Drunken ways to stand up for 5', and then you do Flurry of Blows to launch into 7 (!) 1d10+DEX punches with free Disengage and +10' movement (for a total of 60' left on your turn) that you can weave through your foes and plenty to end your turn next to the Lich and out of the minions' movement range.
Obviously this is contrived, but it sounds mostly useful for nuking a group of low-level minions, who (thanks to bounded accuracy) can be dangerous if left alone even at high levels. At least soften them up for a Fireball.
Yeah. A while back, I made a homebrew monk subclass inspired by the movies where he isn't a Drunken Master. Here it is in a rather crude format.
Way of Resourcefulness:
3rd level: you are proficient with improvised weapons and scimitars, they count as monk weapons for you and, if the DM agrees that a given improvised weapon could deal damage, it uses a damage die one size larger than the die shown on the monk table.
6th level: when a creature no more than one size larger or smaller than you and that you can see misses you with a melee weapon attack using a weapon other than a dagger, greatsword, longsword, rapier, scimitar, shortsword or similar weapon, you can spend one ki point to grab its weapon; it must make a Strength saving throw or be disarmed. When you use this feature successfully, the weapon you steal counts as an improvised weapon for you until the end of your next turn. Also, your Ki-Empowered Strikes feature applies to improvised weapons as well as unarmed strikes.
11th level: you have advantage on saving throws against traps and other environmental hazards and they have disadvantage on attack rolls against you. In addition, if you expose an enemy to a trap or hazard, they have disadvantage on saving throws against it and it has advantage on attack rolls against them. These effects also apply to environmental hazards that require a character to trigger them, such as boulders.
17th level: whenever you hit a creature with an improvised weapon, the DM will choose one of the effects listed under Open Hand Technique and apply it to the target.
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"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
I'm currently playing a drunken master in a multi-arc campaign, but currently were in the Curse of Strahd arc. As of last session we just hit 7th level, which I've leveled straight monk on the drunken master tradition. I can definitely see where this class is strong and where it's not quite so much.
This class is strongest in large open terrain brawls in a target-rich environment. There this class will pretty much one-man-band their way through the fight without breaking a sweat. Coupling this with the Lucky and Alert feats, you pretty much have a recipe for an unstoppable critting machine. Even without them, this class excels in crowd-control. Drunken master is a DPS class, not a tank.
As for feats, having Lucky means that you can reroll on a botched roll or a crit fail. The best part about that is that if your initial roll is a crit fail, but you reroll with lucky, even if you still don't succeed on the roll you don't take the damage or detriments from a crit fail. Lucky can sometimes be something of a crap-shoot, but it is an exceedingly handy tool to have for a drunken master.
With the Alert feat, you gain an automatic +5 to your initiative and you can't be surprised. Ever. So it is literally impossible for someone to get a surprise attack on you. Once you have abilities such as "uncanny dodge" and "step of the wind" you can pretty much dodge any attack made against you. The +5 initiative to an already DEX heavy class means that you stand a really good chance at being top tier on the initiative order. That, in and of itself, is a life-saver.
My only gripe with this monastic tradition is that there is one big gaping hole where "improvised weapon proficiency" should be. Seriously, this tradition should come standard with Improvised Weapon Proficiency. Wet towels, buckets, chairs, mugs, anything that isn't nailed down is fair game. To get this proficiency you would have to take the "Tavern Brawler" feat, which as a monk, gives almost no benefit other than the ability to use improvised weapons. That, to me, is a MAJOR downfall.
Would I like a mechanic that did offer improvements based on intoxication level, possibly; As long as they're not as insultingly terrible as the 3.5 version of drunken master. Actually, I'd prefer that a drunken master could use an alcoholic beverage as a quick low-power heal. Even something as simple as a quick 1d4+CON could be very helpful. I know that may unbalance things a bit, but if you make it dependent on the monk/drunken master class or add a rule for CON+1 = number of times this can be done per day before long rest it could balance out.
I haven't been super impressed with my monk so far. I hope it gets better. He just hit 3 and is going drunken master because that has a lot of potential for role play.
Honestly anything sub 3 is kinda meh. So just give it time. By 5 or 6 you will be enjoying yourself.
Yeah, that's pretty much the truth. Once you get "Tipsy Sway" at lv.6 you can do a lot more actual drunken master stuff. Every level after 6 gives a lot of options for RPing in-game.
The primary benefit is that you can freely move about the battlefield without taking "attacks of opportunity" from enemies. By the time you hit upper levels and have a load of ki points the fast movement and the free disengage allows you to, basically, punch a whole room of bad guys without incurring any penalty. The Drunken Master is the best melee class in the game for crowd control.
Here's some basic numbers. My current drunken master monk is a human (variant) at level 9. He has a DEX of 16. So a base movement speed of 30 feet with my added monk bonuses to unarmored movement, my base speed is 45 feet per round. I have a pair of shoes that grant my monk an additional 5 feet of movement. So my total movement speed is 50 feet. Using the Drunken Technique feature I can use my Flurry of Blows to gain the feature's benefits. With that my base movement speed goes to 60 (so already twice that of any other character class) and I can freely move about the fight without fear of getting an Attack of Opportunity against me. Also, since I have the Extra Attack feature I can make 4 total attacks using Flurry of Blows, which I can spread out freely, which means I can hit in upwards of 4 separate targets within a 60 feet range. Since my damage die is 1d6+3, I'm not doing a whole lot of damage if I hit each target once, but I keep their attention and can keep whittling them down over time.
Now, again, I'm only level 9, but put this into perspective of a level 20 Drunken Master. At level 20 you'll have 20 ki points (that's terrifying) and you'll have a fully upgraded base movement speed without armor of (using my mods) 65. If I use Flurry of Blows at that level I can move 75 feet (or 150 feet if you have someone cast "haste" on you). You can still only make 4 attacks using Flurry of Blows, but you do gain several other abilities along the way. First, by 6th level you get "Tipsy Sway" which has the feature that you can redirect an enemy's attack to hit another enemy within 5 feet. In a target-rich environment, you can pretty much level the room. Your attacks, are also rolling at 1d10+mod damage by this point. Couple that with "Intoxicated Frenzy" from 17th level and you have a recipe for some hilarious total-room-destruction. Why? Because it allows you to make 3 additional attacks when using Flurry of Blows. So (provided they all hit) you can end up doing 7 attacks at 1d10+mod damage, or on a single tartet you're dealing 7d10+mod damage. That'll pretty much obliterate about anything.
Here's where I'll go on a bit of a brief tangent.
So, while the Drunken Master monk is not going to be a tank-class for your group, it is going to provide some seriously good DPS. Also, in the right hands, a Drunken Master player can create some seriously hilarious moments at the table. The class, overall, is built to be more thematic than just a bland "beat-em-up" John Doe. That's why I always urge anyone who wants to play Drunken Master to actually seek out the original Drunken Master films starring Jackie Chan and Yuen Siu-Tien. They give the viewer a better look into what the drunken fist style should look like from a thematic perspective. I always look at the Drunken Master from a class standpoint of being there for levity. If you're playing the class as dark, deadpan, or serious all the time, you won't likely enjoy it as much. Sure, it's ok to have serious moments in a game, but don't let that mood take over the character in the long-term. It comes down to balance.
Here's some basic numbers. My current drunken master monk is a human (variant) at level 9. He has a DEX of 16. So a base movement speed of 30 feet with my added monk bonuses to unarmored movement, my base speed is 45 feet per round. I have a pair of shoes that grant my monk an additional 5 feet of movement. So my total movement speed is 50 feet. Using the Drunken Technique feature I can use my Flurry of Blows to gain the feature's benefits. With that my base movement speed goes to 60 (so already twice that of any other character class) and I can freely move about the fight without fear of getting an Attack of Opportunity against me. Also, since I have the Extra Attack feature I can make 4 total attacks using Flurry of Blows, which I can spread out freely, which means I can hit in upwards of 4 separate targets within a 60 feet range. Since my damage die is 1d6+3, I'm not doing a whole lot of damage if I hit each target once, but I keep their attention and can keep whittling them down over time.
Why would you spread damage to 4 separate targets?! That's such a strange move to make. Better focus damage on a single foe at a time to take one of them out as soon as possible.
I can see some logic in using Drunken Technique to hit a minion and then quickly move pass them toward the backline spellcasters, but that's about it. Usually, the monk is much better off staying close to his teammates so the team can focus fire on one enemy at a time. In this kind of scenario, Drunken Technique is useless.
First, by 6th level you get "Tipsy Sway" which has the feature that you can redirect an enemy's attack to hit another enemy within 5 feet. In a target-rich environment, you can pretty much level the room
Tipsy Sway is indeed nice, but since it uses up a reaction you can only redirect a blow per turn. "Leveling the room" it does not.
Also, I was specifically asking about Drunken Technique, not about the other Drunken Master abilities.
The class, overall, is built to be more thematic than just a bland "beat-em-up" John Doe. That's why I always urge anyone who wants to play Drunken Master to actually seek out the original Drunken Master films starring Jackie Chan and Yuen Siu-Tien. They give the viewer a better look into what the drunken fist style should look like from a thematic perspective. I always look at the Drunken Master from a class standpoint of being there for levity. If you're playing the class as dark, deadpan, or serious all the time, you won't likely enjoy it as much. Sure, it's ok to have serious moments in a game, but don't let that mood take over the character in the long-term. It comes down to balance.
The class does indeed have neat roleplay potential. I just think it is sort of mediocre combat-wise until "Tipsy Sway" is learnt at level 6.
Drunken masters are comedy (abuse) gold. With a melee ally, especially a great weapon feat one, the friend closes their eyes for one attack (disadvantage) and swings at their monk friend with -5th for +10 damage if he misses the The drunken fool spends a reaction to tipsy sway the blade away and redirect that miss into an auto hit on the high AC target they are both supposed to be attacking. Cue dumbfounded expressions. Of course if the friend still manages to hit its even funnier and the monk bleeds profusely.
That is actually a pretty cool tag team build. I had never considered something like that.
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"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
So, while the Drunken Master monk is not going to be a tank-class for your group, it is going to provide some seriously good DPS. Also, in the right hands, a Drunken Master player can create some seriously hilarious moments at the table. The class, overall, is built to be more thematic than just a bland "beat-em-up" John Doe. That's why I always urge anyone who wants to play Drunken Master to actually seek out the original Drunken Master films starring Jackie Chan and Yuen Siu-Tien. They give the viewer a better look into what the drunken fist style should look like from a thematic perspective. I always look at the Drunken Master from a class standpoint of being there for levity. If you're playing the class as dark, deadpan, or serious all the time, you won't likely enjoy it as much. Sure, it's ok to have serious moments in a game, but don't let that mood take over the character in the long-term. It comes down to balance.
And that's just it, The drunken master monk isn't supposed to be taken too seriously. It takes away from the fun of the archetype if you are forcing it in a serious setting. Take my drunken master monk for example. He's a Tortle who, story wise, found out what he's like when drunk and just always acts like that even if he's not drunk. The party that he's in absolutely loves him, what with his scottish accent, his bagpipes, his acrobatics (+6 at 3rd level fro crying out loud), and just him in general. They even like his name... Senpai... I lost a bet okay? Leave me alone. But he was never meant to be a serious character, and the party loves him for that!
So, while the Drunken Master monk is not going to be a tank-class for your group, it is going to provide some seriously good DPS. Also, in the right hands, a Drunken Master player can create some seriously hilarious moments at the table. The class, overall, is built to be more thematic than just a bland "beat-em-up" John Doe. That's why I always urge anyone who wants to play Drunken Master to actually seek out the original Drunken Master films starring Jackie Chan and Yuen Siu-Tien. They give the viewer a better look into what the drunken fist style should look like from a thematic perspective. I always look at the Drunken Master from a class standpoint of being there for levity. If you're playing the class as dark, deadpan, or serious all the time, you won't likely enjoy it as much. Sure, it's ok to have serious moments in a game, but don't let that mood take over the character in the long-term. It comes down to balance.
And that's just it, The drunken master monk isn't supposed to be taken too seriously. It takes away from the fun of the archetype if you are forcing it in a serious setting. Take my drunken master monk for example. He's a Tortle who, story wise, found out what he's like when drunk and just always acts like that even if he's not drunk. The party that he's in absolutely loves him, what with his scottish accent, his bagpipes, his acrobatics (+6 at 3rd level fro crying out loud), and just him in general. They even like his name... Senpai... I lost a bet okay? Leave me alone. But he was never meant to be a serious character, and the party loves him for that!
That sounds like an amazingly fun combo right there!
It's actually pretty funny right now in the campaign I'm currently playing in, we're doing the "Curse of Strahd" story arc. So, despite the drab scenery and the generally oppressive atmosphere, our party sticks out like a sore thumb (and that's putting it mildly). Yet amongst these odd travelers is a scruffy, bombastic, and goofy drunkard by the name of Krog. He speaks entirely in the third-person with a thick Russian accent. He's earned Strahd's ire in ways that even my DM thinks is borderline-suicidal. (Basically, Strahd killed him once, but the party resurrected him and Strahd can't seem to effectively hit him to make him perma-dead. Also, every time Strahd appears Krog taunts him by calling him a "b***h-face" and acts like a goofball.) Overall, it's been one of the most fun character builds I've ever done.
I have optimized Krog in a few areas with feats. These have been especially handy in Role-Play and in combat mechanics:
(Note: I'm playing as a 5e Human-Variant build, so I get the 1 feat and +1 to 2 stats at first level. Currently my character is Level 9.)
Lucky feat - This seems like a no-brainer. You have a character who is already absurd and comedic, but what happens when you roll those pesky crit-fails that would usually do more harm than good? Thanks to this, you have a better shot of nailing that haphazard last-second attack, making a saving throw, or avoid a crit-fail. For a class like Drunken Master this is an absolute MUST HAVE!
Alert feat - While not as critical as Lucky, this feat does give you a LOT of bonuses that are incredibly useful. The automatic +5 to initiative rolls is never a bad thing. In fact with this class it's quite the boon. The most critical aspect of this feat, though, is that YOU CAN NEVER BE SURPRISE ATTACKED! Anyone who has ever watched kung-fu movies has seen the moment the wise Sensei senses trouble coming before it rears its ugly head. More often than not, with my DM, this grants me an action when a surprise round starts. What that action is depends on the situation.
Resilient feat - This feat could not be more utilitarian. As a Monk you have proficiency in STR and DEX saves, but with a Drunken Master, you need to have a pretty hefty CON to handle your liquor if you do imbibe. In our campaign I've run into at least 2 instances where my DM has tried to poison my character with poisoned wine. Since I took Resilient, which I put into CON, I get my proficiency bonus and add a +1 to my CON stat. (Now you can take Resilient for any stat, STR, DEX, CON, INT, WIS, CHA and get those bonuses, it just was a better fit to take CON in my case.) As such, I've been able to chug the poisoned wine and it doesn't phase me. That's pretty freakin' cool. Imagine that for a minute.
Resilient feat - This feat could not be more utilitarian. As a Monk you have proficiency in STR and DEX saves, but with a Drunken Master, you need to have a pretty hefty CON to handle your liquor if you do imbibe. In our campaign I've run into at least 2 instances where my DM has tried to poison my character with poisoned wine. Since I took Resilient, which I put into CON, I get my proficiency bonus and add a +1 to my CON stat. (Now you can take Resilient for any stat, STR, DEX, CON, INT, WIS, CHA and get those bonuses, it just was a better fit to take CON in my case.) As such, I've been able to chug the poisoned wine and it doesn't phase me. That's pretty freakin' cool. Imagine that for a minute.
While that does sound awesome, just remember Monk's level 10 ability gives you immunity to poison and disease. Once you hit level 10, the resilient feat to con for the sake of poison is null and void. That said however, proficiency with con saves due to DM trying to kill you that way does make sense. Although that's also not that great if you look at the arguable capstone ability at level 14 which gives you proficiency with ALL saving throws.
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Is anyone else underwhelmed with the XGTE Drunken Master? Maybe it's just me because I DM and hardly play, but the perks don't seem nerely as flavorful or useful as the first three subclasses in the PHB. How often will your monk jump in between five guys just to score a few extra attacks? Is it better than I imagine in the full scope of what monks can do? I hope it's just me, because I would make this character for a game I could potentially join soon. I just need some opinions from not my head.
#OpenDnD. #DnDBegone
Performance, brewers tools, free disengage and bonus movement after flurry of blows, Make an enemy attack your choice of creatures if it misses for 1 ki, cancel disadvantage on skill checks for 2 ki, and then the final one is for wiping out a brawl with a kinda cleaving flurry of blows.
To me this sounds like I get to play Jackie Chan. Move in and out of opponents reach without them getting a chance to land a hit on you keeping you in the fight but out of the fray. The performance and brewers tools just goes for the flavor side, always willing to put on a show whether it is in combat or not. Letting the enemy believe that you are so drunk you couldn't possibly fight. That does not sound awful, is it super flashy or anything? Not really it is mostly mundane perks, but still useful same goes for the 'kip' ability to stand quickly which could be useful to avoid ranged attacks(bracers of arrow catching?). I think the redirect an enemies attack would be a lot of fun if a BBEG misses you and you make it hit its sidekick (probably murdering it). The ability to cancel the disadvantage on a roll could be incredibly useful (though expensive) if it is a clutch moment of some sort. The last one is just the barroom blitz, tons of little enemies kill a whole swath of them in a single round. Last one is situational, most of their abilities are situational.
I would agree that power wise it is low, but in terms of flavor this IS the drunken master. I feel like the only thing they didn't do was include some kind of fire breath type attack but they did away with everything requiring you to actually be intoxicated which I like. This is a super squirrely class that is hard to pin down even when you are cornered. I can appreciate that, and I think it would be fun to play.
"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
Dang, well put. I'm sold then, I just hope I get the chance to actually use him.
#OpenDnD. #DnDBegone
Since I was once again looking at the various Monk subclasses I couldn't help but stereotype them.
Shadow - Ninja
Drunken Master - Jackie Chan
Four Elements - Avatar (Bending)
Kensei - Kung Fu (Bruce Lee)
Long Death - Kill Bill or Fist of the North Star
Open Hand - Mountain Mystic
Sun Soul - Goku
I also am currently wondering if it would be fun to have a group of all monks. My players may have to meet a power rangers group of monks, not sure if they will pose or not. : )
"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
It's "up to" 5 Flurry attacks, which is in addition to your Attack + Extra Attack. In an ideal situation, your Level 17 Monk has just gotten mobbed by five of the Lich's minions, who have managed to knock you prone. No worries, you use your Drunken ways to stand up for 5', and then you do Flurry of Blows to launch into 7 (!) 1d10+DEX punches with free Disengage and +10' movement (for a total of 60' left on your turn) that you can weave through your foes and plenty to end your turn next to the Lich and out of the minions' movement range.
Obviously this is contrived, but it sounds mostly useful for nuking a group of low-level minions, who (thanks to bounded accuracy) can be dangerous if left alone even at high levels. At least soften them up for a Fireball.
Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in awhile.
Way of Resourcefulness:
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Tooltips (Help/aid)
I'm currently playing a drunken master in a multi-arc campaign, but currently were in the Curse of Strahd arc. As of last session we just hit 7th level, which I've leveled straight monk on the drunken master tradition. I can definitely see where this class is strong and where it's not quite so much.
This class is strongest in large open terrain brawls in a target-rich environment. There this class will pretty much one-man-band their way through the fight without breaking a sweat. Coupling this with the Lucky and Alert feats, you pretty much have a recipe for an unstoppable critting machine. Even without them, this class excels in crowd-control. Drunken master is a DPS class, not a tank.
As for feats, having Lucky means that you can reroll on a botched roll or a crit fail. The best part about that is that if your initial roll is a crit fail, but you reroll with lucky, even if you still don't succeed on the roll you don't take the damage or detriments from a crit fail. Lucky can sometimes be something of a crap-shoot, but it is an exceedingly handy tool to have for a drunken master.
With the Alert feat, you gain an automatic +5 to your initiative and you can't be surprised. Ever. So it is literally impossible for someone to get a surprise attack on you. Once you have abilities such as "uncanny dodge" and "step of the wind" you can pretty much dodge any attack made against you. The +5 initiative to an already DEX heavy class means that you stand a really good chance at being top tier on the initiative order. That, in and of itself, is a life-saver.
My only gripe with this monastic tradition is that there is one big gaping hole where "improvised weapon proficiency" should be. Seriously, this tradition should come standard with Improvised Weapon Proficiency. Wet towels, buckets, chairs, mugs, anything that isn't nailed down is fair game. To get this proficiency you would have to take the "Tavern Brawler" feat, which as a monk, gives almost no benefit other than the ability to use improvised weapons. That, to me, is a MAJOR downfall.
Would I like a mechanic that did offer improvements based on intoxication level, possibly; As long as they're not as insultingly terrible as the 3.5 version of drunken master. Actually, I'd prefer that a drunken master could use an alcoholic beverage as a quick low-power heal. Even something as simple as a quick 1d4+CON could be very helpful. I know that may unbalance things a bit, but if you make it dependent on the monk/drunken master class or add a rule for CON+1 = number of times this can be done per day before long rest it could balance out.
Gerey Finore, Cleric at Large.
I haven't been super impressed with my monk so far. I hope it gets better. He just hit 3 and is going drunken master because that has a lot of potential for role play.
Honestly anything sub 3 is kinda meh. So just give it time. By 5 or 6 you will be enjoying yourself.
Yeah, that's pretty much the truth. Once you get "Tipsy Sway" at lv.6 you can do a lot more actual drunken master stuff. Every level after 6 gives a lot of options for RPing in-game.
Gerey Finore, Cleric at Large.
I'm kind of confused on how to use Drunken Technique effectively. I'm not sure what's the benefit of free disengage + movement.
The primary benefit is that you can freely move about the battlefield without taking "attacks of opportunity" from enemies. By the time you hit upper levels and have a load of ki points the fast movement and the free disengage allows you to, basically, punch a whole room of bad guys without incurring any penalty. The Drunken Master is the best melee class in the game for crowd control.
Here's some basic numbers. My current drunken master monk is a human (variant) at level 9. He has a DEX of 16. So a base movement speed of 30 feet with my added monk bonuses to unarmored movement, my base speed is 45 feet per round. I have a pair of shoes that grant my monk an additional 5 feet of movement. So my total movement speed is 50 feet. Using the Drunken Technique feature I can use my Flurry of Blows to gain the feature's benefits. With that my base movement speed goes to 60 (so already twice that of any other character class) and I can freely move about the fight without fear of getting an Attack of Opportunity against me. Also, since I have the Extra Attack feature I can make 4 total attacks using Flurry of Blows, which I can spread out freely, which means I can hit in upwards of 4 separate targets within a 60 feet range. Since my damage die is 1d6+3, I'm not doing a whole lot of damage if I hit each target once, but I keep their attention and can keep whittling them down over time.
Now, again, I'm only level 9, but put this into perspective of a level 20 Drunken Master. At level 20 you'll have 20 ki points (that's terrifying) and you'll have a fully upgraded base movement speed without armor of (using my mods) 65. If I use Flurry of Blows at that level I can move 75 feet (or 150 feet if you have someone cast "haste" on you). You can still only make 4 attacks using Flurry of Blows, but you do gain several other abilities along the way. First, by 6th level you get "Tipsy Sway" which has the feature that you can redirect an enemy's attack to hit another enemy within 5 feet. In a target-rich environment, you can pretty much level the room. Your attacks, are also rolling at 1d10+mod damage by this point. Couple that with "Intoxicated Frenzy" from 17th level and you have a recipe for some hilarious total-room-destruction. Why? Because it allows you to make 3 additional attacks when using Flurry of Blows. So (provided they all hit) you can end up doing 7 attacks at 1d10+mod damage, or on a single tartet you're dealing 7d10+mod damage. That'll pretty much obliterate about anything.
Here's where I'll go on a bit of a brief tangent.
So, while the Drunken Master monk is not going to be a tank-class for your group, it is going to provide some seriously good DPS. Also, in the right hands, a Drunken Master player can create some seriously hilarious moments at the table. The class, overall, is built to be more thematic than just a bland "beat-em-up" John Doe. That's why I always urge anyone who wants to play Drunken Master to actually seek out the original Drunken Master films starring Jackie Chan and Yuen Siu-Tien. They give the viewer a better look into what the drunken fist style should look like from a thematic perspective. I always look at the Drunken Master from a class standpoint of being there for levity. If you're playing the class as dark, deadpan, or serious all the time, you won't likely enjoy it as much. Sure, it's ok to have serious moments in a game, but don't let that mood take over the character in the long-term. It comes down to balance.
Gerey Finore, Cleric at Large.
Why would you spread damage to 4 separate targets?! That's such a strange move to make. Better focus damage on a single foe at a time to take one of them out as soon as possible.
I can see some logic in using Drunken Technique to hit a minion and then quickly move pass them toward the backline spellcasters, but that's about it. Usually, the monk is much better off staying close to his teammates so the team can focus fire on one enemy at a time. In this kind of scenario, Drunken Technique is useless.
Tipsy Sway is indeed nice, but since it uses up a reaction you can only redirect a blow per turn. "Leveling the room" it does not.
Also, I was specifically asking about Drunken Technique, not about the other Drunken Master abilities.
The class does indeed have neat roleplay potential. I just think it is sort of mediocre combat-wise until "Tipsy Sway" is learnt at level 6.
Drunken masters are comedy (abuse) gold. With a melee ally, especially a great weapon feat one, the friend closes their eyes for one attack (disadvantage) and swings at their monk friend with -5th for +10 damage if he misses the The drunken fool spends a reaction to tipsy sway the blade away and redirect that miss into an auto hit on the high AC target they are both supposed to be attacking. Cue dumbfounded expressions. Of course if the friend still manages to hit its even funnier and the monk bleeds profusely.
That is actually a pretty cool tag team build. I had never considered something like that.
"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
I'm honestly glad about that HeroZero as its clearly not intended to work that way... but it can.
Awesome way of putting it! 😊 My first choice, once I reach 3rd level
And that's just it, The drunken master monk isn't supposed to be taken too seriously. It takes away from the fun of the archetype if you are forcing it in a serious setting. Take my drunken master monk for example. He's a Tortle who, story wise, found out what he's like when drunk and just always acts like that even if he's not drunk. The party that he's in absolutely loves him, what with his scottish accent, his bagpipes, his acrobatics (+6 at 3rd level fro crying out loud), and just him in general. They even like his name... Senpai... I lost a bet okay? Leave me alone. But he was never meant to be a serious character, and the party loves him for that!
That sounds like an amazingly fun combo right there!
It's actually pretty funny right now in the campaign I'm currently playing in, we're doing the "Curse of Strahd" story arc. So, despite the drab scenery and the generally oppressive atmosphere, our party sticks out like a sore thumb (and that's putting it mildly). Yet amongst these odd travelers is a scruffy, bombastic, and goofy drunkard by the name of Krog. He speaks entirely in the third-person with a thick Russian accent. He's earned Strahd's ire in ways that even my DM thinks is borderline-suicidal. (Basically, Strahd killed him once, but the party resurrected him and Strahd can't seem to effectively hit him to make him perma-dead. Also, every time Strahd appears Krog taunts him by calling him a "b***h-face" and acts like a goofball.) Overall, it's been one of the most fun character builds I've ever done.
I have optimized Krog in a few areas with feats. These have been especially handy in Role-Play and in combat mechanics:
(Note: I'm playing as a 5e Human-Variant build, so I get the 1 feat and +1 to 2 stats at first level. Currently my character is Level 9.)
Gerey Finore, Cleric at Large.
While that does sound awesome, just remember Monk's level 10 ability gives you immunity to poison and disease. Once you hit level 10, the resilient feat to con for the sake of poison is null and void. That said however, proficiency with con saves due to DM trying to kill you that way does make sense. Although that's also not that great if you look at the arguable capstone ability at level 14 which gives you proficiency with ALL saving throws.