It's not that monks can't wear armor, it's that it turns off a few of their abilities. Putting armor on a monk turns off the following:
Martial Arts: Unarmed damage die
Made up for this with Unarmed Fighting Style.
Martial Arts: Free bonus action unarmed strike
You can still use Flurry of Blows, because it is under Ki, not Martial Arts, and does not stipulate that you can't be wearing armor. This is great for a Way of Mercy or Way of the Open Hand monk that can add extra effect to Flurry of Blows.
Unarmored Movement
Negligible. Fighters don't need it, and I can still use Step of the Wind to close the distance if needed. The only real loss here is vertical movement.
Unarmored Defense
It's moot, because the armor makes up for that
Aside from the ability to use heavy weapons and Great Weapon Master in tandem with Flurry of Blows, Stunning Strike, and many other monk abilities, there aren't many benefits to this build. It reaches a similar armor class as a monk, with and without magic items. Higher if you equip a magic shield and magic armor.
My reason for wanting to play this is because: it's different and somewhat unexpected. I like builds like that.
One necessary item to make it work is a Belt of Giant Strength, but that's not a huge requirement.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
How I'm posting based on text formatting: Mod Hat On - Mod Hat Off
I'm not really a fan of Astral Self. Since activating the arms requires a bonus action, it removes the ability to Flurry of Blows on the first turn. This makes me less likely to want to use it on smaller combats.
I like Way of Mercy, because its features work on Flurry of Blows at level 11. It also gives me more versatility to be able to act as a secondary healer and an extra 2 skill proficiencies for a combined 8 skills. My 9th skill comes from the Skill Expert feat. I had a hard time deciding between Perception and Athletics for expertise.
If it weren't for the versatility and skills provided by Way of Mercy, my second choice would have been Way of the Open Hand, because its level 3 feature also works on Flurry of Blows. Its other features are good, but only really for combat.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
How I'm posting based on text formatting: Mod Hat On - Mod Hat Off
put together a vedalken twilight cleric 4/ shadow monk 6 build full plate and glaive build and this is one of the most fun builds I have ever thought of. Usually first turn is spent "in meditation" aka casting bless or bane or fairy fire. Occasionally going the twilight channel divinity then shadow stepping away.
I'm not really a fan of Astral Self. Since activating the arms requires a bonus action, it removes the ability to Flurry of Blows on the first turn. This makes me less likely to want to use it on smaller combats.
I'm not a huge fan of Astral Self either, however keep in mind that while you can't use FoB the turn you activate the arms, you still cause enemies within 10ft to make a DEX save or take damage equal to two rolls of your Martial Arts die, so it's not like the BA is completely wasted.
It works out better since now your unarmed strikes are now 1+STR. At least summoning the arms damage isn’t affected. But using them to attack is, so now Astral Self isn’t the best way to go. I hadn’t thought of it back with my initial comments
I'm not really a fan of Astral Self. Since activating the arms requires a bonus action, it removes the ability to Flurry of Blows on the first turn. This makes me less likely to want to use it on smaller combats.
I'm not a huge fan of Astral Self either, however keep in mind that while you can't use FoB the turn you activate the arms, you still cause enemies within 10ft to make a DEX save or take damage equal to two rolls of your Martial Arts die, so it's not like the BA is completely wasted.
It works out better since now your unarmed strikes are now 1+STR. At least summoning the arms damage isn’t affected. But using them to attack is, so now Astral Self isn’t the best way to go. I hadn’t thought of it back with my initial comments
That's no problem if you take the Unarmed Fighting style with your Fighter dip. In fact it even increases your astral unarmed strike damage for level 3-4 compared to regular Monks and then stays the same up until level 11 where most campaigns often tend to end anyway. ;)
True. I didn’t consider that when I looked at the OP’s character sheet and saw the Greatsword. So assumed GWM feat but not the Unarmed fighting style.
Ooh! Just realized that if you go Astral Self, the astral arms feature has no qualifiers saying that you can’t wear armor or shield to use the arms. So with the unarmed fighting style (you can’t use martial arts die because of the armor) you could still do d6/d8 and use Wisdom as the modifier.
It only says the arms affects unarmed strikes not your martial arts.
edit: sfPanzer I misread your post and thought it only applies to damage. But the arms still give you reach, force damage, and wisdom modifier for attacks. And I always thought the unarmed fighting style benefited subclasses like Astral Self that rely on unarmed strikes.
Edit 2: And could make the monk less MAD focusing on Wisdom since armor reduces the focus on Dex
-
View User Profile
-
View Posts
-
Send Message
ModeratorThoughts on a multiclass build like this? https://www.dndbeyond.com/profile/Sillvva/characters/67065417
Character art concept: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/Dq9nn
It's not that monks can't wear armor, it's that it turns off a few of their abilities. Putting armor on a monk turns off the following:
Aside from the ability to use heavy weapons and Great Weapon Master in tandem with Flurry of Blows, Stunning Strike, and many other monk abilities, there aren't many benefits to this build. It reaches a similar armor class as a monk, with and without magic items. Higher if you equip a magic shield and magic armor.
My reason for wanting to play this is because: it's different and somewhat unexpected. I like builds like that.
One necessary item to make it work is a Belt of Giant Strength, but that's not a huge requirement.
Homebrew Rules || Homebrew FAQ || Snippet Codes || Tooltips
DDB Guides & FAQs, Class Guides, Character Builds, Game Guides, Useful Websites, and WOTC Resources
I think it is an interesting build and one that might be fun to try out. Not your typical monk and definitely benefits from magic items.
I wonder if Astral Self would be another good option with the high wisdom.
EZD6 by DM Scotty
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/397599/EZD6-Core-Rulebook?
-
View User Profile
-
View Posts
-
Send Message
ModeratorI'm not really a fan of Astral Self. Since activating the arms requires a bonus action, it removes the ability to Flurry of Blows on the first turn. This makes me less likely to want to use it on smaller combats.
I like Way of Mercy, because its features work on Flurry of Blows at level 11. It also gives me more versatility to be able to act as a secondary healer and an extra 2 skill proficiencies for a combined 8 skills. My 9th skill comes from the Skill Expert feat. I had a hard time deciding between Perception and Athletics for expertise.
If it weren't for the versatility and skills provided by Way of Mercy, my second choice would have been Way of the Open Hand, because its level 3 feature also works on Flurry of Blows. Its other features are good, but only really for combat.
Homebrew Rules || Homebrew FAQ || Snippet Codes || Tooltips
DDB Guides & FAQs, Class Guides, Character Builds, Game Guides, Useful Websites, and WOTC Resources
That makes sense. And you can’t really go wrong with Mercy.
EZD6 by DM Scotty
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/397599/EZD6-Core-Rulebook?
Seems you are not the only one thinking about this. Treantmonk just did a Video about monks in armor and will be posting a build in another video.
EZD6 by DM Scotty
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/397599/EZD6-Core-Rulebook?
How did you get 22 wisdom?
-
View User Profile
-
View Posts
-
Send Message
ModeratorTome of Understanding
I play in Adventurers League, where I have a few of these available to trade between characters.
Homebrew Rules || Homebrew FAQ || Snippet Codes || Tooltips
DDB Guides & FAQs, Class Guides, Character Builds, Game Guides, Useful Websites, and WOTC Resources
-
View User Profile
-
View Posts
-
Send Message
ModeratorI saw that!
Homebrew Rules || Homebrew FAQ || Snippet Codes || Tooltips
DDB Guides & FAQs, Class Guides, Character Builds, Game Guides, Useful Websites, and WOTC Resources
put together a vedalken twilight cleric 4/ shadow monk 6 build full plate and glaive build and this is one of the most fun builds I have ever thought of. Usually first turn is spent "in meditation" aka casting bless or bane or fairy fire. Occasionally going the twilight channel divinity then shadow stepping away.
It works out better since now your unarmed strikes are now 1+STR. At least summoning the arms damage isn’t affected. But using them to attack is, so now Astral Self isn’t the best way to go. I hadn’t thought of it back with my initial comments
EZD6 by DM Scotty
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/397599/EZD6-Core-Rulebook?
True. I didn’t consider that when I looked at the OP’s character sheet and saw the Greatsword. So assumed GWM feat but not the Unarmed fighting style.
EZD6 by DM Scotty
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/397599/EZD6-Core-Rulebook?
Ooh! Just realized that if you go Astral Self, the astral arms feature has no qualifiers saying that you can’t wear armor or shield to use the arms. So with the unarmed fighting style (you can’t use martial arts die because of the armor) you could still do d6/d8 and use Wisdom as the modifier.
It only says the arms affects unarmed strikes not your martial arts.
edit: sfPanzer I misread your post and thought it only applies to damage. But the arms still give you reach, force damage, and wisdom modifier for attacks. And I always thought the unarmed fighting style benefited subclasses like Astral Self that rely on unarmed strikes.
Edit 2: And could make the monk less MAD focusing on Wisdom since armor reduces the focus on Dex
EZD6 by DM Scotty
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/397599/EZD6-Core-Rulebook?