With the new Character Origins UA there are changes to the Unarmed Strike for all PC's. But the change, which of course is UA so subject to change before the 2024 release of the new PHB, affects the monk the most.
Here's the change:
UNARMED STRIKE
An Unarmed Strike is a melee attack that involves you using your body to damage, grapple, or shove a target within your Reach. Your bonus to hit with an Unarmed Strike equals your Strength modifier plus your Proficiency Bonus. On a hit, your Unarmed Strike causes one of the following effects of your choice:
Damage. The target takes Bludgeoning Damage equal to 1 + your Strength modifier.
Grapple. The target is Grappled, and the grapple’s escape DC equals 8 + your Strength modifier + your Proficiency Bonus. This grapple is possible only if the target is no more than one Size larger than you and if you have a hand free to grab the target.
Shove. You either push the target 5 feet away or knock the target Prone. This shove is possible only if the target is no more than one Size larger than you.
Now, you don't need to be an Open Hand monk to shove (although it's only 5 feet instead of 15 for Open Hand) or knock prone. And there is no saving throw, just a size limit. And it can be used with any unarmed strike, not just Flurry of Blows like the Open Hand (which, if this stands, would require a rework of Open Hand monk). That could mean multiple grapples or shoves or knocking prone in one round. Or if you hit on your very first attack you can knock prone, then the rest of your attacks (good time to use FoB) all have advantage.
And as YouTuber Indestructoboy points out in this video it now allows you to grapple or shove using your reaction for an Opportunity Attack, which has never been a possibility before, as far as I know.
Now this might all change over the next year and a half, but at this point it seems promising for the 2024 Monk.
Definitely gives a lot more possible utility to unarmed strikes.
The main problem I see for Monks is that the grapple escape DC is Strength based, since Monk doesn't really favour high Strength, so we'll need to see if a Monk's Martial Arts extends to this in future or not.
I've been an advocate of seeing some of the Open Hand Technique rolled into the Monk base class for a while; I do wonder if we might see Monks getting some more boosts to these new abilities, then open hand seeing some more significant new abilities? It never made sense to have one of the most useful/flexible sub-class abilities be limited to one sub-class, as homebrewing it as a Monk feature opens up a lot more control options, as this change to unarmed strikes does as well.
As it stands right now Open Hand Technique is still since its effect is in addition to damage, not instead of it, but yeah, it'll need to see some improvements in future.
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I feel like this is going to make the Open Hand monk an absolute beast. Assuming you rely purely on unarmed strikes, when you attack you can choose to
deal damage
shove 5ft or prone
grapple
and then, if you use Flurry of Blows, you can do any of the following with open hand technique on TOP of you above options
knock prone
push 15 feet away
remove reactions
Being able to grapple a creature and then potentially knock it prone as part of the same attack is awesome control, since their speed becomes 0 as part of the grapple and wont be able to get up until they end the condition. Your potential push distance is now 20 feet with a shove + 15ft push. Obviously there are some nonsensical ones too, like grappling followed by pushing them 15 feet away, thus ending the grapple immediately, but its still really neat the amount this subclass will be able to move its enemies around.
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Those look like welcome rule changes to grappling and shoving. Simpler than the current opposing Athletics checks. I like a reaction attack to grapple a fleeing opponent, thematic and practical for tanking. This plus the bonus action unarmed strike/flurry of blows really turns monks into a “support” martial role.
Speculating about the 2024 changes: I expect monks (or just open hand subclass) to get an alternative escape DC. The question is: will it use DEX or WIS? DEX makes the most sense for martial arts, while WIS is already used for the ki save DC. I fully expect open hand monk to be changed to get the damage + shove/grapple effect.
This change could also change the fighter with Unarmed fighting style and would remove an important characteristics of the open-hand monk. Depending on how they develop this could be positive as well as negative.
As sfPanzer says well, Grapple requires strength and the monk normally ignores this characteristic.
The Grappler feat is to be modified, it does not bring much of an advantage.
I am interested in how this will develop the game mechanics. Definitely a very interesting proposal.
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With the new Character Origins UA there are changes to the Unarmed Strike for all PC's. But the change, which of course is UA so subject to change before the 2024 release of the new PHB, affects the monk the most.
Here's the change:
Now, you don't need to be an Open Hand monk to shove (although it's only 5 feet instead of 15 for Open Hand) or knock prone. And there is no saving throw, just a size limit. And it can be used with any unarmed strike, not just Flurry of Blows like the Open Hand (which, if this stands, would require a rework of Open Hand monk). That could mean multiple grapples or shoves or knocking prone in one round. Or if you hit on your very first attack you can knock prone, then the rest of your attacks (good time to use FoB) all have advantage.
And as YouTuber Indestructoboy points out in this video it now allows you to grapple or shove using your reaction for an Opportunity Attack, which has never been a possibility before, as far as I know.
Now this might all change over the next year and a half, but at this point it seems promising for the 2024 Monk.
Any thoughts on how this affects the monk?
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Definitely gives a lot more possible utility to unarmed strikes.
The main problem I see for Monks is that the grapple escape DC is Strength based, since Monk doesn't really favour high Strength, so we'll need to see if a Monk's Martial Arts extends to this in future or not.
I've been an advocate of seeing some of the Open Hand Technique rolled into the Monk base class for a while; I do wonder if we might see Monks getting some more boosts to these new abilities, then open hand seeing some more significant new abilities? It never made sense to have one of the most useful/flexible sub-class abilities be limited to one sub-class, as homebrewing it as a Monk feature opens up a lot more control options, as this change to unarmed strikes does as well.
As it stands right now Open Hand Technique is still since its effect is in addition to damage, not instead of it, but yeah, it'll need to see some improvements in future.
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
I have unsubscribed from all topics and will not reply to messages. My homebrew is now 100% unsupported.
I feel like this is going to make the Open Hand monk an absolute beast. Assuming you rely purely on unarmed strikes, when you attack you can choose to
and then, if you use Flurry of Blows, you can do any of the following with open hand technique on TOP of you above options
Being able to grapple a creature and then potentially knock it prone as part of the same attack is awesome control, since their speed becomes 0 as part of the grapple and wont be able to get up until they end the condition. Your potential push distance is now 20 feet with a shove + 15ft push. Obviously there are some nonsensical ones too, like grappling followed by pushing them 15 feet away, thus ending the grapple immediately, but its still really neat the amount this subclass will be able to move its enemies around.
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Those look like welcome rule changes to grappling and shoving. Simpler than the current opposing Athletics checks. I like a reaction attack to grapple a fleeing opponent, thematic and practical for tanking. This plus the bonus action unarmed strike/flurry of blows really turns monks into a “support” martial role.
Speculating about the 2024 changes: I expect monks (or just open hand subclass) to get an alternative escape DC. The question is: will it use DEX or WIS? DEX makes the most sense for martial arts, while WIS is already used for the ki save DC. I fully expect open hand monk to be changed to get the damage + shove/grapple effect.
This change could also change the fighter with Unarmed fighting style and would remove an important characteristics of the open-hand monk. Depending on how they develop this could be positive as well as negative.
As sfPanzer says well, Grapple requires strength and the monk normally ignores this characteristic.
The Grappler feat is to be modified, it does not bring much of an advantage.
I am interested in how this will develop the game mechanics. Definitely a very interesting proposal.