A lot of talk about the UA monk and the original 5e monk tends to circle around damage, stunning strike, and ki point limitations.
I think these things point out where the focus is on monk, but it may be somewhat of a distraction. I've been guilty of wanting monk to just have more damage, more utility, more bang for their buck on ki point abilities.
But maybe the real class identity of monks is really in how they get to use their bonus action almost in a metamagic kind of way, but for a martial class.
So my theory of how monk ought to work goes like this: let them just be able to use their bonus action as an extra main action, period. No other cost associated.
At first this might sound too powerful, but remember: most of these main actions for monks never get any better. A level 20 monk doesn't Flurry of blows much harder than a level 5 monk, and their dodge, disengage, and help actions are identical. The action economy cost is basically cost enough for their core class identity.
Then, let ki fuel other abilities that take things a little further, like battle master maneuver dice and subclass abilities. I think the new playtest kind of hints at this with the changes to stunning strike, but I'd like it expanded a bit and made a little less restrictive than once a turn abilities.
After these changes, I could honestly live with base Monk keeping the same martial arts di and limits to monk weapons, and the lack of functional feats. They could potentially have so much flexibility and options built into them that feats would be redundant, and there could be more multi-class options while still being a strong single line class.
Maybe it could seem like too easy a dip for an action surge like ability, but 2 level dips, martial arts requirements, and the multi-classing requirements could balance this out naturally. Maybe an addendum against spellcasting would be wise, or making it a later ability.
So what you are saying is that you can use your bonus action to take another Attack Action, Dodge, Dash, Disengage, Help, Hide, Ready, Search, Use an Object, but not Cast a Spell (Magic Action) at least to start.
There would be no need of Flurry of Blows, Step of the Wind, Patient Defense because they would all be covered under this new bonus action.
It's an interesting idea and would like to hear more if you have further ideas to flesh it out. It would start out slower, early levels you would only get two attacks (one attack as an action and one as a bonus action) and then at level 5 it would bump to 4 attacks with extra attack (two each action/BA). If you didn't want to use any other action.
Maybe there could still be the limit to one attack for the bonus action, with flurry of blows as a ki expenditure. Im not convinced its necessary though, since the weapon restrictions for martial arts is already so limiting.
I really like the direction they are taking the new stunning strike with multiple options for effects, even if the once per turn use is awfully squalid. But I would love if they expand that idea to make ki points power monk's "above and beyond" abilities. So where they already get to use their bonus action flexibly for free, they get to increase their offense or defense beyond that with battle master like maneuvers by spending ki.
This is a really cool idea, though I would be afraid of multiclassing. Fighter is one of the best multiclasses for instance, because with a two-level dip you can get Action Surge which is essentially a lesser version of this feature. Perhaps you can spend 1 Di point to gain an additional Action once per turn? Though you did specify intending not to have a cost associated with it. Of course retaining the "can't cast a spell with this extra Action/no Magic Action" part, as that would be silly for spellcasters.
Perhaps at later levels you can give yourself multiple Actions per turn as a form of scaling? Scaling similarly to the Playtest 6 Cleric and Paladin's Channel Divinity? Or perhaps take multiple actions simultaneously with one Action (take Dash and Disengage, or Attack and Dodge) kind of like Playtest 6's Step of the Wind? Even just keeping things as written but adding an additional Bonus Action could be a similarly effective. There are definitely lots of ways to go about this idea, and I too feel it has potential.
without proper damage monk will always be bad . its not about damage? as a warrior it is. its about damage and helping keep the softer allies alive. look at paladin they have damage utility tanking auras mobility . the other stuff they have is good becuase they are capable of damage. even if they want monk to be more tanky and do less damage it doesn't have enough ac or hp. But if they do that they also limit what you can imagine a monk to be . number one in my mind a monk should be doing cray damage and dodging attacks .like liu kang or rain or even luke cage. I mean in final fantasy for nes the monk had one of the best evasion ratings and did damage on par with the fighter while having the only catch being you started out a little weaker but got stronger over time kind of the opposite of current monk .
In my opinion, we don't have to complicate the monk so much. Now that they have created the Weapon Mastery NICK, why not use this rule to our advantage? I created a variation of the monk inspired by WM NICK by slightly modifying the feature Martial Arts - Bonus Unarmed Strike:
Bonus Unarmed Strike. When you use the Attack action with an Unarmed Strike or a Simple Weapon on your turn, you can make one Unarmed Strike as a Bonus Action on the same turn. If you use a force point during your turn, you can decide to move your Bonus Unarmed Strike as part of the Attack action. It is still possible to make this extra attack only once per turn.
Although the changes are much more intense, if you have seen my monk variant, every feature makes synergy, and the consumption in energy resources is minimal and also replaceable most of the time. Below I'll put you some of the features that do synergy and decrease resource consumption.
Quick Strike. When you use the Attack action with an Unarmed Strike or a Simple Weapon on your turn, you can make one Unarmed Strike as a Bonus Action on the same turn. If you use a force point during your turn, you can decide to move your Bonus Unarmed Strike as part of the Attack action. It is still possible to make this extra attack only once per turn. (Inner force replace ki)
Iron Strike has replaced FoB:
Iron Strike. Once per turn, when you hit a creature with an unarmed strike, you can choose to spend 1 Force point and add a Martial Arts die to the damage roll. If you have advantage over a creature, you can decide to sacrifice it to perform an Iron Strike without having to spend Force points. The additional damage is of the same type as your unarmed attacks. (Inner force replace ki)
To get advantage there are the unarmed techniques that replace Weapon Mastery and thus are free.
2nd: Unarmored Movement
Your speed increases by 10 feet while you aren’t wearing armor or wielding a Shield. This bonus increases when you reach certain Ascetic levels, as shown in the Unarmed table. Additionally, while you aren’t wearing armor or wielding a Shield, you can take the Dash or Disengage actionas as a bonus action on your turn. When you use one of this actions your jump distance is doubled.
5th: Stunning Strike
When you hit a creature with Iron Strike feature, you can attempt a Stunning Strike. The target must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or have the Stunned condition until the end of your next turn. You cannot use this feature in combination with another unarmed techniques.
11th: Flurry of Blows
Your Martial Arts feature now confers two extra Quick Strike Strikes rather than one. If you spend 1 force point or more as an action that is not an attack action on your turn, you can make the Flurry of Blow as a bonus action before the end of the turn.
18th: Flurry of Iron Strikes
Your unarmed attacks have never been more powerful. Now Iron Strike is no longer limited to once per turn, but that is only if you sacrifice advantage to execute it.
Totally not a bad direction to go. It engages the combat rules in a way similar to Rogue's sneak attack, which can actually make the monk's speed more rewarding for flanking and such.
Its a different direction from mine, but I'd totally play it.
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A lot of talk about the UA monk and the original 5e monk tends to circle around damage, stunning strike, and ki point limitations.
I think these things point out where the focus is on monk, but it may be somewhat of a distraction. I've been guilty of wanting monk to just have more damage, more utility, more bang for their buck on ki point abilities.
But maybe the real class identity of monks is really in how they get to use their bonus action almost in a metamagic kind of way, but for a martial class.
So my theory of how monk ought to work goes like this: let them just be able to use their bonus action as an extra main action, period. No other cost associated.
At first this might sound too powerful, but remember: most of these main actions for monks never get any better. A level 20 monk doesn't Flurry of blows much harder than a level 5 monk, and their dodge, disengage, and help actions are identical. The action economy cost is basically cost enough for their core class identity.
Then, let ki fuel other abilities that take things a little further, like battle master maneuver dice and subclass abilities. I think the new playtest kind of hints at this with the changes to stunning strike, but I'd like it expanded a bit and made a little less restrictive than once a turn abilities.
After these changes, I could honestly live with base Monk keeping the same martial arts di and limits to monk weapons, and the lack of functional feats. They could potentially have so much flexibility and options built into them that feats would be redundant, and there could be more multi-class options while still being a strong single line class.
Maybe it could seem like too easy a dip for an action surge like ability, but 2 level dips, martial arts requirements, and the multi-classing requirements could balance this out naturally. Maybe an addendum against spellcasting would be wise, or making it a later ability.
So what you are saying is that you can use your bonus action to take another Attack Action, Dodge, Dash, Disengage, Help, Hide, Ready, Search, Use an Object, but not Cast a Spell (Magic Action) at least to start.
There would be no need of Flurry of Blows, Step of the Wind, Patient Defense because they would all be covered under this new bonus action.
It's an interesting idea and would like to hear more if you have further ideas to flesh it out. It would start out slower, early levels you would only get two attacks (one attack as an action and one as a bonus action) and then at level 5 it would bump to 4 attacks with extra attack (two each action/BA). If you didn't want to use any other action.
EZD6 by DM Scotty
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/397599/EZD6-Core-Rulebook?
Maybe there could still be the limit to one attack for the bonus action, with flurry of blows as a ki expenditure. Im not convinced its necessary though, since the weapon restrictions for martial arts is already so limiting.
I really like the direction they are taking the new stunning strike with multiple options for effects, even if the once per turn use is awfully squalid. But I would love if they expand that idea to make ki points power monk's "above and beyond" abilities. So where they already get to use their bonus action flexibly for free, they get to increase their offense or defense beyond that with battle master like maneuvers by spending ki.
This is a really cool idea, though I would be afraid of multiclassing. Fighter is one of the best multiclasses for instance, because with a two-level dip you can get Action Surge which is essentially a lesser version of this feature. Perhaps you can spend 1 Di point to gain an additional Action once per turn? Though you did specify intending not to have a cost associated with it. Of course retaining the "can't cast a spell with this extra Action/no Magic Action" part, as that would be silly for spellcasters.
Perhaps at later levels you can give yourself multiple Actions per turn as a form of scaling? Scaling similarly to the Playtest 6 Cleric and Paladin's Channel Divinity? Or perhaps take multiple actions simultaneously with one Action (take Dash and Disengage, or Attack and Dodge) kind of like Playtest 6's Step of the Wind? Even just keeping things as written but adding an additional Bonus Action could be a similarly effective. There are definitely lots of ways to go about this idea, and I too feel it has potential.
without proper damage monk will always be bad . its not about damage? as a warrior it is. its about damage and helping keep the softer allies alive. look at paladin they have damage utility tanking auras mobility . the other stuff they have is good becuase they are capable of damage. even if they want monk to be more tanky and do less damage it doesn't have enough ac or hp. But if they do that they also limit what you can imagine a monk to be . number one in my mind a monk should be doing cray damage and dodging attacks .like liu kang or rain or even luke cage. I mean in final fantasy for nes the monk had one of the best evasion ratings and did damage on par with the fighter while having the only catch being you started out a little weaker but got stronger over time kind of the opposite of current monk .
In my opinion, we don't have to complicate the monk so much. Now that they have created the Weapon Mastery NICK, why not use this rule to our advantage? I created a variation of the monk inspired by WM NICK by slightly modifying the feature Martial Arts - Bonus Unarmed Strike:
Bonus Unarmed Strike. When you use the Attack action with an Unarmed Strike or a Simple Weapon on your turn, you can make one Unarmed Strike as a Bonus Action on the same turn. If you use a force point during your turn, you can decide to move your Bonus Unarmed Strike as part of the Attack action. It is still possible to make this extra attack only once per turn.
However, this forced me to change FoB. If you are interested in the monk variant I created, you can go to these links: https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/dungeons-dragons-discussion/homebrew-house-rules/178664-i-think-i-have-solved-almost-all-the-problems-of
If you have the time, leave me a score for the features so that I can see what could be improved.
Not a bad move, especially if just making small adjustments to monk.
My concern would be with making yet another thing use ki points.
My goal is to make ki points less intensively used and lean into that "monks as the sorcerer of martial abilities" archetype.
Although the changes are much more intense, if you have seen my monk variant, every feature makes synergy, and the consumption in energy resources is minimal and also replaceable most of the time. Below I'll put you some of the features that do synergy and decrease resource consumption.
Iron Strike has replaced FoB:
Iron Strike. Once per turn, when you hit a creature with an unarmed strike, you can choose to spend 1 Force point and add a Martial Arts die to the damage roll. If you have advantage over a creature, you can decide to sacrifice it to perform an Iron Strike without having to spend Force points. The additional damage is of the same type as your unarmed attacks. (Inner force replace ki)
To get advantage there are the unarmed techniques that replace Weapon Mastery and thus are free.
2nd: Unarmored Movement
Your speed increases by 10 feet while you aren’t wearing armor or wielding a Shield. This bonus increases when you reach certain Ascetic levels, as shown in the Unarmed table. Additionally, while you aren’t wearing armor or wielding a Shield, you can take the Dash or Disengage actionas as a bonus action on your turn. When you use one of this actions your jump distance is doubled.
5th: Stunning Strike
When you hit a creature with Iron Strike feature, you can attempt a Stunning Strike. The target must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or have the Stunned condition until the end of your next turn. You cannot use this feature in combination with another unarmed techniques.
11th: Flurry of Blows
Your Martial Arts feature now confers two extra Quick Strike Strikes rather than one. If you spend 1 force point or more as an action that is not an attack action on your turn, you can make the Flurry of Blow as a bonus action before the end of the turn.
18th: Flurry of Iron Strikes
Your unarmed attacks have never been more powerful. Now Iron Strike is no longer limited to once per turn, but that is only if you sacrifice advantage to execute it.
Totally not a bad direction to go. It engages the combat rules in a way similar to Rogue's sneak attack, which can actually make the monk's speed more rewarding for flanking and such.
Its a different direction from mine, but I'd totally play it.