I'm building a way of the Kensei, and at level 3, it makes sense to choose a D8 one handed weapon. However, beyond that, it doesn't really seem to matter what I choose. Once I hit level 11, any Kensei weapon will be D8s.
So basically, it's good to have a variety of melee weapons (slashing, piercing, and bludgeoning) to get around certain resistances, but beyond that, just choose what feels cool to my monk, right?
Generally, yeah. It's worth noting that while monk/kensei weapons can't be two-handed, they can be versatile, so you can actually get D10 damage with a longsword/battleaxe/warhammer.
Yeah I realized that unarmed attacks doesn't actually need a hand free. So it'd still make sense to pick something that is versatile to allow me to get D10 damage in. I was playing monk wrong the first 2 levels cause I was using the quarterstaff with a D6 instead of D8.
Would it make more sense to pick a slashing weapon as my unarmed attack is already bludgeoning? My longbow already covers piercing.
The whip also counts as a monk weapon and its damage will scale with your monk die. That's a reach weapon with longsword damage that bypasses nonmagical resistance! It makes that bonus action unarmed strike a bit tricky, but reach can come in handy for enemies that spurt acid blood or if you want to use your monk speed to sort of hit-and-run enemies. I believe daggers also scale damage, giving you a melee weapon with the thrown property, should you need it.
Kensei weapons CAN be two handed. They just can't have the heavy (longbow excluded) or special (basically, the lance) property
Also, if you find a magic weapon of a type no one in your party uses...well, you can use it.
Edit: so many of the forums conflict on whether the whip is considered a monk weapon. In the campaign I DM, it is. If in your campaign it isn't, then the damage won't scale. Still, having a reach weapon may still come in handy
The whip also counts as a monk weapon and its damage will scale with your monk die. That's a reach weapon with longsword damage that bypasses nonmagical resistance! It makes that bonus action unarmed strike a bit tricky, but reach can come in handy for enemies that spurt acid blood or if you want to use your monk speed to sort of hit-and-run enemies. I believe daggers also scale damage, giving you a melee weapon with the thrown property, should you need it.
Kensei weapons CAN be two handed. They just can't have the heavy (longbow excluded) or special (basically, the lance) property
Also, if you find a magic weapon of a type no one in your party uses...well, you can use it.
Edit: so many of the forums conflict on whether the whip is considered a monk weapon. In the campaign I DM, it is. If in your campaign it isn't, then the damage won't scale. Still, having a reach weapon may still come in handy
Not sure how there's any conflict on whether a whip is a monk weapon or not. It's clearly not as it doesn't match the monk weapon description: "monk weapons, which are shortswords and any simple melee weapons that don’t have the two-handed or heavy property." Whips are martial weapons, so no more a monk weapon than is a scimitar, rapier, longsword, warhammer, or greataxe. Also standard monks aren't proficient with whips as they only get simple weapons and shortswords.
This is all moot for the kensei and whip as a kensei weapon is a great choice too for your reasons stated. I plan on picking it up at level 6 depending on if I can find it in Chult jungles or not.
Unless you really want that reach at low level, the whip is decidedly inferior to the longsword in damage, and remains so all the way to 17th level. Might be the difference in another round of combat or not, depending on the monster.
Personally, I'd refrain on getting a whip until I could pick a second melee weapon at 6th level. That's obviously just a personal choice, though.
It's not one of the usual picks, but have you considered javelins? As thrown melee weapons they benefit from all the Kensei abilities for the ultimate in versatility. Need some extra defense? Kick your opponent while holding it to activate Agile Parry. Need some ranged damage? You can stack Kensei's Shot plus Deft strike on a thrown attack.
Even better if you get the Dual Wielder feat.
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Canto alla vita alla sua bellezza ad ogni sua ferita ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
As has been said, there are a few options that give reduced damage for the majority of your playtime in exchange for some utility or versatility. A big consideration, and this depends on how narrative your table is, is how you want to involve the weapon into combat description. I played a monk that had a battle axe for his kensei weapon and had a lot of fun describing him hooking enemies with it to yank them into a punch etc.
It's not one of the usual picks, but have you considered javelins? As thrown melee weapons they benefit from all the Kensei abilities for the ultimate in versatility. Need some extra defense? Kick your opponent while holding it to activate Agile Parry. Need some ranged damage? You can stack Kensei's Shot plus Deft strike on a thrown attack.
Even better if you get the Dual Wielder feat.
I was considering the dual wielder feat aswell and then realised that to attack with 2 weapons you need to use your bonus action, which is what you need to use the unarmed strike that will trigger your Kensei +2 AC.
I was considering the dual wielder feat aswell and then realised that to attack with 2 weapons you need to use your bonus action, which is what you need to use the unarmed strike that will trigger your Kensei +2 AC.
Am I wrong?
Slightly. In order to trigger Agile Parry you need to make an unarmed strike as part of your Attack action. Your bonus action unarmed strike from Martial Arts would not count. So at levels 3 and 4 in order to trigger Agile Parry, you need to make your entire regular attack an unarmed attack, while holding your kensei weapon. This does prevent the offhand attack, since two weapon fighting require that you attack with the main light weapon in order to attack with the offhand weapon.
Once you hit level 5 and get Extra Attack, you can make one weapon attack and one unarmed attack to trigger Agile Parry. So go ahead and dual wield, although honestly your martial arts strikes are probably going to better than what you could do with an offhand weapon, considering you won't add any ability modifier to the damage.
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Canto alla vita alla sua bellezza ad ogni sua ferita ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
Because the bonus action to punch someone isn't the "Attack action". The feature requires you to use your main action to attack with your fist. When you hit level 5 you only need to make one of the attacks using the fist.
I'm building a way of the Kensei, and at level 3, it makes sense to choose a D8 one handed weapon. However, beyond that, it doesn't really seem to matter what I choose. Once I hit level 11, any Kensei weapon will be D8s.
So basically, it's good to have a variety of melee weapons (slashing, piercing, and bludgeoning) to get around certain resistances, but beyond that, just choose what feels cool to my monk, right?
Generally, yeah. It's worth noting that while monk/kensei weapons can't be two-handed, they can be versatile, so you can actually get D10 damage with a longsword/battleaxe/warhammer.
Yeah I realized that unarmed attacks doesn't actually need a hand free. So it'd still make sense to pick something that is versatile to allow me to get D10 damage in. I was playing monk wrong the first 2 levels cause I was using the quarterstaff with a D6 instead of D8.
Would it make more sense to pick a slashing weapon as my unarmed attack is already bludgeoning? My longbow already covers piercing.
Pick whichever one makes you happiest when you envision it in your head.
And for flavor, the trident is also available.
The whip also counts as a monk weapon and its damage will scale with your monk die. That's a reach weapon with longsword damage that bypasses nonmagical resistance! It makes that bonus action unarmed strike a bit tricky, but reach can come in handy for enemies that spurt acid blood or if you want to use your monk speed to sort of hit-and-run enemies. I believe daggers also scale damage, giving you a melee weapon with the thrown property, should you need it.
Kensei weapons CAN be two handed. They just can't have the heavy (longbow excluded) or special (basically, the lance) property
Also, if you find a magic weapon of a type no one in your party uses...well, you can use it.
Edit: so many of the forums conflict on whether the whip is considered a monk weapon. In the campaign I DM, it is. If in your campaign it isn't, then the damage won't scale. Still, having a reach weapon may still come in handy
Well RAW, the whip isn't excluded based on the rules for a Kensei weapon...
Not sure how there's any conflict on whether a whip is a monk weapon or not. It's clearly not as it doesn't match the monk weapon description: "monk weapons, which are shortswords and any simple melee weapons that don’t have the two-handed or heavy property." Whips are martial weapons, so no more a monk weapon than is a scimitar, rapier, longsword, warhammer, or greataxe. Also standard monks aren't proficient with whips as they only get simple weapons and shortswords.
This is all moot for the kensei and whip as a kensei weapon is a great choice too for your reasons stated. I plan on picking it up at level 6 depending on if I can find it in Chult jungles or not.
i think people confuse Kensei Weapons with Monk Weapons.
D'oh! I definitely got a bit confused with the wording. You're absolutely right that any Kensei weapon BECOMES a monk weapon.
Ah! Then yeah, whips would be a strong choice for a kensei. Plus bonus points for wuxia coolness.
Unless you really want that reach at low level, the whip is decidedly inferior to the longsword in damage, and remains so all the way to 17th level. Might be the difference in another round of combat or not, depending on the monster.
Personally, I'd refrain on getting a whip until I could pick a second melee weapon at 6th level. That's obviously just a personal choice, though.
Why does a whip bypass nonmagical resistance?
At 6th level, Kensei Weapons count as magical.
It's not one of the usual picks, but have you considered javelins? As thrown melee weapons they benefit from all the Kensei abilities for the ultimate in versatility. Need some extra defense? Kick your opponent while holding it to activate Agile Parry. Need some ranged damage? You can stack Kensei's Shot plus Deft strike on a thrown attack.
Even better if you get the Dual Wielder feat.
Canto alla vita
alla sua bellezza
ad ogni sua ferita
ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty
To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me
The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
As has been said, there are a few options that give reduced damage for the majority of your playtime in exchange for some utility or versatility. A big consideration, and this depends on how narrative your table is, is how you want to involve the weapon into combat description. I played a monk that had a battle axe for his kensei weapon and had a lot of fun describing him hooking enemies with it to yank them into a punch etc.
I was considering the dual wielder feat aswell and then realised that to attack with 2 weapons you need to use your bonus action, which is what you need to use the unarmed strike that will trigger your Kensei +2 AC.
Am I wrong?
Slightly. In order to trigger Agile Parry you need to make an unarmed strike as part of your Attack action. Your bonus action unarmed strike from Martial Arts would not count. So at levels 3 and 4 in order to trigger Agile Parry, you need to make your entire regular attack an unarmed attack, while holding your kensei weapon. This does prevent the offhand attack, since two weapon fighting require that you attack with the main light weapon in order to attack with the offhand weapon.
Once you hit level 5 and get Extra Attack, you can make one weapon attack and one unarmed attack to trigger Agile Parry. So go ahead and dual wield, although honestly your martial arts strikes are probably going to better than what you could do with an offhand weapon, considering you won't add any ability modifier to the damage.
Canto alla vita
alla sua bellezza
ad ogni sua ferita
ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty
To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me
The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
thank you!
Just to be clear, why can't I use the bonus action unarmed strike to trigger the parry?
Because the bonus action to punch someone isn't the "Attack action". The feature requires you to use your main action to attack with your fist. When you hit level 5 you only need to make one of the attacks using the fist.
Ah ok thanks :)