With ss being nerfed even more damage must be boosted to compensate. the best cc is death and removing enemies from the table. you can no longer rely on stunning strike its mathematically improbable. crowd control that is unlikely too work and cost a resources is not worth the ki spent . I understand that when it does work it can be gangbusters but its not fun to have your main feature be a gamble. the damage of the monk is not enough and needs to be on par with other warriors especially since they are using more resources and still falling below the others.
WotC's reply: 'But now you can do it at range! It's completely OP!! We have to take more things away from the class! For starters, the MA die has to go, it's waaaay too much damage!'
There are some aspects of the new Stunning Strike I like, and of course others I don't particularly enjoy. I've posted elsewhere on the forums (under Monk UA feedback list) a few ideas to add/change to the Monk, and since then have had new ones.
The parts I like regarding Playtest 6 Monk's Stunning Strike feature are weapons, duration, and intent. I like that I can use Stunning Strike with some ranged weapons now, though the balance between ranged and melee weapons still needs to be kept in mind. Changing the duration to "start of your turn" is fine, as your allies can still benefit from the effects, and you yourself can still benefit on the same turn you stun the creature. I mention intent, as changing it to only once per turn is intended to speed up combat- how many times have we played with a Monk in our party who takes time asking for 4 CON saves from the DM to see if their Stunning Strike works? I appreciate the intent there, but I have alternate ideas that can speed up the game while simultaneously encouraging a different style of play. This is (currently) my preferred idea:
"When you hit a creature with a Simple Weapon or an Unarmed Strike, you can spend 1 Di Point to attempt a stunning strike. The target must make a Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, the target has the Stunned condition until the start of your next turn. On a successful save, the target has a negative bonus to their next d20 roll equal to your Wisdom modifier. A creature can only be forced to make this saving throw once per turn."
That's one idea of course. Others I've had and seen include:
Adding additional damage to the effect, with half damage on a success.
Implementing the Playtest's Dazed condition (can only take an action or move, not both, and can't take a bonus action or reaction for the duration) on a successful save.
If the creature succeeds on the save, the Di point isn't expended.
If a creature has less than half (or a quarter) its hit point maximum, they make the save at disadvantage.
My intention is to remove the "save or suck" style of Stunning Strike, whilst simultaneously addressing some of the possible issues (such as turn length). It's not a perfect solution, but I feel at least addressing the nothing happens on a success is a decent start.
As far as balancing with the other classes go, Monk is still below Fighter and Barbarian, and all the martials are still below spellcasters. The additions have certainly helped narrow that gap slightly, but I don't feel it is enough of a change. I like most of the changes to the subclasses (most), but the base class needs more than a single die increase for their Martial Arts. Also let us use the Martial Arts die for all our weapons again. Heightened Metabolism is a band-aid for Di point management, and I'll take it over nothing, but without increases to resources and reduction in cost/use, this Monk very quickly falls flat.
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With ss being nerfed even more damage must be boosted to compensate. the best cc is death and removing enemies from the table. you can no longer rely on stunning strike its mathematically improbable. crowd control that is unlikely too work and cost a resources is not worth the ki spent . I understand that when it does work it can be gangbusters but its not fun to have your main feature be a gamble. the damage of the monk is not enough and needs to be on par with other warriors especially since they are using more resources and still falling below the others.
WotC's reply: 'But now you can do it at range! It's completely OP!! We have to take more things away from the class! For starters, the MA die has to go, it's waaaay too much damage!'
There are some aspects of the new Stunning Strike I like, and of course others I don't particularly enjoy. I've posted elsewhere on the forums (under Monk UA feedback list) a few ideas to add/change to the Monk, and since then have had new ones.
The parts I like regarding Playtest 6 Monk's Stunning Strike feature are weapons, duration, and intent. I like that I can use Stunning Strike with some ranged weapons now, though the balance between ranged and melee weapons still needs to be kept in mind. Changing the duration to "start of your turn" is fine, as your allies can still benefit from the effects, and you yourself can still benefit on the same turn you stun the creature. I mention intent, as changing it to only once per turn is intended to speed up combat- how many times have we played with a Monk in our party who takes time asking for 4 CON saves from the DM to see if their Stunning Strike works? I appreciate the intent there, but I have alternate ideas that can speed up the game while simultaneously encouraging a different style of play. This is (currently) my preferred idea:
"When you hit a creature with a Simple Weapon or an Unarmed Strike, you can spend 1 Di Point to attempt a stunning strike. The target must make a Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, the target has the Stunned condition until the start of your next turn. On a successful save, the target has a negative bonus to their next d20 roll equal to your Wisdom modifier. A creature can only be forced to make this saving throw once per turn."
That's one idea of course. Others I've had and seen include:
My intention is to remove the "save or suck" style of Stunning Strike, whilst simultaneously addressing some of the possible issues (such as turn length). It's not a perfect solution, but I feel at least addressing the nothing happens on a success is a decent start.
As far as balancing with the other classes go, Monk is still below Fighter and Barbarian, and all the martials are still below spellcasters. The additions have certainly helped narrow that gap slightly, but I don't feel it is enough of a change. I like most of the changes to the subclasses (most), but the base class needs more than a single die increase for their Martial Arts. Also let us use the Martial Arts die for all our weapons again. Heightened Metabolism is a band-aid for Di point management, and I'll take it over nothing, but without increases to resources and reduction in cost/use, this Monk very quickly falls flat.