Well hello there everyone, it's Minoke here, wanting to attempt to make a collection of class guides for D&D Beyond, as well as maybe some cool character ideas. These guides will be focusing more so on the lower/ medium levels of play, as those are the most commonly played levels, and to differentiate from the numerous other guides made throughout the internet. As for why I'm doing monk first of all things, my formater said they wanted this one first, so its the one I'll begin with.
Quick colour guide for those of you new to this Light blue is really cool features or big reasons to go to this point Blue is the step bellow that, still good features but maybe not unique Grey is the decent features, things that have a place in use Purple is the meh stuff, things you don't need or maybe want, but you get anyway Red is the free features you forget exist
Split colours means its dependent on campaign situation.
Stat Allocation Strength : I hear a lot of people saying they want to make a burly brawler, that isn't a monk. Martial Arts makes it useless to you since you won't use it for attack rolls, though it gets grey for possible utility with athletics for sick jumps and grapples. Dexterity : Now this is the milk that makes the butter for your monk toast. AC, Initiative, Attack/Damage, and Dex saves are fairly useful. Should be prioritized unless your going Open hand or Tranquility. Constitution : Lets be really real here, Monks are a strange combination of very squishy and frontline fighter. You are getting hit unless you kill the thing trying to hit you, and often times they might get in a lucky swing. Intelligence : Your a monk, not a wizard (much as four elements likes to pretend you are). I guess knowing about the history of your order might be nice? Wisdom : If Dexterity is the milk, Wisdom is the bacteria that make cheese. This is what most of your DCs scale off, not to mention your AC gets a nice boost from it. Perception is also a nice added benefit, so you might notice the pitfall so you don't run into it. If your playing Shadow or Kensai, this goes to BLUE. Charisma : Lets be honest here, your a guy that punches things, meaning you likely have gotten a lot more shiners than might complement you. There are enough damned Charisma casters in this game (4 of them) that you likely don't need this high. Special note is if your Tranquility this might be useful.
Class Features: So now we reach the spine of the class. Ill colour these features for those of you needing inspiration to play the class or to know when to break off when multiclassing. Don't take the colours too seriously though, if your just playing monk your getting all of them anyway. Unarmored Defense : Since everything else doesn't work with armor, this is how you survive. you can eventually hit AC 20, but good luck getting it much higher even with magic items, since you can't use +1/2/3 armor and shields. Martial Arts : This is how you kill things, punching them to death, or hitting them with weapons I guess, but that is less fun. Basically just lets you dual wield fists (since they aren't weapons). Ki : This is the resource that defines all your interesting abilities, stunning, extra attacks, and all other things require this. This level though your mostly using it for either punching an extra time or running away, since apparently you cant be like a rogue and do it for free. Unarmored Movement : This is a good example of designing a feature for a class. Monks are well known in this edition for their above average movement. So why is this blue? In the times I've played monk, the only use I've had with it is being able to kite things and plink them with a shortbow, but if I think if I wanted that i could play any of the more proficient martial classes. Deflect Missiles : Ah the classic catching an arrow trick (remember that Mythbusters episode?). Its a cool feature, but with your movement speed you downplay the weakness of melee vs ranged, but this downplays it more. Eventually, even if they are up on a wall you can just run up it anyway. SlowFall : Cool ability rated depending on how much your DM uses environmental hazards involving fall damage. Special note goes to Grapple monk running up a wall and then body slamming whatever they carried (think Prototype, its a really fun thing to do). Extra attack : Nothing special, just like everyone else's except fighter. Well that's not entirely true, you now could have 4 attacks in a round triggering your abilities. Stunning Strike : Remember what I just said about triggering your abilities? This is why I mentioned it. Stun is a powerful status condition to apply, and being able to possible force them to attempt it 4 times in a round (burns your ki a lot), makes it likely your best feature. Ki-Empowered Strikes : A needed feature to not trivialize your punches, since at this level lots of things are resistant to non magic weapons. Evasion : This isn't what I would call a bad feature, but its far from good. Avoiding Dex saves mostly just prevents damage, but maybe makes it so you have something you can say your better at than a fighter. Stillness of Mind : Normally, things like charm and frightened are fairly debilitating, so why am I rating this so poorly? This only applies to things that give you such conditions, so spells that don't say your charmed/frightened can't be ended. This also takes an action, meaning your not doing much else, its basically just an auto succeed assuming the effect actually allows you to still use your actions at will. Lets be honest here, it should be immunity to those effects, or a bonus action, as it is the feature is situationally still not great. Purity of Body : Now why is this rated purple, poisons and diseases are debilitating! Not really at this level, healers have ways to cheaply stop poisons and diseases. It might still be a welcome feature in some campaigns if your DM loves using that stuff on your party. Tongue of the Sun and Moon (Red): Ill be honest, I even forgot this existed till I read through the monk features to write this guide. Its because at this level, if your DM cares about language barriers, your spellcasters will almost guaranteed have comprehend languages. Diamond Soul : This is a great feature (shucks to you if you took resilient) gives you cool durability, and being able to use ki to basically gain advantage on saves is super gravy. Timeless Body : This is mostly a ribbon feature, since at level 15 your not caring much about food or water. Empty Body : This is a good ability, but you get it really late, worth noting is you stay invisible even if you interact with things. Perfect Self : This is one of the reasons people don't care about capstones. If your starting combat at level 20 with no ki points, 4 points is both meaningless and shows your really not playing a monk well, which you ought to be at this level.
Monastic Traditions: This is where you can start caring about colour rating, as it actually represents the value of choices.
Open Hand : This is your bruiser archtype, for if you just want to be in their face and push them to the ground (dead or alive). Open Hand Technique : This is why you are way of the open hand, the ability to literally knock enemies around. Remember to knock them prone first to get advantage on your other melee attacks. Extra funny the bigger the thing you trip is. Wholeness of Body : Self healing is kinda nice, since it makes it so the healer doesn't have to, but it taking a whole action likely will hurt you more than it will heal you, literally. Tranquility : A free sanctuary spell after a long rest, makes it so your likely to at least try to hit someone before they hit you. Quivering Palm : Where do I start with this ability? Its one of the only player features that can instantly kill an enemy on a failed save (and a lot better than the other feature), and for only 3 ki points too! Even if it succeeds on the save, 10d10 damage is nothing to sneeze at, specially since you can do this ability multiple times a turn.
Way of the Shadow : This path basically is all about becoming a ninja, you gain stealth and mobility options instead of the offensive features of Open Hand. If your multiclassing this is likely why. Shadow Arts: These are some solid spells, though they do cost most of your points the level you unlock them. Bonus minor illusion cantrip shenanigans worth bringing up. Shadow Step : This is the toast for your delicious ninja breakfast. Teleportation to any point of dim light or darkness means that if your looking for someone in a city you can cover a lot of ground, that and you might just not need bridges anymore. Cloak of Shadows : This is a nice ki-less feature, gaining invisibility on demand, very ninja. Opportunist : Its not a bad feature, allowing you to use your reaction for something, but at the same time if your next to someone when it isn't your turn your not playing monk too well.
Way of the Four Elements : I've included this because I feel obligated to, but lets be honest here, its trash. Your not a wizard, if you were a wizard, you would have wizard levels and a book. Monks don't read books, they punch things.
Way of the Long Death : Vampire monks that sap your life force away and avoids death at higher levels. I may or may not have forgotten this existed till my editor pointed it out. Touch of Death : Bonus hit points when you kill something, great if your DM likes to throw some adds at you before the boss. Hour of Reaping : Takes your whole action, meaning at this level your not swinging three or four times. Frighten isn't great since your enemies are running away from you. Mastery of Death : This makes you super durable so you care less about actually going down. Touch of the Long Death : Its just a weaker version of quivering palm, requiring more ki and you don't even get the insta death. I guess Mastery of Death was just too strong.
Way of the Sun Soul : An interesting addition from SCAG, makes you a monk blaster, not as good as warlock, but what is? Radiant Sun Bolt : Now your basic attacks are ranged, which is just an interesting concept. Bonus points if you pretend your a shitty Dragon Ball OC Searing Arc Strike : Its something from four elements, but with scaling and not being in four elements. Searing Sunburst : Hey this is another thing from four elements, but it scales backwards and goes further. This makes it cool flavour. Sun Shield : Huh a reaction that does 9 damage to something that hits you in melee, and your a human lightbulb. Interesting feature but not great.
Way of the Kensei : Kensei is an interesting archtype from UA. Rather than their fists the monk focuses on their weapon, unfortunately that isn't all that much better. Path of the Kensei : You get a finesse greatsword or longsword, anything else is basically worth ignoring (except maybe a glaive). You also get to hit them for 1d4 extra as a bonus. Special note is it is applied to anything you hit so combine it with extra attack or haste. You can also pretend you didn't focus on weapons and just got shield proficiency that functions with your other features. One with the Blade : Its basically Ki empowered strikes but for your weapon, you should already have a magic weapon by level 6 so its not that big a deal. Precise strike would be cooler if you could use ki to do it rather than the once per short rest. Sharpen the Blade : For a Minute pretend you have a +3 weapon, interestingly it also stacks if its already a + weapon. Enerring Accuracy: If you miss you can try not to, once on your turn. Since your already likely attacking four times a round missing once isn't impacting your DPR too bad. Compared to the other subclasses and if you made it this far, its not great.
Way of Tranquility : This UA subclass is actually surprisingly good. Since a lot of western monks are seen as being far more pacifist, this is fairly nice thematically. Path of Tranquility : This is really, good, well no its not really. Sanctuary being cast for free as a main action is pretty nice, but anything that makes the save becomes immune to the protection. Healing Hands : Some nice contact healing that scales pretty nicely. As you get stronger you can dump a lot of hit points into yourself or the tank as a single action. You can actually burst heal better than clerics at some levels, so that is nice. Emissary of Peace : I guess this is kinda cool and very in line with the archtype's thematic, but I'm not really sold on it compared to some of the other 6th level features of the other archtypes. Douse the Flames of War : As an action, make someone save or suck for a whole minute, so why isn't it good? As soon as combat kicks off and your allies take their turn, the effect is going to end since, lets be honest here, someone is going to be an *******. Anger of aGentle Soul : This ability is a situational one. On one hand being able to add +17 or more to your damage on a target when you can try to hit them four or five times is amazing. On the other hand though, it needs to kill something else, which depending on your party might be tricky, and it only works on one enemy and can only be used once a short rest.
Way of the Drunken Master : Oh thank the gods that WofC released this UA. This archtype fixes a lot of the issues of the squishiness of the class while maintaining the idea of you clearly being meant to be a frontliner. Drunken Technique : So now for a single ki point, you get a free attack, disengage, and an increase to movement? That's what I call value. Tipsy Sway : An early use for your reaction, but with your economic disengage you likely shouldn't be getting hit so easily. Drunkard's Luck : Hey wait a second, I thought this was a part of Diamond Soul? Oh it stacks, you now can basically get double advantage, or just normal advantage a few levels earlier. Intoxicated Furry : This is not a good level 17 feature. If your surrounded by more than three enemies at this level, your likely wanting to mostly just focus one down with all your punches.
Feats For this section I won't bore you with a review of all the feats, I'll just note down a lot of the useful ones, if its not here, assume its not worth looking at. Alert : +5 initiative to what is already going to be a good Dex mod is nice if you feel going first is important, depends on how many rounds your average combat takes. Athlete : This isn't a great feat, but if your wanting to round off an odd Dex mod its not the worst to pick if your not expecting the campaign to last to level 9. DualWielder : This is basically just a +1 AC for if your Dex is maxed. Goes to red if your DM says you can't do unarmed attacks with your feet. Healer : Lets you be a low level healer, either take it early or never. Inspiring Leader: If you have good charisma and want to burn a feat, I guess this is decent. Most people should just ignore though. Lucky : Lucky is better for you than most martial classes with the monk's focus on save or statuses. Mage Slayer : Your mobility lets you get into wizard's faces and stay there. Being able to force as many concentration checks as you are able to makes it a feat worth thinking about. Magic Initiate : This is blue for the reason of Warlock. Grabbing Hex means an extra 1d6 on each hit, cantrips are just gravy. Mobile : While Drunken Master is a great in class solution to the issues with monk, Mobile provides a way of doing so for those that don't want to use the archtype on it. Observant : As a monk you will have high wisdom, meaning you will likely have good perception. If your DM doesn't use passive perception you can safely ignore this feat. Resilient : Is your campaign going to reach level 14? If the answer is no, then its blue, otherwise it loses it's value. Ritual Caster : As a monk there aren't a lot of rituals you really need to grab, but that doesn't mean there aren't any you might be willing to grab for utility. Savage Attacker : Your fists don't count as weapons. Sentinel : Your the one darting in and out, not the enemy. Skulker : This isn't a good feat, some of you might think it is useful, but its not darkvision. Tough : For when you want to get more than putting two points into Con for health. Weapon Master : Martial weapons from this aren't monk weapons, I guess you can grab longbow.
Races Colours matter, but play what you want thematically if your not wanting to meta the hell out of your character. (If your on this guide thats likely not the case, don't lie to yourself) Dwarf, Hill : Bonus to a secondary stat and a primary one, with an added durability boost, sign me up. Dwarf, Mountain : Boost to a secondary and dump makes this nowhere near as good as hill. Dwarf,Duergar (SCAG): Blue if your going shadow monk, otherwise its worse than mountain. Elf, High : Elves make good monks, this one is the weakest of them though. Elf, Wood : This is one of the best monk races in the entire game, bonuses to both your primary stats, proficiency in longbows, boosted movement speed, and even extra stuff to hiding, its got everything you like as a monk. Elf,Drow : If your a shadow monk or in a campaign where its mostly indoors, this is likely better than high elf, if these things aren't the case the sunlight sensitivity will hurt you. Halfling,Lightfoot : Boost to your primary stat is nice, and Lucky helps you hit slightly better, but there are better halfling sub races. Halfling, Stout : Better than lightfoot, since it makes you resistant to poison and increases a relevant stat. Halfling, Ghostwise (SCAG) : This is one of those races that are just designed for monk. Boost to a major stat and telepathy, along with all the other halfling package. Human : Ill just go ahead and assume your DM is allowing variant (I have yet to find one that didn't), being able to pick a feat at level one is super good for low level campaigns, and being able to round off whatever you need makes this a good race. Dragonborn : Boosts to two dump stats, and no darkvision. Only redeeming feature is damage resistance, but there are other races that give them and other useful things. Gnome, Forest : A small boost to your Dex along with advantage to mental saves vs spells, its not bad but there is better. Small beast communication has interesting scouting utility. Gnome, Rock : Artificer's Lore would be useful if your a wizard, but your not Harry Potter. Gnome,Svirfneblin (SCAG) : This basically trades out your ability to talk to small animals for better darkvision and stealth. Half-Elf : You get darkvision, which is nice, and +1 to two stats is OK too, but I don't think its as good as just being human or elf. Turns out that mixing the two doesn't make you good. Half-Elf (SCAG) : This gets its own section, but other than drow magic there isn't much you would actually want. Half-Orc : Boost to con and a dump stat, savage attacks is nice with the advantage you might generate as a shadow monk or open hand. Tiefling : Stat boosts to two dump stats, but darkvision, resistance to fire, and some half decent spells means this makes a good shadow monk. Tiefling (SCAG) : Bonus to Dex makes this seem like a good monk race, combined with innate fly speed at low levels means that this is a good grapple monk race, or just a normal one. Aasimar, Protector (VOLO) : Small bonus to wisdom is nice, but once a long rest get a fly speed for a minute and once a turn on a hit deal your level as damage? Thats good, you also get some healing and resistances for gravy. Aasimar, Scourge (VOLO) : Small boost to con is OK, Radiant consumption is pretty cool but doesn't mean you should be a monk. Aasimar, Fallen (VOLO) : You get the basic Aasimar stuff, which on it's own is decent. The actual sub race doesn't give you anything good. Firbolg (VOLO) : Big friendly giant, which is really short for a giant. Boost to wisdom and strength are decent. Powerful build deserves mention since it might apply to grappling people. Goliath (VOLO/EE) : This is a really good race if your wanting to build grappler Monk, if that isn't the case I guess it gives you some durability for early levels? Kenku (VOLO) : Crow people actually make great monks, you get boosts to your two main stats and extra skill proficiency in skills you might actually use. Lizardfolk (VOLO) : Boost to Con and Wisdom is nice, but you get a lot of overlap in your abilities from the race and being a monk. Tabaxi (VOLO) : Boosts to relevant stats, free skill proficiency in stuff you likely would have taken anyway, and a free dash? Sign me up for ear rubs. Triton (VOLO) : Only relevant thing to monk is a +1 con, next please. Bugbear (VOLO) : Small bonus to Dex is cool, but the interesting things about bugbear is that your punches now have a reach of 10 and you do bonus damage on your surprise hit, thank you shadow monk. Goblin (VOLO) : Bonus to Dex and con is nice, but being able to do extra damage to anything medium or larger and disengage or hide as a bonus makes this good. Hobgoblin (VOLO) : Bonus to con is nice and all, but just be a dwarf instead. Kobold (VOLO) Bonus to Dex is nice, penalty to strength is slightly less so. You gain pack tactics, which for a monk goes a long way. Sunlight Sensitivity spoils your usefulness in an outdoorsy campaign. Orc (VOLO) : Just play Goliath, your less likely to be killed by the town guard. Yuan-ti (VOLO) : you can disregard the stat boosts, what you want from this is magic resistance and poison immunity, you will drink the night away, and not die! Aarakocra (EE) : You get boosts to your two primary stats, and get to have a fly speed 50 at level 1. Air Genasi (EE) : Bonus to con and Dex makes this a decent race, innately casting levitate at level 1 is what makes it blue. Earth Genasi (EE) : Boost to strength and con is decent, innate casting of pass without trace might be nice if your not a shadow and wanting to stealth. Fire Genasi (EE) : Boost to intelligence and con is eh, your innate spellcasting is whatever. Water Genasi (EE) : Good stat buffs, that basically it.
I'll likely update this in the future, maybe when I'm feeling up to it I'll tackle multiclassing, and dedicate a section to grappling, or just make that it's own guide.
If you noticed any errors or ways to improve the guide, comment below. Feel free to vote for what guides you want me to do, they take a few days to write so expect the next one soon.
Great guide, Minoke - as someone who has always toyed with playing a Monk but never made one, it was very helpful. I really like that you open with 'lower/ medium levels of play' seeing as most guides are so heavily slanted toward the ultimate min/max combos which kills a lot of the fun for me.
I'd like to say that I said what was needed, but as far as specifics, your limited by your ki points for what your able to do, and they translate poorly compared to spell slots, you would likely do better just split leveling as a cleric monk or something, but the monk engine isn't good as a caster. Most of the things you actually got out of four elements are offensive, and your fists are already plenty good for it. So to summarize, it takes up too many ki points for too little return, and if you wanted to flavour yourself as a master of the elements just play a caster.
Great guide, Minoke - as someone who has always toyed with playing a Monk but never made one, it was very helpful. I really like that you open with 'lower/ medium levels of play' seeing as most guides are so heavily slanted toward the ultimate min/max combos which kills a lot of the fun for me.
Is the Way of the Four Elements really so awful?
There is a thread in this forum that talks a bit about four elements monk. To sum it up, a lot of people feel like four elements is completely overshadowed by casters as most of what FEM can do is blast and damage.
I've just read the thread and looked at the PHB again - I see your points. There's little value in getting late spells with few resources to cast them, especially compared with the other paths' benefits. Pity, because I loved the theme.
I've just read the thread and looked at the PHB again - I see your points. There's little value in getting late spells with few resources to cast them, especially compared with the other paths' benefits. Pity, because I loved the theme.
Cheers.
If you like the whole monk master of elements thing, the new mystic class might be right up your alley. Look into the order of wu jen and the mastery disciplines for what I'm talking about.
Came across this guide, very helpful. I was surprised that half-elf wasn't blue. With +1 to your two primary stats and point buy, you can end up with very respectable stats to start (16 Wis/Dex, 14 Con), and combining the extra skill proficiency with the right background can put you in a really good spot at level 1. Sure, you don't have any spectacular racial abilities but I feel the end result hits as hard as any other and is very well-rounded compared to other "grey" races you noted. I just don't see half-elf in the same tier as half-orc, lizardfolk or water genasi. Just my two pennies.
Quivering Palm : Where do I start with this ability? Its one of the only player features that can instantly kill an enemy on a failed save (and a lot better than the other feature), and for only 3 ki points too! Even if it succeeds on the save, 10d10 damage is nothing to sneeze at, specially since you can do this ability multiple times a turn.
Tabaxi (VOLO) : Boosts to relevant stats, free skill proficiency in stuff you likely would have taken anyway, and a free dash? Sign me up for ear rubs.
^ This! I love my Tabaxi monk with the mobility feat movement is 50ft standard 100ft with feline agility and 150ft with dash! That's one mobile kitty!
Unarmored movement is awesome! I've played two monks and I can't tell you how valuable it is in combat to have a melee combatant who can get anywhere in any fight in one round. That extra movement has saved my party several times. The upgrades where a monk can walk on water and up vertical surfaces isn't that useful but the bonus movement is a huge hidden benefit.
Deflect missiles is something that I've only used a couple of times. It's nice, but it looks nicer on paper than it is in my experience. It's saved my neck a couple of times, but not often enough to rate it as blue.
Slow fall is very situational. I've used it once successfully to ambush opponents because I was able to jump down from a 30' cliff without taking damage but on the whole I've only used it a couple of times.
Purity of Body is awesome when your DM is having opponents use poison against you in combat! Poison by itself completely unbalances combat when you fail your save and Purity of Body has saved my monk several times! It deserves a higher rating than purple.
The Lucky feat deserves to be light blue. That feat is unbeatable. It's become an, "I'll never not take it" feat for every class for me!
Very well written! Thank you for sharing, you did a great job typing that up!
Way of the Four Elements : I've included this because I feel obligated to, but lets be honest here, its trash. Your not a wizard, if you were a wizard, you would have wizard levels and a book. Monks don't read books, they punch things.
Way of the Four Elements isn't anywhere near that bad. And even if it is, if you're going to write off an entire subclass at least put a real reason in the guide. This is the kind of thing that makes beginners think they can't play something when, in fact, they can. The only subclass that bad in the PH is the Champion Fighter.
The only reason everyone complains about the ki cost of spells is that Way of the Shadows got a discount on their ki points. Really; Four Elements monks use the same costs as the Spell Points variant rule in the DMG, or the Mystic's Psi Points. But Way of the Shadow spells can't kill you directly and Four Elements similarly gets a discount on a level 2 spell that's more utility than power: gust of wind.
If you consider that they get their points back on a short rest like a Warlock, and that a typical day has 2 short rests, that means they can go through their ki points 3 times a day. If you look at their ki points as spell points and triple that amount, it's actually better than the number of points half-casters like Paladins and Rangers get. Compare that to Eldritch Knights and Arcane Tricksters, who only get 1/3 progression and still have to invest in INT.
If you really perceive their spell costs as broken, "fixing" the subclass is dead simple for a DM: drop 1 point off the cost of everything. But even if you don't, the subclass is fine. Why? Because Water Whip and Fist of Unbroken Air are really good abilities. They're like their eldritch blast; the signature "spell" that's so useful it doesn't make sense not to pick it.
They deal magical bludgeoning damage 3 levels before ki-empowered strikes is a thing.
Water Whip lets you pull down flying enemies in rooms with ceilings lower than 40 feet. Alternatively, either one can cause them to fall if they can't hover. Now that Fly is a concentration spell, that's huge. If you've ever fought a flameskull, you know they're complete pains in the ass to deal with, and they're usually found indoors. This also pairs really well with Sentinel or Booming Blade + War Caster.
If there's a Druid or Ranger in the party, you can coordinate to rake the monster across 25 feet of spike growth for 10d4 damage on top of your 3d10. That's an average of 41.5 damage.
They give you reliable damage against high AC enemies, or in circumstances where you'd have disadvantage on attack rolls. The point where a save is better than an attack roll is when their save bonus is less than AC - 14. For high AC monsters like a roper (AC 20), a save is better for you if their save bonus is less than +6. Forcing a DEX save with Water Whip is pretty much always better than attacking high AC monsters other than dragons if you don't have advantage. (Note that STR correlates very well with size, so Fist of Unbroken Air doesn't work as well on large creatures, but works very well on small ones. On the other hand, large creatures usually have bad DEX saves.) So even if a roper has you restrained, you've gone prone to prevent it from grabbing you again, you're being forced to fight in darkness, you failed a save against frightened or you've suffered exhaustion, it's no problem. You can still use Fist of Unbroken Air or Water Whip just fine.
Fist of Unbroken Air doesn't require sight. This is more important than you'd think at first glance. If you've ever fought a bodak or medusa then you know it's terrible because you have disadvantage on attack rolls the entire time and most non-attack spells require sight. Blinding you doesn't stop you from using Fist of Unbroken Air, and they don't get any benefits to the save.
They give you repeatable, unavoidable damage for breaking spellcaster concentration and it can't be counterspelled. If you've ever faced a spellcaster with greater invisibility you know it's hard to deal with. You can try dispel magic or weak area spells like burning hands but they can counterspell you and no one can counterspell back because you can't see them. Fist of Unbroken Air doesn't require sight, can't be counterspelled (it's not a spell), it always does damage and practically nothing is immune to magical bludgeoning damage. (Incidentally, the only other non-spell, no-sight, unavoidable damage in the PHB is the dragonborn's breath weapon.)
Since they're not a spell, you can still use it while raging if you took one level in Barbarian for a strength-based grappling build.
Way of the Four Elements also lets you fly at level 11+, which, again, is really useful since it's a concentration spell, only sorcerers/wizards/warlocks get it and the entire class is built around punching things. The mere fact that noone else has to waste their concentration slot so you can get close to a flying monster is priceless. Plus you can literally fly up to dragons and knock them out of the sky with better than 50% chance (and between Diamond Soul and Evasion you're well-prepared to deal with any breath weapon.) In fact, for high-Strength monsters like dragons, Water Whip has better odds of working than earthbind on top of being cheaper (same cost as a level 1 spell).
Those disciplines alone make the subclass worth it. But they also get a discounted gust of wind for some inexpensive area control, and Shape The Flowing River is also good for exploration.
EDIT: I conflated Fist of Unbroken Air and Water Whip in my original post (Water Whip does require sight). I've corrected the mistake, sorry for any confusion it might've caused.
The only subclass that bad in the PH is the Champion Fighter.
What? What's wrong with it? You get more crits, you get a bonus Fighting Style, and, eventually, you get the ability to regenerate.
It lacks raw power and a niche to fill.
Improved Critical sounds good, but it's less than a 5% increase in damage. Without getting too math-heavy, if your crits do double damage you're getting a 5% increase in damage. In reality it's less because you don't double the constants in your damage rolls. If you get into 8 fights in one day and each fight lasts a full 5 rounds (which is a bit optimistic), you're looking at 40 hits with a greatsword or 80 hits with light weapons for an extra 4d6 due to crits, but you don't get to choose when.
On the other hand a Battlemaster gets 4d8 per short rest, so 12d8 throughout a normal day. No matter when they use those dice and on what, the Battlemaster will outdamage the Champion by a large margin. But the Battlemaster also gets to decide when to deal their extra damage, so a smart Battlemaster can burn dice on harder monsters to prevent damage, and can choose to spend those dice on crits. And that's before getting into all the other useful things Superiority Dice can do that I mentioned in the Tanking in 5e? thread. The gap never closes.
At 7th level, the Champion gets Remarkable Athlete, which is neat, but the value it provides at that level is questionable. By then spellcasters have 4th level spells and can make people fly, move twice as fast, get advantage on ability checks of their choice, breathe underwater, and all sorts of crazy things. Champions aren't even getting better at the skills they're good at, they're just getting less bad at the ones they're not good at. Meanwhile Battlemasters get Know Your Enemy and now have 5 maneuvers and 15d10 to spend (and again, they can spend one or two on crits). With Extra Attack the Champion is only up to 80 hits with a greatsword or 120 hits with light weapons for 8d6 or 6d6 extra damage from extra crits.
At 10th level, Champions get another Fighting Style. That's cool, but offensive Fighting Styles don't stack, and Armor fighting style isn't exactly a game-changer. The best case scenario here is having both Protection and Dueling at the same time. Meanwhile Battlemasters are getting two more maneuvers and their d8s become d10s. That's 7 maneuvers and 15d10 before crits.
At 15th level, Champion gets another 5% crit rate. Battlemasters are now up to 9 maneuvers and 18d10. The Champion's getting another 5% increase in crit chance. With Extra Attack 2, now we're looking at 120 greatsword hits with 12 more crits than the Battlemaster for 24d6 additional damage in crits. That's 84 extra damage to the Battlemaster's 99. The Champion would need Great Weapon Master and use a Bonus Action every other turn to break even. And that's already assuming we're getting 40 turns of combat every time and never using your action on anything but attacking and there's always live enemies within reach. But that's still not enough because the Battlemaster now also gets a free Superiority Die every time they start a fight without one now.
At 18th level, the Champion gets Survivor, which is great! And the Battlemaster now has 18d12.
So, again, the Battlemaster's always going to do more raw damage, gets to decide when to use it and brings a lot more utility to the table (e.g. can enable additional Sneak Attacks with Commander's Strike). The damage boost from Improved/Superior Critical is too little, and Remarkable Athlete and Additional Fighting Style don't specialize the Fighter further. The Champion has to wait until level 18 for a compelling, archetype-defining feature.
If instead/in addition to trying to increase damage through crits they had given the Champion a better Second Wind (which gets worse as you level), it could've carved a niche for itself as the subclass with the most staying power. They could've also improved Superior Critical a lot without extending the crit range too much or having a lot of rerolls by just letting them maximize their damage rolls on crits. But you'd still need the other fixes, because level 15 is still too long of a wait.
The only subclass that bad in the PH is the Champion Fighter.
What? What's wrong with it? You get more crits, you get a bonus Fighting Style, and, eventually, you get the ability to regenerate.
It lacks raw power and a niche to fill.
Improved Critical sounds good, but it's less than a 5% increase in damage. Without getting too math-heavy, if your crits do double damage you're getting a 5% increase in damage. In reality it's less because you don't double the constants in your damage rolls. If you get into 8 fights in one day and each fight lasts a full 5 rounds (which is a bit optimistic), you're looking at 40 hits with a great sword or 80 hits with light weapons for an extra 4d6 due to crits, but you don't get to choose when.
On the other hand a Battlemaster gets 4d8 per short rest, so 12d8 throughout a normal day. No matter when they use those dice and on what, the Battlemaster will outdamage the Champion by a large margin. But the Battlemaster also gets to decide when to deal their extra damage, so a smart Battlemaster can burn dice on harder monsters to prevent damage, and can choose to spend those dice on crits. And that's before getting into all the other useful things Superiority Dice can do that I mentioned in the Tanking in 5e? thread. The gap never closes.
At 7th level, the Champion gets Remarkable Athlete, which is neat, but the value it provides at that level is questionable. By then spellcasters have 4th level spells and can make people fly, move twice as fast, get advantage on ability checks of their choice, breathe underwater, and all sorts of crazy things. Champions aren't even getting better at the skills they're good at, they're just getting less bad at the ones they're not good at. Meanwhile Battlemasters get Know Your Enemy and now have 5 maneuvers and 15d10 to spend (and again, they can spend one or two on crits). With Extra Attack the Champion is only up to 80 hits with a greatsword or 120 hits with light weapons for 8d6 or 6d6 extra damage from extra crits.
At 10th level, Champions get another Fighting Style. That's cool, but offensive Fighting Styles don't stack, and Armor fighting style isn't exactly a game-changer. The best case scenario here is having both Protection and Dueling at the same time. Meanwhile Battlemasters are getting two more maneuvers and their d8s become d10s. That's 7 maneuvers and 15d10 before crits.
At 15th level, Champion gets another 5% crit rate, or another 2 crits they wouldn't otherwise have. Battlemasters are now up to 9 maneuvers and 18d10. The Champion's getting another 5% increase in crit chance. With Extra Attack 2, now we're looking at 120 greatsword hits with 12 more crits than the Battlemaster for 24d6 additional damage in crits. That's 84 extra damage to the Battlemaster's 99. The Champion would need Great Weapon Master use a Bonus Action every other turn to break even.
At 18th level, the Champion gets Survivor, which is great! And the Battlemaster now has 18d12.
So, again, the Battlemaster's always going to do more raw damage, gets to decide when to use it and brings a lot more utility to the table (e.g. can enable additional Sneak Attacks with Commander's Strike). The damage boost from Improved/Superior Critical is too little, and Remarkable Athlete and Additional Fighting Style don't specialize the Fighter further. The Champion has to wait until level 18 for a compelling, archetype-defining feature.
If instead/in addition to trying to increase damage through crits they had given the Champion a better Second Wind (which gets worse as you level), it could've carved a niche for itself as the subclass with the most staying power. They could've also improved Superior Critical a lot without extending the crit range too much or having a lot of rerolls by just letting them maximize their damage rolls on crits. But you'd still need the other fixes, because level 15 is still too long of a wait.
Wow. Okay, you've convinced me; my next fighter will probably be a Battle Master. I'm just going to point out that Remarkable Athlete applies to initiative, though.
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"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Wow. Okay, you've convinced me; my next fighter will probably be a Battle Master. I'm just going to point out that Remarkable Athlete applies to initiative, though.
That's true. They don't get a whole lot of benefit out of that compared to casters or Assassins though.
My biggest frustration with the Champion is that it's the free/default subclass. If it were just an under-powered option you could ignore, it'd be one thing, but it's the only option you have when using the Basic Rules or SRD. For every other class, the default option is competitive with the alternatives (and in the case of Ranger I'd say it's better overall than the Beast Master, though at least the Beast Master still has enough differences to justify it.) At least Xanathar's Guide will bring more versatility to the class.
Oh, I forgot to mention yet another reason Water Whip and Fist of Unbroken Air kick ass - since they're neither attacks nor spells, you can use them while under the effects of Sanctuary or Invisibility. The latter is a really big deal because Greater Invisibility is a 4th level spell and only lasts 1 minute instead of 1 hour (plus Warlocks don't get it.) Being invisible is very powerful - most non-attack, non-area spells require sight, even the almighty Power Word Kill. It also protects against things like Beholder eye rays and Medusa and Bodak gaze attacks.
Additionally, stunned creatures automatically fail Strength and Dexterity saving throws and Stunning Strike lasts until the end of your next turn so any time you stun a creature, you're guaranteed to get full damage with those disciplines. If you're dealing with a monster that has high Dexterity/Strength saves or low Constitution saves, you can use Stunning Strike to set them up for easy damage.
While it's limited in the scope of elements, and requires some multiclass, i've found a build where you multiclass for 3 levels in sorcerer and the rest in monk with the WoFE. My monk was fire based, so I only took the fire based disciplines, and I used the Phoenix Sorcerer subclass from UA. Gives you an ability that gives +your charisma modifier in fire damage when hit with a melee attack, whenever you roll fire damage, and if your DM considers unarmed strikes as contact, on contact with an enemy.
The levels in sorcerer give you access to very nice fire spells like Melf's Minute Meteors and Agnazzar's scorcher in addition to your Fireball, Wall of Flames and Burning hands from your monk level. Take the Elemental adept feat and choose fire, so your spells (which the discplines I described count as) ignore fire resistance. Since they count as spells and Metamagic doesn't have a stipulation that restricts it only to sorcerer spells, you can do things like cast 2 of your monk spells with quicken (Mind you it uses alot of Ki points, but you can short rest.)
Access to the spell Haste on a monk is really good, giving you +2 AC, advantage on dex saves which combo'sreally well with your monk feature allowing you to negate effects for Dex saves on a success, and an extra attack. So you can get an effective 22 AC and have flurry of blows (4 attacks) for free every turn?
Metamagics allow you to use your Aoe effects without harming your allies Via careful spell, or make it more difficult for your enemies by imposing disadvantage. Cantrips Firebolt and Create Bonfire deal good damage, get the Mantle of Flames bonus of adding charisma modifier to damage rolls, and they cover a good free way to deal ranged damage, one with an attack roll for high dex enemies, and one with a dex save for high ac enemies. Melf's Minute meteor and scorching ray spells require multiple fire damage rolls, each stacking the bonus of mantle of flames, so you'll be dealing heavy damage.
It's a very decent build, and outdamages a few of my friends' other monk builds, despite them claiming that my tradition was in many ways inferior to theirs. I'd also like to point out that you get both Immunity to the Poisoned effect AND poison damage. (As stated here in a ruling by Jeremy Crawford : https://twitter.com/JeremyECrawford/status/509032893155258368) so it's in no way a mediocre feature. Clerics can get rid of a poison effect, but getting immunity to an entire type of damage isn't something to glance over lightly.
Access to the spell Haste on a monk is really good, giving you +2 AC, advantage on dex saves which combo'sreally well with your monk feature allowing you to negate effects for Dex saves on a success, and an extra attack. So you can get an effective 22 AC and have flurry of blows (4 attacks) for free every turn?
This is your worst mistake; haste is a 3rd-level spell, so you need 5 levels of sorcerer to get access to it.
It's also worth mentioning that you need high Dex, Wis, and Cha.
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"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Well hello there everyone, it's Minoke here, wanting to attempt to make a collection of class guides for D&D Beyond, as well as maybe some cool character ideas.
These guides will be focusing more so on the lower/ medium levels of play, as those are the most commonly played levels, and to differentiate from the numerous other guides made throughout the internet.
As for why I'm doing monk first of all things, my formater said they wanted this one first, so its the one I'll begin with.
Quick colour guide for those of you new to this
Light blue is really cool features or big reasons to go to this point
Blue is the step bellow that, still good features but maybe not unique
Grey is the decent features, things that have a place in use
Purple is the meh stuff, things you don't need or maybe want, but you get anyway
Red is the free features you forget exist
Split colours means its dependent on campaign situation.
Stat Allocation
Strength : I hear a lot of people saying they want to make a burly brawler, that isn't a monk. Martial Arts makes it useless to you since you won't use it for attack rolls, though it gets grey for possible utility with athletics for sick jumps and grapples.
Dexterity : Now this is the milk that makes the butter for your monk toast. AC, Initiative, Attack/Damage, and Dex saves are fairly useful. Should be prioritized unless your going Open hand or Tranquility.
Constitution : Lets be really real here, Monks are a strange combination of very squishy and frontline fighter. You are getting hit unless you kill the thing trying to hit you, and often times they might get in a lucky swing.
Intelligence : Your a monk, not a wizard (much as four elements likes to pretend you are). I guess knowing about the history of your order might be nice?
Wisdom : If Dexterity is the milk, Wisdom is the bacteria that make cheese. This is what most of your DCs scale off, not to mention your AC gets a nice boost from it. Perception is also a nice added benefit, so you might notice the pitfall so you don't run into it. If your playing Shadow or Kensai, this goes to BLUE.
Charisma : Lets be honest here, your a guy that punches things, meaning you likely have gotten a lot more shiners than might complement you. There are enough damned Charisma casters in this game (4 of them) that you likely don't need this high. Special note is if your Tranquility this might be useful.
Class Features:
So now we reach the spine of the class. Ill colour these features for those of you needing inspiration to play the class or to know when to break off when multiclassing. Don't take the colours too seriously though, if your just playing monk your getting all of them anyway.
Unarmored Defense : Since everything else doesn't work with armor, this is how you survive. you can eventually hit AC 20, but good luck getting it much higher even with magic items, since you can't use +1/2/3 armor and shields.
Martial Arts : This is how you kill things, punching them to death, or hitting them with weapons I guess, but that is less fun. Basically just lets you dual wield fists (since they aren't weapons).
Ki : This is the resource that defines all your interesting abilities, stunning, extra attacks, and all other things require this. This level though your mostly using it for either punching an extra time or running away, since apparently you cant be like a rogue and do it for free.
Unarmored Movement : This is a good example of designing a feature for a class. Monks are well known in this edition for their above average movement. So why is this blue? In the times I've played monk, the only use I've had with it is being able to kite things and plink them with a shortbow, but if I think if I wanted that i could play any of the more proficient martial classes.
Deflect Missiles : Ah the classic catching an arrow trick (remember that Mythbusters episode?). Its a cool feature, but with your movement speed you downplay the weakness of melee vs ranged, but this downplays it more. Eventually, even if they are up on a wall you can just run up it anyway.
Slow Fall : Cool ability rated depending on how much your DM uses environmental hazards involving fall damage. Special note goes to Grapple monk running up a wall and then body slamming whatever they carried (think Prototype, its a really fun thing to do).
Extra attack : Nothing special, just like everyone else's except fighter. Well that's not entirely true, you now could have 4 attacks in a round triggering your abilities.
Stunning Strike : Remember what I just said about triggering your abilities? This is why I mentioned it. Stun is a powerful status condition to apply, and being able to possible force them to attempt it 4 times in a round (burns your ki a lot), makes it likely your best feature.
Ki-Empowered Strikes : A needed feature to not trivialize your punches, since at this level lots of things are resistant to non magic weapons.
Evasion : This isn't what I would call a bad feature, but its far from good. Avoiding Dex saves mostly just prevents damage, but maybe makes it so you have something you can say your better at than a fighter.
Stillness of Mind : Normally, things like charm and frightened are fairly debilitating, so why am I rating this so poorly? This only applies to things that give you such conditions, so spells that don't say your charmed/frightened can't be ended. This also takes an action, meaning your not doing much else, its basically just an auto succeed assuming the effect actually allows you to still use your actions at will. Lets be honest here, it should be immunity to those effects, or a bonus action, as it is the feature is situationally still not great.
Purity of Body : Now why is this rated purple, poisons and diseases are debilitating! Not really at this level, healers have ways to cheaply stop poisons and diseases. It might still be a welcome feature in some campaigns if your DM loves using that stuff on your party.
Tongue of the Sun and Moon (Red): Ill be honest, I even forgot this existed till I read through the monk features to write this guide. Its because at this level, if your DM cares about language barriers, your spellcasters will almost guaranteed have comprehend languages.
Diamond Soul : This is a great feature (shucks to you if you took resilient) gives you cool durability, and being able to use ki to basically gain advantage on saves is super gravy.
Timeless Body : This is mostly a ribbon feature, since at level 15 your not caring much about food or water.
Empty Body : This is a good ability, but you get it really late, worth noting is you stay invisible even if you interact with things.
Perfect Self : This is one of the reasons people don't care about capstones. If your starting combat at level 20 with no ki points, 4 points is both meaningless and shows your really not playing a monk well, which you ought to be at this level.
Monastic Traditions:
This is where you can start caring about colour rating, as it actually represents the value of choices.
Open Hand : This is your bruiser archtype, for if you just want to be in their face and push them to the ground (dead or alive).
Open Hand Technique : This is why you are way of the open hand, the ability to literally knock enemies around. Remember to knock them prone first to get advantage on your other melee attacks. Extra funny the bigger the thing you trip is.
Wholeness of Body : Self healing is kinda nice, since it makes it so the healer doesn't have to, but it taking a whole action likely will hurt you more than it will heal you, literally.
Tranquility : A free sanctuary spell after a long rest, makes it so your likely to at least try to hit someone before they hit you.
Quivering Palm : Where do I start with this ability? Its one of the only player features that can instantly kill an enemy on a failed save (and a lot better than the other feature), and for only 3 ki points too! Even if it succeeds on the save, 10d10 damage is nothing to sneeze at, specially since you can do this ability multiple times a turn.
Way of the Shadow : This path basically is all about becoming a ninja, you gain stealth and mobility options instead of the offensive features of Open Hand. If your multiclassing this is likely why.
Shadow Arts: These are some solid spells, though they do cost most of your points the level you unlock them. Bonus minor illusion cantrip shenanigans worth bringing up.
Shadow Step : This is the toast for your delicious ninja breakfast. Teleportation to any point of dim light or darkness means that if your looking for someone in a city you can cover a lot of ground, that and you might just not need bridges anymore.
Cloak of Shadows : This is a nice ki-less feature, gaining invisibility on demand, very ninja.
Opportunist : Its not a bad feature, allowing you to use your reaction for something, but at the same time if your next to someone when it isn't your turn your not playing monk too well.
Way of the Four Elements : I've included this because I feel obligated to, but lets be honest here, its trash. Your not a wizard, if you were a wizard, you would have wizard levels and a book. Monks don't read books, they punch things.
Way of the Long Death : Vampire monks that sap your life force away and avoids death at higher levels.
I may or may not have forgotten this existed till my editor pointed it out.Touch of Death : Bonus hit points when you kill something, great if your DM likes to throw some adds at you before the boss.
Hour of Reaping : Takes your whole action, meaning at this level your not swinging three or four times. Frighten isn't great since your enemies are running away from you.
Mastery of Death : This makes you super durable so you care less about actually going down.
Touch of the Long Death : Its just a weaker version of quivering palm, requiring more ki and you don't even get the insta death. I guess Mastery of Death was just too strong.
Way of the Sun Soul : An interesting addition from SCAG, makes you a monk blaster, not as good as warlock, but what is?
Radiant Sun Bolt : Now your basic attacks are ranged, which is just an interesting concept. Bonus points if you pretend your a shitty Dragon Ball OC
Searing Arc Strike : Its something from four elements, but with scaling and not being in four elements.
Searing Sunburst : Hey this is another thing from four elements, but it scales backwards and goes further. This makes it cool flavour.
Sun Shield : Huh a reaction that does 9 damage to something that hits you in melee, and your a human lightbulb. Interesting feature but not great.
Way of the Kensei : Kensei is an interesting archtype from UA. Rather than their fists the monk focuses on their weapon, unfortunately that isn't all that much better.
Path of the Kensei : You get a finesse greatsword or longsword, anything else is basically worth ignoring (except maybe a glaive). You also get to hit them for 1d4 extra as a bonus. Special note is it is applied to anything you hit so combine it with extra attack or haste. You can also pretend you didn't focus on weapons and just got shield proficiency that functions with your other features.
One with the Blade : Its basically Ki empowered strikes but for your weapon, you should already have a magic weapon by level 6 so its not that big a deal. Precise strike would be cooler if you could use ki to do it rather than the once per short rest.
Sharpen the Blade : For a Minute pretend you have a +3 weapon, interestingly it also stacks if its already a + weapon.
Enerring Accuracy: If you miss you can try not to, once on your turn. Since your already likely attacking four times a round missing once isn't impacting your DPR too bad. Compared to the other subclasses and if you made it this far, its not great.
Way of Tranquility : This UA subclass is actually surprisingly good. Since a lot of western monks are seen as being far more pacifist, this is fairly nice thematically.
Path of Tranquility : This is really, good, well no its not really. Sanctuary being cast for free as a main action is pretty nice, but anything that makes the save becomes immune to the protection.
Healing Hands : Some nice contact healing that scales pretty nicely. As you get stronger you can dump a lot of hit points into yourself or the tank as a single action. You can actually burst heal better than clerics at some levels, so that is nice.
Emissary of Peace : I guess this is kinda cool and very in line with the archtype's thematic, but I'm not really sold on it compared to some of the other 6th level features of the other archtypes.
Douse the Flames of War : As an action, make someone save or suck for a whole minute, so why isn't it good? As soon as combat kicks off and your allies take their turn, the effect is going to end since, lets be honest here, someone is going to be an *******.
Anger of a Gentle Soul : This ability is a situational one. On one hand being able to add +17 or more to your damage on a target when you can try to hit them four or five times is amazing. On the other hand though, it needs to kill something else, which depending on your party might be tricky, and it only works on one enemy and can only be used once a short rest.
Way of the Drunken Master : Oh thank the gods that WofC released this UA. This archtype fixes a lot of the issues of the squishiness of the class while maintaining the idea of you clearly being meant to be a frontliner.
Drunken Technique : So now for a single ki point, you get a free attack, disengage, and an increase to movement? That's what I call value.
Tipsy Sway : An early use for your reaction, but with your economic disengage you likely shouldn't be getting hit so easily.
Drunkard's Luck : Hey wait a second, I thought this was a part of Diamond Soul? Oh it stacks, you now can basically get double advantage, or just normal advantage a few levels earlier.
Intoxicated Furry : This is not a good level 17 feature. If your surrounded by more than three enemies at this level, your likely wanting to mostly just focus one down with all your punches.
Feats
For this section I won't bore you with a review of all the feats, I'll just note down a lot of the useful ones, if its not here, assume its not worth looking at.
Alert : +5 initiative to what is already going to be a good Dex mod is nice if you feel going first is important, depends on how many rounds your average combat takes.
Athlete : This isn't a great feat, but if your wanting to round off an odd Dex mod its not the worst to pick if your not expecting the campaign to last to level 9.
Dual Wielder : This is basically just a +1 AC for if your Dex is maxed. Goes to red if your DM says you can't do unarmed attacks with your feet.
Healer : Lets you be a low level healer, either take it early or never.
Inspiring Leader: If you have good charisma and want to burn a feat, I guess this is decent. Most people should just ignore though.
Lucky : Lucky is better for you than most martial classes with the monk's focus on save or statuses.
Mage Slayer : Your mobility lets you get into wizard's faces and stay there. Being able to force as many concentration checks as you are able to makes it a feat worth thinking about.
Magic Initiate : This is blue for the reason of Warlock. Grabbing Hex means an extra 1d6 on each hit, cantrips are just gravy.
Mobile : While Drunken Master is a great in class solution to the issues with monk, Mobile provides a way of doing so for those that don't want to use the archtype on it.
Observant : As a monk you will have high wisdom, meaning you will likely have good perception. If your DM doesn't use passive perception you can safely ignore this feat.
Resilient : Is your campaign going to reach level 14? If the answer is no, then its blue, otherwise it loses it's value.
Ritual Caster : As a monk there aren't a lot of rituals you really need to grab, but that doesn't mean there aren't any you might be willing to grab for utility.
Savage Attacker : Your fists don't count as weapons.
Sentinel : Your the one darting in and out, not the enemy.
Skulker : This isn't a good feat, some of you might think it is useful, but its not darkvision.
Tough : For when you want to get more than putting two points into Con for health.
Weapon Master : Martial weapons from this aren't monk weapons, I guess you can grab longbow.
Races
Colours matter, but play what you want thematically if your not wanting to meta the hell out of your character. (If your on this guide thats likely not the case, don't lie to yourself)
Dwarf, Hill : Bonus to a secondary stat and a primary one, with an added durability boost, sign me up.
Dwarf, Mountain : Boost to a secondary and dump makes this nowhere near as good as hill.
Dwarf, Duergar (SCAG): Blue if your going shadow monk, otherwise its worse than mountain.
Elf, High : Elves make good monks, this one is the weakest of them though.
Elf, Wood : This is one of the best monk races in the entire game, bonuses to both your primary stats, proficiency in longbows, boosted movement speed, and even extra stuff to hiding, its got everything you like as a monk.
Elf, Drow : If your a shadow monk or in a campaign where its mostly indoors, this is likely better than high elf, if these things aren't the case the sunlight sensitivity will hurt you.
Halfling, Lightfoot : Boost to your primary stat is nice, and Lucky helps you hit slightly better, but there are better halfling sub races.
Halfling, Stout : Better than lightfoot, since it makes you resistant to poison and increases a relevant stat.
Halfling, Ghostwise (SCAG) : This is one of those races that are just designed for monk. Boost to a major stat and telepathy, along with all the other halfling package.
Human : Ill just go ahead and assume your DM is allowing variant (I have yet to find one that didn't), being able to pick a feat at level one is super good for low level campaigns, and being able to round off whatever you need makes this a good race.
Dragonborn : Boosts to two dump stats, and no darkvision. Only redeeming feature is damage resistance, but there are other races that give them and other useful things.
Gnome, Forest : A small boost to your Dex along with advantage to mental saves vs spells, its not bad but there is better. Small beast communication has interesting scouting utility.
Gnome, Rock : Artificer's Lore would be useful if your a wizard, but your not Harry Potter.
Gnome, Svirfneblin (SCAG) : This basically trades out your ability to talk to small animals for better darkvision and stealth.
Half-Elf : You get darkvision, which is nice, and +1 to two stats is OK too, but I don't think its as good as just being human or elf. Turns out that mixing the two doesn't make you good.
Half-Elf (SCAG) : This gets its own section, but other than drow magic there isn't much you would actually want.
Half-Orc : Boost to con and a dump stat, savage attacks is nice with the advantage you might generate as a shadow monk or open hand.
Tiefling : Stat boosts to two dump stats, but darkvision, resistance to fire, and some half decent spells means this makes a good shadow monk.
Tiefling (SCAG) : Bonus to Dex makes this seem like a good monk race, combined with innate fly speed at low levels means that this is a good grapple monk race, or just a normal one.
Aasimar, Protector (VOLO) : Small bonus to wisdom is nice, but once a long rest get a fly speed for a minute and once a turn on a hit deal your level as damage? Thats good, you also get some healing and resistances for gravy.
Aasimar, Scourge (VOLO) : Small boost to con is OK, Radiant consumption is pretty cool but doesn't mean you should be a monk.
Aasimar, Fallen (VOLO) : You get the basic Aasimar stuff, which on it's own is decent. The actual sub race doesn't give you anything good.
Firbolg (VOLO) : Big friendly giant, which is really short for a giant. Boost to wisdom and strength are decent. Powerful build deserves mention since it might apply to grappling people.
Goliath (VOLO/EE) : This is a really good race if your wanting to build grappler Monk, if that isn't the case I guess it gives you some durability for early levels?
Kenku (VOLO) : Crow people actually make great monks, you get boosts to your two main stats and extra skill proficiency in skills you might actually use.
Lizardfolk (VOLO) : Boost to Con and Wisdom is nice, but you get a lot of overlap in your abilities from the race and being a monk.
Tabaxi (VOLO) : Boosts to relevant stats, free skill proficiency in stuff you likely would have taken anyway, and a free dash? Sign me up for ear rubs.
Triton (VOLO) : Only relevant thing to monk is a +1 con, next please.
Bugbear (VOLO) : Small bonus to Dex is cool, but the interesting things about bugbear is that your punches now have a reach of 10 and you do bonus damage on your surprise hit, thank you shadow monk.
Goblin (VOLO) : Bonus to Dex and con is nice, but being able to do extra damage to anything medium or larger and disengage or hide as a bonus makes this good.
Hobgoblin (VOLO) : Bonus to con is nice and all, but just be a dwarf instead.
Kobold (VOLO) Bonus to Dex is nice, penalty to strength is slightly less so. You gain pack tactics, which for a monk goes a long way. Sunlight Sensitivity spoils your usefulness in an outdoorsy campaign.
Orc (VOLO) : Just play Goliath, your less likely to be killed by the town guard.
Yuan-ti (VOLO) : you can disregard the stat boosts, what you want from this is magic resistance and poison immunity, you will drink the night away, and not die!
Aarakocra (EE) : You get boosts to your two primary stats, and get to have a fly speed 50 at level 1.
Air Genasi (EE) : Bonus to con and Dex makes this a decent race, innately casting levitate at level 1 is what makes it blue.
Earth Genasi (EE) : Boost to strength and con is decent, innate casting of pass without trace might be nice if your not a shadow and wanting to stealth.
Fire Genasi (EE) : Boost to intelligence and con is eh, your innate spellcasting is whatever.
Water Genasi (EE) : Good stat buffs, that basically it.
I'll likely update this in the future, maybe when I'm feeling up to it I'll tackle multiclassing, and dedicate a section to grappling, or just make that it's own guide.
If you noticed any errors or ways to improve the guide, comment below. Feel free to vote for what guides you want me to do, they take a few days to write so expect the next one soon.
Very nice guide. Marked it as "not spam" since it's so legit.
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Would also appreciate a mod unspamming this since apparently it got auto detected.
Great guide, Minoke - as someone who has always toyed with playing a Monk but never made one, it was very helpful. I really like that you open with 'lower/ medium levels of play' seeing as most guides are so heavily slanted toward the ultimate min/max combos which kills a lot of the fun for me.
Is the Way of the Four Elements really so awful?
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My homebrew: [Subclasses] [Races] [Feats] [Discussion Thread]
I've just read the thread and looked at the PHB again - I see your points. There's little value in getting late spells with few resources to cast them, especially compared with the other paths' benefits. Pity, because I loved the theme.
Cheers.
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My homebrew: [Subclasses] [Races] [Feats] [Discussion Thread]
Came across this guide, very helpful. I was surprised that half-elf wasn't blue. With +1 to your two primary stats and point buy, you can end up with very respectable stats to start (16 Wis/Dex, 14 Con), and combining the extra skill proficiency with the right background can put you in a really good spot at level 1. Sure, you don't have any spectacular racial abilities but I feel the end result hits as hard as any other and is very well-rounded compared to other "grey" races you noted. I just don't see half-elf in the same tier as half-orc, lizardfolk or water genasi. Just my two pennies.
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
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Skameros - Bugbear Barbarian - Out of the Abyss - By Kerrec
Follow your Arrow where it Points - Tabaxi Monk - Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus (by Pokepaladdy)
Citron Pumpkinfoam - Fairy Monk - Project Point: Team Longsword
Nicely done! I have a couple of comments though.
Unarmored movement is awesome! I've played two monks and I can't tell you how valuable it is in combat to have a melee combatant who can get anywhere in any fight in one round. That extra movement has saved my party several times. The upgrades where a monk can walk on water and up vertical surfaces isn't that useful but the bonus movement is a huge hidden benefit.
Deflect missiles is something that I've only used a couple of times. It's nice, but it looks nicer on paper than it is in my experience. It's saved my neck a couple of times, but not often enough to rate it as blue.
Slow fall is very situational. I've used it once successfully to ambush opponents because I was able to jump down from a 30' cliff without taking damage but on the whole I've only used it a couple of times.
Purity of Body is awesome when your DM is having opponents use poison against you in combat! Poison by itself completely unbalances combat when you fail your save and Purity of Body has saved my monk several times! It deserves a higher rating than purple.
The Lucky feat deserves to be light blue. That feat is unbeatable. It's become an, "I'll never not take it" feat for every class for me!
Very well written! Thank you for sharing, you did a great job typing that up!
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Way of the Four Elements also lets you fly at level 11+, which, again, is really useful since it's a concentration spell, only sorcerers/wizards/warlocks get it and the entire class is built around punching things. The mere fact that noone else has to waste their concentration slot so you can get close to a flying monster is priceless. Plus you can literally fly up to dragons and knock them out of the sky with better than 50% chance (and between Diamond Soul and Evasion you're well-prepared to deal with any breath weapon.) In fact, for high-Strength monsters like dragons, Water Whip has better odds of working than earthbind on top of being cheaper (same cost as a level 1 spell).
Those disciplines alone make the subclass worth it. But they also get a discounted gust of wind for some inexpensive area control, and Shape The Flowing River is also good for exploration.
EDIT: I conflated Fist of Unbroken Air and Water Whip in my original post (Water Whip does require sight). I've corrected the mistake, sorry for any confusion it might've caused.
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
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"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
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Oh, I forgot to mention yet another reason Water Whip and Fist of Unbroken Air kick ass - since they're neither attacks nor spells, you can use them while under the effects of Sanctuary or Invisibility. The latter is a really big deal because Greater Invisibility is a 4th level spell and only lasts 1 minute instead of 1 hour (plus Warlocks don't get it.) Being invisible is very powerful - most non-attack, non-area spells require sight, even the almighty Power Word Kill. It also protects against things like Beholder eye rays and Medusa and Bodak gaze attacks.
Additionally, stunned creatures automatically fail Strength and Dexterity saving throws and Stunning Strike lasts until the end of your next turn so any time you stun a creature, you're guaranteed to get full damage with those disciplines. If you're dealing with a monster that has high Dexterity/Strength saves or low Constitution saves, you can use Stunning Strike to set them up for easy damage.
While it's limited in the scope of elements, and requires some multiclass, i've found a build where you multiclass for 3 levels in sorcerer and the rest in monk with the WoFE. My monk was fire based, so I only took the fire based disciplines, and I used the Phoenix Sorcerer subclass from UA. Gives you an ability that gives +your charisma modifier in fire damage when hit with a melee attack, whenever you roll fire damage, and if your DM considers unarmed strikes as contact, on contact with an enemy.
The levels in sorcerer give you access to very nice fire spells like Melf's Minute Meteors and Agnazzar's scorcher in addition to your Fireball, Wall of Flames and Burning hands from your monk level. Take the Elemental adept feat and choose fire, so your spells (which the discplines I described count as) ignore fire resistance. Since they count as spells and Metamagic doesn't have a stipulation that restricts it only to sorcerer spells, you can do things like cast 2 of your monk spells with quicken (Mind you it uses alot of Ki points, but you can short rest.)
Access to the spell Haste on a monk is really good, giving you +2 AC, advantage on dex saves which combo'sreally well with your monk feature allowing you to negate effects for Dex saves on a success, and an extra attack. So you can get an effective 22 AC and have flurry of blows (4 attacks) for free every turn?
Metamagics allow you to use your Aoe effects without harming your allies Via careful spell, or make it more difficult for your enemies by imposing disadvantage. Cantrips Firebolt and Create Bonfire deal good damage, get the Mantle of Flames bonus of adding charisma modifier to damage rolls, and they cover a good free way to deal ranged damage, one with an attack roll for high dex enemies, and one with a dex save for high ac enemies. Melf's Minute meteor and scorching ray spells require multiple fire damage rolls, each stacking the bonus of mantle of flames, so you'll be dealing heavy damage.
It's a very decent build, and outdamages a few of my friends' other monk builds, despite them claiming that my tradition was in many ways inferior to theirs. I'd also like to point out that you get both Immunity to the Poisoned effect AND poison damage. (As stated here in a ruling by Jeremy Crawford : https://twitter.com/JeremyECrawford/status/509032893155258368) so it's in no way a mediocre feature. Clerics can get rid of a poison effect, but getting immunity to an entire type of damage isn't something to glance over lightly.
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
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