Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer Creatures
Frozen Sick
D&D Beyond Basic Rules
Basic Rules (2014)
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Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer CreaturesFrozen SickD&D Beyond Basic RulesBasic Rules (2014)Sign in to view your library & saved favorites.
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Having just discovered that simple melee weapons, when thrown, still benefit from the monk’s Martial Arts die, I wanted to try something new. This makes me eager to build a monk who specializes in throwing weapons.
By taking at least one level in fighter, I can give my character Nick (dagger) and Vex (hand axe), along with the Two-Weapon Fighting style. Since both weapons have the thrown property, they work perfectly for ranged combat as well.
Now that I think about it, this monk could deal piercing, slashing and bludgeoning damage, all in a single turn. Ideally, returnable throwing weapons would be best, but even just throwing them, dashing to engage in melee, and retrieving them at the end of the turn wouldn’t be bad.
Does anyone know if picking up a thrown weapon requires a bonus action? That could be a problem.
Since we’re going for variety, I’m considering adding Open Hand Techniques and the Slasher feat. Given the build is already diverse, why not make the character an Aasimar with the Wayfarer background and the Lucky feat? Between the Aasimar’s healing ability, the fighter’s Second Wind, and the monk’s Wholeness of Body (Open hand feature), this character would be very durable.
Now I need to decide: Is it worth starting as a fighter to gain Perception, but lose the Dexterity saving throw proficiency in favor of Constitution? Obviously, this becomes irrelevant once the monk reaches 14th level.
The Wayfarer background gives Stealth and Insigh.
For skills, I’d take Acrobatics and Athletics as a monk, and Acrobatics and Perception as a fighter. What a dilemma!
If you have any additional tips for this build, let me know.
Picking up one weapon uses your free object interaction. When you make an attack as part of the attack action, you can equip or unequip a weapon, and picking it up to wield is equipping.
The main problem I see with your idea is your bonus action attacks, which have to be unarmed. They're a significant percentage of a monk's combat power, and they're not all that compatible with thrown weapons. Yes, you can throw and then close for the bonus action strikes, but at that point, why are you throwing?
So I can attack someone without entering their range and attacking another enemy in melee combat, or to attack a flying enemy, or to attack an enemy that’s too far away to reach, or ... But mostly because I liked the idea and it seems fun.
Another cool thing would be to use stunning strike on a mid-air enemy with a thrown Monk weapon.
While this monk won’t throw weapons every turn, they can do so when necessary (strictly limited to the main action, not the bonus action). At least this prevents them from being restricted to melee attacks alone. This build isn’t about a monk focused entirely on throwing weapons; rather, it’s about a monk who can deliver a variety of attacks and adapt to diverse situations. Perhaps when the Kensei subclass is released, it will be possible to build a monk who throws weapons with every single attack.
To be precise, this monk would only be forced into melee combat if it used “Bonus Unarmed Strike” or “Flurry of Blows”... which is to say, most of the time. In conclusion, it couldn’t be called a specialist in throwing weapon combat, but that doesn’t mean it’s useless at medium range (20–60 feet).
Monk 5th level / Fighter 1st level
Action:
Option 1:
Attack 1 - Handaxe (melee/thrown) “+ Slasher feat”
Attack 2 - Handaxe (melee/thrown “if re-rolled”), or Unarmed (melee)
Attack 3 - Dagger (melee/thrown) - Mastery Properties Nick
Option 2: Healing Hands (x1/d)
Option 3: Light cantrip
Bonus Action:
Option 1: Bonus Unarmed Strike (melee) - (0 FP)
Option 2: Flurry of Blows (melee) - (1 FP)
Non-attack options = Step of the Wind / Patient Defense / Celestial Revelation
Reaction:
Deflect Attacks (0-1 FP) / Opportunity Attack (0 FP)
2024 Sharpshooter feat allows ranged combat at range 0 with no disadvantage so can throw weapons at range 5' same range as melee attacks.
Life's hard - get a helmet!
Man, the Sharpshooter feat would be great... But the downside of the monk is that it can't take many feats, so it's a choice between whether Sharpshooter is better than Slasher for this build.
Sharpshooter would definitely increase the attack range from 20 to 60 feet and prevent the penalty if one wanted to attack an enemy at a distance while already in melee with another enemy. Combined with a stealth attack, it would be amazing. It’s just a shame that the rogue doesn’t have a fighting style.
The Slasher feat, on the other hand, offers another control technique that reduces movement. With this, there would be Topple, Push, Stunning Strike, ...
The combination of Slasher, Topple, and Push isn’t bad for obstructing the movement of an enemy with only melee combat abilities; you could even render them useless for a turn if played well. Another nice feature is Vex, which grants an advantage to the next attack, and Slasher, which imposes a disadvantage on the enemy if they’re hit by a critical attack. But thinking about it, the most that can be done is two attacks per turn that deal slashing damage, so the chances of this happening are low.
Sharpshooter is indeed more practical. Even with the monk’s disengagement abilities—using “addle” and its enhanced movement from “fleet step”—it wouldn’t be a problem to disengage from one enemy to attack another with ranged weapons. The biggest advantage would be against enemies that are out of reach while running, such as flying enemies; for those enemies, 20 feet is simply not enough.
What do you think of a monk who has 1 level as a fighter and 1 level as a rogue?