I love the idea of the monk, that was until I played one. The problem as I see it is that in combat the monk is to much a Glass Cannon. My monk survived to many battles by being unconscious through the fight. I would get a healing of less then 10 hp, pop up only to get knocked down before my turn. At least I would get to start my death saves again. This is not fun. What I realized is that combat is to limited for what a monk should be able to do. This is what I came up with.
Improved Martial Arts Skills for Monk
This is an addendum to the Martial arts skill of the Monk. After playing a monk character I found the Martial arts of the D&D 5e Monk sadly lacking compared to other Character Class of the same level, and not reflective of the potential of a Monk. These moves do not require the use of Ki points as they are skilled physical attacks, or dodges.
Monk Features
Martial Arts Improvements
Level Skill
3rd Balance Manipulation: At 3rd level as a reaction to a melee attack. The monk can redirect the attacker's momentum and take the opponent off balance. This is a grapple with a Strength or Dexterity contest. If the monk fails, the attack hits or misses as rolled. If the monk succeeds the attacker is thrown up to 15 ft. 1d10 +5, and must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or land prone.
6th Disarm: At 6th level as a reaction to a melee attack the monk can interfere with an incoming attack and disarm the attacker by manipulating the weapon from the attacker’s hands. This is a Grapple and is contested with a Strength, or Dexterity contest. If the Monk succeeds the weapon is taken from the attacker. The monk can immediately use the weapon against the attacker. Monk’s weapon proficiency apply for a normal attack roll, or the monk can toss the weapon 10 to 20ft away 1d10 +10. On a failure the attack hits, or misses as rolled.
10th Nerve Strike: At 10th level the monk can perform a targeted strike against an opponent’s nervous system. On a successful hit the opponents nerve bundle is stunned for 1d4 rounds, at 15th level 1d6 rounds, at 20th level permanent. The effect instills disadvantage on all Attack, Strength, Dexterity, and Construction rolls.
14th Improved Evasion: The monk can Evade ranged Spells, like magic missile, witch bolt etc. With a successful dexterity saving throw. Area effect spells, like fireballs, or Dragons Breath, are now ¼ damage on a failed Dexterity save, and no damage on a successful save.
also do you not realise how Over the top your nerve strike thing is? So every time you hit something its stunned for at least 1 round with 0 chance of saves. And at level 20 you can keep every baddie perma stunned? Seriously....really?
Don't see how it a glascannon it has 10+Dex+Wis this can end up to 20 AC Dodge bonus action for 1 ki disadvantage on all attack on him if he can see them which is huge kensei monk has trigger to get +2 ac deflect missil,evasion, stunning strike purity body, diamond soul
The biggest problem ofcourse that his armor depend on his stats so it takes awhile but the rest of his kit has alot of defensive option/feat
Monks, like rogues, need to use their mobility in order to survive. They’re not front line fighters and apparently you’ve been playing yours like a front line fighter going toe to toe with your opponents. They’re skirmishers, they need to use their high movement rate plus their other abilities to get in and get out of combat and to get to where they can be most useful to the rest of the party.
Move in, strike and attempt to stun, disengage as a bonus action and move to threaten the enemy’s leader who is hiding behind the front row and attack the leader. That’s how to play a monk.
If you go point buy you start with an AC of 14 while unarmoured. This pretty good for level 1 and this is without factoring your racial ability score increases.
You can use multiple races which offer good ASI for starting. Wood Elves, Ghostwise Halflings, Mark of Healing Halflings, Aarakocra and Kenku are all best choices stat-wise with their +2 Dex +1 Wis ASIs. You can easily achieve a starting AC of 16 with these and standard point buy. Alternatively go Variant Human and for their bonus feat choose one that increases Dex or Wis or AC. If you increase both Dex and Wis to 20 then you have an AC of 20 which is the equivalent of Full Plate Armour with Shield.
You can spend a ki point to use your bonus acton to disengage for skirmishing tactics or to take dodge action which imposes disadvantage on all attacks against you and gives you advantage to Dexterity saving throws. You will also get Evasion to half or nullify damage from anything that requires you to make a Dexterity saving throw.
Then there are class features to consider like Open Hand's natural Sanctuary and pushing enemies away if you use Flurry of Blows or the Shadow's 6th level ability to teleport 60 ft in dim light or darkness and get advantage on next attack.
Oh and Deflect Missiles to stop ranged weapon attacks and even counter attack.
Throw in the extra speed and utility of their unarmoured movement (which is brilliant with Tabaxi's Feline Agility or an Aaracokra's starting flying speed).
Sooo many defenses.
Now add the feats and magic items that boost AC and defenses...
It seems to be your issue is more about you not knowing how to play the class properly rather than the class itself. Your suggestions are way overpowered - monks already have strong and incredible features as is, your additions are beyond extreme (and seriously, able to perma-stun enemies, no saves, from just a hit: considering you are the most mobile class and have 4 attacks a turn... Yeah, that one feature alone would make the monk the most powerful and broken D&D class in D&D history).
Monks aren't brutes. You need to play them with a bit of tactics. You get the varied defenses and speed boosts for a reason.
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My DM was new, and he deemed any movement out of combat would bring attacks of opportunity. The Dodge or Disengage were useless in this campaign, and Shadow step was a hard sell. I am amazed my Tabaxi Shadow Monk survived CoS. This has been good so far I am learning how better use a monk thanks.
Yeah your DM interpretated how OA work wrong. If there no other feat like for example "polearm mastery" feat.
OA only trigger when you can see the creature and it leaves your melee attack range. (if your weapon attack 5 ft OA only trigger when you opponent goes away 10ft of you if he circles around you no OA. Also weapon with longer weapon reach like "glaive" with 10 feet the opponent can move freely aslong it 0-10 feet away from only when it move 15 feet away from you you get OA with the glaive.) OA also doesn't happend if you use disengage (unless your oppoenent has something like sentinel) or you get pushed away by something else or teleport.
OA mostly to punish people fleeing away melee combat by there own decision unless they take measure agaisnt it like disengage or teleport.
Opportunity Attacks In a fight, everyone is constantly watching for a chance to strike an enemy who is fleeing or passing by. Such a strike is called an opportunity attack.
You can make an opportunity attack when a hostile creature that you can seemoves out of your reach. To make the opportunity attack, you use your reaction to make one melee attack against the provoking creature. The attack occurs right before the creature leaves your reach.
You can avoid provoking an opportunity attack by taking the Disengage action. You also don't provoke an opportunity attack when you teleport or when someone or something moves you without using your movement, action, or reaction. For example, you don't provoke an opportunity attack if an explosion hurls you out of a foe's reach or if gravity causes you to fall past an enemy.
I see your point. During that whole campaign I never once had an opportunity to use Deflect Missiles, I so wanted to use that. But like a painting on the wall, Looks Good there sitting on the wall doing nothing. Slow fall was very useful. I even used it tactically. also The DM is very not into giving players Magic Items. In Curse of Strahd having a magical, or silver weapon is very important. I was lucky to get a silvered Bo staff.
So what about, Balance Manipulation, and Disarm? I think that a monk should be able to do some Kung Fu sh!t based on the Monks Martial arts skill and not Ki points. I am not saying I hate Ki points. Ki is very important in a Zen, Mysticism way, and very much has a place in the class. I just don't like felling like I have to use a ki point whenever I blow my nose. You can run out of Ki points very fast if not managed well.
well it depends how many time the DM allow short rest per day and how many encounters he runs per day. If there no short rest or there alot encounter or long encounters then yes your ki gonna vanish like thin air.
As for the other feats i don't rember all reaction options but as far i rember reactions feat pretty limited to another source damage/reduce damage/extra movement/temp higher defence be it ac,advantage/disadvantage,saving throw. Most time it only has 1 effect of evertyhing i listed.
Yours has multiple effects that can totaly disable your opponent with just a reaction. Maybe as an action it seem more even cost.
Archer would grab Balance Manipulation any day and kite the crap out melee fighters since there movement totaly ****** each fail making it a nightmare to even get in melee range again and make an attack. Disarm feel like upgraded version of the fighter battle master manouver "Disarming Attack" that doesn't cost a limited resource.
NOTE: this just my interpretation in my mind i can totaly be wrong how it run in practise neither in anyway do i know anything about proper balacing stuff i never tried to homebrew or DM anything.
Deflect Missiles looks a lot nicer than it really is. It uses your Reaction so you can only use it once per turn and if you use it you can't take an Attack of Opportunity and using it to throw a missile back at your attacker uses a Ki point and as you noticed Ki points run out quickly. If you're attacked by a ranged attack, use it to block the damage but save your Ki points instead of throwing the weapon back at your attacker.
Monks don't need magical weapons though. Starting at 6th level your unarmed attacks count as magical for the purposes of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage. You didn't need a silvered weapon, your hands are good enough.
The reason that Ki points are limited is balance. If they weren't limited, monks would be overpowered compared to other classes. But, you recover your Ki points after a short rest while wizards, clerics, and druids only recover their spell slots after a long rest which makes up for the fact that your Ki points are limited. You should be able to short rest frequently enough that you don't run out of Ki points very often.
I see your point, but Balance Manipulation is as simple a thing as grabbing an incoming sword arm and giving it a tug to increase the momentum of the attacker. This should be contested with a Dex, Str contest as in Grapple. If the attacker fails they are off balance and need to land somewhere and a Dex save to determine if the attacker can keep it's feet, or not. A simple reaction with complex consequences. Balance Manipulation can only be a reaction to an attack. It uses the attackers attack momentum against the attacker. If you attack someone and try to throw them off balance this is more difficult and would need to be a Grapple Action. I see disarm the same way. In movies and TV we have all seen a skilled martial artiste confound an opponent with out really harming them. Monks are typically pacifists and attack only when negotiations fail. Or am I totally nuts..ok maybe I am. :) also if you can catch an arrow in flight, you should be able to catch an arm. Just saying.
The biggest problem ofcourse that his armor depend on his stats so it takes awhile but the rest of his kit has alot of defensive option/feat
It wasn't meant to say you can start off with 20 AC at level 1. 15 DEX/15 Wisdom there plenty races that give atleast 1 extra dex and wisdom ending it with 16 or 17 giving +3 modifier each => 10+3+3=16 ac lvl 1 monk. As for the rest you gonna need ASI and increase your dex/wisdom to increase your AC.
You cant do that with a point buy in, or set ability array (15 and lower) And with those starting stats and a race with +2 and +1 to dex and wisdom you will have two stats at 16, granting an ac of 16 at first level, at 4th it will be 17, 8th, 18 and 12th 19 finally 16th will be 20, leaving you one asi not spent on wis or dex.
This puts you in the same boat as rogues - vulnerable and not really wanting to push your luck in melee. If your in danger, a ki point to dodge as a bonus action is better than an extra attack. alternatively stunning strike if you have it first, if that works then you dont need to spend the point on dodge (unless there are a few nasty opponents not just one single target)
Be prepared to use your monk weapons (darts of thrown daggers) to deal damage at range if it is less risky, if this is enough to visibly weaken a foe or take out one of a pair you can use your movement to engage the last and having attacking with a monk weapon then attack with your bonus action unarmed attack. (alternatively if neither seem injured use your movement to evacuate the area!)
The open palm subclass flurry options give other options - on a flurry you can knock prone and / or kick away the opponent 15' or remove their ability to have a reaction strike. so for example:
knock prone and kick away - walk 5' back, a target with 30' of movement will now be unable to reach you in melee in one round and still attack.
opponent passes knockdown save, hit with reaction blocker (no save on that one) and walk 35' back to avoid return fire
kick back 15' advance to target and around them, now kick them back into melee with the party so they cant leave to hit you without triggering Opportunity attacks from them
kick off cliff / edge of pit
kick into/ over caltrops / ball bearings to reduce movement and possibly drop prone.
Not to mention finding any Items that give AC bonuses.
Bracers of Defense ((a must have for any monk, brow beat your dm to give you a chance at these)) is a +2, a ring of protection a +1, as others have stated Kensei gives a +2 constantly.
Also remember raising wisdom makes your AC AND stunning strike DC go up.
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I love the idea of the monk, that was until I played one. The problem as I see it is that in combat the monk is to much a Glass Cannon. My monk survived to many battles by being unconscious through the fight. I would get a healing of less then 10 hp, pop up only to get knocked down before my turn. At least I would get to start my death saves again. This is not fun. What I realized is that combat is to limited for what a monk should be able to do. This is what I came up with.
Improved Martial Arts Skills for Monk
This is an addendum to the Martial arts skill of the Monk. After playing a monk character I found the Martial arts of the D&D 5e Monk sadly lacking compared to other Character Class of the same level, and not reflective of the potential of a Monk. These moves do not require the use of Ki points as they are skilled physical attacks, or dodges.
Monk Features
Martial Arts Improvements
Level Skill
3rd Balance Manipulation: At 3rd level as a reaction to a melee attack. The monk can redirect the attacker's momentum and take the opponent off balance. This is a grapple with a Strength or Dexterity contest. If the monk fails, the attack hits or misses as rolled. If the monk succeeds the attacker is thrown up to 15 ft. 1d10 +5, and must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or land prone.
6th Disarm: At 6th level as a reaction to a melee attack the monk can interfere with an incoming attack and disarm the attacker by manipulating the weapon from the attacker’s hands. This is a Grapple and is contested with a Strength, or Dexterity contest. If the Monk succeeds the weapon is taken from the attacker. The monk can immediately use the weapon against the attacker. Monk’s weapon proficiency apply for a normal attack roll, or the monk can toss the weapon 10 to 20ft away 1d10 +10. On a failure the attack hits, or misses as rolled.
10th Nerve Strike: At 10th level the monk can perform a targeted strike against an opponent’s nervous system. On a successful hit the opponents nerve bundle is stunned for 1d4 rounds, at 15th level 1d6 rounds, at 20th level permanent. The effect instills disadvantage on all Attack, Strength, Dexterity, and Construction rolls.
14th Improved Evasion: The monk can Evade ranged Spells, like magic missile, witch bolt etc. With a successful dexterity saving throw. Area effect spells, like fireballs, or Dragons Breath, are now ¼ damage on a failed Dexterity save, and no damage on a successful save.
so you realise.... we have stunning strike right?
also do you not realise how Over the top your nerve strike thing is? So every time you hit something its stunned for at least 1 round with 0 chance of saves. And at level 20 you can keep every baddie perma stunned? Seriously....really?
Don't see how it a glascannon it has 10+Dex+Wis this can end up to 20 AC
Dodge bonus action for 1 ki disadvantage on all attack on him if he can see them which is huge
kensei monk has trigger to get +2 ac
deflect missil,evasion, stunning strike
purity body, diamond soul
The biggest problem ofcourse that his armor depend on his stats so it takes awhile but the rest of his kit has alot of defensive option/feat
Nox - Adult Oblex - The Trials
Jartrin Ephok - Dragonborn - Zanoliv
Bunol - Grim Angel - The Floating Lands of Goriate
Monks, like rogues, need to use their mobility in order to survive. They’re not front line fighters and apparently you’ve been playing yours like a front line fighter going toe to toe with your opponents. They’re skirmishers, they need to use their high movement rate plus their other abilities to get in and get out of combat and to get to where they can be most useful to the rest of the party.
Move in, strike and attempt to stun, disengage as a bonus action and move to threaten the enemy’s leader who is hiding behind the front row and attack the leader. That’s how to play a monk.
Professional computer geek
If you go point buy you start with an AC of 14 while unarmoured. This pretty good for level 1 and this is without factoring your racial ability score increases.
You can use multiple races which offer good ASI for starting. Wood Elves, Ghostwise Halflings, Mark of Healing Halflings, Aarakocra and Kenku are all best choices stat-wise with their +2 Dex +1 Wis ASIs. You can easily achieve a starting AC of 16 with these and standard point buy. Alternatively go Variant Human and for their bonus feat choose one that increases Dex or Wis or AC. If you increase both Dex and Wis to 20 then you have an AC of 20 which is the equivalent of Full Plate Armour with Shield.
You can spend a ki point to use your bonus acton to disengage for skirmishing tactics or to take dodge action which imposes disadvantage on all attacks against you and gives you advantage to Dexterity saving throws. You will also get Evasion to half or nullify damage from anything that requires you to make a Dexterity saving throw.
Then there are class features to consider like Open Hand's natural Sanctuary and pushing enemies away if you use Flurry of Blows or the Shadow's 6th level ability to teleport 60 ft in dim light or darkness and get advantage on next attack.
Oh and Deflect Missiles to stop ranged weapon attacks and even counter attack.
Throw in the extra speed and utility of their unarmoured movement (which is brilliant with Tabaxi's Feline Agility or an Aaracokra's starting flying speed).
Sooo many defenses.
Now add the feats and magic items that boost AC and defenses...
It seems to be your issue is more about you not knowing how to play the class properly rather than the class itself. Your suggestions are way overpowered - monks already have strong and incredible features as is, your additions are beyond extreme (and seriously, able to perma-stun enemies, no saves, from just a hit: considering you are the most mobile class and have 4 attacks a turn... Yeah, that one feature alone would make the monk the most powerful and broken D&D class in D&D history).
Monks aren't brutes. You need to play them with a bit of tactics. You get the varied defenses and speed boosts for a reason.
Click ✨ HERE ✨ For My Youtube Videos featuring Guides, Tips & Tricks for using D&D Beyond.
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Yes its great. When it works and you have Ki points left.
Ok Good point. This is why I posted this. I was looking for a discussion to may be make improvements.
My DM was new, and he deemed any movement out of combat would bring attacks of opportunity. The Dodge or Disengage were useless in this campaign, and Shadow step was a hard sell. I am amazed my Tabaxi Shadow Monk survived CoS. This has been good so far I am learning how better use a monk thanks.
That is what I thought. My DM was New and hobbled my monk's movement ability. Thanks
Yeah your DM interpretated how OA work wrong. If there no other feat like for example "polearm mastery" feat.
OA only trigger when you can see the creature and it leaves your melee attack range.
(if your weapon attack 5 ft OA only trigger when you opponent goes away 10ft of you if he circles around you no OA. Also weapon with longer weapon reach like "glaive" with 10 feet the opponent can move freely aslong it 0-10 feet away from only when it move 15 feet away from you you get OA with the glaive.)
OA also doesn't happend if you use disengage (unless your oppoenent has something like sentinel) or you get pushed away by something else or teleport.
OA mostly to punish people fleeing away melee combat by there own decision unless they take measure agaisnt it like disengage or teleport.
Opportunity Attacks
In a fight, everyone is constantly watching for a chance to strike an enemy who is fleeing or passing by. Such a strike is called an opportunity attack.
You can make an opportunity attack when a hostile creature that you can see moves out of your reach. To make the opportunity attack, you use your reaction to make one melee attack against the provoking creature. The attack occurs right before the creature leaves your reach.
You can avoid provoking an opportunity attack by taking the Disengage action. You also don't provoke an opportunity attack when you teleport or when someone or something moves you without using your movement, action, or reaction. For example, you don't provoke an opportunity attack if an explosion hurls you out of a foe's reach or if gravity causes you to fall past an enemy.
Nox - Adult Oblex - The Trials
Jartrin Ephok - Dragonborn - Zanoliv
Bunol - Grim Angel - The Floating Lands of Goriate
I see your point. During that whole campaign I never once had an opportunity to use Deflect Missiles, I so wanted to use that. But like a painting on the wall, Looks Good there sitting on the wall doing nothing. Slow fall was very useful. I even used it tactically. also The DM is very not into giving players Magic Items. In Curse of Strahd having a magical, or silver weapon is very important. I was lucky to get a silvered Bo staff.
So what about, Balance Manipulation, and Disarm? I think that a monk should be able to do some Kung Fu sh!t based on the Monks Martial arts skill and not Ki points. I am not saying I hate Ki points. Ki is very important in a Zen, Mysticism way, and very much has a place in the class. I just don't like felling like I have to use a ki point whenever I blow my nose. You can run out of Ki points very fast if not managed well.
well it depends how many time the DM allow short rest per day and how many encounters he runs per day. If there no short rest or there alot encounter or long encounters then yes your ki gonna vanish like thin air.
As for the other feats i don't rember all reaction options but as far i rember reactions feat pretty limited to another source damage/reduce damage/extra movement/temp higher defence be it ac,advantage/disadvantage,saving throw. Most time it only has 1 effect of evertyhing i listed.
Yours has multiple effects that can totaly disable your opponent with just a reaction. Maybe as an action it seem more even cost.
Archer would grab Balance Manipulation any day and kite the crap out melee fighters since there movement totaly ****** each fail making it a nightmare to even get in melee range again and make an attack.
Disarm feel like upgraded version of the fighter battle master manouver "Disarming Attack" that doesn't cost a limited resource.
NOTE: this just my interpretation in my mind i can totaly be wrong how it run in practise neither in anyway do i know anything about proper balacing stuff i never tried to homebrew or DM anything.
Nox - Adult Oblex - The Trials
Jartrin Ephok - Dragonborn - Zanoliv
Bunol - Grim Angel - The Floating Lands of Goriate
Deflect Missiles looks a lot nicer than it really is. It uses your Reaction so you can only use it once per turn and if you use it you can't take an Attack of Opportunity and using it to throw a missile back at your attacker uses a Ki point and as you noticed Ki points run out quickly. If you're attacked by a ranged attack, use it to block the damage but save your Ki points instead of throwing the weapon back at your attacker.
Monks don't need magical weapons though. Starting at 6th level your unarmed attacks count as magical for the purposes of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage. You didn't need a silvered weapon, your hands are good enough.
The reason that Ki points are limited is balance. If they weren't limited, monks would be overpowered compared to other classes. But, you recover your Ki points after a short rest while wizards, clerics, and druids only recover their spell slots after a long rest which makes up for the fact that your Ki points are limited. You should be able to short rest frequently enough that you don't run out of Ki points very often.
Professional computer geek
I see your point, but Balance Manipulation is as simple a thing as grabbing an incoming sword arm and giving it a tug to increase the momentum of the attacker. This should be contested with a Dex, Str contest as in Grapple. If the attacker fails they are off balance and need to land somewhere and a Dex save to determine if the attacker can keep it's feet, or not. A simple reaction with complex consequences. Balance Manipulation can only be a reaction to an attack. It uses the attackers attack momentum against the attacker. If you attack someone and try to throw them off balance this is more difficult and would need to be a Grapple Action. I see disarm the same way. In movies and TV we have all seen a skilled martial artiste confound an opponent with out really harming them. Monks are typically pacifists and attack only when negotiations fail. Or am I totally nuts..ok maybe I am. :) also if you can catch an arrow in flight, you should be able to catch an arm. Just saying.
Don't see how it a glascannon it has 10+Dex+Wis this can end up to 20 AC How do you do that with point buy?
Monks use d8 for their HP. Front line tanks use d10 or d12 for their HP and usually have higher AC's than monks have too.
Professional computer geek
It wasn't meant to say you can start off with 20 AC at level 1. 15 DEX/15 Wisdom there plenty races that give atleast 1 extra dex and wisdom ending it with 16 or 17 giving +3 modifier each => 10+3+3=16 ac lvl 1 monk. As for the rest you gonna need ASI and increase your dex/wisdom to increase your AC.
Nox - Adult Oblex - The Trials
Jartrin Ephok - Dragonborn - Zanoliv
Bunol - Grim Angel - The Floating Lands of Goriate
You cant do that with a point buy in, or set ability array (15 and lower) And with those starting stats and a race with +2 and +1 to dex and wisdom you will have two stats at 16, granting an ac of 16 at first level, at 4th it will be 17, 8th, 18 and 12th 19 finally 16th will be 20, leaving you one asi not spent on wis or dex.
This puts you in the same boat as rogues - vulnerable and not really wanting to push your luck in melee. If your in danger, a ki point to dodge as a bonus action is better than an extra attack. alternatively stunning strike if you have it first, if that works then you dont need to spend the point on dodge (unless there are a few nasty opponents not just one single target)
Be prepared to use your monk weapons (darts of thrown daggers) to deal damage at range if it is less risky, if this is enough to visibly weaken a foe or take out one of a pair you can use your movement to engage the last and having attacking with a monk weapon then attack with your bonus action unarmed attack. (alternatively if neither seem injured use your movement to evacuate the area!)
The open palm subclass flurry options give other options - on a flurry you can knock prone and / or kick away the opponent 15' or remove their ability to have a reaction strike. so for example:
knock prone and kick away - walk 5' back, a target with 30' of movement will now be unable to reach you in melee in one round and still attack.
opponent passes knockdown save, hit with reaction blocker (no save on that one) and walk 35' back to avoid return fire
kick back 15' advance to target and around them, now kick them back into melee with the party so they cant leave to hit you without triggering Opportunity attacks from them
kick off cliff / edge of pit
kick into/ over caltrops / ball bearings to reduce movement and possibly drop prone.
Have fun monking about!
Not to mention finding any Items that give AC bonuses.
Bracers of Defense ((a must have for any monk, brow beat your dm to give you a chance at these)) is a +2, a ring of protection a +1, as others have stated Kensei gives a +2 constantly.
Also remember raising wisdom makes your AC AND stunning strike DC go up.