I have an ongoing homebrew campaign in which I had to retire my previous character(totem bear Barbarian) and he was the meat-shield so to speak. Now I was looking into the monk class to try and stay in the frontlines so to speak. Any suggestions/builds? The party's at level 8 and it consists of a cleric, draconic sorcerer, warlock, a bear druid, and a multiclass Paladin 2/Draconic Sorcerer 6. If it helps, the campaign's a low magical campaign in terms of loot and the level range's until level 11~12.
You could pull a stupid trick with kensai and the dual wield feat, +2 ac if you use an unarmed attack and +1ac holding a kensai wep in each hand from the feat (might be fun to have 23 ac before magic items at Max stats). But then you need to focus dex + wis for ac and con so you don't get oneshot. Might be relevant, do you start with magic items?
You might consider playing a hill dwarf for the extra HP (as well as the Wisdom bonus). But, more importantly, you can pair the Patient Defense (Dodge) ability with the XGE Dwarven Fortitude feat. The first lets you take the Dodge action as a bonus action, and the latter lets you spend a hit die to heal yourself whenever you take the Dodge action in combat. That adds a lot of value to your ki point expenditures for Patient Defense. Dual Wielder and Defensive Duelist also have potential for a monk designed for tanking, as does Toughness. Choosing the Kensei tradition lets you improve your AC, though the Way of the Open Hand gives you another way to heal yourself and the Tranquility feature, which can be a nice way of reducing enemy damage in the first few rounds of combat before you have gone on the offensive. Of course, just improving Constitution, Wisdom and Dexterity is also a good idea.
Other good feat choices include Healer, which would give you yet another way to heal yourself (and others, which increased monk movement helps you get to allies more easily) in combat, Lucky, which allows you to mitigate critical hits against you, and possibly even Durable, which would work to improve Dwarven Fortitude. If you have an 18 CON and Durable, it would increase your average healing with Dwarven Fortitude from 8.5 to 9.25, but it would also mean you never get less than 8. I think I would only consider Durable if I had an odd Constitution after taking Dwarven Fortitude and didn't have any other odd ability scores I wanted to split an ASI to improve. Dwarven Fortitude could also be improved by taking a level of fighter to get a bigger die to spend if you need it, which would also get you yet another way to heal with Second Wind. You could get an even bigger die by taking a level of barbarian, but it may not be feasible to have a high enough Strength for that with the monk being dependent on Dexterity and Wisdom for AC.
This type of monk build is unlikely to be much of an offensive powerhouse compared to other monks, but it could make for a decent tank. Sometimes offense is the best defense though, and monks that don't focus on stunning enemies rarely perform as well as the stunners.
I have an ongoing homebrew campaign in which I had to retire my previous character(totem bear Barbarian) and he was the meat-shield so to speak. Now I was looking into the monk class to try and stay in the frontlines so to speak. Any suggestions/builds? The party's at level 8 and it consists of a cleric, draconic sorcerer, warlock, a bear druid, and a multiclass Paladin 2/Draconic Sorcerer 6. If it helps, the campaign's a low magical campaign in terms of loot and the level range's until level 11~12.
With a Paladin and a Bear Druid you don't really need to get in the front lines. Play a monk how they were meant to be played and bounce in and out of melee delivering stunning blows.
If you really want to be in the front lines than maybe play a Kensai with a few levels of Samurai fighter? The ability to give yourself advantage on attacks would be pretty handy. Plus a few temp HP.
A silly fun concept because of how kensei works. Try taking lances as your kensei weapon and mount that druid, there is some surprising synergy especially with some feats.
Monks are one of my favorite class, and one of the hardest to M.Class. They have such sweet sweet features.
1st: My personal opinion is try to not M.Class a monk before 7th level. Evasion and Stillness of the Mind are amaaazing, Save Your Sorry A$$ powers.
Im my opinion Monks are very survivable, but their ACs are usually a few points under Fighters and Paladins. That said Monks don't take damage from things other people do. 3rd Deflect Missiles: ranged weapon attacks do less damage or just don't get directed at them. 4th Slow Fall means pit traps and a lot of environmental hazards aren't a problem. 7th Evasion makes AoEs half or no damage, and with high dex and training in dex it's probably no damage. 7th Stillness of Mind means Frightened and even worse Charmed are a joke. 9th Improved Unarmored Movement means vertical surfaces and liquids are the same as solid surfaces.
In one of my games the party Monk is the trap finder. He goes out ahead of the party and we rely on his ability to just avoid damage.
If you're looking to Tank the 2 obvious choices are: Kensai who sacrifice a single 1d10 attack around for +2 AC and have improved ranged damage.
The Way of the Long Death gains Temp HP WIS+Monk lvl every time they down an enemy.
The Open Hand is a beatstick subclass that can heal itself. The Open Hand Technique is nice because it modifies Flurry of Blows and auto effects any creature you hit with Flurry.
I currently have a Lvl 6 Kensai Monk (Race- Kenku). It is a ton of fun. I front line A LOT cause our paladin dropped out. However with agile parry i get a +2 AC giving me 19 which is nothing to snuff at. I save my bonus to disengage with a KI point. Its tough at lower levels to manage them only due to having quite a limited purse of them. At higher levels though you can use them and regain them on a short rest so when you dont have to be tactical you can have some fun. We had a big fight recently against Fire Giants (Storm Kings Thunder campaign). I took out most of the orc riders and their mounts by using a crossboy as my mensai weapon then running in 20 feet killing the mount which knocked the rider prone. Then i would go in and finish off the rider. Our bard has Cat Nap also which is real nice to have :). I like the Hard Hitting nature and you can be really powerful, really quickly if you do it right. We didnt do a basic spread and rolled for Ability scores and i started with a +4 to dex. I plan on multiclassing to monk/fighter (we have a fighter my character has grown close to and admires) and take duelist which give you a +2AC when weilding a weapon and having the other hand open. that with agile parry will give you a +4 AC boost.
I think it's a poor choice on a Kensai of all builds, because you have the sacrifice 1 weapon attack a turn to get the +2 AC, which means sacrificing a +2 damage attack.
I think it's a poor choice on a Kensai of all builds, because you have the sacrifice 1 weapon attack a turn to get the +2 AC, which means sacrificing a +2 damage attack.
Yea but no other fighting style is worth it. Your not always going to use Agile Parry as well.
They might be confusing it with Defensive Duelist feat perhaps?
I pretty much always use agile parry. I attack with my yklwa (1d8+4) and then i unarmed attack (1d6+5) and either save my bonus, flurry or do another unarmed attack (1d6+5). This alone boosts my AC to 19. There is no reason not to do it in my opinion. But as a caveat, i have played my monk more front line than anything. Now that i have 6 Ki points that may change though. I would use step of the wind more now than agile parry to jump in do some damage then back out. I have a +1 ring (Iron Fist Ring) that my DM bestowed unto me. So my attacks would probably go Yklwa (1d6+4+1d6 (Deft strike), Unarmed attack, then Step of the wind out. Or even Longbow (1d8+4 + 1d4 kensei shot+ 1d6 deft strike) then go in to finish with an unarmed strike. Too many combos. Thats what makes Monk Fun!!!!
I pretty much always use agile parry. I attack with my yklwa (1d8+4) and then i unarmed attack (1d6+5) and either save my bonus, flurry or do another unarmed attack (1d6+5). This alone boosts my AC to 19. There is no reason not to do it in my opinion. But as a caveat, i have played my monk more front line than anything. Now that i have 6 Ki points that may change though. I would use step of the wind more now than agile parry to jump in do some damage then back out. I have a +1 ring (Iron Fist Ring) that my DM bestowed unto me. So my attacks would probably go Yklwa (1d6+4+1d6 (Deft strike), Unarmed attack, then Step of the wind out. Or even Longbow (1d8+4 + 1d4 kensei shot+ 1d6 deft strike) then go in to finish with an unarmed strike. Too many combos. Thats what makes Monk Fun!!!!
I'm on the same boat when it comes to just always using Agile Parry, but if your multiclassing into something with a fighting style Dueling is the way to go. Maybe Great weapon fighting to re-roll 1s and 2s.
If you have a feat to waste you could go Two Weapon fighting with the Dual Wield feat. Go Weapon+Unarmed+Weapon with BA. Get the +1 AC from the feat and a +2 from Agile Parry. Of course ignoring Flurry if your saving Ki-Points.
If you are willing to multiclass into your old class, Hill Dwarf 3 Barbarian (Bear Totem) / 5 Monk (Way of the Long Death) with Dwarven Fortitude feat works pretty well. (Get the Durable feat at some point.)
You only have so many Hit Die per day to heal during combat (through Dwarven Fortitude and Patient Defense), but you also regain temporary hit points by killing things (through Way of the Long Death). You also have resistance to damage (except psychic) through the Bear Totem while raging, and you can combo Patient Defense with Reckless Attack (and healing through Dwarven Fortitude).
If you want reliable health, then skip Way of the Long Death for Way of Tranquility (because Healing Hands is just that good and Sanctuary is a really good spell even if you only get it as a passive defense and once during each fight).
A silly fun concept because of how kensei works. Try taking lances as your kensei weapon and mount that druid, there is some surprising synergy especially with some feats.
Lances have the special tag and thus are not eligible to be kensei weapons.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
I have an ongoing homebrew campaign in which I had to retire my previous character(totem bear Barbarian) and he was the meat-shield so to speak. Now I was looking into the monk class to try and stay in the frontlines so to speak. Any suggestions/builds? The party's at level 8 and it consists of a cleric, draconic sorcerer, warlock, a bear druid, and a multiclass Paladin 2/Draconic Sorcerer 6. If it helps, the campaign's a low magical campaign in terms of loot and the level range's until level 11~12.
ehhh... the closest to STAYING in the frontlines would be kensei to get your AC up. Monks are more an in-n-out fighting class.
You could pull a stupid trick with kensai and the dual wield feat, +2 ac if you use an unarmed attack and +1ac holding a kensai wep in each hand from the feat (might be fun to have 23 ac before magic items at Max stats). But then you need to focus dex + wis for ac and con so you don't get oneshot. Might be relevant, do you start with magic items?
You might consider playing a hill dwarf for the extra HP (as well as the Wisdom bonus). But, more importantly, you can pair the Patient Defense (Dodge) ability with the XGE Dwarven Fortitude feat. The first lets you take the Dodge action as a bonus action, and the latter lets you spend a hit die to heal yourself whenever you take the Dodge action in combat. That adds a lot of value to your ki point expenditures for Patient Defense. Dual Wielder and Defensive Duelist also have potential for a monk designed for tanking, as does Toughness. Choosing the Kensei tradition lets you improve your AC, though the Way of the Open Hand gives you another way to heal yourself and the Tranquility feature, which can be a nice way of reducing enemy damage in the first few rounds of combat before you have gone on the offensive. Of course, just improving Constitution, Wisdom and Dexterity is also a good idea.
Other good feat choices include Healer, which would give you yet another way to heal yourself (and others, which increased monk movement helps you get to allies more easily) in combat, Lucky, which allows you to mitigate critical hits against you, and possibly even Durable, which would work to improve Dwarven Fortitude. If you have an 18 CON and Durable, it would increase your average healing with Dwarven Fortitude from 8.5 to 9.25, but it would also mean you never get less than 8. I think I would only consider Durable if I had an odd Constitution after taking Dwarven Fortitude and didn't have any other odd ability scores I wanted to split an ASI to improve. Dwarven Fortitude could also be improved by taking a level of fighter to get a bigger die to spend if you need it, which would also get you yet another way to heal with Second Wind. You could get an even bigger die by taking a level of barbarian, but it may not be feasible to have a high enough Strength for that with the monk being dependent on Dexterity and Wisdom for AC.
This type of monk build is unlikely to be much of an offensive powerhouse compared to other monks, but it could make for a decent tank. Sometimes offense is the best defense though, and monks that don't focus on stunning enemies rarely perform as well as the stunners.
With a Paladin and a Bear Druid you don't really need to get in the front lines. Play a monk how they were meant to be played and bounce in and out of melee delivering stunning blows.
If you really want to be in the front lines than maybe play a Kensai with a few levels of Samurai fighter? The ability to give yourself advantage on attacks would be pretty handy. Plus a few temp HP.
Current Characters I am playing: Dr Konstantin van Wulf | Taegen Willowrun | Mad Magnar
Check out my homebrew: Items | Monsters | Spells | Subclasses | Feats
A silly fun concept because of how kensei works. Try taking lances as your kensei weapon and mount that druid, there is some surprising synergy especially with some feats.
Monks are one of my favorite class, and one of the hardest to M.Class. They have such sweet sweet features.
1st: My personal opinion is try to not M.Class a monk before 7th level.
Evasion and Stillness of the Mind are amaaazing, Save Your Sorry A$$ powers.
Im my opinion Monks are very survivable, but their ACs are usually a few points under Fighters and Paladins. That said Monks don't take damage from things other people do.
3rd Deflect Missiles: ranged weapon attacks do less damage or just don't get directed at them.
4th Slow Fall means pit traps and a lot of environmental hazards aren't a problem.
7th Evasion makes AoEs half or no damage, and with high dex and training in dex it's probably no damage.
7th Stillness of Mind means Frightened and even worse Charmed are a joke.
9th Improved Unarmored Movement means vertical surfaces and liquids are the same as solid surfaces.
In one of my games the party Monk is the trap finder. He goes out ahead of the party and we rely on his ability to just avoid damage.
If you're looking to Tank the 2 obvious choices are: Kensai who sacrifice a single 1d10 attack around for +2 AC and have improved ranged damage.
The Way of the Long Death gains Temp HP WIS+Monk lvl every time they down an enemy.
The Open Hand is a beatstick subclass that can heal itself. The Open Hand Technique is nice because it modifies Flurry of Blows and auto effects any creature you hit with Flurry.
Oops, wrong thread.
I currently have a Lvl 6 Kensai Monk (Race- Kenku). It is a ton of fun. I front line A LOT cause our paladin dropped out. However with agile parry i get a +2 AC giving me 19 which is nothing to snuff at. I save my bonus to disengage with a KI point. Its tough at lower levels to manage them only due to having quite a limited purse of them. At higher levels though you can use them and regain them on a short rest so when you dont have to be tactical you can have some fun. We had a big fight recently against Fire Giants (Storm Kings Thunder campaign). I took out most of the orc riders and their mounts by using a crossboy as my mensai weapon then running in 20 feet killing the mount which knocked the rider prone. Then i would go in and finish off the rider. Our bard has Cat Nap also which is real nice to have :). I like the Hard Hitting nature and you can be really powerful, really quickly if you do it right. We didnt do a basic spread and rolled for Ability scores and i started with a +4 to dex. I plan on multiclassing to monk/fighter (we have a fighter my character has grown close to and admires) and take duelist which give you a +2AC when weilding a weapon and having the other hand open. that with agile parry will give you a +4 AC boost.
Dueling gives you +2 damage, not +2 AC.
I think it's a poor choice on a Kensai of all builds, because you have the sacrifice 1 weapon attack a turn to get the +2 AC, which means sacrificing a +2 damage attack.
Yea but no other fighting style is worth it. Your not always going to use Agile Parry as well.
They might be confusing it with Defensive Duelist feat perhaps?
I pretty much always use agile parry. I attack with my yklwa (1d8+4) and then i unarmed attack (1d6+5) and either save my bonus, flurry or do another unarmed attack (1d6+5). This alone boosts my AC to 19. There is no reason not to do it in my opinion. But as a caveat, i have played my monk more front line than anything. Now that i have 6 Ki points that may change though. I would use step of the wind more now than agile parry to jump in do some damage then back out. I have a +1 ring (Iron Fist Ring) that my DM bestowed unto me. So my attacks would probably go Yklwa (1d6+4+1d6 (Deft strike), Unarmed attack, then Step of the wind out. Or even Longbow (1d8+4 + 1d4 kensei shot+ 1d6 deft strike) then go in to finish with an unarmed strike. Too many combos. Thats what makes Monk Fun!!!!
I'm on the same boat when it comes to just always using Agile Parry, but if your multiclassing into something with a fighting style Dueling is the way to go. Maybe Great weapon fighting to re-roll 1s and 2s.
If you have a feat to waste you could go Two Weapon fighting with the Dual Wield feat. Go Weapon+Unarmed+Weapon with BA. Get the +1 AC from the feat and a +2 from Agile Parry. Of course ignoring Flurry if your saving Ki-Points.
A bit late, but...
If you are willing to multiclass into your old class, Hill Dwarf 3 Barbarian (Bear Totem) / 5 Monk (Way of the Long Death) with Dwarven Fortitude feat works pretty well. (Get the Durable feat at some point.)
You only have so many Hit Die per day to heal during combat (through Dwarven Fortitude and Patient Defense), but you also regain temporary hit points by killing things (through Way of the Long Death). You also have resistance to damage (except psychic) through the Bear Totem while raging, and you can combo Patient Defense with Reckless Attack (and healing through Dwarven Fortitude).
If you want reliable health, then skip Way of the Long Death for Way of Tranquility (because Healing Hands is just that good and Sanctuary is a really good spell even if you only get it as a passive defense and once during each fight).
Lances have the special tag and thus are not eligible to be kensei weapons.