So, i have been playing a shadow monk for some levels now and it was pretty fun in the earlier sessions, but one of the party left because of scheduling issues and such. As of last session we found a big problem in our party composition of two people, at the moment we have: Lvl 4 Illusionist which has 2 offensive spells Me Lvl 4 Shadow monk (Wood elf: STR: 13 DEX:20 CON:15 INT: 16 WIS: 20 CHA: 13 AC:20 These rolls were amazingly good. My DM has a homebrew rule which gives everyone one Feat at level one. (var. human get 2) Feats: Mobile)
The last fight we had as a party was a disaster because both of us cant take any punishment. My monk is the closest we have to a tank because of my high AC but my HP is quite low.
Ill probably keep going in monk until level 6 or maybe 7 for evasion and then start multiclasing.
So the things i was considering for my monk were:
Dip into fighter for more health and sustainability with second wind and action surge.
Take some levels in (revised) ranger for some tracking and magic, this makes the most sense thematically as the whole reason my character is adventuring is because he is tracking someone/something down.
Sell my soul for some levels in Warlock for more utility and the Darkness, devil's sight, teleport combo.
Use my connection with the thieves' guild to get some levels in rogue to get more burst damage. (we have a PC that is related to the leader of a thieves' guild in a city, so this is quite easy to do.)
Pray to a deity and become a Cleric for Healing, and because Cleric is a wisdom based class it works very well with my current stats.
I could also create a combination of these things or if someone has a better suggestion that would also be very helpful.
if your party lacks anyone that can frontline, do your best to avoid any sort of frontline.
Get the wizard to make some illusory barriers or soemthing as you both pull back, you should focus on hit and run or just ranged plinking.
A two man group doesn't have a lot of actions, so try to make it even and only attack small groups, if there are very many, just illusion/teleport away, reengage in a better scenario.
Rogue might be best for you since if you start using bows, sneak attack with the advantage you get after teleporting will really start to stack up. The warlock idea isn't exactly terrible but it assumes you are actually getting close to an enemy, meaning you are in a degree of danger. Fighter doesn't actually help you that much, second wind isn't that helpful and action surge can get you two attacks which while useful, might not be as worth the delay in progression. Ranger follows similar to rogue, but will end up getting you less damage overall pretty quickly, but does get you a few decent spells that can use your concentration. Cleric probably won't get you very much by that level, unless you have something specific your eyeing up.
the ranger gives you hit points of a fighter, and some spells that could be healing. The gloomstalker (or deep stalker) ranger mixes well with shadow monk, and gives you 10' of movement on the first turn as well as extra damage.
I voted for Cleric. But, hear me out, Trickery domain. You would still get your healing spells, plus a sick advantage for stealth rolls for your clumsy illusionist. Also channel divinity for a mirror image you that you can cast spells from. It also gives you advantage if it's adjacent. Watch them flee in terror from your illusory self while you shadow step in to deliver the final blow, mwhahaha! ahem.. sorry. Did I mention extra spell slots for pass without a trace? Cause what DM doesn't love a party with +10 to stealth rolls.
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Lark- Goblin Bard 2- Lost Mines Gr-A/ AC 13 HP 15, passive perception 11
Ranger gives a little healing in combat if needed, a ton of out of combat with healing spirit, a bit more survivability, and uses the same stats as monk already. Gloomstalker matches pretty well mechanically and thematically. That's what I'd do anyway.
"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
I've voted Rogue here, as I feel the Thief subclass in particular can provide some excellent benefits.
Assuming a DEX build WoS Monk, I'd imagine a poor-to-middling Athletics score might present challenges for the tasks a WoS Monk might find themselves undertaking. From the base Rogue class, Expertise in both Athletics and Stealth should provide the WoS with a great deal more security making crucial checks, although there remains a case for Athletics & Acrobatics since WoS can cast Pass Without a Trace to supplant Expertise in Stealth. The Thief's Second Story Work only makes navigation in this manner more fluid, while Fast Hands can provide options in desperate situations when things turn sour.
I tried the often talked about Shadow Monk/Warlock multiclass once, where the goal is to get the Monk Devil's Sight so it can see in magical darkness, and I at least thought it lived up to the hype. Your Darkness spell has now turned into a multi purpose trap, shield, and teleportation point. Your Darkness can be an obstruction that both protects you, and makes you a really annoying obstacle to get around (though be sure to work with your group on strategies.). You can cause Darkness to appear anywhere, and use your 6th level feature to teleport to it and that by itself leads to so many possibilities, it's just amazing. And that's on top of of the other goodies you get from a 3 level Warlock dip. You need Devil's Sight, but you have another Eldritch Invocation to play with. I took Repelling Blast for Eldritch Blast, which essentially gave me a ranged shove, but I could have seen a number of the other Invocations being useful. You can get Hex (and why wouldn't you?), if you go Hexblade you can also get Hexblade's Curse. (and Hexblade also gets Shield at 1st level which in a pinch I can't ever see not being useful for a martial class, especially one thats barely getting hit like this one anyways.). I took Pact of the Chain, which when combined with Devil's Sight made him an even better scout than he already was. Frightening character to be honest.
About it's only downside is that it might take awhile to get really going, but once it does it seems pretty amazing. I only got to play it briefly and it was sort of a quickie test game but the little bit of time I got with it impressed me quite a bit. I've read all kinds of stories of the amazing stuff people do with this combo and I totally believe it.
I could see Gloomstalker or even Scout Rogue being a pretty good fit too.
I voted Other. I don't think you should multiclass. Ask your DM to let you trade back your level 4 ASI for Eldritch Adept: Devil's Sight. It's really important. This will significantly increase the efficacy of your team. See if the illusionist can get Darkness, but don't ask for Devil's Sight on them to avoid excess cheese. If I was DM I would allow a mild re-spec or two like this if I had a party that suddenly changed so drastically. It sucks when a party gets left with a gaping hole in its line up, and the players that are left are trying to scramble to fill the role. No one wants to compromise their build by shoehorning it into a new role , and in this case I think you're only a couple of tweaks away from a great team dynamic. Hopefully your DM sees it the same way and allows you and your partner to make the necessary swaps.
I don't think you'll have a fun time trying to turn your shadow monk into an off-tank/healer. And besides you have three to four more levels to go before you pick up a multiclass, so you're going to have to adapt along the way anyways.
Build a Ninja Death Squad
Instead of multiclassing I say you lean into what the two of you have going. Insane stealth and subterfuge potential. Sure you could go rogue, but I think 7 for evasion is worth it, and then you're at 8 for an ASI, and then at that point it feels like a waste to not go further and unlock those sweet higher level abilities after investing 8 levels. Getting that Devil's Sight now is mandatory for all of this, so if your DM doesn't go for it then this will be quite difficult. You can still pull off some great stealth missions, but your ability to recover when things don't go according to plan suffers drastically. You'll also have a much harder time handling those out-in-the-open fights you just can't avoid. Beg your DM for Devil's Sight lol.
Darkness on the wiz is less necessary but will be really nice for freeing up your ki points.
This is all about radically changing your approach to the campaign. Always look for ways to circumvent obstacles and conflicts in creative ways. Between the wizard's illusions and other spells and your skills and ki abilities you will have a lot of ways to problem solve that challenge what your DM thought the scenario or mission was about. Hopefully your DM is up to the task.
When combat is unavoidable or necessary, liberally use darkness + devil's sight to significantly boost your offense while having the tactical utility to protect you and the wizard if played right. This is the kind of tanking you need: Evasion Tank.
Set up ambushes, stalk your targets to gain information, trick with illusions, influence people with magic. This is what you two should be focusing on, and if your DM supports it, it will be a total blast.
IF you have access to tasha cauldron you can just take the feet and snag devils sight too.
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"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
I dont see it mentioned, but with 13 str you could take a 1 level dip in barbarian to get 2/day rage, which gives resistance to slashing/blunt and piercing. Thats a pretty effective way to gain better sustain in combat.
IF you have access to tasha cauldron you can just take the feet and snag devils sight too.
RAW, the Eldritch Adept feat has the prerequisite of already having the Spellcasting feature, or the Pact Magic feature. Further, note that being able to cast spells is not the same as having the actual Spellcasting or Pact magic features!
You're right, it would still require a one level dip into something spellcastery. I had not read that thoroughly enough.
Perhaps a level of cleric? A number of their domains have useful abilities at level one. Grave to pick up fallen companions, or trickery for some extra stealth. Even the peace domain could be useful.
"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
I voted Other. I don't think you should multiclass. Ask your DM to let you trade back your level 4 ASI for Eldritch Adept: Devil's Sight. It's really important. This will significantly increase the efficacy of your team. See if the illusionist can get Darkness, but don't ask for Devil's Sight on them to avoid excess cheese. If I was DM I would allow a mild re-spec or two like this if I had a party that suddenly changed so drastically. It sucks when a party gets left with a gaping hole in its line up, and the players that are left are trying to scramble to fill the role. No one wants to compromise their build by shoehorning it into a new role , and in this case I think you're only a couple of tweaks away from a great team dynamic. Hopefully your DM sees it the same way and allows you and your partner to make the necessary swaps.
I don't think you'll have a fun time trying to turn your shadow monk into an off-tank/healer. And besides you have three to four more levels to go before you pick up a multiclass, so you're going to have to adapt along the way anyways.
Build a Ninja Death Squad
Instead of multiclassing I say you lean into what the two of you have going. Insane stealth and subterfuge potential. Sure you could go rogue, but I think 7 for evasion is worth it, and then you're at 8 for an ASI, and then at that point it feels like a waste to not go further and unlock those sweet higher level abilities after investing 8 levels. Getting that Devil's Sight now is mandatory for all of this, so if your DM doesn't go for it then this will be quite difficult. You can still pull off some great stealth missions, but your ability to recover when things don't go according to plan suffers drastically. You'll also have a much harder time handling those out-in-the-open fights you just can't avoid. Beg your DM for Devil's Sight lol.
Darkness on the wiz is less necessary but will be really nice for freeing up your ki points.
This is all about radically changing your approach to the campaign. Always look for ways to circumvent obstacles and conflicts in creative ways. Between the wizard's illusions and other spells and your skills and ki abilities you will have a lot of ways to problem solve that challenge what your DM thought the scenario or mission was about. Hopefully your DM is up to the task.
When combat is unavoidable or necessary, liberally use darkness + devil's sight to significantly boost your offense while having the tactical utility to protect you and the wizard if played right. This is the kind of tanking you need: Evasion Tank.
Set up ambushes, stalk your targets to gain information, trick with illusions, influence people with magic. This is what you two should be focusing on, and if your DM supports it, it will be a total blast.
(I added this quote in manually as i didn't know it didn't show up to whom i was replying)
Thanks for this well thought out response and the reasoning behind it, when we get to play this game again we will definitely talk about the devil's sight, if i can have it at 4th level, or even at all.
Your 'play' suggestions are also pretty helpful, we will try do these things as most times we find ourselves in combat pretty suddenly.
I'm glad you find it helpful! This is my favorite way to approach the game, so I instantly perked up when I saw this post. I played a goblin diviner in my last campaign like this and it was an absolute blast.
I totally goofed on missing the prerequisite of Eldritch Adept. I've been so excited about so many things in Tasha's I just glossed right over it. I'm honestly not a fan of homebrew rules, but I think there is a time and place and this is easily one of them. In a time where your campaign is in danger of not functioning you gain so much for so little, it's on flavor, and promotes fun and creativity.
If there is a subclass that deserves to be able to pick up Eldritch Adept that can't, it's the Shadow Monk. It may not technically have spellcasting, but it can cast multiple spells using ki, including Darkness. And especially when you're talking about Devil's Sight, it's not even like it's a flavor stretch. Seeing through darkness, even magical darkness, could have already been a Shadow Monk ability. It's just a perfect fit concept and mechanics wise that fell through a hole made by rules semantics; it's not some broken cheese. If a warlock can have darkness + devil's sight and extra attack/eldritch blast scaling then it's not overpowered in any way for a shadow monk to have to spend a feat to get it.
I would go forward and calmly beg your DM to swap out your level 4 ASI for EA: Devil's Sight. Have a conversation with the illusionist about these tactics, and let your DM know that you're thinking about approaching the game in such a different way. That way it's not just you asking for an obviously cool combo, but an honest attempt to stay engaged in their campaign.
Your 'play' suggestions are also pretty helpful, we will try do these things as most times we find ourselves in combat pretty suddenly.
Does the wizard have Find Familiar? If not it's more important for them to get that than Darkness. Liberally using familiars to scout out ahead of you will change the tempo of adventuring and encounters. They're super expendable and low opportunity cost on a wizard thanks to not having to prepare the spell and being able to cast it as a ritual. Hopefully this will mitigate the amount of these encounters that are getting dumped in your lap. If your DM is in on the subterfuge game this should help as well.
I'm sorry I haven't given you any suggestions that don't involve asking the DM for a homebrew re-spec, but I honestly don't see anything that will solve your problems as quickly and cleanly as this. Your party simply isn't built for run-and-gunning or slugfests anymore, and a small dip you take in three levels isn't going to solve that. Good luck! I hope it works out because it will be so much fun if it does.
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So, i have been playing a shadow monk for some levels now and it was pretty fun in the earlier sessions, but one of the party left because of scheduling issues and such.
As of last session we found a big problem in our party composition of two people, at the moment we have:
Lvl 4 Illusionist which has 2 offensive spells
Me Lvl 4 Shadow monk (Wood elf: STR: 13 DEX:20 CON:15 INT: 16 WIS: 20 CHA: 13 AC:20 These rolls were amazingly good. My DM has a homebrew rule which gives everyone one Feat at level one. (var. human get 2) Feats: Mobile)
The last fight we had as a party was a disaster because both of us cant take any punishment.
My monk is the closest we have to a tank because of my high AC but my HP is quite low.
Ill probably keep going in monk until level 6 or maybe 7 for evasion and then start multiclasing.
So the things i was considering for my monk were:
Dip into fighter for more health and sustainability with second wind and action surge.
Take some levels in (revised) ranger for some tracking and magic, this makes the most sense thematically as the whole reason my character is adventuring is because he is tracking someone/something down.
Sell my soul for some levels in Warlock for more utility and the Darkness, devil's sight, teleport combo.
Use my connection with the thieves' guild to get some levels in rogue to get more burst damage. (we have a PC that is related to the leader of a thieves' guild in a city, so this is quite easy to do.)
Pray to a deity and become a Cleric for Healing, and because Cleric is a wisdom based class it works very well with my current stats.
I could also create a combination of these things or if someone has a better suggestion that would also be very helpful.
if your party lacks anyone that can frontline, do your best to avoid any sort of frontline.
Get the wizard to make some illusory barriers or soemthing as you both pull back, you should focus on hit and run or just ranged plinking.
A two man group doesn't have a lot of actions, so try to make it even and only attack small groups, if there are very many, just illusion/teleport away, reengage in a better scenario.
Rogue might be best for you since if you start using bows, sneak attack with the advantage you get after teleporting will really start to stack up. The warlock idea isn't exactly terrible but it assumes you are actually getting close to an enemy, meaning you are in a degree of danger. Fighter doesn't actually help you that much, second wind isn't that helpful and action surge can get you two attacks which while useful, might not be as worth the delay in progression. Ranger follows similar to rogue, but will end up getting you less damage overall pretty quickly, but does get you a few decent spells that can use your concentration. Cleric probably won't get you very much by that level, unless you have something specific your eyeing up.
the ranger gives you hit points of a fighter, and some spells that could be healing. The gloomstalker (or deep stalker) ranger mixes well with shadow monk, and gives you 10' of movement on the first turn as well as extra damage.
I voted for Cleric. But, hear me out, Trickery domain. You would still get your healing spells, plus a sick advantage for stealth rolls for your clumsy illusionist. Also channel divinity for a mirror image you that you can cast spells from. It also gives you advantage if it's adjacent. Watch them flee in terror from your illusory self while you shadow step in to deliver the final blow, mwhahaha! ahem.. sorry. Did I mention extra spell slots for pass without a trace? Cause what DM doesn't love a party with +10 to stealth rolls.
Lark- Goblin Bard 2- Lost Mines Gr-A/ AC 13 HP 15, passive perception 11
DM- Sunless Citadel PbP// Waterdeep Dragon Heist (IRL F2F)// Adventurers League (F2F LGS)
Ranger gives a little healing in combat if needed, a ton of out of combat with healing spirit, a bit more survivability, and uses the same stats as monk already. Gloomstalker matches pretty well mechanically and thematically. That's what I'd do anyway.
Gloomstalker is my vote
"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
I've voted Rogue here, as I feel the Thief subclass in particular can provide some excellent benefits.
Assuming a DEX build WoS Monk, I'd imagine a poor-to-middling Athletics score might present challenges for the tasks a WoS Monk might find themselves undertaking. From the base Rogue class, Expertise in both Athletics and Stealth should provide the WoS with a great deal more security making crucial checks, although there remains a case for Athletics & Acrobatics since WoS can cast Pass Without a Trace to supplant Expertise in Stealth. The Thief's Second Story Work only makes navigation in this manner more fluid, while Fast Hands can provide options in desperate situations when things turn sour.
I tried the often talked about Shadow Monk/Warlock multiclass once, where the goal is to get the Monk Devil's Sight so it can see in magical darkness, and I at least thought it lived up to the hype. Your Darkness spell has now turned into a multi purpose trap, shield, and teleportation point. Your Darkness can be an obstruction that both protects you, and makes you a really annoying obstacle to get around (though be sure to work with your group on strategies.). You can cause Darkness to appear anywhere, and use your 6th level feature to teleport to it and that by itself leads to so many possibilities, it's just amazing. And that's on top of of the other goodies you get from a 3 level Warlock dip. You need Devil's Sight, but you have another Eldritch Invocation to play with. I took Repelling Blast for Eldritch Blast, which essentially gave me a ranged shove, but I could have seen a number of the other Invocations being useful. You can get Hex (and why wouldn't you?), if you go Hexblade you can also get Hexblade's Curse. (and Hexblade also gets Shield at 1st level which in a pinch I can't ever see not being useful for a martial class, especially one thats barely getting hit like this one anyways.). I took Pact of the Chain, which when combined with Devil's Sight made him an even better scout than he already was. Frightening character to be honest.
About it's only downside is that it might take awhile to get really going, but once it does it seems pretty amazing. I only got to play it briefly and it was sort of a quickie test game but the little bit of time I got with it impressed me quite a bit. I've read all kinds of stories of the amazing stuff people do with this combo and I totally believe it.
I could see Gloomstalker or even Scout Rogue being a pretty good fit too.
I voted Other. I don't think you should multiclass. Ask your DM to let you trade back your level 4 ASI for Eldritch Adept: Devil's Sight. It's really important. This will significantly increase the efficacy of your team. See if the illusionist can get Darkness, but don't ask for Devil's Sight on them to avoid excess cheese. If I was DM I would allow a mild re-spec or two like this if I had a party that suddenly changed so drastically. It sucks when a party gets left with a gaping hole in its line up, and the players that are left are trying to scramble to fill the role. No one wants to compromise their build by shoehorning it into a new role , and in this case I think you're only a couple of tweaks away from a great team dynamic. Hopefully your DM sees it the same way and allows you and your partner to make the necessary swaps.
I don't think you'll have a fun time trying to turn your shadow monk into an off-tank/healer. And besides you have three to four more levels to go before you pick up a multiclass, so you're going to have to adapt along the way anyways.
Build a Ninja Death Squad
Instead of multiclassing I say you lean into what the two of you have going. Insane stealth and subterfuge potential. Sure you could go rogue, but I think 7 for evasion is worth it, and then you're at 8 for an ASI, and then at that point it feels like a waste to not go further and unlock those sweet higher level abilities after investing 8 levels. Getting that Devil's Sight now is mandatory for all of this, so if your DM doesn't go for it then this will be quite difficult. You can still pull off some great stealth missions, but your ability to recover when things don't go according to plan suffers drastically. You'll also have a much harder time handling those out-in-the-open fights you just can't avoid. Beg your DM for Devil's Sight lol.
Darkness on the wiz is less necessary but will be really nice for freeing up your ki points.
This is all about radically changing your approach to the campaign. Always look for ways to circumvent obstacles and conflicts in creative ways. Between the wizard's illusions and other spells and your skills and ki abilities you will have a lot of ways to problem solve that challenge what your DM thought the scenario or mission was about. Hopefully your DM is up to the task.
When combat is unavoidable or necessary, liberally use darkness + devil's sight to significantly boost your offense while having the tactical utility to protect you and the wizard if played right. This is the kind of tanking you need: Evasion Tank.
Set up ambushes, stalk your targets to gain information, trick with illusions, influence people with magic. This is what you two should be focusing on, and if your DM supports it, it will be a total blast.
IF you have access to tasha cauldron you can just take the feet and snag devils sight too.
"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
I dont see it mentioned, but with 13 str you could take a 1 level dip in barbarian to get 2/day rage, which gives resistance to slashing/blunt and piercing. Thats a pretty effective way to gain better sustain in combat.
RAW, the Eldritch Adept feat has the prerequisite of already having the Spellcasting feature, or the Pact Magic feature. Further, note that being able to cast spells is not the same as having the actual Spellcasting or Pact magic features!
Whoops. Time to learn to read
You're right, it would still require a one level dip into something spellcastery. I had not read that thoroughly enough.
Perhaps a level of cleric? A number of their domains have useful abilities at level one. Grave to pick up fallen companions, or trickery for some extra stealth. Even the peace domain could be useful.
"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
...or a forgiving DM.
That too.
"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
(I added this quote in manually as i didn't know it didn't show up to whom i was replying)
Thanks for this well thought out response and the reasoning behind it, when we get to play this game again we will definitely talk about the devil's sight, if i can have it at 4th level, or even at all.
Your 'play' suggestions are also pretty helpful, we will try do these things as most times we find ourselves in combat pretty suddenly.
I'm glad you find it helpful! This is my favorite way to approach the game, so I instantly perked up when I saw this post. I played a goblin diviner in my last campaign like this and it was an absolute blast.
I totally goofed on missing the prerequisite of Eldritch Adept. I've been so excited about so many things in Tasha's I just glossed right over it. I'm honestly not a fan of homebrew rules, but I think there is a time and place and this is easily one of them. In a time where your campaign is in danger of not functioning you gain so much for so little, it's on flavor, and promotes fun and creativity.
If there is a subclass that deserves to be able to pick up Eldritch Adept that can't, it's the Shadow Monk. It may not technically have spellcasting, but it can cast multiple spells using ki, including Darkness. And especially when you're talking about Devil's Sight, it's not even like it's a flavor stretch. Seeing through darkness, even magical darkness, could have already been a Shadow Monk ability. It's just a perfect fit concept and mechanics wise that fell through a hole made by rules semantics; it's not some broken cheese. If a warlock can have darkness + devil's sight and extra attack/eldritch blast scaling then it's not overpowered in any way for a shadow monk to have to spend a feat to get it.
I would go forward and calmly beg your DM to swap out your level 4 ASI for EA: Devil's Sight. Have a conversation with the illusionist about these tactics, and let your DM know that you're thinking about approaching the game in such a different way. That way it's not just you asking for an obviously cool combo, but an honest attempt to stay engaged in their campaign.
Does the wizard have Find Familiar? If not it's more important for them to get that than Darkness. Liberally using familiars to scout out ahead of you will change the tempo of adventuring and encounters. They're super expendable and low opportunity cost on a wizard thanks to not having to prepare the spell and being able to cast it as a ritual. Hopefully this will mitigate the amount of these encounters that are getting dumped in your lap. If your DM is in on the subterfuge game this should help as well.
I'm sorry I haven't given you any suggestions that don't involve asking the DM for a homebrew re-spec, but I honestly don't see anything that will solve your problems as quickly and cleanly as this. Your party simply isn't built for run-and-gunning or slugfests anymore, and a small dip you take in three levels isn't going to solve that. Good luck! I hope it works out because it will be so much fun if it does.