I am nt sure what you mean by "using the mobility and damage of the monk, with the heavy AC and HP, and obviously the heals, of the cleric."
A cleric and monk both get d8 hit dice so for a given constitution both have the same HP
Does "heavy AC" mean high AC or heavy armor proficiency. A monk wearing any armor will not be able to use their martial arts skills so their unarmed attacks will be doing 1+str damage. Depending on your stats you might be able have decent AC without armor (10+dex +wis) and still attack as a monk though unless / until you get 5 levels of monk most of the time you will only be able to make 2 attacks for 1d4+dex which is likely to be less than you can deal as a cleric (e.g. 2d10 with sacred flame if your overall level is 5 to 10, more beyond that) Your monk attacks will also not get through very common resistance to non magical weapon attacks unless you get 6 levels
Like with attacks you only get the extra movement if yu are not wearing armor
A monk taking a level or 2 of cleric can make sense, they get a method of ranged attack, limited spellcasting including the ability to heal and other domain specific features that can help either the monk or the party as a whole a lot (e.g .300ft dark vision for the whole party as a twilight cleric, emboldening bond from the peace domain scales withoverall level not class level so is really good for a splash.
A cleric taking a level or two as a monk has to dum their armor and shield do so, which may or may not lower their AC. To deal damage they have the choice of attacking as a first level monk or a nth level cleric which nearly always means the cleric attack does more damage, once or twice per short rest you can disengage or dodge as a donus action and if you taker two levels you get 10 foot extra movement. For that you are missing out on extra spell slots, higher level spells and cleric features. Which isn't a good trade off.
SO i just happened upon this as i was looking for a good Monk Subclass to match up with my Life Domain Cleric, going for a "Battle Doctor" as to speak by using the mobility and damage of the monk, with the heavy AC and HP, and obviously the heals, of the cleric, but what im stumpped at, as i said, was what subclass that can pair well with, to get the fullest damage out.. so guess what im asking is anyone got a idea?
You can’t use the monk’s unarmored movement feature with armor from the cleric multi class and you arent able to use martial arts features with your cleric weapons. Maybe Kensei monk can fix this, but i would just wear no armor and use the unarmored defense as your AC.
Dedicated weapon from Tasha’s will allow you to use your cleric weapon as a monk weapon and since life clerics only have proficiency in simple weapons there’s no conflict. But like others have said, you can’t do any of that while using armor or shield.
Dedicated weapon from Tasha’s will allow you to use your cleric weapon as a monk weapon and since life clerics only have proficiency in simple weapons there’s no conflict. But like others have said, you can’t do any of that while using armor or shield.
Oh cool. I don’t have Tasha’s so i didn’t know that. That’s cool, thanks!
2nd-level monk feature You train yourself to use a variety of weapons as monk weapons, not just simple melee weapons and shortswords. Whenever you finish a short or long rest, you can touch one weapon, focus your ki on it, and then count that weapon as a monk weapon until you use this feature again.
it only applies to one specific weapon at a time so if you have a dedicated weapon and you lose it or find a magic one of the same type, you have to wait for a long rest to dedicate another.
playing a monk-cleric now and it's fun - certainly less ~optimized~ than a pure monk or pure cleric would be but it has really helped me create a cool story that my DM has incorporated into the world and it gives me a lot of options for things to do. there are overlaps in play style - WIS forward, support-focused - that have some synergies.
One of my current characters is a Way of the Kensei Monk and War Cleric combo; I opted to split early on, so am currently Monk 3/Cleric 2, but this gives me a wide mix of abilities and it's a lot of fun. While it's low on both Ki and spell slots, it has both which gives a lot of flexibility and utility options.
I'm not the highest damage dealer in the party, I'd have waited for Extra Attack first if that was my priority; I can still deal good damage at range using War Priest to fire twice without Extra Attack, and I can stack Divine Favor with that or Flurry of Blows for decent damage when I need it. I've also got more options like Shield of Faith for up to AC 21 (with Agile Parry), add Patient Defence to that and I'm very hard to hit, or I can go more for utility.
Cleric definitely meshes well with Monk, personally I'm going to have a hard time playing "just" a Cleric or Monk in future, as while multi-classing can be awkward and has trade-offs, it just gives you so many options and fun combos.
The biggest advantage of one level of Cleric is a ranged cantrip attack which fills a missing piece in the Monk's repertoire. Since you don't care about improved weapons or armor, Arcana is an obvious choice since it gives you access to wizard ranged cantrips and magic missile (Detect magic is nice as well). If you can convince your DM that the Death cleric is appropriate then Chill Touch using the Reaper can't be beat. Maybe combine with Way of the Long Death.
Shield of faith stacks nicely. Bless is always great.
My only note would be to not get greedy. Its probably a good idea for a 1 or 2 level dip, but you really want to keep Monk moving well. Both for unarmed strike damage dice and ki points.
I don’t think a monk really benefit from taking a few cleric levels, but a cleric can benefit from taking monk levels. Taking the way of the astral self monk subclass allow you to use your wisdom for your unarmed attacks. You can also use monk’s unarmored defence, which lets you use wisdom and dex for your armor class, you’re still probably better off using armor though.
You could take 5 monk levels for an extra attack as well as a d6 for unarmed strikes, but at that point you’re delaying cleric features quite a bit and you won’t be able to cast the cleric’s most powerful spells.
I don’t think a monk really benefit from taking a few cleric levels, but a cleric can benefit from taking monk levels. Taking the way of the astral self monk subclass allow you to use your wisdom for your unarmed attacks. You can also use monk’s unarmored defence, which lets you use wisdom and dex for your armor class, you’re still probably better off using armor though.
You could take 5 monk levels for an extra attack as well as a d6 for unarmed strikes, but at that point you’re delaying cleric features quite a bit and you won’t be able to cast the cleric’s most powerful spells.
I would argue the other way.
3 levels of monk is delaying your cleric progress significantly and if you are majoring in cleric you would probably be at least level 8 by then. Half the cleric classes would allow you to add your wisdom modifier to your cantrips (which have a higher damage dice) and the other half allow you to add 1d8 to your weaopn attacks opn top of any str/dex modifier.
A single level of cleric gets the monk a ranged attack which is occasionally useful against things like flyng enemies, and also the ability to be an emergency healer to get the main healer up if they go unconcious. Though I do admit a monk probably want to progress ion monk as fast as possible at least until they get diamond soul. My level 18 monk plans on taking a single level in cleric (the monk capstone encourages this). My favorite domains single level dip would be
Peace domain is awesome for a single dip for a high level character, because emboldening bond scales with character level. As he has a ioun stone of mastery my monk will be able to do the equivelent of casting an extended (to 10 min) 5th level bless spell 7 times a day which also gives the creatuures the effects of guidance all with no concentration checks (and it stacks with bless / guidance)
Twilight domain 300ft of darkvision is great at night and you will have the perception to spot things as well. If you spot the bad guys you can allow the whole party to see them from the same distance. Might be the beter option if you decide to take a single level dip a earlier.
They aren't a bad mix, if you have a high emphasis on Wisdom as a Monk, but for most Monk's Wisdom is your second stat next to Dexterity. If you do emphasize on Wisdom and your cleric abilities, you can get a really good DC for all of your Monk Abilities (ie: Stunning Strike) which is super useful.
However, the typical advantage from dipping into cleric is getting access to Heavy Armor from some of 50% of the domains, which you can't get from multi-classing into other classes (even fighter and paladin only give up to Medium Armor from multi-classing). As a monk, Martial Arts are m00t with any armor or a shield, so that advantage goes out the door for multi classing won't affect your survive-ability in the AC department
But with Support spells, and access to Martial Weapons with some of the Cleric Domains, you can get some interesting mixes. Monks can get ranged attacks, and access to arguably one of the best Level 1 ranged spells (Guiding Bolt)... but between Cleric Spells and your Martial Arts, you'll need to figure out a good balance. Using the control spells will be immensely useful, and Channel Divinity (assuming you go to level 2 cleric) also resets on a Short Rest as well as your Ki-Points which is a nice synergy. so there is a good bit of Synergy there.
Astral Self, IMO is the best option if you wish to multiclass... and you just emphasize Wisdom with your Primary stat. This will allow your Cleric Spells to stay as your primary option, and your martial arts attacks will use Wisdom as well.
I personally don't think the Cleric and Monk Synergy too well together, but in terms of roleplaying they can make for an interesting build. I'm more inclined for a Druid Dip versus Cleric, but the use of abilities and spells is exactly the same (Channel Divinity vs Wild Shape trade off at level 2).
A 2 level dip in Druid could be cool. If your monk bases their martial arts on animal forms, say a mantis form, you can also wildshape into a mantis in utility situations to keep the theme. And if you prioritize WIS over DEX you can shillelagh a club or quaterstaff and attack with WIS as well
You do have some thrown weapons you can use on monks, and most ranged weapons if you go a kensei monk. Sure Sacred Flame might be nice in some situations, to surpass damage resistance and such, but I still think you're better off using a simple ranged weapon those few times you need them rather than multiclassing to get a ranged cantrip. At lvl 5 you'll prolly have 18 dex, and if you land your hits you're guaranteed 8 points of dmg, + an average of 5 with a dart or 7 with a javelin, compared to an average damage of 9 with sacred flame.
If you are going Four Elements Monk, then Nature or Arcana Cleric 1 or Land Druid 3 give some really good options.
Nature Cleric 1: Druid cantrip (for Shape Water, Produce Flame, Mold Earth, or really just about anything elemental), plus Thaumaturgy (which has a lot of elemental effects, specifically with fire and tremors, or blowing open doors/windows), Sacred Flame, Light, or any cantrip that you can justify being elemental and/or monkish. Then Shield of Faith is great on a Monk and can be flavored as an icy armor covering you, or rock armor, or a warding wind -- whatever. That along with Create or Destroy Water as your go-to spells, though there are plenty of monkish first level options.
Arcana Cleric 1: Wizard cantrip for any of the elemental themed one, plus what is listed above. Magic Missile is easily reflavored to be elemental in nature as well. The rest is the same as above.
Land Druid 3 (Coast): Misty Step and Mirror Image are both great defensive options for a Monk, and can easily be flavored as elemental. Bonus cantrip is nice, but mostly the short rest spell slot recovery melds well with a Monk's short-rest based skills. Finally Druids get all kinds of good elemental spell options from 1st and 2nd level spells, from Absorb Elements to Earth Tremor to Ice Knife to Flame Blade to Warding Wind. Heck, even Enhance Abilities could be reflavored from animal traits to elemental traits ("Mountain's Fortitude" for CON, "Ocean's Solitude" for WIS, "Burning Candor" for STR, etc).
Simply pick non-spell elemental disciplines or work with your GM on a ki-to-spell-slot conversion and go from there. I'm personally thinking of doing this once I hit Monk 7 in order to maximize my elemental feel after my Monk gets Evasion.
I'm actually considering a similar Open-Hand Monk/Peace Cleric build, but going for something more similar to the UA Tranquility Monk. Ultimately, the idea I'm entertaining is to build something resembling an ideal Aikido master -- someone whose preference is to talk everyone out of fighting, but who can put you on the floor in short order if you don't listen.
(Some of whose abilities look like they were folded into Peace cleric). I currently have a level 1 monk as a base class, and I'm planning to add 1 level of peace cleric at my next level-up. This ends up getting me "sanctuary" one level earlier than UA Tranquility, along with proficiency in persuasion (which Tranquility Monk used to get at level 6). These two abilities seem to be core to making a preferentially pacifist character--one to keep you from getting beaten to death immediately, one to help you find alternate ways around encounters. I'm ultimately planning to end up with 2 levels of peace cleric, the rest monk.
I'm hoping to use Sanctuary as my all-purpose spell to be able to enter the battlefield and attempt to parley. I rolled high Dex and Wis, so when parleying fails, the intention would be to go dex-tank (unarmed defense, possibly with support from shield of faith, depending on available spell slots), use stunning strike and/or open-hand technique to stun/prone/shove enemies around the battlefield, saving "balm of peace" as an option to escape and provide a little bit of healing to my allies (a rogueish bard and a slightly trigger-happy druid).
Having said that, I'm relatively new at this, but really wanted to explore an Aikido-monk style of play. In your experience, does what I'm thinking seem like it would actually work with the open hand monk/peace cleric mechanics?
Having said that, I'm relatively new at this, but really wanted to explore an Aikido-monk style of play. In your experience, does what I'm thinking seem like it would actually work with the open hand monk/peace cleric mechanics?
I practice aikido in real life and play an open hand monk in my current game. I think what you describe here makes a lot of sense; the way I tend to think about it in practice is by flavoring the flurry-of-blows bonus actions (knock prone/push back/take away reactions) as aikido throws, and flavoring my unarmed defense/patient defense as aikido footwork/body positioning.
I’m still new to D&d I’ve never played but I have been researching I really want to play a monk and too was considering multi class in to cleric but they also have a new class way of mercy with is kinda dabbled in healing so you wouldn’t be the main heal but support. Which could come in clutch being able to cast heals. But when I do inevitably play it will be a tabxi monk but flavored as a monkey person in the way of mercy
Thank you for this! We've also done some interesting things with grapples, flavoring them as wrist/elbow locks, etc. My gracious DM even allowed me to use DEX instead of STR for those.
In conversation with my DM, we made one other change to accommodate the character concept. In other forums, the peace cleric has taken flak for how powerful the "emboldening bond" feature is, so we decided to instead implement the "Path of Tranquility" feature from the UA Tranquility Monk -- essentially "always-on Sanctuary" -- as a replacement. So far, we've mostly been in RP mode, and haven't ended up in combat since I took my multiclass into peace cleric.
I did get to use "Command" (with "cooperate!" as my command) to get a truthful answer from a hostile prisoner in an interrogation. That felt good!
Just as a side note, if you don't want to go all-in on a Monk/Cleric, picking up Magic Initiate and taking Shield of Faith can be immensely useful. Sure, it's only once per long rest, so your mileage may vary, but the last time I played a Kensei Monk long term I was getting up to AC 24 at level 8, thanks to 20 Dex, 16 Wis, Agile Parry, Bracers of Defense, and Shield of Faith. That was on a Dragonborn too, I imagine on top of a character that starts off with a Dex bonus you'd be able to get there even quicker. A level or two of Cleric, even if you're just looking for a few more cracks at Shield of Faith, feels like it might be worth a couple of ki points to me.
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I am nt sure what you mean by "using the mobility and damage of the monk, with the heavy AC and HP, and obviously the heals, of the cleric."
A monk taking a level or 2 of cleric can make sense, they get a method of ranged attack, limited spellcasting including the ability to heal and other domain specific features that can help either the monk or the party as a whole a lot (e.g .300ft dark vision for the whole party as a twilight cleric, emboldening bond from the peace domain scales withoverall level not class level so is really good for a splash.
A cleric taking a level or two as a monk has to dum their armor and shield do so, which may or may not lower their AC. To deal damage they have the choice of attacking as a first level monk or a nth level cleric which nearly always means the cleric attack does more damage, once or twice per short rest you can disengage or dodge as a donus action and if you taker two levels you get 10 foot extra movement. For that you are missing out on extra spell slots, higher level spells and cleric features. Which isn't a good trade off.
You can’t use the monk’s unarmored movement feature with armor from the cleric multi class and you arent able to use martial arts features with your cleric weapons. Maybe Kensei monk can fix this, but i would just wear no armor and use the unarmored defense as your AC.
Dedicated weapon from Tasha’s will allow you to use your cleric weapon as a monk weapon and since life clerics only have proficiency in simple weapons there’s no conflict. But like others have said, you can’t do any of that while using armor or shield.
Oh cool. I don’t have Tasha’s so i didn’t know that. That’s cool, thanks!
it only applies to one specific weapon at a time so if you have a dedicated weapon and you lose it or find a magic one of the same type, you have to wait for a long rest to dedicate another.
playing a monk-cleric now and it's fun - certainly less ~optimized~ than a pure monk or pure cleric would be but it has really helped me create a cool story that my DM has incorporated into the world and it gives me a lot of options for things to do. there are overlaps in play style - WIS forward, support-focused - that have some synergies.
One of my current characters is a Way of the Kensei Monk and War Cleric combo; I opted to split early on, so am currently Monk 3/Cleric 2, but this gives me a wide mix of abilities and it's a lot of fun. While it's low on both Ki and spell slots, it has both which gives a lot of flexibility and utility options.
I'm not the highest damage dealer in the party, I'd have waited for Extra Attack first if that was my priority; I can still deal good damage at range using War Priest to fire twice without Extra Attack, and I can stack Divine Favor with that or Flurry of Blows for decent damage when I need it. I've also got more options like Shield of Faith for up to AC 21 (with Agile Parry), add Patient Defence to that and I'm very hard to hit, or I can go more for utility.
Cleric definitely meshes well with Monk, personally I'm going to have a hard time playing "just" a Cleric or Monk in future, as while multi-classing can be awkward and has trade-offs, it just gives you so many options and fun combos.
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The biggest advantage of one level of Cleric is a ranged cantrip attack which fills a missing piece in the Monk's repertoire. Since you don't care about improved weapons or armor, Arcana is an obvious choice since it gives you access to wizard ranged cantrips and magic missile (Detect magic is nice as well). If you can convince your DM that the Death cleric is appropriate then Chill Touch using the Reaper can't be beat. Maybe combine with Way of the Long Death.
Shield of faith stacks nicely. Bless is always great.
My only note would be to not get greedy. Its probably a good idea for a 1 or 2 level dip, but you really want to keep Monk moving well. Both for unarmed strike damage dice and ki points.
I don’t think a monk really benefit from taking a few cleric levels, but a cleric can benefit from taking monk levels. Taking the way of the astral self monk subclass allow you to use your wisdom for your unarmed attacks. You can also use monk’s unarmored defence, which lets you use wisdom and dex for your armor class, you’re still probably better off using armor though.
You could take 5 monk levels for an extra attack as well as a d6 for unarmed strikes, but at that point you’re delaying cleric features quite a bit and you won’t be able to cast the cleric’s most powerful spells.
I would argue the other way.
3 levels of monk is delaying your cleric progress significantly and if you are majoring in cleric you would probably be at least level 8 by then. Half the cleric classes would allow you to add your wisdom modifier to your cantrips (which have a higher damage dice) and the other half allow you to add 1d8 to your weaopn attacks opn top of any str/dex modifier.
A single level of cleric gets the monk a ranged attack which is occasionally useful against things like flyng enemies, and also the ability to be an emergency healer to get the main healer up if they go unconcious. Though I do admit a monk probably want to progress ion monk as fast as possible at least until they get diamond soul. My level 18 monk plans on taking a single level in cleric (the monk capstone encourages this). My favorite domains single level dip would be
Peace domain is awesome for a single dip for a high level character, because emboldening bond scales with character level. As he has a ioun stone of mastery my monk will be able to do the equivelent of casting an extended (to 10 min) 5th level bless spell 7 times a day which also gives the creatuures the effects of guidance all with no concentration checks (and it stacks with bless / guidance)
Twilight domain 300ft of darkvision is great at night and you will have the perception to spot things as well. If you spot the bad guys you can allow the whole party to see them from the same distance. Might be the beter option if you decide to take a single level dip a earlier.
They aren't a bad mix, if you have a high emphasis on Wisdom as a Monk, but for most Monk's Wisdom is your second stat next to Dexterity. If you do emphasize on Wisdom and your cleric abilities, you can get a really good DC for all of your Monk Abilities (ie: Stunning Strike) which is super useful.
However, the typical advantage from dipping into cleric is getting access to Heavy Armor from some of 50% of the domains, which you can't get from multi-classing into other classes (even fighter and paladin only give up to Medium Armor from multi-classing). As a monk, Martial Arts are m00t with any armor or a shield, so that advantage goes out the door for multi classing won't affect your survive-ability in the AC department
But with Support spells, and access to Martial Weapons with some of the Cleric Domains, you can get some interesting mixes. Monks can get ranged attacks, and access to arguably one of the best Level 1 ranged spells (Guiding Bolt)... but between Cleric Spells and your Martial Arts, you'll need to figure out a good balance. Using the control spells will be immensely useful, and Channel Divinity (assuming you go to level 2 cleric) also resets on a Short Rest as well as your Ki-Points which is a nice synergy. so there is a good bit of Synergy there.
Astral Self, IMO is the best option if you wish to multiclass... and you just emphasize Wisdom with your Primary stat. This will allow your Cleric Spells to stay as your primary option, and your martial arts attacks will use Wisdom as well.
I personally don't think the Cleric and Monk Synergy too well together, but in terms of roleplaying they can make for an interesting build. I'm more inclined for a Druid Dip versus Cleric, but the use of abilities and spells is exactly the same (Channel Divinity vs Wild Shape trade off at level 2).
A 2 level dip in Druid could be cool. If your monk bases their martial arts on animal forms, say a mantis form, you can also wildshape into a mantis in utility situations to keep the theme. And if you prioritize WIS over DEX you can shillelagh a club or quaterstaff and attack with WIS as well
You do have some thrown weapons you can use on monks, and most ranged weapons if you go a kensei monk. Sure Sacred Flame might be nice in some situations, to surpass damage resistance and such, but I still think you're better off using a simple ranged weapon those few times you need them rather than multiclassing to get a ranged cantrip. At lvl 5 you'll prolly have 18 dex, and if you land your hits you're guaranteed 8 points of dmg, + an average of 5 with a dart or 7 with a javelin, compared to an average damage of 9 with sacred flame.
If you are going Four Elements Monk, then Nature or Arcana Cleric 1 or Land Druid 3 give some really good options.
Nature Cleric 1: Druid cantrip (for Shape Water, Produce Flame, Mold Earth, or really just about anything elemental), plus Thaumaturgy (which has a lot of elemental effects, specifically with fire and tremors, or blowing open doors/windows), Sacred Flame, Light, or any cantrip that you can justify being elemental and/or monkish. Then Shield of Faith is great on a Monk and can be flavored as an icy armor covering you, or rock armor, or a warding wind -- whatever. That along with Create or Destroy Water as your go-to spells, though there are plenty of monkish first level options.
Arcana Cleric 1: Wizard cantrip for any of the elemental themed one, plus what is listed above. Magic Missile is easily reflavored to be elemental in nature as well. The rest is the same as above.
Land Druid 3 (Coast): Misty Step and Mirror Image are both great defensive options for a Monk, and can easily be flavored as elemental. Bonus cantrip is nice, but mostly the short rest spell slot recovery melds well with a Monk's short-rest based skills. Finally Druids get all kinds of good elemental spell options from 1st and 2nd level spells, from Absorb Elements to Earth Tremor to Ice Knife to Flame Blade to Warding Wind. Heck, even Enhance Abilities could be reflavored from animal traits to elemental traits ("Mountain's Fortitude" for CON, "Ocean's Solitude" for WIS, "Burning Candor" for STR, etc).
Simply pick non-spell elemental disciplines or work with your GM on a ki-to-spell-slot conversion and go from there. I'm personally thinking of doing this once I hit Monk 7 in order to maximize my elemental feel after my Monk gets Evasion.
I'm actually considering a similar Open-Hand Monk/Peace Cleric build, but going for something more similar to the UA Tranquility Monk. Ultimately, the idea I'm entertaining is to build something resembling an ideal Aikido master -- someone whose preference is to talk everyone out of fighting, but who can put you on the floor in short order if you don't listen.
(Some of whose abilities look like they were folded into Peace cleric). I currently have a level 1 monk as a base class, and I'm planning to add 1 level of peace cleric at my next level-up. This ends up getting me "sanctuary" one level earlier than UA Tranquility, along with proficiency in persuasion (which Tranquility Monk used to get at level 6). These two abilities seem to be core to making a preferentially pacifist character--one to keep you from getting beaten to death immediately, one to help you find alternate ways around encounters. I'm ultimately planning to end up with 2 levels of peace cleric, the rest monk.
I'm hoping to use Sanctuary as my all-purpose spell to be able to enter the battlefield and attempt to parley. I rolled high Dex and Wis, so when parleying fails, the intention would be to go dex-tank (unarmed defense, possibly with support from shield of faith, depending on available spell slots), use stunning strike and/or open-hand technique to stun/prone/shove enemies around the battlefield, saving "balm of peace" as an option to escape and provide a little bit of healing to my allies (a rogueish bard and a slightly trigger-happy druid).
Having said that, I'm relatively new at this, but really wanted to explore an Aikido-monk style of play. In your experience, does what I'm thinking seem like it would actually work with the open hand monk/peace cleric mechanics?
I practice aikido in real life and play an open hand monk in my current game. I think what you describe here makes a lot of sense; the way I tend to think about it in practice is by flavoring the flurry-of-blows bonus actions (knock prone/push back/take away reactions) as aikido throws, and flavoring my unarmed defense/patient defense as aikido footwork/body positioning.
I’m still new to D&d I’ve never played but I have been researching I really want to play a monk and too was considering multi class in to cleric but they also have a new class way of mercy with is kinda dabbled in healing so you wouldn’t be the main heal but support. Which could come in clutch being able to cast heals. But when I do inevitably play it will be a tabxi monk but flavored as a monkey person in the way of mercy
Thank you for this! We've also done some interesting things with grapples, flavoring them as wrist/elbow locks, etc. My gracious DM even allowed me to use DEX instead of STR for those.
In conversation with my DM, we made one other change to accommodate the character concept. In other forums, the peace cleric has taken flak for how powerful the "emboldening bond" feature is, so we decided to instead implement the "Path of Tranquility" feature from the UA Tranquility Monk -- essentially "always-on Sanctuary" -- as a replacement. So far, we've mostly been in RP mode, and haven't ended up in combat since I took my multiclass into peace cleric.
I did get to use "Command" (with "cooperate!" as my command) to get a truthful answer from a hostile prisoner in an interrogation. That felt good!
I wanna try Assassin like Cleric/Monk build, with 3rd Level of Way of Shadow and the rest on Grave or Death Domain Cleric
Just as a side note, if you don't want to go all-in on a Monk/Cleric, picking up Magic Initiate and taking Shield of Faith can be immensely useful. Sure, it's only once per long rest, so your mileage may vary, but the last time I played a Kensei Monk long term I was getting up to AC 24 at level 8, thanks to 20 Dex, 16 Wis, Agile Parry, Bracers of Defense, and Shield of Faith. That was on a Dragonborn too, I imagine on top of a character that starts off with a Dex bonus you'd be able to get there even quicker. A level or two of Cleric, even if you're just looking for a few more cracks at Shield of Faith, feels like it might be worth a couple of ki points to me.