TL;DR: Go Human Variant. If you can go to level 20, go 3 Echo Knight Fighter and 17 Astral Self Monk. Use ASIs to get to 20 WIS and 20 CON. Get Empathic Feat to read your opponent as you slowly approach them to set up advantage for all your ORA's the next turn. Get within 10 ft of opponent, combine Echo Knight, + Astral Arms + Complete Astral Self + Unleash Incarnation + Action Surge for 14 attacks all doing 1d10+WIS (1d10+5) damage. Add in Haste from an ally mage for 17 attacks. If you don't have the Astral Monk abilities out ahead of time, it will take three turns to set up as the Astral Arms, Complete Astral Self, and Echo all take separate bonus actions to activate and the Empathic Feat takes 1 action before you ORA your enemy. But if you get it all to pop off you can deal upwards of 210 damage at a 10ft reach.
A bit of a late reply but I wanna post this here since I'm making this build myself. Go 3 fighter for Echo knight. If you don't expect going far past 5, then go full fighter and get the UA unarmed fighting fighting style. If you are going up to level 8, then go 3 fighter and 5+ monk. If you think you'll go to level 20 or don't mind a bit lesser damage at first, then go way of the astral self as i will point out how much it is a stand user and just how nutty it can be for this build (14 Oras in a single turn once per short rest!!!). If you need something effective for monk at early levels, go drunken master or Open Hand monk.
Echo knight allows you to create a translucent copy of yourself called an Echo (a Stand). You can attack from the echo's position if you are making the attack action and can do extra attacks from the Stand's position each time you do any attack with attack action a number of times equal to your con per long rest (Unleash Incarnation is what the feature is called)
Astral Self would let you use wisdom for punches if you use the Astral arms it summons (also your stand). These punches can be done from the Echo's position but you cannot flurry of blows with the echo unless you have a cool DM.
The Astral Arms have a 10ft range. Can deal radiant or necrotic damage. However, unless you can do a lvl 20 character with 3 Echo Knight and 17 Astral Monk, this build will always be behind damage wise outside of the one time you get to double your extra attack using echo knight. it costs 2 ki points to bring the arms out as a bonus action, then 10 points to bring the entire astral self which grants you 3 attacks per action instead of 2. For the rest of this build, I assume you bring out the complete astral self each time and possibly wait 30 minutes after a drawn out fight to regain your ki. If you can't get your ki back but its too long before the next fight. Your damage will suffer on repeated fights if you fail to regain ki. While complete astral self is up you get back ki equal to your wisdom mod every time something gets reduced to 0 hp within 10 ft of you. At 20 Wis you regain your 10 ki cost after 2 kills. The complete Astral self also grants you +2 AC making you harder to hit.
The build allows you to pump everything into wis and con and care little about dex (it ups your ac but you will be really tanky and attacking from 10+ ft away so not as important, just get it to 14 for fighter multiclass)
So with 14 Dex, 20 Con, 20 Wis. You have 17 AC (18 with mariner fighting style). You can do double attacks with your echo 5 times per long rest rest. You have 1d10 punch damage at 17 monk. Astral arms allow you to do 3 normal attacks instead of 2 and do 3 bonus action attacks in place of flurry of blows. And you have action surge to get another 3 normal attacks.
Set up Astral arms one round and echo the other or the other way around.
If the echo and the enemy are more than 10 ft away from you you can do 3 normal attacks to that enemy or use 3 of your 5 echo double attacks for 6 echo attacks (6 * (1d10+5) damage).
If the enemy and echo are within 10 ft. You can attack normally 3 times and 3 bonus action attacks for 6 attacks or double the normal attacks and get 9 attacks for 9d10+45 damage!!
Now add in Action Surge and you get an extra action for more punches!! Now you have 6 normal punches and 3 bonus action punches. If you use all of your stored double punches here, you do 6+5+3 = 14 punches. All of these punches doing 1d10+5 damage that is radiant or necrotic. If all attacks hit, you do 84 damage minimum and 210 damage maximum!!!
Now add in the empathic feat, you can do an insight check (get insight proficiency from fighter and now you have insight expertise!!) against target humanoid deception check. On success, you have advantage on all attacks on that creature until the end of your next turn. SO you can set this up and have advantage on all 14 attacks on that one creature, this is enough to kill most unprepared Lvl 20 PCs outside of barbarians let alone whatever monster your DM throws at you.
If you have a friendly spellcaster cast Haste on you, add another 3 attacks to the Ora Ora barrage for 17 punches!!! So think of this set up.
Maybe get a mage to caste haste on you, if not, then find an enemy you want to beat. Summon your Astral arms ahead of time (it has a 10 minute window)
Slowly approach your enemy and bring out your complete Astral self (your stand but not at full power.). Maybe take an action to set something else up.
Use your action to use Empathic and read your opponent like a book. If they fail the deception check against your +17 to insight, you get advantage on all attacks now until the end of the next turn. Use bonus action to call out your Echo (Stand at full to near full power.) Get in 10 ft of your opponent, avoid 5 ft where they can melee you, but 5ft still works.
Use everything to Ora Ora your foe. You have 14 (17 with Haste) stand punches all with advantage to attack if you won the insight check. You are now doing between 6 and 210 damage (depending on your luck with attack rolls) with a choice between two good damage types. If you have Haste on then your max damage bumps up to 255. The order of the Ora's goes like this:
First attack from Echo with Astral Arms
Attack again with Unleash Incarnation (4/5 uses left)
Second attack from Echo with Astral Arms
Attack again with Unleash Incarnation (3/5 uses left)
Third attack from Echo with Astral Arms
Attack again with Unleash Incarnation (2/5 uses left)
First bonus action attack from self with Astral Arms (flavor as coming from stand)
Second bonus action attack from self with Astral Arms
Third bonus action attack from self with Astral Arms
Action surge then Fourth attack from Echo with Astral Arms
Attack again with Unleash Incarnation (1/5 uses left)
Fifth attack from Echo with Astral Arms
Attack again with Unleash Incarnation (0/5 uses left)
Sixth attack from Echo with Astral Arms
(Optional) Use Haste action then Seventh attack from Echo with Astral Arms
Eighth attack from Echo with Astral Arms
Ninth attack from Echo with Astral Arms
Pose over your defeated foe, say "Yare Yare Daze" or some other quotable line.
Now think about the fact that you can deal all of that damage (minus the Haste) once per long rest, but you can still deal 9 ORAs in a single turn once every short rest (using action surge). Being able to do upwards of 135 damage per short rest is pretty nice. Its more damage than a 9th level fireball however it is only on a single target.
With Haste, you can deal almost a Balor's full health in damage if you roll high. With high rolls you can take out half of a Tarrasque's health.
The amount of damage you dish out with the build is just enough to kill yourself with 14 Ora's (you have 207 health)
Also keep in mind that you can do all this from a position of 10 ft away. Or you can take away the 3 bonus action strikes and do 11 strikes from the echo at a distance once per long rest or 6 strikes from the echo once every short rest.
Just as a quick reference for the damage I'll put it here:
ER = Echo at Range no bonus action attacks, EC = Echo Close for bonus action attacks,
AS = Action Surge, UI = Unleash Incarnation, H = Haste
All attacks are with lvl 17 monk Astral Arms and lvl 3 Echo knight fighter.
1 attack: 1d10+Wis = 1d10+5 radiant or necrotic
3 attacks(ER): 3d10+15 up to 30+ft away
6 attacks (ER, AS): 6d10+30 every short rest up to 30+ft away
6 attacks (ER, UI): 6d10+30 every long rest up to 30+ft away
6 attacks (ER, H): 6d10+30 up to 30+ft away with mage friend
6 attacks (EC): 6d10+30 as long as 10ft or closer
9 attacks (EC, AS): 9d10+45 every short rest as long as 10ft or closer
9 attacks (EC, UI): 9d10+45 every long rest as long as 10ft or closer
9 attacks (EC, H): 9d10+45 as long as 10ft or closer with mage friend
11 attacks (ER, AS, UI): 11d10+55 every long rest up to 30+ft away
11 attacks (ER, UI, H): 11d10+55 every long rest up to 30+ft away with mage friend
14 attacks (EC, AS, UI): 14d10+70 every long rest as long as 10ft or closer
17 attacks (EC, AS, UI, H): 17d10+85 every long rest as long as 10ft or closer with mage friend
Any other effect that adds an additional action will give you another 3 attacks for 3d10+15 damage. The fact that you can do this damage from a decent range as separate attacks is great. With your health so high and monk Evasion, you could tank a 9th level fireball (or even negate the damage entirely) and just spread out Ora's across the survivors to pick them off.
have you thought about adding 3 gloom stalker and 2 bladesinger now that it is not elf only anymore singer with a headband of intelligence you can get an extra +4 to ac that added with Kensei will give 2 more ac so you can boost ac for 17 to 23 also with kensei + bladesinger you can add Staff of Power for +2 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with it While holding it, you gain a +2 bonus to Armor Class, saving throws, and spell attack rolls. and what about Satyr it is even more op now that you can change ability scores I was reading an article that said
"The Satyr has two core racial traits that raise a few eyebrows. The first is that they are classified as Fey creatures instead of Humanoid. This means that they aren't affected by spells like "Charm Person," "Hold Person," or any other spells that specifically target humanoids. The second is that they have an innate Magic Resistance, meaning that they have an advantage on all saving throws caused by spells or magical abilities. This not only gives the satyr advantage on spell saving throws, but also against things like the Beholder's eye rays, the Mind Flayer's Mind Blast, and other innate magical monster abilities. They also have other little perks, such as a 35 movement speed, natural proficiency in both Persuasion and Performance, and a +1 Ability Score increase to Dexterity, which can translate to a boost to AC depending on how players distribute their Ability Scores."
with tashas coming I wonder how much cooler can this build get
Dread Ambusher
At 3rd level, you master the art of the ambush. You can give yourself a bonus to your initiative rolls equal to your Wisdom modifier.
At the start of your first turn of each combat, your walking speed increases by 10 feet, which lasts until the end of that turn. If you take the Attack action on that turn, you can make one additional weapon attack as part of that action. If that attack hits, the target takes an extra 1d8 damage of the weapon's damage type.
Bladesong
Starting at 2nd level, you can invoke secret elven magic called the Bladesong, provided that you aren't wearing medium or heavy armor or using a shield. It graces you with supernatural speed, agility, and focus.
You can use a bonus action to start the Bladesong, which lasts for 1 minute. It ends early if you are incapacitated, if you don medium or heavy armor or a shield, or if you use two hands to make an attack with a weapon. You can also dismiss the Bladesong at any time you choose (no action required).
While your Bladesong is active, you gain the following benefits:
• You gain a bonus to your AC equal to your Intelligence modifier (minimum of +1).
• Your walking speed increases by 10 feet.
• You have advantage on Dexterity (Acrobatics) checks.
• You gain a bonus to any Constitution saving throw you make to maintain your concentration on a spell. The bonus equals your Intelligence modifier (minimum of +1).
You can use this feature twice. You regain all expended uses of it when you finish a short or long rest.
When you lose the 17th level of monk, even when adding in gloomstalker (an idea that I love with monk btw), you instantly lose 1 attack round one and 2 to 4 on every subsequent round. Of course you gain Hunter's Mark which probably doesn't offset your damage loss, when you consider that you NEED to be ready to nova round one or it doesn't work, and your martial arts die goes down to a d8. You also have a 4 BA set up, when 3 is already pretty extreme. So for OP's idea, I think it makes it worse overall.
I do however think your idea is too good to ignore. I just think it makes a very different monk than the Astral Echo above. You're suggesting more of a blitz monk that closes ground before mobs are prepared and just tanks hard with it's mid-high twenties AC. With this build I'm not actually worried about attacking eleventy bajillion times per round. Four to five is enough to keep a good stun lock on the biggest threat and not get beat up too much. Let's say Kensei 15, Gloomstalker 3, and Bladesinger 2. At max stats your AC hits 27 plus the shield spell without actually trying or having items. You could also lose 3 levels of Monk to get Rogue - Scout. You get more mobility but lose proficiency on all saves, which I don't think is worth the trade off.
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have you thought about adding 3 gloom stalker and 2 bladesinger now that it is not elf only anymore singer with a headband of intelligence you can get an extra +4 to ac that added with Kensei will give 2 more ac so you can boost ac for 17 to 23 also with kensei + bladesinger you can add Staff of Power for +2 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with it While holding it, you gain a +2 bonus to Armor Class, saving throws, and spell attack rolls. and what about Satyr it is even more op now that you can change ability scores I was reading an article that said
"The Satyr has two core racial traits that raise a few eyebrows. The first is that they are classified as Fey creatures instead of Humanoid. This means that they aren't affected by spells like "Charm Person," "Hold Person," or any other spells that specifically target humanoids. The second is that they have an innate Magic Resistance, meaning that they have an advantage on all saving throws caused by spells or magical abilities. This not only gives the satyr advantage on spell saving throws, but also against things like the Beholder's eye rays, the Mind Flayer's Mind Blast, and other innate magical monster abilities. They also have other little perks, such as a 35 movement speed, natural proficiency in both Persuasion and Performance, and a +1 Ability Score increase to Dexterity, which can translate to a boost to AC depending on how players distribute their Ability Scores."
with tashas coming I wonder how much cooler can this build get
Dread Ambusher
At 3rd level, you master the art of the ambush. You can give yourself a bonus to your initiative rolls equal to your Wisdom modifier.
At the start of your first turn of each combat, your walking speed increases by 10 feet, which lasts until the end of that turn. If you take the Attack action on that turn, you can make one additional weapon attack as part of that action. If that attack hits, the target takes an extra 1d8 damage of the weapon's damage type.
Bladesong
Starting at 2nd level, you can invoke secret elven magic called the Bladesong, provided that you aren't wearing medium or heavy armor or using a shield. It graces you with supernatural speed, agility, and focus.
You can use a bonus action to start the Bladesong, which lasts for 1 minute. It ends early if you are incapacitated, if you don medium or heavy armor or a shield, or if you use two hands to make an attack with a weapon. You can also dismiss the Bladesong at any time you choose (no action required).
While your Bladesong is active, you gain the following benefits:
• You gain a bonus to your AC equal to your Intelligence modifier (minimum of +1).
• Your walking speed increases by 10 feet.
• You have advantage on Dexterity (Acrobatics) checks.
• You gain a bonus to any Constitution saving throw you make to maintain your concentration on a spell. The bonus equals your Intelligence modifier (minimum of +1).
You can use this feature twice. You regain all expended uses of it when you finish a short or long rest.
When you lose the 17th level of monk, even when adding in gloomstalker (an idea that I love with monk btw), you instantly lose 1 attack round one and 2 to 4 on every subsequent round. Of course you gain Hunter's Mark which probably doesn't offset your damage loss, when you consider that you NEED to be ready to nova round one or it doesn't work, and your martial arts die goes down to a d8. You also have a 4 BA set up, when 3 is already pretty extreme. So for OP's idea, I think it makes it worse overall.
I do however think your idea is too good to ignore. I just think it makes a very different monk than the Astral Echo above. You're suggesting more of a blitz monk that closes ground before mobs are prepared and just tanks hard with it's mid-high twenties AC. With this build I'm not actually worried about attacking eleventy bajillion times per round. Four to five is enough to keep a good stun lock on the biggest threat and not get beat up too much. Let's say Kensei 15, Gloomstalker 3, and Bladesinger 2. At max stats your AC hits 27 plus the shield spell without actually trying or having items. You could also lose 3 levels of Monk to get Rogue - Scout. You get more mobility but lose proficiency on all saves, which I don't think is worth the trade off.