As long as you know how far into Barbarian you want to go and understand what you'll miss out on from Monk, I don't see an issue here. The monks I've played with would often jump right into the fray using Flurry of Blows, then get ganked by the enemies' counterattack. As the healer, it gave me something to do with healing word, but the one session I wasn't available he actually died.
Rage's damage resists are what you'd really want, but its damage boost can be very useful later once the party discovers a pair of gauntlets of ogre power or a belt of giant strength.
As long as you know how far into Barbarian you want to go and understand what you'll miss out on from Monk, I don't see an issue here. The monks I've played with would often jump right into the fray using Flurry of Blows, then get ganked by the enemies' counterattack. As the healer, it gave me something to do with healing word, but the one session I wasn't available he actually died.
Rage's damage resists are what you'd really want, but its damage boost can be very useful later once the party discovers a pair of gauntlets of ogre power or a [Tooltip Not Found].
that jumping in automatically is the death of a lot of "skirmishers" in the ranks, particularly of rogues and monks. Since they go first and plenty of their players don't think about how the party is going to catch up and save them. It's a hard lesson that is only learned by experience not to do that and maybe find other things to do with your first turn of combat rather than simply rushing right in.
I will say that waiting can often set them up for things like Advantage through the optional flanking rules or other abilities, Such as the Kobolds pack Tactics. That it can make it far more optimal to do something that many of them would usually think of as sub optimal like a ranged attack or using their turn to activate magic items or other things while the tankier party members get into position to work off. Starting farther back than some of the rest of the group with their increased movement can help too because they can move and activate things and yet not be right in the face of the enemy to be surrounded and pounded on while hoping that help will arrive. A monk with advantage is a powerful thing and built right they are potentially capable of barely missing, Which results in a situation where it's a lot of smaller numbers of damage over that turn but they actually do quite a lot of damage when they choose to if they are willing to wait and set things up to suit them instead of just rushing in to try and kill everything at first sight.
I have a Variant Human Monk 6 Barb 1 now. And he always hitted on str. Where he was a houseruled bouncer from Pathfinder and AC wasnt determined by wis/dex mod. He was fine.
Now he has 18 str-14 con-14 dex and 17 wis (int and cha 8). So still a AC of 14 and alot of benefits from STR. 4 attacks with +2 damage. And where they almost always hit its a +8 damage buff. Also the damage reduction is epic.
But when you dont have the high rolled stats like i did. Your AC will be a problem.
I'm currently playing an Astral Self Monk 4/Barbarian 1 character in our Curse of Strahd campaign and I have to admit, the power fantasy is spot on and this has quickly become the most fun I've had with a character build.
It's a Variant Human with the Durable feat to help you survive, point buy: 15, 13, 14, 9, 13, 8
+1 to STR and CON, plus the +1 from your feat should get you at a comfy 16 STR/CON. I'll be taking the Monk to 5 before I take Barb to 3 for Bear Totem. The defining weakness to this build is my 14 AC, obviously, but between my HP pool, resistances, and feat I'm still the tankiest in our party and plenty to serve as a defender alongside our fighter. The benefits of playing a strength monk also means that you can jump further and higher than any other monk using step of the wind. This may sound trivial, but my ability to jump 30 feet into the air to scale a huge statue (assisted by the jump spell) or to fly 30 feet out of a window to grab a druid trying to fly away is not only cool as hell, but it was absolutely critical in saving us from an unfortunate fate perhaps.
Update: This character is now level 11 and in the final battle with Strahd.
Astral Self(UA) Monk 8/Totem Warrior Barbarian 3, this character started at lvl 2 and was allowed Dex/Con Unarmored Defense from Barb
Now that Tasha's is out Astral Self has been published as a subclass option and it is a much stronger subclass now. My DM offered me the option to update the features, but I decided against it since we were already in the final stretches of the campaign and the access to Radiant damage Astral Arms as opposed to Force Damage was uniquely valuable still in a setting where where fight mostly undead. That being said, this is definitely a build I'd like to revisit in the future with all the new Tasha options.
Against a target with an AC of 15 while raging you have an average dpr of 19.7 with your unarmed strikes, 25.02 at advantage (easily gained with recklace attack, with flurry of blows this becomes an adpr of 23.3 and 29.68 at Advantage. If you have a 1d8 weapon such as a +1 magic quarterstaff or spear, the 1d8 will give you 21.5 adpr and 27.19 advantage, flurry of blows: 25.35 adpr and 31.95 advantage
Magic Items: Ioun Stone of Strength (+2 Str), Ring of Regeneration, +1 Magic Shortsword
Bonuses: +1 to AC via a Quest Milestone Reward
This is a strong and flexible frontline striker/defender hybrid that is perfectly capable of fighting on the frontline with little risk even while you're not raging, you truly get the best of both overwhelming strength and agility; it's literally like playing a Barbarian but with several interesting and fun choices to make in combat in regards to how you spend your ki points. In the 6 months we've been playing, I've only been knocked unconscious once during combat this campaign and that was because we were ambushed around Lv8 and I missed the Dex save on two 4th+ level spell.
This is build was the move right here. I absolutely loved playing it and I strongly recommend it to anyone reading this thread thinking about it but you're on the fence. Especially with the new choices for Tasha's, this multiclass combo can certainly be strong at its role with a number of race and feat options. More importantly than that, I think it's the most fun melee . While you're certainly capable of rushing in without your party and surviving unlike regular Monks, you're still rewarded very highly with damage if you set it up. Remember that Rage adds +2 damage to each attack roll, so you're no longer making "a lot of smaller numbers of damage over that turn" which adds up to "quite a lot".
You're just making a lot of numbers of damage over that turn which adds up to a lot.
I once played what I called a Stronk (Barb 1/ STR monk 8 ) and it was spectacular, Rage's Damage bonus made my punches hit like freight trains, and even though I was taking quite the beating due to a strong enemy and only 15 AC, Rage Damage resistance Made the damage feel like practically nothing, so yeah, monk/barb is a strong multiclass, you could be a grapple monk pretty easily with rage, but I was never really attracted to that sort of build, but it could be quite strong.
In my opinion, monk barbarian is really cool. A lot of martial arts are very aggressive. Northern shaolin uses a lot of big aggressive moves. Fast and offensive fighting. Sounds great for a barbarian brawler.
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"We are what we repeatedy do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." - Aristotle.
The classy class clown passes cracked black brass glasses in class. (try saying that really fast.)
I ran Drunken Master Bear Totem Barbarian/Monk build on a Mountain Dwarf for a one shot. 3 into Barbarian, 7 into Monk. First three levels were Barb so saves were STR and CON and we used the Barbarian Unarmored Defense which allowed me to really beef up my character to be able to take some more hits and deal more damage. Danger Sense with high DEX character and Evasion was super useful along with Bear Totem Rage for dealing with all sorts of bad stuff.
Basically, if I needed to tank I would throw myself in the middle of a mass of mobs and Patient Defense as they all took some swings at me and smacked each other around. If I needed to do more damage I would take some reckless attacks and Flurry of Blows.
Having Stillness of Mind was really useful too since mind stats were mostly tanked anyways.
Legit one of my favorite builds. Considering using that build for a proper full campaign.
You just keep in mind RAW rage bonus damage has to be made with strength attacks, not dexterity, so you need a high strength. If that is feasible for your build then go ahead!
If you're a dex based monk however, the bonus damage from rage won't apply as long as you're using your dex bonus for attacks. Again, RAW.
I know this is old as hell but I recently wanted to play a drunk raging Fairy. I figured Barbarian with some Monk levels would be ideal. Hoping it does well
I was lvl 6 monk and 2 barb. Was thinking i wouldve gone Bear Totem subclass. But the last combat before our lvlup. My Brann (my toon) died and was ressurected by our clerc of Tedea/Ravenqueen. Sooooo roleplay wise hes now a Barbarian Zealot subclass :) I think any class that can benefit of str could benefit from a few (or even one) level of barb.
My toon has the grappler and sentinel feat. While raging, proff in ath and adv on all grapples is insane. Grapple something with adv and you dont even need your reckless attacks. Since almost all attacks hit its a minimum of 3d6+18 (for my toon then) and with a ki point 4d6+24 :) Now with Zealot a extra 1d6+2 Radiant damage. (And all attacks are magical btw).
You can't have 18 in strength with one LV barb and three monk, because to multiclass you need to have AT LEAST 13 on Dex, 13 on wis and 13 on strength... Max on those levels could be 17. Plus, the great sword is a two-handed weapon, you cannot choose that weapon with kensei path because it has the heavy quality. Also, except for races with three hands, it is impossible to use a great sword with two hands and at the same time make flurry of blows. To conclude, you have con +2 and Dex +3 so your total AC is 15 that is not good at all.
- Re-flavored Claws Attacks from Path of the Beast. (only use Claws option) - 3x Reckless Claw Attacks per turn, while Raging. +1 Bonus Action attack from Martial Arts - Optional: 2x Bonus Action Attacks with Flurry of Blows (can force the Open Hand Techniques saves or remove reactions on a Hit from these) - Optional: Self healing as Bonus Action Dodge from Step of the Wind combined with Dwarven Fortitude Feat (the Dodge also negates Reckless Attacks advantage to attackers) - Self healing as Action with Wholeness of Body
Disclaimers: - Very MAD character, so fairly dependent on those magical items to help with STR and AC. - Periapt of Wound Closure pretty helpful with self healing, and auto-stabilizing. - Would require claws to be considered magical strikes at Monk lvl 6 (Ki Empowered Strikes)
He only remembers waking up in the forest one day a few years back with unusual abilities and powers, with no recollection of his life prior. After bumbling from town to town making his way by prize fighting in the back alleys and otherwise trying to keep to himself, through an unlikely set of happenstance Logan finds his way to a school for gifted children ran by a Head Abbot Xavier. This school, known as the "Monastery of the X", is where Logans new Way began....
In my current campaign I am playing a Barbarian/Monk and I will say while I feel lacking in the damage department, with the odd mixture of abilities there are things I can do that no one else can, mainly in tanking and control.
The way that a barbarian rage works with martial arts and ki abilities are quite unique, I can grapple up to two enemies at once and still get a round of attacks on them while the only PC they can attack is me or attempt to break my grapple (They would be the first). Then when the caster decides to fireball them my hit points and resistance make sure I stay up, while the ones I'm grappling go limp.
I will mention our campaign is only now getting to the mid levels, so currently I am Barbarian 4/Monk 2. So there are things that could stagnate at higher levels but personally I am looking forward to the progression and seeing the weird thing I can do. Also I did start as Barbarian and the first Monk level was weak until I swapped to the more controlling fighting style.
Okay that's very nice but also your dm was INCREDIBLY liberal with VERY specialized magic gear AND you started with above average stats
Edit: to answer the op.. yeah I mean, it CAN be done, but only with excellent stat rolls, a dm who's liberal with magic items drops, and incredible forethought and planning. But even then, you're making a character who's not necessarily better than a pure Monk or pure Barbarian as you're sacrificing a ton from either class to get the hybrid. You're also dumping feats and asis into requirements on a class that is already MAD as hell.
it could be very strong as because the rage at first level gives +2 to attack and damage and with fury of blows that means you can have +2 to hit and attack on four attacks and then if your make your race grung then you can also add 2d4 poison damage with a constitution saving throw of 12 and then you also add +2 damage cause of rage
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Just a grung lover
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As long as you know how far into Barbarian you want to go and understand what you'll miss out on from Monk, I don't see an issue here. The monks I've played with would often jump right into the fray using Flurry of Blows, then get ganked by the enemies' counterattack. As the healer, it gave me something to do with healing word, but the one session I wasn't available he actually died.
Rage's damage resists are what you'd really want, but its damage boost can be very useful later once the party discovers a pair of gauntlets of ogre power or a belt of giant strength.
that jumping in automatically is the death of a lot of "skirmishers" in the ranks, particularly of rogues and monks. Since they go first and plenty of their players don't think about how the party is going to catch up and save them. It's a hard lesson that is only learned by experience not to do that and maybe find other things to do with your first turn of combat rather than simply rushing right in.
I will say that waiting can often set them up for things like Advantage through the optional flanking rules or other abilities, Such as the Kobolds pack Tactics. That it can make it far more optimal to do something that many of them would usually think of as sub optimal like a ranged attack or using their turn to activate magic items or other things while the tankier party members get into position to work off. Starting farther back than some of the rest of the group with their increased movement can help too because they can move and activate things and yet not be right in the face of the enemy to be surrounded and pounded on while hoping that help will arrive. A monk with advantage is a powerful thing and built right they are potentially capable of barely missing, Which results in a situation where it's a lot of smaller numbers of damage over that turn but they actually do quite a lot of damage when they choose to if they are willing to wait and set things up to suit them instead of just rushing in to try and kill everything at first sight.
I have a Variant Human Monk 6 Barb 1 now. And he always hitted on str. Where he was a houseruled bouncer from Pathfinder and AC wasnt determined by wis/dex mod. He was fine.
Now he has 18 str-14 con-14 dex and 17 wis (int and cha 8). So still a AC of 14 and alot of benefits from STR. 4 attacks with +2 damage. And where they almost always hit its a +8 damage buff. Also the damage reduction is epic.
But when you dont have the high rolled stats like i did. Your AC will be a problem.
Update: This character is now level 11 and in the final battle with Strahd.
Astral Self(UA) Monk 8/Totem Warrior Barbarian 3, this character started at lvl 2 and was allowed Dex/Con Unarmored Defense from Barb
Str: 20*, Dex: 14, Con: 16, Int: 8, Wis: 14, Cha: 9; AC: 16*, HP: 86, Feat: Durable
Now that Tasha's is out Astral Self has been published as a subclass option and it is a much stronger subclass now. My DM offered me the option to update the features, but I decided against it since we were already in the final stretches of the campaign and the access to Radiant damage Astral Arms as opposed to Force Damage was uniquely valuable still in a setting where where fight mostly undead. That being said, this is definitely a build I'd like to revisit in the future with all the new Tasha options.
Against a target with an AC of 15 while raging you have an average dpr of 19.7 with your unarmed strikes, 25.02 at advantage (easily gained with recklace attack, with flurry of blows this becomes an adpr of 23.3 and 29.68 at Advantage. If you have a 1d8 weapon such as a +1 magic quarterstaff or spear, the 1d8 will give you 21.5 adpr and 27.19 advantage, flurry of blows: 25.35 adpr and 31.95 advantage
Proficiencies: Acrobatics, Athletics, Insight, Perception, Stealth
Magic Items: Ioun Stone of Strength (+2 Str), Ring of Regeneration, +1 Magic Shortsword
Bonuses: +1 to AC via a Quest Milestone Reward
This is a strong and flexible frontline striker/defender hybrid that is perfectly capable of fighting on the frontline with little risk even while you're not raging, you truly get the best of both overwhelming strength and agility; it's literally like playing a Barbarian but with several interesting and fun choices to make in combat in regards to how you spend your ki points. In the 6 months we've been playing, I've only been knocked unconscious once during combat this campaign and that was because we were ambushed around Lv8
and I missed the Dex save on two 4th+ level spell.This is build was the move right here. I absolutely loved playing it and I strongly recommend it to anyone reading this thread thinking about it but you're on the fence. Especially with the new choices for Tasha's, this multiclass combo can certainly be strong at its role with a number of race and feat options. More importantly than that, I think it's the most fun melee . While you're certainly capable of rushing in without your party and surviving unlike regular Monks, you're still rewarded very highly with damage if you set it up. Remember that Rage adds +2 damage to each attack roll, so you're no longer making "a lot of smaller numbers of damage over that turn" which adds up to "quite a lot".
You're just making a lot of numbers of damage over that turn which adds up to a lot.
I'm just about to start a barb/monk grappler at 3rd level; starting with 1 Barbarian, then Monk X. Wish me luck!
VHuman (+1 Str, +1 Con, Feat:Skill Expert for +1 Str, expertise in Athletics), point buy: Str 15+2 Dex 14 Con 13+1 Int 8 Wis 13 Cha 9. HP28, AC14
Athletics starts off at +7, rage gives advantage on athletics checks; so fingers crossed, grappling should work most of the time.
I once played what I called a Stronk (Barb 1/ STR monk 8 ) and it was spectacular, Rage's Damage bonus made my punches hit like freight trains, and even though I was taking quite the beating due to a strong enemy and only 15 AC, Rage Damage resistance Made the damage feel like practically nothing, so yeah, monk/barb is a strong multiclass, you could be a grapple monk pretty easily with rage, but I was never really attracted to that sort of build, but it could be quite strong.
Mystic v3 should be official, nuff said.
In my opinion, monk barbarian is really cool. A lot of martial arts are very aggressive. Northern shaolin uses a lot of big aggressive moves. Fast and offensive fighting. Sounds great for a barbarian brawler.
"We are what we repeatedy do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." - Aristotle.
The classy class clown passes cracked black brass glasses in class.
(try saying that really fast.)
I ran Drunken Master Bear Totem Barbarian/Monk build on a Mountain Dwarf for a one shot. 3 into Barbarian, 7 into Monk. First three levels were Barb so saves were STR and CON and we used the Barbarian Unarmored Defense which allowed me to really beef up my character to be able to take some more hits and deal more damage. Danger Sense with high DEX character and Evasion was super useful along with Bear Totem Rage for dealing with all sorts of bad stuff.
Basically, if I needed to tank I would throw myself in the middle of a mass of mobs and Patient Defense as they all took some swings at me and smacked each other around. If I needed to do more damage I would take some reckless attacks and Flurry of Blows.
Having Stillness of Mind was really useful too since mind stats were mostly tanked anyways.
Legit one of my favorite builds. Considering using that build for a proper full campaign.
You just keep in mind RAW rage bonus damage has to be made with strength attacks, not dexterity, so you need a high strength. If that is feasible for your build then go ahead!
If you're a dex based monk however, the bonus damage from rage won't apply as long as you're using your dex bonus for attacks. Again, RAW.
I know this is old as hell but I recently wanted to play a drunk raging Fairy. I figured Barbarian with some Monk levels would be ideal. Hoping it does well
I was lvl 6 monk and 2 barb. Was thinking i wouldve gone Bear Totem subclass. But the last combat before our lvlup. My Brann (my toon) died and was ressurected by our clerc of Tedea/Ravenqueen. Sooooo roleplay wise hes now a Barbarian Zealot subclass :)
I think any class that can benefit of str could benefit from a few (or even one) level of barb.
My toon has the grappler and sentinel feat. While raging, proff in ath and adv on all grapples is insane. Grapple something with adv and you dont even need your reckless attacks. Since almost all attacks hit its a minimum of 3d6+18 (for my toon then) and with a ki point 4d6+24 :) Now with Zealot a extra 1d6+2 Radiant damage. (And all attacks are magical btw).
You can't have 18 in strength with one LV barb and three monk, because to multiclass you need to have AT LEAST 13 on Dex, 13 on wis and 13 on strength... Max on those levels could be 17. Plus, the great sword is a two-handed weapon, you cannot choose that weapon with kensei path because it has the heavy quality. Also, except for races with three hands, it is impossible to use a great sword with two hands and at the same time make flurry of blows. To conclude, you have con +2 and Dex +3 so your total AC is 15 that is not good at all.
Wolverine in 5e:
https://ddb.ac/characters/23742372/eCVzQs
- Re-flavored Claws Attacks from Path of the Beast. (only use Claws option)
- 3x Reckless Claw Attacks per turn, while Raging. +1 Bonus Action attack from Martial Arts
- Optional: 2x Bonus Action Attacks with Flurry of Blows (can force the Open Hand Techniques saves or remove reactions on a Hit from these)
- Optional: Self healing as Bonus Action Dodge from Step of the Wind combined with Dwarven Fortitude Feat (the Dodge also negates Reckless Attacks advantage to attackers)
- Self healing as Action with Wholeness of Body
Disclaimers:
- Very MAD character, so fairly dependent on those magical items to help with STR and AC.
- Periapt of Wound Closure pretty helpful with self healing, and auto-stabilizing.
- Would require claws to be considered magical strikes at Monk lvl 6 (Ki Empowered Strikes)
He only remembers waking up in the forest one day a few years back with unusual abilities and powers, with no recollection of his life prior. After bumbling from town to town making his way by prize fighting in the back alleys and otherwise trying to keep to himself, through an unlikely set of happenstance Logan finds his way to a school for gifted children ran by a Head Abbot Xavier. This school, known as the "Monastery of the X", is where Logans new Way began....
you get to choose which one to use though.
Okay that's very nice but also your dm was INCREDIBLY liberal with VERY specialized magic gear AND you started with above average stats
Edit: to answer the op.. yeah I mean, it CAN be done, but only with excellent stat rolls, a dm who's liberal with magic items drops, and incredible forethought and planning. But even then, you're making a character who's not necessarily better than a pure Monk or pure Barbarian as you're sacrificing a ton from either class to get the hybrid. You're also dumping feats and asis into requirements on a class that is already MAD as hell.
I would start with Fighting Initiate Unarmed Fighting to deal 1d8 from the get go.
I’m Open hand monk 6
Path of the zealot Barbarian 3 (wanted Bear totem but roleplay decided differently).
Rune fighter 3 (dm said i could activate the runes with my unarmed attacks).
Probably go rest monk. More ki points. Maybe one level in Barbarian for a ability increase but I rolled high so it isn’t a priority.
I love kensei , glad your multiclass is going well.
it could be very strong as because the rage at first level gives +2 to attack and damage and with fury of blows that means you can have +2 to hit and attack on four attacks and then if your make your race grung then you can also add 2d4 poison damage with a constitution saving throw of 12 and then you also add +2 damage cause of rage
Just a grung lover