I'm thinking of adding some of the Battle Master Maneuvers in the list of Shura techniques and changing the Battle Master Maneuvers die to the monk's martial die. It is exaggerated?
Shura Techniques
With your control of the hidden meridian points at 6th level, you can manipulate your enemy’s ki when you harness your own. Choose one of the following options and whenever you hit a creature with one of the attacks granted by your Flurry of Blows, with the use of another ki you can impose one of the following effects choose on the target. At 11th, 17th and at 20th level you can choose another one of the Shura techniques.
It must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or be blind until the end of your next turn. (ex: fingers in the eyes)
It must succeed on a Charisma saving throw or not be able to move, swimming or fly until the end of your next turn. (ex: the nerves are damaged)
It must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or suffer internal bleeding and take damage equal to one dice of your martial art. It must repeat the saving throw at the start of each of its turns. On each successive failed save, the damage of internal bleeding increases of a martial dice. After three turns the internal bleeding ends.
It must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or not being able to speak until the end of your next turn. (ex: blow to the throat)
It must succeed on a Strength saving throw or be pushed up to 15 feet away from you and fall prone.
It must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or be confused by your feint and be at a disadvantage in attacking until the end of your next turn.
Commander's Strike
When you take the Attack action on your turn, you can forgo one of your attacks and use a bonus action to direct one of your companions to strike. When you do so, choose a friendly creature who can see or hear you and expend one superiority die. That creature can immediately use its reaction to make one weapon attack, adding the superiority die to the attack's damage roll.
Disarming Attack
When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can expend one superiority die to attempt to disarm the target, forcing it to drop one item of your choice that it's holding. You add the superiority die to the attack's damage roll, and the target must make a Strength saving throw. On a failed save, it drops the object you choose. The object lands at its feet.
Distracting Strike
When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can expend one superiority die to distract the creature, giving your allies an opening. You add the superiority die to the attack's damage roll. The next attack roll against the target by an attacker other than you has advantage if the attack is made before the start of your next turn.
Evasive Footwork
When you move, you can expend one superiority die, rolling the die and adding the number rolled to your AC until you stop moving.
Feinting Attack
You can expend one superiority die and use a bonus action on your turn to feint, choosing one creature within 5 feet of you as your target. You have advantage on your next attack roll against that creature before the end of your turn. If that attack hits, add the superiority die to the attack's damage roll.
Goading Attack
When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can expend one superiority die to attempt to goad the target into attacking you. You add the superiority die to the attack's damage roll, and the target must make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, the target has disadvantage on all attack rolls against targets other than you until the end of your next turn.
Lunging Attack
When you make a melee weapon attack on your turn, you can expend one superiority die to increase your reach for that attack by 5 feet. If you hit, you add the superiority die to the attack's damage roll.
Maneuvering Attack
When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can expend one superiority die to maneuver one of your comrades into a more advantageous position. You add the superiority die to the attack's damage roll, and you choose a friendly creature who can see or hear you. That creature can use its reaction to move up to half its speed without provoking opportunity attacks from the target of your attack.
Menacing Attack
When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can expend one superiority die to attempt to frighten the target. You add the superiority die to the attack's damage roll, and the target must make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, it is frightened of you until the end of your next turn.
Parry
When another creature damages you with a melee attack, you can use your reaction and expend one superiority die to reduce the damage by the number you roll on your superiority die + your Dexterity modifier.
Precision Attack
When you make a weapon attack roll against a creature, you can expend one superiority die to add it to the roll. You can use this maneuver before or after making the attack roll, but before any effects of the attack are applied.
Pushing Attack
When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can expend one superiority die to attempt to drive the target back. You add the superiority die to the attack's damage roll, and if the target is Large or smaller, it must make a Strength saving throw. On a failed save, you push the target up to 15 feet away from you.
Rally
On your turn, you can use a bonus action and expend one superiority die to bolster the resolve of one of your companions. When you do so, choose a friendly creature who can see or hear you. That creature gains temporary hit points equal to the superiority die roll + your Charisma modifier.
Riposte
When a creature misses you with a melee attack, you can use your reaction and expend one superiority die to make a melee weapon attack against the creature. If you hit, you add the superiority die to the attack's damage roll.
Sweeping Attack
When you hit a creature with a melee weapon attack, you can expend one superiority die to attempt to damage another creature with the same attack. Choose another creature within 5 feet of the original target and within your reach. If the original attack roll would hit the second creature, it takes damage equal to the number you roll on your superiority die. The damage is of the same type dealt by the original attack.
Trip Attack
When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can expend one superiority die to attempt to knock the target down. You add the superiority die to the attack's damage roll, and if the target is Large or smaller, it must make a Strength saving throw. On a failed save, you knock the target prone.
In certain combats with certain Subclasses and builds, absolutely. In some cases, absolutely not.
For example, in a combat VS say a group of city guards or similar with bandits and thugs with a drunken master monk, at level 5. You have 2 attacks as an action, and you can spend 1 of 5 Ki points to use flurry of blows for 2 unarmed attacks. For each of these attacks if you hit, you can if you choose, to spend another ki to force them to make a save or become stunned until the end of your NEXT turn. In addition, because you used flurry of blows, you can disengage for free without an AoO from anybody that wasnt stunned and you gain 10 feet of movement. at level 9, you can run up walls and on water. In theory, if you dash, and at that level, you can go faster than any boat in existence. A group of high level Triton Monk pirates would be brutal to face in sea combat lol.
On the flip side, I recently fought a mimic with a monk, melee attacks dont work so good against them. It really just depends on what youre facing, how you built it, how you play it and how your DM reacts, but when played right, they can be frustrating for any DM.
Very often the monk's abilities are based on situation ... the other classes cannot follow the monk's actions and therefore the DM avoids creating this type of situation ... (or maybe the DM hates me)! The stunned attack consumes ki and has a low probability of functioning. The ki at low levels is rare like gold, and in my case I have to use it sparingly because the DM puts us in situations where there is never time to make even a short rest. So I prefer to save ki points for a more difficult enemy. All this leads me to be envious of the Rogue and his infinite sneak attacks, his innate ability to slip away from the opponent freely (without speaking of the subclass Swashbuckler) ... Swashbuckler + 1 warrior level is absolutely OP. It has two attacks, so he has 2 chances per turn to sneak attack the enemy and also increases the chance to crit + sneak attack. In my opinion the 5th Rogue is badly done and the Swashbuckler subclass is an anti-game.
The hidden joy in playing a monk is the fear in your dm's eyes when he asks for an acrobatics/athletics skill check to do the absurd thing you just described to him, that you have no buisness pulling off but probably will.
If you have no business pulling it off, your DM is not obligated to allow you to roll at all.
If your DM is allowing you to use Acrobatics in place of Athletics, that's a homebrew choice that has nothing to do with the rules as written. If your group plays by the rules, your monk isn't wowing anyone with Athletics.
Monks are wildly OP simply in the fact that they have so many more choices than anyone else. It's a flaw in 5e. It's based on the concept of 6-8 encounters before a long rest but that hardly ever happens. Lucky feat is based on same concept. If you have 1-2 encounters per session and you have 3 disadvantages you can impose or 3 advantages you can have or possibly a super advantage (from a disadvantage), the feat will have an undo influence. Same with Monks. Too many KI points. Too many choices.
I have a 6th level Tabaxi Monk. He can run normally 45. With feline agility he can run up to 90 or up to 270. He can deflect missiles (no KI cost). He can attack up to 4 times with flurry of blows gain a disengage and get away from front lines (while deflecting missiles). Or he can stay and do a patient defense and gain disadvantage on attacks against him. No one can come close to the options of a monk. The monks ability to survive is far greater than anyone else. That's not what you want as a GM in a tough campaign. You don't want to see everyone around the monk die because they don't have even remotely the same abilities as a monk does.
His weaknesses? Lower AC, but that really isn't the case since the higher ACs require either magic armor or heavy armor, so he's in line with everyone else. It forces me as the GM to focus on him or ignore him (with intelligent creatures) and that's a position I don't like to be in. I roll random for whom an enemy attacks but I can't with a monk (at least the drunken master sub class, which I believe should be moved back to UA and out of Xanathars)
Tragically, Monks aren't great at athletics/acrobatics checks. In fact, they're sorta shit at them. Barbarians, Rogues, and Bards are better at those things.
Tragically, Monks aren't great at athletics/acrobatics checks. In fact, they're sorta shit at them. Barbarians, Rogues, and Bards are better at those things.
Monks are frequently fairly decent at acrobatics, as they typically have dex as their primary stat and most melee will be proficient in the one they have a better stat for just so they can escape grapples. Doesn't change the fact that a raging barbarian using athletics or a rogue with expertise will be better, but they're still pretty good at them. Combine this with their abilities that let them avoid rolling for some stunts and they come out comparable.
Monks gain the most from having high ability scores, but lose the most from having them low. If you manage to bring all Wis, Con and Dex to 20 at some point, you'll be extremely powerful; but you won't have the option to do so very often. That's also why, IMO, a hill dwarf will, on average, be a better monk than a wood elf. Sure, you move less, but the dwarven toughness and +2 con mean you can even put a 12 on con and get away with it. It is worse for good ability scores, good for lower ones or point-buy (unless you point buy to 8 15 15 8 15 8 but that's obviously a different case).
Agile parry is a really bad feat I don’t think anyone should factor into AC calculations.
yea because a free +2 ac that costs you nothing is bad...
It does cost you a lot! You have to give up a weapon attack for an unarmed strike. This is one of the reasons I dislike the Way of the Kensai. Their abilities constantly compete with other things.
You want a magic weapon with + elemental damage so you can deal effective damage? Ok but you’re ki power up only works on nonmagic weapons and you have to give up an attack for your measly unarmed strike if you want the AC.
They should’ve just given you +2 AC period while wielding a melee kensai weapon. It would effectively let you have a free shield which isn’t overpowered due to monks having lower ac to start and other “shield” users can get magic shields for better AC.
Their ability to add unarmed dice to damage should’ve been like a mini smite able to deal more damage the more ki you spend. That or it deals double your unarmed strike damage. As it stands it’s pathetic the amount of damage it adds when you could be doing stunning strike.
Also great breakdown Fateless! I will say the sun soul monk gets bonus points for having an effective ranged option, but I agree shadow monk is the best.
Oh, darn, Way of the Kensei makes you choose between making a weapon attack or using it as a shield. At 5th level, you can still make one attack with a longsword and add +2 to your parry. And you still have your bonus action. At 6th level you can spend a ki point to roll 1d10+1d6+Dex. At 11th level you can spend ki points to add bonuses to hit and damage so long as the weapon doesn't already have one. Would you like to know about some magic weapons that don't?
And if you get a weapon with a bonus to hit and damage, you can just save those ki points for something else. All your weapons become magical at 6th-level anyway, which is a buff compared to most monks who then give up versatile 1d8 weapons for unarmed strikes.
Ki points are a resource the class makes you choose to use however you want. Sometimes decision paralysis kicks in, and that sucks, but it's not bad. Choices can be empowering. For crying out loud, if I wanted to I could use Agile Parry and spend up to three ki points in one turn for Deft Strike, Stunning Strike, and Patient Defense. And you only have to spend those ki points for the first two when you hit, so you're not wasting them on a miss.
Monks shine until level 5, just due to number of attacks. But they do trade hit points, ac, and access to magic weapons/armor for that. And from level 5 on, they can start to feel perpetually behind their martial counterparts.
You utter a word of power that can compel one creature you can see within range to die instantly. If the creature you choose has 100 hit points or fewer, it dies. Otherwise, the spell has no effect.
I do not think the monk is OP. I do think it has a strong class identity though, even if that identity is problematic. It's deeply rooted in poorly understood wuxia tropes, and its subclasses don't do enough to differentiate them from each other. You're just getting more and more flavors of wuxia. What about Afro-Brazilian capoeira, French savate, Greek pankration, or Russian sambo? Yes, we could do that with reskinning features and skills.
Rather than wuxia, they were inspired by real Buddhist monks and the Taoist religion, derived precisely from Buddhism and originally from Hinduism. Even the feature names were inspired by the Taoism-Chinese tradition. These religions have a strong connection to martial arts and to the perfection of body and spirit. Buddhists want to become Buddhas and thus free themselves from the constraints of the reincarnation karma and ascend the divine. Daoists follow the same principle, the attainment of perfection in different Dao and martial arts is one of these 3,000 Dao to achieve immortality.
Only due to political frictions, DnD feels compelled to eliminate the cultural origin of the various classes, especially the Asian (Chinese) class. (mere conjecture)
But I find that in this 5e of DnD, they have not put much effort into the design of the monk, in fact it seems that they have done it badly on purpose.
The monk's martial arts are laughable compared to the fighter's maneuvers.
A battle master with the Unarmed Fighting style is definitely a better martial arts master than the monk.
This leads me to think that we are being prepared to accept that the monk will become more of a subclass of the fighter. (mere speculation)
The solution is to create a class inspired more on video game characters, but trying to eliminate any concept of Asian culture ???? Difficult.
D&D isn't exactly known for being well researched or respecting its inspirations. Barbarian is vapid and offensive. Bards and druids aren't anything like their Celtic forebears. Several iconic monk features are lifted whole cloth from Hong Kong action films. And wuxia itself isn't even given a sidebar in the DMG, and I shouldn't have to remind anyone of the problems with literally every iteration of Oriental Adventures.
Monks are a class that need significant hand-holding half the time. More than most martials, they need a dedicated healer and a dedicated tank, since most Monks are not good at either one, but are also not good at ranged attacks. If they have consistent healing and have other people tanking damage for them, then they can be decent until after 10th level.
The open hand subclass does, at level 17. Even if the target passes they take 10d10 necrotic damage.
But that is crazy late in a campaign, and no other subclass gets anything nearly so good.
I found in practice quivering palm not to be as good as you think. It takes two rounds in the first round you spend 4 ki after a hit to set it up. The subsequanrtly you use your action to force the save.
So who do you use it on? You don't use it on MOBs as they will be dead before you get a chance to use it and pretty much the major enemies at this evel have legendary saves. So you either use it fairly early so you can activate it as soon as they use their final legendary save (only to find the party struggle to force the monster to use them and the creature ends up being killed due to lack of HP rather than running out of saves. Or your use it late and find they still die before you have a chance to use it as it is still killed before the two rounds pass.
I am not saying I never used it but it was more frequent to spend the ki points to set it up and not have a chance to activate it than it producing the desired effect. Con saves are also very difficult ot get through I can remember if I have ever had a fail.
10d10 on a failed save is OK but not massive On a standard round If I flurry of blows and hit 4 times I would do similar damage and while not guaranteed I was hitting most of the time. Partially because of the level 18 feature.
I actually think the most powerful monk features are diamond ould and empty body.
A lot if it depends on DM style and house rules. I know DMs that keep use of legendary resistance secret (if you stunning strike you get told the monster is not stunned without knowing whether he made the save or failed and burnt a legendary resistance. With that style of DMing the power of quivering palm is significantly reduced. On the other hand My DM homebrewed magical handwraps in tier 2 they were +1 byut by level 20 they were defender handwraps so
the damage I could do when not doing quivering palm was higher than with no magic items, especially if I was invisible (it takes an action but often if the enemy were surprised I would be allowed to do empty body just before we rolled initiative.
I have played with a mercy monk and the ability to raise NPCs from the dead (at no cost) curried a great amount of favor. I woud put that as at least as good as quivering palm.
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I'm thinking of adding some of the Battle Master Maneuvers in the list of Shura techniques and changing the Battle Master Maneuvers die to the monk's martial die.It is exaggerated?
Shura Techniques
With your control of the hidden meridian points at 6th level, you can manipulate your enemy’s ki when you harness your own. Choose one of the following options and whenever you hit a creature with one of the attacks granted by your Flurry of Blows, with the use of another ki you can impose one of the following effects choose on the target. At 11th, 17th and at 20th level you can choose another one of the Shura techniques.
Commander's Strike
When you take the Attack action on your turn, you can forgo one of your attacks and use a bonus action to direct one of your companions to strike. When you do so, choose a friendly creature who can see or hear you and expend one superiority die. That creature can immediately use its reaction to make one weapon attack, adding the superiority die to the attack's damage roll.
Disarming Attack
When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can expend one superiority die to attempt to disarm the target, forcing it to drop one item of your choice that it's holding. You add the superiority die to the attack's damage roll, and the target must make a Strength saving throw. On a failed save, it drops the object you choose. The object lands at its feet.
Distracting Strike
When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can expend one superiority die to distract the creature, giving your allies an opening. You add the superiority die to the attack's damage roll. The next attack roll against the target by an attacker other than you has advantage if the attack is made before the start of your next turn.
Evasive Footwork
When you move, you can expend one superiority die, rolling the die and adding the number rolled to your AC until you stop moving.
Feinting Attack
You can expend one superiority die and use a bonus action on your turn to feint, choosing one creature within 5 feet of you as your target. You have advantage on your next attack roll against that creature before the end of your turn. If that attack hits, add the superiority die to the attack's damage roll.
Goading Attack
When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can expend one superiority die to attempt to goad the target into attacking you. You add the superiority die to the attack's damage roll, and the target must make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, the target has disadvantage on all attack rolls against targets other than you until the end of your next turn.
Lunging Attack
When you make a melee weapon attack on your turn, you can expend one superiority die to increase your reach for that attack by 5 feet. If you hit, you add the superiority die to the attack's damage roll.
Maneuvering Attack
When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can expend one superiority die to maneuver one of your comrades into a more advantageous position. You add the superiority die to the attack's damage roll, and you choose a friendly creature who can see or hear you. That creature can use its reaction to move up to half its speed without provoking opportunity attacks from the target of your attack.
Menacing Attack
When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can expend one superiority die to attempt to frighten the target. You add the superiority die to the attack's damage roll, and the target must make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, it is frightened of you until the end of your next turn.
Parry
When another creature damages you with a melee attack, you can use your reaction and expend one superiority die to reduce the damage by the number you roll on your superiority die + your Dexterity modifier.
Precision Attack
When you make a weapon attack roll against a creature, you can expend one superiority die to add it to the roll. You can use this maneuver before or after making the attack roll, but before any effects of the attack are applied.
Pushing Attack
When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can expend one superiority die to attempt to drive the target back. You add the superiority die to the attack's damage roll, and if the target is Large or smaller, it must make a Strength saving throw. On a failed save, you push the target up to 15 feet away from you.
Rally
On your turn, you can use a bonus action and expend one superiority die to bolster the resolve of one of your companions. When you do so, choose a friendly creature who can see or hear you. That creature gains temporary hit points equal to the superiority die roll + your Charisma modifier.
Riposte
When a creature misses you with a melee attack, you can use your reaction and expend one superiority die to make a melee weapon attack against the creature. If you hit, you add the superiority die to the attack's damage roll.
Sweeping Attack
When you hit a creature with a melee weapon attack, you can expend one superiority die to attempt to damage another creature with the same attack. Choose another creature within 5 feet of the original target and within your reach. If the original attack roll would hit the second creature, it takes damage equal to the number you roll on your superiority die. The damage is of the same type dealt by the original attack.
Trip Attack
When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can expend one superiority die to attempt to knock the target down. You add the superiority die to the attack's damage roll, and if the target is Large or smaller, it must make a Strength saving throw. On a failed save, you knock the target prone.
In certain combats with certain Subclasses and builds, absolutely. In some cases, absolutely not.
For example, in a combat VS say a group of city guards or similar with bandits and thugs with a drunken master monk, at level 5. You have 2 attacks as an action, and you can spend 1 of 5 Ki points to use flurry of blows for 2 unarmed attacks. For each of these attacks if you hit, you can if you choose, to spend another ki to force them to make a save or become stunned until the end of your NEXT turn. In addition, because you used flurry of blows, you can disengage for free without an AoO from anybody that wasnt stunned and you gain 10 feet of movement. at level 9, you can run up walls and on water. In theory, if you dash, and at that level, you can go faster than any boat in existence. A group of high level Triton Monk pirates would be brutal to face in sea combat lol.
On the flip side, I recently fought a mimic with a monk, melee attacks dont work so good against them. It really just depends on what youre facing, how you built it, how you play it and how your DM reacts, but when played right, they can be frustrating for any DM.
Very often the monk's abilities are based on situation ... the other classes cannot follow the monk's actions and therefore the DM avoids creating this type of situation ... (or maybe the DM hates me)! The stunned attack consumes ki and has a low probability of functioning. The ki at low levels is rare like gold, and in my case I have to use it sparingly because the DM puts us in situations where there is never time to make even a short rest. So I prefer to save ki points for a more difficult enemy. All this leads me to be envious of the Rogue and his infinite sneak attacks, his innate ability to slip away from the opponent freely (without speaking of the subclass Swashbuckler) ... Swashbuckler + 1 warrior level is absolutely OP. It has two attacks, so he has 2 chances per turn to sneak attack the enemy and also increases the chance to crit + sneak attack. In my opinion the 5th Rogue is badly done and the Swashbuckler subclass is an anti-game.
new subclass:
https://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Way_of_the_Murim_(5e_Subclass)
If you have no business pulling it off, your DM is not obligated to allow you to roll at all.
If your DM is allowing you to use Acrobatics in place of Athletics, that's a homebrew choice that has nothing to do with the rules as written. If your group plays by the rules, your monk isn't wowing anyone with Athletics.
Monks are wildly OP simply in the fact that they have so many more choices than anyone else. It's a flaw in 5e. It's based on the concept of 6-8 encounters before a long rest but that hardly ever happens. Lucky feat is based on same concept. If you have 1-2 encounters per session and you have 3 disadvantages you can impose or 3 advantages you can have or possibly a super advantage (from a disadvantage), the feat will have an undo influence. Same with Monks. Too many KI points. Too many choices.
I have a 6th level Tabaxi Monk. He can run normally 45. With feline agility he can run up to 90 or up to 270. He can deflect missiles (no KI cost). He can attack up to 4 times with flurry of blows gain a disengage and get away from front lines (while deflecting missiles). Or he can stay and do a patient defense and gain disadvantage on attacks against him. No one can come close to the options of a monk. The monks ability to survive is far greater than anyone else. That's not what you want as a GM in a tough campaign. You don't want to see everyone around the monk die because they don't have even remotely the same abilities as a monk does.
His weaknesses? Lower AC, but that really isn't the case since the higher ACs require either magic armor or heavy armor, so he's in line with everyone else. It forces me as the GM to focus on him or ignore him (with intelligent creatures) and that's a position I don't like to be in. I roll random for whom an enemy attacks but I can't with a monk (at least the drunken master sub class, which I believe should be moved back to UA and out of Xanathars)
Tragically, Monks aren't great at athletics/acrobatics checks. In fact, they're sorta shit at them. Barbarians, Rogues, and Bards are better at those things.
Monks are frequently fairly decent at acrobatics, as they typically have dex as their primary stat and most melee will be proficient in the one they have a better stat for just so they can escape grapples. Doesn't change the fact that a raging barbarian using athletics or a rogue with expertise will be better, but they're still pretty good at them. Combine this with their abilities that let them avoid rolling for some stunts and they come out comparable.
If a Monk is OP a Warlock is god.
Monks gain the most from having high ability scores, but lose the most from having them low. If you manage to bring all Wis, Con and Dex to 20 at some point, you'll be extremely powerful; but you won't have the option to do so very often.
That's also why, IMO, a hill dwarf will, on average, be a better monk than a wood elf. Sure, you move less, but the dwarven toughness and +2 con mean you can even put a 12 on con and get away with it. It is worse for good ability scores, good for lower ones or point-buy (unless you point buy to 8 15 15 8 15 8 but that's obviously a different case).
Varielky
Oh, darn, Way of the Kensei makes you choose between making a weapon attack or using it as a shield. At 5th level, you can still make one attack with a longsword and add +2 to your parry. And you still have your bonus action. At 6th level you can spend a ki point to roll 1d10+1d6+Dex. At 11th level you can spend ki points to add bonuses to hit and damage so long as the weapon doesn't already have one. Would you like to know about some magic weapons that don't?
And if you get a weapon with a bonus to hit and damage, you can just save those ki points for something else. All your weapons become magical at 6th-level anyway, which is a buff compared to most monks who then give up versatile 1d8 weapons for unarmed strikes.
Ki points are a resource the class makes you choose to use however you want. Sometimes decision paralysis kicks in, and that sucks, but it's not bad. Choices can be empowering. For crying out loud, if I wanted to I could use Agile Parry and spend up to three ki points in one turn for Deft Strike, Stunning Strike, and Patient Defense. And you only have to spend those ki points for the first two when you hit, so you're not wasting them on a miss.
Monks shine until level 5, just due to number of attacks. But they do trade hit points, ac, and access to magic weapons/armor for that. And from level 5 on, they can start to feel perpetually behind their martial counterparts.
guys doesnt monks have something that makes them kill instantly on a failed saving throw?
The open hand subclass does, at level 17. Even if the target passes they take 10d10 necrotic damage.
But that is crazy late in a campaign, and no other subclass gets anything nearly so good.
Power Word Kill
You utter a word of power that can compel one creature you can see within range to die instantly. If the creature you choose has 100 hit points or fewer, it dies. Otherwise, the spell has no effect.
I do not think the monk is OP. I do think it has a strong class identity though, even if that identity is problematic. It's deeply rooted in poorly understood wuxia tropes, and its subclasses don't do enough to differentiate them from each other. You're just getting more and more flavors of wuxia. What about Afro-Brazilian capoeira, French savate, Greek pankration, or Russian sambo? Yes, we could do that with reskinning features and skills.
But we shouldn't have to.
Rather than wuxia, they were inspired by real Buddhist monks and the Taoist religion, derived precisely from Buddhism and originally from Hinduism. Even the feature names were inspired by the Taoism-Chinese tradition. These religions have a strong connection to martial arts and to the perfection of body and spirit. Buddhists want to become Buddhas and thus free themselves from the constraints of the reincarnation karma and ascend the divine. Daoists follow the same principle, the attainment of perfection in different Dao and martial arts is one of these 3,000 Dao to achieve immortality.
Only due to political frictions, DnD feels compelled to eliminate the cultural origin of the various classes, especially the Asian (Chinese) class. (mere conjecture)
But I find that in this 5e of DnD, they have not put much effort into the design of the monk, in fact it seems that they have done it badly on purpose.
The monk's martial arts are laughable compared to the fighter's maneuvers.
A battle master with the Unarmed Fighting style is definitely a better martial arts master than the monk.
This leads me to think that we are being prepared to accept that the monk will become more of a subclass of the fighter. (mere speculation)
The solution is to create a class inspired more on video game characters, but trying to eliminate any concept of Asian culture ???? Difficult.
Perhaps one could be inspired by the Jedi!!!
D&D isn't exactly known for being well researched or respecting its inspirations. Barbarian is vapid and offensive. Bards and druids aren't anything like their Celtic forebears. Several iconic monk features are lifted whole cloth from Hong Kong action films. And wuxia itself isn't even given a sidebar in the DMG, and I shouldn't have to remind anyone of the problems with literally every iteration of Oriental Adventures.
they are only op if you dont know how to play the game as a dm. otherwise underpowered compared to other martials.
Monks are a class that need significant hand-holding half the time. More than most martials, they need a dedicated healer and a dedicated tank, since most Monks are not good at either one, but are also not good at ranged attacks. If they have consistent healing and have other people tanking damage for them, then they can be decent until after 10th level.
I found in practice quivering palm not to be as good as you think. It takes two rounds in the first round you spend 4 ki after a hit to set it up. The subsequanrtly you use your action to force the save.
So who do you use it on? You don't use it on MOBs as they will be dead before you get a chance to use it and pretty much the major enemies at this evel have legendary saves. So you either use it fairly early so you can activate it as soon as they use their final legendary save (only to find the party struggle to force the monster to use them and the creature ends up being killed due to lack of HP rather than running out of saves. Or your use it late and find they still die before you have a chance to use it as it is still killed before the two rounds pass.
I am not saying I never used it but it was more frequent to spend the ki points to set it up and not have a chance to activate it than it producing the desired effect. Con saves are also very difficult ot get through I can remember if I have ever had a fail.
10d10 on a failed save is OK but not massive On a standard round If I flurry of blows and hit 4 times I would do similar damage and while not guaranteed I was hitting most of the time. Partially because of the level 18 feature.
I actually think the most powerful monk features are diamond ould and empty body.
A lot if it depends on DM style and house rules. I know DMs that keep use of legendary resistance secret (if you stunning strike you get told the monster is not stunned without knowing whether he made the save or failed and burnt a legendary resistance. With that style of DMing the power of quivering palm is significantly reduced. On the other hand My DM homebrewed magical handwraps in tier 2 they were +1 byut by level 20 they were defender handwraps so
the damage I could do when not doing quivering palm was higher than with no magic items, especially if I was invisible (it takes an action but often if the enemy were surprised I would be allowed to do empty body just before we rolled initiative.
I have played with a mercy monk and the ability to raise NPCs from the dead (at no cost) curried a great amount of favor. I woud put that as at least as good as quivering palm.