I've had an idea for a character I really like, a light-hearted character, who doesn't really use weapons except maybe a staff.
I'm thinking a Kitsune-type race, for looks anyway, building off the Satyr Race (Mechanics seem perfect aside from Raming attack).
Probably Entertainer background, and as I said I like the idea of them being very light-hearted and happy.
I don't really want them to seem offensive, so no weapons or armor except maybe a staff, so that's where Monk comes in. Up until Tasha's I was thinking Sun Soul. Although I find the Mercy and Astral ones quite intriguing as well now. I like the Druid aspect, as I like to have some spells to cast, and the Wildfire one thematically feels like a good fit. I was also hoping to take the new Fey Touched Feat to get access to Misty Step for some 'porting fun. So I was thinking about someone, who if faced with fighting can get in and out with some quick hitting.I like the idea of them changing to a beast form (fox, obvi) and just frolicking around on downtime/ RP...
Anyone have any thoughts on this mechanically? Or story wise? Does this sound feasible? And if so, what subclasses might be best? I have only played a Monk (Drunken master) for 2 sessions before and no Druids... but the stats seem to be fine...? Please let me know any ideas or thoughts you have!
Unless I'm missing something important, you'll get all the fun Monk stuff while running around as a bear (or whatever else). Unarmored Defense while a bear! Stunning strike while a bear! Furry of blows (get it?) as a bear!
The question is, how much monk is worth it? The answer to that is a bit dependent on how high your game will go.
You get a bonus action attack. Also, your AC equals 10 + Dex (of the bear) + wisdom (your wisdom). You couldn't add natural armor though. This means if you have 16 wisdom, your brown bear druid/monk has an AC of 13 instead of 11. Fast forward, your Fire Elemental shape will have 3 (elemental's dex) + 5 (your wisdom) + 10. 18 AC elemental!
Ki for Patient Defense, Step of the wind, and Flurry of blows. You also get +10 to your unarmored movement.
You get a subclass. None of them super stand out. Way of the Open Hand and Way of Mercy stand out to me as good options. I like Mercy because your silly bear could put out a little healing. I love the idea of a bear running up to a wizard and hitting it to heal it. Open hand would give your silly bear a little battlefield control.
ASI and slow fall. Meh
Extra attack (meh) and stunning strike (yay).
Subclass feature.
I wouldn't go any higher than that with your druid/monk. Honestly, I think you get a lot of benefit from just that first level. The trouble with ki is you either need a lot of points to put it to good use or just accept that you might only get it once or twice per / short rest. You don't get a ton out of any of the subclasses. ASIs are always good. Extra attack is wasted because you won't get that in your wild shape. Monk 1 or 2 should be sufficient go get the most out of it. You'd definitely want to put most of your levels into druid for this plan.
I might be remembering wrong. But I don't believe that your shape changed forms actually are capable of stunning strike. If I remember right they are Natural weapons and Stunning Strike specifically calls out needing a melee weapon attack. Which Monks achieve through Martial Arts which also doesn't mix with the natural weapons of the beasts attacks and so Flurry of Blows also wouldn't work for the same reason when shape changed. Now of course I might be remembering this wrong and mixing games right now. But that's what I recall some of the main issues being.
Things designated as weapons by the rules, including natural weapons, are indeed weapons. In contrast, unarmed strikes are not weapons. They are something you do with an unarmed part of your body.
Unarmed strikes are not strikes with weapons. Humorously enough unarmed attacks are still considered melee weapon attacks. This whole area is weird. Either way, I see no reason why stunning strike wouldn't work while wild shaped.
Natural weapons are indeed weapons. That's not what I said. I said that they are not Melee weapons. Because they are not. They are natural weapons. There are plenty of natural weapons that are not modified by things that modify melee weapons.
Since unarmed strikes by the monk are classified as Melee weapons Stunning strike works. Because Natural Weapons are not automatically melee weapons it doesn't. It's just like a bow is a weapon but it is not a melee weapon and thus without something else specifically changing how things work for a subclass or the like you can't stun with it but it's still a weapon.
Honestly doing Astral Monk with Druid sounds awesome. Get a spirit arms erupting out of your Bear form to smack people around. Astral Monk combined Moon Druid getting those high CR wildshapes combined with the Ghostly arms to do all the damage since that is a class feature and does not require you to be a humanoid to use.
Astral monk could work. Since they are specially defined and it's kind of a grey area that could be used for various things. It'd also be a heck of a shock to have a bear reach out with spectral arms and smack you around at 10 feet.
Natural weapons are indeed weapons. That's not what I said. I said that they are not Melee weapons. Because they are not. They are natural weapons. There are plenty of natural weapons that are not modified by things that modify melee weapons.
Since unarmed strikes by the monk are classified as Melee weapons Stunning strike works. Because Natural Weapons are not automatically melee weapons it doesn't. It's just like a bow is a weapon but it is not a melee weapon and thus without something else specifically changing how things work for a subclass or the like you can't stun with it but it's still a weapon.
Natural weapons can be used to make melee weapon attacks. There is no natural weapon attack distinction.
It's confusing as hell but I'll try to clarify. Weapons are objects used to perform attacks. A melee weapon performs a melee weapon attack. A natural weapon like claws performs a melee weapon attack as well. Unarmed strikes perform melee weapon attacks despite those not actually being weapons.
Even if this didn't work RAW (which it does), not letting this work is anti-fun.
A friend of mine attempted this combination once and it was a bit of a disaster. Essentially ended up this angry homeless guy who ran around punching people and always tried to be one with nature but was bad at it. It was hilarious yeah.
I think the combination can be good though potentially. Moon sounds really solid (And we all suggested to this player that he should go Moon but he didn't take anyone's advice and went Land.), the new Circle of Stars one is at least thematically kind of intriguing sounding as a Monk multiclass , and you get Guidance, and Guiding Bolt uses up your proficiency modifier rather than spell slots so you have a projectile that has some synergy with melee attacks, and the Starry Forms on a martial artist gives me hella Fist of the North Star vibes. lol
Angry useless punch hobo who tries to talks to trees but they're not having any of it will always have a place in my memory though
I played a very viable Mercy Monk/Star Druid bunny girl Shifter in a recent Eberron one-shot. She was a nurse at a charity hospital by day and a masked vigilante by night. Her superhero name was Knight of the Lepus =:3
The character had a good combination of melee, long range, and support options, and could make a hell of an entrance (druidcraft for a shower of rose petals, superhero pose and catchphrase, then going all starry form).
Honestly I would listen to stories about Kiyosuki's friend the "angry useless punch hobo" mentioned above though.
Thank you all for your replies. I really appreciate the input and ideas.
I really think that when I make this character, I will go Astral Monk and Wildfire Druid. I'm not really thinking of the Wildshape as being for fighting Monk style, more for RP and and reconnaissance. And of course for the Wildfire pet. And going that route, I really am thinking that Astral Monk may be the best way to go. It's really good on the damage front, which is where I feel druids most lack. And the druid gives me some spellcasting, healing, and versatility. And I can see both the Astral and Fire themes working very well with a Kitsune idea...!
I too would enjoy hearing about Kiyosuki's friend, and also about your experience DracaenaVevain.
lol there's not much to say, I almost feel like I hyped it up a bit too much. It was a very short campaign where everyone was around 8th level (and he was 5 monk/3 druid) and to be honest I wasn't really a part of it directly I mostly observed. Jehd the druidic monk who was just ok at fighting and terrible at anything druidic was literally some guy that lived in a forest as a martial artist who developed a connection with nature...which in practice translated to an ok fist fighter who never seemed to be on his . His background had about as much thought put into it as the subclass setup. His chosen land type was Forest obviously, but Barkskin was useless because he already had 16 AC from unarmored defense and Spiderclimb was pretty ok, though all he had was darts or trying to punch from a ceiling. He had decent access to 0-2nd level spells. He picked up a stick so he could cast Shillelagh with it! Reflecting on it...in theory it's not a terrible combination either if its planned right, I think it just kind of turned out like that, mostly because of stats and some poor spell choices and just how he was played. Also his Nature stat ended up somehow being really bad, so a lot of ability checks in that regard failed so he sort of just came across as some guy that lives in a forest and says he's one with nature but just...isn't really.
It was one of those kinds of campaigns where people try stuff so I guess it's to be expected, but really thinking about it a Monk/Druid multiclass isn't a bad combination in general if you're competent with it. Astral Self and Wildfire sounds awesome together, and it utilizes Wisdom which Astral Self in particular gets a lot of favors from more than most monk subclasses so you're good to beef up WIS for both.
Hmm my experience playing as Knight of the Lepus was... wow there are a lot of options, but fun. It was a pretty short one-shot since it was our DM's first attempt at writing one from scratch, but I did have my moments. I kind of played the character (Alice Shirato was her super-secret civilian identity) like Judy Hopps at the beginning of Zootopia, an earnest and over-eager girl scout from a small town who just moved to the big city. Alice's costume was an all-white getup with a short cape and a bunny mask covering half her face.
There was a fight with undead soldiers in the cargo hold of a train where I got to pull off a badass combo involving a wall-run into a somersault kick that flattened one enemy, then I punched another enemy, ran back, and shot them with a star druid Archer arrow. After my group defeated them, they were wondering how they'd be able to get back to our car undetected (we were supposed to be traveling incognito). So I cast Pass Without Trace on everyone except myself, then jumped ahead of the group into the first passenger car in a shower of rose petals, announcing, "There were some undead soldiers on board this train, but the evildoers were defeated thanks to... KNIGHT OF THE LEPUS!" (dramatic superhero pose). The other passengers were so distracted by that ridiculous display, which I repeated at the entrance to every car, that nobody saw the rest of the group sneaking back.
I am going into spore druid for 4 levels to get +1d4necrotic to every landing hit + TONS of utility/ mobility/damage boosting spells( enlarge/reduce gives an extra d4s of weapon damage for each strike, and then there's heat metal) then 6 levels in monk to get stronger unarmed strike with magic+all of those monk things that let you move mo; like how the drunken style that allows you to gain the benefits of a disengage action with flurry of blows then throw in the tabaxi race for extra movement you can keep boosting with buffs like longstrider (with all buffs you can move over to 100 feet without dashing) so you never need to waste a ki on step of the wind🌬️🍃 (nor bonus action dodge if you make your retreat behind total cover.) take wisdom ASI +the slasher feat for 18 unarmored armor class. if we pretend that you have hit every attack in a turn where you've prepared somewhere with stealth or from cover, then you have at least the sheleleigh to hit with for 1d8+(Wis)4+ 1d4 (enlarge)m bludgeoning +1d4 necrotic X2(extra attack=2d8+4d4+8followed by flurry of blows for +((1d8+1d4+4 m slashing(slasher activates, and slows 1 enemy)+1d4)X2)=4d8+8d4+16then you have the benefits of a disengage action and tons of movement to flee all at 10th level
Thanks for this topic because I think its a good natural pairing. I originally started with a Tortle Drunken master, chef feat, Land Druid Coast for the Saltmarsh campaign...was fun to role play and working well as ship's cook till my party fell apart...made it to 6th lvl.
My second attempt is a Wood Elf Shadow monk (6th max) / Land Druid mountain (9th lvl if finish) for Out of the Abyss campaign...would be great for Mad mage as well....I hate that monks can't use heavy or two handed weapons....glaive and pike etc are classic Shaolin monk weapons...you probably need a strong staff or spear weapon magic item to be effective and more than mid level fighting. JMOP.
Monk + spore druid seems pretty cool, provided you can activate symbiotic entity before combat. The only downside is that you need several levels in Druid to really make that effective, as its duration is tied to how long you can keep those temp hit points.
Yay, I'm glad that a few of us have enjoyed this thread and thinking about this. :)
Seems a few of you really like the Spore Druid. I had a friend who played one to great effect. I'll have to think about that. Seems nice to have an aura like that on a melee character.
So, I have a friend running a 2 session campaign of White Plume Mountain (adapted for 5E).
He had us make level 8 characters. And allowed us to pick a couple magic items.
I made Hop, a Haregon level 6 Way of Ascendant Dragon Monk/ Level 2 Circle of Wildfire Druid, Background of Strixhaven Prismari school, chose Firebolt & Ray of Frost cantrips/ Silent Image spell. He's a dancer, who likes to make fire and Ice (flavoured as water) sculptures. His Druid cantrips are Control Flame and Shape Water. For magic items I got Bracers of Defense and Boots of Speed. I think this is going to be a really fun character to play! Rolled awesome stats too!
Hello all and I am playing a moon druid and I took 1 level of monk just for the unarmored defense for my beast forms and took the war caster feat at 4th level. The reason why is my druid has mostly concentration spells. I cast fariy fire so everyone has advantage then change into my beast form. I still have concentration up so I need the best AC for my beast. Plus war caster gives me advantage. It works well I get my attack for say moonbeam or flaming sphere and my attack as a beast. It is also fun to play.
It sounds like a fun combo to me! One thing to be aware of though is that a beast's Natural Weapons do not count as Unarmed Strikes per RAW.
The Natural Weapons granted by many player races say they can be used to make Unarmed Strikes, but this is the exception and not the rule. The reason I bring this up is because to get the free bonus action Unarmed Strike from Martial Arts you need to use your action to make at least one attack with an Unarmed Strike or a Monk weapon. Flurry of Blows on the other hand only requires that you take the Attack action and doesn't care what you do with it.
So it is worth asking your DM if they are willing to treat all Natural Weapons as Unarmed Strikes.
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Monk/ Druid Multiclass?
Hi All!
I've had an idea for a character I really like, a light-hearted character, who doesn't really use weapons except maybe a staff.
I'm thinking a Kitsune-type race, for looks anyway, building off the Satyr Race (Mechanics seem perfect aside from Raming attack).
Probably Entertainer background, and as I said I like the idea of them being very light-hearted and happy.
I don't really want them to seem offensive, so no weapons or armor except maybe a staff, so that's where Monk comes in. Up until Tasha's I was thinking Sun Soul. Although I find the Mercy and Astral ones quite intriguing as well now. I like the Druid aspect, as I like to have some spells to cast, and the Wildfire one thematically feels like a good fit. I was also hoping to take the new Fey Touched Feat to get access to Misty Step for some 'porting fun. So I was thinking about someone, who if faced with fighting can get in and out with some quick hitting.I like the idea of them changing to a beast form (fox, obvi) and just frolicking around on downtime/ RP...
Anyone have any thoughts on this mechanically? Or story wise? Does this sound feasible? And if so, what subclasses might be best? I have only played a Monk (Drunken master) for 2 sessions before and no Druids... but the stats seem to be fine...? Please let me know any ideas or thoughts you have!
Thank you!!
Monk (any) + Moon Druid should be pretty good.
Unless I'm missing something important, you'll get all the fun Monk stuff while running around as a bear (or whatever else). Unarmored Defense while a bear! Stunning strike while a bear! Furry of blows (get it?) as a bear!
The question is, how much monk is worth it? The answer to that is a bit dependent on how high your game will go.
I wouldn't go any higher than that with your druid/monk. Honestly, I think you get a lot of benefit from just that first level. The trouble with ki is you either need a lot of points to put it to good use or just accept that you might only get it once or twice per / short rest. You don't get a ton out of any of the subclasses. ASIs are always good. Extra attack is wasted because you won't get that in your wild shape. Monk 1 or 2 should be sufficient go get the most out of it. You'd definitely want to put most of your levels into druid for this plan.
I might be remembering wrong. But I don't believe that your shape changed forms actually are capable of stunning strike. If I remember right they are Natural weapons and Stunning Strike specifically calls out needing a melee weapon attack. Which Monks achieve through Martial Arts which also doesn't mix with the natural weapons of the beasts attacks and so Flurry of Blows also wouldn't work for the same reason when shape changed. Now of course I might be remembering this wrong and mixing games right now. But that's what I recall some of the main issues being.
Natural weapons are considered weapons.
Unarmed strikes are not strikes with weapons. Humorously enough unarmed attacks are still considered melee weapon attacks. This whole area is weird. Either way, I see no reason why stunning strike wouldn't work while wild shaped.
Natural weapons are indeed weapons. That's not what I said. I said that they are not Melee weapons. Because they are not. They are natural weapons. There are plenty of natural weapons that are not modified by things that modify melee weapons.
Since unarmed strikes by the monk are classified as Melee weapons Stunning strike works. Because Natural Weapons are not automatically melee weapons it doesn't. It's just like a bow is a weapon but it is not a melee weapon and thus without something else specifically changing how things work for a subclass or the like you can't stun with it but it's still a weapon.
Honestly doing Astral Monk with Druid sounds awesome. Get a spirit arms erupting out of your Bear form to smack people around. Astral Monk combined Moon Druid getting those high CR wildshapes combined with the Ghostly arms to do all the damage since that is a class feature and does not require you to be a humanoid to use.
Astral monk could work. Since they are specially defined and it's kind of a grey area that could be used for various things. It'd also be a heck of a shock to have a bear reach out with spectral arms and smack you around at 10 feet.
Natural weapons can be used to make melee weapon attacks. There is no natural weapon attack distinction.
It's confusing as hell but I'll try to clarify. Weapons are objects used to perform attacks. A melee weapon performs a melee weapon attack. A natural weapon like claws performs a melee weapon attack as well. Unarmed strikes perform melee weapon attacks despite those not actually being weapons.
Even if this didn't work RAW (which it does), not letting this work is anti-fun.
A friend of mine attempted this combination once and it was a bit of a disaster. Essentially ended up this angry homeless guy who ran around punching people and always tried to be one with nature but was bad at it. It was hilarious yeah.
I think the combination can be good though potentially. Moon sounds really solid (And we all suggested to this player that he should go Moon but he didn't take anyone's advice and went Land.), the new Circle of Stars one is at least thematically kind of intriguing sounding as a Monk multiclass , and you get Guidance, and Guiding Bolt uses up your proficiency modifier rather than spell slots so you have a projectile that has some synergy with melee attacks, and the Starry Forms on a martial artist gives me hella Fist of the North Star vibes. lol
Angry useless punch hobo who tries to talks to trees but they're not having any of it will always have a place in my memory though
I played a very viable Mercy Monk/Star Druid bunny girl Shifter in a recent Eberron one-shot. She was a nurse at a charity hospital by day and a masked vigilante by night. Her superhero name was Knight of the Lepus =:3
The character had a good combination of melee, long range, and support options, and could make a hell of an entrance (druidcraft for a shower of rose petals, superhero pose and catchphrase, then going all starry form).
Honestly I would listen to stories about Kiyosuki's friend the "angry useless punch hobo" mentioned above though.
Thank you all for your replies. I really appreciate the input and ideas.
I really think that when I make this character, I will go Astral Monk and Wildfire Druid. I'm not really thinking of the Wildshape as being for fighting Monk style, more for RP and and reconnaissance. And of course for the Wildfire pet. And going that route, I really am thinking that Astral Monk may be the best way to go. It's really good on the damage front, which is where I feel druids most lack. And the druid gives me some spellcasting, healing, and versatility. And I can see both the Astral and Fire themes working very well with a Kitsune idea...!
I too would enjoy hearing about Kiyosuki's friend, and also about your experience DracaenaVevain.
Thank you all for your assistance!
lol there's not much to say, I almost feel like I hyped it up a bit too much. It was a very short campaign where everyone was around 8th level (and he was 5 monk/3 druid) and to be honest I wasn't really a part of it directly I mostly observed. Jehd the druidic monk who was just ok at fighting and terrible at anything druidic was literally some guy that lived in a forest as a martial artist who developed a connection with nature...which in practice translated to an ok fist fighter who never seemed to be on his . His background had about as much thought put into it as the subclass setup. His chosen land type was Forest obviously, but Barkskin was useless because he already had 16 AC from unarmored defense and Spiderclimb was pretty ok, though all he had was darts or trying to punch from a ceiling. He had decent access to 0-2nd level spells. He picked up a stick so he could cast Shillelagh with it! Reflecting on it...in theory it's not a terrible combination either if its planned right, I think it just kind of turned out like that, mostly because of stats and some poor spell choices and just how he was played. Also his Nature stat ended up somehow being really bad, so a lot of ability checks in that regard failed so he sort of just came across as some guy that lives in a forest and says he's one with nature but just...isn't really.
It was one of those kinds of campaigns where people try stuff so I guess it's to be expected, but really thinking about it a Monk/Druid multiclass isn't a bad combination in general if you're competent with it. Astral Self and Wildfire sounds awesome together, and it utilizes Wisdom which Astral Self in particular gets a lot of favors from more than most monk subclasses so you're good to beef up WIS for both.
Hmm my experience playing as Knight of the Lepus was... wow there are a lot of options, but fun. It was a pretty short one-shot since it was our DM's first attempt at writing one from scratch, but I did have my moments. I kind of played the character (Alice Shirato was her super-secret civilian identity) like Judy Hopps at the beginning of Zootopia, an earnest and over-eager girl scout from a small town who just moved to the big city. Alice's costume was an all-white getup with a short cape and a bunny mask covering half her face.
There was a fight with undead soldiers in the cargo hold of a train where I got to pull off a badass combo involving a wall-run into a somersault kick that flattened one enemy, then I punched another enemy, ran back, and shot them with a star druid Archer arrow. After my group defeated them, they were wondering how they'd be able to get back to our car undetected (we were supposed to be traveling incognito). So I cast Pass Without Trace on everyone except myself, then jumped ahead of the group into the first passenger car in a shower of rose petals, announcing, "There were some undead soldiers on board this train, but the evildoers were defeated thanks to... KNIGHT OF THE LEPUS!" (dramatic superhero pose). The other passengers were so distracted by that ridiculous display, which I repeated at the entrance to every car, that nobody saw the rest of the group sneaking back.
I am going into spore druid for 4 levels to get +1d4necrotic to every landing hit + TONS of utility/ mobility/damage boosting spells( enlarge/reduce gives an extra d4s of weapon damage for each strike, and then there's heat metal) then 6 levels in monk to get stronger unarmed strike with magic+all of those monk things that let you move mo; like how the drunken style that allows you to gain the benefits of a disengage action with flurry of blows then throw in the tabaxi race for extra movement you can keep boosting with buffs like longstrider (with all buffs you can move over to 100 feet without dashing) so you never need to waste a ki on step of the wind🌬️🍃 (nor bonus action dodge if you make your retreat behind total cover.) take wisdom ASI +the slasher feat for 18 unarmored armor class. if we pretend that you have hit every attack in a turn where you've prepared somewhere with stealth or from cover, then you have at least the sheleleigh to hit with for 1d8+(Wis)4+ 1d4 (enlarge)m bludgeoning +1d4 necrotic X2(extra attack=2d8+4d4+8followed by flurry of blows for +((1d8+1d4+4 m slashing(slasher activates, and slows 1 enemy)+1d4)X2)=4d8+8d4+16then you have the benefits of a disengage action and tons of movement to flee all at 10th level
Thanks for this topic because I think its a good natural pairing. I originally started with a Tortle Drunken master, chef feat, Land Druid Coast for the Saltmarsh campaign...was fun to role play and working well as ship's cook till my party fell apart...made it to 6th lvl.
My second attempt is a Wood Elf Shadow monk (6th max) / Land Druid mountain (9th lvl if finish) for Out of the Abyss campaign...would be great for Mad mage as well....I hate that monks can't use heavy or two handed weapons....glaive and pike etc are classic Shaolin monk weapons...you probably need a strong staff or spear weapon magic item to be effective and more than mid level fighting. JMOP.
Monk + spore druid seems pretty cool, provided you can activate symbiotic entity before combat. The only downside is that you need several levels in Druid to really make that effective, as its duration is tied to how long you can keep those temp hit points.
Yay, I'm glad that a few of us have enjoyed this thread and thinking about this. :)
Seems a few of you really like the Spore Druid. I had a friend who played one to great effect. I'll have to think about that. Seems nice to have an aura like that on a melee character.
So, I have a friend running a 2 session campaign of White Plume Mountain (adapted for 5E).
He had us make level 8 characters. And allowed us to pick a couple magic items.
I made Hop, a Haregon level 6 Way of Ascendant Dragon Monk/ Level 2 Circle of Wildfire Druid, Background of Strixhaven Prismari school, chose Firebolt & Ray of Frost cantrips/ Silent Image spell. He's a dancer, who likes to make fire and Ice (flavoured as water) sculptures. His Druid cantrips are Control Flame and Shape Water. For magic items I got Bracers of Defense and Boots of Speed. I think this is going to be a really fun character to play! Rolled awesome stats too!
If this works, here's a link to Hop!:
ddb.ac/characters/63845992/PMcwnc
Hello all and I am playing a moon druid and I took 1 level of monk just for the unarmored defense for my beast forms and took the war caster feat at 4th level. The reason why is my druid has mostly concentration spells. I cast fariy fire so everyone has advantage then change into my beast form. I still have concentration up so I need the best AC for my beast. Plus war caster gives me advantage. It works well I get my attack for say moonbeam or flaming sphere and my attack as a beast. It is also fun to play.
I would think Moon+Astral self monk... displacer beast arms on a lion? running full out and going Rocky the squirrel while those chasing fall to doom?
It sounds like a fun combo to me! One thing to be aware of though is that a beast's Natural Weapons do not count as Unarmed Strikes per RAW.
The Natural Weapons granted by many player races say they can be used to make Unarmed Strikes, but this is the exception and not the rule. The reason I bring this up is because to get the free bonus action Unarmed Strike from Martial Arts you need to use your action to make at least one attack with an Unarmed Strike or a Monk weapon. Flurry of Blows on the other hand only requires that you take the Attack action and doesn't care what you do with it.
So it is worth asking your DM if they are willing to treat all Natural Weapons as Unarmed Strikes.