That's why I am a proponent of lowering ki cost for those things. Four Elements Monks can be pretty good at battlefield control by 6th level (Water Whip, Fist of Unbroken Air, and then either Hold Person/Clench of North Wind or Thunderwave/Fist of Four Thunders), and if you don't make those things so exorbitantly costly then it's an actual tactical decision between that and Stunning Strike.
Sometimes when people discuss the Monk, it all just feels like circular logic. (I'm not saying that about our current conversation, Optimus, just noting an observation I've had.) The argument is that they are boring, because all they can do is Stunning Strike, but then you point out other things they can do, but then it is noted that they all cost ki, which then takes away from Stunning Strike. It always feels like the biggest detractors argue that Stunning Strike is SO GOOD that it makes the class boring and therefore SO BAD.
I'm playing my first monk character at the moment, and in the first few sessions, I was finding myself thinking that I'd picked the wrong one, and trying to think of ways to kill him and bring in a new character. But I persevered with it and re-did how I played the monk.
Funnily enough, I haven't used Stunning strike all that much (probably to my/the party's detriment) but I chose to use the ki points in other ways (playing a halfling shadow monk) so I actually found it better to use my points to avoid hits etc as I'm a little "squishy" :) but I also used ki points throughout the campaign to assist with the non-combat stuff.
Anyway to sum up, I think it's about balance - if you're looking at just one thing the monk can do (say Stunning Strike), and ignoring the rest it does seem to be be not great. But my experience is if you balance out all of the things a monk can do, it makes it more interesting. I think it all comes down to how you approach it (plus I found rp'ing the monk to be fun in my own way). And it certainly makes you think more about how you enter a situation when you're pretty much at risk of copping the big one a fair % of time (yes, by choosing a halfling to be my monk I did stack those odds against me). But it's doable - had one major fight with only 8 of my 50odd HP against significant odds. Everyone was expecting my character to buy the farm, but ended up coming out alive.
Could I have picked a better character? Maybe. Have I had fun playing the monk - yes.
from what I hear you describing is it safe to say that you went Dexterity for the most part and Wisdom only when you needed to or Dexterity was maxed out? If you did then Stunning strike loses quite a bit of it's value because your DC save tends to be a bit behind and you experience quite a few of failed saves with it and it feels kind of useless (and the class in general kind of lackluster for it). When your better off actually using your other abilities that don't have save DC's and kind of ignoring stunning strike a lot of the time. It's something that plenty of players don't really understand about monks and most any guide trying to "optimize" them doesn't really tell you. They tend to just tell you that Dexterity is king and you must focus on dexterity. they don't tell you how that can affect other aspects of the character you might want to use.
Yeah, I fluffed it, and maxed out DEX, instead of trying boost DEX and WIS with the ASI's as the levels went on (at Lvl 9 now), so yeah I agree Stunning Strike hasn't been as good for me, but I wasn't focusing on that as my character's primary thing.
Having said that, yes I probably didn't help myself out, but still had fun doing it.
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Odo Proudfoot - Lvl 10 Halfling Monk - Princes of the Apocalypse (Campaign Finished)
Yeah, I fluffed it, and maxed out DEX, instead of trying boost DEX and WIS with the ASI's as the levels went on (at Lvl 9 now), so yeah I agree Stunning Strike hasn't been as good for me, but I wasn't focusing on that as my character's primary thing.
Having said that, yes I probably didn't help myself out, but still had fun doing it.
you've helped yourself out plenty. You matched your playstyle and your stats together and made full use of them. That's actually one of the hardest things for people to manage with monks. I've seen plenty of times where people set up their stats and stuff one way and then try to do the opposite. My 4e monk for example would play very different from yours and not just because of the difference in subclasses. I'm stacked heavily towards Wisdom and my DC's. I have Dexterity in the character as well and I'm weighing which might be best for my next ASI. I do need to be able to continue to reliably hit the enemy. But i also lean quite a bit into different abilities that have save DC's against the enemies as well.
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from what I hear you describing is it safe to say that you went Dexterity for the most part and Wisdom only when you needed to or Dexterity was maxed out? If you did then Stunning strike loses quite a bit of it's value because your DC save tends to be a bit behind and you experience quite a few of failed saves with it and it feels kind of useless (and the class in general kind of lackluster for it). When your better off actually using your other abilities that don't have save DC's and kind of ignoring stunning strike a lot of the time. It's something that plenty of players don't really understand about monks and most any guide trying to "optimize" them doesn't really tell you. They tend to just tell you that Dexterity is king and you must focus on dexterity. they don't tell you how that can affect other aspects of the character you might want to use.
Yeah, I fluffed it, and maxed out DEX, instead of trying boost DEX and WIS with the ASI's as the levels went on (at Lvl 9 now), so yeah I agree Stunning Strike hasn't been as good for me, but I wasn't focusing on that as my character's primary thing.
Having said that, yes I probably didn't help myself out, but still had fun doing it.
Odo Proudfoot - Lvl 10 Halfling Monk - Princes of the Apocalypse (Campaign Finished)
Orryn Pebblefoot - Lvl 5 Rock Gnome Wizard (Deceased) - Waterdeep: Dragon Heist (Deceased)
Anerin Ap Tewdr - Lvl 5 Human (Variant) Bard (College of Valor) - Waterdeep: Dragon Heist
you've helped yourself out plenty. You matched your playstyle and your stats together and made full use of them. That's actually one of the hardest things for people to manage with monks. I've seen plenty of times where people set up their stats and stuff one way and then try to do the opposite. My 4e monk for example would play very different from yours and not just because of the difference in subclasses. I'm stacked heavily towards Wisdom and my DC's. I have Dexterity in the character as well and I'm weighing which might be best for my next ASI. I do need to be able to continue to reliably hit the enemy. But i also lean quite a bit into different abilities that have save DC's against the enemies as well.