I know lucky is beneficial for everyone, yet I see a lot of people say observant, mobile and sentinel are the highlights, which are all good picks actually.
Lucky is nice to have but it doesn't offer new abilities or new tactics. It's like having a sort of advantage for you or giving disadvantage for enemies three times per long rest... that's it really. Not to say it's not useful or fun, but many people would rather a different feat first and will often take it only if they have nothing else they would rather take.
Lucky is good, it's just not exciting for many. It can be cool for certain builds though.
There are no shortage of strong feats to choose from. Dexterity and Wisdom are the top attributes, with Constitution coming in 3rd. Almost anything with a +1 to one of those, barring Moderately Armored and Resilient, would be a good choice. Even the (wrongly) much-maligned Weapon Master; especially now with Dedicated Weapon from TCoE.
Eh, Resilient is just fine if the campaign isn't expected to ever hit Level 14 for Diamond Soul. Proficiency is Wisdom or Constitution is plenty helpful. Maybe Constitution a little less if you'll hit Level 10 for Purity of Body, but that's still 10-14 levels of enjoying a common proficiency.
They already have a decent wisdom score, and there are plenty of ways to get resistance to poison damage. Dwarves and stout halflings in the PHB, for one.
I mean if we're expanding this out to here's the other races you could play sure there's lots of suggestions. Though the point is entirely moot when they've specified taking Variant Human.
I just disagree with Resilient not being a good choice, because not everyone gets to enjoy Level 14.
Tho it also depends on the campaign. For instance if it was a fey-centric story then I'd take absolutely take Resilient (Wisdom), cause you will be getting some mileage out of it.
Resilient can be a good choice on variant human because Con is something that can find itself under attack in various ways like some environmental dangers that are often forgotten and most cold spells actually attack vs. Con as well. 14 is a long way away and gaining that benefit for 14 levels is useful. Though you have to be aware that part of it becomes redundant by the time your ready to get into tier 4. which as some stated many players actually stop about the time that tier 4 starts rolling around.
That being said. Crusher is actually an excellent one to take on a Variant Human at level 1. It synergizes really well with Monks. Specially when your doing combat on a map and the fact that you can boost your con by one out of the gate does help just that little bit more. Specially if you had an odd stat in Con to start with and this pushes it up to that next modifier and thus that much more hitpoints as you level up or against various saves you might have to make.
Monks excel at dancing around the battle ground... attacking multiple enemies per round and then slipping out of reach. Mobile seems an ideal feat for this style of fighting.
For a monk I would say mobile and ability increases are tier 1. Mobile because it makes it easier to utilize the incredibly strong movement of a monk. Lucks is as mentioned always good, and personally I tend to take it and use it exclusively on difficult saves and critical skill checks. As I care for my characters it makes me dare do cool things I otherwise would not - in that way it is an enabler :)
I've ploughed a lot of thought into what feats or tactics might better suit thee Monk over the Mobile feat, but as others have said, Mobile really does pair up perfectly with the Monk chassis that so clearly excels at skirmishing!
I've ploughed a lot of thought into what feats or tactics might better suit thee Monk over the Mobile feat, but as others have said, Mobile really does pair up perfectly with the Monk chassis that so clearly excels at skirmishing!
Since avoiding AoO's requires your attack something like Crusher can effectively create the same situation. And the rough terrain thing is nice but rough terrain isn't as much of an issue for monks as it is for other classes. Specially once they are higher level. So Mobile is not the perfect pairing and there are other ways to achieve the same or similar results.
The time I did take Mobility with my Monk, we started at high level, and I thought it worked out pretty well. The combination of using two Attack's to strike the Tanks standing in the way of the squishy caster, allowed me to get by them without drawing an attack of opportunity. I would end up getting past them and using my Flurry of Blows against the Casters...
Were there better options? probably .. I could have just used Step of the Wind to run past the Tanks to get to the caster unscathed, but Mobility certainly adds to what you will probably already be doing and provides options in different scenarios. +10 movement is never something I'll turn down
Still think Crusher is the best option with the new feats in terms of "the bang for its buck," but its a matter of playstyle. Heck, I've found even taking Defensive Duelist (which is a pretty lame feat) can be useful if you use a Short Sword or other finesse weapon, AND take the Patient Defense as a bonus action. I would almost NEVER recommend Defensive Duelist as a feat for any other class, but it was surprising useful on my friend's Monk
That being said, Lucky has its warrants and uses for all classes, but the only reason I would pick it over any other feat is if it fits into the Role Playing perspective. A Drunken Style Monk that is lucky is a pretty cool vibe. You're not going to lose much by taking it, and you'll definitely find use for it over the course of a campaign.... but for optimization I would probably go with a different feat that can either be used more frequently or provides a stat-bump. .. ... ... cccrrussher =P
As someone who picked monk then found out that they'd be tanking, lucky made for a decent pick. Defensive duelist would have been pretty good as well, resulting in more damage being prevented, but using luck for saving throws has prevented more important damage (as in, damage that would've dropped me in one hit) than defensive duelist would have.
I've ploughed a lot of thought into what feats or tactics might better suit thee Monk over the Mobile feat, but as others have said, Mobile really does pair up perfectly with the Monk chassis that so clearly excels at skirmishing!
Since avoiding AoO's requires your attack something like Crusher can effectively create the same situation. And the rough terrain thing is nice but rough terrain isn't as much of an issue for monks as it is for other classes. Specially once they are higher level. So Mobile is not the perfect pairing and there are other ways to achieve the same or similar results.
Funnily enough, I came to my conclusion on thiis while appraising the Crusher feat against other options!
The issue with the Crusher feat is that being able to move a foe 5ft for the purpose of leaving their reach (an effective means of disengaging in melee) is:
Dependant on you having to hit an enemy first
Limited to once per turn
In contrast, Mobile:
Simply requires you to make an attack against a foe to deny them opportunity attacks against you
Has no limit on the number of times you can benefit from the above in a turn
For a Monk – a skirmishing warrior who prioritises mobility (Unarmoured Movement, Step of the Wind, Patient Defence, Deflect Missiles, Evasion, Slow Fall) and disruption (Stunning Strike, Flurry of Blows) over all else in combat, Mobile provides monks with a more reliable and exhaustive means of maximising both damage negation (through multiple disengages) and attacks per turn (why Step of the Wind: Disengage when you can dish out another two attacks via Flurry of Blows and deny your victims opportunity attacks?). With that said, arguably a Wood Elf monk with the Elven Accuracy feat could reap greater party-wide benefit in combat with Crusher by fishing for critical hits and providing their party with advantage on attacks against their winded victim. But similarly, a Wood Elf Way of the Open Hand, with the Elven Accuracy feat, would probably provide the same (if not greater) benefit.
I've ploughed a lot of thought into what feats or tactics might better suit thee Monk over the Mobile feat, but as others have said, Mobile really does pair up perfectly with the Monk chassis that so clearly excels at skirmishing!
Since avoiding AoO's requires your attack something like Crusher can effectively create the same situation. And the rough terrain thing is nice but rough terrain isn't as much of an issue for monks as it is for other classes. Specially once they are higher level. So Mobile is not the perfect pairing and there are other ways to achieve the same or similar results.
Funnily enough, I came to my conclusion on thiis while appraising the Crusher feat against other options!
The issue with the Crusher feat is that being able to move a foe 5ft for the purpose of leaving their reach (an effective means of disengaging in melee) is:
Dependant on you having to hit an enemy first
Limited to once per turn
In contrast, Mobile:
Simply requires you to make an attack against a foe to deny them opportunity attacks against you
Has no limit on the number of times you can benefit from the above in a turn
For a Monk – a skirmishing warrior who prioritises mobility (Unarmoured Movement, Step of the Wind, Patient Defence, Deflect Missiles, Evasion, Slow Fall) and disruption (Stunning Strike, Flurry of Blows) over all else in combat, Mobile provides monks with a more reliable and exhaustive means of maximising both damage negation (through multiple disengages) and attacks per turn (why Step of the Wind: Disengage when you can dish out another two attacks via Flurry of Blows and deny your victims opportunity attacks?). With that said, arguably a Wood Elf monk with the Elven Accuracy feat could reap greater party-wide benefit in combat with Crusher by fishing for critical hits and providing their party with advantage on attacks against their winded victim. But similarly, a Wood Elf Way of the Open Hand, with the Elven Accuracy feat, would probably provide the same (if not greater) benefit.
My monk rarely has issue with hitting the enemy in any normal scenario. It's actually more rare that I miss unless I make the mistake of taking on an opponent alone. Which is it's own issue altogether. Granted I basically built an almost at-will advantage into my character for exactly that reason. What this means that in normal play I wait for the tanks to go in first and then position off of them and then I become a major damage dealer through my near lack of ability to miss (sadly it can't be paired with Elven accuracy but there are ways to get thta and a lot of advantage). Sometimes it's not about hitting every enemy you see. But how you cause problems for a particular enemy or break up a formation so that they can't use various abilities such as pack tactics against you. One of the things that I'm actually capable of just from the base monk with my build is I have a decent chance of just outright stunning multiple enemies. And then the need to disengage can be removed completely. But I have seen scenario's where simply shoving one person out of place means either the weaker ones are unlikely to hit me or you take away a major advantage not only against yourself but potentially somebody like your tank to better enable them to do their job to protect you.
I'm aware you can't always plan on synergizing abilities with others in your group. My monk is played in a situation like this. So what I've created is a character that synergizes simply off there being a group at all and not off of needing abilities from the group to help me out. As strange as it would sound to some I'm actually playing a 4 Elements Monk that is actually fairly devastating because of the way I built and prioritized my character. But I could have easily done the same thing with an Open Hand monk to similar results and slightly less ki cost to make it all function. Monks are actually really good at building off of just there actually being a group to work with for the most part.
To give examples. In my particular Case I have a kobold so I have pack tactics. One of my tactics with 4 elements is actually to use Water Whip to drag enemies to things like the tanks and then stand next to the tanks to get my pack tactics and I have a strong Wisdom to have strong saves which helps both with the pulling and with stuns if I choose to use them (though or last few encounters have been things with strong Con's by luck of the draw). and I unleash into them pretty much guaranteeing 3 to 4 attacks depending on if I flurry of blows.
But what an open hand monk can do is simply push things around or even knock them prone to gain advantage on the enemy and automatic disadvantage for the enemy if they choose to walk away for the similar types of things that I might use Water Whip for and they can lean a bit more into Dex potentially than I have so far to have just that little more ability to land hits to ensure the capability of their combo's.
This is what I mean by monks have a lot of options and ways to do things similarly. Crusher isn't perfect at doing what Mobility does. But it does some of it. And it has trade off's for other things that could be valuable. Way of the Open Hand is another but that obviously requires a specific subclass. 4 elements actually has a couple of ways to solve issues and leans a little more into the Wisdom side of monks in general (and honestly while I have been toying with ideas and talking over potential fixes for 4 elements because the ki management is extreme and addign a bit more variety into ones everyday use. taking away too much cost could potentially make 4 elements almost busted with everything they can do.)
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I know lucky is beneficial for everyone, yet I see a lot of people say observant, mobile and sentinel are the highlights, which are all good picks actually.
Lucky is nice to have but it doesn't offer new abilities or new tactics. It's like having a sort of advantage for you or giving disadvantage for enemies three times per long rest... that's it really. Not to say it's not useful or fun, but many people would rather a different feat first and will often take it only if they have nothing else they would rather take.
Lucky is good, it's just not exciting for many. It can be cool for certain builds though.
Varielky
There are no shortage of strong feats to choose from. Dexterity and Wisdom are the top attributes, with Constitution coming in 3rd. Almost anything with a +1 to one of those, barring Moderately Armored and Resilient, would be a good choice. Even the (wrongly) much-maligned Weapon Master; especially now with Dedicated Weapon from TCoE.
Eh, Resilient is just fine if the campaign isn't expected to ever hit Level 14 for Diamond Soul. Proficiency is Wisdom or Constitution is plenty helpful. Maybe Constitution a little less if you'll hit Level 10 for Purity of Body, but that's still 10-14 levels of enjoying a common proficiency.
They already have a decent wisdom score, and there are plenty of ways to get resistance to poison damage. Dwarves and stout halflings in the PHB, for one.
I mean if we're expanding this out to here's the other races you could play sure there's lots of suggestions. Though the point is entirely moot when they've specified taking Variant Human.
I just disagree with Resilient not being a good choice, because not everyone gets to enjoy Level 14.
Tho it also depends on the campaign. For instance if it was a fey-centric story then I'd take absolutely take Resilient (Wisdom), cause you will be getting some mileage out of it.
Resilient can be a good choice on variant human because Con is something that can find itself under attack in various ways like some environmental dangers that are often forgotten and most cold spells actually attack vs. Con as well. 14 is a long way away and gaining that benefit for 14 levels is useful. Though you have to be aware that part of it becomes redundant by the time your ready to get into tier 4. which as some stated many players actually stop about the time that tier 4 starts rolling around.
That being said. Crusher is actually an excellent one to take on a Variant Human at level 1. It synergizes really well with Monks. Specially when your doing combat on a map and the fact that you can boost your con by one out of the gate does help just that little bit more. Specially if you had an odd stat in Con to start with and this pushes it up to that next modifier and thus that much more hitpoints as you level up or against various saves you might have to make.
Monks excel at dancing around the battle ground... attacking multiple enemies per round and then slipping out of reach. Mobile seems an ideal feat for this style of fighting.
For a monk I would say mobile and ability increases are tier 1. Mobile because it makes it easier to utilize the incredibly strong movement of a monk. Lucks is as mentioned always good, and personally I tend to take it and use it exclusively on difficult saves and critical skill checks. As I care for my characters it makes me dare do cool things I otherwise would not - in that way it is an enabler :)
I've ploughed a lot of thought into what feats or tactics might better suit thee Monk over the Mobile feat, but as others have said, Mobile really does pair up perfectly with the Monk chassis that so clearly excels at skirmishing!
Since avoiding AoO's requires your attack something like Crusher can effectively create the same situation. And the rough terrain thing is nice but rough terrain isn't as much of an issue for monks as it is for other classes. Specially once they are higher level. So Mobile is not the perfect pairing and there are other ways to achieve the same or similar results.
The time I did take Mobility with my Monk, we started at high level, and I thought it worked out pretty well. The combination of using two Attack's to strike the Tanks standing in the way of the squishy caster, allowed me to get by them without drawing an attack of opportunity. I would end up getting past them and using my Flurry of Blows against the Casters...
Were there better options? probably .. I could have just used Step of the Wind to run past the Tanks to get to the caster unscathed, but Mobility certainly adds to what you will probably already be doing and provides options in different scenarios. +10 movement is never something I'll turn down
Still think Crusher is the best option with the new feats in terms of "the bang for its buck," but its a matter of playstyle. Heck, I've found even taking Defensive Duelist (which is a pretty lame feat) can be useful if you use a Short Sword or other finesse weapon, AND take the Patient Defense as a bonus action. I would almost NEVER recommend Defensive Duelist as a feat for any other class, but it was surprising useful on my friend's Monk
That being said, Lucky has its warrants and uses for all classes, but the only reason I would pick it over any other feat is if it fits into the Role Playing perspective. A Drunken Style Monk that is lucky is a pretty cool vibe. You're not going to lose much by taking it, and you'll definitely find use for it over the course of a campaign.... but for optimization I would probably go with a different feat that can either be used more frequently or provides a stat-bump. .. ... ... cccrrussher =P
As someone who picked monk then found out that they'd be tanking, lucky made for a decent pick. Defensive duelist would have been pretty good as well, resulting in more damage being prevented, but using luck for saving throws has prevented more important damage (as in, damage that would've dropped me in one hit) than defensive duelist would have.
Funnily enough, I came to my conclusion on thiis while appraising the Crusher feat against other options!
The issue with the Crusher feat is that being able to move a foe 5ft for the purpose of leaving their reach (an effective means of disengaging in melee) is:
In contrast, Mobile:
For a Monk – a skirmishing warrior who prioritises mobility (Unarmoured Movement, Step of the Wind, Patient Defence, Deflect Missiles, Evasion, Slow Fall) and disruption (Stunning Strike, Flurry of Blows) over all else in combat, Mobile provides monks with a more reliable and exhaustive means of maximising both damage negation (through multiple disengages) and attacks per turn (why Step of the Wind: Disengage when you can dish out another two attacks via Flurry of Blows and deny your victims opportunity attacks?). With that said, arguably a Wood Elf monk with the Elven Accuracy feat could reap greater party-wide benefit in combat with Crusher by fishing for critical hits and providing their party with advantage on attacks against their winded victim. But similarly, a Wood Elf Way of the Open Hand, with the Elven Accuracy feat, would probably provide the same (if not greater) benefit.
My monk rarely has issue with hitting the enemy in any normal scenario. It's actually more rare that I miss unless I make the mistake of taking on an opponent alone. Which is it's own issue altogether. Granted I basically built an almost at-will advantage into my character for exactly that reason. What this means that in normal play I wait for the tanks to go in first and then position off of them and then I become a major damage dealer through my near lack of ability to miss (sadly it can't be paired with Elven accuracy but there are ways to get thta and a lot of advantage). Sometimes it's not about hitting every enemy you see. But how you cause problems for a particular enemy or break up a formation so that they can't use various abilities such as pack tactics against you. One of the things that I'm actually capable of just from the base monk with my build is I have a decent chance of just outright stunning multiple enemies. And then the need to disengage can be removed completely. But I have seen scenario's where simply shoving one person out of place means either the weaker ones are unlikely to hit me or you take away a major advantage not only against yourself but potentially somebody like your tank to better enable them to do their job to protect you.
I'm aware you can't always plan on synergizing abilities with others in your group. My monk is played in a situation like this. So what I've created is a character that synergizes simply off there being a group at all and not off of needing abilities from the group to help me out. As strange as it would sound to some I'm actually playing a 4 Elements Monk that is actually fairly devastating because of the way I built and prioritized my character. But I could have easily done the same thing with an Open Hand monk to similar results and slightly less ki cost to make it all function. Monks are actually really good at building off of just there actually being a group to work with for the most part.
To give examples. In my particular Case I have a kobold so I have pack tactics. One of my tactics with 4 elements is actually to use Water Whip to drag enemies to things like the tanks and then stand next to the tanks to get my pack tactics and I have a strong Wisdom to have strong saves which helps both with the pulling and with stuns if I choose to use them (though or last few encounters have been things with strong Con's by luck of the draw). and I unleash into them pretty much guaranteeing 3 to 4 attacks depending on if I flurry of blows.
But what an open hand monk can do is simply push things around or even knock them prone to gain advantage on the enemy and automatic disadvantage for the enemy if they choose to walk away for the similar types of things that I might use Water Whip for and they can lean a bit more into Dex potentially than I have so far to have just that little more ability to land hits to ensure the capability of their combo's.
This is what I mean by monks have a lot of options and ways to do things similarly. Crusher isn't perfect at doing what Mobility does. But it does some of it. And it has trade off's for other things that could be valuable. Way of the Open Hand is another but that obviously requires a specific subclass. 4 elements actually has a couple of ways to solve issues and leans a little more into the Wisdom side of monks in general (and honestly while I have been toying with ideas and talking over potential fixes for 4 elements because the ki management is extreme and addign a bit more variety into ones everyday use. taking away too much cost could potentially make 4 elements almost busted with everything they can do.)