Hi all. 

I have a new game coming up with 5 players. 

A Cleric/Death Domain

A Monk/Way of the Drunken Master

Blood Hunter/Lycanthropy

2 more players have just put their characters forwards and have chosen a Barbarian and another Monk and we still need to discuss which path they wish to go down with these classes. 

I know that it’s not a terrible thing to have players playing the same classes but I can see this group being very Melee based. The Monks are going to be running in and out while the barbarian and blood hunter hold a defensive line. 

I don’t want to dissuade the players on their character choices and I think it could work well if I up the difficulty slightly but just wanted some guidance from the Comunity on how to approach this. 

Thanks. 

It could be a golden opportunity for roleplay if you have two monks, and one is a drunk. The other could be openly disapproving of their lack of discipline. As for subclass, Maybe go Kensai (sp?). And focus on their ranged monk weapon. Maybe you can convince the 2nd monk to multiclass into bard for some extra casting ability in the group.

Thanks KC. They’re some really great things to consider. The multiclassing as a Bard could hold a problem as neither of them really wanted to be overloaded with spells but just a few levels in that class could be manageable. 

Seems like a decent party in all honesty, i know there's almost no range fighting on their end, but this is their choice and you shouldn't try interfere. I suggest throwing hard encounters at them, with ranged spell casters and bow people until they learn, or until one dies. I think that'd be okay, you are not openly trying kill them, but you may have to throw imposing encounters at them so they change their tactics. Again it's their choice and they might suffer a little towards the later levels.

If they are front line heavy, make sure their encounters cover that by having ranged attackers. Maybe one or two to start with, but as their legend grows add more ranged in to counter them. You may find that as they level they will take this into consideration themselves or they will die and come back with a ranged character lol either way win win lol

Thanks everyone. It's definitely given me something to think about. I was possibly overthinking it and it really is their choice. If 5 strangers found themselves in a situation that they had to work together, they wouldn't have a chance to pick different skills for each person, they'd just have to make what they've got work. I'll see what subclass my second monk goes for and if asked then I could always recommend Kensai but I really would prefer them to come up with their own decision.