This is a Monk class that picks the fighter's Psi Warrior as its subclass. How would you boost this merge?
Mixing subclasses between classes is difficult for many class balance reasons. But in this particular case, subclass features line up relatively well. But here's the issue:
Fighter subclasses offer combat utilities for the class, since the base class itself brings the power (AC, ASIs, Extra Attacks, etc.). The entire class is customized through its subclass and by the feats you choose to take. Monk doesn't get that many of them. So, if you bring over a fighter subclass that is mostly flavor, to a class that relies on both class and subclass together to bring it to its fullest combat potential, you're going to run into issues.
The issue essentially is this; Monk gets Ki points, which its subclass features use up to help Monk do something else besides Flurry of Blows. That's what they're there for. Now, Psi Warrior does not give any interactions for Ki, as it isn't a Monk subclass. However, it has a similar structure to it, having a dice pool to fuel it's abilities.
Seize this moment to homebrew with me, as I try to find comfortable ways to merge Psi Warrior into a Monk subclass! Help me DnD community, you're my only hope.
Reason behind this combination, is a player who wants to play a Jedi, as a Monk. As the DM, I see very little issues with this particular "merge", but through community advice, I've come to learn the merge is lacking in power output. As a final note, I will allow switching all intelligence modifiers to wisdom in the subclass.
The reason you are noticing a lacking is because the Psi Warrior as was published in Tasha’s is a steaming pile of hot garbage. I personally recommend using the UA version, the Psi Knight as it was actually pretty good.
Admittedly it did need the UA Wild Talent feat and the UA Telekinetic feat to make it really shine, but it was still way better than the official version.
I detest the Changing the Die’s Size and Psi Replenishment too much to totally revert back to it, and don't see why it would need Wild Talent. That said, the person is starting out with the Telekinetic feat, so that the psi powers sortakinda awaken bit by bit.
Part of my current solution is making the Ki and Psi dice draw from the same pool, effectively. Whenever the player uses a Psi Power, it is considered using 1 point of Ki. The point of this is to allow the player to utilize the Ki-Fueled Attack whenever they use the Psionic Powers, such as Telekinetic Movement, since the subclass itself doesn't provide other opportunities to do so. Writing that out, I realize it's the only one that can proc it. Regardless, that feature was made to turn a spellcasting into a "monk weapon", so I'm not too bummed about it.
I loved the changing die size, it was so unique for 5e. And the Psi Replenishment was like their version of Arcane Recovery. The current pool is just another version of the same mechanic that other subclasses like Battlemaster already have. 🥱😴🤤😴😪
Wild Talent was a nice boost to Str/Dex depending on your build. The subclass really just needed more uses for their Psi Die. (And the UA Telekinetic feat was better.)
The issue you’re going to run into with your plan to use Ki as the pool (“Spend 1 Ki to roll your Psionic Die etc. etc.”) is that you’re likely to run into the same problem that the Way of the 4 Elements monk has. There isn’t enough Ki to go around. In fact, WotFE is probably the best Template to start from for your Monk adaptation of the Psi Warrior, since some of the features can just be reskinned to incorporate the Psi Die. Just make sure to charge a bit less Ki for some of the feature. Perhaps consider some of the suggested houserules in this article to help redesign it into a more suitable Psi Monk for your player:
Interesting! I'll give this a thorough read, thank you.
I did intend to pool the Ki and Psi dice together, so that there would be 6 Ki points at level two, and would choose to use it on both, with the exception that Psi abilities would count as using up 1 Ki point, but only expend one if the ability said so. Caveat here being that the player can easily spend all Ki points in either system. At first, I feared this might boost the Monk too much. But turns out Monk is difficult to make op.
Yes, it is. Monks are one of the best designed classes in the game IMHO, and are fairly well insulated from the wild ups and downs of other classes in regards to their subclasses.
This is a Monk class that picks the fighter's Psi Warrior as its subclass. How would you boost this merge?
Mixing subclasses between classes is difficult for many class balance reasons. But in this particular case, subclass features line up relatively well. But here's the issue:
Fighter subclasses offer combat utilities for the class, since the base class itself brings the power (AC, ASIs, Extra Attacks, etc.). The entire class is customized through its subclass and by the feats you choose to take. Monk doesn't get that many of them. So, if you bring over a fighter subclass that is mostly flavor, to a class that relies on both class and subclass together to bring it to its fullest combat potential, you're going to run into issues.
The issue essentially is this; Monk gets Ki points, which its subclass features use up to help Monk do something else besides Flurry of Blows. That's what they're there for. Now, Psi Warrior does not give any interactions for Ki, as it isn't a Monk subclass. However, it has a similar structure to it, having a dice pool to fuel it's abilities.
Seize this moment to homebrew with me, as I try to find comfortable ways to merge Psi Warrior into a Monk subclass! Help me DnD community, you're my only hope.
Reason behind this combination, is a player who wants to play a Jedi, as a Monk. As the DM, I see very little issues with this particular "merge", but through community advice, I've come to learn the merge is lacking in power output. As a final note, I will allow switching all intelligence modifiers to wisdom in the subclass.
The reason you are noticing a lacking is because the Psi Warrior as was published in Tasha’s is a steaming pile of hot garbage. I personally recommend using the UA version, the Psi Knight as it was actually pretty good.
https://media.wizards.com/2020/dnd/downloads/UA2020_PsionicOptions.pdf
Admittedly it did need the UA Wild Talent feat and the UA Telekinetic feat to make it really shine, but it was still way better than the official version.
Yes, switch the Int stuff to Wis for a Monk.
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I detest the Changing the Die’s Size and Psi Replenishment too much to totally revert back to it, and don't see why it would need Wild Talent. That said, the person is starting out with the Telekinetic feat, so that the psi powers sortakinda awaken bit by bit.
Part of my current solution is making the Ki and Psi dice draw from the same pool, effectively. Whenever the player uses a Psi Power, it is considered using 1 point of Ki. The point of this is to allow the player to utilize the Ki-Fueled Attack whenever they use the Psionic Powers, such as Telekinetic Movement, since the subclass itself doesn't provide other opportunities to do so. Writing that out, I realize it's the only one that can proc it. Regardless, that feature was made to turn a spellcasting into a "monk weapon", so I'm not too bummed about it.
I loved the changing die size, it was so unique for 5e. And the Psi Replenishment was like their version of Arcane Recovery. The current pool is just another version of the same mechanic that other subclasses like Battlemaster already have. 🥱😴🤤😴😪
Wild Talent was a nice boost to Str/Dex depending on your build. The subclass really just needed more uses for their Psi Die. (And the UA Telekinetic feat was better.)
The issue you’re going to run into with your plan to use Ki as the pool (“Spend 1 Ki to roll your Psionic Die etc. etc.”) is that you’re likely to run into the same problem that the Way of the 4 Elements monk has. There isn’t enough Ki to go around. In fact, WotFE is probably the best Template to start from for your Monk adaptation of the Psi Warrior, since some of the features can just be reskinned to incorporate the Psi Die. Just make sure to charge a bit less Ki for some of the feature. Perhaps consider some of the suggested houserules in this article to help redesign it into a more suitable Psi Monk for your player:
https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/658-monk-101-way-of-the-four-elements#c13
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Interesting! I'll give this a thorough read, thank you.
I did intend to pool the Ki and Psi dice together, so that there would be 6 Ki points at level two, and would choose to use it on both, with the exception that Psi abilities would count as using up 1 Ki point, but only expend one if the ability said so. Caveat here being that the player can easily spend all Ki points in either system. At first, I feared this might boost the Monk too much. But turns out Monk is difficult to make op.
Yes, it is. Monks are one of the best designed classes in the game IMHO, and are fairly well insulated from the wild ups and downs of other classes in regards to their subclasses.
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