When a Warrior of the Elements Monk uses Elemental Attunement, their Unarmed Strike range increases by 10 feet. When they hit with that reached Unarmed Strike, they can change the damage type from bludgeoning to an "elemental" damage type. The rules are below:
Reach. When you make an Unarmed Strike, your reach is 10 feet greater than normal, as elemental energy extends from you.
Elemental Strikes. Whenever you hit with your Unarmed Strike, you can cause it to deal your choice of Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning, or Thunder damage rather than its normal damage type. When you deal one of these types with it, you can also force the target to make a Strength saving throw. On a failed save, you can move the target up to 10 feet toward or away from you, as elemental energy swirls around it.
However, if a player chooses not to change the damage type– and keep the damage is bludgeoning– it seems like they cannot force the target to make a Strength saving throw? Is that correct? I don't understand why keeping the Unarmed Strike as bludgeoning damage wouldn't allow for forced movement.
Yeah! I definitely agree that it's part of the theme, and I include "punching at a distance" in that same theme. It's not that the Monk's arms are extending 10 feet, it's more as though the Monk is causing some element to fling toward the opponent, and when it connects, it causes bludgeoning damage.
I didn't want to cite Avatar immediately, because I want to respect that D&D is not Avatar, and Avatar is not D&D. 😅 But I think it makes for a great explanation of my confusion. If you were to imagine explaining the fights in Avatar in D&D terms, I would think that most damage would be bludgeoning damage, right? Sure, firebending does fire damage, ice does cold, lightning does lighting. And sometimes water- and airbending could do slashing damage in rare instances. But most of the time, I would think that commonly earth-, water- and airbending would all be doing some kind of bludgeoning damage, no? Suffering an impact with large amounts of water, ice, air, rocks or dirt would most likely causing bruising. But the rules are telling me that no matter how much earthbending I throw at someone, it will never cause them to move?
To put it another way, isn't it strange that a Warrior of the Elements could blast an opponent with lightning and force them to move 10 feet, but if they pummeled them with a huge rock, or a wave of water, they wouldn't likely move 10 feet?
Yeah! I definitely agree that it's part of the theme, and I include "punching at a distance" in that same theme. It's not that the Monk's arms are extending 10 feet, it's more as though the Monk is causing some element to fling toward the opponent, and when it connects, it causes bludgeoning damage.
To put it another way, isn't it strange that a Warrior of the Elements could blast an opponent with lightning and force them to move 10 feet, but if they pummeled them with a huge rock, or a wave of water, they wouldn't likely move 10 feet?
To do that, I guess the idea is to use the Shove option for your Unarmed Strikes instead of choosing Elemental Strikes.
I'd say thunder thematically is about as close to bludgeoning damage as you can get imo. Its basically physical force but with a loud noise attached. so just use thunder if you want to pretend its a bludgeoning punch. Your punch is so fast it breaks the speed of sound with a loud crack.
And you also get to sing AC/DC Thunderstruck every time you attack as a bonus.
As your turn comes up. "Wa-ah ah-ah-ah, Wa-ah ah-ah-ah, Wa-ah ah-ah-ah, Wa-ah ah-ah-ah, Thunder, thunder, thunder, thunder."
When a Warrior of the Elements Monk uses Elemental Attunement, their Unarmed Strike range increases by 10 feet. When they hit with that reached Unarmed Strike, they can change the damage type from bludgeoning to an "elemental" damage type. The rules are below:
However, if a player chooses not to change the damage type– and keep the damage is bludgeoning– it seems like they cannot force the target to make a Strength saving throw? Is that correct? I don't understand why keeping the Unarmed Strike as bludgeoning damage wouldn't allow for forced movement.
You are correct.
As to why, it's probably more theme than anything else -- you're using streams of the elements to push and pull, much like in Avatar.
The real question is why you can punch at a distance, not why you can't push/pull while doing so.
Yeah! I definitely agree that it's part of the theme, and I include "punching at a distance" in that same theme. It's not that the Monk's arms are extending 10 feet, it's more as though the Monk is causing some element to fling toward the opponent, and when it connects, it causes bludgeoning damage.
I didn't want to cite Avatar immediately, because I want to respect that D&D is not Avatar, and Avatar is not D&D. 😅 But I think it makes for a great explanation of my confusion. If you were to imagine explaining the fights in Avatar in D&D terms, I would think that most damage would be bludgeoning damage, right? Sure, firebending does fire damage, ice does cold, lightning does lighting. And sometimes water- and airbending could do slashing damage in rare instances. But most of the time, I would think that commonly earth-, water- and airbending would all be doing some kind of bludgeoning damage, no? Suffering an impact with large amounts of water, ice, air, rocks or dirt would most likely causing bruising. But the rules are telling me that no matter how much earthbending I throw at someone, it will never cause them to move?
To put it another way, isn't it strange that a Warrior of the Elements could blast an opponent with lightning and force them to move 10 feet, but if they pummeled them with a huge rock, or a wave of water, they wouldn't likely move 10 feet?
That would be like a Luffy D. Monk :D
Another way to interact with this feature and the extended Reach is to extend your grappling distance (thread created by @jl8e): Ranged Grapple (Monk Warrior of the Elements)
To do that, I guess the idea is to use the Shove option for your Unarmed Strikes instead of choosing Elemental Strikes.
I'd say thunder thematically is about as close to bludgeoning damage as you can get imo. Its basically physical force but with a loud noise attached. so just use thunder if you want to pretend its a bludgeoning punch. Your punch is so fast it breaks the speed of sound with a loud crack.
And you also get to sing AC/DC Thunderstruck every time you attack as a bonus.
As your turn comes up. "Wa-ah ah-ah-ah, Wa-ah ah-ah-ah, Wa-ah ah-ah-ah, Wa-ah ah-ah-ah, Thunder, thunder, thunder, thunder."