Monks at 1st level get access to Martial Arts. One of the benefits is:
You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the attack and damage rolls of your unarmed strikes and monk weapons.
One of the new fighting styles available (through either the Fighter class or the [feat]Fighting Initiate[/feat] feat) is Unarmed Fighting. One of the benefits is:
Your unarmed strikes can deal bludgeoning damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier on a hit. If you aren’t wielding any weapons or a shield when you make the attack roll, the d6 becomes a d8.
So, topic for discussion....
If my character has one level of Monk AND has the Unarmed Fighting style, can he use Dexterity instead of Strength on his unarmed strikes from his fighting style? If he's a Variant Human, can he basically start off at level one doing 1d6/1d8+Dexterity damage on his unarmed attacks?
Or does Unarmed Fighting limit the use of the larger damage die to ONLY being used with a Strength modifier?
It seems, by RAW, as if the two features CAN interact, granting a boon to unarmed monks. But it also seems... a bit OP. Thoughts?
EDIT: The D&D Beyond character sheets seems to give contradictory results. You can't choose your style when you pick the "Fighting Initiate" feat (bug?) so I had to create a character with 1 level of monk, and 1 level of fighter, Unarmed Fighting style. He has a Strength of 10 and Dexterity of 16.
The character sheet dice button allows rolling Unarmed attacks with 1d4+3, 1d6+3 or 1d8+3. But the description beneath it says explicitly, "Your unarmed strikes can deal bludgeoning damage equal to 1d6+0 on a hit," and hovering over the 0 shows it refers to Strength modifier.
There are a few races that come with their own "enhanced" unarmed strike, such as the Simic Hybrid(1d6), Lizardfolk(1d6), Tabaxi(1d4), Minotaur(1d6), etc...
So, the feat essentially grants a character the equivalent of a slightly more versatile natural weapon. If that's how you want to use your feat, you might be better off choosing one of the above races.
Yes, that works. It's not really a big step up from going full monk with a quarterstaff, or taking Dueling fighting style instead, unless you plan to do a lot of grappling.
Monks at 1st level get access to Martial Arts. One of the benefits is:
You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the attack and damage rolls of your unarmed strikes and monk weapons.
One of the new fighting styles available (through either the Fighter class or the [feat]Fighting Initiate[/feat] feat) is Unarmed Fighting. One of the benefits is:
Your unarmed strikes can deal bludgeoning damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier on a hit. If you aren’t wielding any weapons or a shield when you make the attack roll, the d6 becomes a d8.
So, topic for discussion....
If my character has one level of Monk AND has the Unarmed Fighting style, can he use Dexterity instead of Strength on his unarmed strikes from his fighting style? If he's a Variant Human, can he basically start off at level one doing 1d6/1d8+Dexterity damage on his unarmed attacks?
Or does Unarmed Fighting limit the use of the larger damage die to ONLY being used with a Strength modifier?
It seems, by RAW, as if the two features CAN interact, granting a boon to unarmed monks. But it also seems... a bit OP. Thoughts?
TL;DR yes, but it's not OP, or even a good thing past tier-1. A level 1 anything with a Rapier can do 1d8+Dex.
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You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
TL;DR yes, but it's not OP, or even a good thing past tier-1. A level 1 anything with a Rapier can do 1d8+Dex.
I tend to agree, but I get the impression that if monks were errata'd to start with a 1d8 die for their unarmed attacks, there would be a lot of complaining about how unbalancing it was.
So is there an official ruling that, say, Minotaur monks cannot use Dexterity instead of Strength for the attack and damage of their horns?
1) The Monk ability says that you can use Dexterity for unarmed strikes. 2) Minotaur Horns can be used to make unarmed strikes. Ergo, dexterity can be used for minotaur horns.
I don't believe this interaction is considered controversial.
Jeremy Crawford talks about Tabaxi Monks occasionally on twitter, but none of the exchanges I'm seeing are explicitly about using dexterity. It's simply assumed that unarmed strikes are unarmed strikes.
TL;DR yes, but it's not OP, or even a good thing past tier-1. A level 1 anything with a Rapier can do 1d8+Dex.
But monks are not proficient with a rapier. If you want the abilities of a monk but not be stuck with the reduced damage die, then this seems to be a significant improvement.
TL;DR yes, but it's not OP, or even a good thing past tier-1. A level 1 anything with a Rapier can do 1d8+Dex.
But monks are not proficient with a rapier. If you want the abilities of a monk but not be stuck with the reduced damage die, then this seems to be a significant improvement.
I play a monk with a quarterstaff. Same dice.
This slightly improves MA bonus action and flurry of blows, but only by 1-4 damage average (2 damage after level 5, and no bonus at level 11). You also have to consider that this minor damage boost is costing you either a class level or feat for a bonus that you will already get as you level up.
So this is ok for a low level one shot or monk dip, but not strong overall and definitely not game breakingly so.
TL;DR yes, but it's not OP, or even a good thing past tier-1. A level 1 anything with a Rapier can do 1d8+Dex.
But monks are not proficient with a rapier. If you want the abilities of a monk but not be stuck with the reduced damage die, then this seems to be a significant improvement.
You do not need proficiency with a Rapier in order to use one, and proficiency doesn't affect the weapon's damage. Anyone can use it, it has a 1d8 base damage die, and the Finesse allows you to use Dex for both the attack and damage rolls. A level 1 anything with a Rapier can do 1d8+Dex. Point being, it's not OP; it is entirely normal.
This slightly improves MA bonus action and flurry of blows, but only by 1-4 damage average (2 damage after level 5, and no bonus at level 11). You also have to consider that this minor damage boost is costing you either a class level or feat for a bonus that you will already get as you level up.
So this is ok for a low level one shot or monk dip, but not strong overall and definitely not game breakingly so.
Yup, my monk uses quarterstaves & spears, and natural weapon unarmed strikes. I've never felt like my unarmed strikes being less than 1d8 was a hindrance; the MA progression is the baseline, and the fact that I can use a weapon that starts with 1d8 and still get MA bonuses is just icing. I wouldn't go out of my way to pick a feat that does something I'm going to get from leveling up anyway.
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You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
You do not need proficiency with a Rapier in order to use one, and proficiency doesn't affect the weapon's damage. Anyone can use it, it has a 1d8 base damage die, and the Finesse allows you to use Dex for both the attack and damage rolls. A level 1 anything with a Rapier can do 1d8+Dex. Point being, it's not OP; it is entirely normal.
If you are not proficient, you lose your proficiency bonus to hit with that weapon.
Yup, my monk uses quarterstaves & spears, and natural weapon unarmed strikes. I've never felt like my unarmed strikes being less than 1d8 was a hindrance; the MA progression is the baseline, and the fact that I can use a weapon that starts with 1d8 and still get MA bonuses is just icing. I wouldn't go out of my way to pick a feat that does something I'm going to get from leveling up anyway.
I don't think anyone called it a "hindrance." That reads like a straw man. I specifically said that it seemed to be a significant improvement. Going from a d4 to a d8 on all unarmed strikes, including flurries, seems significant - even if at lvl 10, you get it anyway. This is somewhat like Heavy Armor master that is more powerful the earlier you take it, and it eventually loses its significance.
I wouldn't go out of my way to pick a feat that does something I'm going to get from leveling up anyway.
Valid, but then with just about everything else being changeable in Tasha's upon leveling up (skills, subclasses, etc.), it seems rather odd that changing a feat at a later date was not included as an option. On a scale of difficulting for retraining, I would put most feats in between skills and subclasses.
Would the monk's bonus attack be 1d8 if he were using fighting initiate? Or would it be 1d4? Using the DNDBEYOND character builder it says 1d4 but IF I am reading the rules correctly it would be 1d8 as both say "unarmed strike" for both abilities.
Would the monk's bonus attack be 1d8 if he were using fighting initiate? Or would it be 1d4? Using the DNDBEYOND character builder it says 1d4 but IF I am reading the rules correctly it would be 1d8 as both say "unarmed strike" for both abilities.
Yeah. That's almost definitely a bug. I suspect that they hardcoded Flurry of Blows according to the Monk mechanic, or are treating Fighting Initiate's unarmed strike as some weapon variant, so it's not getting flagged correctly for FoB.
You do not need proficiency with a Rapier in order to use one, and proficiency doesn't affect the weapon's damage. Anyone can use it, it has a 1d8 base damage die, and the Finesse allows you to use Dex for both the attack and damage rolls. A level 1 anything with a Rapier can do 1d8+Dex. Point being, it's not OP; it is entirely normal.
If you are not proficient, you lose your proficiency bonus to hit with that weapon.
Which does not affect your damage roll. I know how proficiency works. The point, again, is that having a damage roll of 1d8+ability mod is entirely normal for any character, regardless of how it's acquired.
Yup, my monk uses quarterstaves & spears, and natural weapon unarmed strikes. I've never felt like my unarmed strikes being less than 1d8 was a hindrance; the MA progression is the baseline, and the fact that I can use a weapon that starts with 1d8 and still get MA bonuses is just icing. I wouldn't go out of my way to pick a feat that does something I'm going to get from leveling up anyway.
I don't think anyone called it a "hindrance." That reads like a straw man. I specifically said that it seemed to be a significant improvement. Going from a d4 to a d8 on all unarmed strikes, including flurries, seems significant - even if at lvl 10, you get it anyway. This is somewhat like Heavy Armor master that is more powerful the earlier you take it, and it eventually loses its significance.
TL;DR yes, but it's not OP, or even a good thing past tier-1. A level 1 anything with a Rapier can do 1d8+Dex.
But monks are not proficient with a rapier. If you want the abilities of a monk but not be stuck with the reduced damage die, then this seems to be a significant improvement.
You explicitly framed your statement from the perspective of considering the core Monk feature as 'lesser', so no, my response is not a strawman.
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You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
I mean, it definitely is a big step up. Since this buffs your flurry of blows attacks as well.
So a fully unarmed monk at level 5 can do two punches then flurry of blows for 4 punches each doing a d8.
That's like the level 20 fighter having 4 attacks and a longsword. Though the monk in this instance will get to emulate the level 20's basic damage output only 5 times per short rest. Its pretty much allowing the level 5 monk to do the basic combat damage of a level 11 monk.
Or even at level 4 before you get extra attack and upgrade the martial arts die to a d6. The monk using a staff without the feat is getting a d8 staff attack and 2d4 punches with Flurry of Blows. The feat allows the punch monk to just do 3d8 using their ki point.
I mean, it definitely is a big step up. Since this buffs your flurry of blows attacks as well.
So a fully unarmed monk at level 5 can do two punches then flurry of blows for 4 punches each doing a d8.
That's like the level 20 fighter having 4 attacks and a longsword. Though the monk in this instance will get to emulate the level 20's basic damage output only 5 times per short rest. Its pretty much allowing the level 5 monk to do the basic combat damage of a level 11 monk.
Or even at level 4 before you get extra attack and upgrade the martial arts die to a d6. The monk using a staff without the feat is getting a d8 staff attack and 2d4 punches with Flurry of Blows. The feat allows the punch monk to just do 3d8 using their ki point.
As opposed to a level 20 fighter using shortswords. And not counting ASIs, proficiency bonuses, and class features of course...
There is a lot more differences between a level 5 monk and a level 11 monk than 1-2 damage per turn. Hardly a big step up.
And even at level 4 we are talking about 2-4 more average damage, except it cost a feat so again 1-2 average damage. And worse, the 1 extra damage you gained won't even scale past level 11, so it is actually -3 damage after that.
I mean, it definitely is a big step up. Since this buffs your flurry of blows attacks as well.
So a fully unarmed monk at level 5 can do two punches then flurry of blows for 4 punches each doing a d8.
That's like the level 20 fighter having 4 attacks and a longsword. Though the monk in this instance will get to emulate the level 20's basic damage output only 5 times per short rest. Its pretty much allowing the level 5 monk to do the basic combat damage of a level 11 monk.
Or even at level 4 before you get extra attack and upgrade the martial arts die to a d6. The monk using a staff without the feat is getting a d8 staff attack and 2d4 punches with Flurry of Blows. The feat allows the punch monk to just do 3d8 using their ki point.
As opposed to a level 20 fighter using shortswords. And not counting ASIs, proficiency bonuses, and class features of course...
There is a lot more differences between a level 5 monk and a level 11 monk than 1-2 damage per turn. Hardly a big step up.
And even at level 4 we are talking about 2-4 more average damage, except it cost a feat so again 1-2 average damage. And worse, the 1 extra damage you gained won't even scale past level 11, so it is actually -3 damage after that.
Exactly. A d4 damage is perfectly fine, the difference between a d4 and d8 even at level 1 is minimal, and there are myriad options for reducing multiple ability dependencies. None of them ultimately change much beyond quality of life simplifications, and dipping into Monk for Martial Arts is the least interesting thing about Monk.
Anything you build basically is going to come back to having (1-4) attack(s) as an action, and 1 attack as a bonus action.
A Fighter dipping into Monk for the bonus action permanently gives up an attack on their main action, so it'd be a wash... except your fighter subclass probably gave you a bonus action attack already, so you're just losing that extra attack.
2 levels for Flurry? Okay, twice per SR... not a big deal, and getting one extra attack on a cooldown isn't that rare either. Still losing one net potential attack.
Take a feat for unarmed d8 damage? Okay, that's perfectly normal. d8s are one of the most common damage dice.
None of the options available will dramatically alter the power of a character primarily using unarmed strikes. Full Monk is the most optimal. Anything/Monk, with or without feats, is going to end up in basically the same ballpark as the levels in your chosen main class. If that's your flavor, go for it. You probably won't be getting the best bang for your buck, but you'll get enough that it shouldn't matter much.
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You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
Well, we just finished up a one-shot (in two sessions) with level 3 characters. I played a variant Human monk with the Unarmed Fighting style, and I LOVED it! Didn't even bother with a weapon since the shortsword I would have started with was a lower die than the d8 from his fists. I also played with the Way of the Ascendant Dragon UA subclass, so being able to change his unarmed damage into various elements on the fly was also fun.
Here's something I realized as well. The Martial Initiate feat, which grants the Unarmed Fighting Style, lets you change your fighting style every time you get an Ability Score Improvement. So at level 12, only one level after the monk's martial arts die size hits d8, you can just switch out the fighting style for something else at that point (I was thinking Blind Fighting.) Meaning you get the attack bump at lower levels, AND the feat DOES NOT become obsolete or wasted--you can swap out to something else later on.
It didn't feel broken playing it, but I did get a couple of looks from others at the table. Honestly, it's such a great combo for a monk I plan to play it a couple more times.
Monks at 1st level get access to Martial Arts. One of the benefits is:
One of the new fighting styles available (through either the Fighter class or the [feat]Fighting Initiate[/feat] feat) is Unarmed Fighting. One of the benefits is:
So, topic for discussion....
If my character has one level of Monk AND has the Unarmed Fighting style, can he use Dexterity instead of Strength on his unarmed strikes from his fighting style? If he's a Variant Human, can he basically start off at level one doing 1d6/1d8+Dexterity damage on his unarmed attacks?
Or does Unarmed Fighting limit the use of the larger damage die to ONLY being used with a Strength modifier?
It seems, by RAW, as if the two features CAN interact, granting a boon to unarmed monks. But it also seems... a bit OP. Thoughts?
EDIT: The D&D Beyond character sheets seems to give contradictory results. You can't choose your style when you pick the "Fighting Initiate" feat (bug?) so I had to create a character with 1 level of monk, and 1 level of fighter, Unarmed Fighting style. He has a Strength of 10 and Dexterity of 16.
The character sheet dice button allows rolling Unarmed attacks with 1d4+3, 1d6+3 or 1d8+3. But the description beneath it says explicitly, "Your unarmed strikes can deal bludgeoning damage equal to 1d6+0 on a hit," and hovering over the 0 shows it refers to Strength modifier.
Sterling - V. Human Bard 3 (College of Art) - [Pic] - [Traits] - in Bards: Dragon Heist (w/ Mansion) - Jasper's [Pic] - Sterling's [Sigil]
Tooltips Post (2024 PHB updates) - incl. General Rules
>> New FOW threat & treasure tables: fow-advanced-threat-tables.pdf fow-advanced-treasure-table.pdf
There are a few races that come with their own "enhanced" unarmed strike, such as the Simic Hybrid(1d6), Lizardfolk(1d6), Tabaxi(1d4), Minotaur(1d6), etc...
So, the feat essentially grants a character the equivalent of a slightly more versatile natural weapon. If that's how you want to use your feat, you might be better off choosing one of the above races.
Yes, that works. It's not really a big step up from going full monk with a quarterstaff, or taking Dueling fighting style instead, unless you plan to do a lot of grappling.
The Forum Infestation (TM)
TL;DR yes, but it's not OP, or even a good thing past tier-1. A level 1 anything with a Rapier can do 1d8+Dex.
You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
So is there an official ruling that, say, Minotaur monks cannot use Dexterity instead of Strength for the attack and damage of their horns?
Sterling - V. Human Bard 3 (College of Art) - [Pic] - [Traits] - in Bards: Dragon Heist (w/ Mansion) - Jasper's [Pic] - Sterling's [Sigil]
Tooltips Post (2024 PHB updates) - incl. General Rules
>> New FOW threat & treasure tables: fow-advanced-threat-tables.pdf fow-advanced-treasure-table.pdf
I tend to agree, but I get the impression that if monks were errata'd to start with a 1d8 die for their unarmed attacks, there would be a lot of complaining about how unbalancing it was.
Sterling - V. Human Bard 3 (College of Art) - [Pic] - [Traits] - in Bards: Dragon Heist (w/ Mansion) - Jasper's [Pic] - Sterling's [Sigil]
Tooltips Post (2024 PHB updates) - incl. General Rules
>> New FOW threat & treasure tables: fow-advanced-threat-tables.pdf fow-advanced-treasure-table.pdf
1) The Monk ability says that you can use Dexterity for unarmed strikes.
2) Minotaur Horns can be used to make unarmed strikes.
Ergo, dexterity can be used for minotaur horns.
I don't believe this interaction is considered controversial.
Jeremy Crawford talks about Tabaxi Monks occasionally on twitter, but none of the exchanges I'm seeing are explicitly about using dexterity. It's simply assumed that unarmed strikes are unarmed strikes.
Fair enough. Thanks!
Sterling - V. Human Bard 3 (College of Art) - [Pic] - [Traits] - in Bards: Dragon Heist (w/ Mansion) - Jasper's [Pic] - Sterling's [Sigil]
Tooltips Post (2024 PHB updates) - incl. General Rules
>> New FOW threat & treasure tables: fow-advanced-threat-tables.pdf fow-advanced-treasure-table.pdf
But monks are not proficient with a rapier. If you want the abilities of a monk but not be stuck with the reduced damage die, then this seems to be a significant improvement.
I play a monk with a quarterstaff. Same dice.
This slightly improves MA bonus action and flurry of blows, but only by 1-4 damage average (2 damage after level 5, and no bonus at level 11). You also have to consider that this minor damage boost is costing you either a class level or feat for a bonus that you will already get as you level up.
So this is ok for a low level one shot or monk dip, but not strong overall and definitely not game breakingly so.
You do not need proficiency with a Rapier in order to use one, and proficiency doesn't affect the weapon's damage. Anyone can use it, it has a 1d8 base damage die, and the Finesse allows you to use Dex for both the attack and damage rolls. A level 1 anything with a Rapier can do 1d8+Dex. Point being, it's not OP; it is entirely normal.
Yup, my monk uses quarterstaves & spears, and natural weapon unarmed strikes. I've never felt like my unarmed strikes being less than 1d8 was a hindrance; the MA progression is the baseline, and the fact that I can use a weapon that starts with 1d8 and still get MA bonuses is just icing. I wouldn't go out of my way to pick a feat that does something I'm going to get from leveling up anyway.
You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
If you are not proficient, you lose your proficiency bonus to hit with that weapon.
I don't think anyone called it a "hindrance." That reads like a straw man. I specifically said that it seemed to be a significant improvement. Going from a d4 to a d8 on all unarmed strikes, including flurries, seems significant - even if at lvl 10, you get it anyway. This is somewhat like Heavy Armor master that is more powerful the earlier you take it, and it eventually loses its significance.
Valid, but then with just about everything else being changeable in Tasha's upon leveling up (skills, subclasses, etc.), it seems rather odd that changing a feat at a later date was not included as an option. On a scale of difficulting for retraining, I would put most feats in between skills and subclasses.
Would the monk's bonus attack be 1d8 if he were using fighting initiate? Or would it be 1d4? Using the DNDBEYOND character builder it says 1d4 but IF I am reading the rules correctly it would be 1d8 as both say "unarmed strike" for both abilities.
Yeah. That's almost definitely a bug. I suspect that they hardcoded Flurry of Blows according to the Monk mechanic, or are treating Fighting Initiate's unarmed strike as some weapon variant, so it's not getting flagged correctly for FoB.
Which does not affect your damage roll. I know how proficiency works. The point, again, is that having a damage roll of 1d8+ability mod is entirely normal for any character, regardless of how it's acquired.
You specifically said:
You explicitly framed your statement from the perspective of considering the core Monk feature as 'lesser', so no, my response is not a strawman.
You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
I mean, it definitely is a big step up. Since this buffs your flurry of blows attacks as well.
So a fully unarmed monk at level 5 can do two punches then flurry of blows for 4 punches each doing a d8.
That's like the level 20 fighter having 4 attacks and a longsword. Though the monk in this instance will get to emulate the level 20's basic damage output only 5 times per short rest. Its pretty much allowing the level 5 monk to do the basic combat damage of a level 11 monk.
Or even at level 4 before you get extra attack and upgrade the martial arts die to a d6. The monk using a staff without the feat is getting a d8 staff attack and 2d4 punches with Flurry of Blows. The feat allows the punch monk to just do 3d8 using their ki point.
As opposed to a level 20 fighter using shortswords. And not counting ASIs, proficiency bonuses, and class features of course...
There is a lot more differences between a level 5 monk and a level 11 monk than 1-2 damage per turn. Hardly a big step up.
And even at level 4 we are talking about 2-4 more average damage, except it cost a feat so again 1-2 average damage. And worse, the 1 extra damage you gained won't even scale past level 11, so it is actually -3 damage after that.
Exactly. A d4 damage is perfectly fine, the difference between a d4 and d8 even at level 1 is minimal, and there are myriad options for reducing multiple ability dependencies. None of them ultimately change much beyond quality of life simplifications, and dipping into Monk for Martial Arts is the least interesting thing about Monk.
Anything you build basically is going to come back to having (1-4) attack(s) as an action, and 1 attack as a bonus action.
A Fighter dipping into Monk for the bonus action permanently gives up an attack on their main action, so it'd be a wash... except your fighter subclass probably gave you a bonus action attack already, so you're just losing that extra attack.
2 levels for Flurry? Okay, twice per SR... not a big deal, and getting one extra attack on a cooldown isn't that rare either. Still losing one net potential attack.
Take a feat for unarmed d8 damage? Okay, that's perfectly normal. d8s are one of the most common damage dice.
None of the options available will dramatically alter the power of a character primarily using unarmed strikes. Full Monk is the most optimal. Anything/Monk, with or without feats, is going to end up in basically the same ballpark as the levels in your chosen main class. If that's your flavor, go for it. You probably won't be getting the best bang for your buck, but you'll get enough that it shouldn't matter much.
You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
Guess if it works it is worth doing if you really want the early damage. I was mistaken about its interactions with the monk features.
Well, we just finished up a one-shot (in two sessions) with level 3 characters. I played a variant Human monk with the Unarmed Fighting style, and I LOVED it! Didn't even bother with a weapon since the shortsword I would have started with was a lower die than the d8 from his fists. I also played with the Way of the Ascendant Dragon UA subclass, so being able to change his unarmed damage into various elements on the fly was also fun.
Here's something I realized as well. The Martial Initiate feat, which grants the Unarmed Fighting Style, lets you change your fighting style every time you get an Ability Score Improvement. So at level 12, only one level after the monk's martial arts die size hits d8, you can just switch out the fighting style for something else at that point (I was thinking Blind Fighting.) Meaning you get the attack bump at lower levels, AND the feat DOES NOT become obsolete or wasted--you can swap out to something else later on.
It didn't feel broken playing it, but I did get a couple of looks from others at the table. Honestly, it's such a great combo for a monk I plan to play it a couple more times.
Sterling - V. Human Bard 3 (College of Art) - [Pic] - [Traits] - in Bards: Dragon Heist (w/ Mansion) - Jasper's [Pic] - Sterling's [Sigil]
Tooltips Post (2024 PHB updates) - incl. General Rules
>> New FOW threat & treasure tables: fow-advanced-threat-tables.pdf fow-advanced-treasure-table.pdf