If a monk with no magic items is on par with another character kitted out head-to-toe in legendary items then there is something completely broken about the class b/c 5e is supposed to be playable with no magic items at all. Monks can use magic items just fine, and have AC equal to that of any character that doesn't use a shield (which is lots IME).
But magic exists in DnD. Magic weapons and armor also exist in DnD. You have to take that into account. But even if you play a low magic setting, so what? A monk that is powerful without magic items gets to shine. Just like a ranger in exploration/survival scenarios. Just like a bard in intrigue scenarios. Just like a wizard pretty much anywhere. I don't see a problem with one class being a bit ahead of others in very specific cases.
For some reason no one complained about monk being bonkers broken and overpowered in 3.5e, then monk got nerfed drastically in 5e and some people claim that it's alright...
But what party and what DM is going to give another character a pile of legendary items and give the monk nothing? It's utterly ridiculous to compare one character with legendary items to another character with none. A monk with a stack of magic items will effortlessly outshine a fighter with none, a OG beastmaster ranger with a stack of magic items will effortlessly outshine a paladin with none, a Draconic sorcerer with magic items will effortlessly outshine a wizard with none. It is a ludicrous comparison! Monks can use 95% of the magic items a fighter can use, so why are you assuming a monk has nothing and a fighter has everything?
But what party and what DM is going to give another character a pile of legendary items and give the monk nothing? It's utterly ridiculous to compare one character with legendary items to another character with none. A monk with a stack of magic items will effortlessly outshine a fighter with none, a OG beastmaster ranger with a stack of magic items will effortlessly outshine a paladin with none, a Draconic sorcerer with magic items will effortlessly outshine a wizard with none. It is a ludicrous comparison! Monks can use 95% of the magic items a fighter can use, so why are you assuming a monk has nothing and a fighter has everything?
Can monk use magical armor? Nope. Magical weapons? Yes, but only simple ones, and in practice, most magical weapons are martial, because they're designed for martials in the first place. There's just a few items a monk can use to directly pump AC and damage. It's either at the mercy or Korean gods of random, or at the mercy of a DM if monk will have one of these few select items. Of course, there's other stuff to fill the attunement slots with - rings, cloaks, gloves, robes, helmets, all kinds of great utility-focused artifacts. That's what usually happens, what is most likely to happen. It's simple statistics if you look at the list of all magic weapons and compare the % of them that monk can use.
But what party and what DM is going to give another character a pile of legendary items and give the monk nothing? It's utterly ridiculous to compare one character with legendary items to another character with none. A monk with a stack of magic items will effortlessly outshine a fighter with none, a OG beastmaster ranger with a stack of magic items will effortlessly outshine a paladin with none, a Draconic sorcerer with magic items will effortlessly outshine a wizard with none. It is a ludicrous comparison! Monks can use 95% of the magic items a fighter can use, so why are you assuming a monk has nothing and a fighter has everything?
Can monk use magical armor? Nope. Magical weapons? Yes, but only simple ones, and in practice, most magical weapons are martial, because they're designed for martials in the first place. There's just a few items a monk can use to directly pump AC and damage. It's either at the mercy or Korean gods of random, or at the mercy of a DM if monk will have one of these few select items. Of course, there's other stuff to fill the attunement slots with - rings, cloaks, gloves, robes, helmets, all kinds of great utility-focused artifacts. That's what usually happens, what is most likely to happen. It's simple statistics if you look at the list of all magic weapons and compare the % of them that monk can use.
LOL Nonsense!
From the Dungeon Master's Guide there are 420 magic items (excluding Common and Artifacts). A generic Fighter can use: 398 of them A generic Monk can use: 334 of them (of these 6 increase AC, 22 increase damage, 4 increase Con, 2 increase Dex, 2 increase Wis)
And that's just one book! And only published items (how many people play with A-hole DMs that aren't willing to HB a weapon or armour to be a different "type" so a monk can use it?)
Also FYI only 7 magic weapons in the DMG specify that they are martial weapons, and 7 specify that they are simple weapons, 19 magic weapons can be either simple or martial.
In terms of Magic Armour (12/420): 3 +X generic variants, Adamantine (no AC buff) Mithril (no AC buff) Armour of Resistance (no AC buff) Dragon Scale Mail Demon Armour (cursed) Dwarven Plate Glamoured - common item replicates non AC bonus effect Mariner - no AC bonus, common & uncommon items have better properties Plate of Etherealness (no AC buff) Effreeti Chain Elven Chain
In terms of Magic Shields (7/420) 3 +X generic variants, Animated (no AC buff) Sentinel Shield (no AC buff) Missile Attraction (cursed) Spellguard (no AC buff and non-shield item exists that does the same thing)
In terms of upping a character's AC over 20. Fighters only have: +1/+2/+3 shield, +1/+2/+3 Plate, Efreeti Chain, Demon Armour, Dwarven Plate, and the items a Monk can use.
But what party and what DM is going to give another character a pile of legendary items and give the monk nothing? It's utterly ridiculous to compare one character with legendary items to another character with none. A monk with a stack of magic items will effortlessly outshine a fighter with none, a OG beastmaster ranger with a stack of magic items will effortlessly outshine a paladin with none, a Draconic sorcerer with magic items will effortlessly outshine a wizard with none. It is a ludicrous comparison! Monks can use 95% of the magic items a fighter can use, so why are you assuming a monk has nothing and a fighter has everything?
Can monk use magical armor? Nope. Magical weapons? Yes, but only simple ones, and in practice, most magical weapons are martial, because they're designed for martials in the first place. There's just a few items a monk can use to directly pump AC and damage. It's either at the mercy or Korean gods of random, or at the mercy of a DM if monk will have one of these few select items. Of course, there's other stuff to fill the attunement slots with - rings, cloaks, gloves, robes, helmets, all kinds of great utility-focused artifacts. That's what usually happens, what is most likely to happen. It's simple statistics if you look at the list of all magic weapons and compare the % of them that monk can use.
Monks can still get a solid Ac, and for the flaw in this that exists its not that hard to add like 2 magic items to the game fist wraps with magical enhancements to unarmed damage and maybe like a ki band that increases unarmored defense.
Many already exist! And it is utterly trivial to HB "+1 Robes" to match "+1 Scale Mail"
The Insignia of Claws gives a +1 to attacks and damage with unarmed strikes
The Gloves of Soul catching gives +2d10 damage to unarmed strikes
The Eldritch Claw Tattoo gives +1 to attacks and damage with unarmed strikes and a 1/day 1 minute of +1d6 damage with unarmed strikes.
Tomes can increase your DEX and WIS to 22 each, Ioun Stones can give +2 to DEX or WIS to make up for taking a feat.
The Bracers of Defense give a +2 AC, the Defender Shortsword gives up to a +3 AC (and is incredibly thematic for a monk), the Ioun Stone of Protection gives a +1 AC, Cloak/Ring of Protection give +1 AC, Scaled Ornament gives +1 AC.
PS "At the risk of slowing down combat too much: Someone previously in the thread mentioned giving Monks the ability to 'Deflect Attacks' the same way they Deflect Missiles. To make it competitive at higher levels, you could give them the ability to do it for free once per round at level 6, then maybe for free once per turn at level 12." - Come on! What are you even talking about here? Do you even know how Deflect Missiles works? It is free already but it costs a reaction so is limited to once per round. It is also a MASSIVE damage reduction (i.e. more than Rage or Uncanny Dodge even up to Tier 4). At the level monk's get it, they can turn a Critical hit into 0 damage.
You're missing the point. If the current Deflect Missiles calculation is too large, then change it to Martial Arts Die+Dex/Wis. The idea was to take a feature the Monk already had and slightly change/expand it to improve frontline survivability while keeping the existing 'Monk' theme. As it stands, being able to deflect only missiles and only once per round at it's current power level is not enough to do that.
Many already exist! And it is utterly trivial to HB "+1 Robes" to match "+1 Scale Mail"
The Insignia of Claws gives a +1 to attacks and damage with unarmed strikes
The Gloves of Soul catching gives +2d10 damage to unarmed strikes
The Eldritch Claw Tattoo gives +1 to attacks and damage with unarmed strikes and a 1/day 1 minute of +1d6 damage with unarmed strikes.
Tomes can increase your DEX and WIS to 22 each, Ioun Stones can give +2 to DEX or WIS to make up for taking a feat.
The Bracers of Defense give a +2 AC, the Defender Shortsword gives up to a +3 AC (and is incredibly thematic for a monk), the Ioun Stone of Protection gives a +1 AC, Cloak/Ring of Protection give +1 AC, Scaled Ornament gives +1 AC.
That's like less than a dozen out of several hundred. Monk is swimming in chances. Again, iif you actually experience playing a monk in a game, in a party, you'll know the problem. When only one item out of twenty in the loot table potentially adds to your raw power (but only 2/3 of it, because your third attack and FoB attack are unarmed anyway), and there's always other contestants for that same loot, theory becomes a distant reverie.
And I'll say it again: in 3.5e, monks' unarmed damage scaled up to 2d10 and no one complained. Why not just carry that over?
Many already exist! And it is utterly trivial to HB "+1 Robes" to match "+1 Scale Mail"
The Insignia of Claws gives a +1 to attacks and damage with unarmed strikes
The Gloves of Soul catching gives +2d10 damage to unarmed strikes
The Eldritch Claw Tattoo gives +1 to attacks and damage with unarmed strikes and a 1/day 1 minute of +1d6 damage with unarmed strikes.
Tomes can increase your DEX and WIS to 22 each, Ioun Stones can give +2 to DEX or WIS to make up for taking a feat.
The Bracers of Defense give a +2 AC, the Defender Shortsword gives up to a +3 AC (and is incredibly thematic for a monk), the Ioun Stone of Protection gives a +1 AC, Cloak/Ring of Protection give +1 AC, Scaled Ornament gives +1 AC.
That's like less than a dozen out of several hundred. Monk is swimming in chances. Again, iif you actually experience playing a monk in a game, in a party, you'll know the problem. When only one item out of twenty in the loot table potentially adds to your raw power (but only 2/3 of it, because your third attack and FoB attack are unarmed anyway), and there's always other contestants for that same loot, theory becomes a distant reverie.
And I'll say it again: in 3.5e, monks' unarmed damage scaled up to 2d10 and no one complained. Why not just carry that over?
I have played a monk in a party from level 1-7, and when the party found magic items there was one usable for each character including my monk. There are equally only a half dozen items that will increase the chance to hit or AC of non-monks. 99% of magic items do not require armour proficiencies to use!
I have played a monk in a party from level 1-7, and when the party found magic items there was one usable for each character including my monk. There are equally only a half dozen items that will increase the chance to hit or AC of non-monks. 99% of magic items do not require armour proficiencies to use!
And most of them are utility. That's usually the main purpose of monks' attunement slots.
Saying "monks can use utility items" is not a defense of the current build of monk. Anybody can use utility items. Most people can also use weapons and armor, which the monk cannot. Homebrewing items specifically for monks feels bad for the party, who is screwjobbed out of magic swag, and for the monk player who gets to feel singled out and awarded unfair treatment to the detriment of their friends - not to mention losing the excitement of random or semi-random loot, which many players enjoy.
Saying "monks can use utility items" is not a defense of the current build of monk. Anybody can use utility items. Most people can also use weapons and armor, which the monk cannot. Homebrewing items specifically for monks feels bad for the party, who is screwjobbed out of magic swag, and for the monk player who gets to feel singled out and awarded unfair treatment to the detriment of their friends - not to mention losing the excitement of random or semi-random loot, which many players enjoy.
There's two sides to that coin, really. It has already been said here. Other martials have no choice but to give up two of their attunement slots for artifact weapons and armor, and those rarely do anything outside combat. But monks tend to end up with all kinds of stealth cloaks, fancy magic rings, boots of never stepping into dung, gloves of koala (fingerprints of koalas are identical to humans', I don't know what to do with this information so I just pass it on)... Not much in terms of raw power, but more for utility. It kinda helps this "martials have nothing to do outside combat" thing somewhat.
I think you should check your personal experiences at the door. They aren't reflective of everyone else's experiences.
Monks can use all sorts of weapons. Most magic swords in the DMG can be shortswords; never mind javelins, maces, and spears. There's also the staff of striking; which is made specifically for monks. And though they can't wear armor, they can wear bracers of defense and still make use of an animated shield. Later, the Way of the Kensei and Dedicated Weapon (TCE) expanded their options considerably. A dwarf monk wielding a dwarven thrower with Dexterity is nothing to sneeze at. And they can always wear Strength-boosting items, like gauntlets of ogre power. I know Strength is a common "dump stat", but it does affect their jumping ability. A Strength score of 19 means a running Long Jump of 38 feet (with Step of the Wind), and they can clear a 9-foot obstacle without the need for an ability check. Or rather it did before One D&D decided to start playing with that. I'm not crazy about this change.
They might not have as many options as fighter or paladin in armor with a shield, but monk do have them. Anyone can wield "utility" items. If the DM is relegating monks to only having those, then the DM is being stingy. And that's a personnel problem.
I never said I dealt in absolutes. Yes, monks have weapons and armor that works for them. But the chance that this'll drop is significantly lower than weapons for other martials. And I'm not a fan of tampering with loot tables and rolls to give the party exactly the items they need. Random loot is random loot. Also, Dedicated Weapon won't work without multiclassing in 1DnD, because species don't have weapon proficiencies and armor training anymore.
I never said I dealt in absolutes. Yes, monks have weapons and armor that works for them. But the chance that this'll drop is significantly lower than weapons for other martials. And I'm not a fan of tampering with loot tables and rolls to give the party exactly the items they need. Random loot is random loot. Also, Dedicated Weapon won't work without multiclassing in 1DnD, because species don't have weapon proficiencies and armor training anymore.
Well, that's your problem. As I said before, you should check your biases. They won't advance the conversation.
This isn't an MMO with random loot you're intended to farm ad nauseam. A DM is free to use─or not use─those tables. They can just pick what they feel is appropriate, or swap out something of equivalent value from a pre-written module. Some, like Tyranny of Dragons, expressly tell the DM to do this. Giving them loot they cannot use or easily sell is a problem. And it doesn't break verisimilitude to tailor the treasure they might find.
One D&D doesn't replace 5th edition. It's backwards compatible─so much so that you can have characters and parties be a mix of both rules and not break anything. So telling us that Dedicated Weapon, an optional feature the DM never even had to allow, is now utterly broken is fallacious.
My company of friends just doesn't like giveaways at our table. Most of us are Dark Souls fans. Selling a rare magic item or hunting a particular one at the black market (or stealing it) can be a quest in itself. Done that. Can be interesting if you weave it into the main story.
Yes, 1DnD is backwards compatible. Though new content tends to be better, otherwise there'd be no point in making it. And we haven't seen the new monk yet.
Saying "monks can use utility items" is not a defense of the current build of monk. Anybody can use utility items. Most people can also use weapons and armor, which the monk cannot. Homebrewing items specifically for monks feels bad for the party, who is screwjobbed out of magic swag, and for the monk player who gets to feel singled out and awarded unfair treatment to the detriment of their friends - not to mention losing the excitement of random or semi-random loot, which many players enjoy.
There's two sides to that coin, really. It has already been said here. Other martials have no choice but to give up two of their attunement slots for artifact weapons and armor, and those rarely do anything outside combat. But monks tend to end up with all kinds of stealth cloaks, fancy magic rings, boots of never stepping into dung, gloves of koala (fingerprints of koalas are identical to humans', I don't know what to do with this information so I just pass it on)... Not much in terms of raw power, but more for utility. It kinda helps this "martials have nothing to do outside combat" thing somewhat.
What are you talking about? Your DM gives your party multiple artifact level items per character and doesn't hand pick out which ones to give based on either story or party composition??????????? What is this game you are playing b/c I have never ever heard of one like it. I didn't even think random loot tables contained any artifacts?? Aren't they usually setting & story specific items? Do you really fight an ancient black dragon and have Babba Yagga's cauldron just randomly be in their loot pile? Secondly, how are you managing to have martials needing attunement for both weapons and armour? The RAW books have hardly any armour sets that require attunement (11 total of which 3 are cursed and 1 can be used by monks anyway), and only like 50% of weapons require attunement.
FYI in the DMG, Tashas and Xanathars there is only 14 artifact level items in total none of which are suits of armour, and only 3 of which are weapons (of which 2 of them are cursed). So I really have no idea how you're martials are managing to spend 2 attunement slots on artifact level weapons and armour... unless your DM is already using tons of homebrew.
If you are actually being truthful about using magic item tables and random loot then let me summarize the changes of a monk-usable vs fighter-usable item:
Magic Item Table A: 5 items are usable by both fighters & monks. Magic Item Table B: 31 items usable by both fighters & monks + 2 items only usable by fighters (only 1 of which is actually likely to be useful for them) Magic Item Table C: 26 items usable by both fighters & monks Magic Item Table D: 13 items usable by both fighters & monks Magic Item Table E: 5 items usable by both fighters & monks Magic Item Table F: 43 items usable by both fighters & monks + 7 items only usable by fighters Magic Item Table G: 55 items usable by both fighters & monks + 13 item only usable by fighters (2 cursed) + 1 item only usable by monks .... Ok I'm bored now. TBH half of the fighter-specific items on these list are trash, because mithril armour isn't good for them and +1 chain shirts are worse than non-magical breastplates. There are basically 2 interesting shields in these first 7 tables that are fighter-specific and some Adamantine armour that might be better than a fighter's starting equipment. But really, the vast majority of items are usable by everyone.
Saying "monks can use utility items" is not a defense of the current build of monk. Anybody can use utility items. Most people can also use weapons and armor, which the monk cannot. Homebrewing items specifically for monks feels bad for the party, who is screwjobbed out of magic swag, and for the monk player who gets to feel singled out and awarded unfair treatment to the detriment of their friends - not to mention losing the excitement of random or semi-random loot, which many players enjoy.
There's two sides to that coin, really. It has already been said here. Other martials have no choice but to give up two of their attunement slots for artifact weapons and armor, and those rarely do anything outside combat. But monks tend to end up with all kinds of stealth cloaks, fancy magic rings, boots of never stepping into dung, gloves of koala (fingerprints of koalas are identical to humans', I don't know what to do with this information so I just pass it on)... Not much in terms of raw power, but more for utility. It kinda helps this "martials have nothing to do outside combat" thing somewhat.
What are you talking about? Your DM gives your party multiple artifact level items per character and doesn't hand pick out which ones to give based on either story or party composition??????????? What is this game you are playing b/c I have never ever heard of one like it. I didn't even think random loot tables contained any artifacts?? Aren't they usually setting & story specific items? Do you really fight an ancient black dragon and have Babba Yagga's cauldron just randomly be in their loot pile? Secondly, how are you managing to have martials needing attunement for both weapons and armour? The RAW books have hardly any armour sets that require attunement (11 total of which 3 are cursed and 1 can be used by monks anyway), and only like 50% of weapons require attunement.
FYI in the DMG, Tashas and Xanathars there is only 14 artifact level items in total none of which are suits of armour, and only 3 of which are weapons (of which 2 of them are cursed). So I really have no idea how you're martials are managing to spend 2 attunement slots on artifact level weapons and armour... unless your DM is already using tons of homebrew.
Artifacts are meant to be plot/story-relevant items, yeah. Either as plot devices or as rewards that are specific to the story of the player they're given to.
If you as a player "randomly" find an artifact somewhere, there is usually a narrative reason why it's there, and it's just a matter of firing that Chekhov's Gun.
Has it been considered that "artifact" is just a misnomer.
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Look at what you've done. You spoiled it. You have nobody to blame but yourself. Go sit and think about your actions.
Don't be mean. Rudeness is a vicious cycle, and it has to stop somewhere. Exceptions for things that are funny. Go to the current Competition of the Finest 'Brews! It's a cool place where cool people make cool things.
How I'm posting based on text formatting: Mod Hat Off - Mod Hat Also Off (I'm not a mod)
But what party and what DM is going to give another character a pile of legendary items and give the monk nothing? It's utterly ridiculous to compare one character with legendary items to another character with none. A monk with a stack of magic items will effortlessly outshine a fighter with none, a OG beastmaster ranger with a stack of magic items will effortlessly outshine a paladin with none, a Draconic sorcerer with magic items will effortlessly outshine a wizard with none. It is a ludicrous comparison! Monks can use 95% of the magic items a fighter can use, so why are you assuming a monk has nothing and a fighter has everything?
Can monk use magical armor? Nope. Magical weapons? Yes, but only simple ones, and in practice, most magical weapons are martial, because they're designed for martials in the first place. There's just a few items a monk can use to directly pump AC and damage. It's either at the mercy or Korean gods of random, or at the mercy of a DM if monk will have one of these few select items. Of course, there's other stuff to fill the attunement slots with - rings, cloaks, gloves, robes, helmets, all kinds of great utility-focused artifacts. That's what usually happens, what is most likely to happen. It's simple statistics if you look at the list of all magic weapons and compare the % of them that monk can use.
LOL Nonsense!
From the Dungeon Master's Guide there are 420 magic items (excluding Common and Artifacts).
A generic Fighter can use: 398 of them
A generic Monk can use: 334 of them (of these 6 increase AC, 22 increase damage, 4 increase Con, 2 increase Dex, 2 increase Wis)
And that's just one book! And only published items (how many people play with A-hole DMs that aren't willing to HB a weapon or armour to be a different "type" so a monk can use it?)
Also FYI only 7 magic weapons in the DMG specify that they are martial weapons, and 7 specify that they are simple weapons, 19 magic weapons can be either simple or martial.
In terms of Magic Armour (12/420):
3 +X generic variants,
Adamantine (no AC buff)
Mithril (no AC buff)
Armour of Resistance (no AC buff)
Dragon Scale Mail
Demon Armour (cursed)
Dwarven Plate
Glamoured - common item replicates non AC bonus effect
Mariner - no AC bonus, common & uncommon items have better properties
Plate of Etherealness (no AC buff)
Effreeti Chain
Elven Chain
In terms of Magic Shields (7/420)
3 +X generic variants,
Animated (no AC buff)
Sentinel Shield (no AC buff)
Missile Attraction (cursed)
Spellguard (no AC buff and non-shield item exists that does the same thing)
In terms of upping a character's AC over 20. Fighters only have: +1/+2/+3 shield, +1/+2/+3 Plate, Efreeti Chain, Demon Armour, Dwarven Plate, and the items a Monk can use.
Monks can still get a solid Ac, and for the flaw in this that exists its not that hard to add like 2 magic items to the game fist wraps with magical enhancements to unarmed damage and maybe like a ki band that increases unarmored defense.
Many already exist! And it is utterly trivial to HB "+1 Robes" to match "+1 Scale Mail"
The Insignia of Claws gives a +1 to attacks and damage with unarmed strikes
The Gloves of Soul catching gives +2d10 damage to unarmed strikes
The Eldritch Claw Tattoo gives +1 to attacks and damage with unarmed strikes and a 1/day 1 minute of +1d6 damage with unarmed strikes.
Tomes can increase your DEX and WIS to 22 each, Ioun Stones can give +2 to DEX or WIS to make up for taking a feat.
The Bracers of Defense give a +2 AC, the Defender Shortsword gives up to a +3 AC (and is incredibly thematic for a monk), the Ioun Stone of Protection gives a +1 AC, Cloak/Ring of Protection give +1 AC, Scaled Ornament gives +1 AC.
You're missing the point. If the current Deflect Missiles calculation is too large, then change it to Martial Arts Die+Dex/Wis. The idea was to take a feature the Monk already had and slightly change/expand it to improve frontline survivability while keeping the existing 'Monk' theme. As it stands, being able to deflect only missiles and only once per round at it's current power level is not enough to do that.
That's like less than a dozen out of several hundred. Monk is swimming in chances. Again, iif you actually experience playing a monk in a game, in a party, you'll know the problem. When only one item out of twenty in the loot table potentially adds to your raw power (but only 2/3 of it, because your third attack and FoB attack are unarmed anyway), and there's always other contestants for that same loot, theory becomes a distant reverie.
And I'll say it again: in 3.5e, monks' unarmed damage scaled up to 2d10 and no one complained. Why not just carry that over?
Monks are in warrior group so they may get "unarmed style" at level one to be a bare fisted monk or "two weapon fighting" if they have 2 'WAR FANS"
Along with features that other classes can do WITHOUT having to spend Ki for.
I have played a monk in a party from level 1-7, and when the party found magic items there was one usable for each character including my monk. There are equally only a half dozen items that will increase the chance to hit or AC of non-monks. 99% of magic items do not require armour proficiencies to use!
And most of them are utility. That's usually the main purpose of monks' attunement slots.
Saying "monks can use utility items" is not a defense of the current build of monk. Anybody can use utility items. Most people can also use weapons and armor, which the monk cannot. Homebrewing items specifically for monks feels bad for the party, who is screwjobbed out of magic swag, and for the monk player who gets to feel singled out and awarded unfair treatment to the detriment of their friends - not to mention losing the excitement of random or semi-random loot, which many players enjoy.
Please do not contact or message me.
There's two sides to that coin, really. It has already been said here. Other martials have no choice but to give up two of their attunement slots for artifact weapons and armor, and those rarely do anything outside combat. But monks tend to end up with all kinds of stealth cloaks, fancy magic rings, boots of never stepping into dung, gloves of koala (fingerprints of koalas are identical to humans', I don't know what to do with this information so I just pass it on)... Not much in terms of raw power, but more for utility. It kinda helps this "martials have nothing to do outside combat" thing somewhat.
I think you should check your personal experiences at the door. They aren't reflective of everyone else's experiences.
Monks can use all sorts of weapons. Most magic swords in the DMG can be shortswords; never mind javelins, maces, and spears. There's also the staff of striking; which is made specifically for monks. And though they can't wear armor, they can wear bracers of defense and still make use of an animated shield. Later, the Way of the Kensei and Dedicated Weapon (TCE) expanded their options considerably. A dwarf monk wielding a dwarven thrower with Dexterity is nothing to sneeze at. And they can always wear Strength-boosting items, like gauntlets of ogre power. I know Strength is a common "dump stat", but it does affect their jumping ability. A Strength score of 19 means a running Long Jump of 38 feet (with Step of the Wind), and they can clear a 9-foot obstacle without the need for an ability check. Or rather it did before One D&D decided to start playing with that. I'm not crazy about this change.
They might not have as many options as fighter or paladin in armor with a shield, but monk do have them. Anyone can wield "utility" items. If the DM is relegating monks to only having those, then the DM is being stingy. And that's a personnel problem.
I never said I dealt in absolutes. Yes, monks have weapons and armor that works for them. But the chance that this'll drop is significantly lower than weapons for other martials. And I'm not a fan of tampering with loot tables and rolls to give the party exactly the items they need. Random loot is random loot. Also, Dedicated Weapon won't work without multiclassing in 1DnD, because species don't have weapon proficiencies and armor training anymore.
Well, that's your problem. As I said before, you should check your biases. They won't advance the conversation.
This isn't an MMO with random loot you're intended to farm ad nauseam. A DM is free to use─or not use─those tables. They can just pick what they feel is appropriate, or swap out something of equivalent value from a pre-written module. Some, like Tyranny of Dragons, expressly tell the DM to do this. Giving them loot they cannot use or easily sell is a problem. And it doesn't break verisimilitude to tailor the treasure they might find.
One D&D doesn't replace 5th edition. It's backwards compatible─so much so that you can have characters and parties be a mix of both rules and not break anything. So telling us that Dedicated Weapon, an optional feature the DM never even had to allow, is now utterly broken is fallacious.
My company of friends just doesn't like giveaways at our table. Most of us are Dark Souls fans. Selling a rare magic item or hunting a particular one at the black market (or stealing it) can be a quest in itself. Done that. Can be interesting if you weave it into the main story.
Yes, 1DnD is backwards compatible. Though new content tends to be better, otherwise there'd be no point in making it. And we haven't seen the new monk yet.
What are you talking about? Your DM gives your party multiple artifact level items per character and doesn't hand pick out which ones to give based on either story or party composition??????????? What is this game you are playing b/c I have never ever heard of one like it. I didn't even think random loot tables contained any artifacts?? Aren't they usually setting & story specific items? Do you really fight an ancient black dragon and have Babba Yagga's cauldron just randomly be in their loot pile? Secondly, how are you managing to have martials needing attunement for both weapons and armour? The RAW books have hardly any armour sets that require attunement (11 total of which 3 are cursed and 1 can be used by monks anyway), and only like 50% of weapons require attunement.
FYI in the DMG, Tashas and Xanathars there is only 14 artifact level items in total none of which are suits of armour, and only 3 of which are weapons (of which 2 of them are cursed). So I really have no idea how you're martials are managing to spend 2 attunement slots on artifact level weapons and armour... unless your DM is already using tons of homebrew.
If you are actually being truthful about using magic item tables and random loot then let me summarize the changes of a monk-usable vs fighter-usable item:
Magic Item Table A: 5 items are usable by both fighters & monks.
Magic Item Table B: 31 items usable by both fighters & monks + 2 items only usable by fighters (only 1 of which is actually likely to be useful for them)
Magic Item Table C: 26 items usable by both fighters & monks
Magic Item Table D: 13 items usable by both fighters & monks
Magic Item Table E: 5 items usable by both fighters & monks
Magic Item Table F: 43 items usable by both fighters & monks + 7 items only usable by fighters
Magic Item Table G: 55 items usable by both fighters & monks + 13 item only usable by fighters (2 cursed) + 1 item only usable by monks
....
Ok I'm bored now. TBH half of the fighter-specific items on these list are trash, because mithril armour isn't good for them and +1 chain shirts are worse than non-magical breastplates. There are basically 2 interesting shields in these first 7 tables that are fighter-specific and some Adamantine armour that might be better than a fighter's starting equipment. But really, the vast majority of items are usable by everyone.
Has it been considered that "artifact" is just a misnomer.
Look at what you've done. You spoiled it. You have nobody to blame but yourself. Go sit and think about your actions.
Don't be mean. Rudeness is a vicious cycle, and it has to stop somewhere. Exceptions for things that are funny.
Go to the current Competition of the Finest 'Brews! It's a cool place where cool people make cool things.
How I'm posting based on text formatting: Mod Hat Off - Mod Hat Also Off (I'm not a mod)
Yeah, my bad. What I meant was magic items that require attunement slots.