if Focus Strikes are multitarget how does the failed save vs not failed save focus point cost work?
My intention was that the cost would be per target, I should have made that clearer in the text; so if you want to do a 3 point strike to three targets it'd cost 9 Focus in total. Basically multi-target is intended for the lower cost strikes so you can build up enough to affect an entire group. Or do you think it would be better to balance around any number of targets within range?
Thanks for the continued feedback, I haven't had a chance to work on specifics yet but what I'm thinking is something along these lines:
Drop Discipline points like you suggest; features that currently have a Discipline cost will either cost Focus instead, or have their own limited uses if they need to function outside of combat (though I'm not sure if anything needs this right now as several useful out of combat features are already "free" like baseline Step of the Wind).
When you roll Initiative you start with two Focus points, increasing to four with Perfect Discipline. You gain one additional Focus each time you hit with a melee weapon attack or unarmed strike. Focus is lost when combat ends (or soon after, e.g- a minute, 10 minutes or such).
System is otherwise basically the same; when you perform the focused strike you can affect multiple targets in reach if you have enough Focus points. I'll be tweaking the effects when I have time.
I'll probably drop Expertise since nobody seems to like it, and I'll also probably drop Measured Action since it won't work with Focus being a combat-oriented resource. Instead I'm thinking of an ability to use Wisdom in place of Intelligence or Charisma for skill checks, most likely limited use?
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I've updated the first post with a new version of the class updates; since I don't want it to become a multicoloured nightmare the changes in this version are as follows:
Remove Discipline points entirely. All abilities that previously required Discipline points now use Focus points instead.
Monks now always have at least two Focus when they roll Initiative, and gain one Focus each time they hit with an enemy with a melee weapon attack or unarmed strike, when an enemy misses them with an attack, or when they succeed on a save against an enemy effect. Focus is lost if you spend more than a minute without gaining any (so usually lasts the current combat only).
This should mean a Monk will almost always have Focus to spend during combat, and it's fairly easy to build it up both aggressively and defensively (Patient Defense for example makes an enemy more likely to miss you and boosts your DEX saves, so you can gain points quicker without having to focus on Flurry of Blows).
Superior Form increases the minimum to four, meaning you can trigger the more potent strikes either immediately or with one or two quick hits.
The Focused Strike is now specifically an unarmed strike, but instead of dealing damage you trigger a Focused Strike. You will always target the creature you hit, but can also target additional creatures within reach, spending Focus for each.
Slightly tweaked the spend-on-fail wording so you always spend the Focus up front, but get it back if the strike fails (target succeeded on the save). This avoids weirdness around targeting more creatures than you can afford to (don't have enough Focus).
Dropped Expertise and Measured Action; instead there's a new 9th-level feature called Spiritual Focus (might need a better name) that lets the Monk use Wisdom in place of Intelligence or Charisma for checks. They can also spend 1 Focus to turn a Focused Strike into a Wisdom saving throw, useful for strikes against targets that are highly resistant to the default saving throw.
Way of the Drunken Master now gains extra Focus on critical hits against enemies, or critical misses by enemies, rather than adding more Focus to nearby enemies as before.
Way of the Four Elements' Elemental Weave is now Elemental Burst similar again to the playtest "Environmental Burst"; it's a 20 foot radius blast costing four or more Focus points, dealing one Martial Arts die in damage per Focus point spent. This essentially makes it a half-strength fireball at its minimum level, but it gets stronger as you level up or build up Focus points, however building up Focus often requires you to be close so you may need to pair it with Step of the Wind to deliver a blast mid-battle. I still like the idea of an elemental Focused Strike, but I'll have to think about it more as the blast is useful (makes Four Elements a proper anti-horde Monk) and I wasn't liking how the weave ability worked in practice.
That's it for now; the Focused Strikes and Focus abilities still need a bunch of changes made to them in either cost or effect with the changes around Focus points, and there might be some sub-classes that need extra tweaking but I haven't had a lot of time for that yet, plus the survey is already open. However I think that the strikes being relatively weak is compensated for how much easier Focus points are to obtain; a Monk can for example theoretically use Flurry of Strikes every turn and still gain Focus over time, depending upon what they want to build up to, so there may be some Focused Strikes that need to be toned down or cost more, rather than get stronger. I'll try to get these updated when I have more time and make post covering all the strikes at once comparing the effects.
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So one issue I've discovered is that giving Patient Defense a "free" version introduces a multi-classing exploit; for only two levels you gain the ability to Dodge for free as a bonus action if you don't move, or one Focus point if you do. But this just means it's begging for unarmored casters without many (or any) bonus actions to grab two levels in Monk to Dodge every turn, as it's equivalent to +5 AC (and +5 to DEX saves) which stacks with shield.
The Martial Arts Bonus Unarmed Strike and Step of the Wind also technically have this issue, but I don't think they're nearly as problematic; I don't think being able to build a spellcaster who can cast punch is a bad thing, and if you're willing to spend two levels to get expeditious retreat for "free" then go for it IMO.
Not sure what the best fix for Patient Defense is though; originally I had considered making it a bonus to AC and DEX saves based on your Monk level, but I dropped that because it would stack with Dodge as an action. But maybe double dodging isn't such a big deal if you're sacrificing all of your damage to do it. I was originally thinking of making it equivalent to half proficiency (tied to Monk level only) but this might be a bit weak, perhaps if it started at +2 and scaled to +5 but you can only get the bonus once (so Superior Form doesn't let you triple dodge)?
The other alternative I was thinking of is making Patient Defense require the Attack action (as Bonus Unarmed Strike and Flurry of Blows do), this way you couldn't use it after casting a spell or another special action gained through a multiclass; the downside of this method is it would require some special wording around the handful of Monk features that require a special action (so you can still use Patient Defense on top of these) and it adds a little awkwardness around actions, for example if you want to dash and dodge in the same turn you need to dodge as an action, then use Step of the Wind, you can't do it the other way around? More importantly though it wouldn't solve the problem for Bladesinger Wizards, maybe Druids, and any other caster that might use the Attack action anyway.
Anyone have any thoughts on these two possible fixes, or other ideas that might work?
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Anyone have any thoughts on these two possible fixes, or other ideas that might work?
Fixes: (1) making PD a reaction instead of a BA - prevents stacking with Shield, Uncanny Dodge, Ripost, etc.. (2) making PD only possible if you are not wearing armour / using a shield - prevents stacking with heavy armour e.g. paladin/cleric (3) making PD only be free if you spend a DP during your turn.
Fixes: (1) making PD a reaction instead of a BA - prevents stacking with Shield, Uncanny Dodge, Ripost, etc..
Reaction seems tricky as that would allow it in addition to another bonus action surely? It would also need to be a custom reaction of some kind (unless you're still thinking it'd be Dodge?). Or would the bonus action activate the "stance", and the reaction activates the actual effect (unless you spend Focus to not have to)?
(2) making PD only possible if you are not wearing armour / using a shield - prevents stacking with heavy armour e.g. paladin/cleric
While it's probably a bit easily lost in the text, I put for Discipline/Focus wording such that you can only spend the points while unarmored without a shield, so this should already be the case for all Focus abilities (so no two level dips to add Focus abilities to anything you want, has to at least be a bit like a monk to work).
I was thinking about maybe extending this to specifically Unarmored Defense, so you couldn't use any other unarmored AC like mage armor, so while stacking with shield would still be possible, it would be limited by how much you invest in Wisdom?
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
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Fixes: (1) making PD a reaction instead of a BA - prevents stacking with Shield, Uncanny Dodge, Ripost, etc..
Reaction seems tricky as that would allow it in addition to another bonus action surely? It would also need to be a custom reaction of some kind (unless you're still thinking it'd be Dodge?). Or would the bonus action activate the "stance", and the reaction activates the actual effect (unless you spend Focus to not have to)?
Yes it would be something like this: Patient Defense - When you are targeted by an attack or forced to make a Dexterity saving throw, you can use a reaction to enter a defensive stance and take the Dodge action imposing disadvantage on the attack roll or advantage on the Dexterity save. The benefits of this Dodge last until the start of your turn.
You'd be able to use your BA for something else, but I don't see that as a bad thing since people seems to think PD is mandatory to meet the same defenses as the passive defenses of armour. Maybe have PD cost DP in this case since you only use it when you actually need it rather than using it every turn.
Fixes: (1) making PD a reaction instead of a BA - prevents stacking with Shield, Uncanny Dodge, Ripost, etc..
Reaction seems tricky as that would allow it in addition to another bonus action surely? It would also need to be a custom reaction of some kind (unless you're still thinking it'd be Dodge?). Or would the bonus action activate the "stance", and the reaction activates the actual effect (unless you spend Focus to not have to)?
Yes it would be something like this: Patient Defense - When you are targeted by an attack or forced to make a Dexterity saving throw, you can use a reaction to enter a defensive stance and take the Dodge action imposing disadvantage on the attack roll or advantage on the Dexterity save. The benefits of this Dodge last until the start of your turn.
You'd be able to use your BA for something else, but I don't see that as a bad thing since people seems to think PD is mandatory to meet the same defenses as the passive defenses of armour. Maybe have PD cost DP in this case since you only use it when you actually need it rather than using it every turn.
That kind of breaks the idea of the choice of bonus action being a trade off each round; because if the only two are Bonus Unarmed Strike/Flurry of Blows and Step of the Wind then it's not really a choice, you only use Step of the Wind when you need to, otherwise you do unarmed strikes. At that point Step of the Wind might as well just cost an attack or two, and you can just give the Monk extra base attacks, and we're right back to the question of "why not just make them a Fighter sub-class"?
Personally I like the idea of the Monk choosing between offence, defence and mobility each round; the main problem is that the defence option can feel wasted if nothing attacks you (or they hit you anyway). Could maybe get around that by changing how Focus is gained, and having Patient Defense be one of the ways (so no matter what it gives you some extra Focus), either that or adding some kind of aggro effect. That doesn't solve the multi-classing problem though (if anything it would make it worse).
It's a tough one; I like it being Dodge, but it's a pain to balance it around it being Dodge.
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
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Sorry for the intrusion, I think I have found a reasonable solution to the monk class.
This monk is a redesign of the monk created in ONE DnD in Playtest 6 by WotC. This class specializes in unarmed combat techniques and is supported by the mystical power called Inner Force.
- it has an unarmed Mastery (Unarmed Techiniques) - the consumption of Force points (ki) is much lower - is less MAD, Unarmed defense can be WIS or CON, and few techniques require a saving throw (depends on subclass). - The features Patient Defense and Step of the Wind require the Unarmed Technique "QUICK STRIKE" to function at their best. - FoB is now Iron Strike (FoB came too early by the standards of other classes). - Unarmored Movement also includes of Dash and Disengage as bonus actions. - Can assimilate magical weapons into the body and use their magical property (monk unarmed combat items are no longer a necessity) - Has an extra unarmed strike at 11th level (FoB without resources). - Patient Defense and Iron Strike features have improvements by leveling up.
Although not completely finished, I think I am on the right track.
I've actually updated my first post with a couple of tweaks from playtesting.
What I decided for Patient Defense was to just have it always cost 1 Focus to use it, there's no longer a free option (too easy to exploit). I've also decided to drop the "minimum of 2" Focus on Initiative; it's easy enough to gain Focus that you don't need the starting amount for base Monk, and this forces you to use the basic Monk toolkit in order to gain access to more, so a multiclass needs to actually be a monk to benefit from more monk features. So if a wizard multiclasses into Monk to gain Patient Defense, they actually need to punch things before they can use it.
To take the edge off a wasted Patient Defense (and Focus point), now if you use Patient Defense and no enemies attack you before your next combat turn, you now gain 2 Focus, so there's a slight benefit to having activated it even if it proved useless. I specified "combat turn" to avoid exploits (no using Patient Defense to farm thousands of Focus before your next fight).
Removing the minimum of 2 Focus will affect some sub-classes, specifically those that use Focus to activate spells or magical effects; I haven't had a chance to properly revisit these yet. I'm thinking I'll give these limited uses per long rest of their special features, with Focus just being another way to trigger them. So for things like darkness on Way of Shadow, maybe just assume proficiency free uses per long rest for now as a rule of thumb, might be slightly fewer total but it works for now.
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To take the edge off a wasted Patient Defense (and Focus point), now if you use Patient Defense and no enemies attack you before your next combat turn, you now gain 2 Focus, so there's a slight benefit to having activated it even if it proved useless. I specified "combat turn" to avoid exploits (no using Patient Defense to farm thousands of Focus before your next fight).
Why not have the focus recovered (thus 1 focus) if you were not hit? As if the monk had prepared to receive the hit, but since this did not come the focus was not used. Receiving two focuses for the price of one would be used to create focus out of nothing. At most you can add that if one was not attacked you can make an opportunity attack on a nearby creature.
Why not have the focus recovered (thus 1 focus) if you were not hit? As if the monk had prepared to receive the hit, but since this did not come the focus was not used. Receiving two focuses for the price of one would be used to create focus out of nothing. At most you can add that if one was not attacked you can make an opportunity attack on a nearby creature.
You're only gaining a net bonus of 1 Focus this way (spend 1, get 2) and it's as compensation for the extra attack(s) you didn't do, as you could have gained Focus from those (since you get one per hit).
Plus since it's limited to combat turns you can only gain +1 Focus per round this way; even long fights don't usually last more than 5-6 rounds, so that's not a huge amount, and this only applies when you aren't attacked at all. Keep in mind in this variation of Monk, Focus is lost if you spend more than a minute without gaining any, so it's a combat only resource, so if you go hide in a corner to use Patient Defense and avoid being attacked just so you can farm Focus, then you're not contributing to the fight.
This is for those cases where you're in the fight, use Patient Defense, but then the enemy attacks someone else so there was no chance for Patient Defense to turn any attacks into misses (so no chance to gain Focus from the misses).
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Why not have the focus recovered (thus 1 focus) if you were not hit? As if the monk had prepared to receive the hit, but since this did not come the focus was not used. Receiving two focuses for the price of one would be used to create focus out of nothing. At most you can add that if one was not attacked you can make an opportunity attack on a nearby creature.
You're only gaining a net bonus of 1 Focus this way (spend 1, get 2) and it's as compensation for the extra attack(s) you didn't do, as you could have gained Focus from those (since you get one per hit).
Plus since it's limited to combat turns you can only gain +1 Focus per round this way; even long fights don't usually last more than 5-6 rounds, so that's not a huge amount, and this only applies when you aren't attacked at all. Keep in mind in this variation of Monk, Focus is lost if you spend more than a minute without gaining any, so it's a combat only resource, so if you go hide in a corner to use Patient Defense and avoid being attacked just so you can farm Focus, then you're not contributing to the fight.
This is for those cases where you're in the fight, use Patient Defense, but then the enemy attacks someone else so there was no chance for Patient Defense to turn any attacks into misses (so no chance to gain Focus from the misses).
Sorry, I had not read the dynamic Focus point system properly. So it has a slow start, but when it starts to charge, it can use a lot of fucos points and the more attacks it has, the more it can acumulate. Have you tested its use and acumulation based on the level and number of attacks?
Focus
2nd-level Monk feature
In the heat of battle, you can learn to focus your abilities into more potent forms. You gain one Focus point each time you hit an enemy with a melee weapon attack or unarmed strike, when an enemy misses you with an attack, and when you succeed on a saving throw against an enemy effect.
Focus points are lost if you spend more than a minute without gaining any. You may spend only Focus points while you are not be wearing armor or holding a shield, and may use them to activate special Focus abilities. Some Focus abilities require a saving throw as calculated below:
Focus Save DC: 8 plus your Proficiency Bonus plus your Wisdom modifier.
You know the following Focus abilities:
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Let flurry of blows be a real flurry of blows, scale up the numbers of attack on it? how about that?
My intention was that the cost would be per target, I should have made that clearer in the text; so if you want to do a 3 point strike to three targets it'd cost 9 Focus in total. Basically multi-target is intended for the lower cost strikes so you can build up enough to affect an entire group. Or do you think it would be better to balance around any number of targets within range?
Thanks for the continued feedback, I haven't had a chance to work on specifics yet but what I'm thinking is something along these lines:
System is otherwise basically the same; when you perform the focused strike you can affect multiple targets in reach if you have enough Focus points. I'll be tweaking the effects when I have time.
I'll probably drop Expertise since nobody seems to like it, and I'll also probably drop Measured Action since it won't work with Focus being a combat-oriented resource. Instead I'm thinking of an ability to use Wisdom in place of Intelligence or Charisma for skill checks, most likely limited use?
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Drop Expertise and add Wis mod to specific skills?
I've updated the first post with a new version of the class updates; since I don't want it to become a multicoloured nightmare the changes in this version are as follows:
That's it for now; the Focused Strikes and Focus abilities still need a bunch of changes made to them in either cost or effect with the changes around Focus points, and there might be some sub-classes that need extra tweaking but I haven't had a lot of time for that yet, plus the survey is already open. However I think that the strikes being relatively weak is compensated for how much easier Focus points are to obtain; a Monk can for example theoretically use Flurry of Strikes every turn and still gain Focus over time, depending upon what they want to build up to, so there may be some Focused Strikes that need to be toned down or cost more, rather than get stronger. I'll try to get these updated when I have more time and make post covering all the strikes at once comparing the effects.
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
I have unsubscribed from all topics and will not reply to messages. My homebrew is now 100% unsupported.
So one issue I've discovered is that giving Patient Defense a "free" version introduces a multi-classing exploit; for only two levels you gain the ability to Dodge for free as a bonus action if you don't move, or one Focus point if you do. But this just means it's begging for unarmored casters without many (or any) bonus actions to grab two levels in Monk to Dodge every turn, as it's equivalent to +5 AC (and +5 to DEX saves) which stacks with shield.
The Martial Arts Bonus Unarmed Strike and Step of the Wind also technically have this issue, but I don't think they're nearly as problematic; I don't think being able to build a spellcaster who can cast punch is a bad thing, and if you're willing to spend two levels to get expeditious retreat for "free" then go for it IMO.
Not sure what the best fix for Patient Defense is though; originally I had considered making it a bonus to AC and DEX saves based on your Monk level, but I dropped that because it would stack with Dodge as an action. But maybe double dodging isn't such a big deal if you're sacrificing all of your damage to do it. I was originally thinking of making it equivalent to half proficiency (tied to Monk level only) but this might be a bit weak, perhaps if it started at +2 and scaled to +5 but you can only get the bonus once (so Superior Form doesn't let you triple dodge)?
The other alternative I was thinking of is making Patient Defense require the Attack action (as Bonus Unarmed Strike and Flurry of Blows do), this way you couldn't use it after casting a spell or another special action gained through a multiclass; the downside of this method is it would require some special wording around the handful of Monk features that require a special action (so you can still use Patient Defense on top of these) and it adds a little awkwardness around actions, for example if you want to dash and dodge in the same turn you need to dodge as an action, then use Step of the Wind, you can't do it the other way around? More importantly though it wouldn't solve the problem for Bladesinger Wizards, maybe Druids, and any other caster that might use the Attack action anyway.
Anyone have any thoughts on these two possible fixes, or other ideas that might work?
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
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Fixes:
(1) making PD a reaction instead of a BA - prevents stacking with Shield, Uncanny Dodge, Ripost, etc..
(2) making PD only possible if you are not wearing armour / using a shield - prevents stacking with heavy armour e.g. paladin/cleric
(3) making PD only be free if you spend a DP during your turn.
Reaction seems tricky as that would allow it in addition to another bonus action surely? It would also need to be a custom reaction of some kind (unless you're still thinking it'd be Dodge?). Or would the bonus action activate the "stance", and the reaction activates the actual effect (unless you spend Focus to not have to)?
While it's probably a bit easily lost in the text, I put for Discipline/Focus wording such that you can only spend the points while unarmored without a shield, so this should already be the case for all Focus abilities (so no two level dips to add Focus abilities to anything you want, has to at least be a bit like a monk to work).
I was thinking about maybe extending this to specifically Unarmored Defense, so you couldn't use any other unarmored AC like mage armor, so while stacking with shield would still be possible, it would be limited by how much you invest in Wisdom?
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
I have unsubscribed from all topics and will not reply to messages. My homebrew is now 100% unsupported.
Yes it would be something like this:
Patient Defense - When you are targeted by an attack or forced to make a Dexterity saving throw, you can use a reaction to enter a defensive stance and take the Dodge action imposing disadvantage on the attack roll or advantage on the Dexterity save. The benefits of this Dodge last until the start of your turn.
You'd be able to use your BA for something else, but I don't see that as a bad thing since people seems to think PD is mandatory to meet the same defenses as the passive defenses of armour. Maybe have PD cost DP in this case since you only use it when you actually need it rather than using it every turn.
That kind of breaks the idea of the choice of bonus action being a trade off each round; because if the only two are Bonus Unarmed Strike/Flurry of Blows and Step of the Wind then it's not really a choice, you only use Step of the Wind when you need to, otherwise you do unarmed strikes. At that point Step of the Wind might as well just cost an attack or two, and you can just give the Monk extra base attacks, and we're right back to the question of "why not just make them a Fighter sub-class"?
Personally I like the idea of the Monk choosing between offence, defence and mobility each round; the main problem is that the defence option can feel wasted if nothing attacks you (or they hit you anyway). Could maybe get around that by changing how Focus is gained, and having Patient Defense be one of the ways (so no matter what it gives you some extra Focus), either that or adding some kind of aggro effect. That doesn't solve the multi-classing problem though (if anything it would make it worse).
It's a tough one; I like it being Dodge, but it's a pain to balance it around it being Dodge.
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
I have unsubscribed from all topics and will not reply to messages. My homebrew is now 100% unsupported.
Sorry for the intrusion, I think I have found a reasonable solution to the monk class.
This monk is a redesign of the monk created in ONE DnD in Playtest 6 by WotC. This class specializes in unarmed combat techniques and is supported by the mystical power called Inner Force.
https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/vAXY9tWywy3t
- it has an unarmed Mastery (Unarmed Techiniques)
- the consumption of Force points (ki) is much lower
- is less MAD, Unarmed defense can be WIS or CON, and few techniques require a saving throw (depends on subclass).
- The features Patient Defense and Step of the Wind require the Unarmed Technique "QUICK STRIKE" to function at their best.
- FoB is now Iron Strike (FoB came too early by the standards of other classes).
- Unarmored Movement also includes of Dash and Disengage as bonus actions.
- Can assimilate magical weapons into the body and use their magical property (monk unarmed combat items are no longer a necessity)
- Has an extra unarmed strike at 11th level (FoB without resources).
- Patient Defense and Iron Strike features have improvements by leveling up.
Although not completely finished, I think I am on the right track.
I've actually updated my first post with a couple of tweaks from playtesting.
What I decided for Patient Defense was to just have it always cost 1 Focus to use it, there's no longer a free option (too easy to exploit). I've also decided to drop the "minimum of 2" Focus on Initiative; it's easy enough to gain Focus that you don't need the starting amount for base Monk, and this forces you to use the basic Monk toolkit in order to gain access to more, so a multiclass needs to actually be a monk to benefit from more monk features. So if a wizard multiclasses into Monk to gain Patient Defense, they actually need to punch things before they can use it.
To take the edge off a wasted Patient Defense (and Focus point), now if you use Patient Defense and no enemies attack you before your next combat turn, you now gain 2 Focus, so there's a slight benefit to having activated it even if it proved useless. I specified "combat turn" to avoid exploits (no using Patient Defense to farm thousands of Focus before your next fight).
Removing the minimum of 2 Focus will affect some sub-classes, specifically those that use Focus to activate spells or magical effects; I haven't had a chance to properly revisit these yet. I'm thinking I'll give these limited uses per long rest of their special features, with Focus just being another way to trigger them. So for things like darkness on Way of Shadow, maybe just assume proficiency free uses per long rest for now as a rule of thumb, might be slightly fewer total but it works for now.
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
I have unsubscribed from all topics and will not reply to messages. My homebrew is now 100% unsupported.
Why not have the focus recovered (thus 1 focus) if you were not hit? As if the monk had prepared to receive the hit, but since this did not come the focus was not used. Receiving two focuses for the price of one would be used to create focus out of nothing.
At most you can add that if one was not attacked you can make an opportunity attack on a nearby creature.
You're only gaining a net bonus of 1 Focus this way (spend 1, get 2) and it's as compensation for the extra attack(s) you didn't do, as you could have gained Focus from those (since you get one per hit).
Plus since it's limited to combat turns you can only gain +1 Focus per round this way; even long fights don't usually last more than 5-6 rounds, so that's not a huge amount, and this only applies when you aren't attacked at all. Keep in mind in this variation of Monk, Focus is lost if you spend more than a minute without gaining any, so it's a combat only resource, so if you go hide in a corner to use Patient Defense and avoid being attacked just so you can farm Focus, then you're not contributing to the fight.
This is for those cases where you're in the fight, use Patient Defense, but then the enemy attacks someone else so there was no chance for Patient Defense to turn any attacks into misses (so no chance to gain Focus from the misses).
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
I have unsubscribed from all topics and will not reply to messages. My homebrew is now 100% unsupported.
Sorry, I had not read the dynamic Focus point system properly. So it has a slow start, but when it starts to charge, it can use a lot of fucos points and the more attacks it has, the more it can acumulate. Have you tested its use and acumulation based on the level and number of attacks?