Half Joke half Serious.... give base Monk Radiant sunbolt or searing sun burst or something like that for range effects XD
A feat that work like Searing sunburst is interesting in the aspect of super charge with DP. I know the restrains of DP... as a modular feat with multichoice would do the trick on the monk for versatility.
That raise a question. If Monk had a Modular feat like the Cleric/Druid/Warlock/Fighter what would be the choices you would like to see?
Monk/discipline Techniques/secrets A. Something like Sunbolt or Searing sun burst B. Fighting Style slot C. Weapon Mastery D. Ribbon Ability for out of combat/social?
No need to bash lets think of it as something fun and different to speculate. Its obviously understandable other stuff would need to be balanced out.
So the issue is the monk can specialize itself for stealth and still be worse than any other class that does the same. Even Barbarians or fighters can be better at it if they choose to. I was wanting to give monk a little something that allowed it to contribute in multiple ways beyond simply taking the skill as part of a background that any class can do.
The reality of scouting is "what do I do if things to badly" is a significant question, and monks have generally superior answers to that question.
So the issue is the monk can specialize itself for stealth and still be worse than any other class that does the same.
If more defense and more mobility while sneaking makes you worse, the issue is your table, not the class.
They don't have more mobility or defense. Other classes are just as tough, and movement speed is only relevant in combat. Other classes have better climbing, swimming and teleporting giving them better mobility. movement speed is not the only type of mobility and is the least important form of mobility.
They don't have more mobility or defense. Other classes are just as tough, and movement speed is only relevant in combat.
Of course they do. If the Fighter and Barb wear armor, they're worse at sneaking. If they wear no armor or light armor, they have less defense. If the Barbarian wears no armor, their defense is better, but at the cost of their offense until high levels.
movement speed is not the only type of mobility and is the least important form of mobility.
I agree completely; double-dashing, double-jumping, falling long distances safely and running up and down walls are good too. If only we knew a martial class that could do all those things!
I'll also ask you the same question I asked Gwar1 three pages ago, which has yet to be answered by either of you - what do you propose?
They don't have more mobility or defense. Other classes are just as tough, and movement speed is only relevant in combat.
Of course they do. If the Fighter and Barb wear armor, they're worse at sneaking. If they wear no armor or light armor, they have less defense. If the Barbarian wears no armor, their defense is better, but at the cost of their offense until high levels.
movement speed is not the only type of mobility and is the least important form of mobility.
I agree completely; double-dashing, double-jumping, falling long distances safely and running up and down walls are good too. If only we knew a martial class that could do all those things!
I'll also ask you the same question I asked Gwar1 three pages ago, which has yet to be answered by either of you - what do you propose?
I'd add, that in my experience, if things do go wrong while sneaking, then you are in "combat", or at least initiative is rolled to see who acts when. Even if this isn't the case, a DM that doesn't give a Monk character significant benefits in escaping when they have a very high move speed, the ability to dash as a bonus action, and the other abilities Psyren mentions is not really doing their job right in adjudicating the situation.
They don't have more mobility or defense. Other classes are just as tough, and movement speed is only relevant in combat.
Of course they do. If the Fighter and Barb wear armor, they're worse at sneaking. If they wear no armor or light armor, they have less defense. If the Barbarian wears no armor, their defense is better, but at the cost of their offense until high levels.
movement speed is not the only type of mobility and is the least important form of mobility.
I agree completely; double-dashing, double-jumping, falling long distances safely and running up and down walls are good too. If only we knew a martial class that could do all those things!
I'll also ask you the same question I asked Gwar1 three pages ago, which has yet to be answered by either of you - what do you propose?
I don't think monk needs to be great at scouting, I think they need to be strong with some skills, or OoC stuff. And its not that I don't have answers, its more that its not really about my solution, there are many solutions. Its more important to identify issues. The designers tend to choose their own answers, they just need to see problems
The answer ranges from simple abilities that use Ki to give a bonus to certain skills, to Ki gives you expertise to Proficient skills. Full ki gives you advantage on wis checks or dex checks (choose after SR) mental combat via a wise saying, (think Yoda or Wise monk parable) if character fails save, they have disadvantage on next ability check/save.
there are tons of solutions, the real question is, is it a problem people want to solve.
They don't have more mobility or defense. Other classes are just as tough, and movement speed is only relevant in combat.
Of course they do. If the Fighter and Barb wear armor, they're worse at sneaking. If they wear no armor or light armor, they have less defense. If the Barbarian wears no armor, their defense is better, but at the cost of their offense until high levels.
movement speed is not the only type of mobility and is the least important form of mobility.
I agree completely; double-dashing, double-jumping, falling long distances safely and running up and down walls are good too. If only we knew a martial class that could do all those things!
I'll also ask you the same question I asked Gwar1 three pages ago, which has yet to be answered by either of you - what do you propose?
Jump distance is based on strength. Doubling jump distance just gets monk= to other martials not above. Dashing is movement speed. Running up walls and across water comes in INCREDIBLY late at level 9.
I made my proposition. Add some social aspects into their kit tongue of sun and mood, bring the running up walls down 2 levels to 7 instead of 9 so that it can be more relevant to a game. Bring the break out of things down to 9. Change jump distance provided by step of the wind to match new jump spell so that the monk can ACTUALLY jump further instead of pretending like they can when they can't.
(Defense is a fighting style for fighters, shields are a thing that don't give disadvantage on stealth and there are multiple magic armors that bypass disadvantage when wearing them, Monks are not inherently better at defense, mobility or scouting than a barbarian who has more health takes half damage when raging and can have advantage and use strength for those skill checks and can climb better, swim better, and jump the same distance).
And its not that I don't have answers, its more that its not really about my solution, there are many solutions. Its more important to identify issues. The designers tend to choose their own answers, they just need to see problems
The answer ranges from simple abilities that use Ki to give a bonus to certain skills, to Ki gives you expertise to Proficient skills. Full ki gives you advantage on wis checks or dex checks (choose after SR) mental combat via a wise saying, (think Yoda or Wise monk parable) if character fails save, they have disadvantage on next ability check/save.
there are tons of solutions, the real question is, is it a problem people want to solve.
I wouldn't mind DP to give advantage to Athletics checks to jump or Acrobatics checks to... actually what is Acrobatics for?... or something. But Expertise is too much, they're still a Warrior class at the end of the day and now that side of their kit is much stronger.
So the issue is the monk can specialize itself for stealth and still be worse than any other class that does the same.
If more defense and more mobility while sneaking makes you worse, the issue is your table, not the class.
They don't have more mobility or defense. Other classes are just as tough, and movement speed is only relevant in combat. Other classes have better climbing, swimming and teleporting giving them better mobility. movement speed is not the only type of mobility and is the least important form of mobility.
During stealth mobility speed is pretty important. It is generally 1/2 speed while being stealthy a monk has a increased base movement and a bonus action dash making them one of the fastest stealth class in the game. Need to cross a large gap of open terrain in a single turn while in stealth, the monk can do it without needing magic. Want to scout out a camp, the monk will do it faster than anyone except maybe the druid. The idea that movement speed only matters during combat is so counter to my play experience I'm kind of baffled by the statement. In my campaigns movement speed during stealth is generally more important than it is in combat.
So the issue is the monk can specialize itself for stealth and still be worse than any other class that does the same.
If more defense and more mobility while sneaking makes you worse, the issue is your table, not the class.
They don't have more mobility or defense. Other classes are just as tough, and movement speed is only relevant in combat. Other classes have better climbing, swimming and teleporting giving them better mobility. movement speed is not the only type of mobility and is the least important form of mobility.
During stealth mobility speed is pretty important. It is generally 1/2 speed while being stealthy a monk has a increased base movement and a bonus action dash making them one of the fastest stealth class in the game. Need to cross a large gap of open terrain in a single turn while in stealth, the monk can do it without needing magic. Want to scout out a camp, the monk will do it faster than anyone except maybe the druid. The idea that movement speed only matters during combat is so counter to my play experience I'm kind of baffled by the statement. In my campaigns movement speed during stealth is generally more important than it is in combat.
I am curious in the games you play without a monk is it now not possible for say, the ranger who took stealth to scout the camp because it moves 5 to 10 feet slower while stealthing? is that 30 seconds faster that the monk scouts that out actually making a difference? Is getting past that gap the only way?
I suppose this is a way for a gm to highlight a character's strength out of combat, and if it is satisfying to some then I am not going to question that. Personally, I find it to be not enough to be satisfied, because I know if I was the "stealth guy" as a fighter the gm wouldn't have made the gap matter what would have mattered would be how well I improvised a solution or rolled a stealth check.
So the issue is the monk can specialize itself for stealth and still be worse than any other class that does the same.
If more defense and more mobility while sneaking makes you worse, the issue is your table, not the class.
They don't have more mobility or defense. Other classes are just as tough, and movement speed is only relevant in combat. Other classes have better climbing, swimming and teleporting giving them better mobility. movement speed is not the only type of mobility and is the least important form of mobility.
During stealth mobility speed is pretty important. It is generally 1/2 speed while being stealthy a monk has a increased base movement and a bonus action dash making them one of the fastest stealth class in the game. Need to cross a large gap of open terrain in a single turn while in stealth, the monk can do it without needing magic. Want to scout out a camp, the monk will do it faster than anyone except maybe the druid. The idea that movement speed only matters during combat is so counter to my play experience I'm kind of baffled by the statement. In my campaigns movement speed during stealth is generally more important than it is in combat.
I am curious in the games you play without a monk is it now not possible for say, the ranger who took stealth to scout the camp because it moves 5 to 10 feet slower while stealthing? is that 30 seconds faster that the monk scouts that out actually making a difference? Is getting past that gap the only way?
I suppose this is a way for a gm to highlight a character's strength out of combat, and if it is satisfying to some then I am not going to question that. Personally, I find it to be not enough to be satisfied, because I know if I was the "stealth guy" as a fighter the gm wouldn't have made the gap matter what would have mattered would be how well I improvised a solution or rolled a stealth check.
Its closer to double the speed. The ranger moves 30 feet while in stealth, the monk 60. Bonus action dash+ increased movement gives them 120 feet a turn, 60 while in stealth. The rogue also has a bonus action dash and gets up to 45, but stealth is their focus. A ranger at 6th will have 40 feet a movement in stealth at which point the monk will be only 67 feet, but it bumps to 75 at 10th.
And yeah that is a pretty big swing in our games. Far bigger than in combat which usually only impacts one round for us.
So the issue is the monk can specialize itself for stealth and still be worse than any other class that does the same.
If more defense and more mobility while sneaking makes you worse, the issue is your table, not the class.
They don't have more mobility or defense. Other classes are just as tough, and movement speed is only relevant in combat. Other classes have better climbing, swimming and teleporting giving them better mobility. movement speed is not the only type of mobility and is the least important form of mobility.
During stealth mobility speed is pretty important. It is generally 1/2 speed while being stealthy a monk has a increased base movement and a bonus action dash making them one of the fastest stealth class in the game. Need to cross a large gap of open terrain in a single turn while in stealth, the monk can do it without needing magic. Want to scout out a camp, the monk will do it faster than anyone except maybe the druid. The idea that movement speed only matters during combat is so counter to my play experience I'm kind of baffled by the statement. In my campaigns movement speed during stealth is generally more important than it is in combat.
thing is, what is this concept of "faster" in out of combat. When i play or have seen other play OoC content time is rarely mentioned. The ranger scouting comes back whenever he comes back, the monk, or whoever. No one i have seen is playing with initiative out of Combat, so this seems weird.
Are you saying you always play in initiative, taking turns for movement? Or are you saying, your DM is creating time situations like, you have 5 minutes to to scout as much distance? I'm not even sure how you are applying this.
I can say that there have been plenty of times in my group when the scout has tripped a party encounter because, when it comes to spotting ambushes, the d20 rolled for perception likes to imitate a d4. And in those instances, faster movement makes the difference between getting back to the party or asking someone to pass you a blank character sheet. And sadly, it comes up much, much more often than the math would suggest.
I can say that there have been plenty of times in my group when the scout has tripped a party encounter because, when it comes to spotting ambushes, the d20 rolled for perception likes to imitate a d4. And in those instances, faster movement makes the difference between getting back to the party or asking someone to pass you a blank character sheet. And sadly, it comes up much, much more often than the math would suggest.
that depends on the class though, some scouts are fine in that situation.
And the issue is not really , is there no way the monk is useful for scouting ever, but rather does the monk have competitive Ooc utility. Being slightly better in an edge case of one specific Ooc usecase is not good enough to say realistically, the monk has decent OoC utility. Rogue has a minimum roll on skill checks and expertise. Bards can add dice, and force rerolls on saves. Fighters can ad d10 to any roll, Barbarians get advantage, and eventually, they basically can use their STR as a roll for like 5-6 skills. Run faster in initiative order has a much smaller use case than the others.
And its not that I don't have answers, its more that its not really about my solution, there are many solutions. Its more important to identify issues. The designers tend to choose their own answers, they just need to see problems
The answer ranges from simple abilities that use Ki to give a bonus to certain skills, to Ki gives you expertise to Proficient skills. Full ki gives you advantage on wis checks or dex checks (choose after SR) mental combat via a wise saying, (think Yoda or Wise monk parable) if character fails save, they have disadvantage on next ability check/save.
there are tons of solutions, the real question is, is it a problem people want to solve.
I wouldn't mind DP to give advantage to Athletics checks to jump or Acrobatics checks to... actually what is Acrobatics for?... or something. But Expertise is too much, they're still a Warrior class at the end of the day and now that side of their kit is much stronger.
I am saying i have no particular attachment to monk's OoC specialty being scouting. thats one direction, but you could also have them be better at percieving things, or detecting peoples motivations. Or you can just have them be able to generally boost skills via a cost.
expertise is just one option of many, but its really not that OP. in fact maybe its weak.
Barbarian advantage brings up the average roll by about 3.8, lets say 4, and being able to use your main stat for stealth, survival, perception, intimidiation, brings them up probably by at least 3, as much as 5. for a total of lets say+4 to 9 before level 18, at which point their minimum roll is their strength score. which at 19, is probably 22, and at 20 is 26.
fighter gets a d10 from the start of the game(well level 2 i think), whose average value is 5.5
warlock, i believe they can take invocations that is a feat without a req, like skilled, which gives expertise.
so +2-6 depending on level is really not that powerful, and not out of line with other warriors, even though they have thrown out the idea of warrior classes, and are going for a more mingled approach.
monks are really very far behind in skill specialization at this point.
I wouldn't mind DP to give advantage to Athletics checks to jump or Acrobatics checks to... actually what is Acrobatics for?... or something. But Expertise is too much, they're still a Warrior class at the end of the day and now that side of their kit is much stronger.
Acrobatics seems intended mainly for checks where balance is important (but where a Dexterity saving throw isn't more appropriate) but also for movement that is more about being nimble – the examples they give are rolling, flips etc. so I would use acrobatics if a player wants to roll under (or flip over) something while maintaining speed or similar, though I might also allow a more basic vault using Athletics if a character is so inclined.
I think they're left intentionally a bit vague, so I somewhat allow them to be used interchangeably in situations where either is reasonable, for example if scaling a wall you might simply look for handholds and footholds and haul yourself up athletically, but if there's anything to kick off from, you might also argue acrobatics to do more of a parkour manoeuvre. Same for anywhere you might argue distance vs. technique, though in some of these edge cases a DM might could also allow Dexterity (Athletics) instead so a dextrous character isn't penalised by being too rigid on how they're allowed to move.
Definitely another area they really ought to clarify in the rules, because what is athletic versus just basic Strength is often unclear, and with it being the only Strength skill you don't want to undervalue it either, but nor do you want to punish a Dexterity oriented character (especially if the class basically requires it) for being unable to spare anything for a high Strength.
I'd be fully onboard with the ability to gain advantage though, I think it's fair Monks should be able to be good at both Athletics and Acrobatics as standard.
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Jumping across a 15 ft river is Athletics, Pole-vaulting across it is Acrobatics. Climbing a cliff is Athletics, running along a fallen tree that is leaning against the cliff is Acrobatics Wading or swimming against the current of river rapids is Athletics, hopping from stone to cross the rapids is Acrobatics Lifting someone up over a wall is Athletics, vaulting off someone's back to leap over the wall is Acrobatics Pushing a someone out of your way is Athletics, rolling between their legs is Acrobatics
IMO, just raw ability checks should be avoided as much as possible because it makes skill proficiency a wasted feature. I only use them if the requested action really doesn't fit into any skill, and even then if it is something they have probably done fairly often based on their character & backstory I'll let them add proficiency bonus anyway.
So the issue is the monk can specialize itself for stealth and still be worse than any other class that does the same.
If more defense and more mobility while sneaking makes you worse, the issue is your table, not the class.
They don't have more mobility or defense. Other classes are just as tough, and movement speed is only relevant in combat. Other classes have better climbing, swimming and teleporting giving them better mobility. movement speed is not the only type of mobility and is the least important form of mobility.
During stealth mobility speed is pretty important. It is generally 1/2 speed while being stealthy a monk has a increased base movement and a bonus action dash making them one of the fastest stealth class in the game. Need to cross a large gap of open terrain in a single turn while in stealth, the monk can do it without needing magic. Want to scout out a camp, the monk will do it faster than anyone except maybe the druid. The idea that movement speed only matters during combat is so counter to my play experience I'm kind of baffled by the statement. In my campaigns movement speed during stealth is generally more important than it is in combat.
thing is, what is this concept of "faster" in out of combat. When i play or have seen other play OoC content time is rarely mentioned. The ranger scouting comes back whenever he comes back, the monk, or whoever. No one i have seen is playing with initiative out of Combat, so this seems weird.
Are you saying you always play in initiative, taking turns for movement? Or are you saying, your DM is creating time situations like, you have 5 minutes to to scout as much distance? I'm not even sure how you are applying this.
Depends on the circumstance how we roleplay it but sometimes yes its in turns or pseudo turns because time matters and other times its more abstract, like I want to make sure I am with this many turns of the party. For the second it generally means the monk can scout ahead twice as far from the party, for the first it allows the monk to potentially stealth through areas others wouldn't because they would be caught in the open, giving the monk more routes they can stealth through. This comes up a lot as I generally don't just throw so many guards they can stand still and watch every area like a hawk as then well stealth becomes impossible. So guards are on patrol with some static guards. The monk can take routes and do things others can't due to their movement. So while we may not have rolled initiative and are in rounds we know or I do at least they have one turn to get through that corridor/clearing etc.
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If more defense and more mobility while sneaking makes you worse, the issue is your table, not the class.
Half Joke half Serious.... give base Monk Radiant sunbolt or searing sun burst or something like that for range effects XD
A feat that work like Searing sunburst is interesting in the aspect of super charge with DP. I know the restrains of DP... as a modular feat with multichoice would do the trick on the monk for versatility.
That raise a question. If Monk had a Modular feat like the Cleric/Druid/Warlock/Fighter what would be the choices you would like to see?
Monk/discipline Techniques/secrets
A. Something like Sunbolt or Searing sun burst
B. Fighting Style slot
C. Weapon Mastery
D. Ribbon Ability for out of combat/social?
No need to bash lets think of it as something fun and different to speculate. Its obviously understandable other stuff would need to be balanced out.
The reality of scouting is "what do I do if things to badly" is a significant question, and monks have generally superior answers to that question.
They don't have more mobility or defense. Other classes are just as tough, and movement speed is only relevant in combat. Other classes have better climbing, swimming and teleporting giving them better mobility. movement speed is not the only type of mobility and is the least important form of mobility.
My only nitpick is fall damage mitigation should not require you to use/require a reaction.
Cry HAVOC! and let slip the mustelids of war...
Of course they do. If the Fighter and Barb wear armor, they're worse at sneaking. If they wear no armor or light armor, they have less defense. If the Barbarian wears no armor, their defense is better, but at the cost of their offense until high levels.
I agree completely; double-dashing, double-jumping, falling long distances safely and running up and down walls are good too. If only we knew a martial class that could do all those things!
I'll also ask you the same question I asked Gwar1 three pages ago, which has yet to be answered by either of you - what do you propose?
I'd add, that in my experience, if things do go wrong while sneaking, then you are in "combat", or at least initiative is rolled to see who acts when. Even if this isn't the case, a DM that doesn't give a Monk character significant benefits in escaping when they have a very high move speed, the ability to dash as a bonus action, and the other abilities Psyren mentions is not really doing their job right in adjudicating the situation.
I don't think monk needs to be great at scouting, I think they need to be strong with some skills, or OoC stuff. And its not that I don't have answers, its more that its not really about my solution, there are many solutions. Its more important to identify issues. The designers tend to choose their own answers, they just need to see problems
The answer ranges from simple abilities that use Ki to give a bonus to certain skills, to Ki gives you expertise to Proficient skills. Full ki gives you advantage on wis checks or dex checks (choose after SR) mental combat via a wise saying, (think Yoda or Wise monk parable) if character fails save, they have disadvantage on next ability check/save.
there are tons of solutions, the real question is, is it a problem people want to solve.
Jump distance is based on strength. Doubling jump distance just gets monk= to other martials not above. Dashing is movement speed. Running up walls and across water comes in INCREDIBLY late at level 9.
I made my proposition. Add some social aspects into their kit tongue of sun and mood, bring the running up walls down 2 levels to 7 instead of 9 so that it can be more relevant to a game. Bring the break out of things down to 9. Change jump distance provided by step of the wind to match new jump spell so that the monk can ACTUALLY jump further instead of pretending like they can when they can't.
(Defense is a fighting style for fighters, shields are a thing that don't give disadvantage on stealth and there are multiple magic armors that bypass disadvantage when wearing them, Monks are not inherently better at defense, mobility or scouting than a barbarian who has more health takes half damage when raging and can have advantage and use strength for those skill checks and can climb better, swim better, and jump the same distance).
That... that's the point... scouting is an OoC activity that uses skills...
I wouldn't mind DP to give advantage to Athletics checks to jump or Acrobatics checks to... actually what is Acrobatics for?... or something. But Expertise is too much, they're still a Warrior class at the end of the day and now that side of their kit is much stronger.
During stealth mobility speed is pretty important. It is generally 1/2 speed while being stealthy a monk has a increased base movement and a bonus action dash making them one of the fastest stealth class in the game. Need to cross a large gap of open terrain in a single turn while in stealth, the monk can do it without needing magic. Want to scout out a camp, the monk will do it faster than anyone except maybe the druid. The idea that movement speed only matters during combat is so counter to my play experience I'm kind of baffled by the statement. In my campaigns movement speed during stealth is generally more important than it is in combat.
I am curious in the games you play without a monk is it now not possible for say, the ranger who took stealth to scout the camp because it moves 5 to 10 feet slower while stealthing? is that 30 seconds faster that the monk scouts that out actually making a difference? Is getting past that gap the only way?
I suppose this is a way for a gm to highlight a character's strength out of combat, and if it is satisfying to some then I am not going to question that. Personally, I find it to be not enough to be satisfied, because I know if I was the "stealth guy" as a fighter the gm wouldn't have made the gap matter what would have mattered would be how well I improvised a solution or rolled a stealth check.
Its closer to double the speed. The ranger moves 30 feet while in stealth, the monk 60. Bonus action dash+ increased movement gives them 120 feet a turn, 60 while in stealth. The rogue also has a bonus action dash and gets up to 45, but stealth is their focus. A ranger at 6th will have 40 feet a movement in stealth at which point the monk will be only 67 feet, but it bumps to 75 at 10th.
And yeah that is a pretty big swing in our games. Far bigger than in combat which usually only impacts one round for us.
thing is, what is this concept of "faster" in out of combat. When i play or have seen other play OoC content time is rarely mentioned. The ranger scouting comes back whenever he comes back, the monk, or whoever. No one i have seen is playing with initiative out of Combat, so this seems weird.
Are you saying you always play in initiative, taking turns for movement? Or are you saying, your DM is creating time situations like, you have 5 minutes to to scout as much distance? I'm not even sure how you are applying this.
I can say that there have been plenty of times in my group when the scout has tripped a party encounter because, when it comes to spotting ambushes, the d20 rolled for perception likes to imitate a d4. And in those instances, faster movement makes the difference between getting back to the party or asking someone to pass you a blank character sheet. And sadly, it comes up much, much more often than the math would suggest.
that depends on the class though, some scouts are fine in that situation.
And the issue is not really , is there no way the monk is useful for scouting ever, but rather does the monk have competitive Ooc utility. Being slightly better in an edge case of one specific Ooc usecase is not good enough to say realistically, the monk has decent OoC utility. Rogue has a minimum roll on skill checks and expertise. Bards can add dice, and force rerolls on saves. Fighters can ad d10 to any roll, Barbarians get advantage, and eventually, they basically can use their STR as a roll for like 5-6 skills. Run faster in initiative order has a much smaller use case than the others.
I am saying i have no particular attachment to monk's OoC specialty being scouting. thats one direction, but you could also have them be better at percieving things, or detecting peoples motivations. Or you can just have them be able to generally boost skills via a cost.
expertise is just one option of many, but its really not that OP. in fact maybe its weak.
Barbarian advantage brings up the average roll by about 3.8, lets say 4, and being able to use your main stat for stealth, survival, perception, intimidiation, brings them up probably by at least 3, as much as 5. for a total of lets say+4 to 9 before level 18, at which point their minimum roll is their strength score. which at 19, is probably 22, and at 20 is 26.
fighter gets a d10 from the start of the game(well level 2 i think), whose average value is 5.5
warlock, i believe they can take invocations that is a feat without a req, like skilled, which gives expertise.
so +2-6 depending on level is really not that powerful, and not out of line with other warriors, even though they have thrown out the idea of warrior classes, and are going for a more mingled approach.
monks are really very far behind in skill specialization at this point.
Acrobatics seems intended mainly for checks where balance is important (but where a Dexterity saving throw isn't more appropriate) but also for movement that is more about being nimble – the examples they give are rolling, flips etc. so I would use acrobatics if a player wants to roll under (or flip over) something while maintaining speed or similar, though I might also allow a more basic vault using Athletics if a character is so inclined.
I think they're left intentionally a bit vague, so I somewhat allow them to be used interchangeably in situations where either is reasonable, for example if scaling a wall you might simply look for handholds and footholds and haul yourself up athletically, but if there's anything to kick off from, you might also argue acrobatics to do more of a parkour manoeuvre. Same for anywhere you might argue distance vs. technique, though in some of these edge cases a DM might could also allow Dexterity (Athletics) instead so a dextrous character isn't penalised by being too rigid on how they're allowed to move.
Definitely another area they really ought to clarify in the rules, because what is athletic versus just basic Strength is often unclear, and with it being the only Strength skill you don't want to undervalue it either, but nor do you want to punish a Dexterity oriented character (especially if the class basically requires it) for being unable to spare anything for a high Strength.
I'd be fully onboard with the ability to gain advantage though, I think it's fair Monks should be able to be good at both Athletics and Acrobatics as standard.
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Acrobatics is for acrobatics:
Jumping across a 15 ft river is Athletics, Pole-vaulting across it is Acrobatics.
Climbing a cliff is Athletics, running along a fallen tree that is leaning against the cliff is Acrobatics
Wading or swimming against the current of river rapids is Athletics, hopping from stone to cross the rapids is Acrobatics
Lifting someone up over a wall is Athletics, vaulting off someone's back to leap over the wall is Acrobatics
Pushing a someone out of your way is Athletics, rolling between their legs is Acrobatics
IMO, just raw ability checks should be avoided as much as possible because it makes skill proficiency a wasted feature. I only use them if the requested action really doesn't fit into any skill, and even then if it is something they have probably done fairly often based on their character & backstory I'll let them add proficiency bonus anyway.
Depends on the circumstance how we roleplay it but sometimes yes its in turns or pseudo turns because time matters and other times its more abstract, like I want to make sure I am with this many turns of the party. For the second it generally means the monk can scout ahead twice as far from the party, for the first it allows the monk to potentially stealth through areas others wouldn't because they would be caught in the open, giving the monk more routes they can stealth through. This comes up a lot as I generally don't just throw so many guards they can stand still and watch every area like a hawk as then well stealth becomes impossible. So guards are on patrol with some static guards. The monk can take routes and do things others can't due to their movement. So while we may not have rolled initiative and are in rounds we know or I do at least they have one turn to get through that corridor/clearing etc.