Is this monk too strong? It is tough as nails, but it loses Opportunity attacks if it uses deflect attack so that seems a fair trade off. The level 10 upgrade does feel like it comes online a little too early. Mobility is definitely improved, but you still lose out on damage by a lot at level 10+ if you try to utilize it, the ki trade off feels way better though 3 attacks vs dodge, disengage and 2x MA die Temp HP seems like it may be worth it.
I am torn between, is this too strong or just good choices are good and we want things to be an actual choice.
its not too strong, its in the realm of others power levels.
it doesnt have a lot of playstyle variation out the box, but with some traits and some subs, there are interesting choices. Its still gonna be Ki starved, and still weak without ki by 5 but maybe the changes to other classes, and BG3 may make SR more common.
it is missing the out of combat utility though. fighter got huge boosts with tactical mind, and barb is master in the field. Monk is very combat heavy, while not being better at it than others.
but if it doesnt change I can live with it. The thing I would most want is creative new interesting tactics/play, and thats probably not going to happen at this stage. I'll take the decoupled bonus action, and deflect attacks as the gameplay changers. Its decent
this monk is so freaking awesome . if this is monk in the phb im buying day one. im so glad they fixed so much . with an actual good base monk im super hyped to see even more sublasses.
as a rogue you can reduce all damage by half depending on what type and how much damage that could still be stronger . however monk is also a warrior archetype who lays into enemies so it makes sense they are better at direct combat . you are better at sneaking monk should be better at combat . this monk kan now finally hang out with his barb and fighter brothers .
As a rogue, I will sneak attack with a whip. Melee attack from 10ft away. Ha! You can reduce the damage but not slap it back in my face!
If the game was geared for PvP it would be OP. But honestly against most creatures the monk is better saving it’s DP for FoB.
if this game was pvp wizard would murder everyone. also its one attack so if you have more then one attack or someone attacks after the first guy your reaction is used, and they can now push ya off a cliff. you also lose reaction attacks .
-Bonus action unarmed strike and FOB no longer tied to the attack action. This is great.
-return of the martial arts die with weapons. This is good. Two weapon fighting monks are going to be bad ass.
-weapon masteries for monks are scrapped. It's a missed opportunity to add weapon masteries to unarmed strikes. Sad.
-proficiency in martial weapons with the light property. That adds shortsword and scimitar. I thought they would bring in tashas dedicated weapon. Looks like monks will have to take a feat to get better weapons.
-dexterity is now your save dc for grapple and shove options! I love this.
-patient defense is free bonus disengage and spend 1ki to Disengage and dodge. Not sure if these combine well but I love the free disengage.
-step of wind is free bonus dash and spend 1 ki to Dash and disengage with double jump distance. I love the free dash.
-at level 2 you regain all expended ki points when you roll Initiative and you also gain hit points equal to your monk level plus martial arts die. Usable once per long rest. At first glance I like this alot. Not convinced it solves the monks ki issues but combined with free dash and disengage it might be enough. For me it needs a closer look.
-Deflect Missiles now becomes deflect Attack and works with melee attacks. Damage returned to the enemy equal two martial arts die plus dex modifier or zero on a save. I love this! very on point for the monk. Still wished it was an attack roll instead of a saving throw. Expect this to be nerfed. The same damage reduction on melee attacks as the ranged might be too strong. I think they might cap it at dex modifier times per long rest.
-stunning strike duration is still until the beginning of your next turn but also does one martial arts die plus wisdom modifier force damage on a failed save. i think this is a nice compromise so it does not feel like a waste of resources when they make their save.
-level 10 flurry of blows can do a third attack. patient defense gives you temp hit points equal to two martial arts die. step of the wind lets you move a willing creature with you without provoking opportunity attacks. Monks needed a damage and survivability boost in tier three and four so this is good. Sotw gives a fun bonus for helping guys out of sticky situations.
-level 10 you can remove charm, frightened or poison at end of your turn.
-level 15 when you have 3 or less discipline points and roll Initiative you start with 4 points. It's better but overall still a meh feature.
-superior defense is now at beginning of turn instead of a bonus action. Excellent action economy improvement so you can still FOB in the same round you use this. Very good.
-capstone is +4 to dex and wisdom max 26. This is the capstone I was hoping for. Finally a worthy monk capstone!
Open Hand Monk
-Addle goes back to no saving throw. You also get a third attack from FOB at 10th level from base class for an extra attempt at pushing, tripping or addle.
-No ki cost for wholeness of Body. Still capped at wisdom modifier times per day.
-you can add step of the wind to any other bonus action. I assume that means bonus actions other than FOB or PD qualify.
-quivering Palm can now be activated with one of your attacks on the attack action.
Overall I have to say I am pleasantly surprised as there is more here than i was expecting. Alot of these changes are ideas we saw on these forums. Kudos to monk fans for speaking up. Keep in mind they can always nerf these changes but at first glance this does get me more excited to play monk than I have been in some time.
Agree with most of what you say, but on close look, monk ki expenditure is still high, metabolism won’t cover it. And flurry of blows is still always the best choice. So basically monk game play is, use same attack chain over and over, and the best oh crap buttons.
I like the deflect, grapples, and ba unarmed without attack action.
it’s definitely an improvement, but I don’t think monk gameplay will feel too different. Meanwhile everyone else gained a lot more choices. Good enough though
overall I think its much better monk kan actually do some nova now it will burn all your ki but now you have an option. you an now choose if you do nova or keep it steady consistent damage super sweet.
I’m pleasantly surprised. It doesn’t have all of the tings that I would have wanted but I think they did make improvements over 2014 and especially over the 1st UA. I think they went in the right direction.
Some might say that the Metabolism thing at 2nd isn’t enough but I think it will help. It’s basically a free short rest DP recovery. And you still get your DP on a SR when you do take it. If you are 8th level and have 8 DP that’s up to 16 DP without a SR.
The loss of Weapon Masteries isn’t great but it made Open hand’s OHT almost useless. But they still could have done something with it.
Im super happy at most of these changes. i hope they keep this monk good before phb release.
Is this monk too strong? It is tough as nails, but it loses Opportunity attacks if it uses deflect attack so that seems a fair trade off. The level 10 upgrade does feel like it comes online a little too early. Mobility is definitely improved, but you still lose out on damage by a lot at level 10+ if you try to utilize it, the ki trade off feels way better though 3 attacks vs dodge, disengage and 2x MA die Temp HP seems like it may be worth it.
I am torn between, is this too strong or just good choices are good and we want things to be an actual choice.
its not too strong, its in the realm of others power levels.
it doesnt have a lot of playstyle variation out the box, but with some traits and some subs, there are interesting choices. Its still gonna be Ki starved, and still weak without ki by 5 but maybe the changes to other classes, and BG3 may make SR more common.
it is missing the out of combat utility though. fighter got huge boosts with tactical mind, and barb is master in the field. Monk is very combat heavy, while not being better at it than others.
but if it doesnt change I can live with it. The thing I would most want is creative new interesting tactics/play, and thats probably not going to happen at this stage. I'll take the decoupled bonus action, and deflect attacks as the gameplay changers. Its decent
Honestly, I think it is a good sign that I am not able to instantly look at this and go. "OMG too strong" or "OMG so weak it solved nothing".
This feels like something that needs to be play tested. This feels RIGHT.
By level 2 you are able to use your bonus action to attack, disengage or dash without spending ki. With ki (of which you have 2 points) you can push those bonus actions further. During one fight you can recover both your ki and some health. All around pretty durable, good damage and good on the moment flexibility. 3 just adds to that and allows you to trade opportunity attacks for defense. Monk was already decent in the first 5 levels and the stuff added were just quality of life buffs. They don't improve the top half, but the bottom is more flexible and less punishing. Level 10 things are brought up to be stronger than they were, but only if you are spending ki. Still encourages FoB over anything else just because of the old saying that the best condition is dead and now more than half your attacks are on FoB, but you can still make 3 attacks and dodge because FoB is not linked to the attack action and the other improvements do at least make it a debate, do you FoB and attack 3 times and dodge or attack twice dodge, disengage and get 2x MA die Temp HP for the same 1 ki.
All around I think this is just a lot of flexibility in combat decision making. The level 2 feature helps a lot for making sure you have ki to do things. I feel ki doesn't start getting eaten until 17 or 18 as most things still only cost 1 ki.
It kind of is pvp. My player character's strategy vs the DM's
If the DM uses a monk. I gotta think of every trick
maybe at level 20 but a baseline fighter will have much more power at lower levels at higher levels monk seems to be the more tanky option wich is fine you still have to use the resources properly . remember its only one reaction so a swarm of multi attacking enemies will still get damage in .
Is this monk too strong? It is tough as nails, but it loses Opportunity attacks if it uses deflect attack so that seems a fair trade off. The level 10 upgrade does feel like it comes online a little too early. Mobility is definitely improved, but you still lose out on damage by a lot at level 10+ if you try to utilize it, the ki trade off feels way better though 3 attacks vs dodge, disengage and 2x MA die Temp HP seems like it may be worth it.
I am torn between, is this too strong or just good choices are good and we want things to be an actual choice.
its not too strong, its in the realm of others power levels.
it doesnt have a lot of playstyle variation out the box, but with some traits and some subs, there are interesting choices. Its still gonna be Ki starved, and still weak without ki by 5 but maybe the changes to other classes, and BG3 may make SR more common.
it is missing the out of combat utility though. fighter got huge boosts with tactical mind, and barb is master in the field. Monk is very combat heavy, while not being better at it than others.
but if it doesnt change I can live with it. The thing I would most want is creative new interesting tactics/play, and thats probably not going to happen at this stage. I'll take the decoupled bonus action, and deflect attacks as the gameplay changers. Its decent
Honestly, I think it is a good sign that I am not able to instantly look at this and go. "OMG too strong" or "OMG so weak it solved nothing".
This feels like something that needs to be play tested. This feels RIGHT.
By level 2 you are able to use your bonus action to attack, disengage or dash without spending ki. With ki (of which you have 2 points) you can push those bonus actions further. During one fight you can recover both your ki and some health. All around pretty durable, good damage and good on the moment flexibility. 3 just adds to that and allows you to trade opportunity attacks for defense. Monk was already decent in the first 5 levels and the stuff added were just quality of life buffs. They don't improve the top half, but the bottom is more flexible and less punishing. Level 10 things are brought up to be stronger than they were, but only if you are spending ki. Still encourages FoB over anything else just because of the old saying that the best condition is dead and now more than half your attacks are on FoB, but you can still make 3 attacks and dodge because FoB is not linked to the attack action and the other improvements do at least make it a debate, do you FoB and attack 3 times and dodge or attack twice dodge, disengage and get 2x MA die Temp HP for the same 1 ki.
All around I think this is just a lot of flexibility in combat decision making. The level 2 feature helps a lot for making sure you have ki to do things. I feel ki doesn't start getting eaten until 17 or 18 as most things still only cost 1 ki.
I’m loving the changes to the monk. I still think it should have weapon masteries but I can live without them if this is what we’re getting. You basically have cunning action as a monk, which is great and themed for a monk type character. I’m here but you’re not going to hit me. Pretty awesome that they focused on the speed, which actually makes it the exact opposite of the barbarian. And wow, they actually went with the dex grapples and shoves, and the melee deflection. The monk has never felt so monkish.
Disagree with this last statement. You have many per turn tactical choices. Unarmed strikes are now viable for shoving and grappling with monk so any attack can become a shove or grapple, bonus action can be used to attack, or dash, or disengage. You can use your action to dodge and then attack as a bonus action still. The monk has arguably some of the most tactical decisions to make turn to turn of any martial without spending resources and get more when they start spending resources.
(Not willing to speak on the math because I have not done the math or the builds yet).
Disagree, grapple & shove are not viable for anyone - there are so many forced movement as part of an attack and knock prone as part of an attack features now and the success rate for Grapple / Shove is so low now that it's really pointless to attempt them. In current 5e Grapple & Shove are WAY more viable than in One D&D and still they are hardly ever used. Grapple & Shove in One D&D are trap options.
Dodging with your action is still doesn't make sense until 11th level and you can swap 2 Attacks with your action + BA dodge for 1 DP for Dodge with your action and 3 attacks as a BA with FoB.
If you use your BA for anything other than attacking you're DPR will drop below that of any other warrior class, sure its an option but its not a good option.
I would definitely start with 17 dex and 16 wis, taking the Weapon Mastery feat at level 4 to get the Nick mastery.
That allows the Monk to take 2/3 attacks a turn, with a dagger or scimitar, without using their bonus action. As I read the rules it would still allow the Monk to take their bonus action unarmed attack, or flurry of blows. At level 10 that's up to six attacks, and that is pretty good.
So much to comment on! In general, Monk got a huge improvement with features now based around a defined play style of the skirmishing action economy martial class. And they did this while addressing several of the biggest concerns regarding resource control and MAD distribution.
1st level: The addition of multiple Martial Weapons to Martial Arts is a huge change that greatly expands the options for how to play and represent the class. It also conveniently allows WOTC to control weapon access with the Light property so things don't get too out of control. We will need to see Weapon Master brought back to Monks, as by either Multiclassing or the Weapon Master feat they can get it anyway so it's better to just let them have it and figure out how Nick does or doesn't work with Unarmed Bonus Attack and FOB.
The change to Bonus Unarmed Strike is an excellent carryover from Baldur's Gate 3 that makes the class much more flexible with its action economy without increasing damage output.
Unarmored Defense: No changes here but the changes to Patient Defense and the Monk capstone ability greatly improve class survivability overall.
Dextrous Attacks: Finally, Monks can use their Dex for more than just normal attacks. Personally, I think they should also get a similar ability to affect their Jumping and Throwing distance (for light weapons and items at least).
Level 2:
Martial Discipline: The new rules for FOB, Patient Defense, and Step of the Wind are excellently crafted. By making Discipline Points the cost of increased action economy, it has finally brought all of the Monk's other abilities into sharp focus on an effective and unique play style - high mobility, high APM for maximum action economy on each turn. This is the skirmisher that players have been asking for since long before 2014.
Patient Defense: Absolutely love BA Disengage being free. The Monk has to get into melee for nearly all of its combat features. This finally makes that process a safe option and encourages players to open their combat by immediately moving to the back line. The DP extra effect is a great tool for attacking high level opponents with Legendary Actions and Reactions so it stays relevant even into the late game.
Step of the Wind: another great option for improving class mobility and versatility now that it's freed from the DP tax. the best part is, the DP cost is a great rider with the DP investment improving action economy in the moment.
Uncanny Metabolism: cleaned up for easy inclusion into tier 1 play where it was most needed. And while it won't stand in effectively for real healing, the HP boost at the start of each fight is just enough that a Monk isn't punished for breaking through the back line in a previous fight. I also am relieved that we no longer need to figure out how to balance other short rest effects for this feature - imagine a Fighter multiclass that could just take 1 minute to gain another use of Action Surge.
Unarmored Movement: This was never worth the tradeoff of no armor in the previous editions, but with the changes to Patient Defense and Step of the Wind (and their 10th level power-ups) now there is tons of incentive to make full use of every foot of movement.
Level 3:
Deflect Attacks: Holy smokes this is an amazing change! Combined with Deflect Energy, Monks finally feel like they are simultaneously lightly armored but not inherently squishy! Further, this feels so thematic, with a Monk turning an incoming attack into an opportunity for a punishing counter-attack which is a common strategy in almost every widely practiced martial art. This is brilliant!
Subclasses: AND THEN they incorporated almost all of these new changes into the Way of the Hand subclass!?!? Who are these people and what did they do to the D&D staff at WOTC!?
Level 5: Stunning Strike: It's still kind of bad, but at least it no longer feels like a total waste of DP to attempt Stunning Strike on a monster with high CON at lower levels.
Level 10:
Heightened Discipline: This feature is so good I wouldn't have blamed them if they delayed it to 11th level to match Fighters getting their 3rd Extra Attack. The bonus to FOB is already great, but then they went and made Patient Defense and Step of the Wind also scale into true 10th level abilities! And oh, here's that great College of Dance mobility aid feature we all said should have been a Monk feature! And temp HP for moving up on high level enemies!
Self Restoration: Finally eliminates that annoying question about what happens when you can't take an action as the result of a status effect!
Level 13: Deflect Energy: Elegantly worded to take full advantage of Deflect Attacks! Again: WHO WROTE THIS? I want to go to a con and buy them a beer!
Level 15: Perfect Discipline: They finally wrote a "if you have none remaining regain X" that makes sense! Combined with the change to Barbarian Rage recovery, we can finally hope for similar tweaks to all the other features that had this garbage feels-bad anti-feaure in it!
Level 20: Body and Mind: Combined with the tweaks to ASIs, this may now be the best capstone for any class in the game. Bumps to the 2 most important Monk stats up to as much as 26. Not just affecting attack and damage rolls it also affects AC, save DCs for regular and discipline attack features, your 2 biggest Skill pools, and more. A dramatic improvement that feels like you've actuall achied that spiritual, physical and mental perfection that the class is described as pursuing.
I am so excited for this change! I want to play this yesterday!
The latest version of Open Hand still seems underwhelming. Each feature seems disjointed.
The level 3 feature is tied to FoB, so if you are out of Points or use PD/SoTW, you effectively have no subclass. Picking up a single Weapon Mastery through a Feat or multiclass does the job debatably as well. At least Addle no longer requires a save.
Wholeness of Body is a Bonus Action heal, which means in combat it would take the place of FoB. Healing is better outside of combat. At level 6 it appears to be ~34 HP. That is comparable to Lay on Hands. Not too bad, but not unique.
Fleet Step is interesting in that it is a free Dash every turn. Reliable Double Speed. There are some interesting Grapples that could be done (Spike Growth).
Quivering Palm is less clunky, but just boring damage.
In less than an hour, I haphazardly threw together an alternative Open Hand subclass that is simpler, more cohesive, and effective.
At Level 3 you gain a single Weapon Mastery (Sap, Slow, Topple, or Push) that can only be applied to your Unarmed Strikes. The Weapon Mastery can be applied when a creature fails a saving throw against Grapple or Shove.
At Level 6 you gain a second Weapon Mastery without restrictions that can only be applied to your Unarmed Strikes. You may only use one Weapon Mastery per attack. When you successfully Grapple or Shove, you may deal a Martial Arts dice of damage to the target.
Fleet Step is unchanged.
Quivering Palm You gain the ability to set up lethal vibrations in someone’s body. Once per turn when you hit a creature with an Unarmed Strike, you can force the target to make a CON save or gain a level of Exhaustion.
With the open hand/warrior of the hand remember that the new flurry of blows does not require an attack action.
This means you can start with the flurry causing the open palm effects and then attack. In base PH most of your attacks were done by the time you knocked them prone etc. Now you can knock them prone on the first attack. With quivering palm you can now deliver its damage in a single round, you will be burning through discipline points fast but the damage out put will be high.(though its level 17 for that part).
I am not sure it is as good as shadow for example but its better than it looks I think. I'll have to play with it to see how it pans out.
its ok, its more that this is kinda baseline functionality now. any demi martial, other than rogue (even war clerics and warlocks) can just pull out a topple weapon and topple, or use a push weapon with no save.
so the open hand monk, for its main feature, unlocks a worse version of mastery. If you sub fighter 1 level you can literally whip out a maul, spend two attacks trying to topple it, stow it, and flurry of blows. with a 2d6, at level 5.
and not just fighter, barbarian, Ranger, warlock, paladin, can all do this out the box. Sooo feels a bit weird to be the defining feature of open hand.
I do wish Open Hand Technique would have had some additional options. As it stands, once you get Fleet Step you can free disengage (PD) and FoB so Addle is irrelevant. That leaves you with Push and Topple, which isn’t bad. But push is circumstantial, leaving Topple the better option in many cases.
Addle is still useful to help others move away from the enemy without provoking opportunity attacks. Also it saves you a DP. Fleet step only lets you dash for free. It will cost DP to disengage using SotW.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
its not too strong, its in the realm of others power levels.
it doesnt have a lot of playstyle variation out the box, but with some traits and some subs, there are interesting choices. Its still gonna be Ki starved, and still weak without ki by 5 but maybe the changes to other classes, and BG3 may make SR more common.
it is missing the out of combat utility though. fighter got huge boosts with tactical mind, and barb is master in the field. Monk is very combat heavy, while not being better at it than others.
but if it doesnt change I can live with it. The thing I would most want is creative new interesting tactics/play, and thats probably not going to happen at this stage. I'll take the decoupled bonus action, and deflect attacks as the gameplay changers. Its decent
its just one attack per turn, monk only gets one reaction.
this monk is so freaking awesome . if this is monk in the phb im buying day one. im so glad they fixed so much . with an actual good base monk im super hyped to see even more sublasses.
as a rogue you can reduce all damage by half depending on what type and how much damage that could still be stronger . however monk is also a warrior archetype who lays into enemies so it makes sense they are better at direct combat . you are better at sneaking monk should be better at combat . this monk kan now finally hang out with his barb and fighter brothers .
if this game was pvp wizard would murder everyone. also its one attack so if you have more then one attack or someone attacks after the first guy your reaction is used, and they can now push ya off a cliff. you also lose reaction attacks .
It kind of is pvp. My player character's strategy vs the DM's
If the DM uses a monk. I gotta think of every trick
im fine if it comes at level ten . it cost a resource .
overall I think its much better monk kan actually do some nova now it will burn all your ki but now you have an option. you an now choose if you do nova or keep it steady consistent damage super sweet.
Im super happy at most of these changes. i hope they keep this monk good before phb release.
Honestly, I think it is a good sign that I am not able to instantly look at this and go. "OMG too strong" or "OMG so weak it solved nothing".
This feels like something that needs to be play tested. This feels RIGHT.
By level 2 you are able to use your bonus action to attack, disengage or dash without spending ki. With ki (of which you have 2 points) you can push those bonus actions further. During one fight you can recover both your ki and some health. All around pretty durable, good damage and good on the moment flexibility. 3 just adds to that and allows you to trade opportunity attacks for defense. Monk was already decent in the first 5 levels and the stuff added were just quality of life buffs. They don't improve the top half, but the bottom is more flexible and less punishing. Level 10 things are brought up to be stronger than they were, but only if you are spending ki. Still encourages FoB over anything else just because of the old saying that the best condition is dead and now more than half your attacks are on FoB, but you can still make 3 attacks and dodge because FoB is not linked to the attack action and the other improvements do at least make it a debate, do you FoB and attack 3 times and dodge or attack twice dodge, disengage and get 2x MA die Temp HP for the same 1 ki.
All around I think this is just a lot of flexibility in combat decision making. The level 2 feature helps a lot for making sure you have ki to do things. I feel ki doesn't start getting eaten until 17 or 18 as most things still only cost 1 ki.
maybe at level 20 but a baseline fighter will have much more power at lower levels at higher levels monk seems to be the more tanky option wich is fine you still have to use the resources properly . remember its only one reaction so a swarm of multi attacking enemies will still get damage in .
well, try it out and see I suppose
I’m loving the changes to the monk. I still think it should have weapon masteries but I can live without them if this is what we’re getting. You basically have cunning action as a monk, which is great and themed for a monk type character. I’m here but you’re not going to hit me. Pretty awesome that they focused on the speed, which actually makes it the exact opposite of the barbarian. And wow, they actually went with the dex grapples and shoves, and the melee deflection. The monk has never felt so monkish.
I guess my main thing is being to deflect all attacks at lvl3. Why not scale it out.
Lvl3 deflect missiles
Lvl6 deflect unarmed strikes
9 deflect slashing
12 deflect piercing
15 deflect bludgeoning
Or something like that
I think that’s just over complicating it. Besides, it doesn’t say all attacks just slashing, piercing, and bludgeoning
Disagree, grapple & shove are not viable for anyone - there are so many forced movement as part of an attack and knock prone as part of an attack features now and the success rate for Grapple / Shove is so low now that it's really pointless to attempt them. In current 5e Grapple & Shove are WAY more viable than in One D&D and still they are hardly ever used. Grapple & Shove in One D&D are trap options.
Dodging with your action is still doesn't make sense until 11th level and you can swap 2 Attacks with your action + BA dodge for 1 DP for Dodge with your action and 3 attacks as a BA with FoB.
If you use your BA for anything other than attacking you're DPR will drop below that of any other warrior class, sure its an option but its not a good option.
I would definitely start with 17 dex and 16 wis, taking the Weapon Mastery feat at level 4 to get the Nick mastery.
That allows the Monk to take 2/3 attacks a turn, with a dagger or scimitar, without using their bonus action. As I read the rules it would still allow the Monk to take their bonus action unarmed attack, or flurry of blows. At level 10 that's up to six attacks, and that is pretty good.
So much to comment on! In general, Monk got a huge improvement with features now based around a defined play style of the skirmishing action economy martial class. And they did this while addressing several of the biggest concerns regarding resource control and MAD distribution.
1st level: The addition of multiple Martial Weapons to Martial Arts is a huge change that greatly expands the options for how to play and represent the class. It also conveniently allows WOTC to control weapon access with the Light property so things don't get too out of control. We will need to see Weapon Master brought back to Monks, as by either Multiclassing or the Weapon Master feat they can get it anyway so it's better to just let them have it and figure out how Nick does or doesn't work with Unarmed Bonus Attack and FOB.
The change to Bonus Unarmed Strike is an excellent carryover from Baldur's Gate 3 that makes the class much more flexible with its action economy without increasing damage output.
Unarmored Defense: No changes here but the changes to Patient Defense and the Monk capstone ability greatly improve class survivability overall.
Dextrous Attacks: Finally, Monks can use their Dex for more than just normal attacks. Personally, I think they should also get a similar ability to affect their Jumping and Throwing distance (for light weapons and items at least).
Level 2:
Martial Discipline: The new rules for FOB, Patient Defense, and Step of the Wind are excellently crafted. By making Discipline Points the cost of increased action economy, it has finally brought all of the Monk's other abilities into sharp focus on an effective and unique play style - high mobility, high APM for maximum action economy on each turn. This is the skirmisher that players have been asking for since long before 2014.
Patient Defense: Absolutely love BA Disengage being free. The Monk has to get into melee for nearly all of its combat features. This finally makes that process a safe option and encourages players to open their combat by immediately moving to the back line. The DP extra effect is a great tool for attacking high level opponents with Legendary Actions and Reactions so it stays relevant even into the late game.
Step of the Wind: another great option for improving class mobility and versatility now that it's freed from the DP tax. the best part is, the DP cost is a great rider with the DP investment improving action economy in the moment.
Uncanny Metabolism: cleaned up for easy inclusion into tier 1 play where it was most needed. And while it won't stand in effectively for real healing, the HP boost at the start of each fight is just enough that a Monk isn't punished for breaking through the back line in a previous fight. I also am relieved that we no longer need to figure out how to balance other short rest effects for this feature - imagine a Fighter multiclass that could just take 1 minute to gain another use of Action Surge.
Unarmored Movement: This was never worth the tradeoff of no armor in the previous editions, but with the changes to Patient Defense and Step of the Wind (and their 10th level power-ups) now there is tons of incentive to make full use of every foot of movement.
Level 3:
Deflect Attacks: Holy smokes this is an amazing change! Combined with Deflect Energy, Monks finally feel like they are simultaneously lightly armored but not inherently squishy! Further, this feels so thematic, with a Monk turning an incoming attack into an opportunity for a punishing counter-attack which is a common strategy in almost every widely practiced martial art. This is brilliant!
Subclasses: AND THEN they incorporated almost all of these new changes into the Way of the Hand subclass!?!? Who are these people and what did they do to the D&D staff at WOTC!?
Level 5: Stunning Strike: It's still kind of bad, but at least it no longer feels like a total waste of DP to attempt Stunning Strike on a monster with high CON at lower levels.
Level 10:
Heightened Discipline: This feature is so good I wouldn't have blamed them if they delayed it to 11th level to match Fighters getting their 3rd Extra Attack. The bonus to FOB is already great, but then they went and made Patient Defense and Step of the Wind also scale into true 10th level abilities! And oh, here's that great College of Dance mobility aid feature we all said should have been a Monk feature! And temp HP for moving up on high level enemies!
Self Restoration: Finally eliminates that annoying question about what happens when you can't take an action as the result of a status effect!
Level 13: Deflect Energy: Elegantly worded to take full advantage of Deflect Attacks! Again: WHO WROTE THIS? I want to go to a con and buy them a beer!
Level 15: Perfect Discipline: They finally wrote a "if you have none remaining regain X" that makes sense! Combined with the change to Barbarian Rage recovery, we can finally hope for similar tweaks to all the other features that had this garbage feels-bad anti-feaure in it!
Level 20: Body and Mind: Combined with the tweaks to ASIs, this may now be the best capstone for any class in the game. Bumps to the 2 most important Monk stats up to as much as 26. Not just affecting attack and damage rolls it also affects AC, save DCs for regular and discipline attack features, your 2 biggest Skill pools, and more. A dramatic improvement that feels like you've actuall achied that spiritual, physical and mental perfection that the class is described as pursuing.
I am so excited for this change! I want to play this yesterday!
I do wish Open Hand Technique would have had some additional options. As it stands, once you get Fleet Step you can free disengage (PD) and FoB so Addle is irrelevant. That leaves you with Push and Topple, which isn’t bad. But push is circumstantial, leaving Topple the better option in many cases.
EZD6 by DM Scotty
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/397599/EZD6-Core-Rulebook?
Addle is still useful to help others move away from the enemy without provoking opportunity attacks. Also it saves you a DP. Fleet step only lets you dash for free. It will cost DP to disengage using SotW.