Like a lot of people, I've been underwhelmed with the vanilla monk for a while. It doesn't really fit the flavor of what I want to see in a martial arts hero, especially because it's MAD-locked into the DEX/WIS/CON twink build.
The UA Revised Monk is pretty cool and well-balanced against even optimized vanilla martials, but it still didn't scratch my itch because it also suffers from MAD and seems to sacrifice mystic abilities in favor of more punchy-punchy. It feels like a mix between a fighter and a barbarian, while I believe a monk should be more a mix between a paladin and a rogue.
So I decided to make a revision of the monk class that would make it more flexible in build-style and hopefully more fun to play in general.
Here’s what I wanted to achieve:
Fix the MADness. That means you can make a functional build with one primary attribute – probably Wisdom – and one secondary attribute that you can wait until higher levels to boost. With my SAD monk, there are 7 optimal combinations.
Allow diversity of builds. Fantasy storytelling of Eastern mysticism, wuxia, and kenjutsu/ninjitsu have an incredible diversity in the way they portray martial arts practitioners. I wanted a way to play Monks that are beefy, devious, intimidating or strong in addition to the standard DEX/WIS twink we usually have in D&D.
Make it rewarding to multiclass, but not TOO rewarding too early. I tried to make the Monk workable from the get-go, but not so front-loaded in power that everyone would be tempted to take a 2-level dip.
Bring the DPR up in line with other classes. I succeeded in making the baseline Monk – with no ki expenditure – slightly above Treantmonk’s baseline and roughly on par with a PAM halberd Fighter. I built a lot of flexibility in so, for instance, an optimized high-level Monk can be just slightly less than DPR-competitive with an optimized Fighter if you sacrifice defense.
Keep it balanced overall. Meaning that, when possible, I gave the Monk abilities that match word-for word those given to other classes at the same level and otherwise tried to keep class features in line with them.
A capstone that fits with the theme. I might have overturned this one a tad, but does it really matter at 20th level? I think it’s reasonably balanced given what we have to work with. It's tied to concentration, so one good bump in combat and it goes bye-bye.
Anyway, I’d love to have some feedback, especially playtesting. What do y’all think? Did I nail it or miss the mark? Thanks!
Hi Beautiful People!
Like a lot of people, I've been underwhelmed with the vanilla monk for a while. It doesn't really fit the flavor of what I want to see in a martial arts hero, especially because it's MAD-locked into the DEX/WIS/CON twink build.
The UA Revised Monk is pretty cool and well-balanced against even optimized vanilla martials, but it still didn't scratch my itch because it also suffers from MAD and seems to sacrifice mystic abilities in favor of more punchy-punchy. It feels like a mix between a fighter and a barbarian, while I believe a monk should be more a mix between a paladin and a rogue.
So I decided to make a revision of the monk class that would make it more flexible in build-style and hopefully more fun to play in general.
- Fix the MADness. That means you can make a functional build with one primary attribute – probably Wisdom – and one secondary attribute that you can wait until higher levels to boost. With my SAD monk, there are 7 optimal combinations.
- Allow diversity of builds. Fantasy storytelling of Eastern mysticism, wuxia, and kenjutsu/ninjitsu have an incredible diversity in the way they portray martial arts practitioners. I wanted a way to play Monks that are beefy, devious, intimidating or strong in addition to the standard DEX/WIS twink we usually have in D&D.
- Make it rewarding to multiclass, but not TOO rewarding too early. I tried to make the Monk workable from the get-go, but not so front-loaded in power that everyone would be tempted to take a 2-level dip.
- Bring the DPR up in line with other classes. I succeeded in making the baseline Monk – with no ki expenditure – slightly above Treantmonk’s baseline and roughly on par with a PAM halberd Fighter. I built a lot of flexibility in so, for instance, an optimized high-level Monk can be just slightly less than DPR-competitive with an optimized Fighter if you sacrifice defense.
- Keep it balanced overall. Meaning that, when possible, I gave the Monk abilities that match word-for word those given to other classes at the same level and otherwise tried to keep class features in line with them.
- A capstone that fits with the theme. I might have overturned this one a tad, but does it really matter at 20th level? I think it’s reasonably balanced given what we have to work with. It's tied to concentration, so one good bump in combat and it goes bye-bye.
Anyway, I’d love to have some feedback, especially playtesting. What do y’all think? Did I nail it or miss the mark? Thanks!Link to Google Doc with latest edits.
tbh, It's a cool design.