I made a Long Death Monk with a 1 lvl Revised Ranger dip at level 1 and it feels really nice with the new optional features. I then figured it would be great to take a few levels in fighter and halt the monk progress around level 14, which seems like the sweet spot. Hear me out and feel free to comment!
First of all, I love the ranger concept and hate the official ranger because it feels too scattered. Lots of situational stuff. I like the revised for being quite well rounded, maybe even too well rounded for balance, but we are playing a game where balance isn't nr. 1 priority anyways.
Concept is a Witch hunter type of Ranger Assassin that patrols the wilderness killing all sorts of wicked things. So I'm trying to make the first round of combat as deadly as possibly for that assassin vibe.
Early game:
You get extra attack one level late. Luckily the monk has those bonus action attacks to offset this hindrance. I started at level 6, so I didn't suffer this.
Level 6+
So by starting as Rev Ranger, I got myself Martial Weapons. The monk optional feature allows you to turn any non-heavy and non-special weapon into a monk weapon quite easily. So that allows me to use d10 versatile weapons as monk weapons. So these pair really well. Another optional monk rule allows you to attack with a weapon instead of unarmed as a bonus action if you have spent KI points during your action. So if I make a stunning strike with my attack, I can use the same d10 weapon for my bonus action attack. This is a really nice damage. Favored enemy gets me a nice dmg boost too.
Ranger also got me advantage on initiative rolls and advantage on first turn attacks against enemies that haven't acted yet. I also got the Alert feat at level 4 for extra ini. So my ini is pretty strong now. These pair really well with monk too, as it allows the monk to take control of the fight by getting close and stunning etc.
Later levels
For the "final build"
I was thinking of going Monk 14 for Diamond Soul. Then 3 Ranger and 3 Fighter.
Ranger 3 gets me Spells, most importantly Hunter's Mark, which pairs well with the insane amount of attacks I have. I also get a fighting style, thinking of Mariner for extra AC and a way to fully utilize monk's mega movement. Also Deep Stalker for another attack and +10 speed during first turn. Another feature that pairs really well with the monk. This pairs insanely well with Fighter too.
Fighter 3 gets me another Fighting Style. Not sure which one I'll pick. Action surge! So now I have 4-5 attacks from Monk+Deep Stalker on my first turn, depending on Flurry of Blows. Action Surge allows me to double the 3 attacks of my main attack. So with Flurry of blows, that's 8 Attacks during first turn. Battlemaster for Maneuvers. This makes up for the missing KI points as I get 4 superiority dice that also reset with a short rest. Makes up nicely for the 6 missing KI points.
Basically I think the biggest flaw is missing out on two ASI. I don't really need the Ability Score increases with the stats I had from the beginning so I would have taken feats anyways. And I get lots of features from multiclassing, so I don't mind.
I'm not aiming for damage optimization here, but the first level dmg can be insane. Theoretically 6d10+2d8+8d6+modifiers including favored enemy. Even average goes way beyond 100. Oh and all of these attacks are with Advantage. :P
But I'm doing this for the devastating first turn concept, so I don't really care about the damage total. The guy is insanely brutal and efficient. A sort of Punisher+Equalizer+Transporter kinda feeling. When he feels threatened, he makes a pre-emptive assault and boy it's hell unleashed. He's a reborn, so has this monstrous vibe and appearance. People in towns often want him harm. So they start picking a fight. He doesn't allow them them to organize or flank him. Instead he wins initiative by default, picks up whatever he can get a hold of (I'm allowed to use improv weapons as monk weapons) and beats the **** out of everyone before they can even realize what happened. Then abandons the town as usual.
Hey,
I made a Long Death Monk with a 1 lvl Revised Ranger dip at level 1 and it feels really nice with the new optional features. I then figured it would be great to take a few levels in fighter and halt the monk progress around level 14, which seems like the sweet spot. Hear me out and feel free to comment!
First of all, I love the ranger concept and hate the official ranger because it feels too scattered. Lots of situational stuff. I like the revised for being quite well rounded, maybe even too well rounded for balance, but we are playing a game where balance isn't nr. 1 priority anyways.
Concept is a Witch hunter type of Ranger Assassin that patrols the wilderness killing all sorts of wicked things. So I'm trying to make the first round of combat as deadly as possibly for that assassin vibe.
Early game:
You get extra attack one level late. Luckily the monk has those bonus action attacks to offset this hindrance. I started at level 6, so I didn't suffer this.
Level 6+
So by starting as Rev Ranger, I got myself Martial Weapons. The monk optional feature allows you to turn any non-heavy and non-special weapon into a monk weapon quite easily. So that allows me to use d10 versatile weapons as monk weapons. So these pair really well. Another optional monk rule allows you to attack with a weapon instead of unarmed as a bonus action if you have spent KI points during your action. So if I make a stunning strike with my attack, I can use the same d10 weapon for my bonus action attack. This is a really nice damage. Favored enemy gets me a nice dmg boost too.
Ranger also got me advantage on initiative rolls and advantage on first turn attacks against enemies that haven't acted yet. I also got the Alert feat at level 4 for extra ini. So my ini is pretty strong now. These pair really well with monk too, as it allows the monk to take control of the fight by getting close and stunning etc.
Later levels
For the "final build"
I was thinking of going Monk 14 for Diamond Soul. Then 3 Ranger and 3 Fighter.
Ranger 3 gets me Spells, most importantly Hunter's Mark, which pairs well with the insane amount of attacks I have. I also get a fighting style, thinking of Mariner for extra AC and a way to fully utilize monk's mega movement. Also Deep Stalker for another attack and +10 speed during first turn. Another feature that pairs really well with the monk. This pairs insanely well with Fighter too.
Fighter 3 gets me another Fighting Style. Not sure which one I'll pick. Action surge! So now I have 4-5 attacks from Monk+Deep Stalker on my first turn, depending on Flurry of Blows. Action Surge allows me to double the 3 attacks of my main attack. So with Flurry of blows, that's 8 Attacks during first turn. Battlemaster for Maneuvers. This makes up for the missing KI points as I get 4 superiority dice that also reset with a short rest. Makes up nicely for the 6 missing KI points.
Basically I think the biggest flaw is missing out on two ASI. I don't really need the Ability Score increases with the stats I had from the beginning so I would have taken feats anyways. And I get lots of features from multiclassing, so I don't mind.
I'm not aiming for damage optimization here, but the first level dmg can be insane. Theoretically 6d10+2d8+8d6+modifiers including favored enemy. Even average goes way beyond 100. Oh and all of these attacks are with Advantage. :P
But I'm doing this for the devastating first turn concept, so I don't really care about the damage total. The guy is insanely brutal and efficient. A sort of Punisher+Equalizer+Transporter kinda feeling. When he feels threatened, he makes a pre-emptive assault and boy it's hell unleashed. He's a reborn, so has this monstrous vibe and appearance. People in towns often want him harm. So they start picking a fight. He doesn't allow them them to organize or flank him. Instead he wins initiative by default, picks up whatever he can get a hold of (I'm allowed to use improv weapons as monk weapons) and beats the **** out of everyone before they can even realize what happened. Then abandons the town as usual.
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