I have read and written alot of ideas to fix monks based on reworking the core monk features.
What if you left the monk as is, but just had better feats for monk to pick? Feats have always been a problem for monks. There are a rare few feats that are worth the cost of not taking dex or wisdom for your ASI.
So here is my attempt at making some feats to fix the monk. Keep in mind these Feats are designed for many builds, not just monk.
1) issue - monk damage too low
Feat: Sage Skirmisher
Prerequisite: 4th level
Repeatable: No
You learn to enhance your physical prowess with your non physical gifts.
Ability Score Increase. Increase your wisdom, charisma or intelligence by +1 to a maximum of 20.
Sage Strike. Once per turn when you make a melee weapon attack, unarmed strike or ranged weapon attack you can add the ability score modifier increased by this feat to the damage of the attack.
#2) issue - monk AC is too low
Feat: Unarmored Expert
Prerequisite: Unarmored Defense Feature
Repeatable: No
Evading attacks while unarmored has become second nature to you.
Ability Score Increase. Increase any ability score used to calculate your Unarmored Defense by +1 to a maximum of 20.
Improved Unarmored Defense. Add half your proficiency bonus (rounded down) to your Unarmored Armor class.
#3) issue - not enough ki
Feat: Ki Adept
Prerequisite: None
Repeatable: No
You have trained with masters and learned to enhance your mind-body connection.
Ability Score Increase. Increase your wisdom or dexterity by +1 to a maximum of 20.
Physical Training. You learn one of Flurry of Blows, Patient Defense or Step of the Wind.
Increased Ki. You gain three ki points. These ki points are regained after a short or long rest. If you are a Monk they are added to your total number of ki points.
#4) issue - monks should have other options for their reaction besides throwing a missile.
Feat: Master Duelist
Prerequisite: 4th level
Repeatable: No
Your skill and reflexes let you take advantage of your enemies' mistakes.
Ability Score Increase. Increase your dexterity score by +1 to a maximum of 20.
Reaction Attack. When a creature misses you with a melee attack you can use your reaction to make a melee weapon attack against that creature. This attack must be with a finesse weapon or monk weapon.
Sage Skirmisher would be broken on Hexblade (and any Multiclass using this) as well as Armorer or Battlesmith Artificer. This would effectively double their Ability Score Modifier on one attack per turn, as the Hexblade attacks with Cha and the two Artificer subclasses attack with Int.
Unarmored Expert should have the prerequisite of the Unarmored Defense feature. Otherwise, not bad? I see this definitely being used more by Barbarians than Monks, though.
Ki Adept is weird: Ki Conservation is literally only useful for Monks (it says you cannot use it on the Monk feature learned), but then learning a new Monk feature is then also useless for Monks. And all you get is +2 Ki (+PB free single Ki point uses). This just seems like a lot of bookkeeping. I would see a Fighter taking this to get two free uses of Patient Defense per Short Rest vs. a Monk taking it.
Master Duelist isn't bad. I would see a Rogue taking this way more, though, as it gets them another shot at Sneak Attack with their reaction. For a Monk it seems kinda meh, as they typically want to be in and out of combat.
Most classes don't have fancy things to do with their reactions (aside from Shield or Counterspell). The Monk actually already has Deflect Missile to reduce damage from ranged attacks and potentially turn it into an attack as well. So I wouldn't see this as a shortcoming of Monks.
Unarmored feat should have the unamored defense prerequisite. Good catch. I structured ki adept that way because i thought +2ki points was not enough for a monk to want to take the feat but giving more ki than that would be a bit strong for non monks. Ki is a unique resource pool which makes balancing tricky. Maybe +3ki points instead of +2ki and a +1 to wisdom or dex instead of the ki conservation part would be better?
Is adding int, wis or chr to damage only once per turn really OP? I would not have thought so.
Just a thought about adding a meaningful reaction (issue #4) to the monk's array of options: the Defensive Duelist feat seems to be worthy of consideration, especially for the kensei who opts for a finesse weapon. Maybe this feat eliminates the need for your proposed Master Duelist feat? Defensive Duelist also lends itself well to addressing issue/concern #2 (low AC).
Defensive Duelist
When you are wielding a finesse weapon with which you are proficient and another creature hits you with a melee attack, you can use your reaction to add 6 to your AC for that attack.
Just a thought about adding a meaningful reaction (issue #4) to the monk's array of options: the Defensive Duelist feat seems to be worthy of consideration, especially for the kensei who opts for a finesse weapon. Maybe this feat eliminates the need for your proposed Master Duelist feat? Defensive Duelist also lends itself well to addressing issue/concern #2 (low AC).
Defensive Duelist
When you are wielding a finesse weapon with which you are proficient and another creature hits you with a melee attack, you can use your reaction to add 6 to your AC for that attack.
Yes that's a good one. The new defensive duelist they are proposing in the UA also adds +1 to dex, so even better.
The problem with the class is it has been "fixed" nearly six times starting with AD&D1e. Now I see it is being fixed again with the latest Playtest.
The damage aspect doesn't bother me, because the class was never meant to be damage dealing. So the constant comparisons with the Fighter classes is meaningless. The one thing that set it apart from the other classes was it's ability to kill from Quivering Palm. Now that they took that away, I think it lost a bit of it's prestige. Many of the same people who mocked the Monk for not dealing enough damage, were also the ones who complained QP was OP. But then Wizards can insta kill with Power Word Kill or a Wish. No one is trying to get those modified.
The problem with the class is it has been "fixed" nearly six times starting with AD&D1e. Now I see it is being fixed again with the latest Playtest.
The damage aspect doesn't bother me, because the class was never meant to be damage dealing. So the constant comparisons with the Fighter classes is meaningless. The one thing that set it apart from the other classes was it's ability to kill from Quivering Palm. Now that they took that away, I think it lost a bit of it's prestige. Many of the same people who mocked the Monk for not dealing enough damage, were also the ones who complained QP was OP. But then Wizards can insta kill with Power Word Kill or a Wish. No one is trying to get those modified.
Quivering Palm is specific to Open Hand subclass (basically the Monk’s monk subclass).
If damage isn’t the monks thing then what is? We’re talking 5E not previous editions as that is irrelevant to the class as it is supported now. Most of their features are geared towards combat and not much else.
And Power Word Kill has a 100 hp threshold that if the target has 101 the spell does nothing, as far as I remember. Quivering Palm could take out an infinite number of hit points with one failed save. And WotC is getting away from Save or Die features for balance reasons.
The feats are good, but I don't think that I can afford to lose out on those Dex and Wis score increases. The roll I got for a Human Variant, variant bonus: Dex 17, Con 15, Wis 16. Aside from that, the only Feats that would benefit me would be: Alert, Lucky or Mage Slayer.
I can't afford to miss out on getting as close to 22 in a timely fashion in both, especially if GM's are stingy with XP, magical weapons or magical items of protection.
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I have read and written alot of ideas to fix monks based on reworking the core monk features.
What if you left the monk as is, but just had better feats for monk to pick? Feats have always been a problem for monks. There are a rare few feats that are worth the cost of not taking dex or wisdom for your ASI.
So here is my attempt at making some feats to fix the monk. Keep in mind these Feats are designed for many builds, not just monk.
1) issue - monk damage too low
Feat: Sage Skirmisher
Prerequisite: 4th level
Repeatable: No
You learn to enhance your physical prowess with your non physical gifts.
Ability Score Increase. Increase your wisdom, charisma or intelligence by +1 to a maximum of 20.
Sage Strike. Once per turn when you make a melee weapon attack, unarmed strike or ranged weapon attack you can add the ability score modifier increased by this feat to the damage of the attack.
#2) issue - monk AC is too low
Feat: Unarmored Expert
Prerequisite: Unarmored Defense Feature
Repeatable: No
Evading attacks while unarmored has become second nature to you.
Ability Score Increase. Increase any ability score used to calculate your Unarmored Defense by +1 to a maximum of 20.
Improved Unarmored Defense. Add half your proficiency bonus (rounded down) to your Unarmored Armor class.
#3) issue - not enough ki
Feat: Ki Adept
Prerequisite: None
Repeatable: No
You have trained with masters and learned to enhance your mind-body connection.
Ability Score Increase. Increase your wisdom or dexterity by +1 to a maximum of 20.
Physical Training. You learn one of Flurry of Blows, Patient Defense or Step of the Wind.
Increased Ki. You gain three ki points. These ki points are regained after a short or long rest. If you are a Monk they are added to your total number of ki points.
#4) issue - monks should have other options for their reaction besides throwing a missile.
Feat: Master Duelist
Prerequisite: 4th level
Repeatable: No
Your skill and reflexes let you take advantage of your enemies' mistakes.
Ability Score Increase. Increase your dexterity score by +1 to a maximum of 20.
Reaction Attack. When a creature misses you with a melee attack you can use your reaction to make a melee weapon attack against that creature. This attack must be with a finesse weapon or monk weapon.
Sooooo….
Thoughts???
Do these cover most of the monk issues?
Unarmored feat should have the unamored defense prerequisite. Good catch. I structured ki adept that way because i thought +2ki points was not enough for a monk to want to take the feat but giving more ki than that would be a bit strong for non monks. Ki is a unique resource pool which makes balancing tricky. Maybe +3ki points instead of +2ki and a +1 to wisdom or dex instead of the ki conservation part would be better?
Is adding int, wis or chr to damage only once per turn really OP? I would not have thought so.
Thanks for the feedback. Much appreciated.
Just a thought about adding a meaningful reaction (issue #4) to the monk's array of options: the Defensive Duelist feat seems to be worthy of consideration, especially for the kensei who opts for a finesse weapon. Maybe this feat eliminates the need for your proposed Master Duelist feat? Defensive Duelist also lends itself well to addressing issue/concern #2 (low AC).
Defensive Duelist
Yes that's a good one. The new defensive duelist they are proposing in the UA also adds +1 to dex, so even better.
The problem with the class is it has been "fixed" nearly six times starting with AD&D1e. Now I see it is being fixed again with the latest Playtest.
The damage aspect doesn't bother me, because the class was never meant to be damage dealing. So the constant comparisons with the Fighter classes is meaningless. The one thing that set it apart from the other classes was it's ability to kill from Quivering Palm. Now that they took that away, I think it lost a bit of it's prestige. Many of the same people who mocked the Monk for not dealing enough damage, were also the ones who complained QP was OP. But then Wizards can insta kill with Power Word Kill or a Wish. No one is trying to get those modified.
Quivering Palm is specific to Open Hand subclass (basically the Monk’s monk subclass).
If damage isn’t the monks thing then what is? We’re talking 5E not previous editions as that is irrelevant to the class as it is supported now. Most of their features are geared towards combat and not much else.
And Power Word Kill has a 100 hp threshold that if the target has 101 the spell does nothing, as far as I remember. Quivering Palm could take out an infinite number of hit points with one failed save. And WotC is getting away from Save or Die features for balance reasons.
EZD6 by DM Scotty
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/397599/EZD6-Core-Rulebook?
The feats are good, but I don't think that I can afford to lose out on those Dex and Wis score increases. The roll I got for a Human Variant, variant bonus: Dex 17, Con 15, Wis 16. Aside from that, the only Feats that would benefit me would be: Alert, Lucky or Mage Slayer.
I can't afford to miss out on getting as close to 22 in a timely fashion in both, especially if GM's are stingy with XP, magical weapons or magical items of protection.