D&D BEYOND will be undergoing maintenance on Jan 20th @ 1 AM Pacific for approximately 6 hours. For updates, check our Status Page at https://status.dndbeyond.com/
Not a fan of a 'half caster' Monk. It seems that they have them casting spells from the Sorcerer. A couple of the abilities seem decent enough such as casting a Cantrip or spell in lieu of your attack action. However, you still get your unarmed bonus attacks. Of course you have to wait until 17th level to use this ability when casting spells, and even then you are only limited to casting First and Second level spells. 🤷🏿♂️
As a 1st or initial draft to allow ideas and tweaks it fine. This has a very, very long way to go. Compared to other subclasses in the PHB, you are giving up a lot to just say you can do magic. The magic available is just is not a fair trade.
You don't have to wait until 17th level. If you can cast spells as a Monk, you can always just use Action for Magic Action and then Bonus Action for Flurry of Blows. Indeed, the level 17 feature doesn't actually do anything useful since Monks only get one Extra Attack. So you'd be sacrificing all of your Attack Action attacks to cast a spell - which you just could have done with a Magic Action.
Likewise, while casting a cantrip in lieu of an attack is useful for an Eldritch Knight, Valor Bard or Bladesinger, it's much less useful for a Monk since the primary use is for a spell like True Strike (which can't be used with Unarmed Strike).
The main value of the sub-class is likely spells like Shield that are cast as a Reaction or, at very high levels, Emanations that trigger off of attacks (Monks get 5 attacks/turn).
You don't have to wait until 17th level. If you can cast spells as a Monk, you can always just use Action for Magic Action and then Bonus Action for Flurry of Blows. Indeed, the level 17 feature doesn't actually do anything useful since Monks only get one Extra Attack. So you'd be sacrificing all of your Attack Action attacks to cast a spell - which you just could have done with a Magic Action.
That's only partially true. Casting a Cantrip only cost you one of your attack actions, since you get two at 5th level. So you can cast a Cantrip, then attack and then bonus unarmed attack.
17th level is inexcusable to force you to use both of your attack actions. I seems they were assuming the Monk gets three attacks in the attack action, instead of only two. I wouldn't mind the sacrifice but they would have to up the spell level to at least 3rd level. The conversion stuff seems okay I guess. As does the ability to get advantage saving throws to maintain concentration spells.
You don't have to wait until 17th level. If you can cast spells as a Monk, you can always just use Action for Magic Action and then Bonus Action for Flurry of Blows. Indeed, the level 17 feature doesn't actually do anything useful since Monks only get one Extra Attack. So you'd be sacrificing all of your Attack Action attacks to cast a spell - which you just could have done with a Magic Action.
That's only partially true. Casting a Cantrip only cost you one of your attack actions, since you get two at 5th level. So you can cast a Cantrip, then attack and then bonus unarmed attack.
17th level is inexcusable to force you to use both of your attack actions. I seems they were assuming the Monk gets three attacks in the attack action, instead of only two. I wouldn't mind the sacrifice but they would have to up the spell level to at least 3rd level. The conversion stuff seems okay I guess. As does the ability to get advantage saving throws to maintain concentration spells.
The issue with the 17th level feature is that there's no functional difference between "I take the Attack Action, sacrifice both my attacks and cast a spell" vs. "I take the Magic Action and cast a spell" - except, of course, you can cast any level spell with the Magic Action rather than just a level 1/2 spell.
In terms of casting a cantrip, this tends to be much less useful for a Monk than a Fighter since Monks normally focus on Unarmed attacks (at least once they start getting Wraps/Tattoos that boost Unarmed) and thus can't use weapon cantrips like True Strike.
You don't have to wait until 17th level. If you can cast spells as a Monk, you can always just use Action for Magic Action and then Bonus Action for Flurry of Blows. Indeed, the level 17 feature doesn't actually do anything useful since Monks only get one Extra Attack. So you'd be sacrificing all of your Attack Action attacks to cast a spell - which you just could have done with a Magic Action.
That's only partially true. Casting a Cantrip only cost you one of your attack actions, since you get two at 5th level. So you can cast a Cantrip, then attack and then bonus unarmed attack.
17th level is inexcusable to force you to use both of your attack actions. I seems they were assuming the Monk gets three attacks in the attack action, instead of only two. I wouldn't mind the sacrifice but they would have to up the spell level to at least 3rd level. The conversion stuff seems okay I guess. As does the ability to get advantage saving throws to maintain concentration spells.
The issue with the 17th level feature is that there's no functional difference between "I take the Attack Action, sacrifice both my attacks and cast a spell" vs. "I take the Magic Action and cast a spell" - except, of course, you can cast any level spell with the Magic Action rather than just a level 1/2 spell.
In terms of casting a cantrip, this tends to be much less useful for a Monk than a Fighter since Monks normally focus on Unarmed attacks (at least once they start getting Wraps/Tattoos that boost Unarmed) and thus can't use weapon cantrips like True Strike.
Like I mentioned above, that's not the issue the issue is 17th level making you use both of your attacks in the attack actions to cast a mere 1st or 2nd level spell. The writer was probably thinking the monk gets potentially 5 attacks anyway and can spare two of them. I don't believe that they dedicated any time to determining that the Monk only gets two attacks in the attack action and only one unarmed bonus action unless spend an FP for FoB's.
I don't see how casting the cantrip is less useful, when you get to keep one of your attack actions. Firebolt or Ray of Frost would be excellent damage attacks, followed by your single attack action and then unarmed strike. It makes for a good variety of attack options against creatures you wouldn't want to attack with your hand, or who are resistant/vulnerable to certain damage types. Wraps are meh and I don't know what you mean by Tattoos boosting unarmed attacks.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Not a fan of a 'half caster' Monk. It seems that they have them casting spells from the Sorcerer. A couple of the abilities seem decent enough such as casting a Cantrip or spell in lieu of your attack action. However, you still get your unarmed bonus attacks. Of course you have to wait until 17th level to use this ability when casting spells, and even then you are only limited to casting First and Second level spells. 🤷🏿♂️
As a 1st or initial draft to allow ideas and tweaks it fine. This has a very, very long way to go. Compared to other subclasses in the PHB, you are giving up a lot to just say you can do magic. The magic available is just is not a fair trade.
You don't have to wait until 17th level. If you can cast spells as a Monk, you can always just use Action for Magic Action and then Bonus Action for Flurry of Blows. Indeed, the level 17 feature doesn't actually do anything useful since Monks only get one Extra Attack. So you'd be sacrificing all of your Attack Action attacks to cast a spell - which you just could have done with a Magic Action.
Likewise, while casting a cantrip in lieu of an attack is useful for an Eldritch Knight, Valor Bard or Bladesinger, it's much less useful for a Monk since the primary use is for a spell like True Strike (which can't be used with Unarmed Strike).
The main value of the sub-class is likely spells like Shield that are cast as a Reaction or, at very high levels, Emanations that trigger off of attacks (Monks get 5 attacks/turn).
That's only partially true. Casting a Cantrip only cost you one of your attack actions, since you get two at 5th level. So you can cast a Cantrip, then attack and then bonus unarmed attack.
17th level is inexcusable to force you to use both of your attack actions. I seems they were assuming the Monk gets three attacks in the attack action, instead of only two. I wouldn't mind the sacrifice but they would have to up the spell level to at least 3rd level. The conversion stuff seems okay I guess. As does the ability to get advantage saving throws to maintain concentration spells.
The issue with the 17th level feature is that there's no functional difference between "I take the Attack Action, sacrifice both my attacks and cast a spell" vs. "I take the Magic Action and cast a spell" - except, of course, you can cast any level spell with the Magic Action rather than just a level 1/2 spell.
In terms of casting a cantrip, this tends to be much less useful for a Monk than a Fighter since Monks normally focus on Unarmed attacks (at least once they start getting Wraps/Tattoos that boost Unarmed) and thus can't use weapon cantrips like True Strike.
Like I mentioned above, that's not the issue the issue is 17th level making you use both of your attacks in the attack actions to cast a mere 1st or 2nd level spell. The writer was probably thinking the monk gets potentially 5 attacks anyway and can spare two of them. I don't believe that they dedicated any time to determining that the Monk only gets two attacks in the attack action and only one unarmed bonus action unless spend an FP for FoB's.
I don't see how casting the cantrip is less useful, when you get to keep one of your attack actions. Firebolt or Ray of Frost would be excellent damage attacks, followed by your single attack action and then unarmed strike. It makes for a good variety of attack options against creatures you wouldn't want to attack with your hand, or who are resistant/vulnerable to certain damage types. Wraps are meh and I don't know what you mean by Tattoos boosting unarmed attacks.