i'm relatively new to dnd, for sometime i have been trying to come up with a unusual race+multi class combo. Tell me what u guys/gals think of this one:
Changlings offer an amazing capacity for deception and infiltration and have +2 cha +1 any...
Fighter and Monk can work well together by themselves, depending on how you spread the levels - but arguably unless you are going a lot from synergies either of these taken exclusively is more powerful
Samurai: BA Advantage
Mercy: Small Heal and Smite... the only specific synergy I see is that the Harm element of Mercy (like any Smite) is best used with a crit and Advantage helps with that... HOWEVER as a Monk you won’t want to be using your Bonus Action to gain Advantage AND as a Fighter you won’t want to use your fists instead of a weapon.
This character concept would allow you to be a little bit good at every part of the game but excelling at nothing and with no great synergies...
Can I recommend Assassin Rogue and Mercy Monk which would go nicely with the infiltration of Changelings... or College of Swords Bard and Samurai Fighter has some nice combat synergy and you could then play up the deception part of Changelings to put on personas for roleplaying.
This character concept would allow you to be a little bit good at every part of the game but excelling at nothing and with no great synergies...
I would ask the question with what you're trying to accomplish with any sort of combination. Are you trying to solve for a problem or simply play something that sounds cool? If you're going for cool, theres no reason you couldnt just pick up all your levels in Samurai and go straight fighter. However, the bonus to Cha that the changeling gives you is only really useful with the Elegant Courtier ability that you wouldnt get until 7. So unless you're trying to go mostly fighter, its not really all that useful to go with Samurai to that point.
Going a bit deeper, the +2 cha doesnt really jive well with the Monk specific stat needs (yes the +1 to any does), so that would mean that you need to make sure you have high rolls in 4 stats rather than the 3 you would need with just Monk (Dex, Con, Wis) or 2 for Fighter (Str/Dex, Con).
HOwever, I will say that a changeling would be an ideal race for a shadow monk who scouts a lot as it gives you the ability to hide your true identity and protect your party members as you can look like someone else when doing your nighttime scouting. There are a number of instances that my shadow monk could have been a little more brazen with his scouting to get more information if he looked like someone else, or even a specific someone.
As for general flaws with the idea, flavor aside, you're delaying several useful abilities from both classes by multi-classing. You're delaying your 2nd Attack Action Attack (2nd attack at 5 for both, not stacking), your magical attacks (monk), ASI/Feat (both), shadow step, slow fall, deflect missles (all monk), fighting spirit (fighter), etc. Any time you multi-class you want to make sure that the delay in abilities for one class is compensated some way with the abilities you get from the other class. Like Hamster stated above, if you pick paladin you can offset some things by getting divine smite. Or sneak attack/assassinate with the rogue, etc.
What i wanted to do was find a build the can deal a massive amount of damage and flee quickly. As for the cool factor i did not really take it into consideration, i just thought it would be ideal for the backstory that i'm creating for him, this is one of the reasons why i needed to know if it would work. I will might reveal the story if you want.
A Monk weapon cannot be Two-Handed or Heavy... but if you changed the weight and simplified it a bit... then maybe a DM would let you homebrew one as a Monk
What i wanted to do was find a build the can deal a massive amount of damage and flee quickly.
Monks are not typically ideal for the whole massive damage thing without some significant magical equipment to help with that. Yes, they can deal a good amount of damage, but they're far from the massive damage that classes like Fighters, Barbarians or spellcasters can dish out. If you wanted massive damage, go purely Fighter, Wizard or something of the like.
Can I ask why you're looking to do the damage then flee quickly? Is it just you in the campaign or are there other people in your party that can soak up more damage and so you want to be a hit and run player? A monk is definitely suited to the hit and run tactics, especially if you pick the Mobile feat, or the Drunken Master subclass or even Mobile with Open Hand subclass.
Keep in mind that any sort of Multi-Class combo is going to take a while for its damage and abilities to come online for whatever concept you're looking for. Id ask for more details on exactly what you're looking to do before being able to say whether or not a concept will work good.
That and ill leave the weapon analysis to Hamster :)
I think for a Lajatang, the two best ways to go would be to go with a quarterstaff that does slashing damage (DM approval)... and then pickup Polearm Master (can also grab Shillelagh...) this route still works with Monk
Which is essentially the same thing as a Lajatang... what could be fun with this would then be to go for an Elf Barbarian Rogue multiclass build which would use the weapon you want, be unusual and do a heck of a lot of damage. Example:
Eladrin, with Standard Array
15str 12dex 14con 8int 10wis 13cha
Barbarian 5 Bear Totem (to make up for armour and hp loss from Rogue)
Then, after Extra Attack, Rogue 3 Assassin.
With all the above you get three attacks and a 2d6 sneak attack every turn at advantage: 2d6+5d4+9 (avg 25) but the real damage happens with a crit which you save the sneak attack for each turn.
It’s not the MOST powerful build, but it is strong and nicely synergistic and unusual.
Well,we did have a Paladin oathbreaker and a Goliath barbarian among others, the party was a 6 man team, i wanted to play as former assassin out for revenge, the plan was for the paladin to act as a distraction while i dip in, land heavy hit then dip out while the cleric covers my escape, if anything i could just go full fighter or monk.
but as of now the campain has been canceled due to 4 of the players (including dm) bailing. so i'll shelve this build for now. thank to both of you for the help it was more that i could have asked for.
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Hi there,
i'm relatively new to dnd, for sometime i have been trying to come up with a unusual race+multi class combo. Tell me what u guys/gals think of this one:
race; changeling
class :samurai/shadow monk
what are the apparent flaws/perks ?
Changlings offer an amazing capacity for deception and infiltration and have +2 cha +1 any...
Fighter and Monk can work well together by themselves, depending on how you spread the levels - but arguably unless you are going a lot from synergies either of these taken exclusively is more powerful
Samurai: BA Advantage
Mercy: Small Heal and Smite... the only specific synergy I see is that the Harm element of Mercy (like any Smite) is best used with a crit and Advantage helps with that... HOWEVER as a Monk you won’t want to be using your Bonus Action to gain Advantage AND as a Fighter you won’t want to use your fists instead of a weapon.
This character concept would allow you to be a little bit good at every part of the game but excelling at nothing and with no great synergies...
Can I recommend Assassin Rogue and Mercy Monk which would go nicely with the infiltration of Changelings... or College of Swords Bard and Samurai Fighter has some nice combat synergy and you could then play up the deception part of Changelings to put on personas for roleplaying.
I would ask the question with what you're trying to accomplish with any sort of combination. Are you trying to solve for a problem or simply play something that sounds cool? If you're going for cool, theres no reason you couldnt just pick up all your levels in Samurai and go straight fighter. However, the bonus to Cha that the changeling gives you is only really useful with the Elegant Courtier ability that you wouldnt get until 7. So unless you're trying to go mostly fighter, its not really all that useful to go with Samurai to that point.
Going a bit deeper, the +2 cha doesnt really jive well with the Monk specific stat needs (yes the +1 to any does), so that would mean that you need to make sure you have high rolls in 4 stats rather than the 3 you would need with just Monk (Dex, Con, Wis) or 2 for Fighter (Str/Dex, Con).
HOwever, I will say that a changeling would be an ideal race for a shadow monk who scouts a lot as it gives you the ability to hide your true identity and protect your party members as you can look like someone else when doing your nighttime scouting. There are a number of instances that my shadow monk could have been a little more brazen with his scouting to get more information if he looked like someone else, or even a specific someone.
As for general flaws with the idea, flavor aside, you're delaying several useful abilities from both classes by multi-classing. You're delaying your 2nd Attack Action Attack (2nd attack at 5 for both, not stacking), your magical attacks (monk), ASI/Feat (both), shadow step, slow fall, deflect missles (all monk), fighting spirit (fighter), etc. Any time you multi-class you want to make sure that the delay in abilities for one class is compensated some way with the abilities you get from the other class. Like Hamster stated above, if you pick paladin you can offset some things by getting divine smite. Or sneak attack/assassinate with the rogue, etc.
edit: missed a word
What i wanted to do was find a build the can deal a massive amount of damage and flee quickly. As for the cool factor i did not really take it into consideration, i just thought it would be ideal for the backstory that i'm creating for him, this is one of the reasons why i needed to know if it would work. I will might reveal the story if you want.
Can a monk use a Lagatang ?
https://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Lajatang_(3.5e_Equipment) a 7lb. 2d6 quaterstaff with an crescent axe blade on either side?
Well, this homebrew weapon list puts it as a monk weapon (https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.reddit.com/r/UnearthedArcana/comments/aed4u1/update_13_to_revised_martial_equipment_5e/) Which is either a d8 reach polearm or a d10 double weapon (which means you can attack with your bonus action as well, but lose reach)... on page 33 it shows itself to be more complicated... but ultimately it is two handed weapon that weights 8lbs which should make it a Heavy Weapon...
A Monk weapon cannot be Two-Handed or Heavy... but if you changed the weight and simplified it a bit... then maybe a DM would let you homebrew one as a Monk
Monks are not typically ideal for the whole massive damage thing without some significant magical equipment to help with that. Yes, they can deal a good amount of damage, but they're far from the massive damage that classes like Fighters, Barbarians or spellcasters can dish out. If you wanted massive damage, go purely Fighter, Wizard or something of the like.
Can I ask why you're looking to do the damage then flee quickly? Is it just you in the campaign or are there other people in your party that can soak up more damage and so you want to be a hit and run player? A monk is definitely suited to the hit and run tactics, especially if you pick the Mobile feat, or the Drunken Master subclass or even Mobile with Open Hand subclass.
Keep in mind that any sort of Multi-Class combo is going to take a while for its damage and abilities to come online for whatever concept you're looking for. Id ask for more details on exactly what you're looking to do before being able to say whether or not a concept will work good.
That and ill leave the weapon analysis to Hamster :)
I think for a Lajatang, the two best ways to go would be to go with a quarterstaff that does slashing damage (DM approval)... and then pickup Polearm Master (can also grab Shillelagh...) this route still works with Monk
But if you are happy to play an elf... and not a monk: https://www.dndbeyond.com/equipment/double-bladed-scimitar
Then pick up the Feat ‘Revenant Blade’, which turns it into this: https://www.dndbeyond.com/magic-items/revenant-double-bladed-scimitar
Which is essentially the same thing as a Lajatang... what could be fun with this would then be to go for an Elf Barbarian Rogue multiclass build which would use the weapon you want, be unusual and do a heck of a lot of damage. Example:
Eladrin, with Standard Array
15str 12dex 14con 8int 10wis 13cha
Barbarian 5 Bear Totem (to make up for armour and hp loss from Rogue)
Then, after Extra Attack, Rogue 3 Assassin.
With all the above you get three attacks and a 2d6 sneak attack every turn at advantage: 2d6+5d4+9 (avg 25) but the real damage happens with a crit which you save the sneak attack for each turn.
It’s not the MOST powerful build, but it is strong and nicely synergistic and unusual.
Well,we did have a Paladin oathbreaker and a Goliath barbarian among others, the party was a 6 man team, i wanted to play as former assassin out for revenge, the plan was for the paladin to act as a distraction while i dip in, land heavy hit then dip out while the cleric covers my escape, if anything i could just go full fighter or monk.
but as of now the campain has been canceled due to 4 of the players (including dm) bailing. so i'll shelve this build for now. thank to both of you for the help it was more that i could have asked for.