Depends on which rules you are using, I suppose? OG rules you will want to pick something that prioritizes bonuses to dexterity generally (like elves), but if you use Tasha's customization route, you can pick whatever flavor tickles your fancy and distribute the scores as you please. At that point, "best" becomes subjective. Unless you go the boring Variant Human route for the extra feat.
Wood elves are a solid choice. You get racial bonuses to Dex and Wis, Fleet of Foot boosts your mobility, Mask of the Wild is good for sneaking, and even the Elf Racial Weapon Profiencies are nice since shortbows and longbows are superior to your other ranged attack options.
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Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
If you're looking for the best fit for the game mechanics, then either wood elf or tabaxi would be excellent choices. but if you really want to have some fun, you could go with something a bit more unexpected like a goliath or a tortle.
Pick the race that best appeals to you and don't worry so much about the "best" for a Monk. Being as MAD (Multiple Ability Dependent) pretty much any race that give Dex, Wis or Con perks will be fine. Even if the race doesn't offer those, make sure you put Dex and Wis as high as possible. Dex will help you hit more often and a little harder, Wis will make your save DC (for Stunning Strike or other abilities) higher, and both give you AC with your unarmored defense.
Now, for most optimal, Wood Elf has been mentioned, as has Tabaxi, both offer excellent perks for a Monk. Halfling is also good, with their Dex boost, although you lose 5 feet of movement, which will matter less to a Monk than most other classes. Any Elf would be similar, 2 Dex and some perks. Aarakocra offer both Dex and Wis and have a fly speed which may or may not be an issue, check with your DM. Some have issues, feeling the flight "breaks" early game. It is also slightly dependent on what books you have available, so you might be a little limited. Tortle and Lizardfolk both offer an early boost to your unarmored defense, so are also viable options. Ignore anyone claiming a race will be too challenging, as you are talking about a max of 3 Ability points being in the 'wrong' spot, and even then, it's 2 in one stat and 1 in another.
Pick your favorite race and go with it, especially if you've got a decent DM, who will, through items or other 'gifts" help ensure your character is useful and relevant in the campaign. I picked a genasi (Air) for mine and at level 12 now, I am quite pleased with not only his combat prowess, but his out of combat abilities as well. Monks are a TON of fun, so enjoy!
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Talk to your Players.Talk to your DM. If more people used this advice, there would be 24.74% fewer threads on Tactics, Rules and DM discussions.
If you use Tasha's Custom Origin (not Lineage) then Half Elves are really good if you do standard point array. Starting out with Dex and Wisdom at 16 and Con at 14 is really good. If you roll for stats then pretty much every race is good if you roll high enough. Custom Lineage or Variant Humans are nice since you get an extra feat, which Monks can be low on due to them being MAD.
Personally, building a tortle or goliath monk is basically Challenge Mode. Would not recommend for someone's first time.
See I don't agree with this; even using vanilla rules with fixed ability score increases, it doesn't really affect your build much. While you might not choose to maximise Strength on Monk, you don't usually want a low score either, so all a +2 means is that you can assign an 8 and still end up with a score of 10 for a zero modifier.
You won't be able to get the highest possible starting score on Dexterity or Wisdom, but you're talking a difference of 1 point on the modifier, which isn't a big deal in practice; you can still hit the same maximum as anyone else.
Besides, for the Goliath Stone's Endurance adds a nice little bit of extra durability (basically a Fighter's Second Wind), while Powerful Build means you can carry more even with a low Strength, bonus proficiency and cold damage resistance are nice as well. Meanwhile the Tortle gets AC 17 as standard (most Monks usually start on 15 or 16) and while you'll surpass it later the Shell Defence works with Unarmed Defence (and Patient Defence – AC 21 with no advantage to hit you), a bonus proficiency, +1 Wisdom and Hold Breath. Both are perfectly good choices IMO.
Personally my view is that usually if you're asking which is the best race to play as, then you're asking the wrong question; what race do you want to play as? What background or character type appeals to you the most? You've always been able to play any race in combination with any class, Tasha's Cauldron just made it easier to get a head start on specific ability scores, but that's min-maxing, it doesn't really make a huge difference in practice (the d20 is what decides your rolls, an extra +1 is nice but not enormous); the only races you have to watch for are ones that have special features tied to ability scores you may not want to invest in. For example a Dragonborn's Constitution based breath weapon, as if you're not going to have high CON it won't be quite as good, but even then it's still a free breath weapon, so it's not the end of the world.
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
I have unsubscribed from all topics and will not reply to messages. My homebrew is now 100% unsupported.
Tabaxi is a great choice, especially if you want some insane mobility. That being said...The idea of a monk dashing between multiple targets is sort of bunk. They dont do enough damage to be effective using that method, and even if you just do it to try to stunning strike everyone you can see, thats never going to yield greater than a 50% success rate.
The mobility is better suited for switching focus during a fight, i.e. that stupid wizard found himself in melee again and you have to go bail him out of an ass whoopin'
Aarakocra might be a fun choice, you get all the right bonuses.
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I love drow, rogues and Chinese weapons. I mean come on, rope darts are awesome.
My current character is a drow shadow monk, with a "unique" honor code (give him some time, he's working through some stuff). He also sucks on the socialization side of interacting with all other living creatures. which is very fun to RP.
To start I would go with the "Way of the open hand", race human variant with feat Crusher.
Crusher Source: Tasha's Cauldron of Everything
You are practiced in the art of crushing your enemies, granting you the following benefits: Increase your Strength or Constitution by 1, to a maximum of 20. Once per turn, when you hit a creature with an attack that deals bludgeoning damage, you can move it 5 feet to an unoccupied space, provided the target is no more than one size larger than you. When you score a critical hit that deals bludgeoning damage to a creature, attack rolls against that creature are made with advantage until the start of your next turn.
With human variant you can have +1 in dexterity and wisdom and the Crusher talent gives you +1 in constitution bringing you to have these characteristics.
The most ideal characteristics are: Strength 8-1 Dexterity 16+3 Constitution 14+2 Intelligence 10- Wisdom 16+3 Charisma 10-
Combat Techniques: The monk doesn't have as much life so he fights like the Rogue. He attacks with his various attacks then pushes (with Crusher or Open hand technique) his opponent to avoid opportunity attacks andruns away using his speed. Remember that exploiting the terrain is basic strategy. Ask the master if there are elements that can give a cover such as trees, pillars, walls, stones,... If there are ravines, fires or lakes you can push your opponents using Crusher and the open hand technique of at least 20 feet (15 +5). An enemy with full armor will surely drown. An enemy thrown into a precipice probably dies, an enemy thrown into a fire receives a lot of damage.
I mean you are badly overestimating how much damage both falling and mundane fires deal and there are no penalties at all for swimming in armor. Not to mention that the frequency with which you'll actually find yourself in a battlefield where such hazards are even present and exploitable is not as often as you'd think unless your GM is hooked on geo effects.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Sorry. From my point of view a good master should make the players' pngs shine so that the group can have fun, after all, the point of the game is to have fun. If your master doesn't give you the chance to be useful to the group, it's because he is not a good master or because you don't take the chance that the master gives you. When you are in a terrain, you must know what surrounds you, what can offer you shelter, what can hide you, what can give you an advantageous position. If the master doesn't fold, you're the one to ask. Combat should not be monotonous, otherwise the game itself will become monotonous.
Then, do you want to put someone running on water against someone who has to use his hands to stay afloat? If the monk does not receive an advantage, the master has understood nothing.
The rules of the game do not conform to your wishes merely because you think they should. The party rarely gets to choose the battlefield and there shouldn't be convenient hazards that allow you to win every fight by knocking enemies into them. No single tactic should ever become the easy strategy that solves every problem. The game isn't about realism, either. It might not be realistic for someone to be able to swim and fight while wearing armor, but it's also not realistic to punch someone who's wearing plate and have them A) be hurt by the blow and B) be knocked backward 20 feet.
Exploit hazardous terrain when you can, sure, but don't expect that it's going to be something that's there for you to exploit just because you'd find it convenient.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
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While making a monk, I just had a quesion. What would be best for the race?
Depends on which rules you are using, I suppose? OG rules you will want to pick something that prioritizes bonuses to dexterity generally (like elves), but if you use Tasha's customization route, you can pick whatever flavor tickles your fancy and distribute the scores as you please. At that point, "best" becomes subjective. Unless you go the boring Variant Human route for the extra feat.
Wood elves are a solid choice. You get racial bonuses to Dex and Wis, Fleet of Foot boosts your mobility, Mask of the Wild is good for sneaking, and even the Elf Racial Weapon Profiencies are nice since shortbows and longbows are superior to your other ranged attack options.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
If you're looking for the best fit for the game mechanics, then either wood elf or tabaxi would be excellent choices. but if you really want to have some fun, you could go with something a bit more unexpected like a goliath or a tortle.
Anzio Faro. Protector Aasimar light cleric. Lvl 18.
Viktor Gavriil. White dragonborn grave cleric. Lvl 20.
Ikram Sahir ibn-Malik al-Sayyid Ra'ad. Brass dragonborn draconic sorcerer Lvl 9. Fire elemental devil.
Wrangler of cats.
Personally, building a tortle or goliath monk is basically Challenge Mode. Would not recommend for someone's first time.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Pick the race that best appeals to you and don't worry so much about the "best" for a Monk. Being as MAD (Multiple Ability Dependent) pretty much any race that give Dex, Wis or Con perks will be fine. Even if the race doesn't offer those, make sure you put Dex and Wis as high as possible. Dex will help you hit more often and a little harder, Wis will make your save DC (for Stunning Strike or other abilities) higher, and both give you AC with your unarmored defense.
Now, for most optimal, Wood Elf has been mentioned, as has Tabaxi, both offer excellent perks for a Monk. Halfling is also good, with their Dex boost, although you lose 5 feet of movement, which will matter less to a Monk than most other classes. Any Elf would be similar, 2 Dex and some perks. Aarakocra offer both Dex and Wis and have a fly speed which may or may not be an issue, check with your DM. Some have issues, feeling the flight "breaks" early game. It is also slightly dependent on what books you have available, so you might be a little limited. Tortle and Lizardfolk both offer an early boost to your unarmored defense, so are also viable options. Ignore anyone claiming a race will be too challenging, as you are talking about a max of 3 Ability points being in the 'wrong' spot, and even then, it's 2 in one stat and 1 in another.
Pick your favorite race and go with it, especially if you've got a decent DM, who will, through items or other 'gifts" help ensure your character is useful and relevant in the campaign. I picked a genasi (Air) for mine and at level 12 now, I am quite pleased with not only his combat prowess, but his out of combat abilities as well. Monks are a TON of fun, so enjoy!
Talk to your Players. Talk to your DM. If more people used this advice, there would be 24.74% fewer threads on Tactics, Rules and DM discussions.
Wood elf, way of the shadow or way of mercy, high dex for well yeah, and high strength for a lot of punching damage. BAM
As monks can already use dex for attack and damage rolls with unarmed strikes, high strength is entirely redundant for them.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
If you use Tasha's Custom Origin (not Lineage) then Half Elves are really good if you do standard point array. Starting out with Dex and Wisdom at 16 and Con at 14 is really good. If you roll for stats then pretty much every race is good if you roll high enough. Custom Lineage or Variant Humans are nice since you get an extra feat, which Monks can be low on due to them being MAD.
Oh then forget the strength thing 6thLyranGuard but those 2 subclasses are the best out of all of them in my opinion. =D
See I don't agree with this; even using vanilla rules with fixed ability score increases, it doesn't really affect your build much. While you might not choose to maximise Strength on Monk, you don't usually want a low score either, so all a +2 means is that you can assign an 8 and still end up with a score of 10 for a zero modifier.
You won't be able to get the highest possible starting score on Dexterity or Wisdom, but you're talking a difference of 1 point on the modifier, which isn't a big deal in practice; you can still hit the same maximum as anyone else.
Besides, for the Goliath Stone's Endurance adds a nice little bit of extra durability (basically a Fighter's Second Wind), while Powerful Build means you can carry more even with a low Strength, bonus proficiency and cold damage resistance are nice as well. Meanwhile the Tortle gets AC 17 as standard (most Monks usually start on 15 or 16) and while you'll surpass it later the Shell Defence works with Unarmed Defence (and Patient Defence – AC 21 with no advantage to hit you), a bonus proficiency, +1 Wisdom and Hold Breath. Both are perfectly good choices IMO.
Personally my view is that usually if you're asking which is the best race to play as, then you're asking the wrong question; what race do you want to play as? What background or character type appeals to you the most? You've always been able to play any race in combination with any class, Tasha's Cauldron just made it easier to get a head start on specific ability scores, but that's min-maxing, it doesn't really make a huge difference in practice (the d20 is what decides your rolls, an extra +1 is nice but not enormous); the only races you have to watch for are ones that have special features tied to ability scores you may not want to invest in. For example a Dragonborn's Constitution based breath weapon, as if you're not going to have high CON it won't be quite as good, but even then it's still a free breath weapon, so it's not the end of the world.
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
I have unsubscribed from all topics and will not reply to messages. My homebrew is now 100% unsupported.
Tabaxi is a great choice, especially if you want some insane mobility. That being said...The idea of a monk dashing between multiple targets is sort of bunk. They dont do enough damage to be effective using that method, and even if you just do it to try to stunning strike everyone you can see, thats never going to yield greater than a 50% success rate.
The mobility is better suited for switching focus during a fight, i.e. that stupid wizard found himself in melee again and you have to go bail him out of an ass whoopin'
Mobility can be used to kite an enemy, but that is going to depend quiet a bit on the enemies your fighting and the DM.
If you don't have darkvision, alert and the invocation for devil's sight are both nice. Observant is also nice, especially if you've got perception.
STAT wise, not having at least Dex or Wis at 16 at the beginning is going to hurt both in terms of AC and hitting/damage.
Aarakocra might be a fun choice, you get all the right bonuses.
I love drow, rogues and Chinese weapons. I mean come on, rope darts are awesome.
My current character is a drow shadow monk, with a "unique" honor code (give him some time, he's working through some stuff). He also sucks on the socialization side of interacting with all other living creatures. which is very fun to RP.
To start I would go with the "Way of the open hand", race human variant with feat Crusher.
Crusher
Source: Tasha's Cauldron of Everything
You are practiced in the art of crushing your enemies, granting you the following benefits: Increase your Strength or Constitution by 1, to a maximum of 20.
Once per turn, when you hit a creature with an attack that deals bludgeoning damage, you can move it 5 feet to an unoccupied space, provided the target is no more than one size larger than you. When you score a critical hit that deals bludgeoning damage to a creature, attack rolls against that creature are made with advantage until the start of your next turn.
With human variant you can have +1 in dexterity and wisdom and the Crusher talent gives you +1 in constitution bringing you to have these characteristics.
The most ideal characteristics are:
Strength 8-1
Dexterity 16+3
Constitution 14+2
Intelligence 10-
Wisdom 16+3
Charisma 10-
Combat Techniques:
The monk doesn't have as much life so he fights like the Rogue. He attacks with his various attacks then pushes (with Crusher or Open hand technique) his opponent to avoid opportunity attacks and runs away using his speed. Remember that exploiting the terrain is basic strategy. Ask the master if there are elements that can give a cover such as trees, pillars, walls, stones,... If there are ravines, fires or lakes you can push your opponents using Crusher and the open hand technique of at least 20 feet (15 +5). An enemy with full armor will surely drown. An enemy thrown into a precipice probably dies, an enemy thrown into a fire receives a lot of damage.
That's not how the rules for falling, fires, or drowning work.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
What do you mean?
I mean you are badly overestimating how much damage both falling and mundane fires deal and there are no penalties at all for swimming in armor. Not to mention that the frequency with which you'll actually find yourself in a battlefield where such hazards are even present and exploitable is not as often as you'd think unless your GM is hooked on geo effects.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Sorry. From my point of view a good master should make the players' pngs shine so that the group can have fun, after all, the point of the game is to have fun. If your master doesn't give you the chance to be useful to the group, it's because he is not a good master or because you don't take the chance that the master gives you. When you are in a terrain, you must know what surrounds you, what can offer you shelter, what can hide you, what can give you an advantageous position. If the master doesn't fold, you're the one to ask. Combat should not be monotonous, otherwise the game itself will become monotonous.
Then, do you want to put someone running on water against someone who has to use his hands to stay afloat? If the monk does not receive an advantage, the master has understood nothing.
The rules of the game do not conform to your wishes merely because you think they should. The party rarely gets to choose the battlefield and there shouldn't be convenient hazards that allow you to win every fight by knocking enemies into them. No single tactic should ever become the easy strategy that solves every problem. The game isn't about realism, either. It might not be realistic for someone to be able to swim and fight while wearing armor, but it's also not realistic to punch someone who's wearing plate and have them A) be hurt by the blow and B) be knocked backward 20 feet.
Exploit hazardous terrain when you can, sure, but don't expect that it's going to be something that's there for you to exploit just because you'd find it convenient.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.