Hi all! Super excited to be playing my first 5E campaign. I've decided to play a monk and am trying to plan out my abilities and feats. There are so many I want to take but it seems like ability scores are probably a bit more important given the lack of other means to acquire AC. Anyway, I was looking for some advice, as I have a couple different scenarios I could go with. My started dex / wis will either be:
18 dex 16 wis
or
19 dex 17 wis
--
I was thinking of going 19dex / 17wis and then using the level 4 and 8 feat selections to choose feats that also either give +1dex or +1wis. However, part of me thinks it might be wiser to just either dump points into abilities until I can at least get dex to 20 or maybe instead take the "Mobile" feat and then go all ability points. Mobile seems like such a good fit. I haven't 100% decided which order to go with yet but I was leaning heavily towards Drunken Master.
For extra context, it is a three person party and we do not have a pure tank or a pure healer (gonna be interesting!).
Another thing to think about is your Wisdom score affects the saving throw that your opponents have to make when you hit them with Stunning Strike starting a 5th level. That also affects the abilities of a few of the different schools, but not he Drunken Master.
I enjoy playing monks and they make great skirmishers. They're best when they move in, attack, and move out since they aren't great at taking attacks. The mobile feat is great for that and so is their ability to use a Ki point to Disengage as a bonus action, although I used it to Dodge instead most of the time which was my mistake.
You also want a decent Constitution score for the HP. Sadly monks do take damage no matter how hard they try not to.
In a 3-person party, Open-Hand might serve you better, but Drunken Master is no slouch. What race? It makes a lot of difference when choosing feats.
If you go WoodElf Drunken Master, and can start with that 19... no brainer... Elven Accuracy at 4th. If you're a Drunken Master, don't bother with Mobile. Your flurry already gives you better for free, and you have better places to spend.
Other feats would include Lucky, maybe Alert. Also consider Magic Initiate, or Ritual Caster, for the fun and the role-play opportunities. But mostly to get yourself a familiar. His job in combat is to gve you advantage, because you would be capitalizing on it well. Out of combat they have enormous utility.
I'd go with 19 and 17 as starting stats. That's incredibly good and you don't really need maxed out stats until way later. At level 4 I would take Observant (or some other feat that allows you to raise Wisdom) and then at level 8 you can take something that raises your Dex (like Elven Accuracy if you play an elf or half-elf). That way you will only need a single ASi to raise your Wisdom to 20 (which can wait until late game) and you have room for fun feat slike Lucky, Tough and (not that it's really needed) Mobile.
Forest Gnome monk! So I get a +dex but that is about it. The Fade Away racial feat is kind of neat though. I was debating doing the Fade Away (+dex) and Observant (+wis) at 4/8 to get 20/18 on dex/wis. Maybe I'm misunderstanding the Drunken Master flurry disengage, but you can disengage as many times as you want per round? I was thinking it was just one? (hence why I was interested in mobile)
Seems like the 19/17 setup is definitely the way to go then, just need to decide to go 1/1 ASI to get 20/18 at 4 or whether to go the feat route. Doing the former and picking up Lucky at 8 may not be the worst idea either if Mobile isn't needed.
My main concern is the lack of primary tank/healer in the party so it seems like I need to jack my AC up as high as I can ASAP.
Forest Gnome monk! So I get a +dex but that is about it. The Fade Away racial feat is kind of neat though. I was debating doing the Fade Away (+dex) and Observant (+wis) at 4/8 to get 20/18 on dex/wis. Maybe I'm misunderstanding the Drunken Master flurry disengage, but you can disengage as many times as you want per round? I was thinking it was just one? (hence why I was interested in mobile)
Seems like the 19/17 setup is definitely the way to go then, just need to decide to go 1/1 ASI to get 20/18 at 4 or whether to go the feat route. Doing the former and picking up Lucky at 8 may not be the worst idea either if Mobile isn't needed.
My main concern is the lack of primary tank/healer in the party so it seems like I need to jack my AC up as high as I can ASAP.
As a Way of the Drunken Master Monk your Flurry of Blows ability gets an upgrade to give you an additional 10' of movement and you gain the benefit of the Disengage action as part of your Flurry of Blows.
Disengage states that "If you take the Disengage action, your movement doesn't provoke opportunity attacks for the rest of the turn." So disengaging at all on your turn would prevent Attacks of Opportunity from any foe during the rest of your turn, it just works against everyone until your turn is over.
Mobile only give 10 move. You already get that from Drunken Technique, you'll have better things to blow feats on... like ASIs.
Focus on that Dex. +AC, +ToHit, +Damage, +Save. You have no better economy.
Fade Away is 'Fun' and could be very useful giving you Advantage now and then. But any ability that only triggers on getting hit, is not the best choice for a build that specializes in NOT getting hit. For example, a Tempest Cleric's Get-Zapped-If-Ya-Hit-Me ability looks really good on paper. But decked out in his armour, never gets hit... so very infrequent pay-off. Same thing here.
If your DM frequently uses passives, Observant is great for that +1 Wis. Otherwise pass on it.
I suppose if your going gnome you could pull your +1 Dex from Squat Nimbleness.
You might consider Burgler if, because it's 3 PCs, you're filling the role of rogue. To get the +1 Dex and Thieves Tools prof. And, this relies on your DM being fine with UA content.
Hi all! Super excited to be playing my first 5E campaign. I've decided to play a monk and am trying to plan out my abilities and feats. There are so many I want to take but it seems like ability scores are probably a bit more important given the lack of other means to acquire AC. Anyway, I was looking for some advice, as I have a couple different scenarios I could go with. My started dex / wis will either be:
18 dex
16 wis
or
19 dex
17 wis
--
I was thinking of going 19dex / 17wis and then using the level 4 and 8 feat selections to choose feats that also either give +1dex or +1wis. However, part of me thinks it might be wiser to just either dump points into abilities until I can at least get dex to 20 or maybe instead take the "Mobile" feat and then go all ability points. Mobile seems like such a good fit. I haven't 100% decided which order to go with yet but I was leaning heavily towards Drunken Master.
For extra context, it is a three person party and we do not have a pure tank or a pure healer (gonna be interesting!).
What do you guys think?
Another thing to think about is your Wisdom score affects the saving throw that your opponents have to make when you hit them with Stunning Strike starting a 5th level. That also affects the abilities of a few of the different schools, but not he Drunken Master.
I enjoy playing monks and they make great skirmishers. They're best when they move in, attack, and move out since they aren't great at taking attacks. The mobile feat is great for that and so is their ability to use a Ki point to Disengage as a bonus action, although I used it to Dodge instead most of the time which was my mistake.
You also want a decent Constitution score for the HP. Sadly monks do take damage no matter how hard they try not to.
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Monk Drunken Master is my main. Tons of fun.
In a 3-person party, Open-Hand might serve you better, but Drunken Master is no slouch.
What race? It makes a lot of difference when choosing feats.
If you go WoodElf Drunken Master, and can start with that 19... no brainer... Elven Accuracy at 4th.
If you're a Drunken Master, don't bother with Mobile. Your flurry already gives you better for free, and you have better places to spend.
Other feats would include Lucky, maybe Alert.
Also consider Magic Initiate, or Ritual Caster, for the fun and the role-play opportunities. But mostly to get yourself a familiar. His job in combat is to gve you advantage, because you would be capitalizing on it well. Out of combat they have enormous utility.
I'd go with 19 and 17 as starting stats. That's incredibly good and you don't really need maxed out stats until way later. At level 4 I would take Observant (or some other feat that allows you to raise Wisdom) and then at level 8 you can take something that raises your Dex (like Elven Accuracy if you play an elf or half-elf). That way you will only need a single ASi to raise your Wisdom to 20 (which can wait until late game) and you have room for fun feat slike Lucky, Tough and (not that it's really needed) Mobile.
What kind of monk or you planning?
Forest Gnome monk! So I get a +dex but that is about it. The Fade Away racial feat is kind of neat though. I was debating doing the Fade Away (+dex) and Observant (+wis) at 4/8 to get 20/18 on dex/wis. Maybe I'm misunderstanding the Drunken Master flurry disengage, but you can disengage as many times as you want per round? I was thinking it was just one? (hence why I was interested in mobile)
Seems like the 19/17 setup is definitely the way to go then, just need to decide to go 1/1 ASI to get 20/18 at 4 or whether to go the feat route. Doing the former and picking up Lucky at 8 may not be the worst idea either if Mobile isn't needed.
My main concern is the lack of primary tank/healer in the party so it seems like I need to jack my AC up as high as I can ASAP.
As a Way of the Drunken Master Monk your Flurry of Blows ability gets an upgrade to give you an additional 10' of movement and you gain the benefit of the Disengage action as part of your Flurry of Blows.
Disengage states that "If you take the Disengage action, your movement doesn't provoke opportunity attacks for the rest of the turn." So disengaging at all on your turn would prevent Attacks of Opportunity from any foe during the rest of your turn, it just works against everyone until your turn is over.
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Oh wow, I don't know how I missed that. Thanks for the clarification @TigerApricot!
Mobile can increase your speed a lot.
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Mobile only give 10 move. You already get that from Drunken Technique, you'll have better things to blow feats on... like ASIs.
Focus on that Dex. +AC, +ToHit, +Damage, +Save. You have no better economy.
Fade Away is 'Fun' and could be very useful giving you Advantage now and then. But any ability that only triggers on getting hit, is not the best choice for a build that specializes in NOT getting hit.
For example, a Tempest Cleric's Get-Zapped-If-Ya-Hit-Me ability looks really good on paper. But decked out in his armour, never gets hit... so very infrequent pay-off.
Same thing here.
If your DM frequently uses passives, Observant is great for that +1 Wis. Otherwise pass on it.
I suppose if your going gnome you could pull your +1 Dex from Squat Nimbleness.
You might consider Burgler if, because it's 3 PCs, you're filling the role of rogue. To get the +1 Dex and Thieves Tools prof. And, this relies on your DM being fine with UA content.
I'm playing an aarakocra monk, way of mercy, still level 3 and im kinda loving it.
But in my case, i dont think Mobile would be a good use as a feat. So im thinking about Alert or Observant.