I mean, thats a pretty big thing to answer and a bit hard to summarize. There are a few posts and websites out there that do a far more comprehensive job than what we can do here. But ill give it a go.
Way of Shadow is good at stealthy type attacking. It's sorta the roguish monk.
Way of the Drunken Master is just fun. Redirect attack is pretty sweet. At 17 you could pretty much try to stun an entire room full of badgues. 7 attacks as long as they're 5 of them are on different targets! Combined with drunken technique you just stumble around hitting everyone once and trying a stun on each one. It's pretty crazy. This is my personal favorite.
Way of the Four Elements is the casterish one of the group. If I'm being honest this seems crappy to me.
Way of Kensei is a more weapon oriented monk. This also seems underwhelming to me. The level 11 feature is pointless if you're in a game with magic items.
Way of the Long Death is theoretically very hard to kill.
Way of the Open Hand is the classic monk. Lots of useful things in the Open Hand Technique. At 17 this has the only save or die ability in the game (I think).
Way of the Sun Soul is Goku. It's basically a ranged monk that shoots lasers out of its fists.
If you're new to the Monk class, Open Hand, Kensei, Sun Soul and Long Death are probably the easier ones to play well. Drunken Master is honestly a bit underpowered unless you pick the right feats to go with it and mostly fight hordes, Shadow Monks require a lot of terrain planning and positioning to be truly effective, and the Four Elements is either crappy if you go by the PHB version, or a full on spell-caster if you play the revised version, which is a lot of information to absorb at once if you're starting off at 9th level.
Way of Kensei is a more weapon oriented monk. This also seems underwhelming to me. The level 11 feature is pointless if you're in a game with magic items.
If you are in a game with magic items you'd just combine the ability with magic weapons that don't have bonuses to hit/damage rolls like flame tongue or frostbrand.
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I really want to play a monk, Human variant or Leonin in my campaign. We are currently level 9.
Can someone who is super experienced explain the pros and cons of each subclass?
I mean, thats a pretty big thing to answer and a bit hard to summarize. There are a few posts and websites out there that do a far more comprehensive job than what we can do here. But ill give it a go.
Gianttip Forums Monk
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For me it sums up to this:
Kensei - Sort of a psudo fighter type. Able to use a few more weapons and can switch between offensive and defensive.
4 Elements - Semi-Caster, but if you're going to use this one, try the homebrewed revised edition.
Shadow - Great to be a scout/mobile hit and run fighter type.
Open Hand - Good at fighting and battlefield control.
Long Death - Semi-Tank and front line fighter type.
Sun Soul - Sort of a ranged caster type monk.
Way of Shadow is good at stealthy type attacking. It's sorta the roguish monk.
Way of the Drunken Master is just fun. Redirect attack is pretty sweet. At 17 you could pretty much try to stun an entire room full of badgues. 7 attacks as long as they're 5 of them are on different targets! Combined with drunken technique you just stumble around hitting everyone once and trying a stun on each one. It's pretty crazy. This is my personal favorite.
Way of the Four Elements is the casterish one of the group. If I'm being honest this seems crappy to me.
Way of Kensei is a more weapon oriented monk. This also seems underwhelming to me. The level 11 feature is pointless if you're in a game with magic items.
Way of the Long Death is theoretically very hard to kill.
Way of the Open Hand is the classic monk. Lots of useful things in the Open Hand Technique. At 17 this has the only save or die ability in the game (I think).
Way of the Sun Soul is Goku. It's basically a ranged monk that shoots lasers out of its fists.
If you're new to the Monk class, Open Hand, Kensei, Sun Soul and Long Death are probably the easier ones to play well. Drunken Master is honestly a bit underpowered unless you pick the right feats to go with it and mostly fight hordes, Shadow Monks require a lot of terrain planning and positioning to be truly effective, and the Four Elements is either crappy if you go by the PHB version, or a full on spell-caster if you play the revised version, which is a lot of information to absorb at once if you're starting off at 9th level.
If you are in a game with magic items you'd just combine the ability with magic weapons that don't have bonuses to hit/damage rolls like flame tongue or frostbrand.