I have a Kensei 8/Fighter 2 called Satoshi, and I'm looking for suggestions on how to make him as uber and broken as possible. We play in a power game and nothing is off the table in terms of potential items I might find. We are PHB plus XGE only for rulebooks though. He currently has just one item (after a powerful red dragon took most of our kit). It is a +2 longsword which also gives me +2 AC.
Play style is as a tank (hence Tough and not Mobile). He typically runs in, attacks with sword and unarmed (thus switching on Agile Parry) and takes Patient Defence bonus action to hit AC22 and Dodge. We're playing SKT so he's fighting giants a lot and this just about keeps him standing. He was using Mobile and skirmish tactics but I've swapped to Tough and toe-to-toe to protect others who were getting squished.
So what extras should I look out for in the big bad world? What magical items would compliment him?
Also, what levels/feats should I pick up next? I'm planning Battle Master at the next level for more battlefield control. is that a good choice and where should I go next?
Thanks but I'm not trying to build a TMNT, and anyway Satoshi is already built - click his name in the OP to get a link to his sheet. So that is my starting point.
I'd stay away from mixing Monk with Battle Master, too much competition when it comes to bonus action use.
Interesting, really? How so? I'm thinking of picking Maneuvers which control the battlefield and employ conditions (trip, push, menacing, etc) to compliment the stunning I can already do. As far as I can see I should be able to interchange things like Trip and Stun on my weapon attacks and unarmed attacks, so it seems a really nice fit. Or have I missed something in the rules there?
Thanks but I'm not trying to build a TMNT, and anyway Satoshi is already built - click his name in the OP to get a link to his sheet. So that is my starting point.
I thought it would go without saying that the important thing was the level progression and not the race. Appearantly some obvious things do need to be spelled out.
I'd stay away from mixing Monk with Battle Master, too much competition when it comes to bonus action use.
Interesting, really? How so? I'm thinking of picking Maneuvers which control the battlefield and employ conditions (trip, push, menacing, etc) to compliment the stunning I can already do. As far as I can see I should be able to interchange things like Trip and Stun on my weapon attacks and unarmed attacks, so it seems a really nice fit. Or have I missed something in the rules there?
Battle maneuvers often require either a bonus action (which means that you can't flurry of blows or do other Monk stuff) or you need to attack with a weapon (which means that you only get one chance per turn if you want to use Agile Parry).
Champion 3 is probably the best next step. Criticals on 19s is a great feature for anyone and it's only one level. You could go Battlemaster. There are plenty of maneuvers that don't take your bonus action. Riposte would be good because your AC is so high. You'll only get 4 superiority dice but maybe that is enough per short rest to make it worth it. I would prefer something that is always on like improved critical but that is me.
From there, one more level in fighter gets you an ASI. You could put that in wisdom for 1 more AC and 1 more DC on your stunning strike. This isn't really required though.
You're quite limited after that though. Your ability scores enable you to multiclass into Druid, Cleric, Ranger, and Rogue. None of those are useful to you. Rogue would be but you're not using a finesse weapon. The others are pointless. Unless you were to switch, there isn't much adding another class would do for you. So it's really more levels in monk or more levels in fighter. Neither is necessarily better than the other. The good stuff from doing either isn't until a bit later in levels so I would probably stick to one or the other.
Lets say you went Monk 8/Fighter 3, here is what you get going monk the rest of the way:
9. Unarmored Movement Improvement - somewhat useful.
10. Purity of Body - Minor boost to survivability.
10. Unarmored Movement - a little bit faster.
11. Sharpen the Blade - pretty much pointless with most magic weapons.
11. More Kensei weapons - not overly useful.
12. ASI - Probably 18 Wisdom
13. Tongue of the Sun and Moon - Gives the monk a much needed usefulness out of combat.
14. Diamond Soul - One of the best defensive features in the game. This would be a major draw but requires 6 more levels in monk.
15. Timeless Body - Not really all that useful.
16. ASI - Probably 20 Wisdom
17. Unerring Accuracy - This is pretty great. If you miss with your Monk weapon attack, you can reroll it.
If you go fighter the rest of the way:
4. ASI - Probably 18 Wisdom
6. ASI - Probably 20 Wisdom
7. BM: Know your enemy and another superiority dice, Champ: Remarkable Athlete - neither of these are all that great.
8. ASI - Probably 16 Constitution
9. Indomitable - A much much weaker version of Diamond Soul and you would get it the same time, level 17.
10. BM: d10 superioriity dice, Champ: Additional fighting style. The additional fighting style is completely pointless as none of them add anything given your current build. So the BM is the very very slightly better choice.
11. Extra Attack (2). This is the main reason you'd go fighter the rest of the way. 3 attacks with your Kensei weapon instead of two.
12. ASI - Probably 18 Constitution
You'll obviously have more a fair amount of added hitpoints going with fighter. Extra attack is obviously better than rerolling missed attacks. Indomitable is vastly inferior to Diamond soul. The tradeoffs then are hitpoints and damage, or saving throws and 9 ki points (which translates to damage, stuns, and utility). Its really hard to say which is better. I think it depends on how many short rests your DM gives you. If it is often enough where you never run out of Ki points then I think the answer is Fighter. If you think you'll be using the extra Ki points, then I think Monk is the answer.
Just for fun, if you were to switch to a Finesse Weapon, here is what you'd get with rogue:
1. Skills, expertise, 1d6 sneak attack damage, and thieves' cant - the first three are awesome, the thieve's cant is meh
2. Cunning action - Honestly not overly useful for you. Still, if you do need to do these things, you are saving a ki point.
3. Rogue Archetype, 2d6 SA - I would go assassin. Up to 6 attacks at advantage that automatically critical?! That would be, not counting magical weapons, 8d8 + 8d6 + 30 damage for that first round nova! Every option is good for various reasons but that seems too good to pass up. Max damage is like 142 at level 13. Arcane trickster seems good too. Your Int is awful for it but you don't have to take spells with save DCs. Take defensive spells like Shield! Now your AC is like... 27? The trade-offs here are basically first round nova or more survivability through spells.
4. ASI - likely 18 wisdom. Maybe alert if you went Assassin.
5. Uncanny Dodge, 3d6 SA - You're already super hard to hit, but now when you are hit you can halve the damage! Super good.
6. Expertise - more skillful.
7. Evasion, 4d6 SA, 2nd level spells - You already have Evasion. Spells like Blur, Darkvision (great because you're human), Invisibility, and Mirror Image are just a few awesome spells for you if you went AT.
8. ASI - likely 20 wisdom.
9. 5d6 SA, Archetype feature - Assassin and AT both have crappy features here for you. Assassin gives you out of combat sneakiness. AT gives you Magical ambush which is normally amazing, but because your INT is so low you probably won't be casting many spells that give save DCs..
10. ASI - likely 16 Consitution. (this only if you skipped a third level in fighter).
This option gives you skills and expertise, Sneak attack damage, more survivability, and a rogue archetype for either spells or opening nova round. This is the direction I would go.
This was a fun thought experiment. Hope it helped!
Oh, eldritch knight would be good for the fighter. That'd give you shield spell. You could still go assassin from there. That might actually be the best of all the worlds.
I have considered EK I have to say; though RP-wise he is aiming to become The Greatest Swordsman in the World(TM) so I think BM is probably the best fit there. And I like focusing on control as a play style too which, as I've said adds to his stunning strike ability; plus mostly keys just off attacks, not needing bonus actions. I'm considering Commander's Strike which I know plays havoc with my action economy but that way I could make the rogue feel more useful by giving him an extra SA every so often - and the ability to even do this at the right times could be key.
I have a shadow monk in another campaign who is the scout/sneaky type so I am keeping away from Rogue/Assassin on this Kensei, much as it's a great fit power-wise I think.
Hey guys,
I have a Kensei 8/Fighter 2 called Satoshi, and I'm looking for suggestions on how to make him as uber and broken as possible. We play in a power game and nothing is off the table in terms of potential items I might find. We are PHB plus XGE only for rulebooks though. He currently has just one item (after a powerful red dragon took most of our kit). It is a +2 longsword which also gives me +2 AC.
Play style is as a tank (hence Tough and not Mobile). He typically runs in, attacks with sword and unarmed (thus switching on Agile Parry) and takes Patient Defence bonus action to hit AC22 and Dodge. We're playing SKT so he's fighting giants a lot and this just about keeps him standing. He was using Mobile and skirmish tactics but I've swapped to Tough and toe-to-toe to protect others who were getting squished.
So what extras should I look out for in the big bad world? What magical items would compliment him?
Also, what levels/feats should I pick up next? I'm planning Battle Master at the next level for more battlefield control. is that a good choice and where should I go next?
Any suggestions welcome!
Thanks
Blakey
My Author Page: www.peterjblake.com
Novels Published: Reynard's Fate, Kita's Honour, Okoth's War and Callindrill
Basically do this build, but with Champion instead of Brute: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-Vk33fWcKg
I'd stay away from mixing Monk with Battle Master, too much competition when it comes to bonus action use.
Thanks but I'm not trying to build a TMNT, and anyway Satoshi is already built - click his name in the OP to get a link to his sheet. So that is my starting point.
Interesting, really? How so? I'm thinking of picking Maneuvers which control the battlefield and employ conditions (trip, push, menacing, etc) to compliment the stunning I can already do. As far as I can see I should be able to interchange things like Trip and Stun on my weapon attacks and unarmed attacks, so it seems a really nice fit. Or have I missed something in the rules there?
My Author Page: www.peterjblake.com
Novels Published: Reynard's Fate, Kita's Honour, Okoth's War and Callindrill
Basically do this build, but with Champion instead of Brute: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-Vk33fWcKg
I thought it would go without saying that the important thing was the level progression and not the race. Appearantly some obvious things do need to be spelled out.
Battle maneuvers often require either a bonus action (which means that you can't flurry of blows or do other Monk stuff) or you need to attack with a weapon (which means that you only get one chance per turn if you want to use Agile Parry).
Okay, thanks for the response. I'll have a deeper look...
My Author Page: www.peterjblake.com
Novels Published: Reynard's Fate, Kita's Honour, Okoth's War and Callindrill
Champion 3 is probably the best next step. Criticals on 19s is a great feature for anyone and it's only one level. You could go Battlemaster. There are plenty of maneuvers that don't take your bonus action. Riposte would be good because your AC is so high. You'll only get 4 superiority dice but maybe that is enough per short rest to make it worth it. I would prefer something that is always on like improved critical but that is me.
From there, one more level in fighter gets you an ASI. You could put that in wisdom for 1 more AC and 1 more DC on your stunning strike. This isn't really required though.
You're quite limited after that though. Your ability scores enable you to multiclass into Druid, Cleric, Ranger, and Rogue. None of those are useful to you. Rogue would be but you're not using a finesse weapon. The others are pointless. Unless you were to switch, there isn't much adding another class would do for you. So it's really more levels in monk or more levels in fighter. Neither is necessarily better than the other. The good stuff from doing either isn't until a bit later in levels so I would probably stick to one or the other.
Lets say you went Monk 8/Fighter 3, here is what you get going monk the rest of the way:
If you go fighter the rest of the way:
You'll obviously have more a fair amount of added hitpoints going with fighter. Extra attack is obviously better than rerolling missed attacks. Indomitable is vastly inferior to Diamond soul. The tradeoffs then are hitpoints and damage, or saving throws and 9 ki points (which translates to damage, stuns, and utility). Its really hard to say which is better. I think it depends on how many short rests your DM gives you. If it is often enough where you never run out of Ki points then I think the answer is Fighter. If you think you'll be using the extra Ki points, then I think Monk is the answer.
Just for fun, if you were to switch to a Finesse Weapon, here is what you'd get with rogue:
This option gives you skills and expertise, Sneak attack damage, more survivability, and a rogue archetype for either spells or opening nova round. This is the direction I would go.
This was a fun thought experiment. Hope it helped!
Oh, eldritch knight would be good for the fighter. That'd give you shield spell. You could still go assassin from there. That might actually be the best of all the worlds.
Cheers for the comprehensive response!
I have considered EK I have to say; though RP-wise he is aiming to become The Greatest Swordsman in the World(TM) so I think BM is probably the best fit there. And I like focusing on control as a play style too which, as I've said adds to his stunning strike ability; plus mostly keys just off attacks, not needing bonus actions. I'm considering Commander's Strike which I know plays havoc with my action economy but that way I could make the rogue feel more useful by giving him an extra SA every so often - and the ability to even do this at the right times could be key.
I have a shadow monk in another campaign who is the scout/sneaky type so I am keeping away from Rogue/Assassin on this Kensei, much as it's a great fit power-wise I think.
All great info - thanks!
My Author Page: www.peterjblake.com
Novels Published: Reynard's Fate, Kita's Honour, Okoth's War and Callindrill