Alright, so first time player here. Started a campaign and while I have a pretty solid idea for the character, I'm having a lot more difficulty than I expected in planning them out for Levels 3 and beyond, and was hoping to get some feedback. I was expecting it to be easy; I picked Monk because I wanted to embrace the skirmisher role, did not want to be a spellcaster, but did want to be adapting my tactics and approach on a case by case basis. Monk seemed a great starter class in that regard, and I'm enjoying it so far.
My problem is that I was thinking I'd just go Open Hand all the way through, but I'm starting to rethink that. In large part because I'm playing an Aarakocra; it caught my fancy and spawned a bunch of ideas, so I ran with it. So now I'm playing a scrappy not-albatross who, thanks a wandering band of marauders adventurers, was stranded in the Material Plane as a kid (so <3 years old), has slowly been going native and getting a more brutal edge to his fighting style, and is filled with wanderlust and a distrust of magic. He's also now partying with a bard, sorcerer, and druid; fun times that'll just get funner when the barbarian goes Path of the Wild Soul. Also, everyone but the barbarian are new players, so it's a learning experience all around. I recognize that I'm almost definitely gonna be overshadowed at higher levels, but do want to carve out a solid niche in combat while still being effective in other arenas. Not slinging spells, but definitely keeps pace with the rest.
I started questioning whether to stick to pure Open Hand because I was told our levels would max out at 13, and that's just gonna be an underwhelming endgame for me. If we were hitting 14, I'd be looking forward to Diamond Soul, but at 12-13? Unarmored Movement buff, Purity of Body, Tranquility, ASI, Tongue of Sun and Moon. Purity of Body's good, but everything else, not so much; Aarakocra can fly, Tranquility is not great and more important doesn't suit the character, and Tongue of Sun and Moon is underwhelming. More ki isn't a bad thing, but it'd be nice to have more tricks as I progress.
So... I'm trying to consider other archtypes, and possible multiclasses to stay competitive and spice up the endgame. I've attached stats below:
Yes, Dex is an odd stat; since UA is allowed, I was planning to fill it with one of the new UA half-feats. Crusher or Practiced Expert was the original intent, and honestly choosing between them is hard. Crusher's push 5 ft is a pocket Disengage for most enemies, and on a crit giving the whole party advantage on the enemy would be fun. But having Expertise in Perception or Insight is also really tempting, especially since our rogue couldn't join, and the probably College of Lore Bard will be more Int focused.
My main ideas are as follows:
Open Palm: Just go Open Palm all the way through. Starts fine, but limited ki early on in what seems a very ki-hungry class. Open Palm Techniques and Wholeness of Body seem great, it's the rest I'm ehhhh on. If I want weapons, dipping fighter and using recent Class Variant rules to make a few martial weapons Monk Weapons and throwing in Mariner style would fit the theme and up my striking power a bit. If we do find a magic weapon, I have a decent chance of calling dibs. Plus, since I'm a flier, being able to deal with flying enemies by knocking them prone via Open Palm Techs is very appealing.
Shadow Monk: Probably not, even if Shadow Step is good with Stunning Strike. Also at this point I might as well dip Rogue, grab a hand crossbow, and reveal my true name is Corvo Attano. I'd rather save Shadow Monk for an adventure in the Underdark or something.
Kensei: Not a class I expected to be drawn to, but I heard that magic items would be a lot scarcer in this campaign, so that's perked my interest a bit. I would be fine just using weapons in other classes, but juggling damage output vs various defense boosters is fine. Plus ranged attacks; we won't have a rogue like we planned, so grabbing a longbow seems a good idea. If magic items really don't end up being feasible, Sharpen The Blade at Level 11 becomes something worth looking forward to. It won't have quite as many dramatic effects as I hoped, but it would make me effective at all ranges and slot into party dynamics. I thought I'd declare the warhammer as my kensei weapon, because hilarity and Crusher, but Piercer isn't
Sun Soul: I'm just plain not doing it; don't like aesthetics, and while Radiant damage would be good, I'll be way too tempted to hover and plink-plink. I'd rather just remove all temptation here.
Drunken Master: Heavy emphasis on Flurry but without the Open Plam techs, and not as impressive to me past third level. It's not bad, and I could flavor it more as Swaying Sailor, but also not sparking lots of ideas like other archtypes. If anyone has some good ideas for it tho, I could be persuaded.
Long Death: I'm not a fan of the overall flavor, but the mechanics are solid, and I think the DM would let me spin it as less quasi-vampiric monk studying death in all forms, and more, "Local Bird Too Angry To Die!" And so far fights have been me and the barbarian forming a choke point to protect the casters; I'm pretty sure we won't always be able to do that, but hey, tanking is always good.
Astral Self: This one I'm willing to consider just because all of its features are really good, start to finish. It's somewhat against the distrust of magic character traits, but I'm pretty sure I can spin a story off of it. Maybe treat it less as ideal self, and more as a quasi-possession. At very least I'll have an IC reason to use it sparingly. And cross Crusher off my list; I'd probably take Practiced Expert in Acrobatics, with the Expertise in Perception, and use the Visage for advantage on Insight checks.
And on multi-classes that caught my eye... all of these probably wait till post level five, unless a one level dip looks really good:
Monk/Fighter: Either dip one or two levels in Fighter for Fighting Style or Action Surge, or go a full four levels for an archtype and ASI. Open Palm could be fun, but my ki would be heavily restricted. Using Class Variant rules to declare some martial weapons as monk weapons would be fun. Kensei has basically no problems working with this too. Could go Champion and fish for crits with Crusher, or Battlemaster if I feel comfortable enough piling maneuvers onto my attacks.
Monk/Rogue: Expertise in Perception and Insight is tempting on its own, Sneak Attack's not bad. Cunning Action can save some ki, and the Cunning Action: Aim makes ranged attacks more effective. No more than four levels tho, and I'd probably only consider Scout or Swashbuckler. Maybe Inquisitive if I wanted to lean really hard into Insight, but I doubt it. Out of everything, this pairs pretty nicely with the Kensei, and might even make me consider the Piercer feat; with Kensei Shot, Deft Strike, Sneak Attack, rerolling a 1 per round seems like a much more solid damage boost.
Monk/Ranger: The new Class Variant on Ranger looks appealing; I'd be willing to multi-class this and call it character development. Either grab Tireless or Canny, but probably Canny. Pick up yet another skill, a language (Infernal if I can justify it), and basically Expertise in something. Probably Perception, maybe Insight if I already took Practiced Expert for Perception. Making Hunter's Mark a concentration-less class feature is really tempting as a one-level dip, if GM allows; or a four level dip. Seems best with Kensei, but with Monk Weapon variants, I could still make it work. Probably go Hunter with Colossus Slayer. I may have to juggle Bonus Actions with Hunter's Mark, but it is superior to Kensei's Shot, so round one being Hunter's Mark and round two being moving the mark, or double tapping the same target with Kensei's Shot does give some escalation.
As a note, I might be able to talk GM into the old Revised Ranger, but that'll be picking Fiend as my Favored Enemy and doing my best Doom Guy impression. That's just blatantly power-gaming, though I'd do my best to make it funny. Or at least lean into a newfound yet very sincere hatred of fiends.
Monk/Cleric: Only a dip into War Cleric. He'll certainly have reason to pray to a higher power sooner or later. With Class Variant rules or Kensei, could probably get whatever the favored weapon of my god is, to be a monk weapon.
So yeah. I can see lots of possible paths; the feats basically come down to Crusher/Piercer for combat, or Practiced Expert to add Acrobatics and doubled Perception/Insight. I'm wavering pretty hard between monastic traditions and would appreciate advice there. The multiclassing may be too ambitious on a first campaign, but I certainly wouldn't mind picking up some skills. The Bard may be going College of Lore, but he also has an 8 in Wisdom, so I'm very tempted to be the eyes/bullshit detector of the party. Or just focus on combat and throwing lots of dice in combat, which also has its appeal. Also, having fun with Stunning Strike.
I could really use some feedback some you guys, what started as a simple and straightforward first character has become a tantalizing web of possibilities, and I'm trying reeeeeeal hard not to trip in it and screw up my first character. Plus, aiming for a very martial focus in a party of casters and mystical martial types; I know I'm at a disadvantage already, but given the character's scrappy nature, I'd like him to honestly hold his own or even stand out when it's time to throw down.
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Alright, so first time player here. Started a campaign and while I have a pretty solid idea for the character, I'm having a lot more difficulty than I expected in planning them out for Levels 3 and beyond, and was hoping to get some feedback. I was expecting it to be easy; I picked Monk because I wanted to embrace the skirmisher role, did not want to be a spellcaster, but did want to be adapting my tactics and approach on a case by case basis. Monk seemed a great starter class in that regard, and I'm enjoying it so far.
My problem is that I was thinking I'd just go Open Hand all the way through, but I'm starting to rethink that. In large part because I'm playing an Aarakocra; it caught my fancy and spawned a bunch of ideas, so I ran with it. So now I'm playing a scrappy not-albatross who, thanks a wandering band of
maraudersadventurers, was stranded in the Material Plane as a kid (so <3 years old), has slowly been going native and getting a more brutal edge to his fighting style, and is filled with wanderlust and a distrust of magic. He's also now partying with a bard, sorcerer, and druid; fun times that'll just get funner when the barbarian goes Path of the Wild Soul. Also, everyone but the barbarian are new players, so it's a learning experience all around. I recognize that I'm almost definitely gonna be overshadowed at higher levels, but do want to carve out a solid niche in combat while still being effective in other arenas. Not slinging spells, but definitely keeps pace with the rest.I started questioning whether to stick to pure Open Hand because I was told our levels would max out at 13, and that's just gonna be an underwhelming endgame for me. If we were hitting 14, I'd be looking forward to Diamond Soul, but at 12-13? Unarmored Movement buff, Purity of Body, Tranquility, ASI, Tongue of Sun and Moon. Purity of Body's good, but everything else, not so much; Aarakocra can fly, Tranquility is not great and more important doesn't suit the character, and Tongue of Sun and Moon is underwhelming. More ki isn't a bad thing, but it'd be nice to have more tricks as I progress.
So... I'm trying to consider other archtypes, and possible multiclasses to stay competitive and spice up the endgame. I've attached stats below:
Alba Cross
Monk 2
Background: Sailor
Str: 10
Dex: 17
Con: 14
Int: 8
Wis: 16
Cha: 8
Proficiencies: Athletics, Insight, Perception, Stealth
Yes, Dex is an odd stat; since UA is allowed, I was planning to fill it with one of the new UA half-feats. Crusher or Practiced Expert was the original intent, and honestly choosing between them is hard. Crusher's push 5 ft is a pocket Disengage for most enemies, and on a crit giving the whole party advantage on the enemy would be fun. But having Expertise in Perception or Insight is also really tempting, especially since our rogue couldn't join, and the probably College of Lore Bard will be more Int focused.
My main ideas are as follows:
Open Palm: Just go Open Palm all the way through. Starts fine, but limited ki early on in what seems a very ki-hungry class. Open Palm Techniques and Wholeness of Body seem great, it's the rest I'm ehhhh on. If I want weapons, dipping fighter and using recent Class Variant rules to make a few martial weapons Monk Weapons and throwing in Mariner style would fit the theme and up my striking power a bit. If we do find a magic weapon, I have a decent chance of calling dibs. Plus, since I'm a flier, being able to deal with flying enemies by knocking them prone via Open Palm Techs is very appealing.
Shadow Monk: Probably not, even if Shadow Step is good with Stunning Strike. Also at this point I might as well dip Rogue, grab a hand crossbow, and reveal my true name is Corvo Attano. I'd rather save Shadow Monk for an adventure in the Underdark or something.
Kensei: Not a class I expected to be drawn to, but I heard that magic items would be a lot scarcer in this campaign, so that's perked my interest a bit. I would be fine just using weapons in other classes, but juggling damage output vs various defense boosters is fine. Plus ranged attacks; we won't have a rogue like we planned, so grabbing a longbow seems a good idea. If magic items really don't end up being feasible, Sharpen The Blade at Level 11 becomes something worth looking forward to. It won't have quite as many dramatic effects as I hoped, but it would make me effective at all ranges and slot into party dynamics. I thought I'd declare the warhammer as my kensei weapon, because hilarity and Crusher, but Piercer isn't
Sun Soul: I'm just plain not doing it; don't like aesthetics, and while Radiant damage would be good, I'll be way too tempted to hover and plink-plink. I'd rather just remove all temptation here.
Drunken Master: Heavy emphasis on Flurry but without the Open Plam techs, and not as impressive to me past third level. It's not bad, and I could flavor it more as Swaying Sailor, but also not sparking lots of ideas like other archtypes. If anyone has some good ideas for it tho, I could be persuaded.
Long Death: I'm not a fan of the overall flavor, but the mechanics are solid, and I think the DM would let me spin it as less quasi-vampiric monk studying death in all forms, and more, "Local Bird Too Angry To Die!" And so far fights have been me and the barbarian forming a choke point to protect the casters; I'm pretty sure we won't always be able to do that, but hey, tanking is always good.
Astral Self: This one I'm willing to consider just because all of its features are really good, start to finish. It's somewhat against the distrust of magic character traits, but I'm pretty sure I can spin a story off of it. Maybe treat it less as ideal self, and more as a quasi-possession. At very least I'll have an IC reason to use it sparingly. And cross Crusher off my list; I'd probably take Practiced Expert in Acrobatics, with the Expertise in Perception, and use the Visage for advantage on Insight checks.
And on multi-classes that caught my eye... all of these probably wait till post level five, unless a one level dip looks really good:
Monk/Fighter: Either dip one or two levels in Fighter for Fighting Style or Action Surge, or go a full four levels for an archtype and ASI. Open Palm could be fun, but my ki would be heavily restricted. Using Class Variant rules to declare some martial weapons as monk weapons would be fun. Kensei has basically no problems working with this too. Could go Champion and fish for crits with Crusher, or Battlemaster if I feel comfortable enough piling maneuvers onto my attacks.
Monk/Rogue: Expertise in Perception and Insight is tempting on its own, Sneak Attack's not bad. Cunning Action can save some ki, and the Cunning Action: Aim makes ranged attacks more effective. No more than four levels tho, and I'd probably only consider Scout or Swashbuckler. Maybe Inquisitive if I wanted to lean really hard into Insight, but I doubt it. Out of everything, this pairs pretty nicely with the Kensei, and might even make me consider the Piercer feat; with Kensei Shot, Deft Strike, Sneak Attack, rerolling a 1 per round seems like a much more solid damage boost.
Monk/Ranger: The new Class Variant on Ranger looks appealing; I'd be willing to multi-class this and call it character development. Either grab Tireless or Canny, but probably Canny. Pick up yet another skill, a language (Infernal if I can justify it), and basically Expertise in something. Probably Perception, maybe Insight if I already took Practiced Expert for Perception. Making Hunter's Mark a concentration-less class feature is really tempting as a one-level dip, if GM allows; or a four level dip. Seems best with Kensei, but with Monk Weapon variants, I could still make it work. Probably go Hunter with Colossus Slayer. I may have to juggle Bonus Actions with Hunter's Mark, but it is superior to Kensei's Shot, so round one being Hunter's Mark and round two being moving the mark, or double tapping the same target with Kensei's Shot does give some escalation.
As a note, I might be able to talk GM into the old Revised Ranger, but that'll be picking Fiend as my Favored Enemy and doing my best Doom Guy impression. That's just blatantly power-gaming, though I'd do my best to make it funny. Or at least lean into a newfound yet very sincere hatred of fiends.
Monk/Cleric: Only a dip into War Cleric. He'll certainly have reason to pray to a higher power sooner or later. With Class Variant rules or Kensei, could probably get whatever the favored weapon of my god is, to be a monk weapon.
So yeah. I can see lots of possible paths; the feats basically come down to Crusher/Piercer for combat, or Practiced Expert to add Acrobatics and doubled Perception/Insight. I'm wavering pretty hard between monastic traditions and would appreciate advice there. The multiclassing may be too ambitious on a first campaign, but I certainly wouldn't mind picking up some skills. The Bard may be going College of Lore, but he also has an 8 in Wisdom, so I'm very tempted to be the eyes/bullshit detector of the party. Or just focus on combat and throwing lots of dice in combat, which also has its appeal. Also, having fun with Stunning Strike.
I could really use some feedback some you guys, what started as a simple and straightforward first character has become a tantalizing web of possibilities, and I'm trying reeeeeeal hard not to trip in it and screw up my first character. Plus, aiming for a very martial focus in a party of casters and mystical martial types; I know I'm at a disadvantage already, but given the character's scrappy nature, I'd like him to honestly hold his own or even stand out when it's time to throw down.