2024 Monk vs. 2014 Monk: What’s New

by Davyd Barker
Jul 8, 2024
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Tags author-davyd-atkins Player's Handbook

The 2024 Player’s Handbook brings the return of one of the most distinctive classes in Dungeons & Dragons. Almost every aspect of the Monk has seen improvements and refinements, from Martial Arts at level 1 to the new Body and Mind feature at level 20.

In this article, we’ll look at all the key improvements of the 2024 Monk that you’ll find within the new Player’s Handbook. While most of the Monk’s features saw some improvements or have been fully replaced, those that remain unchanged or changed very marginally may not appear in this article.

The 2024 Player’s Handbook is Now Available!

Buy the 2024 Player’s Handbook today and dive into revised rules, enhanced character options, and exciting gameplay innovations.

Get your copy on the D&D Beyond marketplace and seamlessly integrate your new content with D&D Beyond's library of digital tools built to make D&D easier, so you can focus on the fun!

What's New for the 2024 Monk?
Class Feature	Level	What's New
Martial Arts	1	All Simple Melee weapons are now considered Monk weapons, as well as Martial Melee weapons with the Light property. Can now make an Unarmed Strike as a Bonus Action, even if you don't take the Attack action on your turn. Martial Arts die starts at 1d6 and goes up to 1d12. Can use Dexterity in place of Strength when you Grapple or Shove.
Monk's Focus	2	Patient Defense allows Disengage as a Bonus Action for free, or spend a Focus Point to Disengage and Dodge as a Bonus Action. Step of the Wind allows Dash as a Bonus Action for free, or spend a Focus Point to Disengage and Dash as a Bonus Action and have your jump distance doubled. Flurry of Blows no longer requires you to take the Attack action first.
Uncanny Metabolism	2	Once per Long Rest, regain all Focus Points when you roll Initiative.
Deflect Attacks	3	Reduce the damage of melee or ranged attacks that deal Bludgeoning, Piercing, or Slashing damage by 1d10+ Dexterity + Monk level. If damage is reduced to 0, spend a Focus Point to redirect damage. Melee attacks can be directed at a creature within 5 feet, while ranged against a creature within 60 feet. Target makes a Dexterity saving throw or takes damage equal to two rolls of your Martial Arts die plus your Dexterity modifier.
Monk Subclass	3	Warrior of Mercy: First appearing in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, this subclass is largely unchanged. Flurry of Healing Hands can now be used a number of times per Long Rest equal to Wisdom modifier. Warrior of Shadow: Shadow Arts now offers greater flexibility with how you manipulate and use shadows, although Pass Without Trace and Silence have been removed. New feature Cloak of Shadows replaces Opportunist and grants a much more persistent invisibility effect. Warrior of the Elements: Way of the Four Elements has been entirely reworked. Much more flexible and efficient with its use of Focus Points, allowing you to create torrents of elemental damage. Warrior of the Open Hand: A few subtle changes: Open Hand Technique blocks Opportunity Attacks rather than all Reactions, Wholeness of Body now a Bonus Action, and Quivering Palm no longer reduces a target to 0 Hit Points.
Stunning Strike	5	Requires a Monk weapon or Unarmed Strike. Stunned condition lasts until the start of your next turn rather than the end. On a successful save, the target's Speed is halved, and the next attack against them has Advantage. Can be used once per turn.
Empowered Strike	5	Choose to deal Force damage instead of Bludgeoning for Unarmed Strikes.
Heightened Focus	10	Improves Flurry of Blows, Patient Defense, and Step of the Wind when you expend a Focus Point. Flurry of Blows becomes three attacks. Patient Defense grants Temporary Hit Points equal to two rolls of your Martial Arts die. Step of the Wind allows you to move a willing creature with you.
Self-Restoration	10	Remove the Charmed, Frightened, or Poisoned Condition at the end of your turn. Going without food or drink doesn’t cause Exhaustion.
Deflect Energy	13	Deflect Attacks now applies to all damage types.
Perfect Focus	15	If you don’t use Uncanny Metabolism and have fewer than 4 Focus Points, go back up to 4 Focus Points when rolling Initiative.
Superior Defense	18	Spend 3 Focus Points at the start of your turn to gain resistance to all damage types except Force for 1 minute.
Epic Boon	19	Receive one of twelve Epic Boons or another feat.
Body and Mind	20	Increase your Wisdom and Dexterity scores by 4 each, up to a maximum of 25.

2024 Monk Class Features Overview

A dragonborn monk holding a quarterstaff.

Martial Arts — Level 1

Changes to the Monk come early with adjustments to Martial Arts. The biggest change is that the Monk’s Martial Arts die starts one size larger at 1d6 and now goes all the way to 1d12. Next up, Monk weapons have been simplified. Now any Martial Melee weapon with the Light property qualifies as a Monk weapon. All Simple Melee weapons are also considered Monk weapons. Finally, you can now use Dexterity instead of Strength when attempting to Grapple or Shove a creature.

Also, you can now make an Unarmed Strike as a Bonus Action, even if you don't take the Attack action on your turn, which is an upgrade from the 2014 version of Martial Arts.

Monk's Focus — Level 2

Monk's Focus is a new name for a familiar level 2 feature where you’ll find Flurry of Blows, Patient Defense, and Step of the Wind, the last two having seen some fun improvements.

Patient Defense now allows you to take the Disengage action as a Bonus Action without spending any Focus Points, but if you do spend a Focus Point, you can Disengage and Dodge as the same Bonus Action.

Likewise, Step of the Wind allows you to Dash as a Bonus Action, no Focus Point required, but spending one allows you to Disengage and Dash as part of the same Bonus Action. Using a Focus Point for Step of the Wind also doubles your jump distance for a turn, so go ahead, you can definitely clear that gap.

Finally, similar to Martial Art's Bonus Unarmed Strike, Flurry of Blows no longer requires the Monk to take the Attack action first.

Uncanny Metabolism — Level 2

This new level 2 feature allows a Monk character to regain all expended Focus Points when they roll Initiative once per Long Rest. Additionally, when you use this feature, you also regain Hit Points equal to your Monk level plus a roll of your Martial Arts die.

Deflect Attacks — Level 3

Formerly Deflect Missiles, as the name might suggest, Deflect Attacks now has much more usability. No longer limited to Ranged weapon attacks, Deflect Attacks allows you to reduce the damage of any attack that includes Bludgeoning, Piercing, or Slashing damage. The damage is reduced by 1d10 plus your Dexterity modifier and Monk Level, and if you reduce that damage to 0, you can use a Focus Point to redirect the attack.

Depending on if the attack was a melee or ranged attack, you can target a creature within 5 feet or 60 feet, respectively, and force them to make a saving throw against damage based on your Martial Arts die and your Dexterity modifier.

Monk Subclass— Level 3

An orc Four Elements monk holding a with fists glowing with elemental energy.

At level 3 the Monk class gets to pick its subclass, choosing from four options: Warrior of Mercy, Warrior of Shadow, Warrior of the Elements, or Warrior of the Open Hand.

Warrior of Mercy: First appearing in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, the 2024 Warrior of Mercy subclass has seen the fewest changes of all the Monk subclasses. The familiar features such as Hand of Harm and Implements of Mercy return, albeit with some minor tweaks. Hand of Healing, for example, is now classed as a Magic action, a new action classification to improve clarity of the rules. The most significant change is that Flurry of Healing and Harm can now be used a number of times per Long Rest equal to your Wisdom modifier. While there haven't been too many major tweaks, the updated Monk class features ripple into this subclass to improve its abilities. For example, now that Monks can use Flurry of Blows to make up to three Unarmed Strikes at level 10, Flurry of Healing and Harm can heal up to three times now instead of two.
Warrior of Shadow: The Warrior of Shadow really shines in 2024, pun intended. Shadow Arts has been reworked, allowing you to cast Darkness and Minor Illusion, and you can move the field of Darkness you create. The feature also gives you Darkvision (or upgrades yours if you have it) and lets you see through the Darkness of your own Darkness spell. As you level up, your level 11 Improved Shadow Step allows you to spend a Focus Point to ignore the Dim Light or Darkness restriction of Shadow Step and make an Unarmed Strike immediately after you teleport as part of the same Bonus Action. Finally, Cloak of Shadow is a new level 17 feature that allows you to wreath yourself in shadows. This effect lasts for 1 minute, until you’re Incapacitated, or you end your turn in Bright Light. While it’s active, you have the Invisible condition, which persists even if you attack or cast a spell; you can move through occupied spaces as if they were Difficult Terrain; and you can use Flurry of Blows without needing to spend any Focus Points.
Warrior of the Elements: The Warrior of the Elements has had the most number of changes and has received a lot of new and exciting changes. Elemental Attunement now gives you 10-foot reach of your Unarmed Strikes and deals your choice of Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning, or Thunder damage. You can also push or pull a target 10 feet on a failed save. On top of that, you learn the new Elementalism cantrip. As you level up, you'll get the ability to create AoE elemental bursts, fun ways to navigate the battlefield, and damage resistances to aid survivability.
Warrior of the Open Hand: Open Hand Technique remains largely unchanged, with the exception of one of its options only blocking Opportunity Attacks rather than all Reactions. Wholeness of Body has been moved to a Bonus Action and now heals a number of Hit Points equal to a roll of your Martial Arts die plus your Wisdom Modifier, rather than three times your Monk level. However, you can now use it a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier per Long Rest rather than just once. The new Fleet Step feature allows you to use Step of the Wind as part of any Bonus Action that wasn’t already used to perform Step of the Wind, and Quivering Palm has been rebalanced. It now costs 4 Focus Points and does 10d12 Force damage on a failed save rather than reducing the target to 0 Hit Points, and half as much on a successful save. While it might not insta-kill any longer, you can end the vibrations by forgoing one attack granted by the Attack action rather than taking your entire action.

Stunning Strike — Level 5

Stunning Strike, a popular Monk feature, has received a rebalance in the 2024 version of the class. It now requires the use of a Monk weapon or Unarmed Strike. If successfully applied, the Stunned condition now ends at the start of your next turn rather than the end, and it can only be used once per turn. However, if the target succeeds on their saving throw against Stunning Strike, their Speed is halved until the start of your next turn, and the next attack made against them is done so with Advantage.

Empowered Strike — Level 5

With this new version of Ki-Empowered Strike, you can change the damage type of your Unarmed Strikes to Force damage. Handy for getting around those resistances.

Heightened Focus — Level 10

Heightened Focus is a new level 10 feature that improves several of your core Monk features. First, Flurry of Blows gains an additional attack, bringing the total to three per Bonus Action. Next up, Patient Defense now grants you Temporary Hit Points based on two rolls of your Martial Arts die. Finally, when you use Step of the Wind you can move one willing creature that’s Large or smaller along with you until the end of your turn, and they don’t provoke Opportunity Attacks as you do.

Self-Restoration — Level 10

Another new level 10 feature, Self-Restoration lets you avoid the levels of Exhaustion you would normally accumulate when going without food or water, and at the end of your turn, end the Charmed, Frightened, or Poisoned condition on yourself.

Deflect Energy — Level 13

An upgrade to Deflect Attacks, Deflect Energy allows you to reduce the damage of attacks of any damage type.

Perfect Focus — Level 15

If when you roll Initiative, you’re below 4 Focus Points and don’t use Uncanny Metabolism, you immediately regain enough Focus Points to bring you back up to 4, perfect for when you’re on your fifth or sixth encounter of the day!

Superior Defense — Level 18

At the start of your turn you can expend 3 Focus Points to gain Resistance to all damage types except Force for 1 minute, or until you’re Incapacitated. It’s ideal when you’re up against high-level enemies that are pummeling you with elemental damage, like the Ancient White Dragon’s Cold Breath, or a Fire Giant Dreadnought's Shield Charge

Epic Boon — Level 19

In the 2014 Dungeon Master’s Guide, Epic Boons were a special reward handed out at the Dungeon Master’s discretion. Now they’ve made their way over to the 2024 Player’s Handbook as a new type of feat with the prerequisite of being level 19+. While Monks can take any Epic Boon, the recommended pick is the Boon of Irresistible Offense, which we’ll look at here:

Boon of Irresistible Offense: First, increase your Strength or Dexterity ability score by 1, up to a maximum of 30. Next, Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing damage you deal always ignores resistance. Additionally, when you roll a 20 on an attack roll, you can deal additional damage equal to the ability score you increased with this feat.

Body and Mind — Level 20

As the level 20 feature of the Monk, Body and Mind increases your Dexterity and Wisdom scores by 4 each, up to a maximum of 25.

Putting the Art Into Martial Artist

The 2024 Player’s Handbook is now available on the D&D Beyond marketplace, which means it's time to set out on new adventures with fresh or familiar characters!

The 2024 Player’s Handbook brings with it probably the most changes for the Monk out of all of the classes, revitalizing the class and solving many of its weaknesses and pain points. The Warrior of the Elements probably showcases this most, a completely redesigned subclass that still captures the theme of its 2014 predecessor but delivers it much more effectively.

We’re delighted to share with you the changes to fifth edition D&D that appear in the 2024 Player’s Handbook. Make sure to keep an eye out on D&D Beyond for more useful guides on using the wealth of new options, rules, and mechanics found in the 2024 Player's Handbook!

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