As many have pointed out, there may be a conflict with Unarmored Defense. The rules on multiclassing state: "Unarmored Defense If you already have the Unarmored Defense feature, you can't gain it again from another class." - if your DM holds to strict RAW here and doesn't let you choose one or the other but makes you take the one you get first, then obviously we'll want to either start with Monk *or* bump Con instead of Wisdom - either route would work fairly well I think, though I'd favor sticking with Wisdom.
I would add a weird talking point: Psionic Energy dice from SoulKnife and Psi Warrior have same name but different mechanics... possibly making this workable
Think the sage advice specifies you can have only one means of AC calculation. So anytime it says your AC=#+stat ect. You can use only one. Items like ring of protection, styles like Defense, and bladesong add as they are not new calculations but additional bonuses. So a MAD monk/bladesinger works because you are adding INT to AC. But a monk cannot use unarmed and mage armor.
@@ericpeterson8732 “If you already have the Unarmored Defense FEATURE, you can’t gain it again from another class.” RAW seems clear to me so I’ll happily be the first to argue “that once you have this feature, you can’t train in another unarmored defense.” Anyway, I don’t see it as a problem since this is an easily ignored homebrew change that most reasonable DMs won’t mind allowing at their tables.
@@ericpeterson8732 I have felt the same, hence why I didn't bring it up in the video, but based on the number of comments and how it's technically written in the rules, I figured it worth a mention :).
By RAW certainly. But I think that if you justify the flavour then any sensible DM can understand it. After the first few levels your abs have taken such a pounding your body can't take it any more, so while transitioning you learned how to dodge and deflect, create glancing blows, through experience (AKA wisdom)
24:40 there is a concept with modern martial artists (Boxers and MMA in particular) that say that when you are in danger, you revert back to basics, to what you trained. If you haven't trained, a fury state will give you a fury advantage, but you'll still have bad technique and will be defeated by almost anyone that knows what they are doing. A well trained martial artists will, when in danger, revert back to basics: great technique practiced over and over, therefore you get a furious state that enhances your physical abilities AND great form and technique, not because you are concentrating on it, but because inconsciously you revert back to what you trained, which happens to be great form and technique ! If you want to kick, you'll perform a perfectly executed kick, because you train it to perfection every day. Even enraged and without concentrating on proper angles or body movement, you kind of "can't make a bad kick", because all your kicks are great. A Barbarian/Monk isn't one that tries to balance "Fury" and "Inner piece". A Barbarian/Monk is someone that KNOWS he is a whirlwind of death when enraged, but teaches his body, mind and soul to, even enraged, not lose himself to the point he harms more than he actually wants. To not "let the beast loose", but to "keep it on a tight collar" and with proper control, releases the beast against those deserving (and only those deserving and no one else).
In my Eberron game, warforged were created by House Cannith but the sentient warforged was created by accident when a Cannith artificer took advice from a House Sivis cryptologist. They were attempting to make the warforged more adaptive and analytical for purposes of war but what they ended up creating was a code for artificial intelligence that was bolstered with code taken from sacred texts from the planes of Mechanus. As such warforged were not only coded with true artificial intelligence but also with an actual soul derived from that plane. Thus in my game they would have ancestral spirits from that plane of existence as their souls came from there…
In the 3rd edition lore for Eberron (the setting the Warforged hail from), it is stated that no Warforged soul has ever been encountered in the realm of the dead, and that no Warforged that has been resurrected has any recollection of any kind of afterlife. (It is, obviously, up to the individual table if they subscribe to this or not.) However, resurrection and necromancy spells requiring the target to have a soul affect the Warforged just like they would any other humanoid. To me, that implies that the Worforged either have souls that are detached from the de facto "system of souls", or that they don't have souls at all, but rather have a sort of "pseudo-soul" - a source of sentience that behaves like a soul upon interaction by divine and arcane powers. Since neither the Ancestral path nor the Warforged racial description prohibits this combo, it must be a valid option in terms of lore. Therefore, Warforged must have "ancestors" of some kind. While I like your idea with Mechanus, if this was a character I was making for myself to play, I think I'd lean into this idea of detached from the divine system. Here's how it would work: Each Warforged has a "soul", but it's not a soul in the traditional sense. Rather, a Warforged "soul" is in a constant flux as the programming re-writes, installs, deletes and modifies various sub-routines as they're needed or discarded. However, the previous iterations are saved in a sort of "back-up format" on a personal demiplane (a great server, if you will), powered into existense by the same source that gave them life to begin with. This demiplane stores every past version of the Warforged in question, and can and will be accessed subconsciously for certain memories, routines, and perhaps even proficiencies that have fallen out of use. However, Warforged barbarians of the ancestral guardian path, while raging, enhance that connection to summon reflections of their past selves onto the material plane as spirits of kind, albeit ones that don't have the same mental processing power as the individual prime, due to the nature of the connection between the planes and the fact that the great server is not created for processing power.
@@TheRawrnstuff I like this a lot and did think of this as a possibility but if felt like it was too much of a computerisation of what I felt was a distinct life form and less of a copy paste into a repaired body. I preferred the idea that warforged were a composite species that was born from a divine word - as it the code used gave them both souls and sentience. The fact that no one has seen a warforged soul could be just because the coding transforms the divine beings into something new when they become the soul of a warforged. And not returning with any memories of the plane could simply be part of the transformative nature - during the process of converting from one to the other (either way) the memories of the being remains with its prior form. I like both ideas at the end of the day, but the computer soul just a little bit less.
I have a suggestion: How about quantifying 'Cumulative Damage 'till Death' (CDD)? For your damage dealer builds, you quantify damage per round. For your tank builds, you quantify survival times. Both of these stats fail to quantify just how much damage your builds could actually inflict before finally getting taken down by overwhelming odds. So how about quantifying CDD? This would highlight - perhaps unexpected - optimum balances between damage and survivability (perhaps a more realistic stat for players trying for a balanced build)? You could quantify it (at low levels) in 'numbers of goblins slain', with the image being of a lone hero standing firm against a the seething relentless tide of the goblin invasion... You could switch out goblins for something with a bit more clout at higher levels. A great tank with a weak damage output and a glass cannon would both come second to a build that combines a bit of both. Resource efficiency would also become an important consideration if the fight lasts more than a bunch of rounds, while AoE damage dealers could be quantified at closer to their true potential (making basic assumptions about the density of mooks coming at them). How fun would that be!
I once had an idea for a Warfoged Barbarian who's rage was their designated "combat mode" but their regular personality could get lost depending on how long they raged. Basically, they would be making concentration checks every round of rage and if they fail one, they have to roll on a table of pre-programmed personalities to take over.
I love this. My only Warforged character in 5e was a forge cleric, designation Bulwark, and he went the other way, started rigidly stuck to his programming to protect the goblin cavalier who had awoken him, but due to the guys goblins nature he started to break free of his programming and embrace the 'errors'
This sounds like fun. Im getting happy vibes from Crisis Core, and this automated voice saying Activating Combat Mode and Conflict Resolved when starting and ending combat.
In my game one of my friends is not a big role player and probably is only playing because it’s us, his friends. He wanted to play a warforged beast barbarian so I said no problem, he can have been rescued from a Cannith laboratory by the patron they work for. He had been altered and experimented on so his memory was gone (so no need to role play knowing anything about Khorvaire) but his skills weren’t (so he could still kick ass). His rage comes from being unbalanced and his modifications activate when he loses control. When I described the first time it happened (he chose a tail) I was able to give a cool description of how his back plating articulated along the spine, shifting upwards to create a ridge the length of his back and a segmented length of metallo-organic cording came out and became plated as well. The party didn’t know what type of barbarian he was going to be before then and they oohs and ahhs were very gratifying.
Ok I’m thinking barbarian monk will dwarf with the dwarven fortitude and toughness feats so you can dodge as a bonus action to heal while dumping points into dex and con for high AC and hp!
Well shoot. I wasn’t close besides the monk and barbarian but this was pretty awesome and I love Bonks! This would a pretty great build to play and actually can heal others unlike the dwarf monk build. Thanks again Colby!
This is my current character. 1 Barb / 8 Drunken Master. Big Fat Dwarf (think Bombur from the hobbit). Managed to get a Periapt of Wound Closure and I am not officially OP.
I'm just imagining how Isaac Asimov would've handled this character concept storywise. And I'm also picturing a raging, fuming "number 5" from 1986's "Short Circuit".
I love the idea of a warforged that escapes his programing and embraces intense emotions (including rage) as a sort of rebellion against his passive automaton upbringing.
Have you ever considered adding single classed characters that are considered tanks to your graphs? They wouldnt really need videos that explain them but it would be nice for frame of reference to see how a straight Bearbarian or other single classed characters fair in comparison to these builds
I think you need different music depending on your builds. DPS raging lunatic = metal. Serene master of tanky zen = chill vibes. Nice to see someone else who remembers Everquest, I started on the first one
22:19 In my homebrew setting, I have a "warforged" type people, but they were essentially made as batteries instead of war-machines (though, they could be and were modified into war-machines) The way that it worked is a ghost would be trapped inside the 'vehicle' of this metal body. So, in that case, the Ancestral Guardians could be other ghosts that hang around the one inhabiting the frame, and lash out at anyone attacking their friend. Or perhaps they are ghosts of other frames that failed to move on when their body was destroyed or got worn out.
If I ever get the chance to play this build, my warforged is going to be very Terminator-esque in rage mode, their Ancestral Guardians are the previous models of warforged to exist, now obsolete, but carrying *valuable battlefield knowledge files (*experience) that the warforged character taps into. Using this style, I personally would organise a way to reflavour the class features of the Ancestral Guardian to make them less spectral and fit better. Reading other people’s ideas on how to play this character are also extremely interesting, and now make me want to play a warforged of every class and give each its own out of the norm backstory.
Roleplay Stuff: Warforged and Ancestral Guardian: in this world, perhaps warforged are given sentience through the binding of a departed soul into the mechanical/magical body. For this character, the soul that was trapped into the warforged was the shaman of a barbarian tribe. The bonds that the departed shaman and their ancestors remains, and is in fact enhanced because of the brief time they spent in the afterlife. Mercy Monk and Rage: This character, thrust forward in time and separated from their tribe, has a twitchy trigger finger on their rage because of losing their tribe (possibly to the war that warforged were created to fight in), yet they seek to heal and protect others because vengeance only causes more pain on the inflicter of that vengeance and they hope to avert a potential future war by healing the hurts of the world. This character seems super interesting to me because they seem to have a good reason to be invested in fulfilling the typical adventurer quest types and they could present a very interesting dynamic to the story.
Due to your dolcent ASMR tone I usually listen to these optimization videos at 1.25 or 1.5 speed and the new music is a much less jarring transition. Kudos. Also, an ASMR aasimar character would suit you quite well.
I had a Monk Tank Dwarf in 3.5 that I ported over to 5e several years ago as a Monk/Bearbarian with Rage reflavored as drunken fighting. He had a 20 Con, Tough, and Hill Dwarf hp bonus. I took Dwarven Fortitude at later levels and used Monk Patient Defense to dodge and heal at the same time. He was remarkably effective and fun to play. His name was Kegs, predating the CR character Keg by more than a decade. We had no rogue in the party so Kegs would just run down hallways to trigger traps. :-) I can't wait to see what Colby does with this concept.
The idea of a monk tank really really cool this video actually brought me to a whole different idea. A monk damge build useing Dhampire and the mixture of path of the beast with way of mercy monk.with the tail you can get reach on your stunning strikes and improve your bite,way of mercy for those sick nasty heals and the extra damage with some wicked flavor to boot:a descendant of the crimson king,the bloody barron,dracula.the mans cursed veins pulsed with an ever growing need to satiate his hunger and hatred for the bloody monster that gave him this cursed life.learning to controll the beast inside he now hunts down all of his kind to wipe them out in a mad crusade agaisnt the night.
I am legit jealous of people living in SLC, Sanderson has events there, now y'all have stuff there. The Legendarium podcast is based out of there. Lots of fantasy stuff happening in Utah. I'll probably visit at some point in time lol
I played in a campaign with a warforged barbarian and he flavored it as being that he was a great tribal leader and when he fell in battle the shaman bound his soul into a construct she created. This could be carried well in to AG in that he calls forth the spirits of those who fell in battle along side him.
Only 22 min in, but your question about warforged ancestry made me immediately think of the mountains who’s ore becomes the metals that made them. Could also feed into the monk “one with universe” thing. Very circle of life
Really like the build! I thought that the Mercy monk self-healing seemed like a fun option to build around, but I hadn't considered combining it with barbarian until now - but it does boost survivability a whole lot. A few thoughts - I think another lineage that would be interesting to look at is shifter, instead of warforged. A flat +1 AC is really nice, but a beasthide shifter can also get that for 1 fight per short rest, and gives some extra temporary HP on top of that (lvl + 1d6 + CON modifier) - which does give a decent little boost, at least at earlier levels (warforged does pull a bit ahead at higher levels I think, where the bonus action healing can be done every round and the temp HP doesn't look as nice in comparison). A mix of rogue in there could also be interesting - you would lose out on some ki points and on diamond soul at high levels, but if it's a DM that uses more attacks than saving throws, uncanny dodge could be quite helpful in adding to survivability. It does give a bit more of a boost to damage as well, which could help with making enemies attack you instead of your allies. I probably wouldn't take it down that route, but it did make me wonder if it might be worth it.
i agree with rogue for uncanny dodge at later levels though i think colby shied away from that as he already did the dodging rager concept already in episode 35.
As a newer player to DnD, (started my first campaign a month ago!) but a long time theorycrafter for many games, these videos are so awesome. It's inspired me to start theorycrafting some DnD builds and I'm currently playing around with a wildfire druid/dragon's breath combo using twinned spell. Teleport onto a bunch of enemies, unleash two dragon's breath from yourself and your spirit and teleport out!
Finally got invited to my first private game after going to our local adventure league for a bit and so glad that the concept I had has a video from you to help out planning!
I've only just stumbled across your channel, glad to have found it as theorycrafting and monks are my absolute favourite things in d&d! And I really like this build, not one I would have thought of. My take on it world be a bit like Legion in Mass Effect wearing Shepherd's armour: he collects parts of earlier models of warforged, both out of respect and to seek their guidance/power from left over code fragments. As for myself, I've heavily played monks so looking to mix it up for my next one. I've got 2 rp builds that I'm putting together, and an armoured 'feat' monk: -2 trickster cleric/X drunken monk. Fey themed, a bit like Puck from Berserk. Thinks he's immortal, loves pranks, and takes on whatever role best fits the situation (on a ship - he's the captain, no matter what others may claim) -laser bear, 2 moon druid, x sun soul. Likely happening with bountiful luck. Pretty standard, this would be for a low level campaign, ending mid tier 2 -And lastly 1 war cleric/X long death. Mountain dwarf. In AL so item dependent, using Demon Armour to maintain flurry of blows, ogre gauntlets to keep other stats at a reasonable level, and now that he doesn't have to pump dex/wis I'm free to take GWM, sentinel, dwarven defence. Missing unarmoured movement hurts, but otherwise not too lacking. None of these are optimised, just variations from the norm for something different. Lastly, what would you think of a GWM monk (unarmoured), dropping their weapon anytime they wanted to flurry? A potential way to increase damage (not my main concern, just theory crafting)? Any downsides?
Hm... you'd have to go Strength based to make attacks with Heavy Weapons, so your AC would be pretty bad... might be fun to try and figure out a way to make it work.
If it's this intro vs the old intro, I think the old one better represents your general MOAR DAMAGE focus. If you want to do different intros each week depending on the build's flavour (or sustained vs burst vs tank vs heal?), that works too! The music itself was quite nice of course :)
My barbarian monk warforged, was programmed for war, but sought-after peace and tranquility. He was very kind to everyone that he met, but when he suspected an attack or while he was being attacked, his kill program would engage. His eyes would go from blue to red and his internal working would go faster, just like a car ecelerating. The magic that ran through his leather would heat off and apeared as steam coming off his body, you could hear the RPMs of his energy core increase. Some parts would even project from his body which helped him from over heating and made him look larger. After the fight his recollection would be intact, but he would feel bad since he had no control. His rage started like a massive explosion, his monk levels allowed him to focus his anger to be more like a shape charge.
This is really innovative! I like it a lot. It feels like the defensive cousin of the Beast barbarian/monk combo, taking advantage of a lot of the same synergies.
Ive always liked the idea of role-playing rage activation as a deep meditative breath. I really like that for warforged, although I don't know if they need to breathe!
My homebrew Way of Strength monk subclass would work amazingly well with this build. Aside from allowing heavy and reach weapons to be monk weapons, you are able to substitute Strength for Dex for any monk feature. Thanks for the build!
An idea: Multiclass Fighter and Kensei Monk. Wear plate armor and a shield to get 20 AC. Add the defense fighting style and either warforged or shifter to increase that to 22. Become a monk to use Patient defense, allowing you to impose disadvantage on attacks against a given target for a number of rounds equal to your monk level. Headbutt every round and hold a melee kensei weapon to get an additional +2 to AC. Disadvantage on every attack against an AC 24 character is really strong. Going this route, I would recommend the Sentinel feat so you can get as much ki as possible while discouraging your enemy from attacking anyone that isn't you. Imposing disadvantage on attack checks against creatures other than you isn't a real deterrent with this build, since a target also have disadvantage when they attack you.
I like the idea that there is a bit of code, an abhorrent line, an immovable constant that triggers ultra kill mode, all the grooves and joins glow red, lights change and/or appear where they weren't before before an uncontrollable rage overtakes you. How embarrassing, your creators flaws still acting as strings to pull your destiny. Perhaps you hate that you killed them during a field test of your rage and yet it still controls you.
That's where my mind went as well, and the idea of going through the monk levels as part of a journey to transform yourself from a weapon of destruction and slaughter to defender and bringer of peace is *chef's kiss*.
Loving the ancestral guardian warforged RP possibilities, I’m thinking something related to “deleted memories or randomly assembled datas”, kinda like a PKNA story about droids or “I, robot” movie
Yayy! Another popular youtuber making an ad for Mage Hand Press. Those guys are rockstars! Extremely underrated! My favorite class of theirs is the Investigator. It's basically Harry Dresden.
As a kid, I loved watching the TV show Kung Fu with David Carradine, who played a Shaolin monk who travels through the American Old West helping people and trying to survive the many people who would see him dead. When the monk was first introduced to D&D, they seemed fairly simple unarmored and mostly unarmed characters who start out soft, but get faster, deal more damage, and get higher AC as they level up. It seemed to match my thoughts of how a Shaolin monk in training would progress, by gaining speed and increasing damage. The newer implementation in 5e mostly kills that line of thought... though I hold out hope as I explore new builds.
I've had a year to think about this and I finally have kind of an answer to where the spirits you tap into may be. It's not your ancestors perse. But it is the life energy that sustains you and you harness in Ki.
I see why I overlooked this video. It was on my "to watch" list, but it said "Monk Tank" and I didn't think it would be a Barbarian build... But it is and I love it. I made a Barbarian Monk (Bonk as labeled by a co-worker) but mine is more of an Assault Tank. I did a Deep Gnome (Jeweler)-Bear Totem Barb-Astral Self Monk. And advantage on magical saving throws (Int/Cha/Wis). No poison resistance, but still equally useful I think! The concept is more RP driven based on Asura's Wrath, and could use much optimization... but again it is optimized for Skill and RP and is STILL formidable, especially at higher levels. I may tweak it to make it a little better, like MAYBE Sentinel to help protect allies. Though Ancestral Guardian was super tempting had I chosen the "Protector Tank" role rather than Offense Tank. As for some questions you asked the viewers: A Warforged Barbarian(Storm Herald/Sea) Butler I made, when he "Rages" his eyes redden (cliche, maybe) and steam comes from his body. The steam is from his Sea path, and sometimes he 'sparks' which could make sense from that path... and because of potential 'mechanical' issues when he rages, and also fits the level 3 that does lightning damage to a nearby target. Another character built more for RP but is also built for tankiness (And Sea Herald can knock enemies prone which is good too) as well as functional. For fun, at level 6 you get a 'swim speed' (sea only) which for flavor, his chest and back 'open up' and little propellers pop out. (Also for fun and flavor, you can RP Rage/swim after a foe, while dashing and look like a 'raging torpedo' chasing them. Scary sight much?). He is also very polite, even when raging, though he can get rather intense. I thought it would be an funny concept! (Kudos to all the bad-arse butler characters in media out there!)
You pointed out that you need a strength to start as a barbarian. I would like to challenge that to say that you don’t have any requirements to begin in a class, meaning I could roll all 12s for my AS and still play any class. The AS prerequisites only comes in when you need to multiclass. I’ve used this to build a Dex Paladin and a Str Ranger (let me know if you want to hear more on that)
@@samuelbroad11 medium armor do I had a +2 dex. It’s the most they get and I didn’t want to multiclass. I went with horizon walker and a maul as my weapon. My highest stats were Str and Con. I also had lower wisdom and simply chose spells that didn’t depend on my modifier. It was surprisingly easy!
@@samuelbroad11just like nikita, medium armor. i tend to stay away from heavy armor as decent initiative, dex saves and being able to stealth are advantages i dont want to give up.
I love reflavoring rage! My favorite way of explaining it is a willful acceleration of the heart rate, acting basically like a self induced adrenaline rush >:D it also helps explain why there’s a limit, lol
I like the idea of Flurry of healing being the character doing Tai Chi to center their spirit. It could even be RP'd to be taunt-esk if you hit them twice, and then do some Tai Chi / dance / healing stuff as a flex. (you see this a lot in Kung Fu movies, or like Morpheus taunting Neo during their training in the first matrix movie) "Stop trying to hit me and hit me!" etc.
I really like non-emotional "rages." Was thinking of making a Yuan-Ti barbarian that became motionless when raging, except for very jerky, necessary movement, and only as far as necessary. But I was also brewing a Warforged Barbarian, and decided this statuesque, precise, movement fit them better. Now the Yuan-Ti becomes all sinuous/swaying and uses lots of round flowing movements. But each of them use it as more of a battle-meditation than as a wild rage.
The mechanic is called "rage" but all it is really is an altered state of mind. For this character I'd rename it "Clarity", "Focus" or "Overdrive" or some such thing.
I also thought of the monk/barb to have this sort of focused rage, where you channel are your suppressed emotions into a few minutes of focused anger, while still being in control.
My first D&D monk was a Wood Elf Drunken Master. Worked well to the end of the story, around level 7. The maneuverability and DPS was very nice. I could dash in furry of blows an enemy, frequently killing a target, and then back out without giving an attack of opportunity or give them disadvantage on attacks. After getting a cloak of protection and mask of the black dragon, I was doing extremely well.
@@DnDDeepDive ah yeah I get that. I’ve also told them they should do it through the Kickstarter channels. I look forward to the possibility. Also could you do a video on a Rand Al’Thor build?
@@Trial88 thanks! I’ll put it on the list, though I’ll admit I’m not generally a fan of recreating characters from other fictions in d&d :). I typically leave that to Tulok...
@@DnDDeepDive yeah I mostly suggested because I just watched the kaladin storm blessed video and Rand is one of the harder characters I can think of for dnd, because why ask for something easy? 😊
@@Trial88 ha ha glad you liked it! Jalaron might be the first and last one I ever do, but who knows, maybe I’ll watch the show in November and the urge will strike :)
Hey Colby. been a long while brother. Been busy with work the past 3 months so i'm kind of behind on the content. slowly catching up starting with this vid. Monky monk sounds like Mark Wahlberg. Haha. Anyway just wanted to give my grats for the jazz winning vs. the celtics today. good game. hopefully i'll be caught with your content by the holidays. :)
I really like a character concept of a war forged fascinated with the concept of human emotions. Rage? Artificially simulated anger to experience what that’s like.
Another great video my friend. Your videos have inspired me to think outside the box when it comes to creating characters. Speaking of which, I had a concept that maybe you would like to look at in the future. It is a path of the beast barbarian and kensei monk multi class with an emphasis on strength rather than dexterity, and utilizing the claws given by the beast subclass as a monk weapon (since it is considered a simple weapon.) this concept gives me a very Wolverine/ Sabertooth type vibe with the character.
Warforged were created for war. The rage could stem from PTSD if you take the "Haunted" background, where combat triggers the rage as they relive their past battles. They are on a quest to find inner peace and put their trauma behind them. Hence, the move to monk, where they heard from others that monks find peace within. Ancestral protectors could be Legacy code that uses a subroutine in the warforged's chassis that emits forcefields that protects allies. So essentially, the warforged is doing it but only on a "subconscious" level that they don't have control over and only occurs during extreme duress. Ki could be abbreviation for "kinetic" batteries that recharge over time (short rest), but is limited. Btw, I have a pretty cool kensai/warlock build you might find interesting. Optimized for damage.
My warforged character is a bearbarian/fighter/ranger tank and his rage is a state where he can focus to somewhat disconnect his ability to feel pain and focus his attacks to be as efficient and effective as possible, going past his usual limits. Just a quiet, unrelenting wall of metal man that just won't seem to die...
I would say that the warforged rage is like it goes into a mindless automaton killing machine state. (Its emotions essentially turn off). So it is not anger per say. (This can also apply to certain eastern monks who in an attempt to find "peace" seek to supress all emotion.)
I love the concept of a spiritual, soulsearching, warforged. Idea for an in-game reason for a robot having the rage ability: He/She was created with a special "Body Guard" mode that is triggered whenever his/her friends are threatened or attacked. Eyes flash red and pain circuits are turned off. Idea for the subclass flavor: He/she is gifted to a barbarian tribe by the previous owner, but they initially only think of him/her as a tool or object. A machine to make their lives a bit easier. During the tribes yearly celebration dedicated to honoring their ancestors, the spirit warriors manifest themselves and bond to him/her in full view of the tribe. Ever since then he/she has held a position of spiritual leadership in the tribe.
As a prepping DM, this is my own take on Warforged. They exist at the start as a forgotten "breakthrough" by ancient dwarves, lost to time and a disaster. They take on more of the machine types rather than spirited, and are powered by soul stones- another lost/niche source of arcane power for enchanting (yes, I play a lot of skyrim, lol). I know it may be limiting from a player perspective, but this would change depending on what my players find/do in game, but I also think it can open the door for a wonderfully-played character with an interesting story :) That's just my take on Warforge, I love your ideas tho Colby!
Questions asked during the video: 1. What does a raging Warforged look like? 4 ideas: - Heat distortion in the air near the Warforged when raging - Change in eye colour from what normally is the calmer white/blue/green becomes red or just television white noise static effect. - Minor warping of the metallic body due to the heat difference while raging - Blood splashes from enemies would (flavour-wise) quickly vaporise to get red steam and dried blood spots (through the magic of theatre of the mind). 2. What Ancestors pop up during the rage? Dunno, probably matrix like lines of code swarming the target and when target misses from disadvantaged attack a 404 error pops up "error, not found" either that or derogatory internet slangs. Thoughts during video: Literal "Iron Fist" Warforged Monk? Lol
I play a Warforged Barbarian in my spelljammer campaign. The way I reflavor his rage is that he enter into combat mode where his eyes goes red and goes completely into terminator mode that he can’t fully control. He is also extremely smart which Intelligence being his highest stat and I’m playing a homebrew subclass that work off intelligence instead of Constitution for AC and HP. I role play him more as a Robot than a true warforged and he slowly learning to feel emotions based on his allies teaching him what it means to be “alive”, I even speak with a slightly monotone robot voice (think Baymax from Big Hero 6). Funnily enough he has become a bit of the defacto leader as of late despite his low charisma is surprising eloquent.
21:40 I Don't think you Warforged Barbarian needs to contact HIS ancestors, but the ones that represent his path. This character could've been taken as a valuable "treasure" from a pillage, just to discover that it was "alive". They were fascinated by the mechanical creature and the Warforged could've been fascinated by the way people lived in the tribe. When the warforged started learning their ways, he started to question why "meatbags" (OK, I'm sorry HK-47, I won't quote you on a Good Aligned Worforged) live the way they do, on the path of harm and combat when they have soft skin and they can get easily infected, he starts to question his own "life" and starts to learn about the tribe, the rituals, the honoring of those that came before and how their "spirits" (both metaphoric in a way of determination and in the real sense, of spirits of previous tribesman) allows them to do things most humanoids couldn't do. He starts to practice the way other do: Some of those actions he can ACTUALLY do. Other he just EMULATES out of respect for their rites. And he starts to worship ancestors of the tribe. Old tribe elder, shamans, and warriors of ages past.... and then, one day, one of them answered.
Havent' started watching, but I once played a barbarian, drunken master monk multiclass and it worked weirdly well together. Rage bonus to every attack was fun
The whole "robot that goes into a violent rage whether it wants to or not when it enters combat" reminds me a lot of The Iron Giant. Considering they were created for war, perhaps that combat rage is even built into them?
Making this character along side the video. The ancestors are the dead warforged used in my characters creation, and the gnomes who created the character (only those gnomes who have died since). The warforged's name is Tomb.
Simic Hybrid via the 5th level Carapace could also get you +1 AC. I strapped it onto a Beast Barb for the tail feature to add a d8 to your AC if something tries to hit you, and then went kensei for another +2. No taunt features, but if you want AC you can get that going. Monks also don't generally get much for reactions.
Search for your inner peace and as you frow transition to the silent rage barbarian, you find a blissful enlightenment in your rage. You are the eye of the (emotional) storm.
I know this was a while ago, but I’m building a monk barb tank and had a similar idea. But instead of warforged I’m going kalashtar, and the monk is going to be cobalt soul but I’m taking the cobalt soul literally. So the quori spirit is cobalt blue and the ancestral guardian is the quori physically manifesting in combat for a pseudo avatar state combat thematic.
12:00 Surprised this wasn't a dwarf with hitdice on dodge build. Edit: yeah looks like there are other better BA heals for ki points now. Dwarf would allow you to go long death more effectively and heal outside of combat a bit more efficiently.
Mountain Dwarf was my first runner up :). And I probably would have gotten to that feat eventually, but not until my Dex and Wis were capped, I think (and even then, passing on Tough would have been... er... tough.)
My SAMBO coach used to say that fighting requires you to dish out doses of controlled aggression; it is certainly possible to be fierce and control yourself. To the point of rage and martial arts
I swear its like you read my mind, I literally made this build yesterday. I've been trying to build the tankiest Monk for ages and this seems to be the most LEGIT way to achieve that. Also I kind of like the new music, it's a pleasant change.
@@DnDDeepDive I have to say I love the Slide into DMs play list. We needed someone to bring up all these questions regarding some vague rulling. Plus I love the crew, everyone seems chill and fun to play with. But I must say we need more of those Gauntlett type games too, because believe it or not it was hella fun to watch and different from what everyone else is doing.
As many have pointed out, there may be a conflict with Unarmored Defense. The rules on multiclassing state: "Unarmored Defense
If you already have the Unarmored Defense feature, you can't gain it again from another class." - if your DM holds to strict RAW here and doesn't let you choose one or the other but makes you take the one you get first, then obviously we'll want to either start with Monk *or* bump Con instead of Wisdom - either route would work fairly well I think, though I'd favor sticking with Wisdom.
I would add a weird talking point: Psionic Energy dice from SoulKnife and Psi Warrior have same name but different mechanics... possibly making this workable
Think the sage advice specifies you can have only one means of AC calculation. So anytime it says your AC=#+stat ect. You can use only one. Items like ring of protection, styles like Defense, and bladesong add as they are not new calculations but additional bonuses. So a MAD monk/bladesinger works because you are adding INT to AC. But a monk cannot use unarmed and mage armor.
@@ericpeterson8732 “If you already have the Unarmored Defense FEATURE, you can’t gain it again from another class.” RAW seems clear to me so I’ll happily be the first to argue “that once you have this feature, you can’t train in another unarmored defense.”
Anyway, I don’t see it as a problem since this is an easily ignored homebrew change that most reasonable DMs won’t mind allowing at their tables.
@@ericpeterson8732 I have felt the same, hence why I didn't bring it up in the video, but based on the number of comments and how it's technically written in the rules, I figured it worth a mention :).
By RAW certainly. But I think that if you justify the flavour then any sensible DM can understand it. After the first few levels your abs have taken such a pounding your body can't take it any more, so while transitioning you learned how to dodge and deflect, create glancing blows, through experience (AKA wisdom)
24:40 there is a concept with modern martial artists (Boxers and MMA in particular) that say that when you are in danger, you revert back to basics, to what you trained. If you haven't trained, a fury state will give you a fury advantage, but you'll still have bad technique and will be defeated by almost anyone that knows what they are doing.
A well trained martial artists will, when in danger, revert back to basics: great technique practiced over and over, therefore you get a furious state that enhances your physical abilities AND great form and technique, not because you are concentrating on it, but because inconsciously you revert back to what you trained, which happens to be great form and technique ! If you want to kick, you'll perform a perfectly executed kick, because you train it to perfection every day. Even enraged and without concentrating on proper angles or body movement, you kind of "can't make a bad kick", because all your kicks are great.
A Barbarian/Monk isn't one that tries to balance "Fury" and "Inner piece". A Barbarian/Monk is someone that KNOWS he is a whirlwind of death when enraged, but teaches his body, mind and soul to, even enraged, not lose himself to the point he harms more than he actually wants. To not "let the beast loose", but to "keep it on a tight collar" and with proper control, releases the beast against those deserving (and only those deserving and no one else).
I think intro music based on the theme of the character is the move.
Yeah, that idea is awesome actually! :3
Well funny you mention it...
I mean that’s a cool idea and all but I want my face shredding guitar rift intro
I like the metal intro the best but that would be a good compromise.
Level 1:(see above) [barbarian 1 & race]
Level 2:(see above) [barbarian 2]
Level 3:(@20:03) [barbarian 3 & sub-class]
Level 4:(@23:50) [monk 1]
Level 5:(@26:48) [monk 2]
Level 6:(@30:39) [monk 3 & sub-class]
Level 7:(see above) [monk 4 & ASI]
Level 8:(@41:16) [monk 5]
Level 9:(@44:10) [barbarian 4 & ASI]
Level 10:(see above) [monk 6]
Level 11:(@48:30) [monk 7]
Level 12:(@50:07) [monk 8 & ASI]
Level 13:(@50:25) [monk 9]
Level 14:(see above) [monk 10]
Level 15:(@53:12) [monk 11]
Level 16:(@54:40) [monk 12 & ASI]
Level 17:(@54:54) [monk 13]
Thanks
In my Eberron game, warforged were created by House Cannith but the sentient warforged was created by accident when a Cannith artificer took advice from a House Sivis cryptologist. They were attempting to make the warforged more adaptive and analytical for purposes of war but what they ended up creating was a code for artificial intelligence that was bolstered with code taken from sacred texts from the planes of Mechanus. As such warforged were not only coded with true artificial intelligence but also with an actual soul derived from that plane. Thus in my game they would have ancestral spirits from that plane of existence as their souls came from there…
Noice
In the 3rd edition lore for Eberron (the setting the Warforged hail from), it is stated that no Warforged soul has ever been encountered in the realm of the dead, and that no Warforged that has been resurrected has any recollection of any kind of afterlife. (It is, obviously, up to the individual table if they subscribe to this or not.)
However, resurrection and necromancy spells requiring the target to have a soul affect the Warforged just like they would any other humanoid.
To me, that implies that the Worforged either have souls that are detached from the de facto "system of souls", or that they don't have souls at all, but rather have a sort of "pseudo-soul" - a source of sentience that behaves like a soul upon interaction by divine and arcane powers.
Since neither the Ancestral path nor the Warforged racial description prohibits this combo, it must be a valid option in terms of lore. Therefore, Warforged must have "ancestors" of some kind.
While I like your idea with Mechanus, if this was a character I was making for myself to play, I think I'd lean into this idea of detached from the divine system.
Here's how it would work:
Each Warforged has a "soul", but it's not a soul in the traditional sense. Rather, a Warforged "soul" is in a constant flux as the programming re-writes, installs, deletes and modifies various sub-routines as they're needed or discarded. However, the previous iterations are saved in a sort of "back-up format" on a personal demiplane (a great server, if you will), powered into existense by the same source that gave them life to begin with.
This demiplane stores every past version of the Warforged in question, and can and will be accessed subconsciously for certain memories, routines, and perhaps even proficiencies that have fallen out of use. However, Warforged barbarians of the ancestral guardian path, while raging, enhance that connection to summon reflections of their past selves onto the material plane as spirits of kind, albeit ones that don't have the same mental processing power as the individual prime, due to the nature of the connection between the planes and the fact that the great server is not created for processing power.
@@TheRawrnstuff I like this a lot and did think of this as a possibility but if felt like it was too much of a computerisation of what I felt was a distinct life form and less of a copy paste into a repaired body. I preferred the idea that warforged were a composite species that was born from a divine word - as it the code used gave them both souls and sentience. The fact that no one has seen a warforged soul could be just because the coding transforms the divine beings into something new when they become the soul of a warforged. And not returning with any memories of the plane could simply be part of the transformative nature - during the process of converting from one to the other (either way) the memories of the being remains with its prior form.
I like both ideas at the end of the day, but the computer soul just a little bit less.
I’m stealing this
I have a suggestion: How about quantifying 'Cumulative Damage 'till Death' (CDD)? For your damage dealer builds, you quantify damage per round. For your tank builds, you quantify survival times. Both of these stats fail to quantify just how much damage your builds could actually inflict before finally getting taken down by overwhelming odds. So how about quantifying CDD? This would highlight - perhaps unexpected - optimum balances between damage and survivability (perhaps a more realistic stat for players trying for a balanced build)?
You could quantify it (at low levels) in 'numbers of goblins slain', with the image being of a lone hero standing firm against a the seething relentless tide of the goblin invasion... You could switch out goblins for something with a bit more clout at higher levels.
A great tank with a weak damage output and a glass cannon would both come second to a build that combines a bit of both. Resource efficiency would also become an important consideration if the fight lasts more than a bunch of rounds, while AoE damage dealers could be quantified at closer to their true potential (making basic assumptions about the density of mooks coming at them).
How fun would that be!
I once had an idea for a Warfoged Barbarian who's rage was their designated "combat mode" but their regular personality could get lost depending on how long they raged. Basically, they would be making concentration checks every round of rage and if they fail one, they have to roll on a table of pre-programmed personalities to take over.
I love this. My only Warforged character in 5e was a forge cleric, designation Bulwark, and he went the other way, started rigidly stuck to his programming to protect the goblin cavalier who had awoken him, but due to the guys goblins nature he started to break free of his programming and embrace the 'errors'
This sounds like fun. Im getting happy vibes from Crisis Core, and this automated voice saying Activating Combat Mode and Conflict Resolved when starting and ending combat.
Why has no one made an Iron Giant comment?
@@alexandrudorries3307 because that dude is a warforged rune knight
In my game one of my friends is not a big role player and probably is only playing because it’s us, his friends. He wanted to play a warforged beast barbarian so I said no problem, he can have been rescued from a Cannith laboratory by the patron they work for. He had been altered and experimented on so his memory was gone (so no need to role play knowing anything about Khorvaire) but his skills weren’t (so he could still kick ass). His rage comes from being unbalanced and his modifications activate when he loses control. When I described the first time it happened (he chose a tail) I was able to give a cool description of how his back plating articulated along the spine, shifting upwards to create a ridge the length of his back and a segmented length of metallo-organic cording came out and became plated as well. The party didn’t know what type of barbarian he was going to be before then and they oohs and ahhs were very gratifying.
Ok I’m thinking barbarian monk will dwarf with the dwarven fortitude and toughness feats so you can dodge as a bonus action to heal while dumping points into dex and con for high AC and hp!
Well shoot. I wasn’t close besides the monk and barbarian but this was pretty awesome and I love Bonks! This would a pretty great build to play and actually can heal others unlike the dwarf monk build. Thanks again Colby!
This is my current character. 1 Barb / 8 Drunken Master. Big Fat Dwarf (think Bombur from the hobbit). Managed to get a Periapt of Wound Closure and I am not officially OP.
I'm just imagining how Isaac Asimov would've handled this character concept storywise. And I'm also picturing a raging, fuming "number 5" from 1986's "Short Circuit".
ooo... Johnny 5 is scary when he's mad!
I love the idea of a warforged that escapes his programing and embraces intense emotions (including rage) as a sort of rebellion against his passive automaton upbringing.
I had an idea of a warforged that starts sparking and shaking while entering rage. Like a machine going heywire
Fun fact: Dave Arneson is credited with the creation of the Monk back in good ol' 1975 in Blackmoor.
Thanks Dave for all your works.
Have you ever considered adding single classed characters that are considered tanks to your graphs? They wouldnt really need videos that explain them but it would be nice for frame of reference to see how a straight Bearbarian or other single classed characters fair in comparison to these builds
Oo I like this! Some other RUclipsrs compare Sustained Damage to a straight Warlock baseline.
This is such a good idea.
I think you need different music depending on your builds. DPS raging lunatic = metal. Serene master of tanky zen = chill vibes.
Nice to see someone else who remembers Everquest, I started on the first one
22:19 In my homebrew setting, I have a "warforged" type people, but they were essentially made as batteries instead of war-machines (though, they could be and were modified into war-machines) The way that it worked is a ghost would be trapped inside the 'vehicle' of this metal body. So, in that case, the Ancestral Guardians could be other ghosts that hang around the one inhabiting the frame, and lash out at anyone attacking their friend. Or perhaps they are ghosts of other frames that failed to move on when their body was destroyed or got worn out.
If I ever get the chance to play this build, my warforged is going to be very Terminator-esque in rage mode, their Ancestral Guardians are the previous models of warforged to exist, now obsolete, but carrying *valuable battlefield knowledge files (*experience) that the warforged character taps into. Using this style, I personally would organise a way to reflavour the class features of the Ancestral Guardian to make them less spectral and fit better.
Reading other people’s ideas on how to play this character are also extremely interesting, and now make me want to play a warforged of every class and give each its own out of the norm backstory.
Roleplay Stuff:
Warforged and Ancestral Guardian: in this world, perhaps warforged are given sentience through the binding of a departed soul into the mechanical/magical body. For this character, the soul that was trapped into the warforged was the shaman of a barbarian tribe. The bonds that the departed shaman and their ancestors remains, and is in fact enhanced because of the brief time they spent in the afterlife.
Mercy Monk and Rage: This character, thrust forward in time and separated from their tribe, has a twitchy trigger finger on their rage because of losing their tribe (possibly to the war that warforged were created to fight in), yet they seek to heal and protect others because vengeance only causes more pain on the inflicter of that vengeance and they hope to avert a potential future war by healing the hurts of the world.
This character seems super interesting to me because they seem to have a good reason to be invested in fulfilling the typical adventurer quest types and they could present a very interesting dynamic to the story.
i'll miss the old music... got me hyped up for the episode every single time!
Warforged rage?
[Hostiles detected...]
[INSTANT-KILL MODE ACTIVE]
**eyes glow red and steam blows off from within**
Due to your dolcent ASMR tone I usually listen to these optimization videos at 1.25 or 1.5 speed and the new music is a much less jarring transition. Kudos.
Also, an ASMR aasimar character would suit you quite well.
I do think the metal intro is a fun part of the channel and I personally prefer it that way
I had a Monk Tank Dwarf in 3.5 that I ported over to 5e several years ago as a Monk/Bearbarian with Rage reflavored as drunken fighting. He had a 20 Con, Tough, and Hill Dwarf hp bonus. I took Dwarven Fortitude at later levels and used Monk Patient Defense to dodge and heal at the same time. He was remarkably effective and fun to play. His name was Kegs, predating the CR character Keg by more than a decade. We had no rogue in the party so Kegs would just run down hallways to trigger traps. :-) I can't wait to see what Colby does with this concept.
Kolby: I'm making a Monk's monk. 5:45
Also Kolby: @L1 Be a Warforged Barbarian with Scale Mail armor 14:45
This really needs to get monky-er faster
The idea of a monk tank really really cool this video actually brought me to a whole different idea. A monk damge build useing Dhampire and the mixture of path of the beast with way of mercy monk.with the tail you can get reach on your stunning strikes and improve your bite,way of mercy for those sick nasty heals and the extra damage with some wicked flavor to boot:a descendant of the crimson king,the bloody barron,dracula.the mans cursed veins pulsed with an ever growing need to satiate his hunger and hatred for the bloody monster that gave him this cursed life.learning to controll the beast inside he now hunts down all of his kind to wipe them out in a mad crusade agaisnt the night.
I love the flavor of a monk/barbarian multiclass. This monk has really good story flavor and I love it
I am legit jealous of people living in SLC, Sanderson has events there, now y'all have stuff there. The Legendarium podcast is based out of there. Lots of fantasy stuff happening in Utah. I'll probably visit at some point in time lol
It's a great place to be!
I played in a campaign with a warforged barbarian and he flavored it as being that he was a great tribal leader and when he fell in battle the shaman bound his soul into a construct she created. This could be carried well in to AG in that he calls forth the spirits of those who fell in battle along side him.
Only 22 min in, but your question about warforged ancestry made me immediately think of the mountains who’s ore becomes the metals that made them. Could also feed into the monk “one with universe” thing. Very circle of life
Really like the build! I thought that the Mercy monk self-healing seemed like a fun option to build around, but I hadn't considered combining it with barbarian until now - but it does boost survivability a whole lot.
A few thoughts - I think another lineage that would be interesting to look at is shifter, instead of warforged. A flat +1 AC is really nice, but a beasthide shifter can also get that for 1 fight per short rest, and gives some extra temporary HP on top of that (lvl + 1d6 + CON modifier) - which does give a decent little boost, at least at earlier levels (warforged does pull a bit ahead at higher levels I think, where the bonus action healing can be done every round and the temp HP doesn't look as nice in comparison).
A mix of rogue in there could also be interesting - you would lose out on some ki points and on diamond soul at high levels, but if it's a DM that uses more attacks than saving throws, uncanny dodge could be quite helpful in adding to survivability. It does give a bit more of a boost to damage as well, which could help with making enemies attack you instead of your allies. I probably wouldn't take it down that route, but it did make me wonder if it might be worth it.
i agree with rogue for uncanny dodge at later levels though i think colby shied away from that as he already did the dodging rager concept already in episode 35.
Not terrible music but the other is just so catchy and clearly your videos every time I hear it
As a newer player to DnD, (started my first campaign a month ago!) but a long time theorycrafter for many games, these videos are so awesome.
It's inspired me to start theorycrafting some DnD builds and I'm currently playing around with a wildfire druid/dragon's breath combo using twinned spell. Teleport onto a bunch of enemies, unleash two dragon's breath from yourself and your spirit and teleport out!
The new music suggests a calm in-depth look into the build, relaxing, & sets a good mood. Either is good & I know I had commented on the music before.
When I saw the notification for this video, I could only think of "Dunk Tank".
I spat out my coffee when you whispered “it’s 42”. Well done
Finally got invited to my first private game after going to our local adventure league for a bit and so glad that the concept I had has a video from you to help out planning!
I've only just stumbled across your channel, glad to have found it as theorycrafting and monks are my absolute favourite things in d&d! And I really like this build, not one I would have thought of. My take on it world be a bit like Legion in Mass Effect wearing Shepherd's armour: he collects parts of earlier models of warforged, both out of respect and to seek their guidance/power from left over code fragments.
As for myself, I've heavily played monks so looking to mix it up for my next one. I've got 2 rp builds that I'm putting together, and an armoured 'feat' monk:
-2 trickster cleric/X drunken monk. Fey themed, a bit like Puck from Berserk. Thinks he's immortal, loves pranks, and takes on whatever role best fits the situation (on a ship - he's the captain, no matter what others may claim)
-laser bear, 2 moon druid, x sun soul. Likely happening with bountiful luck. Pretty standard, this would be for a low level campaign, ending mid tier 2
-And lastly 1 war cleric/X long death. Mountain dwarf. In AL so item dependent, using Demon Armour to maintain flurry of blows, ogre gauntlets to keep other stats at a reasonable level, and now that he doesn't have to pump dex/wis I'm free to take GWM, sentinel, dwarven defence. Missing unarmoured movement hurts, but otherwise not too lacking.
None of these are optimised, just variations from the norm for something different.
Lastly, what would you think of a GWM monk (unarmoured), dropping their weapon anytime they wanted to flurry? A potential way to increase damage (not my main concern, just theory crafting)? Any downsides?
Hm... you'd have to go Strength based to make attacks with Heavy Weapons, so your AC would be pretty bad... might be fun to try and figure out a way to make it work.
Loved the music change up. A fun surprise to open up the show.
If it's this intro vs the old intro, I think the old one better represents your general MOAR DAMAGE focus. If you want to do different intros each week depending on the build's flavour (or sustained vs burst vs tank vs heal?), that works too! The music itself was quite nice of course :)
My barbarian monk warforged, was programmed for war, but sought-after peace and tranquility. He was very kind to everyone that he met, but when he suspected an attack or while he was being attacked, his kill program would engage. His eyes would go from blue to red and his internal working would go faster, just like a car ecelerating. The magic that ran through his leather would heat off and apeared as steam coming off his body, you could hear the RPMs of his energy core increase. Some parts would even project from his body which helped him from over heating and made him look larger. After the fight his recollection would be intact, but he would feel bad since he had no control. His rage started like a massive explosion, his monk levels allowed him to focus his anger to be more like a shape charge.
love it
This is really innovative! I like it a lot. It feels like the defensive cousin of the Beast barbarian/monk combo, taking advantage of a lot of the same synergies.
Ive always liked the idea of role-playing rage activation as a deep meditative breath. I really like that for warforged, although I don't know if they need to breathe!
Yep, had the same Idea from reading the Wheel of Time series. A Barbarian where Rage is using the void.
@@nickm9102 Sounds great, I should give it a read
@@nickm9102 Have you seen Into the Badlands? "The Gift" from that series is basically void rage.
That intro music is just delightful
My homebrew Way of Strength monk subclass would work amazingly well with this build.
Aside from allowing heavy and reach weapons to be monk weapons, you are able to substitute Strength for Dex for any monk feature.
Thanks for the build!
An idea: Multiclass Fighter and Kensei Monk. Wear plate armor and a shield to get 20 AC. Add the defense fighting style and either warforged or shifter to increase that to 22. Become a monk to use Patient defense, allowing you to impose disadvantage on attacks against a given target for a number of rounds equal to your monk level. Headbutt every round and hold a melee kensei weapon to get an additional +2 to AC. Disadvantage on every attack against an AC 24 character is really strong.
Going this route, I would recommend the Sentinel feat so you can get as much ki as possible while discouraging your enemy from attacking anyone that isn't you. Imposing disadvantage on attack checks against creatures other than you isn't a real deterrent with this build, since a target also have disadvantage when they attack you.
dont u need to be unarmoured to use patient defense?
Music starts and the Monkey Monk-Fu fighting starts too!
My warforged barb is a lot like Baymax. Absolute cinnamon roll. But when he 'rages' he's a silent, purposeful killing machine.
Cinamon Roll!
I like the idea that there is a bit of code, an abhorrent line, an immovable constant that triggers ultra kill mode, all the grooves and joins glow red, lights change and/or appear where they weren't before before an uncontrollable rage overtakes you. How embarrassing, your creators flaws still acting as strings to pull your destiny. Perhaps you hate that you killed them during a field test of your rage and yet it still controls you.
That's where my mind went as well, and the idea of going through the monk levels as part of a journey to transform yourself from a weapon of destruction and slaughter to defender and bringer of peace is *chef's kiss*.
You mean scrap code? I like it.
I liked the nice and mellow tune for the intro today. :)
Loving the ancestral guardian warforged RP possibilities, I’m thinking something related to “deleted memories or randomly assembled datas”, kinda like a PKNA story about droids or “I, robot” movie
I’m guessing a hill dwarf monk with dwarven fortitude feat!
Swing and a miss lol good guess though.
@@logancuster8035 it was a good try! But I kept it up because I would have kept it up if I was right lol thanks man
Thanks Colby! Great build
Yayy! Another popular youtuber making an ad for Mage Hand Press. Those guys are rockstars! Extremely underrated!
My favorite class of theirs is the Investigator. It's basically Harry Dresden.
As a kid, I loved watching the TV show Kung Fu with David Carradine, who played a Shaolin monk who travels through the American Old West helping people and trying to survive the many people who would see him dead. When the monk was first introduced to D&D, they seemed fairly simple unarmored and mostly unarmed characters who start out soft, but get faster, deal more damage, and get higher AC as they level up. It seemed to match my thoughts of how a Shaolin monk in training would progress, by gaining speed and increasing damage. The newer implementation in 5e mostly kills that line of thought... though I hold out hope as I explore new builds.
The new music is the best yet, I appreciate it.
I've had a year to think about this and I finally have kind of an answer to where the spirits you tap into may be. It's not your ancestors perse. But it is the life energy that sustains you and you harness in Ki.
I see why I overlooked this video. It was on my "to watch" list, but it said "Monk Tank" and I didn't think it would be a Barbarian build... But it is and I love it.
I made a Barbarian Monk (Bonk as labeled by a co-worker) but mine is more of an Assault Tank. I did a Deep Gnome (Jeweler)-Bear Totem Barb-Astral Self Monk. And advantage on magical saving throws (Int/Cha/Wis). No poison resistance, but still equally useful I think! The concept is more RP driven based on Asura's Wrath, and could use much optimization... but again it is optimized for Skill and RP and is STILL formidable, especially at higher levels. I may tweak it to make it a little better, like MAYBE Sentinel to help protect allies. Though Ancestral Guardian was super tempting had I chosen the "Protector Tank" role rather than Offense Tank.
As for some questions you asked the viewers: A Warforged Barbarian(Storm Herald/Sea) Butler I made, when he "Rages" his eyes redden (cliche, maybe) and steam comes from his body. The steam is from his Sea path, and sometimes he 'sparks' which could make sense from that path... and because of potential 'mechanical' issues when he rages, and also fits the level 3 that does lightning damage to a nearby target. Another character built more for RP but is also built for tankiness (And Sea Herald can knock enemies prone which is good too) as well as functional. For fun, at level 6 you get a 'swim speed' (sea only) which for flavor, his chest and back 'open up' and little propellers pop out. (Also for fun and flavor, you can RP Rage/swim after a foe, while dashing and look like a 'raging torpedo' chasing them. Scary sight much?). He is also very polite, even when raging, though he can get rather intense. I thought it would be an funny concept! (Kudos to all the bad-arse butler characters in media out there!)
Thank you so much for sharing these. Really appreciate them :)
Warforged with Rage would be like old cartoons when steam comes out of nose and ears when angry. With huffs and puffs of hot air 😅
I fell in love with monks watching your videos. Have you ever thought about multiclassing the monk and the blade singer? greetings from Italy
Ciao! On the list!
You pointed out that you need a strength to start as a barbarian. I would like to challenge that to say that you don’t have any requirements to begin in a class, meaning I could roll all 12s for my AS and still play any class. The AS prerequisites only comes in when you need to multiclass.
I’ve used this to build a Dex Paladin and a Str Ranger (let me know if you want to hear more on that)
Correct, but since I was planning on multi-classing, I knew I'd need to get the Str score :)
interested in the str ranger, what armor did you choose?
@@samuelbroad11 medium armor do I had a +2 dex. It’s the most they get and I didn’t want to multiclass. I went with horizon walker and a maul as my weapon. My highest stats were Str and Con. I also had lower wisdom and simply chose spells that didn’t depend on my modifier. It was surprisingly easy!
@@samuelbroad11just like nikita, medium armor. i tend to stay away from heavy armor as decent initiative, dex saves and being able to stealth are advantages i dont want to give up.
@@nikitabelyaev4126 chur! what about no shield or con saves for concentration spells, much of a hindrance?
I love reflavoring rage! My favorite way of explaining it is a willful acceleration of the heart rate, acting basically like a self induced adrenaline rush >:D it also helps explain why there’s a limit, lol
Keep up the good work man can't wait to see what you do with oath of Conquest
I like the idea of Flurry of healing being the character doing Tai Chi to center their spirit. It could even be RP'd to be taunt-esk if you hit them twice, and then do some Tai Chi / dance / healing stuff as a flex. (you see this a lot in Kung Fu movies, or like Morpheus taunting Neo during their training in the first matrix movie) "Stop trying to hit me and hit me!" etc.
I really like non-emotional "rages." Was thinking of making a Yuan-Ti barbarian that became motionless when raging, except for very jerky, necessary movement, and only as far as necessary. But I was also brewing a Warforged Barbarian, and decided this statuesque, precise, movement fit them better. Now the Yuan-Ti becomes all sinuous/swaying and uses lots of round flowing movements. But each of them use it as more of a battle-meditation than as a wild rage.
Just found the channel and have been bingeing this show.
Hurray! Welcome!
The mechanic is called "rage" but all it is really is an altered state of mind. For this character I'd rename it "Clarity", "Focus" or "Overdrive" or some such thing.
I also thought of the monk/barb to have this sort of focused rage, where you channel are your suppressed emotions into a few minutes of focused anger, while still being in control.
My first D&D monk was a Wood Elf Drunken Master. Worked well to the end of the story, around level 7. The maneuverability and DPS was very nice. I could dash in furry of blows an enemy, frequently killing a target, and then back out without giving an attack of opportunity or give them disadvantage on attacks. After getting a cloak of protection and mask of the black dragon, I was doing extremely well.
You should totally do a collaboration video with the dungeon dudes. Then do a video on the type of character you’d run in drakkenheim.
Oh I've reached out :). They even responded! But so busy with the kickstarter atm that it's on the back burner. Hopefully one day!
@@DnDDeepDive ah yeah I get that. I’ve also told them they should do it through the Kickstarter channels. I look forward to the possibility. Also could you do a video on a Rand Al’Thor build?
@@Trial88 thanks! I’ll put it on the list, though I’ll admit I’m not generally a fan of recreating characters from other fictions in d&d :). I typically leave that to Tulok...
@@DnDDeepDive yeah I mostly suggested because I just watched the kaladin storm blessed video and Rand is one of the harder characters I can think of for dnd, because why ask for something easy? 😊
@@Trial88 ha ha glad you liked it! Jalaron might be the first and last one I ever do, but who knows, maybe I’ll watch the show in November and the urge will strike :)
I legit thought the new music was kind of a joke for the Monk/Tank concept build. I like it.
I also love the metal theme too though.
Hey Colby. been a long while brother. Been busy with work the past 3 months so i'm kind of behind on the content. slowly catching up starting with this vid. Monky monk sounds like Mark Wahlberg. Haha. Anyway just wanted to give my grats for the jazz winning vs. the celtics today. good game. hopefully i'll be caught with your content by the holidays. :)
Weird, I always thought a monk tank would be called a punching bag.
24:52 Robo-Goku "This isn't even my final form!"
I really like a character concept of a war forged fascinated with the concept of human emotions. Rage? Artificially simulated anger to experience what that’s like.
Another great video my friend. Your videos have inspired me to think outside the box when it comes to creating characters. Speaking of which, I had a concept that maybe you would like to look at in the future. It is a path of the beast barbarian and kensei monk multi class with an emphasis on strength rather than dexterity, and utilizing the claws given by the beast subclass as a monk weapon (since it is considered a simple weapon.) this concept gives me a very Wolverine/ Sabertooth type vibe with the character.
I'll add it to the list! I'm worried about survivability, but then again, I *like* Glass Canons! :)
Warforged were created for war. The rage could stem from PTSD if you take the "Haunted" background, where combat triggers the rage as they relive their past battles. They are on a quest to find inner peace and put their trauma behind them. Hence, the move to monk, where they heard from others that monks find peace within.
Ancestral protectors could be Legacy code that uses a subroutine in the warforged's chassis that emits forcefields that protects allies. So essentially, the warforged is doing it but only on a "subconscious" level that they don't have control over and only occurs during extreme duress.
Ki could be abbreviation for "kinetic" batteries that recharge over time (short rest), but is limited.
Btw, I have a pretty cool kensai/warlock build you might find interesting. Optimized for damage.
My warforged character is a bearbarian/fighter/ranger tank and his rage is a state where he can focus to somewhat disconnect his ability to feel pain and focus his attacks to be as efficient and effective as possible, going past his usual limits. Just a quiet, unrelenting wall of metal man that just won't seem to die...
I would say that the warforged rage is like it goes into a mindless automaton killing machine state. (Its emotions essentially turn off). So it is not anger per say. (This can also apply to certain eastern monks who in an attempt to find "peace" seek to supress all emotion.)
I love the concept of a spiritual, soulsearching, warforged. Idea for an in-game reason for a robot having the rage ability: He/She was created with a special "Body Guard" mode that is triggered whenever his/her friends are threatened or attacked. Eyes flash red and pain circuits are turned off. Idea for the subclass flavor: He/she is gifted to a barbarian tribe by the previous owner, but they initially only think of him/her as a tool or object. A machine to make their lives a bit easier. During the tribes yearly celebration dedicated to honoring their ancestors, the spirit warriors manifest themselves and bond to him/her in full view of the tribe. Ever since then he/she has held a position of spiritual leadership in the tribe.
love it!
As a prepping DM, this is my own take on Warforged.
They exist at the start as a forgotten "breakthrough" by ancient dwarves, lost to time and a disaster. They take on more of the machine types rather than spirited, and are powered by soul stones- another lost/niche source of arcane power for enchanting (yes, I play a lot of skyrim, lol). I know it may be limiting from a player perspective, but this would change depending on what my players find/do in game, but I also think it can open the door for a wonderfully-played character with an interesting story :)
That's just my take on Warforge, I love your ideas tho Colby!
You're voice is so soothing. Had to sub on that alone, not to mention the helpful thoughts.
Hey thanks! ☺
Stellar stuff, Colby
Appreciated
Questions asked during the video:
1. What does a raging Warforged look like?
4 ideas:
- Heat distortion in the air near the Warforged when raging
- Change in eye colour from what normally is the calmer white/blue/green becomes red or just television white noise static effect.
- Minor warping of the metallic body due to the heat difference while raging
- Blood splashes from enemies would (flavour-wise) quickly vaporise to get red steam and dried blood spots (through the magic of theatre of the mind).
2. What Ancestors pop up during the rage?
Dunno, probably matrix like lines of code swarming the target and when target misses from disadvantaged attack a 404 error pops up "error, not found" either that or derogatory internet slangs.
Thoughts during video:
Literal "Iron Fist" Warforged Monk? Lol
I play a Warforged Barbarian in my spelljammer campaign. The way I reflavor his rage is that he enter into combat mode where his eyes goes red and goes completely into terminator mode that he can’t fully control. He is also extremely smart which Intelligence being his highest stat and I’m playing a homebrew subclass that work off intelligence instead of Constitution for AC and HP. I role play him more as a Robot than a true warforged and he slowly learning to feel emotions based on his allies teaching him what it means to be “alive”, I even speak with a slightly monotone robot voice (think Baymax from Big Hero 6). Funnily enough he has become a bit of the defacto leader as of late despite his low charisma is surprising eloquent.
21:40 I Don't think you Warforged Barbarian needs to contact HIS ancestors, but the ones that represent his path.
This character could've been taken as a valuable "treasure" from a pillage, just to discover that it was "alive". They were fascinated by the mechanical creature and the Warforged could've been fascinated by the way people lived in the tribe.
When the warforged started learning their ways, he started to question why "meatbags" (OK, I'm sorry HK-47, I won't quote you on a Good Aligned Worforged) live the way they do, on the path of harm and combat when they have soft skin and they can get easily infected, he starts to question his own "life" and starts to learn about the tribe, the rituals, the honoring of those that came before and how their "spirits" (both metaphoric in a way of determination and in the real sense, of spirits of previous tribesman) allows them to do things most humanoids couldn't do.
He starts to practice the way other do: Some of those actions he can ACTUALLY do. Other he just EMULATES out of respect for their rites. And he starts to worship ancestors of the tribe. Old tribe elder, shamans, and warriors of ages past.... and then, one day, one of them answered.
Havent' started watching, but I once played a barbarian, drunken master monk multiclass and it worked weirdly well together. Rage bonus to every attack was fun
100% here babe great music flowed amazingly into you talking good editing
i think a feature that is overlooked, it that the poisoned condition imposes disadvantage vs your stunning strike.
The whole "robot that goes into a violent rage whether it wants to or not when it enters combat" reminds me a lot of The Iron Giant. Considering they were created for war, perhaps that combat rage is even built into them?
Making this character along side the video. The ancestors are the dead warforged used in my characters creation, and the gnomes who created the character (only those gnomes who have died since). The warforged's name is Tomb.
Simic Hybrid via the 5th level Carapace could also get you +1 AC. I strapped it onto a Beast Barb for the tail feature to add a d8 to your AC if something tries to hit you, and then went kensei for another +2. No taunt features, but if you want AC you can get that going. Monks also don't generally get much for reactions.
I love the new music, It's nice and calm.
Search for your inner peace and as you frow transition to the silent rage barbarian, you find a blissful enlightenment in your rage. You are the eye of the (emotional) storm.
I know this was a while ago, but I’m building a monk barb tank and had a similar idea. But instead of warforged I’m going kalashtar, and the monk is going to be cobalt soul but I’m taking the cobalt soul literally. So the quori spirit is cobalt blue and the ancestral guardian is the quori physically manifesting in combat for a pseudo avatar state combat thematic.
12:00 Surprised this wasn't a dwarf with hitdice on dodge build.
Edit: yeah looks like there are other better BA heals for ki points now. Dwarf would allow you to go long death more effectively and heal outside of combat a bit more efficiently.
Mountain Dwarf was my first runner up :). And I probably would have gotten to that feat eventually, but not until my Dex and Wis were capped, I think (and even then, passing on Tough would have been... er... tough.)
The new music is waaaaay better man. Me and my Mrs listen to your podcasts when we're in bed and it's a much better vibe 💪
Ancestral spirits could hail from a Warforged Mass-Grave, called only "The Junkyard.
I love this music soon much more! Makes we feel most welcome and at home. 😊
My SAMBO coach used to say that fighting requires you to dish out doses of controlled aggression; it is certainly possible to be fierce and control yourself. To the point of rage and martial arts
New music, I like it, though it made me look down to verify that the right vídeo had started
I swear its like you read my mind, I literally made this build yesterday. I've been trying to build the tankiest Monk for ages and this seems to be the most LEGIT way to achieve that. Also I kind of like the new music, it's a pleasant change.
Nice!
@@DnDDeepDive I have to say I love the Slide into DMs play list. We needed someone to bring up all these questions regarding some vague rulling. Plus I love the crew, everyone seems chill and fun to play with. But I must say we need more of those Gauntlett type games too, because believe it or not it was hella fun to watch and different from what everyone else is doing.
@@karolkolbiarz8421 Thanks!