Web DM hey I’m currently running a way of the four fist monk and the simplest way to explain it is a generalist with high survivability the use of elements is more of a tool for the non combative part of a campaign
I built a winged elf, ( magickly grafted wings, taken from a asshole manticore, who tought me a lesson in fighting flying things without spells or weapons..) monk/druid whos main attack is a teleporting power stun attack. She was a bit flamboyant, but otherwise a royal badass. I got too arrogant and tried to kill something i had no business even looking at, and that was the end of that
As a DM, I'm totally cool with letting a Monk/Druid use their abilities while they shape-change. 'Cuz that opens the floodgates for me and my evil horde of _awesome karate bears._
I'd allow it, maybe in the tiger example they had things like stunning fist would change to slashing, maybe even take it a little further and their "tiger form" is just a tabaxi :P
The last session I had with my play group was really fun because I was playing an Open Palm Monk (5th Level); We were fighting a goblin army (literally 100 goblins) and the main bad guy was their attack ship, which had a cannon that was shooting at us every few turns. Well, My monk got targeted and I asked my DM if I could use my Deflect Missiles feature to reduce the damage- he agreed, and I rolled my reduction as he rolled the damage. We both got 19, so I asked him if I could redirect the cannonball back at the enemy ship, which he agreed to let me do. So I literally punched it back at the ship! Needless to say, it was the highlight of the night.
Kungfu Panda Part 2 - Fun! Is a cannonball small enough for you to hold in one hand? Sure, why not. 20-maybe 60' throwing distance and any goblins that survive will have a tale to tell of the simple monk that returned blows with the ship.
That's specifically something you can't do with how the ability is written, as a cannonball is too big projectile, comparable to boulder hurled by a giant.
Even though it says you can't in the book, the book isn't set in stone and your DM's digression in the matter is amazing. I'm glad you were able to do that. Everyone else, stop trying to be rule lawyers
Monk Multiclass with Warlock wil give you HEX with flurry of blows which is an extra d6 for EVERY SINGLE HIT and you're hitting 4 times so that's an extra 4d6 a turn !!
I tripped a dragon in pathfinder the other day with my monk. I was proud but now have nowhere left to go with the character... That's all I built her for...
Caught him off balance, the ground didn't allow the giant to have secure footing, the monk struck an old injury having detected the giant favoring a leg and it sent the giant down? There's plenty more reasons. I rather despise DMs that build to counter the group's abilities especially if there is no good reason for that to be the typical situation for the big bad
We have a Band now called 'Tripping Dragons' because we have a guy that can Trip Attack at Range, and has found nothing is better than tripping a dragon.
Always remember... anything the players do, the DM can do back to them with interest. Imagine a party of bandits with a Ninja (Shadow Monk) as their leader, who sneaks around and observes the PCs and knows exactly what they can do. Then when it comes to combat, the Ninja stays hidden, drops a blanket of Silence over the spellcasters, then warps in the next turn and starts stunning the crap out of the PCs, deflecting the missiles of the ranged characters, etc. And when things go bad, he can always drop that blanket of Darkness and Step of the Wind/Shadow Jump the hell out of there, leaving the PCs to look over their shoulders in fear of where the Ninja strikes next.
Chad-Solomon Dixon Hold Person has verbal components, so spellcasters inside the Silenced area would be unable to cast verbal spells. There might be other ways to shut down a Ninja Shadow Master BBEG, but not Hold Person.
Chad-Solomon Dixon Indeed; but Hold Person has a few other restrictions, including the fact that you can only cast it on a person you can see. Shadow Monks can abuse Shadow Step pretty liberally, and doing it in darkness or dim light only makes it less likely that a caster would be able to see the Monk, unless he or she has darkvision. Especially if the caster has darkvision and has forgone light sources in favor of stealth, this puts the caster at a severe disadvantage to the Shadow Monk who can step in and out of shadow as a bonus action and get advantage against the caster. The monk can also attach a Darkness spell so the caster would be unable to see anything unless she had a couple levels in Warlock for Devil's Sight or cast Truesight. It would be an interesting fight though!
I once played a monk of the four elements, with a 3 level dip into cleric of knowledge (The character concept was that he was a sage who was attuned to The energies of the world). I really enjoyed playing that guy. My favorite combo was: when a fight began, I used a lvl 2 spell Create Water to make it rain on The battle field. Then, for 1 ki point, I used The monk technique ''Shape The Flowing River'' to freeze everyone, or create a zone of difficult terrain with the ice.
Hmm. What about a Monk/Ranger? Martial Arts + Hunter's Mark + Colossus Slayer. Make him a Kenku so that he can poorly dub his own dialogue like a proper B-Movie Kung Fu action flick.
how about a monk/warlock with mage slayer? shadow gives you darkness and warlocks lets you see through magical darkness. permanent advantage to hit and permanent disadvantage to be hit (and eliminate line of sight for casters). caster tries to counter, dispel, teleport away, and stunning fist as a reaction. cast darkness on a dagger, throw it across a chasm, monk teleport across. grab great old one as your patron and talk/scare a target with telepathy while stealthed. hex to get 1d6 extra per hit. get everything back on a short rest.
why would that change anything? the above is just a fun character. built it around corvo and emily from dishonored. using the shadows to defend and teleport, supernaturally marking people for death, getting into places with barred doors and windows, able to parkour up buildings and outrun enemies, vanish out of thin air, frighten spellcasters as their spells suddenly stopped working. Loved that character.
Of course the campaign in general was amazing (bioshock meets dishonored meets skyrim's thieves guild) and the fact that my patron was making appearances, adding to the plot, driving it forward, and no one untouched by him could see him, made it more amazing.
They should have done elemental flurrys which enables them to just make thier flurry of blows do elemeental damage of either a certain type or your choice
Honestly I wish they had turned the element into a weapon instead. At first you can attack using that element. Later you learn to enhance it with ki. So for example you attack people with a water whip (10 reach. monk weapon damage. can form it at will, but need water.). Later you learn to turn that whip into mist (heavily obscured an area) or grapple a foe with it (attack to initiate a grapple) and turn it into ice (restrained) if successful as a reaction.
Your element becomes an extension of you. Like rogue's cunning to a rogue. At some point you're just using the ability, not even thinking about, becoming completely natural. And when you switch to a different character it feels absolutely weird not to have it.
Sure. It's pretty simple, really. I just have a +5 to Dex, took stealth as one of my rogue expertise for another +4, and cast pass without trace on myself (which I got from taking three levels in monk and choosing Way of Shadow) for +10 and a grand total of +19. This means I'm a Rogue 1/Monk 3. A fourth level character.
I managed to accidentally make a 5th level character in Pathfinder with +20 Stealth. The fun is that I'm playing a Ratfolk Alley Witch, who doesn't have it as a class skill, and I only have 3 ranks I it. It was entirely by accident :P
It's also great that this Rogue/Shadow Monk can simply teleport to the opponent's shadow and sneaks attacks him, stunning him, then flurry of blows. Getting 6 levels on Shadow Monk is so awesome
The Crown Royal bag as a dice bag always gets me that it became a thing. I have had mine for over 20 years now. It always makes me laugh when I am at a gaming convention and see tables full of people and see those little purple bags all over the place.
I's the perfect bag really. I have seen so many over the years and none compare. They always end up being some kind of material that just feels weird in your hand or the strings are cheap and they break... My oriinal dungeon master Tim would drink crown and coke all the time and would save the bags and when he invited new players to join the group to test them out you knew when someone was "in" when they received their bag from Tim. I remember when I got mine and my friend who introduced me to Tim patted me on the back and said I knew you were gonna fit.
My best friend bought me a large crown royal because he wanted me to have one as a dice bag for my good size collection and he wanted to drink it mixed with royal crown so he could say he had. I got some special friends.
They've been a thing for quite some time..... Not to mention they're readily available and the perfect dice bag. Personally: I use a Captain Morgan bag that says 'To Life, Love and Loot'..... It perfectly fits DnD.
We have been playing out our 5e story for 2 years now, and we have a Bronze Dragonborn Monk of the Four Elements. We have completely redone the disciplines, removing all the "copy" this spell effect. They rather enhance the monks existing features and abilities with elemental flavorings. Also, since nearly everyone gets an image of a bender or the avatar when playing the Way of the Four Elements, we allow him to "flex" cast spells that are elemental. It is still always being tweaked and worked on, but he has becoming something incredibly enjoyable to play and to play with. If there is any interest, I would love talk with yall and get your feed back!
Adam Owczarek This. This comment is something that heavily encourages me to get into D&D. The cool stories that can happen when the limit just really isn't there. I just thought of Spoony the Bard and how he summoned Bahamut in a fight against an archdemon at level ~10
Also, if you want to be the perfect Anti-Spellcaster character? Way of the Shadow Monk is King! Grab the 'Mage Slayer' and 'Sentinel' feats. Get in the wizard's face with your super monk speed, drop a Silence on them, and start punching them good. They can't get away from you even by Disengaging, you punch them if they try to cast beside you (assuming they can even cast while stuck in Silence), and you have Advantage on your saving throws against their spells. Spellcasters will have nightmares about you!
Ok, so they Disengage, eat one opportunity attack, get out of the silence, and teleport away. Or they use Subtle Spell and just teleport right from there
If you want a wrestler, go Goliath Totem Barbarian (Bear, Bear, Eagle) with the Grappler feat. Give him magic items or casters to grant him Enhance Ability and Enlarge. You now have a behemoth who can wrestle Huge (and occasionally Gargantuan) creatures to the ground almost flawlessly. By 14th level, Eagle Totemic Attunement allows you to pile drive your grappled foe for 2d10 falling damage (40-foot jump halved to 20 due to the half speed while carrying a creature), or Dash into the air for 4d10. Take a 1-level dip in Monk for Step of the Wind, and you can Dash again for 8d10 (good luck surviving that yourself though). Go even more overboard and take a 2-level dip for Unarmored Movement. Your base speed is now is 50 for a 25-foot pile drive, 50-foot Dash pile drive, and 100-foot Step of the Wind double Dash pile drive.
I had to rule Pile Drives in my game (cause that's something the Air Genasi monk really wanted to do a lot) like this: When you pile drive someone, you get a Dex Saving Throw (DC = 10 + height of the drop/5, basically 10 + number of units dropped). On a success, you take 1/4 of the damage the enemy took, on a failure you take half of it. Ruled it that way cause it makes sense that someone pile driving would do their best to use the enemy's body to cushion most of the damage, that's the whole point of the thing xD After that she went a little bit power crazy, grappling enemies, using her racial levitation to jump *really* high and breaking concentration for some earth shattering effects. She ended up knocking herself out a few times, even with the half damage, but that's what healing allies are for xD
Alright, but when are you guys covering the Drunken Fist in Xanathar's Guide? Because I'm playing a Lizardfolk Drunken Fist and it's TOO MUCH. Lemme know guys you're fantastic.
I am a newbie and a Tabaxi Monk. Thank you for describing ways that I can use my powers. I have been successful in my campaigns but it has usually just been with a flurry of blows. I have found it difficult to understand the books without a greater background in the game so your video was very interesting.
I would love to see more "pugilist" style monks vs. the Eastern style Monk. Say a Rocky Balboa Monk who has "street Phylosophy"....some thing like: " it ain't about how hard you hit, but how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward" "You're gonna eat lightnin' and crap thunda!" "Eye of the Tiger" "The World ain't all sunshine and rainbows"
Kevin Heinz a sailor who's all about being a manly man and fighting with his hands? He had this whole gentleman chivalry style philosophy about respect honor and never backing down?
I think my favourite story re a monk is the one where the monk in my game ran up a wall, dropped on top of a Beholder and stunned it. Beholder failed the save and got stunned. Then the Beholder got back its turn. Now in my game I let my players roll the d10s to see what the beams do. The beholder was like oh, you stunned me? Ok, Petrification beam, Monk failed his save, Disintegration Beam, Monk failed his save, Death Beam, Monk failed his save. Next turn the Beholder just tipped the monk's dead body off itself.
The idea you ended with sounds allot like the "Wild Monk" from "Dragon Magazine". Was towards the end of it's run. They would partially shakeshift depending on their animal style. Loved the idea of one's hands becoming cobra heads that bight your target.
Holy shit, a Brotherhood Of The Wolf reference. This pleases me greatly. I currently play a Tabaxi Monk (way of the open hand) as my very first character; Mandrake Miyamoto Turgidson
I never realized how bad the way of the four elements monk was until this video lol. I'm so glad I learned this because I was really interested in being one.
They have a few great abilities that they kinda glossed over that are distinctly unique to elemental monks, the water whip ability is a DEX save and pull them towards for 20' or knock prone that does 3d10 dmg + 1d10 for each ki point for a nova of 9d10 damage that regenerates on a short rest. The air blast is the same function but it pushes AND knocks the target prone and is a STR save. Beyond those and everything else starts to lose steam. But you can always have hot tea, a massaging bed of stone, and a cool mist on a hot day. The Ki requirements are out of whack for spell like abilities.
I've just finished playing a monk in Rise of Tiamat... couldn't believe just how versatile they are... from protecting the spellcasters/wounded by using Dodge as a bonus, knocking enemies prone, delaying actions until enemies like phase spiders appear then moving to hit them, running round a ring shaped wall of Fire punching anyone coming through it back, or in the last encounter, stunning Tiamat herself allowing the spellcasters to unload... top class
Don't forget the psychic monk class. I've played it and for a monk and a psionic class it's powerful. They both compliment each other and i really liked how quickly you are able to take control of situations with it.
I have never seen you so demonstrably excited when talking about a class, or character. I have dug up old d&d info on magical tattoos to enhance monks to go even further with their unarmed nature.
Mark Coughran What if a Cabal of Transmuters create a group of flesh golems, to help with menial tasks. Maybe they put a permanent Alter Self on each one. And just maybe they create these golems too close to a positive energy star, and one day...they are alive... Now you have sentient flesh golems that can change their appearance, and they might have a grudge against their creators. That's off the top of my head. More o follow if I think of anything.
Ahh yes I see... the golems become ubiquitous throughout the system. The Alter Self would be needed to cover for any unsightlyness. Then the golems on a ship too close to said star gain sentience. They revolt and begin ferrying other golems to the same system. Now as the campaign unfolds the humans that created them have to put down the uprising in order to survive as a species. They have to make bargains with other worldly creatures in order to find a safe place in the galaxy. Perhaps the mind flayers are in the shadows orchestrating the newly sentient golems, guiding them to bring human minds to their home world. Thank you for the time and suggestions. My imagination is cranking now.
I wonder about Cleric-Monk...you wouldn't need healing word if you can always run far enough to reach allies with Cure Wounds, and spirit weapon gives you a bonus action to use without spending precious ki.
So my favorite Manga of all time is Kenichi which shows just how diverse martial arts styles can be and how amazing the Monk has in RP potential along the lines of basis of style and how they act.
Christopher Huffman variant human take magic initiate true strike cantrip and any damaging cantrip you like as well as Expeditious retreat then go warlock pact of the blade at 3rd level as your invocation take improved pact weapon. Transforming scythe+speed+sniping= ruby
I've always been a fan of the Monk so I'm really excited to see you guys do this video. I can't agree more about the 4 Elements Tradition. It was an idea that really felt like it should be a slam dunk for the class and it just wasn't there. I've seen a few fan re-works floating around though. I was curious if this video might have some of the new traditions that have been released (The Kensei and the Tranquility traditions) which actually touch on some of Jim's ideas on other subclass abilities. Have you guys considered taking a look at any of the Unearthed Arcana content?
According to Jeremy Crawford. Natural weapons are considered weapons that can not be applied to unarmed strime attacks. Nor can they be considered monk weapons either. Which kills the monk/druid multiclassing.
One of the reasons that your videos are so great, (besides your high Intelligence and Wisdom scores) is that you both have very different play styles. Jim Davis loves using magic with his characters, and Pruitt loves all of the martial classes. As you guys converse back and forth, you both show that there is no one amazing class in this game, and any character can be amazing. Thank you guys so much.
I enjoyed Jonathan's ideas for the shadow monk. I've played a monk since back in AD&D and currently a Way of Shadow monk who just reached level 5. The silence on the dagger idea is great but must have been used in 3.5 since it seems 5e Silence doesn't let me cast it on an object. Nice job on the RPing the Monk video as well.
I found that being able to decouple the monk from the monastery background freed up character concept for me. I had a monk character who was a acrobat and tumbler from a traveling circus. Used the entertainer background.
I actually have a Wood Elf Monk/Druid in the game I am currently DMing, and he does exactly the sort of stuff you talked about, except as a Dire Wolf, and gets advantage on his unarmed strikes regularly because of that Bite action being able to knock enemies prone on a strength save, and multiattack giving him 2 bites per attack. And it often gives the party fighter advantage, too, since the two of them tend to stick together and watch each others' backs.
When the Abyssal Tiefling came out in the Unearthed Arcana, I played a 4 Elements monk. This was a thematic choice, more than an optimization choice. I created him with an aquatic demon ancestor. This led to a piscine looking monk with a tail that he used for the Water Whip ability. Wasn't a spectacular fighter. But, I really enjoyed some of the imagery I could create. Definitely would get boring in a long term campaign.
Speaking broadly as the concept of the Monk in Tabletop RPGs they should be thought of less as a fighter class and more as a special sort of caster that casts magic via martial arts. They almost make sense to be constructed as a caster like warlock with Ki Focus being the resource to use monk abilities which are effectively spells. Different monasteries would cover different tropes such ninjas, pacifist healer monks, swordsmen monks or even a DnD equivalent of a Jedi. They fit very well in the caster role, it explains why they'd never wear armour, and why they are expected to perform such impossible things. Things like concentration work well for balancing monk powers. Cantrips are what effectively enhance their melee attacks beyond their normal physical limits.
The fore elements monks do get access to some very cool unique abilities. -Fangs of the fire snake -Fist of unbroken air -Shape the flowing river -Water whip These are reasonably cost effective especially with the available damage. You also automatically get Elemental attunement which is like druid craft crossed with prestidigitation and you cast it for free.
I’m currently playing a 4 Elements Monk, straight up and down from the Players’ Handbook for Curse of Strahd, and I love him so much I think what’s being forgotten about 4 Elements is that while at lower levels it’s not so viable as a sub-class with how expensive everything is, it’s so versatile with what you can do. Even Elemental Attunement is really great if I get creative and is a great way to set up Flurry, and depending on the encounter, he’s just a really powerful arcane field controller
You guys are awesome. And you talked about a Pugilist and I think that's cool you guys acknowledge Homebrew content. I actually have a huge collection of official content and homebrew content on a google drive folder.
In Brotherhood of the Wolf, Mani used a French Marital Arts style called Savate, literally "Old Shoe". Since Mani was a companion of the protagonist, who was French aristocracy, it is reasonable that Mani could have been trained in what was originally a street fighting style in northern France in the 1800's.
So far the monk has been my favorite class to play in Edition 5 as I was using a Dragonborn Monk with the open fist combining long-ranged and up-close stuns
I found a revised version of the Elemental Monk that's super awesome. Makes the spellcasting way less prohibitive, while adding a lot more non-spell effects that are super cool. I have a Monk using that version of WotFE and I love him.
Great episode. I play a 7th lvl Shadow monk and he's the heavy of the group. I completely agree with everything you say about Stunning Fist, high mobility and versatility, but don't forget about being able to Dodge as a bonus action. This is the key to playing the monk. My guy has an 16AC but only 1 out of 6 attacks actually hits because of Dodge. My guy works better with a fighter or two tying up the monsters but my DM fears my monk more than our fireball shelling wizard. IMHO, the monk is they way a support role should be created.
I played way of the four elements, and for story purposes it was tons of fun, plus the abilities were helpful. My DM was really cool with me having my Monk use his elemental abilities creatively and less in combat, and totally helpful for story moments.
that's so great, my fairly new campaign features a moon druid who is druid 2, monk 1, and I've been letting her fight people hand to hand as a bear. glad you mentioned that animal stuff at the end. it'll only get better from here.
I always wanted to play a monk in earlier editions but never got around to it. So when 5E dropped and interest in D&D picked back up and I managed to find a group, the monk was my first and only choice. Over the past year I've managed to get him up to 6th Level (we play every other week at best, so progress has been a bit slow) and it's probably the most fun I've ever had playing a character. Once I got him to level 5 I ditched the short sword and had him using just his fists and feet, and when combined with the extra attack I'm actually pretty up there in the amount of damage I can lay out in a round. I'm eager to get him to Tier 3 and 4 levels to see what he can truly do. Oddly one of the traits I'm most looking forward to is Tongue of the Sun and Moon so I can just understand everything that's said around me and have a whole new realm of RP opportunities open to me.
Take a look at the 3.5 monk books. There were a ton of ki related feats. Had a monk that could burn a use of stunning fist and could deal all kinds of effects. Blind, paralyzed, steal spell like abilities, etc.
Great episode, actually changed my mind on monks. Are you guys thinking of doing warlock next? I really wanted to do a fighter 1 warlock x pact of the blade but I'm having trouble really understanding how to make the magic and martial prowess gel together. Love the channel
I made my own Homebrew subclass for monk which is basically a psionic monk called "Path of Enlightenment." It combines some ideas from the Unearthed Arcana Psionic class, but makes it far less OP, but very flavorful and fun.
I AM THAT MONK DRUID!!!! currently druid 2 (moon), monk 4. one more level and my dire wolf will be attacking with the backs of his paws for crazy fists of furry!
Monk/rogue/ranger multi class with the colossus slayer mixed with hunters mark and mark and sneak attack to get all of the bonus dice, you use your extra attacks with flurry of blows to get lots of sneak attack, colossus slayer and hunters mark to get a huge amount of bonus damage. Mix this with perhaps a hold person spell to get automatic crust to double all of the dice.
Japanese medieval times armed monks (sōhei) can make for an interesting monk/cleric blend if taken in the direction of an onmyoji (white mage)/exorcist. 1-2 monk levels is a good start and minimizes high level spells delay (though Monk 2-3/Cleric X costs you an ASI). The exact combination is up to you.
Played a Tabaxi Monk once, with their double speed ability and dashing and step of the wind dashing, I could go 270 feet in one round at 8th level and go up walls and across water, and it only took one round of not moving to get it again. I have literally run down archers up on battlements.
That shadow monk reminds me of basically how I built one of my characters (Rogue 7/Wizard 6), since I'm going full mobility/utility with him. 55' walking speed since he's a Wood Elf, has mobile, and has a Transmuter's Stone, plus access to both Landstrider and Haste, bringing him up to 130' walking speed. Definitely one of my favorites to play. Just a completely ridiculous hit and run character.
One of my favorite characters I've ever played was Pugilist (went by Pug) the tiefling monk (way of the fist). She decided to scorn her infernal heritage, education and name in favor of a simpler life of petty crime and underground fighting rings. Her lithness got her through many fights against a veritable plethora of dangerous foes. Eventually, she garnered enough street-cred to start her own gang. Inevitably, she grew bored of the stagnant life of crime; so, she left on an expedition to find bigger and badder enemies that she might punch into submission. None of that balance mumbo jumbo, just fists.
I’ve played a blue Dragonborn way of the four elements monk, it was great. It is mostly for the imagination. When you imagine what your character would do and it goes well with the dice throws, it becomes awesome.
@WebDM i use to play the four element monk with a kobold. however i only use the fire spell with it to fit the kobold idea to proof himself as a dragon. so his whole deal is about being a comet. being fast and burning everything. its pretty fun in combat too.
I love the idea of giving the way of the four elements monk all four of the elemental control cantrips for free. Mold Earth, Control Flames, Gust, and Shape Water. Maybe take two at level three and get the other two as you level up. The biggest thing though would be something like, "When you take the attack action, you can cast a cantrip granted by this class in place of any attack you make on this turn." By fifth level you could be instantly excavating 4 5ft cubes of earth or moving a swimming pool's worth of water around or knocking 4 different enemies back from 30 feet all for a ki point. That seems like a decent exchange of power for utility and flavor and it's a unique ability that nobody else can get.
I'd love to hear about what's so bad about exalted. I think my group played it in 2nd edition and it was fun. There was a sort of intrigue in politics plotline that required us to attract followers, sneak around, do heists and maneuver armies and supplies around and arrange meetings with different factions and deities. It was very multi-faceted and interesting to play and think of solutions. Although one of our party members was a dedicated fighter and he didn't get to do much.
We have a shadow monk in our current game that uses the mobility to set up a lot of really fun grappling. The options you get with that subclass mean that pretty much everything is in melee range if you really want it to be. :D
My Wood Elf Monk got attacked by a Bulette in Princes of the Apocalypse, lured it to the dwarven bridge and used Flurry of Blows to knock it to the depths of the chasm below. Very cool and of course he is now the Bulette-Proof Monk. 😎
picking a monk subclass rn and your point about the way of the four elements needing something specific to the class and not just the ability to cast spells is so true! especially with the similarities to avatar so present it needs something more unique and flavorful
with the skill monkey. you can also take the feat "Skilled" for 3 more skills or tools Variant Human, taking the Skilled feat + 1 skill + rogue + background = 10 skills to start, then + 4 from bard + 2 from Cleric and + 2 from Warlock = 18 skills
I know you've mentioned Sterling Vermin, so I'm guessing you just didn't notice or forgot the Tinkerer archetype they introduced while discussing the Ninja Turtles. I have to admit, I really want to see a really good, mostly unique remake of the elemental monk, but there are some spells, like an Elder Evils one where you summon a hand out of the earth to grapple opponents (ugh forgot the name off the top of my head and too lazy to look it up lol), that just screams perfect for a monk ability.
something that popped up for way of the four elements in my mind is multi classing 16 Monk, 2 cleric-grave domain (from unearthed arcana) and 2 fighter. You can take the discipline "clench of the north wind" to hold person, second turn use the Grave cleric channel divinity to apply vulnerability to the next damage type it takes, action surge into Fist of Unbroken air/Water whip discipline and dump all of your ki points to get some nice nova damage. Assuming Hold person concentration isn't broken and they fail there second saving throw to break free of it, they will auto fail their saving throw against Fist of Unbroken air/water whip as well as get auto crit due to the paralyze of hold person then double that damage because of the vulnerability from the channel divinity. However that being said you could throw on the grave clerics vulnerability applications and action surge into a few multi-class's for similar effects but Monk/fight/cleric multiclass is smooth for points 13dex/wis and you are good to go
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Web DM hey I’m currently running a way of the four fist monk and the simplest way to explain it is a generalist with high survivability the use of elements is more of a tool for the non combative part of a campaign
Web DM patient defense lmao best ability
I built a winged elf, ( magickly grafted wings, taken from a asshole manticore, who tought me a lesson in fighting flying things without spells or weapons..) monk/druid whos main attack is a teleporting power stun attack. She was a bit flamboyant, but otherwise a royal badass. I got too arrogant and tried to kill something i had no business even looking at, and that was the end of that
Web DM... What are your thoughts on the Way of Tranquility?
you can see so far up pruits nose in the thumbnail i think i can his asshole
As a DM, I'm totally cool with letting a Monk/Druid use their abilities while they shape-change.
'Cuz that opens the floodgates for me and my evil horde of _awesome karate bears._
But only if they can make the climb first ;)
Ninja Sex Party reference?
I'd allow it, maybe in the tiger example they had things like stunning fist would change to slashing, maybe even take it a little further and their "tiger form" is just a tabaxi :P
Don't you mean, "karate kats" ?
all i can see with "karate bears" is Kung Fu Panda.
The last session I had with my play group was really fun because I was playing an Open Palm Monk (5th Level);
We were fighting a goblin army (literally 100 goblins) and the main bad guy was their attack ship, which had a cannon that was shooting at us every few turns. Well, My monk got targeted and I asked my DM if I could use my Deflect Missiles feature to reduce the damage- he agreed, and I rolled my reduction as he rolled the damage. We both got 19, so I asked him if I could redirect the cannonball back at the enemy ship, which he agreed to let me do. So I literally punched it back at the ship!
Needless to say, it was the highlight of the night.
Kungfu Panda Part 2 - Fun! Is a cannonball small enough for you to hold in one hand? Sure, why not. 20-maybe 60' throwing distance and any goblins that survive will have a tale to tell of the simple monk that returned blows with the ship.
That's specifically something you can't do with how the ability is written, as a cannonball is too big projectile, comparable to boulder hurled by a giant.
@@Klaital1 cannonballs aren't big people can easily hold them that's how they load them
😂😂 amazing
Even though it says you can't in the book, the book isn't set in stone and your DM's digression in the matter is amazing. I'm glad you were able to do that. Everyone else, stop trying to be rule lawyers
Monk Multiclass with Warlock wil give you HEX with flurry of blows which is an extra d6 for EVERY SINGLE HIT and you're hitting 4 times so that's an extra 4d6 a turn !!
also hunters mark
Or take Fey-Touched from Tasha's Cauldron and get Misty Step on top of Hex/Hunter's Mark.
a monk in the party knocked my ice giant prone... he KNOCKED AN ICE GIANT PRONE
i mean... ffs
Yup. That's why you gotta make sure your BBEG has some peeps with them.
I tripped a dragon in pathfinder the other day with my monk. I was proud but now have nowhere left to go with the character... That's all I built her for...
Caught him off balance, the ground didn't allow the giant to have secure footing, the monk struck an old injury having detected the giant favoring a leg and it sent the giant down? There's plenty more reasons. I rather despise DMs that build to counter the group's abilities especially if there is no good reason for that to be the typical situation for the big bad
We have a Band now called 'Tripping Dragons' because we have a guy that can Trip Attack at Range, and has found nothing is better than tripping a dragon.
TheClimbTo1 it sounds like you’re tripping on dragons.
Stunning Fist... As a player, love it, as a DM, hate it. Great ability 👍
Always remember... anything the players do, the DM can do back to them with interest. Imagine a party of bandits with a Ninja (Shadow Monk) as their leader, who sneaks around and observes the PCs and knows exactly what they can do. Then when it comes to combat, the Ninja stays hidden, drops a blanket of Silence over the spellcasters, then warps in the next turn and starts stunning the crap out of the PCs, deflecting the missiles of the ranged characters, etc. And when things go bad, he can always drop that blanket of Darkness and Step of the Wind/Shadow Jump the hell out of there, leaving the PCs to look over their shoulders in fear of where the Ninja strikes next.
David Schrumpf Yeah... sure... hopefully he doesn't get rekt by a hold person...
Chad-Solomon Dixon Hold Person has verbal components, so spellcasters inside the Silenced area would be unable to cast verbal spells. There might be other ways to shut down a Ninja Shadow Master BBEG, but not Hold Person.
milesbennettdyson Caster walks out of the silence zone and then casts.
Chad-Solomon Dixon Indeed; but Hold Person has a few other restrictions, including the fact that you can only cast it on a person you can see. Shadow Monks can abuse Shadow Step pretty liberally, and doing it in darkness or dim light only makes it less likely that a caster would be able to see the Monk, unless he or she has darkvision. Especially if the caster has darkvision and has forgone light sources in favor of stealth, this puts the caster at a severe disadvantage to the Shadow Monk who can step in and out of shadow as a bonus action and get advantage against the caster. The monk can also attach a Darkness spell so the caster would be unable to see anything unless she had a couple levels in Warlock for Devil's Sight or cast Truesight. It would be an interesting fight though!
"You see that Beholder over there, Imma punch it in the eye."
"Which one?"
- "Flurry of blows: all of them."
“Hold my beer”
Korn (my half elf monk ) sees a bad thing "imma punch it hard with my fist maybe break its skull"
That's exactly what happened. Dart to it's pupil and a fist to it's squishy eyeball
"The big one or the little ones?" "Yes."
goblinoid monk with a speech impediment = Yoda
CCs Welding
Right, you are. Yes!
A goblin Shadow monk/Bladelock of GOO = Yoda
Speech impediment it is not. Spanish he is speaking, English in the format of.
Got that backwards. Speaking english. Spanish format.
Holy crap yes. Thanks for my next character concept!!
I once played a monk of the four elements, with a 3 level dip into cleric of knowledge (The character concept was that he was a sage who was attuned to The energies of the world). I really enjoyed playing that guy. My favorite combo was: when a fight began, I used a lvl 2 spell Create Water to make it rain on The battle field. Then, for 1 ki point, I used The monk technique ''Shape The Flowing River'' to freeze everyone, or create a zone of difficult terrain with the ice.
Pallas_Ovidius That just makes me think of Water-flowing, Rock-crushing Fist (OPM "reference")
how well did this work? do you think this tactic could work to trap a Tarrasque?
No, not enough water you can only get up to 6 gallons FOR 6 KI POINTS, a level 20 party can beat the shit out of a terrasque though
not if your evil enough
@@supersanttu7951 :/ had to type out that its a reference, the best part of references is only those in the know KNOW
Hmm. What about a Monk/Ranger? Martial Arts + Hunter's Mark + Colossus Slayer. Make him a Kenku so that he can poorly dub his own dialogue like a proper B-Movie Kung Fu action flick.
Mike Gould
Oh my gods....
how about a monk/warlock with mage slayer? shadow gives you darkness and warlocks lets you see through magical darkness. permanent advantage to hit and permanent disadvantage to be hit (and eliminate line of sight for casters). caster tries to counter, dispel, teleport away, and stunning fist as a reaction. cast darkness on a dagger, throw it across a chasm, monk teleport across. grab great old one as your patron and talk/scare a target with telepathy while stealthed. hex to get 1d6 extra per hit. get everything back on a short rest.
Kingneo0053 Unless if the DM's smart
why would that change anything? the above is just a fun character. built it around corvo and emily from dishonored. using the shadows to defend and teleport, supernaturally marking people for death, getting into places with barred doors and windows, able to parkour up buildings and outrun enemies, vanish out of thin air, frighten spellcasters as their spells suddenly stopped working. Loved that character.
Of course the campaign in general was amazing (bioshock meets dishonored meets skyrim's thieves guild) and the fact that my patron was making appearances, adding to the plot, driving it forward, and no one untouched by him could see him, made it more amazing.
They should have done elemental flurrys which enables them to just make thier flurry of blows do elemeental damage of either a certain type or your choice
accidentally read that as "elemental FURRYS"...thats a different game altogether
Honestly I wish they had turned the element into a weapon instead. At first you can attack using that element. Later you learn to enhance it with ki. So for example you attack people with a water whip (10 reach. monk weapon damage. can form it at will, but need water.). Later you learn to turn that whip into mist (heavily obscured an area) or grapple a foe with it (attack to initiate a grapple) and turn it into ice (restrained) if successful as a reaction.
Your element becomes an extension of you. Like rogue's cunning to a rogue. At some point you're just using the ability, not even thinking about, becoming completely natural. And when you switch to a different character it feels absolutely weird not to have it.
Kingneo thats a water bender sir
VonWolf precisely
I love the Shadow Monk. I multi-classed with Rogue and have an effective +19 to stealth at character level four. So. Much. Fun.
Benjamin Westrup ?... Details plz
Sure. It's pretty simple, really. I just have a +5 to Dex, took stealth as one of my rogue expertise for another +4, and cast pass without trace on myself (which I got from taking three levels in monk and choosing Way of Shadow) for +10 and a grand total of +19. This means I'm a Rogue 1/Monk 3. A fourth level character.
I managed to accidentally make a 5th level character in Pathfinder with +20 Stealth. The fun is that I'm playing a Ratfolk Alley Witch, who doesn't have it as a class skill, and I only have 3 ranks I it. It was entirely by accident :P
It's also great that this Rogue/Shadow Monk can simply teleport to the opponent's shadow and sneaks attacks him, stunning him, then flurry of blows. Getting 6 levels on Shadow Monk is so awesome
Well damn. You might as well be a Shade by that point.
splinter is a wererat monk
That's one way to go with it. Then he bites some turtles...
wereturtle shadow monks
JPruInc What need is there to have him bite any turtles? Just have him adopt some tortles. Done. Teenage ninja turtles.
It never occurred to me to cast Silence on a dagger or other such projectile. That's amazing
Some would argue that you can't. We have a more lax view on the spell. It's up to the DM in those cases.
JPruInc yeah, I did some RAW research and apparently you can't, but you can with darkness. That's the joy of DnD, it's the game you want it to be
Davyd Atkins i did RAW research= reads PHB.
I am inspired to make a Tabaxi Way of the Open Hand monk named Speedy Gonzales and pick up the mobile feat and a sombrero of haste
PingPongPope Nice one dude :v
The Crown Royal bag as a dice bag always gets me that it became a thing. I have had mine for over 20 years now. It always makes me laugh when I am at a gaming convention and see tables full of people and see those little purple bags all over the place.
I just laugh at all the people without the most royally badass dice bag in existence.
I's the perfect bag really. I have seen so many over the years and none compare. They always end up being some kind of material that just feels weird in your hand or the strings are cheap and they break... My oriinal dungeon master Tim would drink crown and coke all the time and would save the bags and when he invited new players to join the group to test them out you knew when someone was "in" when they received their bag from Tim. I remember when I got mine and my friend who introduced me to Tim patted me on the back and said I knew you were gonna fit.
My best friend bought me a large crown royal because he wanted me to have one as a dice bag for my good size collection and he wanted to drink it mixed with royal crown so he could say he had. I got some special friends.
They've been a thing for quite some time..... Not to mention they're readily available and the perfect dice bag.
Personally: I use a Captain Morgan bag that says 'To Life, Love and Loot'..... It perfectly fits DnD.
Biannualstabbing my table uses the purple, we have a few green CR bags. And one brown suede CR and one black suede CR bag
We have been playing out our 5e story for 2 years now, and we have a Bronze Dragonborn Monk of the Four Elements. We have completely redone the disciplines, removing all the "copy" this spell effect. They rather enhance the monks existing features and abilities with elemental flavorings. Also, since nearly everyone gets an image of a bender or the avatar when playing the Way of the Four Elements, we allow him to "flex" cast spells that are elemental.
It is still always being tweaked and worked on, but he has becoming something incredibly enjoyable to play and to play with.
If there is any interest, I would love talk with yall and get your feed back!
Adam Owczarek This. This comment is something that heavily encourages me to get into D&D. The cool stories that can happen when the limit just really isn't there.
I just thought of Spoony the Bard and how he summoned Bahamut in a fight against an archdemon at level ~10
I know I'm a bit late to the party, but do you have a pdf or write-up of how your Four-Elements works?
Also, if you want to be the perfect Anti-Spellcaster character? Way of the Shadow Monk is King! Grab the 'Mage Slayer' and 'Sentinel' feats. Get in the wizard's face with your super monk speed, drop a Silence on them, and start punching them good. They can't get away from you even by Disengaging, you punch them if they try to cast beside you (assuming they can even cast while stuck in Silence), and you have Advantage on your saving throws against their spells. Spellcasters will have nightmares about you!
It's a spell casters nightmare.
it's Lee Sin lmao
Ok, so they Disengage, eat one opportunity attack, get out of the silence, and teleport away. Or they use Subtle Spell and just teleport right from there
@@eshansingh1 Mage Slayer reaction attack, stun. Good luck.
Gotta love how positive and sort of jokingly derpy you two can be keep on with the good stuff!
This is possible when you take the 'Derp' feat.
1 charisma?
If you want a wrestler, go Goliath Totem Barbarian (Bear, Bear, Eagle) with the Grappler feat. Give him magic items or casters to grant him Enhance Ability and Enlarge. You now have a behemoth who can wrestle Huge (and occasionally Gargantuan) creatures to the ground almost flawlessly. By 14th level, Eagle Totemic Attunement allows you to pile drive your grappled foe for 2d10 falling damage (40-foot jump halved to 20 due to the half speed while carrying a creature), or Dash into the air for 4d10.
Take a 1-level dip in Monk for Step of the Wind, and you can Dash again for 8d10 (good luck surviving that yourself though).
Go even more overboard and take a 2-level dip for Unarmored Movement. Your base speed is now is 50 for a 25-foot pile drive, 50-foot Dash pile drive, and 100-foot Step of the Wind double Dash pile drive.
I had to rule Pile Drives in my game (cause that's something the Air Genasi monk really wanted to do a lot) like this:
When you pile drive someone, you get a Dex Saving Throw (DC = 10 + height of the drop/5, basically 10 + number of units dropped). On a success, you take 1/4 of the damage the enemy took, on a failure you take half of it.
Ruled it that way cause it makes sense that someone pile driving would do their best to use the enemy's body to cushion most of the damage, that's the whole point of the thing xD
After that she went a little bit power crazy, grappling enemies, using her racial levitation to jump *really* high and breaking concentration for some earth shattering effects. She ended up knocking herself out a few times, even with the half damage, but that's what healing allies are for xD
that's literally the Hidden Lotus
I thought falling damage was a d6, not a d10?
Alright, but when are you guys covering the Drunken Fist in Xanathar's Guide? Because I'm playing a Lizardfolk Drunken Fist and it's TOO MUCH. Lemme know guys you're fantastic.
I am a newbie and a Tabaxi Monk. Thank you for describing ways that I can use my powers. I have been successful in my campaigns but it has usually just been with a flurry of blows. I have found it difficult to understand the books without a greater background in the game so your video was very interesting.
I would love to see more "pugilist" style monks vs. the Eastern style Monk.
Say a Rocky Balboa Monk who has "street Phylosophy"....some thing like:
" it ain't about how hard you hit, but how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward"
"You're gonna eat lightnin' and crap thunda!"
"Eye of the Tiger"
"The World ain't all sunshine and rainbows"
Kevin Heinz a sailor who's all about being a manly man and fighting with his hands? He had this whole gentleman chivalry style philosophy about respect honor and never backing down?
does he eat spinach to unlock his key points?
I think my favourite story re a monk is the one where the monk in my game ran up a wall, dropped on top of a Beholder and stunned it. Beholder failed the save and got stunned. Then the Beholder got back its turn. Now in my game I let my players roll the d10s to see what the beams do. The beholder was like oh, you stunned me? Ok, Petrification beam, Monk failed his save, Disintegration Beam, Monk failed his save, Death Beam, Monk failed his save. Next turn the Beholder just tipped the monk's dead body off itself.
The idea you ended with sounds allot like the "Wild Monk" from "Dragon Magazine". Was towards the end of it's run. They would partially shakeshift depending on their animal style. Loved the idea of one's hands becoming cobra heads that bight your target.
Holy shit, a Brotherhood Of The Wolf reference. This pleases me greatly. I currently play a Tabaxi Monk (way of the open hand) as my very first character; Mandrake Miyamoto Turgidson
I never realized how bad the way of the four elements monk was until this video lol.
I'm so glad I learned this because I was really interested in being one.
the concept is cool and fun! it's just that you have so little ki for using the cool things
swadow Wizards should go rebalance that
they should
They have a few great abilities that they kinda glossed over that are distinctly unique to elemental monks, the water whip ability is a DEX save and pull them towards for 20' or knock prone that does 3d10 dmg + 1d10 for each ki point for a nova of 9d10 damage that regenerates on a short rest. The air blast is the same function but it pushes AND knocks the target prone and is a STR save. Beyond those and everything else starts to lose steam. But you can always have hot tea, a massaging bed of stone, and a cool mist on a hot day. The Ki requirements are out of whack for spell like abilities.
the spells aren't bad it's just that either you need to increase that specific sub class max ki or reduce the spells ki cost
I've just finished playing a monk in Rise of Tiamat... couldn't believe just how versatile they are... from protecting the spellcasters/wounded by using Dodge as a bonus, knocking enemies prone, delaying actions until enemies like phase spiders appear then moving to hit them, running round a ring shaped wall of Fire punching anyone coming through it back, or in the last encounter, stunning Tiamat herself allowing the spellcasters to unload... top class
Don't forget the psychic monk class. I've played it and for a monk and a psionic class it's powerful. They both compliment each other and i really liked how quickly you are able to take control of situations with it.
I love my monk, no additional classes. Just focused on punching things. Way of the open hand is all you need.
I have never seen you so demonstrably excited when talking about a class, or character. I have dug up old d&d info on magical tattoos to enhance monks to go even further with their unarmed nature.
Oh man! I loved that prestige class. Deciding which tatoos to get was so hard.
It's my FAV!!!
Pruitt I have an idea for a Spelljammer campaign based on battlestar galactica with doppelgangers as the cylons. Any suggestions?
Mark Coughran
What if a Cabal of Transmuters create a group of flesh golems, to help with menial tasks. Maybe they put a permanent Alter Self on each one. And just maybe they create these golems too close to a positive energy star, and one day...they are alive...
Now you have sentient flesh golems that can change their appearance, and they might have a grudge against their creators. That's off the top of my head. More o follow if I think of anything.
Ahh yes I see... the golems become ubiquitous throughout the system. The Alter Self would be needed to cover for any unsightlyness. Then the golems on a ship too close to said star gain sentience. They revolt and begin ferrying other golems to the same system. Now as the campaign unfolds the humans that created them have to put down the uprising in order to survive as a species. They have to make bargains with other worldly creatures in order to find a safe place in the galaxy. Perhaps the mind flayers are in the shadows orchestrating the newly sentient golems, guiding them to bring human minds to their home world.
Thank you for the time and suggestions. My imagination is cranking now.
I love how your discussions go in depth, but would love it if you did these types of videos for older editions too.
MAD PROPS for referencing Brotherhood of the Wolf... Really awesome kung fu flick, meets really awesome detective flick.
P.S. In my games Kobolds ARE RAT PEOPLE... but they still get to be dragon kin.
I absolutely love that movie! So freakin' awesome.
Only complaint is saying martial artist for East Asian martial arts. There's way more martial arts, the world over
I love every class in 5e, but the Monk will always hold a special place in my heart.
I wonder about Cleric-Monk...you wouldn't need healing word if you can always run far enough to reach allies with Cure Wounds, and spirit weapon gives you a bonus action to use without spending precious ki.
So my favorite Manga of all time is Kenichi which shows just how diverse martial arts styles can be and how amazing the Monk has in RP potential along the lines of basis of style and how they act.
Wednesday's = Best Days thanks to WebDM BAAYBBAYYYYY :D
We aim to please.
Just found your videos today, and I'm glad I did. Keep up the good work fellas!
I did a one shot playing Sun Soul monk as Yang Xiao Long...
What were your class levels? Because I see at least a little Barbarian, or at the very least Fighter in Yang
I’m wanting to make a npc based on ruby rose, any ideas?
Christopher Huffman variant human take magic initiate true strike cantrip and any damaging cantrip you like as well as Expeditious retreat then go warlock pact of the blade at 3rd level as your invocation take improved pact weapon. Transforming scythe+speed+sniping= ruby
Leo: Shadow Monk
Raph: Barbarian Monk
Mikey: Monk Bard
Donny: Monk Artificer
I've always been a fan of the Monk so I'm really excited to see you guys do this video. I can't agree more about the 4 Elements Tradition. It was an idea that really felt like it should be a slam dunk for the class and it just wasn't there. I've seen a few fan re-works floating around though.
I was curious if this video might have some of the new traditions that have been released (The Kensei and the Tranquility traditions) which actually touch on some of Jim's ideas on other subclass abilities. Have you guys considered taking a look at any of the Unearthed Arcana content?
We are. We film in batches, so this was done weeks ago.
Donatello would be a monk with 3rd level rogue mastermind.
Yes!!! You're absolutely right.
Had a Mousefolk monk of the 4 elements (with the homebrew rebalance). The little guy was certainly a powerful firebender.
According to Jeremy Crawford. Natural weapons are considered weapons that can not be applied to unarmed strime attacks. Nor can they be considered monk weapons either. Which kills the monk/druid multiclassing.
Kiting in D&D really is a good idea for an episode. Happy holidays to you guys at WebDM
I'll put it on the list and check it twice. Happy Holidays!
One of the reasons that your videos are so great, (besides your high Intelligence and Wisdom scores) is that you both have very different play styles. Jim Davis loves using magic with his characters, and Pruitt loves all of the martial classes. As you guys converse back and forth, you both show that there is no one amazing class in this game, and any character can be amazing. Thank you guys so much.
Thanks! That last part is especially true in 5th.
I'm still patiently waiting for the monk subclass that lets you use the kamehameha...
Licjr 1018 You could easily flavour Sun Soul monk that way.
Sun Soul let's you be Vegeta. You shoot 30 ft radiant ki blasts. Except it could actually work when you spam ki blasts unlike poor Vegeta.
2 Cubic Tons Or if you fire all at the same target you flavor it as a single blast of they all hit.
Be an assimar sunsoul monk
you dont need it, they already put Hokuto no Ken in the game, that is all you need
I enjoyed Jonathan's ideas for the shadow monk. I've played a monk since back in AD&D and currently a Way of Shadow monk who just reached level 5. The silence on the dagger idea is great but must have been used in 3.5 since it seems 5e Silence doesn't let me cast it on an object. Nice job on the RPing the Monk video as well.
Totally making a Minotaur Monk.
I found that being able to decouple the monk from the monastery background freed up character concept for me. I had a monk character who was a acrobat and tumbler from a traveling circus. Used the entertainer background.
I actually have a Wood Elf Monk/Druid in the game I am currently DMing, and he does exactly the sort of stuff you talked about, except as a Dire Wolf, and gets advantage on his unarmed strikes regularly because of that Bite action being able to knock enemies prone on a strength save, and multiattack giving him 2 bites per attack. And it often gives the party fighter advantage, too, since the two of them tend to stick together and watch each others' backs.
When the Abyssal Tiefling came out in the Unearthed Arcana, I played a 4 Elements monk. This was a thematic choice, more than an optimization choice. I created him with an aquatic demon ancestor. This led to a piscine looking monk with a tail that he used for the Water Whip ability. Wasn't a spectacular fighter. But, I really enjoyed some of the imagery I could create. Definitely would get boring in a long term campaign.
Speaking broadly as the concept of the Monk in Tabletop RPGs they should be thought of less as a fighter class and more as a special sort of caster that casts magic via martial arts.
They almost make sense to be constructed as a caster like warlock with Ki Focus being the resource to use monk abilities which are effectively spells. Different monasteries would cover different tropes such ninjas, pacifist healer monks, swordsmen monks or even a DnD equivalent of a Jedi.
They fit very well in the caster role, it explains why they'd never wear armour, and why they are expected to perform such impossible things. Things like concentration work well for balancing monk powers. Cantrips are what effectively enhance their melee attacks beyond their normal physical limits.
The fore elements monks do get access to some very cool unique abilities.
-Fangs of the fire snake
-Fist of unbroken air
-Shape the flowing river
-Water whip
These are reasonably cost effective especially with the available damage.
You also automatically get Elemental attunement which is like druid craft crossed with prestidigitation and you cast it for free.
I’m currently playing a 4 Elements Monk, straight up and down from the Players’ Handbook for Curse of Strahd, and I love him so much
I think what’s being forgotten about 4 Elements is that while at lower levels it’s not so viable as a sub-class with how expensive everything is, it’s so versatile with what you can do. Even Elemental Attunement is really great if I get creative and is a great way to set up Flurry, and depending on the encounter, he’s just a really powerful arcane field controller
my favourite monk tradition is the way of tranquility. I love that it makes a less combat centred monk possible
You guys are awesome. And you talked about a Pugilist and I think that's cool you guys acknowledge Homebrew content. I actually have a huge collection of official content and homebrew content on a google drive folder.
In Brotherhood of the Wolf, Mani used a French Marital Arts style called Savate, literally "Old Shoe". Since Mani was a companion of the protagonist, who was French aristocracy, it is reasonable that Mani could have been trained in what was originally a street fighting style in northern France in the 1800's.
So far the monk has been my favorite class to play in Edition 5 as I was using a Dragonborn Monk with the open fist combining long-ranged and up-close stuns
Monk is fun because the DM takes away the party's weapons when captured to "add challenge" and you just laugh and laugh away.
I found a revised version of the Elemental Monk that's super awesome. Makes the spellcasting way less prohibitive, while adding a lot more non-spell effects that are super cool. I have a Monk using that version of WotFE and I love him.
Great episode. I play a 7th lvl Shadow monk and he's the heavy of the group. I completely agree with everything you say about Stunning Fist, high mobility and versatility, but don't forget about being able to Dodge as a bonus action. This is the key to playing the monk. My guy has an 16AC but only 1 out of 6 attacks actually hits because of Dodge. My guy works better with a fighter or two tying up the monsters but my DM fears my monk more than our fireball shelling wizard. IMHO, the monk is they way a support role should be created.
I played way of the four elements, and for story purposes it was tons of fun, plus the abilities were helpful. My DM was really cool with me having my Monk use his elemental abilities creatively and less in combat, and totally helpful for story moments.
Tiger into a stunning fist would be awesome, but a Crane kick from a Crane? Claws of Fury; Feathers of Funny.
that's so great, my fairly new campaign features a moon druid who is druid 2, monk 1, and I've been letting her fight people hand to hand as a bear. glad you mentioned that animal stuff at the end. it'll only get better from here.
Splinter is a Kobold Monk w/ Giant Turtles as pets.. He just happened to have 4 headbands of intellect.
I’m glad to see I’m not the only one using a crown royal bag for dice and/or minis
You guys gotta do a video on why everyone has to have a Crown Royal bag for their dice.
As someone trying to DM a campaign I'm writing up, love these videos. Stay excellent, bros.
Good luck with the campaign. Let us know how it turns out, broseph.
I have found Nirvana; I have become one with WebDM.
Join us in oneness.
I always wanted to play a monk in earlier editions but never got around to it. So when 5E dropped and interest in D&D picked back up and I managed to find a group, the monk was my first and only choice. Over the past year I've managed to get him up to 6th Level (we play every other week at best, so progress has been a bit slow) and it's probably the most fun I've ever had playing a character. Once I got him to level 5 I ditched the short sword and had him using just his fists and feet, and when combined with the extra attack I'm actually pretty up there in the amount of damage I can lay out in a round. I'm eager to get him to Tier 3 and 4 levels to see what he can truly do. Oddly one of the traits I'm most looking forward to is Tongue of the Sun and Moon so I can just understand everything that's said around me and have a whole new realm of RP opportunities open to me.
So much versatility!
Monk wizard would be an interesting doctor strange
Damn straight!
Blade singer kensei
Take a look at the 3.5 monk books. There were a ton of ki related feats. Had a monk that could burn a use of stunning fist and could deal all kinds of effects. Blind, paralyzed, steal spell like abilities, etc.
Don't let that xenomorph anywhere near that deathclaw. We don't need a hybrid situation
I love seeing prewets reaction of Jims tiger monk idea
you can just see the mind-blow happening
Great episode, actually changed my mind on monks. Are you guys thinking of doing warlock next? I really wanted to do a fighter 1 warlock x pact of the blade but I'm having trouble really understanding how to make the magic and martial prowess gel together. Love the channel
wow a brotherhood of the wolf reference in 2016... that deserves a thumbs up.
How did I only find this channel now? Subbed!
I made my own Homebrew subclass for monk which is basically a psionic monk called "Path of Enlightenment." It combines some ideas from the Unearthed Arcana Psionic class, but makes it far less OP, but very flavorful and fun.
I AM THAT MONK DRUID!!!! currently druid 2 (moon), monk 4. one more level and my dire wolf will be attacking with the backs of his paws for crazy fists of furry!
Monk/rogue/ranger multi class with the colossus slayer mixed with hunters mark and mark and sneak attack to get all of the bonus dice, you use your extra attacks with flurry of blows to get lots of sneak attack, colossus slayer and hunters mark to get a huge amount of bonus damage. Mix this with perhaps a hold person spell to get automatic crust to double all of the dice.
dan reed you can only sneak attack once per turn
Japanese medieval times armed monks (sōhei) can make for an interesting monk/cleric blend if taken in the direction of an onmyoji (white mage)/exorcist. 1-2 monk levels is a good start and minimizes high level spells delay (though Monk 2-3/Cleric X costs you an ASI). The exact combination is up to you.
Played a Tabaxi Monk once, with their double speed ability and dashing and step of the wind dashing, I could go 270 feet in one round at 8th level and go up walls and across water, and it only took one round of not moving to get it again. I have literally run down archers up on battlements.
That shadow monk reminds me of basically how I built one of my characters (Rogue 7/Wizard 6), since I'm going full mobility/utility with him. 55' walking speed since he's a Wood Elf, has mobile, and has a Transmuter's Stone, plus access to both Landstrider and Haste, bringing him up to 130' walking speed. Definitely one of my favorites to play. Just a completely ridiculous hit and run character.
One of my favorite characters I've ever played was Pugilist (went by Pug) the tiefling monk (way of the fist). She decided to scorn her infernal heritage, education and name in favor of a simpler life of petty crime and underground fighting rings. Her lithness got her through many fights against a veritable plethora of dangerous foes. Eventually, she garnered enough street-cred to start her own gang. Inevitably, she grew bored of the stagnant life of crime; so, she left on an expedition to find bigger and badder enemies that she might punch into submission. None of that balance mumbo jumbo, just fists.
I’ve played a blue Dragonborn way of the four elements monk, it was great. It is mostly for the imagination. When you imagine what your character would do and it goes well with the dice throws, it becomes awesome.
@WebDM i use to play the four element monk with a kobold. however i only use the fire spell with it to fit the kobold idea to proof himself as a dragon. so his whole deal is about being a comet. being fast and burning everything. its pretty fun in combat too.
I love the idea of giving the way of the four elements monk all four of the elemental control cantrips for free. Mold Earth, Control Flames, Gust, and Shape Water. Maybe take two at level three and get the other two as you level up. The biggest thing though would be something like, "When you take the attack action, you can cast a cantrip granted by this class in place of any attack you make on this turn."
By fifth level you could be instantly excavating 4 5ft cubes of earth or moving a swimming pool's worth of water around or knocking 4 different enemies back from 30 feet all for a ki point. That seems like a decent exchange of power for utility and flavor and it's a unique ability that nobody else can get.
I am loving the love for Shadow Monk in this. It's my favorite of the monk classes aside from Drunken Master so this was awesome to listen to
I'd love to hear about what's so bad about exalted. I think my group played it in 2nd edition and it was fun. There was a sort of intrigue in politics plotline that required us to attract followers, sneak around, do heists and maneuver armies and supplies around and arrange meetings with different factions and deities. It was very multi-faceted and interesting to play and think of solutions. Although one of our party members was a dedicated fighter and he didn't get to do much.
We have a shadow monk in our current game that uses the mobility to set up a lot of really fun grappling. The options you get with that subclass mean that pretty much everything is in melee range if you really want it to be. :D
My Wood Elf Monk got attacked by a Bulette in Princes of the Apocalypse, lured it to the dwarven bridge and used Flurry of Blows to knock it to the depths of the chasm below. Very cool and of course he is now the Bulette-Proof Monk. 😎
picking a monk subclass rn and your point about the way of the four elements needing something specific to the class and not just the ability to cast spells is so true! especially with the similarities to avatar so present it needs something more unique and flavorful
You can also get 2 levels of rogue to use cunning action to double your walking speed along with shadow step, so it's 190 feet in one turn.
with the skill monkey. you can also take the feat "Skilled" for 3 more skills or tools
Variant Human, taking the Skilled feat + 1 skill + rogue + background = 10 skills to start, then + 4 from bard + 2 from Cleric and + 2 from Warlock = 18 skills
I know you've mentioned Sterling Vermin, so I'm guessing you just didn't notice or forgot the Tinkerer archetype they introduced while discussing the Ninja Turtles.
I have to admit, I really want to see a really good, mostly unique remake of the elemental monk, but there are some spells, like an Elder Evils one where you summon a hand out of the earth to grapple opponents (ugh forgot the name off the top of my head and too lazy to look it up lol), that just screams perfect for a monk ability.
I'm actually currently homebrewing a Brawler class, maybe I'll send it over to you guys at WebDM to take a look at after I'm done with it.
This DM guy is fing professional, very cool listening to him.
something that popped up for way of the four elements in my mind is multi classing 16 Monk, 2 cleric-grave domain (from unearthed arcana) and 2 fighter. You can take the discipline "clench of the north wind" to hold person, second turn use the Grave cleric channel divinity to apply vulnerability to the next damage type it takes, action surge into Fist of Unbroken air/Water whip discipline and dump all of your ki points to get some nice nova damage.
Assuming Hold person concentration isn't broken and they fail there second saving throw to break free of it, they will auto fail their saving throw against Fist of Unbroken air/water whip as well as get auto crit due to the paralyze of hold person then double that damage because of the vulnerability from the channel divinity. However that being said you could throw on the grave clerics vulnerability applications and action surge into a few multi-class's for similar effects but Monk/fight/cleric multiclass is smooth for points 13dex/wis and you are good to go
That's cool MC combo!
I picked up the handbook a few months ago, and one of the first things I thought of at the multiclass section was the druid/monk thing.