Colby, if you genuinely want to make a difference in pollution levels around the world, while simultaneously doing something to actually elevate the poor from their crushing poverty, read Bjørn Lomborg's books. Actual solutions to real poverty that make a genuine difference in the world.
It was also supposed to invoke the four pillars of the channel: Character builds, Ask my DMs (which we haven’t gotten in a while), Tales of Aneria (which was moved to its own channel), and D&D University (which hasn’t really been updated since it’s first iteration).
Personally this reminds me of Powder Mages from Brian Mclellan's Powder Mage Trilogy; they can snort black powder for a burst of superstrength or guide the bullets from their guns to extend their range out to multiple miles, among other things.
That's what I was thinking. The first time I watched Equilibrium I loved the concept behind it. Even the theory of development for the fighting style made sense!
I’m playing a Giff gunk. You are essentially a variant human with the gunner feat but with the added bonus of Astral Spark, advantage on strength checks and saves, and a swimming speed.
I'm playing a GiGunk soon also! Phineas Montgomery de Maximillian Bartholomew von Keswick III but he is usually called by his nickname, Dandelion If you'd care to share some insights -- Did you start with Monk and did you multiclass?
@@NodHero I started with 4 levels of Kensei monk and took sharpshooter. Then I took a 2-level dip into ranger for the archery fighting style, hunter's mark, and absorb elements. Then I took the rest of my levels as a monk. I think the fighter dip as suggested in the video is also really good so if you are looking to multiclass just pick your favorite between the two.
Also, Colby! You should ask Kelly and Monty if you can get involved with the playtesting that they are doing for their new book. It would be a really good collab cos you could do a video where you do a build and then you can play that build in the playtest. Everybody wins.
@@Jay-pj5tg Same! Would be a great partnership opportunity for him as well. Some of the fixes Treantmonk makes would be a good option for him to optimize in addition to the new Dungeon Dudes class and subclasses.
@@pez1870 Well, the only part of the Bladesinger that doesn't work with a one-handed ranged weapon is Song of Victory. You can use Bladesong with a pistol and as a Giff you can ignore the Loading property so you are not limited to one attack per action.
@@erikbell1723 Are you looking to have a weapon that is both gun and blade, Garlean style, or a blade that uses magic gun ammo to ESPLODE, gunbreaker style
One of my favorite artworks from Randall so far! Also it’s cool to see this kind of sponsor, even if it’s unrelated to dnd - it shows that it’s important 👍🏻
Focused Aim is even better than you explain. you can spend a ki point on it to trigger the BA attack even if you rolled a nat 1. you dont turn the attack into a hit of course, but thats really secondary to getting the additional attack.
Did they update Tasha's or something? Mine, for Focused Aim, doesn't say anything about triggering a BA attack; it only allows you to spend Ki to add to your attack roll. Ki Fueled Attack, separate ability, simply allows you to spend a Ki point to get a BA attack, no other requirements to use.
@@goose6752 Ki-fueled attack says you can make a BA attack when you spend Ki during your action. it doesn't allow you to just use a ki point, you still need other abilities that do that, like stunning strike, focused aim or deft strike
My Gunk is my favorite Monk even flavour wise, I'm not a huge fan of the Wuxia aesthetic, but I do love characters with Gun fu, Neo, Bayonetta, Dante, Vash and so many more, it lets me be an anime protagonist while also not having to be a martial artist necessarily l
Player 1: Hey our party needs a Cleric for this adventure. Gunk player: My character is a Cleric. Player 1: Really i thought you were a Monk? Gunk Player: Yes my character is a Tetragrammaton Cleric. Player 1: Great welcome aboard.
I played around with a kensai gunk build before. I love the variety of options you have while attacking with this sort of character (even if it comes with a flowchart.)
I like the idea of this character being a gnome craftsman kind of thing, almost like an artificer. Like yeah, they discover gunpowder, and then you can reflavor abilities to be multiple firearms being fired(flurry of blows) or dodging an arrow gracefully and then using a concealed pistol to fire back at the enemy(deflect missiles). Disregarding monetary costs, this is a super fun build!
Should be noted that while the damage isn’t insane , trying to figure how to kill this thing is, it’s just so fast that most enemies won’t have enough speed to get into melee, and you with sharpshooter you can hide behind cover while the enemies can only benefit from full cover.
yey! finally you did the fog cloud + blind fighting style i recommended ages ago. now i wonder when you'll do the upgrade which is eldritch adept: misty visions. getting action surge also helps speed up your setup time so you can actually fog cloud and attack on round 1.
If someone came to me at session 0 and said ‘I want to be John Woo in Hard Boiled’ I would immediately say yes without going over the build at all, and they could give me any backstory they liked, I love this build!
As a DM with a player that wants to start the game out with I Firearm, I offer two caveats: 1, and most importantly; I need a reason why you would have a 250g pistol or a 500g rifle. A reason that has more value than the (3) other characters in your party have for their backstories considering their starting monetary value. By Robbery, Duel, or Inheritance, I need the scene it was given to you in explained or written down to or by me and any NPC's involved. 2: It may take ingenuity to gain more than starting ammunition throughout the game. But it will be possible.
So, there's actually a historical precedent for monks with guns: Japanese Sohei, or warrior monks. The Ikko Ikki, in particular, were VERY fond of using firearms during the Warring States period, or Sengoku Jidai.
I've been waiting for this build since Tasha's. I knew it it was coming. 100% had no doubt. But then weeks and weeks came by when it didn't happen and I started to doubt. Thank you for proving my faith in you Colby.
Colby with the dad jokes about gun fu at the end. roflamo nice one sir. i would have guessed going artillerist artificer.... hand held cannon 2d8 force damage 120 ft. can make it your gunk weapon. plus Shapeshooter, Archery style, etc etc etc but now you can catipult our cannon for added damage, and make it exxxxxxxxplode. (sorry my X button got stuck, im leaving it cause it just looks cool. lol)
13:33, firearms count as martial weapons for things that do not specify firearms, so if you take the gunner feat or a level in artificer (if memory serves) you can use martial arts with guns
Here for that Tuesday morning D&D fix. Thanks for the awesome consistent content!
Год назад+2
If need be, I'm all for the "Arcane Gunslinger", love that "quircky" subclass... normally use "radiant", "necrotic" or "psychic" damage barrels. Regards from Tabasco, México [Land of The Olmecs]!
Great build! I think another way to go could be Kensai X/peace cleric 1/Battlemaster 3. Action surge bless instead of fog cloud, and even if you are out of ki you can make a bonus action sharpshooter dart throw with quick toss.
Hi Colby! I'm bringing a character inspired by your Spore Beast build into a Spelljammer game soon, as a plasmoid with some Venom inspirations. Your videos are always an inspiration to us!
I imagine the Gunk, as the characters from Equilibrium, and John Wick. I love the idea of a meditating Monk, spending their time taking mental exercises to better their sharpshooting techniques. Love your videos, this is my favourite so far.
I knew Ranger was coming :) I made a character using the "John Wick" build and it was Horde Breaker Ranger 3 --> Kensei Monk 6 (initiated by NPC Leosin Erlanthar in HorDQ) --> Battlemaster Fighter 4 - the build was based on a halfling lucky and using Hand Crossbows and using Crossbow Expert / Horde Breaker for extra attacks, Stunning Strike / Pushing attack / trip attack to get advantage, I wasn't expecting the Blindfighting / Fog combo and see it as a great role-play option as you stated with your gunsmoke :)
I imagine reflavoring the Unarmed strikes as a butt attack with the weapon, or even the melee based attack early on could be solved with a Bayonet/dagger or shortsword attack.
Put a bayonet on a musket (spear stats) in the hands of a Kensai monk gets interesting as well when the opponent gets into your personal space, especially if ammunition is being tracked.
Now that treantmonk and d4 have both done very similar Gunk DPR breakdowns, it’d be interesting to see a breakdown on the differences between each method.
@@dwil0311 It's called "Making a Monk archery build and failing: a cautionary tale D&D 5e" and he's very negative towards it because of all the assumptions made.
Thanks for the build, as always! A few thoughts: - Love the concept - Love Randall's art -Love your dedication to fighting climate change - Convinced that the Horde Breaker assumption is too much of a best case scenario 😉
I homebrew hunter ranger. At level 3 once per turn you choose horde breaker or colossus slayer, and giant slayer is always on. At 7th level, at the end of a short or long rest you can choose/change one of the options. 11th level you get both since they are 2 different types of attacks. 15th same as 7th. You choose/change at the end of a short or long rest. (Edit: or if you want to be really strong, just give all abilities active at the same time)
And he's conscientious about the environment - dream boat. First creator I follow that's had an environmental sponsor and I really like it. Love the Gunk too! Thanks as always Colby.
If I were going to play this, I would ask my DM to treat my musket like a quarter staff for melee attacks. Muskets are pretty long, and I love the mental image of a gunk getting into hand to hand combat and buttstroking enemies 😄
if your table allows matt mercers oath of the open sea paladin, it is a MUCH better option than fog cloud. (using channel divinity) Marine Layer. As an action, you channel the sea to create a thick cloud of fog that surrounds you for 20 feet in all directions. The fog moves with you, remaining centered on you and making its area heavily obscured. You and each creature within 5 feet of you instead treat the area as lightly obscured. This fog lasts for 10 minutes, spreads around corners, and cannot be dispersed unless you choose to end this effect (no action required). Not only does this potentially not hinder you or allies (if they stand near you), but it also frees up your concentration for something like bless
Unless I'm mistaken, you can use focused aim even on a Nat 1....So the maths works out as either 2 attacks that both hit (plus 1d4 as you'd add the bonus damage on the 2nd attack when it hits), or 3 attacks but 1 with only a ~10% chance of hitting (depending on AC)......this actually narrows your potential damage range making it super consistent.
Loved the build this week, and as a fellow monk lover I appreciate you sir. My one comment is slightly nit-picky and I'm sorry for that. Also if someone else has mentioned it and I just didn't scroll far enough, also sorry. Being said, while monks are proficient in all simple weapons, only simple melee weapons and shortswords count as monk weapons. It only makes a difference at monk 1 because of dedicated weapon, and doesn't change your numbers at all, thus why it's nit-picky. And sorry for the long comment.
Well I'm not the tree hugging type I'm really glad to know that this non-profit actually shows its numbers I might consider donating to it one of these days. Just because of the level of honesty
I think a Four Elements gun monk could be worth reviewing. Fangs of the Fire Snake lets you make two ranged attacks in one turn at levels 3-4 by spending 1 ki. Not insane, but that's pretty good rate of fire at that level. Plus, at level 6, you can cast Hold Person twice/short rest while making a monk attack as a bonus action. Grab a musket, pick up rogue levels... BAM!
You mention Jackie Chan and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, but honestly the references you want to go for here are John Woo flicks, Chow Yun-fat and Stranglehold. High octane, high speed gun slinging with a smattering of martial arts action.
Love this build! Me personally with how I would play it I’d probably go gloom stalker and delve into rogue and probably go scout for the free disengage and move away as a reaction if something closes into melee against me. I tend to build to lvl 20. Mostly bc I find it fun to finish the build with the last 3 lvls so I’d potentially keep the rune knight branch but finish the build in either monk for ki points or lvl 4 into the other closes for the asi/feat
Id recommend battlemaster instead. Precision for when you miss (super useful with sharpshooter) and quick toss when you run out of ki and want to bonus action throw a dart (works with sharpshooter) which you would obviously flaver as a ninja star.
Great! Wanted to see a build exploring the interaction between Share Spells (Beast Master 15th) and Primal Savagery (Druid Cantrip, which "Range: Self" was never changed to "Range: Self (X-foot radius)" like some other similar cantrips.
I'm currently trying to build a gunsinger (bladesinger with a pistol) but I'd hit a wall because I wasn't sure exactly what the pistol brought to the table. This video really helped me with some direction.
It's nice to see that I am not the only person obsessed with Equilibrium. I know it was a stupid movie, but that is beside the point. The art of being where the bullets aren't is my favorite thing.
I love the gun monk! I would personally wanna play an Earth genasi Gunk, as the lead black powder and gun metal all come from the Earth, I think it would be cool thematically
Super-Monk’y-Total-Gun-ki-extra-attack-gunner This is very similar to my BattleMaster/Kensei/Gloomstalker build. 1 level of fighter first, followed by 6 lvls of Monk, 3 more Fighter, 4 Ranger and then finish with Monk. It was a BugBear build for that first turn Nova damage but it has the gunner feat and Sharpshooter included still. Super fun to play.
Swarmkeeper gives Faerie Fire as a subclass spell, so that would probably be a lot more consistent than fog cloud, as cool as a smoke grenade might be.
One idea that I personally like better for the Ranger part of this build is, instead of going Hunter, go Swarmkeeper and re-flavor your swarm as "Gunsmoke". You can do a small bit of extra damage with your swarm once per turn, or use it as a free disengage. Plus Swarmkeepers get Faerie Fire, which some parties may be more accepting of than Fog Cloud, but also provides an additional method of gaining advantage for scenarios when Fog Cloud might not be optimal.
Usage is king, which is why newly coined words, such as "chobblesome" (meaning worth talking about) become words by being chobblesome. Now, whether something is chobblesome or not is a bit of a matter of opinion, but if you see chobblesome as a word, it has to be at least somewhat chobblesome, so it's also autological, meaning it describes itself :D (am an English major with a linguistics focus and an interest in ongoing language change and the "usage is king" note just got me thinking about this lol)
Heck yeah! I was one of, probably, many who suggested a Monk+Gunner build a while ago, so happy to see you get to it! (I will never call it a " Gunk", though. Yech!)
Great build Colby! I love your builds that don't feel as cookie cutter and the mechanics involved in this build look like they will be a lot of fun to play.
I think I would have taken the extra fighter level earlier (or drop fighter all together) and I would consider rouge (assassin) over ranger for the sneak attack dice and Steady Aim from Tasha’s (less problematic for the party). This is a really fun theory craft!
For the 23:54, while very much "rounded instead of log transposed average for simplicity napkin math", you should for T1-3 have around a 32.25% chance so lets say 2 of the base attacks every 3 rounds fall within the "spend 1-3 ki to turn miss into a hit" range. So before 8~9 ish stunning strike route is probably the safer overall (and even after up to CR 15 bracket there is a significant enough amount of non-named monsters with a modifier of +6 or lower that its a ok idea to use in non-boss fights).
Regarding climate science, just remember everyone: 'expert' does not mean never wrong, journalism in the digital age is necessarily sensationalized, R&D and nuclear power development is key, and we can't all eat organic because synthetic fertilizer enables the four-fold increase in crop yields we moderns enjoy.
I plan on playing this character the next time i have to reroll a character. In my mind this character is less a monk, and more like Daniel Day-Lewis' Hawkeye, in Last of the Mohicans. running through the forests firing a musket, getting up close and using tomahawks when needed.
Good trick: use Focused Aim for 1 ki point even if it won't turn the miss into a hit, it still gives you the bonus attack so you're still getting more from it than a monk who's spending that ki on Flurry of Blows. Also, I personally would leave both Archery _and_ Sharpshooter off the table early on. Variant human because I don't like Custom Lineage much. We take Gunner at 1st level obviously, and we immediately go monk 1. At 3rd level, we're now hitting baseline damage every round without fail because we have Kensei's Shot and the same Dex as the Warlock has Cha. That's pretty nice. At 4th level we pick up Piercer, bringing our 17 Dex to 18. The reroll is very nice, we should use it on the first musket damage roll each turn that turns up a 6 or less. The crit damage is also nice since our weapon has a d12 damage die. At 5th level we get Focused Aim, but the math here is tricky. We _do_ want to scout out enemy AC, but we have our party to help with that. But we also want to make sure we get that bonus attack, so we're usually going to spend 1 ki point on Focused Aim on the first attack that misses _even_ if this isn't going to turn the miss into a hit. 6th level simplifies things a lot, because we get Deft Strike. Now we can _always_ spend a ki point on our action! And we don't even need to already know enemy AC to make good use of this. 1st attack: If this attack misses and we _know_ we can turn the miss into a hit for 1 ki point, we spend 1 ki point on Focused Aim here. If this attack crits, we spend 1 ki point on Deft Strike to get that snazzy +2d6 damage. Otherwise, we spend no ki points on this attack. 2nd attack: If we didn't spend a ki point on the first attack, we spend 1 here, whether it hits or misses, even if Focused Aim won't turn it into a hit. We want our bonus action attack that badly. Again, just think of it as spending the ki point on Flurry of Blows, but better because instead of getting an extra 1d6+Dex attack we're getting an extra 1d12+Dex attack. 3rd attack: We're usually not going to spend any ki here, but if we somehow didn't spend our Deft Strike on either of the first two attacks _and_ we crit this attack, it might be worth spending 1 additional ki point for the +2d6 from Deft Strike. At 7th level, you can either choose to continue Monk until 8th, or you can go Fighter 1 for Archery style. If you go Fighter 1 here, I'd recommend going back to monk for 2 levels to hit that ability score increase as soon as possible, and you can probably afford to take Sharpshooter with it. If you go straight monk until 8th, it's probably better to just max out your Dexterity, and save Sharpshooter for 12th level. Either way, once we've hit Monk 8, our next destination is Fighter 4. I'd probably go Battle Master subclass on fighter, because superiority dice are fun. The only damage calc I've run here is for 6th level, but I came up with 25.8 DPR at that level. There are a few caveats: - I assumed the Piercer reroll is _always_ expended by the first eligible roll, ignoring the 50% chance that the die turns up a 7 or higher naturally (that is, even if we don't end up rerolling the die because it's not advantageous to statistically, we've still "spent" the reroll). This allows me to simplify the math by just increasing the average roll of the first weapon damage die that hits (so it's still a mess in terms of probabilities, this just makes it a little less of one) from 6.5 to 8 to account for Piercer's effects. - I assumed we never know enemy AC, so we never spend our ki point for Focused Aim on the 1st attack. In other words, actual DPR is _higher_ than my estimate so long as you have 1 ki per round to burn. And even this conservative estimate is more than 50% over baseline (I used treantmonk's preferred math of a 60% hit rate by default, rather than 65%).
Personally, would have gone with fighter to level 3 and grabbed Battle Master Procession Shot. A d8 does wonders to deal with that -5 from sharpshooter. Then once you get to use your ki on top of that to make sure you hit, you’re basically only missing if it has been a super long day, or you’re worried it will be.
Agree completely; This was my thought when I started thinking "Gun-fu Monk". On-demand advantage from Samurai synergizes amazingly with Sharpshooter to ensure that high AC isn't as much of a problem, especially early. You do have to give up the sustained damage from RK's Giant's Might or Hunter's Colossus Slayer features, but you get more of those all-important Ki Points. Lastly, the flavor overlap is really strong. Love the damage output of Colby's build, but I think it does tend to require some Gumby-esque bending in RP to work out all the multiclassing.
Offset your carbon footprint on Wren: www.wren.co/start/d&ddeepdive The first 100 people who sign up will have 10 extra trees planted in their name!
You broke my mind with the d&d deep dive
@@hollow2351 😂
You should watch the recent John Oliver exposé on carbon footprint offset programs. They are hopelessly ineffective money grabs.
@@steele5823 will do - thanks for the tip :)
Colby, if you genuinely want to make a difference in pollution levels around the world, while simultaneously doing something to actually elevate the poor from their crushing poverty, read Bjørn Lomborg's books. Actual solutions to real poverty that make a genuine difference in the world.
Can't believe this is the only character in tier 1 with more Monk levels than anything else. And he uses a gun. What a time to be alive.
well at tier one he uses a bow...
@@pez1870 tier 1 in the DPS list that Colby uses. Not tier 1 in the dnd game, as in lvl 1-4.
@@jaspermooren5883 ohhhhh- yeah that's kind of confusing..
Whu needs kung-fu when you have The POWER OF GUN-FU
However there are quite a few caveats to this build that makes several assumptions that many of those other builds don't have to.
And after all this time, I learned today that D4 stands for D&D Deep Dive. Also, I love the build! Gonna have to give this a shot (pun intended).
Same, i thought he just did d4 for the die itself
@@ZombieButler yeah same
Same with the name thing.
It was also supposed to invoke the four pillars of the channel: Character builds, Ask my DMs (which we haven’t gotten in a while), Tales of Aneria (which was moved to its own channel), and D&D University (which hasn’t really been updated since it’s first iteration).
Wait it does??? All this time...
Finally a character as close to the Clerics from the film Equilibrium as we can get. Or we can go absolutely nuts in a John Woo style campaign.
That’s what I’m playing in one of my games! So much fun. I have an artificer who has infused one of my guns with repeating shot too.
That's precisely what I envisioned when I built a Monk Gunner for my previous campaign. :-)
Personally this reminds me of Powder Mages from Brian Mclellan's Powder Mage Trilogy; they can snort black powder for a burst of superstrength or guide the bullets from their guns to extend their range out to multiple miles, among other things.
That's what I was thinking. The first time I watched Equilibrium I loved the concept behind it. Even the theory of development for the fighting style made sense!
I made one based on John Wick, taking into the account that everyone sees him as the myth of the Baba Yaga.
I’m playing a Giff gunk. You are essentially a variant human with the gunner feat but with the added bonus of Astral Spark, advantage on strength checks and saves, and a swimming speed.
Idk why I’m picturing a Winston Churchill lookin Giff on the battlefield.
@@TheArmouryOfficial I was seeing Sammo Hung and Nick Frost from Into the Badlands.
I'm playing a GiGunk soon also!
Phineas Montgomery de Maximillian Bartholomew von Keswick III
but he is usually called by his nickname, Dandelion
If you'd care to share some insights --
Did you start with Monk and did you multiclass?
@@NodHero I started with 4 levels of Kensei monk and took sharpshooter. Then I took a 2-level dip into ranger for the archery fighting style, hunter's mark, and absorb elements. Then I took the rest of my levels as a monk. I think the fighter dip as suggested in the video is also really good so if you are looking to multiclass just pick your favorite between the two.
sergeant Maximilian Ballistikov: Giff Special Forces.
The Gunk: d4 #107
Level 1:(see above) [fighter 1, race & fighting-style]
Levels 2:(see above) [monk 1]
Levels 3:(@14:03) [monk 2]
Levels 4:(@15:42) [monk 3 & sub-class]
Levels 5:(@19:22) [monk 4 & ASI]
Levels 6:(@20:23) [monk 5]
Levels 7:(see above) [monk 6]
Levels 8:(@27:20) [ranger 1]
Levels 9:(@29:53) [ranger 2 & fighting-style]
Levels 10:(see above) [ranger 3 & sub-class]
Levels 11:(@37:19) [monk 7]
Levels 12:(@38:33) [monk 8 & ASI]
Levels 13:(@38:52) [monk 9]
Levels 14:(see above) [monk 10]
Levels 15:(@41:26) [monk 11]
Levels 16:(@43:04) [fighter 2]
Levels 17:(@44:21) [fighter 3 & sub-class]
THANK YOU SO MUCH
Also, Colby! You should ask Kelly and Monty if you can get involved with the playtesting that they are doing for their new book. It would be a really good collab cos you could do a video where you do a build and then you can play that build in the playtest. Everybody wins.
I'd love to see him optimize some of their subclasses and the new apothecary
For real. You would be a great person to help them pressure test that class.
This is actually a great idea.
Idk how Colby’s schedule looks but if he could add that in it would be great!
I would be sooo down to see builds of homebrew or nonofficial content 🤩
@@Jay-pj5tg Same! Would be a great partnership opportunity for him as well. Some of the fixes Treantmonk makes would be a good option for him to optimize in addition to the new Dungeon Dudes class and subclasses.
And next the Gunsinger! A pistol-wielding Bladesinger! Possibly a Giff!
how would that work?
@@pez1870 Well, the only part of the Bladesinger that doesn't work with a one-handed ranged weapon is Song of Victory. You can use Bladesong with a pistol and as a Giff you can ignore the Loading property so you are not limited to one attack per action.
@@irian42 I wonder if giff will be better then just cl+gunner
Home brewed Gunblade plz
@@erikbell1723 Are you looking to have a weapon that is both gun and blade, Garlean style, or a blade that uses magic gun ammo to ESPLODE, gunbreaker style
An interesting tidbit on historical weapons: before the bayonet axe heads were installed to the butt of the gun and quicker to use.
“Ask your GM”
The greatest weakness of this class is when the gunk fills up your weapon and it misfires.
Luckily basic rules doesnt have misfire 😁
One of my favorite artworks from Randall so far! Also it’s cool to see this kind of sponsor, even if it’s unrelated to dnd - it shows that it’s important 👍🏻
Focused Aim is even better than you explain. you can spend a ki point on it to trigger the BA attack even if you rolled a nat 1. you dont turn the attack into a hit of course, but thats really secondary to getting the additional attack.
Is there any reason you couldn't use it on a hit as well?
@@benry007 the ability says you can only use it when you miss.
@@Apfeljunge666 ahh fair enough. Didn't have my books on hand to check, thanks.
Did they update Tasha's or something? Mine, for Focused Aim, doesn't say anything about triggering a BA attack; it only allows you to spend Ki to add to your attack roll. Ki Fueled Attack, separate ability, simply allows you to spend a Ki point to get a BA attack, no other requirements to use.
@@goose6752 Ki-fueled attack says you can make a BA attack when you spend Ki during your action. it doesn't allow you to just use a ki point, you still need other abilities that do that, like stunning strike, focused aim or deft strike
My Gunk is my favorite Monk even flavour wise, I'm not a huge fan of the Wuxia aesthetic, but I do love characters with Gun fu, Neo, Bayonetta, Dante, Vash and so many more, it lets me be an anime protagonist while also not having to be a martial artist necessarily l
"There's definitely like a monk tank build in there somewhere..."
Me with my Lizardfolk Kensei Monk with Longsword and Shield 👋
Player 1: Hey our party needs a Cleric for this adventure.
Gunk player: My character is a Cleric.
Player 1: Really i thought you were a Monk?
Gunk Player: Yes my character is a Tetragrammaton Cleric.
Player 1: Great welcome aboard.
A day too late!! Tread carefully..for you tread on my dreams
@@KAINSAMA
- You've given yourself to me. Calmly. Coolly, Entirely without incident.
- No. Not without incident.
I'm guessing that gunk prefers .40 caliber weapons.
@@jlokison I assume Gun + Monk?
I don't know what Tetragrammaton is outside of the healing ability of the same name usable by White Mages in the FF14 MMO.
I played around with a kensai gunk build before. I love the variety of options you have while attacking with this sort of character (even if it comes with a flowchart.)
I like the idea of this character being a gnome craftsman kind of thing, almost like an artificer. Like yeah, they discover gunpowder, and then you can reflavor abilities to be multiple firearms being fired(flurry of blows) or dodging an arrow gracefully and then using a concealed pistol to fire back at the enemy(deflect missiles). Disregarding monetary costs, this is a super fun build!
D&D Deep Dive... D4 OMG this is brilliant
Im honestly impressed how genuine you sound when giving the intro even after all these vids
Should be noted that while the damage isn’t insane , trying to figure how to kill this thing is, it’s just so fast that most enemies won’t have enough speed to get into melee, and you with sharpshooter you can hide behind cover while the enemies can only benefit from full cover.
I appreciate this sponsor! Thanks for taking them on
yey! finally you did the fog cloud + blind fighting style i recommended ages ago. now i wonder when you'll do the upgrade which is eldritch adept: misty visions.
getting action surge also helps speed up your setup time so you can actually fog cloud and attack on round 1.
If someone came to me at session 0 and said ‘I want to be John Woo in Hard Boiled’ I would immediately say yes without going over the build at all, and they could give me any backstory they liked, I love this build!
You son of a b**ch I'm in... the reaction of any DM
Definitely referring this one to a friend, he’s been obsessed with the idea of a gunmonk for so long, thanks!
As a DM with a player that wants to start the game out with I Firearm, I offer two caveats: 1, and most importantly; I need a reason why you would have a 250g pistol or a 500g rifle. A reason that has more value than the (3) other characters in your party have for their backstories considering their starting monetary value. By Robbery, Duel, or Inheritance, I need the scene it was given to you in explained or written down to or by me and any NPC's involved. 2: It may take ingenuity to gain more than starting ammunition throughout the game. But it will be possible.
For the ammunition, I mean it's just lead balls. Just buy some lead fishing weights and melt them into the shape you need.
So, there's actually a historical precedent for monks with guns: Japanese Sohei, or warrior monks. The Ikko Ikki, in particular, were VERY fond of using firearms during the Warring States period, or Sengoku Jidai.
I've been waiting for this build since Tasha's. I knew it it was coming. 100% had no doubt. But then weeks and weeks came by when it didn't happen and I started to doubt. Thank you for proving my faith in you Colby.
Colby with the dad jokes about gun fu at the end. roflamo nice one sir.
i would have guessed going artillerist artificer.... hand held cannon 2d8 force damage 120 ft. can make it your gunk weapon. plus Shapeshooter, Archery style, etc etc etc
but now you can catipult our cannon for added damage, and make it exxxxxxxxplode. (sorry my X button got stuck, im leaving it cause it just looks cool. lol)
13:33, firearms count as martial weapons for things that do not specify firearms, so if you take the gunner feat or a level in artificer (if memory serves) you can use martial arts with guns
I had no idea what D4 stood for until this video and ive watched at least 50 of them lol!!
Here for that Tuesday morning D&D fix. Thanks for the awesome consistent content!
If need be, I'm all for the "Arcane Gunslinger", love that "quircky" subclass... normally use "radiant", "necrotic" or "psychic" damage barrels.
Regards from Tabasco, México [Land of The Olmecs]!
Perfect! Now I have company while at work! Thank Colby for that!
Great build! I think another way to go could be Kensai X/peace cleric 1/Battlemaster 3. Action surge bless instead of fog cloud, and even if you are out of ki you can make a bonus action sharpshooter dart throw with quick toss.
Hi Colby! I'm bringing a character inspired by your Spore Beast build into a Spelljammer game soon, as a plasmoid with some Venom inspirations. Your videos are always an inspiration to us!
I imagine the Gunk, as the characters from Equilibrium, and John Wick.
I love the idea of a meditating Monk, spending their time taking mental exercises to better their sharpshooting techniques.
Love your videos, this is my favourite so far.
I for one love the concept behind your new sponsor Wren. Will definitely be checking them out. Thank you.
I knew Ranger was coming :) I made a character using the "John Wick" build and it was Horde Breaker Ranger 3 --> Kensei Monk 6 (initiated by NPC Leosin Erlanthar in HorDQ) --> Battlemaster Fighter 4 - the build was based on a halfling lucky and using Hand Crossbows and using Crossbow Expert / Horde Breaker for extra attacks, Stunning Strike / Pushing attack / trip attack to get advantage, I wasn't expecting the Blindfighting / Fog combo and see it as a great role-play option as you stated with your gunsmoke :)
I imagine reflavoring the Unarmed strikes as a butt attack with the weapon, or even the melee based attack early on could be solved with a Bayonet/dagger or shortsword attack.
Put a bayonet on a musket (spear stats) in the hands of a Kensai monk gets interesting as well when the opponent gets into your personal space, especially if ammunition is being tracked.
Now that treantmonk and d4 have both done very similar Gunk DPR breakdowns, it’d be interesting to see a breakdown on the differences between each method.
Which video is a treantmon's Gunk, I'm having a hard time tracking it down.
ruclips.net/video/kaEhZC9BsS4/видео.html
He's absolutely savage haha
@@dwil0311 It's called "Making a Monk archery build and failing: a cautionary tale D&D 5e" and he's very negative towards it because of all the assumptions made.
Thanks for the build, as always! A few thoughts:
- Love the concept
- Love Randall's art
-Love your dedication to fighting climate change
- Convinced that the Horde Breaker assumption is too much of a best case scenario 😉
Woot! just released, nice. Eager to watch!
I homebrew hunter ranger. At level 3 once per turn you choose horde breaker or colossus slayer, and giant slayer is always on.
At 7th level, at the end of a short or long rest you can choose/change one of the options.
11th level you get both since they are 2 different types of attacks.
15th same as 7th. You choose/change at the end of a short or long rest.
(Edit: or if you want to be really strong, just give all abilities active at the same time)
And he's conscientious about the environment - dream boat. First creator I follow that's had an environmental sponsor and I really like it. Love the Gunk too! Thanks as always Colby.
If I were going to play this, I would ask my DM to treat my musket like a quarter staff for melee attacks. Muskets are pretty long, and I love the mental image of a gunk getting into hand to hand combat and buttstroking enemies 😄
if your table allows matt mercers oath of the open sea paladin, it is a MUCH better option than fog cloud.
(using channel divinity)
Marine Layer. As an action, you channel the sea to create a thick cloud of fog that surrounds you for 20 feet in all directions. The fog moves with you, remaining centered on you and making its area heavily obscured. You and each creature within 5 feet of you instead treat the area as lightly obscured. This fog lasts for 10 minutes, spreads around corners, and cannot be dispersed unless you choose to end this effect (no action required).
Not only does this potentially not hinder you or allies (if they stand near you), but it also frees up your concentration for something like bless
Unless I'm mistaken, you can use focused aim even on a Nat 1....So the maths works out as either 2 attacks that both hit (plus 1d4 as you'd add the bonus damage on the 2nd attack when it hits), or 3 attacks but 1 with only a ~10% chance of hitting (depending on AC)......this actually narrows your potential damage range making it super consistent.
Loved the build this week, and as a fellow monk lover I appreciate you sir. My one comment is slightly nit-picky and I'm sorry for that. Also if someone else has mentioned it and I just didn't scroll far enough, also sorry. Being said, while monks are proficient in all simple weapons, only simple melee weapons and shortswords count as monk weapons. It only makes a difference at monk 1 because of dedicated weapon, and doesn't change your numbers at all, thus why it's nit-picky. And sorry for the long comment.
Well I'm not the tree hugging type I'm really glad to know that this non-profit actually shows its numbers I might consider donating to it one of these days. Just because of the level of honesty
I think a Four Elements gun monk could be worth reviewing. Fangs of the Fire Snake lets you make two ranged attacks in one turn at levels 3-4 by spending 1 ki. Not insane, but that's pretty good rate of fire at that level.
Plus, at level 6, you can cast Hold Person twice/short rest while making a monk attack as a bonus action. Grab a musket, pick up rogue levels... BAM!
You mention Jackie Chan and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, but honestly the references you want to go for here are John Woo flicks, Chow Yun-fat and Stranglehold. High octane, high speed gun slinging with a smattering of martial arts action.
I can totally see this character in the staircase scene from the beginning of Hard Boiled
@@40Found ^_^ My man! Also fits with them being pretty much a cop before growing into this force of nature gunslinger out on a crusade.
Love this build! Me personally with how I would play it I’d probably go gloom stalker and delve into rogue and probably go scout for the free disengage and move away as a reaction if something closes into melee against me. I tend to build to lvl 20. Mostly bc I find it fun to finish the build with the last 3 lvls so I’d potentially keep the rune knight branch but finish the build in either monk for ki points or lvl 4 into the other closes for the asi/feat
Id recommend battlemaster instead. Precision for when you miss (super useful with sharpshooter) and quick toss when you run out of ki and want to bonus action throw a dart (works with sharpshooter) which you would obviously flaver as a ninja star.
Great!
Wanted to see a build exploring the interaction between Share Spells (Beast Master 15th) and Primal Savagery (Druid Cantrip, which "Range: Self" was never changed to "Range: Self (X-foot radius)" like some other similar cantrips.
I'm currently trying to build a gunsinger (bladesinger with a pistol) but I'd hit a wall because I wasn't sure exactly what the pistol brought to the table. This video really helped me with some direction.
When you say Gun Monk , I picture john wick. Loved the Video.
I mean, it’s sorta Snake Eyes. A ninja who uses guns.
I love the gunk, I've been speaking about them for years
I'd pick battlemaster as fighter archetype just for the sheer flavor of using battle maneuvers - literally gunkata from Equillibrium movie.
hearing you say "welcome home, this is where you belong" gives me literal shivers.
O yeah. Gun-fu for the win. Thanks Colby
It's nice to see that I am not the only person obsessed with Equilibrium. I know it was a stupid movie, but that is beside the point. The art of being where the bullets aren't is my favorite thing.
Been watching for over a year. Never put together the DDDD. What a day!
I love the gun monk! I would personally wanna play an Earth genasi Gunk, as the lead black powder and gun metal all come from the Earth, I think it would be cool thematically
Super-Monk’y-Total-Gun-ki-extra-attack-gunner
This is very similar to my BattleMaster/Kensei/Gloomstalker build. 1 level of fighter first, followed by 6 lvls of Monk, 3 more Fighter, 4 Ranger and then finish with Monk. It was a BugBear build for that first turn Nova damage but it has the gunner feat and Sharpshooter included still. Super fun to play.
Swarmkeeper gives Faerie Fire as a subclass spell, so that would probably be a lot more consistent than fog cloud, as cool as a smoke grenade might be.
One idea that I personally like better for the Ranger part of this build is, instead of going Hunter, go Swarmkeeper and re-flavor your swarm as "Gunsmoke". You can do a small bit of extra damage with your swarm once per turn, or use it as a free disengage. Plus Swarmkeepers get Faerie Fire, which some parties may be more accepting of than Fog Cloud, but also provides an additional method of gaining advantage for scenarios when Fog Cloud might not be optimal.
Usage is king, which is why newly coined words, such as "chobblesome" (meaning worth talking about) become words by being chobblesome. Now, whether something is chobblesome or not is a bit of a matter of opinion, but if you see chobblesome as a word, it has to be at least somewhat chobblesome, so it's also autological, meaning it describes itself :D
(am an English major with a linguistics focus and an interest in ongoing language change and the "usage is king" note just got me thinking about this lol)
Super surprised he multiclassed
When you flavour your unarmed strikes, and now are just pistol whipping monsters.
Deflect Missiles literally allows us to catch bullets!
Heck yeah! I was one of, probably, many who suggested a Monk+Gunner build a while ago, so happy to see you get to it! (I will never call it a " Gunk", though. Yech!)
Great build Colby! I love your builds that don't feel as cookie cutter and the mechanics involved in this build look like they will be a lot of fun to play.
I've had an entire party built around fog cloud spell.
Oof thats dangerous
The aesthetic of creating a giant fog cloud then going into it and shooting a gun over and over is hilarious. Very much a looney toons feel
I think I would have taken the extra fighter level earlier (or drop fighter all together) and I would consider rouge (assassin) over ranger for the sneak attack dice and Steady Aim from Tasha’s (less problematic for the party). This is a really fun theory craft!
Thank You!
New build LET'S GOOOOOO!!! SO EXCITED! Review to build will definitely come after viewing!
30:00 Technically you half recommended blind fighting in the Flamethrower Sorceror build to help overcome sunlight sensitivity so maybe that counts?
I must say Colby I could listen to those dulcet tones read the phonebook and fall asleep like a baby. Great video as always I love this concept.
A gunslinger build would be interesting to see I really like your channel
For the 23:54, while very much "rounded instead of log transposed average for simplicity napkin math", you should for T1-3 have around a 32.25% chance so lets say 2 of the base attacks every 3 rounds fall within the "spend 1-3 ki to turn miss into a hit" range. So before 8~9 ish stunning strike route is probably the safer overall (and even after up to CR 15 bracket there is a significant enough amount of non-named monsters with a modifier of +6 or lower that its a ok idea to use in non-boss fights).
Regarding climate science, just remember everyone: 'expert' does not mean never wrong, journalism in the digital age is necessarily sensationalized, R&D and nuclear power development is key, and we can't all eat organic because synthetic fertilizer enables the four-fold increase in crop yields we moderns enjoy.
I plan on playing this character the next time i have to reroll a character. In my mind this character is less a monk, and more like Daniel Day-Lewis' Hawkeye, in Last of the Mohicans. running through the forests firing a musket, getting up close and using tomahawks when needed.
Gunslinger Bloodhunter build man. Make it happen.
I played a police detective in a noir campaign, being a gunk.
One of my favorite builds so far! Thank you!
Solid Nacho Libre reference!
great build, loved the Scott Pilgrim reference at the end what a fantastic film that was.
I was expecting an 'Equilibrium' reference at some point. Fun build!
Good trick: use Focused Aim for 1 ki point even if it won't turn the miss into a hit, it still gives you the bonus attack so you're still getting more from it than a monk who's spending that ki on Flurry of Blows.
Also, I personally would leave both Archery _and_ Sharpshooter off the table early on. Variant human because I don't like Custom Lineage much. We take Gunner at 1st level obviously, and we immediately go monk 1. At 3rd level, we're now hitting baseline damage every round without fail because we have Kensei's Shot and the same Dex as the Warlock has Cha. That's pretty nice.
At 4th level we pick up Piercer, bringing our 17 Dex to 18. The reroll is very nice, we should use it on the first musket damage roll each turn that turns up a 6 or less. The crit damage is also nice since our weapon has a d12 damage die. At 5th level we get Focused Aim, but the math here is tricky. We _do_ want to scout out enemy AC, but we have our party to help with that. But we also want to make sure we get that bonus attack, so we're usually going to spend 1 ki point on Focused Aim on the first attack that misses _even_ if this isn't going to turn the miss into a hit.
6th level simplifies things a lot, because we get Deft Strike. Now we can _always_ spend a ki point on our action! And we don't even need to already know enemy AC to make good use of this.
1st attack: If this attack misses and we _know_ we can turn the miss into a hit for 1 ki point, we spend 1 ki point on Focused Aim here. If this attack crits, we spend 1 ki point on Deft Strike to get that snazzy +2d6 damage. Otherwise, we spend no ki points on this attack.
2nd attack: If we didn't spend a ki point on the first attack, we spend 1 here, whether it hits or misses, even if Focused Aim won't turn it into a hit. We want our bonus action attack that badly. Again, just think of it as spending the ki point on Flurry of Blows, but better because instead of getting an extra 1d6+Dex attack we're getting an extra 1d12+Dex attack.
3rd attack: We're usually not going to spend any ki here, but if we somehow didn't spend our Deft Strike on either of the first two attacks _and_ we crit this attack, it might be worth spending 1 additional ki point for the +2d6 from Deft Strike.
At 7th level, you can either choose to continue Monk until 8th, or you can go Fighter 1 for Archery style. If you go Fighter 1 here, I'd recommend going back to monk for 2 levels to hit that ability score increase as soon as possible, and you can probably afford to take Sharpshooter with it. If you go straight monk until 8th, it's probably better to just max out your Dexterity, and save Sharpshooter for 12th level. Either way, once we've hit Monk 8, our next destination is Fighter 4. I'd probably go Battle Master subclass on fighter, because superiority dice are fun.
The only damage calc I've run here is for 6th level, but I came up with 25.8 DPR at that level. There are a few caveats:
- I assumed the Piercer reroll is _always_ expended by the first eligible roll, ignoring the 50% chance that the die turns up a 7 or higher naturally (that is, even if we don't end up rerolling the die because it's not advantageous to statistically, we've still "spent" the reroll). This allows me to simplify the math by just increasing the average roll of the first weapon damage die that hits (so it's still a mess in terms of probabilities, this just makes it a little less of one) from 6.5 to 8 to account for Piercer's effects.
- I assumed we never know enemy AC, so we never spend our ki point for Focused Aim on the 1st attack.
In other words, actual DPR is _higher_ than my estimate so long as you have 1 ki per round to burn. And even this conservative estimate is more than 50% over baseline (I used treantmonk's preferred math of a 60% hit rate by default, rather than 65%).
Corey did fudge the dice and had the poison head attack you all the time ..... ;)
There’s a wonderful table out there for this character.
There is a pokemon move called gunk shot. Sounds like a catch phrase to me.
Man oh man just when I was thinking “ I wish he would post a new build I’ve watched them all” you post this RIGHT NOW… I feel like I rolled a 20
This maybe a npc I make in one of my campaign. I like the concept a lot!
Again, I love how I saw the title...and imagined a TOTALLY different, equi-awesome build!
Personally, would have gone with fighter to level 3 and grabbed Battle Master Procession Shot. A d8 does wonders to deal with that -5 from sharpshooter. Then once you get to use your ki on top of that to make sure you hit, you’re basically only missing if it has been a super long day, or you’re worried it will be.
I always enjoy your preambles. Very well thought out!
I think I would dump the Hunter levels and take 4 levels of Samurai Fighter and 16 Kensei monk, but I like this build a lot
Agree completely; This was my thought when I started thinking "Gun-fu Monk". On-demand advantage from Samurai synergizes amazingly with Sharpshooter to ensure that high AC isn't as much of a problem, especially early. You do have to give up the sustained damage from RK's Giant's Might or Hunter's Colossus Slayer features, but you get more of those all-important Ki Points. Lastly, the flavor overlap is really strong. Love the damage output of Colby's build, but I think it does tend to require some Gumby-esque bending in RP to work out all the multiclassing.
Since you asked, yes I would be down for Mercer's Gunslinger.