The New Monk Hurts My Soul
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- Опубликовано: 29 июн 2023
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Subclasses good, monk (mostly) bad in One D&D!
I've been told to use keywords in video descriptions, but I don't know what I'm doing. I stole these tags from MonkeyDM who seems on top of this type of thing when we chat.
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good video ,pretty good take.can tell you been hanging with colby. ty for your videos.
You mean don't MON - discipline point around.
Can I download and keep the maps, or is it $5 a month for access?
NGL I came here because the thumbnail of the video showed you have chest hair
@@CloudBorneyou can download the maps yeah!
"Let's remake the monk class in such a way that EVERYONE would rather homebrew their own version instead of using our official one." - Wizards of the Coast
You don't get it guys, they are doing this to show how they support homebrew content after the OGL fiasco.
That’s basically how I feel. Fuck wizards of the coast. If they want me to make shit myself then I will and they can’t do anything about it.
You mean back to the 3.5 approach?
Remake monks that even the 5e form is arguably better...
OneDnD in a nutshell basically
I think the biggest nerf is that most people seem to miss is that monks used to be immune to poison, damage and the condition, at level 10. Poison is one of the most common monster damage types (appart from bludg, piercing, and slashing) it really bummed me out to see that gone.
Edit:
I guess I should clarify, it's not necessarily a huge nerf, but it's a feature I absolutely love about monks that got changed in a way that I worry may be less effective. But it's definitely a buff to the stillness of mind feature, so there is that.
I'm just tired of only defensive benefits for so many levels, I didn't care about that one but I still hate the feature presented lol
It's kinda weird that they get immunity and not resistance tho
I also noticed that the deflect missiles is now a dex saving throw by the target, not an attack roll.
Eh, it's immunity to one specific damage type and condition (I've never played a game where disease came into play, so I'm not counting that) compared to ending 3 different status effects as a bonus action. I wouldn't call that a nerf.
sure... but they also can now reduce melee damage every single turn. Which is 100% the most common damage type. seems like a fair trade to me.
Personally I think Ki should be used like metamagic where it's goal is to enhance your existing abilities, rather than grant you access to those abilities. For example Martial Discipline already does this. For free you get a bonus action unarmed strike, but for a ki point you get two. Same with deflect arrow giving you a deflection, but for a ki point you upgrade it to let you throw the projectile back. If every monk ability functioned this way the monk could always feel like a monk. There would still be that competition between subclass skills and flurry of blows /stunning strike, but at least it'd feel less punishing to use ki on your subclass skills if you could still function as a monk while out of ki.
This is maybe the best design idea for Ki I've seen so far. The problem with Monks is that they have to use their limited class resource in order to do shit that other classes get to do for free (e.g., Cunning Action is just a more versatile Step of the Wind for free every turn). However, if they could hold their own normally, then spending Ki would allow them to actually excel for once. And I think it's very on-theme for a monk who's perfected his body and mind to be able to do any one thing better than anyone else can for a limited time. Let's think of some options here.
-Martial Arts: I won't get into all the normal details here, but I'll say this. They get the third and fourth Extra Attacks at the same time as Fighters now, although their damage still scales the same way as before. The idea is to give them a fuckton of weak attacks in order to appeal to the fantasy of a lighting-fast master. I also think we should give them access to 2 Battlemaster maneuvers for the price of 1 Ki point each, in order to give them more control options. The superiority die would be their Martial Arts die.
-Stunning Strike: For 1 Ki, it Dazes the opponent. For 3, it Stuns.
-Step of the Wind: For free, it's a bonus action Dash or Disengage. For 1 Ki, it's both. Plus you get the jump boost. Maybe you could even linearly increase the boost to your jumps based on the amount of Ki you spend, so you could go all-in and jump straight up to the roof of a building if you were willing to spend the Ki. I think you can argue for a climb speed option that lasts until the end of their next turn, too. It's fun to have "upcasting" as an option there.
-Flurry: 1 bonus action attack for free. For 1 Ki, you get two (which increases to 3 at lvl 11 and 4 at lvl 17).
-Deflect Missiles: Costs a reaction to use, but no Ki. For 1 Ki, you can grab the missile and return to sender. I think it might be fun to allow upcasting here too, so you can further reduce the damage of the missile by an additional Martial Arts die per Ki point spent. That'd make for some really cinematic moments.
-Stillness of Mind: Break out of charm/fear/domination for free as an action. For 1 Ki, break out as a bonus action.
-Wholeness of Body: You are resistant to Poison for free. For 1 Ki, you control your metabolism enough to end the Poisoned condition on yourself. You are immune to Poison and the Poisoned condition for the next minute.
These are just some 3AM thoughts, but they make me feel like playing a Monk would actually be fun! I'd love to hear some feedback.
@@Drekromancer I've been saying that since I found out Ki points were a thing. Make it a mid-ground fighter, but then trigger special abilities for calculated flashes of brilliance.
Unfortunately this doesn't help DnD's other baseline problems... namely the action economy being counter intuitive to the DPS focused combat, and the tactically underwhelming condition modifiers.
Balder's Gate 3 makes all of the major workflow issues with 5e glaringly obvious. And because its mostly low levels, all the resource management issues are amplified. Especially in the Cantrip/Spell slot dynamic. Spell slots are too precious to use on anything that isn't either AOE or high damage spells; so you're tempted to spam damaging cantrips, despite the low overall damage, because you don't have many options. Ironically this wouldn't be a problem with Larian's exceptional environmental design, but that relies very heavily on enemy positions. And if a fight goes on for more than 4 rounds, the party is already half way to death.
I point this out because its what compounds the class disparity into the level its been reaching. For the issues Pathfinder has, its action economy only draw back is that its notably slower.... but it fllows so much better, since its not a single high value action (which can easily fail) that determines your success in any given round. The Divinity games kind of prove this, as just being able to do 2 different attacks per round makes so many other mechanics workable.
If DnD could just adopt a 2/1 action economy (2 basic/1 Special), cleaned up spell slots, and compressed some of the damage ranges, you'd have the wiggle room to retool all the classes to not default favor high damage.
@@Drekromancer then this reaches WoTc and they go "wait, haven't you been playing it like that all along? Everything we list for ki points is the bonus, not the base"
@@HellDuke-except that is not how it is designed
I just don't see how bad it can really be if monks can flurry of blows for free each round and THAT be their gimmick. Like dude
It's legitimately insane to me that Monk's strongest features in 5e got NERFED for One DnD.
I am fine with Stunning Strike being nerfed, but I would like buffs in other areas to compensate for it.
I am glad they did it. The feature was way overturned and forced them to have to be really conservative with the rest of their kit. Now they have room to give them other cool things without breaking the class.
Forcing numerous saves per turn against Stun felt like a cheap cop out way of winning an encounter, so it's a feature that needed to be nerfed. The problem is that old Stunning Strike was one of only a few things keeping an already weak class relevant, and WotC didn't compensate nearly enough.
Pain it's still ass in playtest 8
@@D_A_D_if they used the 3.5 monk entirely it still wouldn't be O.P
You forgot another minor change to Stunning Strike. So instead of the stunned condition lasting to the end of your next turn, it only lasts til the start of your next turn. Meaning that Monks are actually the class that benifits least from stunning strike, if they can ever stun an enemy that is
Because it's once per turn, you must hit on exactly your first attack and they must fail the save to get real value out of stunning strike yourself. Really clunky
It also works on ranged weapons he also forgot to mention that
Honestly, I would call that a major change. That takes Stunning Strike from amazing to just good.
@@brewdaly1873tbh. Its was a needed change..many dms compliand how they can do any boss fights whan monks are around..and low number enemys jn general because 4 attacks stuns
@@yuvalgabay1023agreed but then give something in return, if you are talking stuff from them.
• the one minute short rest is only once per day.
• the early d6 is countered by the removal of 'monk weapons' being any your proficient with, only simple weapons. That means no morer d10 weapons early on.
• immunity to poison gone. No more monks pulling a legolas & out drinking dwarves.
I find it really funny that the best monk in the new playtest is the dancing bard. You get d10 and d12 unarmed damage die earlier, also get unarmored defense, and you still get to be a caster with 9th level spells.
Guess which type of monk the people at WotC play?
"I want to be a Disney princess who can dance away all my problems."
While I'm all for letting players play what they want, the designers should not have such obvious favoritism. lol
Man... As someone who really likes the idea of monks, that's depressing.
They might get the higher die earlier, but they are only making like one attack per turn.
@@Flamme-Sanabi0
How sorcerers can burn spell slots for sorcerer points, they could let monks burn hit die for them. Kinda like using your life force in and channeling it immediately rather than slowly after resting.
That's, actually quite inspired! And it's more in line (I think), with how Ki is supposed to work in real life.
I do like that. Another possibility is that a monk could get points back for landing a critical hit or fail. Much like the explanation for inspiration, those rolls can steel their resolve, tighten their focus, or bolden their determination. And with flurry of blows, I don’t think a 1/10 chance is too unlikely for it to be noticeable.
I really like the idea of rolling a hit-die and instead of die + con mod HP you can die + wis mod Ki, make it so it can exceed your normal maximum and monk would have something to kinda smooth their earlier levels and useable throughout their entire lifetime instead of making such a late-game feature like "+4 ki when a fight starts if you're completely out but you have 17-20 Ki per short rest at this level anyway so really this is just filler"
In the past, I made a feature of this type for a homebrew class. It was even more extreme though.
They'd burn maximum and current hit points to recover spell slots, and they could only recover those from long resting.
I think the one thing that feels applicable here is the idea that each hit point consumed this way would age them by 1 day, representing the long-term strain of going beyond their limits. It brings a little bit of RP value and questions, "Do I *need* to use this?"
Also yes, I was inspired by Emperor Time from hxh
@jamesdeer3129 "Burn" just means providing an alternate means of using them.
Normally, they are used during short rests to recover hp. You can roll them one at a time until you're satisfied with your hp.
The pool of hit dice you get is based on your level, and their size is based on your class.
I just want to know who at Wizards is so anti Monk that every rework always results in yet another nerf.
Seriously. Couldn't monks be the best martial character in one edition? They've been brittle, not worth the investment, or just plain awful in EVERY edition of the game.
@@johngleeman8347 Honestly you could let Monks do everything they do without Ki and they would still be overshadowed in every area of the game. They would feel sooooo much better but would still be the neglected ones. "Unlimited stunning strikes is soooo OP." Con save, works maybe 25% of the time at best. Plus few monks are Wis first which means they rarely have a +5 prior to upper levels of play where Banishment is a spell.
@@xandosreign Well said. The idea of the Ki Pool is a good one, but right now you have to spend your Ki Points just to keep up with other characters. But spending your points should put you in a better position than normal. They just need more, stronger options.
@@johngleeman8347
False. They're amazing in 4e, and have some of the best Utility and mobility.
@@ArkansymMonks are just okay in 4e, which is sadly as good as they have ever been. 4e monks are striker/defender hybrids but neither deal the raw damage of a good striker (except in very target rich environments, which are also dangerous) nor have the survivability and aggro control of a good defender.
TL;DW - Monk is probably better, but arguably worse, but subclasses are kinda cracked, I like 'em! 5/10, lacks discipline.
To anyone who watches Colby's D4 channel this vid is wayyyyyy short already 😏🤣
Good day, sir! Love your content, glad to see continued collabs between you and D4. I have a slightly stupid question:
The wording on the new Stunning Strike would imply that the monk does not need to proactively spend the Discipline Point to trigger a Stunning Strike save. Unless I'm mistaken, the introductory clause seems to say (to me, at least, please correct my understanding if I'm incorrect) that once a hit is confirmed, the monk has the opportunity to reflexively spend that Ki point and immediately force the Con saving throw. I'm not super well versed in 5E, but isn't that different from how 5E works? I do agree that getting fewer opportunities to use it per turn sucks, but doesn't this mean that the monk doesn't WASTE their Discipline Points on missed attacks?
@@Eragon057he problem is that 5e monks already could use their Ki to impose a stunning strike save after the hit. They already had that.
Buh dum tiss
Yeah the new monk is not nearly good enough to be the revision monk needs, I feel this is due to stunning strike's existence and wotc being too scared to buff monk because of it. I think stunning strike needs the cunning strike treatment that rogues got. And monk needs an entirely new system that isn't Ki/Discipline points.
It's ironic because Baldur's Gate 3 just announced that the game will have a reworked version of monk, only proving how bad 5e monk is.
I'll miss the poison immunity as a monk. Having an ally cast a cloud of poison and then tearing through the enemies in it is a wonderful experience.
I’m honestly excited to see what Larian Studios does with the monk in BG3. They’ve already mentioned adding new features to the base class as well as more ki points. Will be interesting to try out their homebrew.
yeah me too. I honestly feel like WotC actually hates the monk :')
At least we have hope that Larian won't shaft us like that
edit: Larian well and truly did not shaft us with the monk this is the fucking BEST
My first bg3 will be 1 fightertake blind fighting, 3rogue for extra bonus action and non ki monk abilities, 8 shadow monk take 2extrhp per level feat you need the ogre ring because I dump int. Their a do a necromancer. I’ve been play testing for 1000s of hours
this says it all, they had to boost monks for ballance... and yet WOTC delivers this? They just dont want people to play monks as it does not fit western fantasy? PF2e did a great Monk, and now bring a kineticist (ahn)
@@lordbachus it's honestly just weird, this has been going on since the Oriental handbook. Was that the last time that monk was good? Path finder charisma monk was kinda fun though
@@GarrettCARROTZ Maybe they're racist against Asians? I can't think of any other reason why they would have so much trouble with what in my opinion should be one of the coolest classes in the game. MNKs really should have a fairly high AC and either get more class points at lower levels or a larger base damage die.
Here's an idea, Monks should have a very small pool of ki that recharge at the start of each of their turns and scale up as they level. That way the continuously can do monk things with the limitation being the number of monk things they can do on their turn and the costs to do them
Huh... that's a really interesting idea...
Number of points equal to half their proficiency bonus, rounded down?
While I like this in theory it seems clunky
Perhaps?
"When you roll initiative, you gain a number of Discipline equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum of 1). You can't gain more Discipline than your maximum this way."
The real trick is figuring out a scale that let's you use more powerful late level abilities
I think there are more problems with monk than you let on. Like you mentioned, the biggest problem with monk was at earlier levels where ki points are incredibly limited.
But once you reach 11th level, the monk ALSO falls off in damage compared to every other class! Fighters get extra attack, edritch blast gets an extra beam, paladins get an extra d8 per attack, spellcasters get 6th level spells and their cantrips gain an extra damage die. Monk gets no damage boost at all except for a d8 becoming a d10, which is only averaging 1 extra point of damage per hit, while every other class gets way more than that.
This means that monks are limited at low levels, but also really weak at high levels. The best levels for monk are 7-10, before and after they are really bad.
Flurry of blows should scale with level, to give 3 attacks at 11th level and 4 attacks at 17th level.
At the bare minimum monk should get additional ki equal to their wisdom modifier, but i think ki needs a redesign altogether or it should be scrapped. If flurry of blows didnt cost ki, would it be overpowered? i dont think so.
But i think, more uniquely, monks should get a passive bonus to AC against melee attacks, and they should be able to use their reaction to make an unarmed strike against a creature that misses them. Moreso, monks should be able to take more reactions than other subclasses! (2 reactions at 5th, 3 at 11th, 4 at 17th)
Monks are all about having quick reflexes, and dodging punches and blows and countering when their opponent leaves themselves open. The 5e and one dnd monk dont feel like this at all.
Also, just give the monk a d10 hit die. they desperately need it.
Oh, these be some dope suggestions ^^! Especially upgrading the number of attack with flurry of blows. Might bog things down a little at times, but rolling all your attacks at once instead of one at a time exists.
@@iselreads2908 well, this already exists with the fighter, at high levels. They already get 4 attacks per round, paired with action surge that becomes 8. 10 if you count two weapon fighting.
Also with how stunning strike is, it already bogs down the table. I wouldn't mind it if stunning strike was moved up to higher levels or even removed entirely. I actually think the stunning strike nerf is perfectly fine, but the monks issues weren't fixed at all so it just serves to make the monk worse
@ComradeVenus I think changing Stunning Strike to use the new Daze effect instead of stun is WAY better. I use it in my games, and it works out far better.
@@ComradeVenus...and action surge comes online at level 2
I agree with the flurry of blows, and even step of the wind, not costing points. I also like the idea of both bonus actions scaling with levels. Could go back to 2014 damage dice too to help with their goal of backwards compatibility. Stunning strike should not be limited to only once a turn. I like the change to where the stun ends at the start of your next turn. Add in their hit die should be increased, they are usually melee characters.
Main thing I would do to improve the Monk would be to say the Monk can add their Wisdom Modifier to the amount of Ki/Discipline points they have. Means you actually have some points to spend at the start of the game, and by the time you reach mid game, it doesn't matter so much anyway as you had enough anyway, now you have 2 to 4 more than you would've had. Other than that, I'd plug the short short rest and increased damage die into the 5ed class and leave it at that!
Just started a campaign playing a mercy monk and my DM added the wisdom boost to Ki. Should really help at the low levels.
Adding wis mod to ki pool and just updating the monk damage die (pretty much 1 for 1 what the UA did) did wonders for the mercy monk in the game I run, it pretty much gives just enough of a bump to your ki pool and doesn't make it crazy as the levels ramp up.
Could also do proficiency bonus instead of wisdom for scaling without asi and more multi class potential.
My initial thought would be change flurry and patient defense themselves to no longer requiring Ki points. Each round you can choose to be a bit more damaging or a bit more tanky. That would prevent being un-monkly based on being ki starved and allow sub-classes to focus more on their unique traits (looking at you way of the four elements). My secondary thought would be to implement that idea, but further expand by allowing monks to use Ki points, up to their PB, to gain extra bonus actions. Or perhaps only each feature can be used once. So using Ki you could step of the wind, and patient defense AND flurry which using these new mechanics, would cost you 2 ki points, and make you insanely monkly for that round. IDK just a thought
Unlimited patient defense would be pretty broken, it is a really strong ability. Flurry of Blows though should just be removed and instead just have the monks bonus action attack from martial arts to scale to give more attacks at higher levels.
@@Klaital1blur is a second level spell and achieves roughly the same thing (no add to dev saves) while not using a bonus action every round. I don’t think it’s broken, just good.
@@Klaital1 Would it though? You'd have a class that has poor offense and defense, and can use its bonus action to improve one or the other.
Which is kind of like a rogue, who can hide and attack with advantage, or attack then hide/dash to cover.
@jamesdeer3129 I might buy this thematically, but practically they don't get any of the long-range options that Clerics and Druids have. Is there something I'm missing?
I'll grant you that the elemental monk could fit this bill, but so much of the base monk is built around unarmed strikes. Yes, you can use a light crossbow, but why would you when half a dozen classes do that better?@jamesdeer3129
I think the biggest blow to Monk in this playtest is the Dance Bard. It gets the cool unarmed and mobile play style, while also being a full caster (with access to any/all spell lists to boot!).
College of Dance is my favorite monk subclass they’ve ever made.
Just think about how much more a Bard needs Charisma than a Monk needs Wisdom; even the Unarmored Defense is more optimal on the Dance Bard. 3 levels in Monk for 4 Elements 15ft reach (or 20ft for Bugbears!) and damage types could be cool, but probably only worth it if you’re starting at level 6+ and ending before high level spells.
Yeah but don't they GET alot more from charisma than a monk could ever get from wisdom
@@MrJpc1234 Unless Stunning Strike gets restored, or we get a semi-caster Monk, I’d argue a Bard gets a lot more out of Charisma. Spell to-hit, save DC, and bardic dice number on just a generic Bard, and now Dance Bard gets Unarmored Defense, matching the Wisdom need for Monk AC.
All that to say, I think Monk should probably get more from Wisdom; either more discipline points, or an unarmed strike to-hit bonus. If they’re forced to be MAD, martial, and not partial spell casters, they really need more from their “secondary” stat.
@@tylercool1400 I saw a really cool rework of 4-elements by Laserllama that used the Wu Jen from the Forgotten Realms setting. It made them a half-caster but with the spell slot setup of a warlock and a restrictive spell list. Added with the later bonus of being able to do a martial arts attack after casting a spell, it is one of my favorite reworks.
Genuinely, I think the direction to go to make monk not feel like a different, worse fighter is to use more of the game design that went into Warlock. Otherwise, it is easier to play a punchy fighter or ranger and you get to do all the kung fu fantasy movie stuff without a drop of the named class. Just playing a Hunter Ranger and taking Horde Breaker, Multiattack Defense, Whirlwind Attack, and any of the lvl 15 features gives you a half-caster monk in all but name.
It would be kind of cool if monks had something like battle master maneuvers. You would think something with a lot of dex hitting you multiple times per turn might have the utility to move you into a different position, find a weak spot, knock you down...something
Basically make open hand into the base class. It's not like they have any flavor that separates them, anyway.
Thema have Kinda with the New unarmed strike Feature... Butt of course u give up dmg for that again....
they should give stunning strike the cunning strike treatment imo, make it a list of versatile and balanced striking options
SW5e (Star Wars 5e) monks were quite buffed, and have similar things to what you suggested. I think it’s totally fair, and cool flavour that a monk would have this cool knowledge.
They decided to give that to the rogues of all the classes lolol
One of Monk's biggest problems is their reliance on multiple attributes. What if they just made that a Monk's strength? Every other class is rewarded for Min-Maxing their Attributes to extremes. Reward Monks for doing exactly what their Class Lore would dictate. Reward them for balancing their stats. The same way both Wisdom and Dex add to their AC, Let monks Add both Dexterity AND Strength to their Damage/Attack rolls instead of one or the other. Let them combine Constitution and Wisdom for HP. Maybe the idea needs some tweaking, but thematically it works and i'm sure it could be made to work mechanically too.
Honestly.... that'd be sick.
When I played a monk, it became super viable with only one thing: I took the mobile feat as a variant human. That let me dance out of range of combat all the time and saved my ass more times than I can count. It let the paladin and barbarian tank the hits while I just, as the DM described it “had an episode of (character) slaughters everything mortal kombat style”. So just giving the monk the mobile feat as default fixes the risk issue
One easy-to-miss buff I noticed for Deflect Missiles is that it no longer has the requirement that the missile be small enough for you to catch in one hand in order to throw it back. In fact, the wording has been changed to make it more vague what you do to the projectile, so I guess you could be punching it out of the air if you wanted. I don't know if that's a rule anyone paid attention to anyway, but it does mean RAW you can headbutt a giant's boulder back at him if you roll well enough.
I didn't even know that was a thing. I've been deflecting ballista bolts with my Monk for a while now.
@@adambielen8996 That jail break scene from kung fu panda was always what i imagined when i deflect a ballista bolt. Maybe like using your whole upper body to grab and spin the bolt, using the momentum to throw it back.
@@adambeck427 Well my guy uses a longbow so I always want to ask if I can shoot it back at them, but I've never reduced the damage to zero.
Stone giant: throws a boulder at you
you: headbutts it back at him
Him: catches it
My monk caught a Boulder thrown by a stone giant. I rolled well enough to throw it back and take him out as he was low hp from our ranger. I play an Aarakocra astral monk. It's been pretty fun, I got a decent variety of magic items that help me keep up with the others in the party
Seriously, just let your monk use their monk weapon for their Martial arts. It gives them the much needed damage boost without being insanely powerful. Even if it's a gunk build.
Also, to solve the lack of Discipline in the early game, make the number of points you get your Monk Level + your wisdom modifier. It gives you the necessary power boost early in the game, and a late game monk isn't going to be overpowered with 5 extra points, especially if there's a wizard in the party.
Fix monks by giving them a line of text at level 1 or 2 that says “at the end of your turn, if you did not spend a ki point this turn, you regain one ki point”
Back when I used to run 5e, I cut the amount of ki points gained at later levels in half, but gave them some additional rules. Ki points automatically recharge to full after combat, and the monk can burn a standard action to get half (minimum 1) of their Ki points back in combat.
I love this idea
Instead of just bigger capacity focus on mechanics that reward you with resources in different ways
4:41 I’ve always thought all monk needed was: “if you do damage to a character with a monk weapon or unarmed strike, that character cannot take opportunity attacks against you that turn”
That was something they relegated to a use of the Open Hand Subclass feature. There was no save for it before, even. They made it worse by requiring a Con save to make it work now. So, and other strike against my current character.
Or: your ki points are your monk level + your Wis mod
You can homebrew a couple extra changes if you want, like step of the wind doing both dash and disengage, or the MA die increase, but I feel like that one change brings the monk closer to the fighter, rogue and ranger
Yeah. There’s no dedicated hit and run class yet, which is probably one of my favorite combat archetypes.
So the _Mobility_ feat for free.
The Mobile feat gives you that.
You may think at some point someone would peruse the 2E monk and notice a logarithm that suits 5E. The incremental scale already existed, one ounce of swallowed pride is worth more than 10 pounds of reinvented wheel.
Could you provide a link to what you're referencing?
@@tacoman10 I am certain such a thing exists online, however I was referring to to paperback DMG /PHB. From before the internet. Internet Archive should have the pdf, but please be prepared for some mathematical chores... Unfortunately this is the precise reason ADnD progressed into a more user friendly less effort entity. Sorry, I am from the generation where the effort put into a thing is directly proportional to the reward received from said thing.
Another idea to boost defense: make Unarmored Defense=10+Dex mod+Wis mod+Prof Bonus. Gives an immediate +2 (so many would start with a 17 or 18, comparable to med or heavy armor) and would end with a 26 (comparable to magic heavy armor plus a magic shield.)
I thought the way one guy I know balanced the monk was pretty good (as DM). He just added an extra bonus action to the end of each monks turn where they could only move away from enemies. He also gave the monk a little extra movement so that they nearly always could move further and faster than anyone else. His argument for this was always, "You ever see a martial arts movie where the protagonist wasn't the fastest asshole in the room?"
One group he always talks about caught on and built an entire group of monks, where two of them multiclassed to give a little variety in skills. They had a whole shtick worked out with lots of quotes from Kwai Chang Caine and other martial arts masters from tv and stuff to fill the dialogue with. Sounds like they had lots of fun.
For a class that arguably is the coolest to play if not the strongest I gotta say "way of *blank*" is so much better than "warrior of *blank*"
Weird thing to complain about but man do I hate how it rolls of the tongue lol
WOTC really goofed imo, they decided to turn away and stripped the Monk of all the East Asian influence 😔
that stuff was why I liked it in the first place
I agree that Way of ____ sounds better. But given that DnD is played with so many species and cultures having Monks be just East Asian made them feel limiting. I ignored that with my Kensei whom I play as an European blademaster (his unarmed strikes are him using the pommel and the crossguard of his longsword). But forcing some new player to try and work out how to play a Dwarf Monk and make it sound Dwarven is asking too much of them.
@@adambielen8996 "Way of __" is kinda as neutral as you could get without losing anything imo. Like "Way of the Kensei" (Way of the Sword Saint) is dedication to mastery of a sword.
You could also do "Path of __", which means the same though doesn't sound as cool.
@@adambielen8996 I get wanting to make it less eastern focused with name but I dont think "Way of" is exclusively eastern nor do I see how that would hinder someone making a character a certain way.
Maybe been lucky but all of my players new or old have never had a problem with creativity on making their character. Like for your example you could just be a Dwarven brawler and flavor everything to how you want as long is it follows the core rules of the class. Or if your more knowledgeable of the game you would know Dwarves are fairly religious so them having monks isnt really out of place but you still dont have to play it that way. I mean by your example wouldnt the class dimply being called "Monk" be a road block for some reason?
Lastly forcing a new player to try and work out anything on their own in D&D is asking too much of them lol, at that point its more of a DM issue with not working with their players to make their character work than the name of a subclass.
I don't know who the people are that create this game, but this feels very much like we're going to show the worst possible choice of abilities so that whatever really comes out will seem so much better even though it's probably written not as good.
I really think a subclass that just let's you add Weapon properties (finesse, heavy, two handed, reach, etc) would be amazing. Become a Lotus assassin from the Jade Empire xbox game by letting the monk sneak attack with fists. Let them be a heavyweight boxer by being able to use great weapon master. Let monks do the fun things too!
Hopefully if Kensei gets a boost, it adds all those weapon properties, especially since the "special" property doesn't really exist anymore (lance/net being changed).
I was toying around with a swordmaster rogue that give finesse to longswords amongst other boosts. Since rogues can use longswords for some reason.
In my campaigns i adjust them with a pair of adjustement: first from level 1 they regain a Ki point for every nat 20 on attakcs or when they make a creature drop to 0 HP, the second was to enhance the martial dice. I think they work pretty well like that
If they want to artificially impose time limits they should allow monk points to modify the abilities something like "Ability - does this thing once per turn, if you spend a monk point you can do it harder/better/faster/stronger" This way you can still do the thing but not as well as if you could spend a monk point.
Ah yes, this is now the "Daft Monk" subclass. They're well known Around the World doing Homework.
@@asgenkarlson2703 aw man i miss when Daft Monk was still Alive, i really wanted to see them One More Time but i guess everyone dies eventually. they were Human After All, i suppose
YES... finally.
The stunning strike limitation is so baaaad, it would be okay if you increased the Monk's max Ki points.
It feels like they forget that at high levels spellcaster can do GOD like stuff and monk always seems soooo normal in a bad way.
I'm playing a Monk character and the only reason why my friends and I love him and think he is Badass is because I roleplay like crazy (for fun) so it sounds cooler than it is, I just punch every turn tbh :') (Way of the astral self is so cool theme wise, love that Jojo's bizarre adventure ref potential). Hope WoTC watches this video and the player's feedback
Don't compare casters to martials. Martials will ALWAYS LOSE in that comparison. It's two different playstyles.
@@ericpeterson8732 Fair, but I'm sure you and everyone else still get my point, even againts other martial classes, the monk needs a lot to "work properly"
for the Monk I'm playing, I am godly because it is nigh-impossible to sneak up on me. Passive Perception of 34, access to Truesight, the DM has to get really creative to ambush us. Or just give up on doing that and throw some insane things at us.
For anyone wondering what the anime/show is at 6:15/6:30, it is "Voltron: Legendary Defender", specifically episode 3. It isn't a full show set in a fantasy setting.
@DnDshorts you should really credit audio and visuals in your videos.
There's been a lot of power policing in the playtest so far, like how hex and hunter's mark still require concentration but also became "you get some sneak attack damage"
Honestly I always thought there should be an option for Monks that allows them to use Wisdom in place of Con when it comes to determining HP. So you get that visibly frail looking enlightened master who can still take (and give) a massive beating.
I was so demoralized by the time I was done reading monk, I skipped past paladin and just stopped there. It isn't just underpowered, it's souless. They took away the monk's identity and weakened it without fixing any of its problems and making some others worse.
SAme as they did for the druid.
@@thanesgames9685what? Druid is great wym? Unless you're talking about the test beast template one, the newest version seems great
@@GrimViridian Newest version looks to be the worst of all editions of the game.
@@thanesgames9685 how? I watched two youtubers talk about it earlier and literally everything was good, having the choice to get medium armor prof and martial weapons, do extra elemental melee damage getting commune with nature and speak with animals as a feature, they actually found a decent balance for moon druids (though they either need more powerful beasts or elementals again) but the melee damage buff helps that a lot too, plus the option to do radiant damage when wildshaped
I read the dance bard, and I immediately went straight to monk, and that's how I stopped reading. If I wanted to play a monk, I'd just play a bard, and I'd be able to theme stuff better than the actual monk class. That was crazy disheartening
We house rule a few simple things for monk.
Level 1: Battle Meditation. If you take no other action in combat the monk can center themselves, focusing their body's mystical energy. You regain any ki/discipline points spent in the current encounter, but cannot use any ki-powered abilities on your next turn. Focus can also be used to regain ki while out of combat.
Level 4: Steel Wind. Deflect missiles does not cost ki to do, and can be done multiple times per turn based on proficiency bonus.
Level 8: Stance of the Hungry Ghost. Mimicking the soul stealing monsters of yore, you can steal the fleeing life force of the foes you defeat in battle, invigorating your own spirit. When you knock a foe unconscious or kill them, make a DC 15 WIS save. On a success, regain two if the killing blow was dealt with a ki-empowered ability.
I also give shadow warrior monks a weaker version of the rogue's sneak attack, bringing back "Sudden Strike". The only caveat is that you have to attack from the darkness you create or after a teleport. Monk gets the short end of the stick, but I am always willing to make them play better if someone wants to run one in my games.
Just a thought based on what I've read of the 'general' rules, a monk is now better off using two light weapons than going unarmed.
Because you could, in theory, do 5 attacks at level 5 using 1 ki point, or 4 attacks using 0.
You can even get pretty crafty with it:
> unarmed shove prone, light attack, light attack, flurry
> throw a dagger/hand axe, throw a net (Same hand), off-hand dagger/hand axe, flurry
Unless I'm reading it wrong, monks would be the only class capable of getting 4 attacks at level 5 (barring action surge), let alone 5 attacks.
Since the above is possible and fairly strong at low levels, I'd push for allowing a free unarmed strike as part of their attack action (using similar rules to light weapons, and a caveat that you can't stack them).
So they could attack 4 times per turn w/o using ki, and 5 times using ki.
If that winds up being too strong, then maybe get rid of the bonus action punch and keep flurry, or get rid of flurry and keep the bonus action punch.
So monks would always get 3 attacks and can spend a ki to do 3+2 attacks, or monks always get 3+1 attacks and don't have to spend resources to do so.
I think we can live with the low AC as long as the Monk gets bumped to a D10 hit die like the other martials. Then give one or two more Discipline points to start with, make it so you can only Stun one creature per turn, instead of attempt to stun and we’re doing pretty good.
I think that if you made heightened metabolism a multiple use a day feature like wild shapes, rage, channel divinity and second wnd like the eest of the UA classes it could be a good defining class feature that is considered a monk essential. Then just raise the hit die and turn deflect missiles into DEFLECT. making it so you can use it on melee attacks as well and return a melee attack if you reduce it to zero at the cost of a ki point.
i think switching it with the lvl 2 feature would help a lot and base it on the wisdom mod per day min 1 and upgrade the lvl 2 to (15 or 20) feet and mabie add back in the poison resist and immunity but it 100% needs to be earlier because those are the levels that suck for the ki points
Did you just Invent dnd ju Jitsu?
Also, as a new/aspiring DM wanting to use Foundry VTT, I saw your sponsor and my head exploded. I /will/ be supporting that patreon
Big fan of the channel. Haven't played DnD long but I'm working on reworking a few classes, mainly monk.
I feel like Discipline points should be only used for utility or for offense, not both. If so many features can eat into one resource that is extremely limited, it makes them play and feel pretty bland. You're right in that we need some greatness in this class. I watched Ip Man a couple years ago and thought "Why doesn't the Open Fist monk have that kind of offensive and defensive skill?"
Edit: Typo
Hahaha Open Fish Monk!
A monk slapping people around with a fish is a pretty funny image. Hahaha!
So you see, in a homebrew monk subclass I made, they have a feature where you can forgo a ki point, or recharge them, by expending 1d4 hp, and they add constitution to wisdom based rolls.
Its quite clever workaround, actually. You kinda push your own body to the limit, which leads to you being much more powerful, yet depletes your body's resources. I would probably even make it just a general class feature, because being 1d8 hp melee martial character, you have pretty limited amount of health which will force you to play more strategically but overall drastically increase your fighting capabilities. The more I think about it, the more I want to steal this idea for my own campaign
An idea that would probably help Monks a lot: if they multiclass into any Spellcaster, they can trade spell slots for Ki points.
I’ve just made a sunk (sorcerer monk) that relies on this!
An easy fix is to have the monk features be free to use up until you pb, then cost discipline. That way, discipline can be used on the subclass features slowing for more variety between the subclasses. Or just limit the number of uses per turn and make them accessible at all times.
Honestly, they could just make monk features at will at this point. They are all limited by your action economy now anyway, so why add a limited resource to keep track of on top of it? Rogue got a ton of cool features that don't require resources, why does the monk still have to be limited to DPs?
My biggest peeve of these changes is that shadow monks seem to lose the other spells now its just darkness, but you can move it and see through it. You could already move it if you got creative with how you cast it so losing the other spells just to gain the sight while in darkness seems like way too steep a price.
Yeah I really loved my yuan ti mage slayer with the 1 level fighter dip for whip proficiency and d8 unarmed strikes.
To "fix" the Monk, hit die D10, Step of the wind reads "You may Dash or Disengage as a bonus action, you may spend a point of Discipline to both Dash AND Disengage, in addition you double your jump distance for the remainder of your turn", gain 1AC to your Unarmored Defense at levels 6, 12 and 18, you may Patient Defense as a reaction. This will help a lot.
One of my favorite rules to let monks take maore of an edge to damage is; rather than upgrading your damage die, you roll an additional d4, which gives a pretty nice average damage to each unarmed strike, and if your punching,your not using ki
I think you hit the nail on the head, The simple fact we need to look at high level marshal classess and say do I think this is comparable to casting WISH.
Here's an idea that I've been going through. Ki-enhanced Abilities, all of the monk features are free, but using Ki empowers them (E.g. Step of the Wind usually uses a Bonus Action for free, but if you burn a Ki point, it's free like Tabaxi feature).
Ive always liked the idea of monks being able to regain small amounts of ki when they do things like land multiple attacks in one turn or crit with an unarmed strike.
So like a combo system? Hit 3 attacks in one turn and get a ki point back? I like it.
Yah I really like this idea too. Like say every three attacks that hit will recover a ki point for every combat encounter. Maybe crit will count as 2 hits.
@@Cosmic_K13 There's no momentum-based system like that in D&D so far. But you make it sound like there should be. It'd be so interesting and new!
Some of those conditions could also be specific to a subclass, like shadow monk doing something while in darkness/dim light
I came to the idea that the Monkbcould gain their ki back if they deal a total amount of damage equals to half the monk's hp
Here's a little homebrew I've come up with, I don't know how you think about it.
Each Skill that requires Ki points, has "two ways" to activate.
1. Completely free, but giving a small penalty.
2. Using ki points to avoid suffering the penalty.
For example:
Flurry of Blows can be used for free but is penalized by subtracting -1 from the attack roll.
Patient Defense can be used for free, but if you are hit the damage taken is increased by +1 for that turn.
Step of the Wind can be used for free, but it takes a -1 penalty to your AC that turn.
Obviously, if you decide to spend the ki points, you will not receive any penalty.
What if the penalty is made from your proficiency bonus x 2? That way starting monks will have not much of a problem with the ki points
And when you are higher in levels you still won't have much of a problem cuz u will have more ki points
@@thewarstoryteller9900 Perhaps, although it would be strange and even funny to think that the more experience and skill monks has, the worse they performs their techniques.
Maybe I should add that there are techniques that necessarily spend Ki points, being mostly techniques that feel "supernatural" like the blow that can kill you instantly or the features that allow the Monk to use spells.
That ad was brilliant! Keep it up man
Here’s an Idea: At lv 2, give monks 5 Ki. Then, at level 6 when they get enhanced metabolism, start giving them 1 ki per level. Fixes the problem
or just have it be basically monk level + wis mod and there we go that should help a lot
@@mohammadmurieMake it level + proficiency bonus. 4 points is great at 2nd lvl and proficiency bonus scales without needing investment.
@matthewdykeman8149 true but still either or would help so much woth the early game ki point shortage as adding 2 or 3 ki points along with the initial 2 goes a long way at that level, and added in that 7th level feature earlier as honestly wouldn't be to much and make it several uses per long rest as it looks like monks are the only short rest class left and to help stop dragging the party to rest after every encounter helps
@mohammadmurie thats what I do in my games and it is a fantastic homebrew adjustment. I can't recommend it enough.
@matthewdykeman8149 the ability already scales.
Tying it to wis mod fits the theme and story/lore of what ki is. Proficiency bonus has nithing to do with it.
I have three changes which makes monks far more viable. First, they have a D10 hit die because they should of had it in the first place. Second, they’re third level ability allows them to add half their proficiency bonus rounded down to the attack and damage rolls with unarmed and monk weapons. Third, they can add their wisdom modifier to their ki point total.
Edit: Additional changes you may want to make are upping the monk dice starting at a d6 moving to a d12 not unlike the one D&D variant. You may also want to allow them to make attacks with their monk weapons when using their martial arts and flurry of blows features instead of only unarmed strikes. This will make bow monks far more viable, and will make weapon use for incentivized in general. This makes the monks even better damage dealers without completely breaking the class.
i kinda like how shadow basically sounds like a rogue and can use their darkness to protect their party or let them setup. if the monk happens to have the best movement it would be a nice way to hold some enemies down or screw over some strategies.
element is fun just having extra range and the ability to go "i resist the dragon's breath now" against things like the dracolich that can change his breath attack is fun.
This was one of the best ads I've seen from you no idea why but it was amazing
"Superior defence" indeed...
I think Monks at 18th level should just get the Foresight spell once/day. Now THAT would truly feel like you've unlocked your chakras, achieved super saiyan, sage mode or whatever.
For earlier levels, I like Colby's suggestion of number of ki points being equal to lvl +proficiency. Or maybe Wisdom.
Perhaps also a feature which allow them to take more reactions, like the Cobalt Soul Monk.
Here's an idea for monks. Since short rests are no longer a main component: Monks gain their proficiency bonus in ki/discipline points per turn. So a level 1 monk can use 2 ki every turn. Also revert stunning strike so it can be made to work with 1 success per turn. Finally grant a feat that lets monks use ki/discipline points perform additional opportunity attacks. Now your monks can act like mystical martials instead of wary warriors. Do you use all your ki now, or save some for opportunity attacks and defensive maneuvers.
random idea that im writing down: at the start of each round of combat monks get 1d4 "evasion attempt" points, reset to zero at the end of each round if they go unused. they can use one of these points to attempt a saving throw against one enemy's attack, and can attempt to dodge the same attack as many times as they want. at higher levels they can gain additional evasion attempt points and gain special situational bonuses with a certain subclass maybe. this would make the monk a powerhouse against small numbers of enemies, but would still be squishy when it comes to large groups.
I made a pdf that fixes a lot of the Monks issues that are still present in this playtest on my account's "About", but I can't share it in comments, because youtube hates links 🤦.
took a read myself yesterday, but my takeaways are definitely it got nerfed:
Buffed:
- MA die scales to d12, finally
- Capstone is actually cool now
Nerfed:
- Ribbon abilities Tongue of the Sun and Moon and Timeless Body removed
- Astral Self no longer grants invisibility (no advantage on all attacks and disadvantage on attacks against you)
Not fixed:
- still lacking ki
- Bonus Action still monopolized by Flurry
- Step of the Wind still costs Ki
Dumb changes:
- Ki got renamed to Discipline points 😔
- Subclass names changed from "Way of..." to "Warrior of...", which is stupid
- Ki-Empowered Strikes went from overcoming all non-magical resistance to only choosing between Force and physical. There's no creature that has both iirc, but it's just less cool.
Overall, basically nothing really changed in the way the class functions in 5e-no new features that define (or redefine) its role more clearly, or separate it from others
Honestly, part of me feels like maybe WoTC should just find a way to make Monk a Fighter subclass since they just can't seem to figure out what they want to do with it as a class
They admitted a long time ago that they are "afraid" of making the Monk like how martial artists were portrayed in 80's and 90's action movies. Pretty much anyone playing a monk wants to be able to do that sort of shit. Heck the lore for the class states that Monks utilize Ki and perfection of self to do insane things.
But WotC was afraid of them being "too good."
imo merge non-magical unarmed into Fighter, and let Monk go full anime
god please no, I get where you're coming from but we can't let them give up on monk yet
This monk reads like WotC is embarrassed by monk's existence. They have no vision or original ideas here. The main thing they did was peel away flavor and make some nerfs
I kind of agree that there's room for a Pugilist fighter subclass, for those who want a more heavy boxer feel. And it should probably be able to both dish out and take on more raw damage than the Monk. Then give Monks a solid base as a slippery striker with high mobility and some utility, and give them offensive options via subclass based on what flavor of anime or wuxia craziness you want.
Give monks the unique ability to add Con OR Wis to their monk level's hit points, it'd fix the squishy monk issue, keeping the hp at d8s sells the flavor that they are more dodge-y and will power focused too, that way focusing wis for higher DCs makes you tankier too.
I like that. I would argue tho that if your con is negative. you must still take that negative as well so as to not allow for high health condump.
@@TrixyTrixter con is such an important save that you should never con dump, no reason to further punish a bad decision
At our local mass player multiple GMs 5e campaign, we considered how to homebrew monk's durability. First thought -- give them d12 hit dice -- like barbarians, but they do it through practice and purity of body. Second thought which we ended up using -- make deflect missiles target any physical attack. Makes it much like Intercept fighting style, but self-centered and more powerful. Having playtested it, monks are still vulnerable to magic and multiple attacks, but they are now comfortable going melee alongside heavy plated paladins. We also increased Ki by PB, so they don't shy using dodge in dire situations.
Our solution was to add wis mod/2 rounded up ki points at the bottom of the pool of ki. This resets on long rest. So if you really need it you can choose to not suck at least once a day.
Stunning strike probably needs a rework though.
One thing to note as well is that One DND grapple/shove/knock prone heavily benefits unarmed fighting.
But grapple/shove relies on strength
Well hell it's been reverted. Monks needed something too.
In that case I'd change the language for monks to allow dex to replace str for the saving throw DC, as you're using a Dex attack to cause the effect.
Edit: I liked it better when it was just an unarmed attack vs AC.
I think a big fix to the Ki or now discipline points is to start with wisdom modifier plus level. That way you don't have to take a short break after every fight.
Great video. I spent the entire time looking at your eyebrows. Truly Glorious brows right there.
one KI house rule me and a friend discussed once was to simply add the Monks Wisdom modifier to their KI-pool, we thought it was a decent starting bonus that got less impactful later on, we also contemplated things like Dex+Wis+Proficiency divided by 2 extra KI points per Long Rest. never got around to trying them out though...
Stunning Strike was further nerfed by making it last only until the START of your next turn, rather than the END as it currently does. So even if you succeed, you don't get the extra round of Advantage strikes.
Oh dear, it's true strike all over again
So close to mark with this one, I think. I'd probably change one thing and the rest of the class would be pretty good I think: make the 7th lvl ability 'Heightened Metabolism' and make it a 3rd level ability instead. I'd probably also add that it gets additional uses with your prof. bonus (or a set number but def more than 1) per long rest. This way, your monk can go all out with ki points in a single fight, maintaining damage and doing cool monk stuff, and then short rest his KI points back without bothering the party for it.
That s also a thing I thought, just get it at level 3 and give it wisdom mod usese per long rest. That way you also feel a little better about being MAD
Hello! Even though it is eleven months late, I have some suggestions for beefing up baseline Monks that I've either thought up or found on other threads. This is just my opinion and entirely optional. Enjoy!
Since everyone is listing their workarounds for the Monk, I thought I'd give a few suggestions ( some of which is based off of what I have read so far) . Again, this is just my opinion.
1. Allow adding wisdom modifier to Ki points. The modifier doesn't stack as one levels up, but I feel an extra 3 or 4 Ki points would help at earlier levels.
2. For Starting AC 12 + wisdom mod + dexterity mod OR Starting AC 10 + wisdom mod + dexterity mod + proficiency bonus instead so that monks can at least get closer to other martial classes. Also, a +1AC boost every two levels so long as they are not wearing armor
3. Changing the Mobile feat to a Class feature that all monks have at level 3
4. Use Dex mod for shoving, pushing, and grappling
5. If grappling, can inflict damage using wisdom mod, and proficiency bonus
6. Flurry of blows should also have wisdom mod to increase damage
7. Agree with other commenters that there should be increases to amount of Flurry of blows at higher levels (3 attacks at level 10, 4 attacks at level 15)
8. Restore martial weapons to monks! Full stop
9. Give a damage ability at level 11, something like furious fist that increases the number of damage dice for a number of Ki
10. Perfect Discipline moved to level 12
11. Base monk should also have healing something like spend one Ki point roll 3d6+wisdom mod hp
12. A better level 20 capstone something that really fits in with the monk theme of spiritual enlightenment like being permanently hastened, or have a +2 to the saving roll against disintegration attacks or being immune to all death spells. Something like that.
13. If they are going to keep short rest for monks, drop the time requirement to 10 minutes.
14. (Alternate option to Ki point generation) Getting Ki points back if the Monk lands a critical hit or makes three successful attacks in a row during their turn (They do not stack ). A possible reward for epic moments in game, and contributes flavor to Monks.
15. Martial arts have some form of scaling. Like 2d4+wisdom + dexterity mod at level 5, 4d4 + wisdom + dexterity at level 10, something like that.
This is just a few of the things off the top of my head plus, what I read in the comments. Perhaps I might come back a update if I have any more ideas or I see something good down below. Take care.
I like the AC idea being a base 12 or 13 plus modifiers. Using DEX for STR based skills is also an interesting idea, adding WIS to damage rolls is also neat though I could see others lamenting that it might take away from the Astral Self. More Flurry of Blows is always good especially since it's still costing a resource. That capstone idea is also pretty sweet in thematics, just a matter of phrasing it in easy to determine ways.
@@aaronwik6799 Thanks! For the Armor Class specifically, I see no reason to really penalize the monk for not wearing armor. Especially when in fiction, there are depictions of Monks having skin as hard as steel so as to *not* need armor. Why can't that be covered in Dnd?
Since they refresh after a short rest, I think one thing they can do is treat Discipline / Spirit / Focus / Ki or whatever like reloading a resource.
Use a smaller pool, but just have the rule that you recover half your Focus pool if you end your Turn without spending any Focus, or all of it if you spend an Action to refocus. This gives it more of a push and pull and makes that range 2 to 20 less goofy. AND this removed the short rest design. Just a few seconds of refocusing.
Stunning strike ends at the beginning of your next turn now too, instead of the end, which is kinda huge. Give open hand at least weapon specialization with unarmed attacks! Wis mod+monk level in ki! I think WotC vastly overestimates the potency of increasing something by one die size :(
One monk nerf that is not so obvious in the most recent playtest is that previously, at character origins, you could pick any first level feat which included fighting styles like Archery and dueling. Now the fighting style feats have a prerequisite which makes its so Monk's can't qualify for those feats ever. Even at later levels. They also took away shortsword from the simple weapons chart. Take that monk!😢😓
With as weak as monk is I had a dm, nerf stunning strikes to once a turn, and it only lasted until the end of the monk's turn making the monk the only person that could benefit from the stun... it was garbage and made the monk so much worse...
I hate when DM’s try and reign in the Monk’s only feature that stands out among martial classes, like they suck everywhere else so let them have this caster level power when it so rarely lands while still consuming resources.
In the old AD&D Oriental Adventures book, there was actually a system for creating your own martial arts style. I was actually kind of hoping we'd see something like that. Maybe not as a base class feature because that might throw too many other things out of whack but maybe purchased as a feat, for instance. I still love the monk class but it's been hard to get excited about these last few years.
How did that system work? Making own martial arts
6E is all about making things more generic. Customized styles? Please.
@@soMeRandoM670 As I recall, it was a point system. Some effects were cheap. Some effects were expensive (ie. more powerful). I think you did have some restrictions based on whether your style was: 1.) Offensive. 2.) Defensive. 3.) Balanced. I remember liking it a lot as a kid. (I actually liked the whole book a lot.)
As a grognard who started back in the 80’s, the problem is that no one at WOTC is old enough to understand the monk class. With each new version of DND they basically took something the Monk was the King at and gave it to another class or subclass. At this point there is nothing the monk can do that someone else can’t do better. Basically the monk was never a big damage dealer. They made a lot of attacks and had good Thaco, so when no one else could hit the thing, the Monk was old reliable. They also had good AC, but that wasn’t what was important. Back then a lot of magic and monsters could ignore platemail and hit your fighter regardless. The monk on the other hand was just always hard to hit no matter who or what was attacking them, thus the low hp. They also had incredible saving throws, meaning any form of attack often missed the monk. So the monk was always the sole survivor of what otherwise would have been a TPK. They also had incredible movement, and could get to spots others could not. This gave them some great out of combat options. The Ranger and Rogue are now far better than the monk in this regard. And all casters even more so.
My fix… all monks get the mobile feat… they add prof bonus to AC, and damage rolls. And proficiency in all saving throws. I’m fine with stunning strike being once a turn, but it should only be on a successful hit. Or at least don’t steal a KI point on a failure. And then I’d give them an ability to regain KI (or whatever new name you have for it) as an action. So they always have full points at the start of any fight, and can take a breather round to get them back. Melee characters should have minimal resource management! Of course these things would be given as the monk progresses in levels.
(I would also give the monk a reliable way to have advantage, but in 5e if you don’t already have advantage, either you or someone in your party isn’t playing optimally.
I also think discipline points be turned into a meter you build up. Attacks and movement generate Discipline points and you can use those points to do cool stuff
Discipline points should always recharge on an initiative roll , and you should be able to regain one as a reaction, i like the new element monk, but i do agree with you that they didn't go far enough with them. I also homebrew that once per turn when a monk spends a ki/ discipline point they get a +5 to ac till the beginning of your next turn
That Stunning Strike should definitely be a Dexterity save to avoid, though I can *kinda* see why it’s Constitution (big monsters like the Tarrasque can ignore it?). I would definitely want it to be changed to be Dex, and have the spammable (but limited) attempts.
A cool way to fix monks being undeprowered that I have seen used is to give a far lower amount of ki points but you recover them every round. Levels 1-4 you get only 1, but it lets you use flurry of blows every round. You then get 2, then 3 and then 4 and apparently 5 at level 20 (never played that far in the guys campaign). It lets you do cooler stuff and helps you keep up with the other classes pretty well. He also allowed the monks to take custom feats that had creative ways to use ki points that were really useful out of combat, making monks have utility as well.
I actlually think that the problem of monk at early levels is to not give them more resources or more points to use the resources, rather increase it's survivability. Not by turning the hit dice to d8 to d10 because i actually like monks being a d8. One of the "fixes" i did was on the Disengage part on "Step of the Wind" be removed and instead implement on the "Unarmored Movement" as a Bonus Action disengage for free like Rogues. Also the Deflect Missile i turned into Deflet Attack, wich would work with any meele and ranged attack alike, and you make a counter as normal if you spend a Ki point.
I was hoping that you'd regain one expended Ki at the start of each turn. It gives you a plentiful supply and decouples from Short Rests.
Deflecting attack-roll spells is nice though!
11:00 and you couldn't be targeted by spells that required sight. If I remember correctly the Power Word Kill required it.
The 11th Shadow monk feature should be on lvl 7 or 8. And 17th lvl feature should be on lvl 13 or 14.
13:48 Sun Soul
16:25 Wholeness of Body from 5e could heal you 18-60 HP per long rest for 2 ki points. The new one heals you [minimum] (3.5+1)*1=4.5 to [maximum] (6.5+5)*5=57,5 HP per long rest for the cost of 1[min.] to 5[max.] ki points. So its a *nerf* to the number of the heal and the cost.
In overall monk is even worse then before *compare to all other classes, either they are martial or not.*
One of the players at my table plays a monk, because our DM made some changes that work pretty well. 1st. Martial Arts gives 1 free (not bonus action) unarmed attack with the attack action. Patient Defense and Step of the Wind no longer cost Ki. This lets him all out attack with flurry of blows for 5 attacks using bonus action, or he defensive with free Dodge as a bonus action, or be super maneuverable with disengage or dash for a bonus action. Only one stunning strike per turn, but can spend an additional 2 Ki for automatic success. At first blush, this seemed a bit OP, but it takes 4 Ki to get a guaranteed must have stunning strike. We’re lvl 8, so half his Ki for a 1 round stun is costly.
Only way i could make the monk at my table good was giving them hexblade abilities on top but dex based and a few other perks and a homebrew subclass that made the monk okish
I'm looking forward to how the monk is implemented in Baldur's Gate 3, Larian has done a great job so far in reworking things to be more balanced
My simple fix that I’ve been homebrewing for years was adding the characters Widom modifier as a bonus to the Ki point pool in addition to adding the proficiency bonus to it. Basically level+wis mod+proficiency =ki pool in my campaign. I also created a recovery potion for half the price of a healing potion that grants characters the benefits of a short rest with the exception of fatigue recovery.
5:18 Step of the wind monk grung wearing boots of springing and striding? Juuummmpp!
You should definitely do a combo short about the new Way of the Four Elements Monk's pushing/pulling ability paired with a Druid/Ranger's Spike Growth. If there's no limit per turn, that's an easy 40 feet of movement, which if I'm remembering correctly would be 16d4 piercing damage from the thorns.
I think many people would argue that being flung by an air fist or most other long distance pushing abilities don't count as moving along the ground.
@@neerGdyahS it works with the eldritch blast evocations and any other type of forced movement, so I don't see why not
@@dreader102 It's mostly ones that also knock you prone, because even though it isn't specified you're travelling mostly above the ground.
If I used fist of unbroken air to push someone 60 feet, fully past the spike growth and prone, should that deal 16d4 damage?
For a homebrew rule, I'd limit forced movement through movement hazards at 10 ft of damage if it knocks you prone.
But on the flipside, I also consider forced movement into walls as a fall equal to the wasted movement +5 ft.
PS: Baldurs Gate 3 is similar, you travel through the air when shoved or such. Can't remember how Solasta handles it.
@@neerGdyahS eh idk. My reasoning is that it works with every other forced movement, at least in RAW, and when DnDShorts makes "Weird Things You Can Do In D&D," it's usually abusing some RAW.
@@dreader102 That's completely fair and valid, my tables just tend to cut down on anything that seems like an exploit, or doesn't make much sense to us. Rulings > RAW.
EDIT DISCLAIMER: We don't eliminate exploits (tactics), just the ones that leave us going "wait is that right?"
I wonder how a monk that could regain Ki points after hitting an enemy would do. Like you can’t ever go above your maximum number of Ki points but at least this way you probably wouldn’t run out and even if you do just hit someone
If you dont run out, theres no point of ki points
@@jicao maybe tie them to a wisdom or dexterity saving throw and you only regain Ki points if the enemy fails that throw
This reminds me of 4th Ed. Shortrests repliniah Encounter powers while long rests replinishes use per day powers.
I agree with your video on fixing the 5e Mon in letting them have their wisdom bonus in extra ki points. They have never did that.
I really hope in the next revision they add ki empowered strike as a base feature like they did for rogue's steady aim, it opened up so many build options
1st
Edit: The more I think about it, maybe it'd be better if they just got rid of Disicpline points on most of the Monks abilities like Flurry of Blows and Stunning Strike should cost Discipline but Step of the Wind shouldn't tbh. That combined with maybe having a number of Discipline points equal to their Monk level + their Wisdom Modifier would probably fix the majority of their problems. Also Dashing and Disengaging as a bonus action is already something Rogues can do for free so see no reason why it should cost Monks a resource to do it.
I agree with the majority, but the difference is for the UA monks is that their disengage and dash are one unique bonus action. Where rogue can only choose to do one or the other one the bonus action. But ya, I think it probably just should be free, or at least let it be free at higher levels.
Yeah, it should be free. Playing as a monk at the moment, and the most fun I have is moving around the battlefield and causing chaos. My actual damage is pretty low, but mobility gives some versitility.
As someone who has played a monk, just give them more ki points (as everyone always says) and gove them the 1min short rest from level 1 or 2. Also maybe give them a bit more life but that’s not that much of an issue, at least for me as my DM is the kind of person to attack depending on your hit points (which I enjoy as much as otherwise).