One thing that lot of people don't seem to realize is that Kensei monk makes a really good archer, which lets you do more damage than any other monk, while also being really safe while doing it with the range of a longbow. And your not really all that reliant on Ki for your effectiveness unlike any other kind of monk, as only offensive abilities you have that use Ki are Deft Strike and Sharpen the Blade, and the latter you only use once per combat, which means you can save your Ki for defensive abilities, further making you safe. And most importantly, unlike with most monks, you can actually benefit from both feats and magic items to significantly increase your damage. And as extra bonus, if something gets close to you, you will still be just as good in melee as any other monk.
Good point! Also, extra badass points for snatching arrows out of the air that are shot at you, and next turn pumping enemy archers full of their own ammunition!
I don't like to attack at range with my Monk its more safe but I like going in ham and you cant use stunning strike on ranged attack only a weapon attack. Plus I took the mobile feat for my monk so he is able to leave without an opportunity attack.
The level 11 ability 'sharpen the blade' is only restricted from being applied to magic weapons that already have a +1,+2,+3, you can however, use it on magic weapons that do not have a bonus to attack and damage rolls (like a flame tongue for example).
A correction to what you said about Sharpen the Blade. You CAN apply the bonus to a magic weapon, as long as the weapon does not already give a bonus to attack rolls (as in you can't put it on a weapon that already has a +1, +2, or +3 to it, but you can put it on say vicious longbow for example).
@@TheRPGDaily If you couldn't apply it to a magical weapon then it would be absolutely useless since all kensei weapons are considered magical after level 6
The very first time I play a monk, I'll be playing with this Way of the Kensei monk subclass!! I want to challenge myself to make the monk more relevant in terms of weapon proficiencies and damage output!!
Incoming rant, but I honestly believe this is one of the most overlooked, underestimated subclasses in all of 5th Edition. It seems mundane at first glance, but upon closer inspection when you consider that you get all of the benefits of a monk, plus the ability to get a proficiency in ANY set of weapons you want I think the class speaks for itself. Specifically, I want to point out the power of Longbow Kensei. Take longbow at 3rd level (or hell, take big crossbows or even guns if the DM and setting allow for it. Just a powerful long range weapon. Though Longbow is powerful and easy to manage at early levels.), and then take a melee weapon thats more potent than a simple weapon (since you can use those anyways.). It sounds counter intuitive at first, but when you consider that Monks are built to be able to go anywhere basically with some of the best mobility in the game, a ranged riposte, and the ability to run up walls and water and fall from great heights to name a few things you can see that they make for formidable snipers and crackshots. The nifty +2 AC from having one free hand open while equipping a melee weapon (an insanely underrated feature, its practically a shield for Monks...without needing to get a Shield.) + Patient Defense or Step of the Wind and good positioning make you even harder to hit. And ultimately, anything you can do as a melee orientated Monk you can do as the above. If you're stuck in a situation where your range isn't as potent (confined spaces), you still have that +2 AC and good melee and dodging capability. And you have Stunning Strike as always. Even when playing keepaway with a longbow or whatever long range weapon, you have so much mobility that rushing in to do a full melee combo + a stunning strike or two, then getting out back to safe ranged distance on the same turn is trivial to you. You're an insanely versatile martial. And that's not even getting into how malleable I feel the subclass is with multiclassing. I could see Battlemaster Fighter work well, or Scout Rogue to make you EVEN harder to hit to name a few. Nor is it getting into feats, like Mobile (must have imo.), Longbow Expert to make you an even better shot, or Sentinel. There's a lot of options. It's an amazing subclass imo. None should sleep on it. I'm honestly surprised it doesn't get more attention.
You put into words why this was my top pick for favorite monk subclasses, Its got so much potential but is so overlooked because the other classes might do things "better" or because its so unique compared to other monk subclasses, but for me, this one really is the bees knees!
I had made a Kensei monk with fluff leveraging on the eastern oriental fantasy genre, Xian Xia. *think Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon Sadly I only managed play a session before the pandemic forced my country to initiate lock down and currently it had not eased to the point where we can gather for another session.
@@TheRPGDaily Aye, we had since shifted online, just that we did not get the online source for that campaign. So my DM decided to put that on hold and hosted ToA module online instead.
I like the idea and am playing one now, but it could be better. Agile Parry is nice, but keep in mind you are sacrificing an attack. And the extra damage with a bow never increases. An extra d4 while fighting CR6 enemies is kinda worthless. I think this should scale with your unarmed attack, maybe at a slower rate. It is fun to play, though.
I may be missing something here, can you clarify? For Agile Parry "If you make an unarmed strike as part of the Attack action on your turn and are holding a kensei weapon, you can use it to defend yourself if it is a melee weapon." It doesn't mention costing anything in terms of action, bonus action, or ki points, it just happens if you use an unarmed strike as part of the attack action. so i'm not sure how you are sacrificing an attack? For Kensei shot I agree spending a bonus action for just an extra 1d4 of non-scaled damage isn't great. but you could attack with a ranged weapon then close the distance to follow up with an unarmed attack or flurry of blows theres nothing that says you have to do the attacks back to back, so its a wasted feature but having s bow isn't bad imo.
@@TheRPGDaily I like your interpretation better than mine. I read it differently but now that I read it again, it makes more sense your way. I assumed that the Agile Parry was a bonus action but I think I assumed wrong since it doesn’t actually say that. Reading it again it makes no mention that the party costs you anything so you can attack with your monk weapon, do an unarmed strike as a bonus action and do the parry at no cost. Thanks for the clarification. I love me some monks!
The Way of the Kensei is one of the best monk tradition, the Way of the Shadow is awesome also. D&D needs to revision the Way of the Four Elements, it's not that great
One thing that lot of people don't seem to realize is that Kensei monk makes a really good archer, which lets you do more damage than any other monk, while also being really safe while doing it with the range of a longbow. And your not really all that reliant on Ki for your effectiveness unlike any other kind of monk, as only offensive abilities you have that use Ki are Deft Strike and Sharpen the Blade, and the latter you only use once per combat, which means you can save your Ki for defensive abilities, further making you safe. And most importantly, unlike with most monks, you can actually benefit from both feats and magic items to significantly increase your damage. And as extra bonus, if something gets close to you, you will still be just as good in melee as any other monk.
Good point! Also, extra badass points for snatching arrows out of the air that are shot at you, and next turn pumping enemy archers full of their own ammunition!
I don't like to attack at range with my Monk its more safe but I like going in ham and you cant use stunning strike on ranged attack only a weapon attack. Plus I took the mobile feat for my monk so he is able to leave without an opportunity attack.
and guns. dont forget guns.
The level 11 ability 'sharpen the blade' is only restricted from being applied to magic weapons that already have a +1,+2,+3, you can however, use it on magic weapons that do not have a bonus to attack and damage rolls (like a flame tongue for example).
A correction to what you said about Sharpen the Blade. You CAN apply the bonus to a magic weapon, as long as the weapon does not already give a bonus to attack rolls (as in you can't put it on a weapon that already has a +1, +2, or +3 to it, but you can put it on say vicious longbow for example).
Oh yes I did misinterpret that line in the rules. looking at it again I see the distinction there.
@@TheRPGDaily If you couldn't apply it to a magical weapon then it would be absolutely useless since all kensei weapons are considered magical after level 6
@@TheRPGDaily Brass Knuckles can be a Kensei weapon?
This is the one I’m gonna play next I think, it’s something different and new, I like it!
Imagine someone multiclassing The Way of The Kensei with an Artificer.
I'm going to play a Wood Elf Kensei soon, possibly multiclassing into Ranger for some abilities that make sense for the character's background
This and the Drunken master I my two favorite Monk subclasses, with the Cobalt Soul monk from the Critical Role being a close 3rd.
I don't really watch Critical Role but Drunken master is such a fun subclass to play!
I can imagine a monk with a spike ball and chain like that girl in Kill Bill, that wepon was insaine
Oh hell yeah! That would be so fun to play!
Funny enough that's kinda what im planning on doing in my upcoming campaign
@@AzLolFun lol can I join, I'd love to see what kind of campaign it is.
@@TheRPGDaily That would be awesome to see a girl swinging a spike ball and chain!! Not so fun for the enemy!!
The very first time I play a monk, I'll be playing with this Way of the Kensei monk subclass!! I want to challenge myself to make the monk more relevant in terms of weapon proficiencies and damage output!!
Incoming rant, but I honestly believe this is one of the most overlooked, underestimated subclasses in all of 5th Edition.
It seems mundane at first glance, but upon closer inspection when you consider that you get all of the benefits of a monk, plus the ability to get a proficiency in ANY set of weapons you want I think the class speaks for itself.
Specifically, I want to point out the power of Longbow Kensei. Take longbow at 3rd level (or hell, take big crossbows or even guns if the DM and setting allow for it. Just a powerful long range weapon. Though Longbow is powerful and easy to manage at early levels.), and then take a melee weapon thats more potent than a simple weapon (since you can use those anyways.). It sounds counter intuitive at first, but when you consider that Monks are built to be able to go anywhere basically with some of the best mobility in the game, a ranged riposte, and the ability to run up walls and water and fall from great heights to name a few things you can see that they make for formidable snipers and crackshots. The nifty +2 AC from having one free hand open while equipping a melee weapon (an insanely underrated feature, its practically a shield for Monks...without needing to get a Shield.) + Patient Defense or Step of the Wind and good positioning make you even harder to hit.
And ultimately, anything you can do as a melee orientated Monk you can do as the above. If you're stuck in a situation where your range isn't as potent (confined spaces), you still have that +2 AC and good melee and dodging capability. And you have Stunning Strike as always. Even when playing keepaway with a longbow or whatever long range weapon, you have so much mobility that rushing in to do a full melee combo + a stunning strike or two, then getting out back to safe ranged distance on the same turn is trivial to you. You're an insanely versatile martial.
And that's not even getting into how malleable I feel the subclass is with multiclassing. I could see Battlemaster Fighter work well, or Scout Rogue to make you EVEN harder to hit to name a few. Nor is it getting into feats, like Mobile (must have imo.), Longbow Expert to make you an even better shot, or Sentinel. There's a lot of options.
It's an amazing subclass imo. None should sleep on it. I'm honestly surprised it doesn't get more attention.
You put into words why this was my top pick for favorite monk subclasses, Its got so much potential but is so overlooked because the other classes might do things "better" or because its so unique compared to other monk subclasses, but for me, this one really is the bees knees!
I had made a Kensei monk with fluff leveraging on the eastern oriental fantasy genre, Xian Xia. *think Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
Sadly I only managed play a session before the pandemic forced my country to initiate lock down and currently it had not eased to the point where we can gather for another session.
Oh no! my groups have all moved to online gaming. Its not the same, but it does the trick.
@@TheRPGDaily Aye, we had since shifted online, just that we did not get the online source for that campaign.
So my DM decided to put that on hold and hosted ToA module online instead.
I like the idea and am playing one now, but it could be better. Agile Parry is nice, but keep in mind you are sacrificing an attack. And the extra damage with a bow never increases. An extra d4 while fighting CR6 enemies is kinda worthless. I think this should scale with your unarmed attack, maybe at a slower rate. It is fun to play, though.
I may be missing something here, can you clarify? For Agile Parry "If you make an unarmed strike as part of the Attack action on your turn and are holding a kensei weapon, you can use it to defend yourself if it is a melee weapon." It doesn't mention costing anything in terms of action, bonus action, or ki points, it just happens if you use an unarmed strike as part of the attack action. so i'm not sure how you are sacrificing an attack?
For Kensei shot I agree spending a bonus action for just an extra 1d4 of non-scaled damage isn't great. but you could attack with a ranged weapon then close the distance to follow up with an unarmed attack or flurry of blows theres nothing that says you have to do the attacks back to back, so its a wasted feature but having s bow isn't bad imo.
@@TheRPGDaily I like your interpretation better than mine. I read it differently but now that I read it again, it makes more sense your way. I assumed that the Agile Parry was a bonus action but I think I assumed wrong since it doesn’t actually say that. Reading it again it makes no mention that the party costs you anything so you can attack with your monk weapon, do an unarmed strike as a bonus action and do the parry at no cost. Thanks for the clarification. I love me some monks!
You can Make one weapon attack and then use 2 unarmed attacks I believe that is what Mike Mearls said and my DM follows pretty much anything he says.
What kensei lacks in flavor and abilities it makes up for in sheer ass kicking.
Yeah I just hit 11 with my Monk and he is always kicking ass. He once stunned a young dragon.
The Way of the Kensei is one of the best monk tradition, the Way of the Shadow is awesome also. D&D needs to revision the Way of the Four Elements, it's not that great
Thinking Kung Lao from MK
booo ! * throws popcorn *