Handbooker Helper: Monk (Quick Build) 

Tbh you could hear any DM that has a monk in the party sigh

I know right.

@@McBabe12329 Seriously.

honestly, DMs just cheese it and kill it off anyway. or at least the last 3 GROUPS (all different DMs) for whatever reason, everything always made the save. Always. Well, there was one DM, that where the very first time I used it, it worked. I tell him my following attack and everyone else gets advantage (which he was taken aback, he didn't realize that would happen), which promptly killed said orc, then suddenly it just never worked again. The thing that kills me is...I just like monks. I am not trying to min max or break a system, I just really like them, and DMs don't get, that stun is basically to save our butts. Our AC is good, but its not that good and just a few hits generally can kill us, plus the idea is not to try and dominate the combat, but to assist the others. But make an ability never work and constantly getting punished makes the game just zero fun to play. (please DMs, just be honest and tell a player if you don't want that kind of role or mechanic. Don't just "allow" it and then turn around and make it useless and even worse, use it as a reason to punish the player.)

@@Ravenleaf182 I think you've just had some really shitty DM's.

Would that make your character a...bulletproof monk?

Catches bullets... with his teeth?!? Nigga please.

Catches bullets in his teeth... catches bullets in his teeth?!

When Monks have apparently seen too much anime.

@rkp0718 Ah yeah, that's true. Then again, if XP to Level 3 is anything to go by, so are Barbarians.

As a baby DM, it hurts me to think about it. I am simple creature, I liek me trap, I am the dumb, I no good at new trapies making.

If you use stunning strike and throw it at him he will be dead inside. Literally.

Small Canon balls. Nods

I don't think there are firearms in D&D? But you can catch arrows and spears and etc. Damn good to be a monk!! I play a Monk The Way of the Ascending Dragon.

@@jamesrichardson3322 there is... and you can. Big smile

"im not so hot on the numbers"

*gets an Int of 6* Me and Grog are best buds...and this pint of ale.

Unless you're Grog.

I was promised their would be no math.

Did she just assume my education level?

Follow the howl NICE

The way you put it makes it so it sounds like everything happened one thing after the other, and I love it

As a 5th level monk I managed to jump out of a crashing airship (80ft) drop and survive taking minimal fall damage, stun a wind elemental, and essentially solo some Warforged pirates with my bare hands, before stealing one of their crossbows and returning fire..

Especially since Keyleith was basically Ang.

I want that shirt!

Well they are a bunch of nerdy-ass voice actors

@@patricklyons794 And Beau is basically Korra especially later in the series.

4:19 what does that shirt say? Also who got a notification about my comment?

And way of the astral self turns you into Jotaro

Nah Way of the Shadow turns you into Naruto

Gotta be something cooler than Batman or Naruto for Shadow.

Astral Self gives you a Susanno from Naruto. "I love Jojo guys but come on!"

@@brucematheny7554 Nah Astral self turns you into a Sasuke.

I mean, it's the only class that lets you catch bullets with your bare hands aND THEN YEET THEM BACK. Why wouldn't anyone loooove playing one? Monks are, without a doubt, the most badass class of the game. They even stop experiencing the physical effects of aging after some point.

@Doobdoob3 IIRC, Archdruids experience all effects of aging normally, but they age at a much slower rate, which means they live longer. Monks age at a normal rate and live the normal amount of time, but their STR/DEX/CON stats don't go lower as they age (while WIS/INT/CHA stats increase as normal).

@@dogucan97 I think you may be confusing the editions :D Those things you claim happened in 3rd edition! - but did not carry over to 5th

Monks are frickin amazing

@Colin Deal Aging is caused by cell death. A form of disease. And monks ARE immune to disease after a certain level.

Not the implication but it’s plausible

owatahfuhlyem Well he did walk on water lol

owatahfuhlyem *_Technically he is a monk because dude’s flexible as fuck and somehow doesnt age_*

can confirm

They actually take 4d6 "God damn it" damage.

Idk what game ya'll are playing but I never had any issues with monks

Smart

All I could imagine after reading this is a Shadow Clone Jutsu but with Beau.

@@gagemusic6728 Maybe Beau could learn that in Xorhas.

God dammit, Barb.

She aint no slow-regard. :D

Yep, monks boring and OP

@Tony Wilson I've played a Kensei Monk, so many possibility. One of the most interesting classes to play.

@@TheRealDerohneNick I disagree. Monks are too OP and game breaking.

@@tonywilson5708 Monks aren't even that good, lmao. Meh DPR, MAD, and Stunning Strike is their one really good feature, but most monsters have really good CON. You're mathematically incorrect.

@@TheRealDerohneNick I looked at the Kensei Monk and the features themselves don't seem all that inspiring. compared to other monastic traditions. I just saw a high potential for lots of damage. I could probably have a lot of fun with the concept itself, but the class features wouldn't really be what aided me in that regard. Am I missing something?

Mattia Salvetti holy shit That's fucking amazing. You could punch back a god damn boulder as a monk

yeah, you can reduce the damage of that thing. 1-> step of the wind, to jump to the flung boulder 2-> deflect that shit and take the remaining damage 3-> save the city/Ship/whatever

@Follow the howl Boulders thrown by giants are ranged weapons: " Rock. Ranged Weapon Attack: +12 to hit, range 60/240 ft., one target . Hit: 30 (4d10 + 8) bludgeoning damage." - MM page 154 Cloud Giant But you are correct on the first part, a monk can't catch it because it's too big.

@@deamon6681 what about under the effect of enlarge? is that enough of a size bolster to catch a boulder?

@@1timemelody1 Short answer: Ask your DM. Slightly longer answer: Somwhere on the internet I've seen a calculation concluding a hill giant's boulder is about the size of a basketball, maybe a litttle bigger. So I would say it's in the realm of possible.

You're brilliant

Loxodons can use their trunk for unarmed attacks.

Don't forget Dragonborn ;P

@@GrassPokeKing Dragonborns don't have tails, unfortunately. Lizardfolk do, however.

@@AguionStryke real ones do

I love that tank top

* Keyleth the Last Airbender xD I'll let myself out...

She’d be such a good avatar

Deflected a cannonball fired from an airship, its ANY nonmagical projectile. So, im saying you can deflect bullets by the way its worded.

It doesn't actually specify non-magical... Just a ranged weapon attack

Beau isn't a Four Elements monk, though... she's the one from Matt's campaign setting, Cobalt Soul.

@@Linerunner99 r/Whooosh

Noverian I don't get it.

Keyleth is Aang, Beau is Suki

The NPC needed to progress the story mysteriously dies. *MONKS*

Like with each class or each subclass?

On the CritRole podcast, Campagin 1, Ep 12, Matt briefly goes over all of the classes and how to choose between them for new players!

Lauren Strohl yep and it’s great. Just want a more curated visual version of it. So I can easily share it with new players and they don’t get overwhelmed. Then once they choose direct them toward the quick build video of their choice 👍

Ricardo Saltos maybe one video for races and then one video for classes. I feel like subclasses per class will eventually be their own video later on. Like “Leveling up a Druid. . . Rogue. . . Monk. . .etc”

@@CitizensTea Check out "What class should you play" and "Which race should you play" by XP to Level 3. These videos aren't perfect, but give a pretty good overlook of all the options.

The monk in my group used stunning strike on a medusa with his straw hat pulled down over his eyes, twice. Then after she'd taken a few arrows to the chest from the rest of the group who was outside her range for being turned to stone, he stepped behind her and cut her head off with his katana. He then picked it up and chased off her cronies with it. Fucking monks man. She was my big bad, and he made a chump out of her. With his eyes closed.

Your monk player sounds like he just made Luffy with a sword.

The monk in my group kept punching Baba yaga and succeeding in Stunning strikes until she was pulp!

My monk once used his LAST ki point to unleash his FoB on the Bugbear leader of a group of goblins. Rolled 3 d20s at once. Critted on ALL THREE. Basically, reached into his chest, and pulled out and showed him his still beating heart. The goblins pissed themselves and ran.

My monk once caught a huge ballista bolt and broke a couple of walls with it.

boi

boi

That'd depend on what disciplines you pick. Plenty of them don't need your wisdom at all. Also, ki is limited and the disciplines are usually expensive so can't be used often. Dex is still probably going to be more important overall.

@@wedlock94 reread his post he basically already said the discipline. Way of the Four Elements. I'm playing an Aarakorca Monk WotFE with a 22 WIS and a 20 DEX and would much rather have that as I want my save DC as high as possible for my elemental attacks and ki abilities.

@@McBabe12329 I mean the elemental disciplines, the abilities the four elements give you. Not the archetype. Dex is still generally more important as you're going to be punching things a lot more than you're going to cast spells that use wisdom.

Well if you go 4 elements don't go RAW... I asked my dm if I could play a reworked version of 4 elements and it was amazing!!

@@xristospallas1649 yeah, this too. Read it a long time a go so can't remember the balance but it looked much better than the phb version.

Yes please! Gunslinger too! Love those classes.

@@quinnwilder6990 Gunslinger is a Fighter archetype though. So just roll with a Dex based Fighter till you can choose the archetype at LVL3.

Which makes more sense than as a artificer.

YES, YES, A THOUSAND TIMES YES.

Yes! Blood hunter with Matt!!!

OH SHIT i didn't know it kept improving! i need to update my monk's speed! she's level 9 now.

Adam Schwartze [TiamatZX] Which is super fun at high levels, plus even a single level in rogue, because the ability to move across the entire map as a melee character is wonderful

Agreed.

If only the Unearthed Arcana Artificer wasn't so lackluster. It could use some serious improvement.

@@FulcanMal Their current version is actually pretty good. It adds so much more and makes it able to play with the rest of the big bois img.4plebs.org/boards/tg/image/1493/78/1493789345926.pdf

you mean have Doty do it?

Have fun! :D

Matheus Liuti "Only in concealing one's identity, can one truly be known." "The four elements, like man alone, are weak. But together they form the strong fifth element: boron." "He who stumbles around in darkness with a stick is blind. But he who... sticks out in darkness... is... fluorescent!"

you should make a monk called Steppo DeWind

@@CJVale Do eet

BEAN Same with my warforged monk, I am only level 3 so far but I can‘t wait to just delete anything that fails its CON save.

I think I’ve cut 2-3 encounters rather short with stunning strike. My DM usually growls when it hits. 😂

I'm a drunken master who never drinks. I tend to make my character lie a lot and I once used the excuse that I was drunk to explain away being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Basically, yeah. The Monk as a class was originally released back during the 80s martial arts craze.

Once I played as a lawful good Human monk who's fate was to the defeat is adoptive brother who turned himself into a vampire

Hamon, Chakra, Chi, Ki.

Monk weapons are MOST simple weapons.

Yep, which is exactly the only way to play them, it’s the whole point. I feel like if it doesn’t give you proficiency in any armors, and all of the weapons you could ever need, it’s pretty clear, but maybe some super noobs wouldn’t realize that they can’t be a heavily armored monk

take the tavern brawler feat, and be proficient in improvised weapons. (talk to the dm, he might raise the dmg die early for the feat)

@@nephdrummond3168 I just wanted to make it clear that, in case your AC is better while wearing a breastplate or something (maybe you multiclassed to Fighter for the proficency), you can't use most ki abilities or Martial Arts.

monk weapon OR unarmed! Honestly you don't need a weapon as a monk! ^_^

Can call it the goldfish nerf

Yep, even just the attack+unarmed bonus gets you 2d10 at high levels. That’s pretty good. Add some fighter and the duelist style from level 2 fighter, and you have 3d10+2. With max str, and barb rage, you can do 3d10+23 or something. Obviously this isn’t the most damage you can do, but if you don’t realize that the damage scales, or that it applies to weapons, it’s a whole lot. Personally, I’d go for the drunken master level 17 effect with 2 levels of fighter for a total of 7d10+37.

@Follow the howl My current monk has a +4 mod. Its not every time, of course, but I had a handful of moments where some gobbo shot an arrow and I was able to outthrow the d8 with my modifiers. And +3/4 is not rare on monks. I'd even say its the point where they really start becoming fun. Just goitta throw well for those stats :D

@Follow the howl I should have elaborated. At level 3 your DM won't be sending overly competent fighters against you if he wants some larger enemy groups. A few goblins, maybe some bandits, but seldom somebody with more than maybe +2 on their mod. So everything lower than 6 on the d8 throw of the enemy can *in theory* be outgunned by the lvl3 monk throwing it back at 'em. And its the best feeling ever imagining that scene :D

Now you understand the class. You are never going to dominate the battlefield in terms of DPS. But you can have a HELL of a lot of fun otherwise.

Is there a sleeved version?

Yeah, she's got 45ft of movement and can dash as a bonus for a ki point. Enemies being out of range aren't often going to be a problem.

Sure, if you think that being able to move up to 120 feet and still having an attack left means you’re done when an enemy moves five feet.