The New Monk Hurts My Soul 

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!

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

So wanna be Rogue with more stable and lower damage? (Rogue + Crossbow Expert) /jk Here is food for tough: 1: D10 Hit Dice (As it should be.) 2: AC 10 + Dex Mod + Proficiency Bonus. (The AC would be behing first four levels and be ahead starting lvl 9) 3: Martial Arts Dice scales from 1d4 to 1d12 (Each dice would be used for 4 levels, the dice would get better at the same time as proficiency bonus.) 4: Flurry of Blows cost 0 Ki, but then you must nerf Stunning Strike. Either Stunning Strike once a turn or requires a Bonus Aciton. (Both nerfs limit the use for once a turn but the latter also prevents using Flurry of Blows with Stunning Strike.) 5: Gift the Monk Ring of Protection and Cloak of Protection. (Extra AC helps a lot and Monk can use both of them. Tough I bet both Paladin and Barbarian would steal them!) 6: Gift the Monk unarmed weapons like +1, +2, +3 magical Gauntlets, perhaps even Hidden Blades or Wolverine Blades. (This would give Monk's unarmed strikes the same +1, +2, +3 bonus other martial classes get and it still would be behind Fighter. This is basically what Focused Aim is trying to be.) 7: Ki save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Dexterity modifier? (This would remove the need for any Wisdom and now you would only need to focus Dex/Con just like any other melee class.) Beside the last one (7) I would implement all of those for my players if they played Monk. It would be hilarious to gift Monk hidden blades or wolverine claws that counts as unarmed strike and have properties of Flame Tongue 🤣

I love this idea Instead of just bigger capacity focus on mechanics that reward you with resources in different ways

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

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.

Honestly.... that'd be sick.

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.

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

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.

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?

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.

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

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?

I’ve just made a sunk (sorcerer monk) that relies on this!

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

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.

Here is alternative list of ideas which I probably would use if any of my players played Monk: Gift some Magical items to help the Monk. +1, +2 or +3 magical Gauntlets which just buff the Unarmed Strikes. Both Ring and Cloak of Protections. Amulet of Health and Belt of Dwarvenkind can up the HP. (Magical items can be used to "hot fix" the Monk but do remember other players might also want those items D10 Hit dice. (As it should be, D12 sounds interesting also but imo it should be same as Ranger/Fighter) AC 10 + Dex Mod + PB. (Beside first four levels it would be equal or better than current. You could alos remove the need for Wisdom by making Ki save DC be Dex instead of Wis, but that is perhaps too far? It would make it similar to Barbarian who only needs Str and Con now you would only need Dex and Con) Deflect Missile could be Deflect Attacks, as a Reaction you can add Martial Dice Roll to your AC until the start of your next turn. (Basically mix of Shield spell and Evasive Footwork maneuver from Battle Master) Martial Arts Dice scales up the same time as Proficiency Bonus going from 1d4 to 1d12 (This just slighly improves the dmg on later levels) Flurry of Blows 0 Ki but Stunning Strike is now Bonus Action still requiring 1 Ki. (By making FoB free you should at least limit Stunning Strike Once a Turn, else it would be too strong) If you want to give more Ki I think Level + Wis mod + PB would also work. (That would be 7 starting Ki instead of 2 or 4 and end up with 31) But maybe adding all this would make them too strong?

​@@xezzee to put them on par with others, it should be enough to up their damage die like OneD&D playtest suggested (start with d6 end with d12), add something for melee protection, and they will be on par with other martials. Feedback: I like low-magic fantasy, and don't like magic items as character ability replacement. As a hot-fix maybe. Just raising monk's HP doesn't give them value actually. They need damage block, resistance, or at least AC boost. Changing AC to Dex+PB is not enough a change to actually consider remembering it. Maybe if you want to untie Monk as a class from Wisdom -- then it's a fine fix, but remember to change Save DC to Dex. Then mechanics to AC boosting is boring IMO and leaves monks extremely vulnerable to critical hits. Deflect Missiles doesn't raise AC, it blocks damage, "Deflect Attacks" should too, or be renamed to avoid confusion. And I am playing a monk for all this time with rules I wrote -- I deflect almost all weapon damage if I'm careful to not be targeted by several enemies at once. It's rewarding to play in this clever way. Having d4 die is sad these first levels, I'm just telling. If you just up the dice one step from og progression. Free flurry is overkill. They have "the dual wield fighting style" built in already, and this will put them far ahead of any other fighter type. Maybe consider adding an extra attack to flurry on later (5+) levels. You can limit stunning strike to once per turn. Also you can increase its cost to 2. Adding two modifiers to Ki is definitely overkill. Having just +PB is enough and makes them much more viable as a multiclass dip. How often do you allow short rests? I usually consider one battle per short rest, maybe its much more rare and you're trying to compensate? Or you just want free abilities for monk? Another cool OneD&D suggestion is to merge their Dash and Disengage options into one 1-ki bonus action.

Yeah I really loved my yuan ti mage slayer with the 1 level fighter dip for whip proficiency and d8 unarmed strikes.

Hahaha Open Fish Monk!

A monk slapping people around with a fish is a pretty funny image. Hahaha!

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

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.

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

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.

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 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?

You don't use Step of the Wind because Flurry of Blows needs your limited Ki so just make Flurry of Blows Free. The problem is most people would still rather take two extra attacks than Dodge even if both were free Bonus Action 😂 but by removing the Ki cost from Flurry of Blows it opens more optiosn for Monks.

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

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.)

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.

Oh dear, it's true strike all over again

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.

How do you have that AC the 2 unarmed defense feats do not stack. You have to choose 1 of them

@@KingdomDestin Says who? I’ve never seen any rule that says that.

In terms of where, last paragraph describing armour class on of 14 of the PHB. You have to choose one source of defence. Most characters do this, choosing to determine their armour class using their armour rather than their base armour class of 10+dex

Also, this is very much in the realm of DM fiat as it is the stupid wording of 5e, but RAW zealot’s damage wouldn’t stack on the sun soul monk’s attack because it isn’t a weapon attack

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?"