You missed the fact that versatile weapons do 1d10 base dmg, so this maxes Monk base dmg right at lvl 2. Ki-fueled Attacks works great with this, because instead of 1d4, you are doing 1d10 (3 dmg boost right away). Appart from that, you can also use that weapons magic properties (fists usually have none), so with +2 magic weapon, you do +10/1d10+6 instead of +8/1d6+4 with fists. Even better boost. Ki-fueled Attacks also work great with Focused Aim feature. You now not only turn hit into a miss, but also can attack with BA with weapon - so even bow with Kensei. So Kensei at lvl 5 can now do 3 longbow attacks at lvl 5, 5x per short rest, all with Sharpshooter, gaining +2 to hit on one attack per turn. Great synergy there. The same works for Four Elements Monk - when he "casts" a spell, he uses KI, so he can attack with weapon for BA (so shoot bow, attack with d10 weapon,...).
I wish Monks had more frontloaded fist damage scaling. 1d6 feels pretty mediocre now that I'm at level 8, though it helps that I took the Fey Ancestry feat for Hunters Mark and 1 Wis (20 Dex, 18 WIS). Or maybe at every 4th level you'd get 2 ki points for that level instead of just 1? Kinda makes the power growth of monk nonlinear which might feel bad , but that'd make multiclassing easier without hamstringing your ki pool since so much about Monk revolves around having it. Wish there were ways to replenish ki without taking a short rest but hey, can't have everything.
Sometimes it's just fun to hit with a stick, esp when you go hard on def and certain feats like lucky or polearm. And it's not horrible for multiclass but you have to be aware of some decisions to make like how to make up for the lost stats and low Con stat. Harder to do charisma casters than druids or rogue, bladesinger and battlemaster work nicely, few fighters and one or two barbarians as well but if that's the case lean Con.
My dm allowed me to make a rope dagger and use it as a monk weapon. Now my monk features have a 60ft radius and I can use it to grapple from 15ft away.
Nice review, I enjoyed that! You have a new subscriber :) I find the Mercy Monk a bit boring too. I don't like that there are no ki-free abilities (apart from the useless mask), many of the other Monk subclasses still have things that they can do once you run out of ki. With dedicated weapon any Monk can now use a longsword/battleaxe/warhammer for a versatile d10, which is a (very minor) upgrade on the quarterstaff, and it improves the ranged options for most Monks because prior to that a shortbow (or dart) was not considered a Monk weapon (only melee weapons qualified), so now you can link your shortbow to the martial weapons die and have it do a d10 of damage eventually.
Glad you enjoyed! I did appreciate the dedicated weapon buff on monks. Mercy is a little boring but at least it didnt introduce many NEW drains for ki. Just buffs your Flurry of blows
I’m currently playing a Way of Mercy monk and really enjoying on the macabre flavor and fighting it offers me to explore. However, as I want to be a good source of healing on the team, I’ve found the Hand of Healing pretty lackluster. So I considered multiclassing…and found the absolute perfect fit for my backstory and role play in the Grave Cleric. I’d love to see a video on this and my particular question is, what would be your guys’ advice on how many levels to take in Way of Mercy vs Grave Cleric? Thank you in advance!
The Kensei is only the only Monk that can use a longbow (as a Monk/Kensei weapon at least), and with Ki-fuelled Attack plus either Deft Strike or Focused Aim you can get a third longbow shot per turn. If you run out of ki you can use Kensei's Shot for extra damage. With the Monk's high mobility you can kite for days, it's quite effective.
Starting this comment while I'm watching, but Kensei 100% says no Heavy or Special weapons..? For Kevin's question, the game almost always says both Simple and Martial weapons. Same thing is done with fighters for example. This is speculated to be because they were originally going to include Exotic weapons like they had in 3.5 and never changed the wording. Also Improvised as you say. Edit: The Ki fueled strike also works well for 4-Elements (yep Jarred mentioned) and Shadow monks when they cast their spells Yeah I just use Quickened Healing as extra Hit Dice basically I've recently added to my homebrew docs that once per long rest Monks can get Ki back as an action equal to Wisdom modifier. This pairs with a change to give Sorcs extra points equal to Cha mod 41:00 I guess the best way would be the Mobile feat for that. Attack the person you're engaged with, peel away, FoB to heal your buddy
We mention that kensai says no heavy or special! I remember mentioning that it means no whips monk even with Kensai. Good info on the exotic weapon. Wish we got something like that in 5e
@@MonstersMulticlass Ah I think I misunderstood what Jarred was saying about Kensei then, it sounded like he said it didn't have the limitations. And I assume you mean Net monks since whips don't have Special (easy slip when all you want is a Whips Nettington. Give us Whips Nettingtong Wizards you cowards)
