Correct. Thats why they removed the whole "3 die rolls on paralyzed/poisoned creatures" lol which, im sad about cos who doesnt want smite/sneak attack on a monk lol
@@5-Volt then that proves that it wasnt balanced lol. I personally as a DM dont care about balance being enforced. I can just increase enemy count, add/remove resistance, immunity, vulnerability, HP, AC, yada yada. I like hands of harm the way it was before, but stunning an enemy AND then maybe crit then burn hand of harm. Still solid.
@@greenhawk3796 I knew that whole triple damage die mechanic was gonna get dropped. In general I actually like the new features more. I love the flavor of sapping the life force of an enemy and healing allies with touch. Plus the capstone res thing seems way more useful than the whole preserving someone in a catatonic state.
It's AMAZING to play, I really love it. Playing a religious way of mercy monk, it works super well because the goddess he worships is in the grave domain, amongst others. Atm level 7 and a lot of personal stuff happened to him which might end up in him multiclassing as a cleric of the grave domain 👀
The Way of Mercy looks like it could really fit an off-healer roll really well while also keeping up with damage and supporting combat. I really like this idea and think it more of a combat medic than dedicated healer. Having a Paladin/Ranger/Bard (as off-healing) and this monk could possibly work to fill the roll of one full dedicated healer. At least that's how I'm taking this subclass at first glance. Would I play this subclass? Yeah, as described above. If the party needed some healing but I also wanted to play a DPS class, then sure. I'd certainly give this subclass a shot. Especially with being able to change out subclasses at just about any time during the campaign. I wouldn't feel I wasted my time trying this subclass out and feeling I misallocated vital points of my characters progression.
I'm hoping to play a mercy monk as a doctor build. If I pick up the healer feat I think I can be the main healer for a party. Would definitely help to have a paladin or a bard in case of emergency. I love the idea of a doctor who keeps the party healthy without the use of magic.
@@greenhawk3796 Makes me think of "That 70's Show" and Red Forman slapping his son upside his head. - Depending on how my next team builds out and if we need a healer, I may give this subclass a go.
so now you can live the wuxia lifestyle with a full party of monks going about the countryside in "Kung Fu Theater" style, challenging monsters and warlords, crime bosses and brigands, and aged martial arts masters who call your kung fu "pig dung"
@@somerandomguy844 He's a mutant( X Men) in Marvel Comics. Essentially he has the ability to cure any disease or negative condition after touching someone. However later on he goes through some traumatic shit, and gains the ability to reverse heal someone, (Which essentially means he poisons them or causes injuries of their bodies).
@@somerandomguy844 The guy is kind of terrifying. He's got Omega-level biological manipulation (basically, he's the same weight class as Jean Gray). He can touch someone and regrow limbs, or give them an inoperable tumor.
I can't wait to play this. I'm going to with a doctor studying a monastic tome. Learning to cultivate his Ki so he can heal people. All the fighting stuff is just useful side effects
Important to note about ki fueled strikes, it allows for the hit to be with a weapon, so that kensia wielding a long sword does a stunning strike with it, they get a bonus action long sword strike not unarmed strike.
oh thats pretty huge, especially if you can find a +1 longsword (or battleaxe or warhammer) by level 5, the 1d10 +1 is much better than 1d6 from an unarmed strike. Thanks for pointing that out I didn't think of it
Not only that: it works with *ranged* weapons. So Kensei can make an additional longbow attack if they use the 6th lvl feature on their main attack. Which is huge - normally bonus action attack is unarmed only. And it's much more than 2d4 you can get for bonus action.
I like the idea of a mercy monk that has the power of life in one hand and death in the other. Maybe someone who was cursed/blessed with this power and then trained in a monastery to learn to control the power. They wear gloves as to not accidentally kill people
2:57 the Ki fueled strike allows you to make an attack with a monk weapon as a bonus action. This works super well with a Kensei sharpshooter, as you can spend a Ki point to do extra damage at level 6, then take another sharpshooter shot as your bonus action.
A character i will 100% make: A gold grung way of mercy monk. Wears a black cloak and a wood- carved frog mask. Also has a thick, gold glove to heal with.
I liked the old 17th level ability, I saw it as the monk simultaneously using their powers of life and death to freeze a target in a state of limbo. Could allow you to keep a powerful foe suspended by coming back and using the ability again just before it wears off.
Situational or not, I mourn the loss of that original subclass capstone. The ability to put somebody into momentary stasis is so fricking flavorful, and the monk's subclass capstones are meant to be these supernatural, ki-draining super-abilities anyway. The subclass was improved as a whole, but I'm so sad we lost momentary stasis.
Just started playing d and d in January and discovered this monk. This is my first character after a 30 year hiatus from the game. I love playing him! Monks get a bad rap but they are friggin awesome!
So, let me get your take on a scenario. The party has been trying to stop this evil mage from becoming a Lich. In classic storytelling fashion, the ritual of Lichdom is completed just before the party confronts them for a final boss battle. Can a Way of Mercy Monk use Hand of Ultimate Mercy to force the newly minted Lich back to life, and proceed to beat the crap out of them with a Bonus Action?
Honestly, I think the changes equal out in terms of power. TCoE's Mercy Monk isn't as bursty, but it's also more consistent and less reliant on specific conditions, plus most of its damaging and healing features have the benefit of being declared after the attack is made and lands. Plus, Noxious Aura was antithetical to the melee attacker/healer hybrid, 'cause it forced allies away from you. I do wish that a lesser version of Hands of Harm made it into the build, though, like instead of 3d6 when attacking poisoned or incapacitated targets, just maxing out the 1d6+Wis Necrotic, and can only do so if the target's already poisoned or incapacitated when using it e.g. would have to use Hand of Harm twice on a healthy target to get the guaranteed maximized roll, once to apply poison and once to exploit it (unless you can pull off a Stun first.)
My thoughts... Implements of Mercy: I'm glad that we get proficiency in both skills now, but I would have liked to see them keep poisoner's kit since there aren't very many ways to gain proficiency with it outside of certain backgrounds or if you take advantage of the "change one proficiency of your choice if you already have it" mechanic. Hand of Healing: It's a lesser version of a Paladin's Lay on Hands for the monk and they can still smack a fool after, so it's nice and flavorful. Plus more party-wide healing helps out clerics since they can focus on damage and not keeping the wizard from dying, again. Hand of Harm: The loss of extra damage against a poisoned enemy sucks, and the compensation for it has worse scaling since Monks are a MAD class. Physician's Touch: You now have full access to the Paladin's Lay on Hands ability and you can poison anyone you hit no save. It's a nice feature, but I honestly prefer the aura you got since it gave you increased survivability and worked with your Hands of Harm ability from 3rd level. Flurry of Healing and Harm: It's nice that it builds off of your earlier abilities but I feel like the harm side got shafted since you can still only apply it to a single strike, albeit for free now. Hand of Ultimate Mercy: You get a once per day Resurrection spell, useful, but I prefer the always on versatility of the UA version. Final thoughts: Over all I'd say it's a good class, and with the optional mini Wholeness of Body that all monks can get now, it can be a pretty good off-tank. But I feel that they wen slightly overboard on the whole healing aspect since mercy doesn't just include healing, but also know when to put a suffering creature out of it's misery. (The fact that you and your party are possible the cause of said suffering is irrelevant.) As for me I still want to play one, but the fact that a lot of it's dual personality has been removed upsets me and I will be injecting that back in for my table.
@@VaqasARV3 if they did a con save it would be absolutely useless. I know I'm being a bit hypocritical but con saves are really easy to overcome. As stated above. This is a mixed fighter/healer so it doesn't need to be op in the damage department.
I like this better than UA. That one relied too much on being able to poison the enemy and you lost most of your damage and utility upsides if they couldn't be.
Yep they traded reliance on poison for free more consistent poison, adds so much more utility, hit the big guy at least once a round and he has constant disadvantage provided you have ki anyway
This class actually flows a lot better than the UA in my opinion. The old Noxious Aura was cool but it didn’t really help your healing in any way, now up until level 11 all of your abilities loop back around to your hands of healing and harm giving the subclass a clear game plan.
I was just thinking that. The plague doctor theme is cool, but I think the class really suits a wuxia acupressure healer concept even better. Striking people in their pressure points to cause a burst of natural healing, or blocking their chi flow to cause their cells to spontaneously die, mixing up healing pills with your herbalism kit, etc. It makes way more sense when I think about it like that.
In a sense, it's also an improved (and more morally neutral) version of the Way of Long Death Monk. They've got a Life theme as healers, but the Death theme is pretty strong in them as well, which makes them more interesting besides versatile.
I thought that Ultimate Mercy was gonna be a kill shot lol. I think the printed version does kinda have the problem in that you won't use it often. It's amazing when you use it, but won't get used often. Kinda like the surpsing amount of abilities that prevent you from hitting 0 once a day.
Love this Subclass, but my biggest problem is having a Resurrection being a class feature when alot of games I play fobid Resurrection magic. So do I say since it isn't magic I'm the only one that can raise the dead or do I just not get my 17th level feature?
"When you spend a ki point, it is unavailable until you finish a short or long rest, at the end of which you draw all of your expended ki back into yourself. You must spend at least 30 minutes of the rest meditating to regain your ki points." It looks like you can only get them back from short or long rests, but during that time you must spend 30 minutes meditating.
I do not like that 11th lvl feat gives you "hand of harm" for free to a "flurry of blows" attack but it does not allow you to use it one more time in a turn. It basicly only makes you run out of ki points slower which is not that ineteresting and why do not allow monks to run out of ki slightly faster to deal a little more damage if they desire to? Martial die + wisdom modifier more damage per turn at the cost of 1 more ki point doesn't seem broken by any means, while adding depth to resource management.
Doesn't really give me plague doctor vibes tbh, the mask in the art isn't even a plague mask. I wish they'd add some kind of plague doctor rogue or something
Those monks are so strong. I understand that it's something that a monk as a class needs, but I feel bad for older subclasses. I mean, Hands of Harm is basically Kensei's lvl 6th ability, but with almost twice more damage and you can do it for free after 11th lvl. And Kensei was one of the best monks.
@@gamecavalier3230 Kensei? Seriously? They are one of the best monk subclasses. Hell, before Tasha, they were the only ones who got multiple damage-increasing features! Though yeah, lvl 6 feature wasn't the best. But even that - now with Ki-Fueled strikes, you can use it to make three longbow or longsword attacks a turn!
@@gamecavalier3230 I know. And I don't see it much as a problem. Another common misconception that subclass "sucks" because it works quite not as you imagined. Still, Kensei has lots of bonuses. d10 damage for two main Attacks from lvl 3, +2 AC for a round if you make one of them unarmed, ability to add additional damage on top of what you got with Flurry, giving the ability to burn through Ki faster for more damage, ability to enchant weapons, which works wonderfully with magic weapons without hit bonus, such as Flametongue. And that not mention a good ranged option - not perfect, yeah, but still, it's something you can do and do well, using the lvl 6 feature instead of Flurry. And I already brought up Tasha's Variant Class feature - now if you sued Stunning Strike or lvl 6 feature as part of the main action, you can make one attack with a *weapon* as a bonus action. Not that relevant since I was talking about the time before Tasha, but still.
@@gamecavalier3230 Yeah. What's the point of playing Monk? And still, among things monk nad, Kensei was one of the better options. Plus "flavor" of a subclass is something totally subjective and shouldn't be used as main criteria. I'm personally totally fine if Kensei mixes weapon and unarmed attacks because *that* is how I imagine "monk with a weapon" would fight.
@@gamecavalier3230 Why did you comment then? And why did you mention Kensei specifically? They are one of the best *monks*, not comparing to other classes. You didn't mention anything that proves that statement wrong.
@@antongrigoryev6381 in my short few years with dnd I've seen two kinds of people that talk about the monk class, the ones that have fun with it, and the ones that shit talk it like its the worst thing ever made lol
Ki fueled strikes is also so you can you an item, and then do an attack as well as a bonus action. Potions, ball bearings, healers kit, all sorts of possibilities with the right set up.
@@antongrigoryev6381 Ahhhh okay cool. Oh well so anytime do you anything that uses ki and isnt an attack, you ca make an unarmed strike as a bonus attack. That's awesome. Any non attacking ki monk ability suddenly lets you also attack
@@ODDnanref I am talking to my dm but I am looking for a good class for classic monks that I can also use a bo staff for way of the closed hand seems boring and I am not a huge fan on Kensai maybe closed hand is really fun I’ve never played monk
@@CinemaSamuel open hand to me sounds like the classic movie monk. Shadow monk is good for a ninja variant. Kensei is for weapon focused classic builds. Just do yourself a favor and stay away from four elements.
All monks can use staffs. They count as monks weapons. You could further diversify into any monk, but if you want to focus on using weapons kensei is the way to go.
@@CinemaSamuel open hand is probably your best bet. You can maybe try looking at feats to upgrade your character, the new crusher feat is great for monks what race are you playing as?
I love this class but it's REALLY BADLY WRITTEN IN SOME ASPECTS. First, it's not totally clear if you can or can't hand of healing yourself - you touch a creature, so I assume you can touch yourself. Second, what if I want to use flurry of healing and harm out of combat ? I can't use flurry of blows unless I first attack someone with a unarmed or monk weapon attack - this means I probably have to get the injured teammate close to a tree, punch the tree and then flurry of healing the hurt guy. Couldn't they write it so you could flurry of healing without flurry of blows requirement ?
The general rule is that a creature is considered to be able to touch and see itself at any given time. So "you touch a creature" or "a creature you can see" imply that you can target yourself unless stated otherwise (ex: "you touch an other creature", "a creature you can see other than yourself", etc.) Incidentally, a blinded creature can target itself most of the time with features targeting "a creature you can see", because even though it doesn't truly see itself, it knows for sure where to target.
@ Lets be serious here, that's very ineffective, just punch the ground a bunch before a short rest and flurry of heal people. Then you rest for one hour and can go about your business. Save your potions.
@ it's the same situation before level 11, except, since you can use hand of healing as an action, you don't need to hit a random whatever before healing. But, hey, you can use hit dies and other sources for healing, it's always worth stocking your potions. You can even sell them back to the store. Only use potions if you really need to, otherwise, sell them for the money someone is saving for that plate armor.
@ Dude, I'm not reading that wall of text. Healing potions aren't really that big a deal if you have a party member that can heal, just sell it for the pocket change. Plus, hit die on short rest.
god monks are so bad XD your level 17 and getting a free nerfed version of raise dead, while your peers are level 17 and have access to resurrection, true resurrection and have had the actual spell raise dead since 7th level. I swear between wizards, and the community monk will forever remain an anemically under-powered class.
Yes but while those take expensive resources and stuff this only costs 5 ki points, nothing by that level, gives potentially a ton of health immediately, and removes status effects
