D&D 5E How Do Monks Survive At Low Levels?

Eltab · Nov 26, 2015

I got to look at a friend's copy of Sword Coast Adventurers Guide, and saw the Monk of Long Death feature that summarizes "You can scare everybody silly". Frightened creatures cannot get closer to you, so this could be used to help break up the enemy into penny packets you (and your friends) can overwhelm and defeat. I didn't see what level it kicks in at, though, so it may not be germaine to current topic.

It doesn't seem to distinguish between friends and enemies, so you may leave yourself alone in the middle of the room if you are not careful.

One way to improve survivability is to prevent incoming attacks. Sticking melee-only opponents 2 squares away from you effectively makes them harmless to you. By being careful you can take down the guy at the end of a line and leave a space when he falls. (Granted you have to think very 4e-style positioning, and play on a grid.)

Shadowdweller00 · Nov 27, 2015

I've played a couple low-level monks. I think the trick to survival is to realize that they're not really tanks. As in, don't just rush in at the earliest opportunity and draw the immediate ire of a horde of enemies. I've seen sooooo many monks go down that way. They seem to function better at mopping up once the main party tank has managed to engage the main force of the enemy in melee. Alternate with ranged attacks if this hasn't happened yet or you should be low on health. Unless you can position yourself so that only a few of the enemy can reach you. Yes this will decrease your damage output; sometimes survival is better. Monks seem to work particularly well with battlefield control assistance from allies.

Sadly the Monk of the Long Death scare feature lasts only a single round. So...not such a great use of an action except in very fringe cases. (Also received at 6th level, after both extra attack and stunning fist).

Herobizkit · Nov 27, 2015

Yeah, D8 HP, genrally the same AC as a medium-armored fella... Monks can skirmish quite well, and if built properly for Grappling, they can make silly-good defender types that lock down one or two opponents.

ClockworkNinja · Nov 28, 2015

Herobizkit said:
Yeah, D8 HP, genrally the same AC as a medium-armored fella... Monks can skirmish quite well, and if built properly for Grappling, they can make silly-good defender types that lock down one or two opponents.

What would you recommend for a monk "built properly for grappling"? Multiclass into something like rouge or barbarian?

Herobizkit · Nov 28, 2015

There used to be a super-good Grappling handbook online, but it may have died with the collapse of the WotC boards.

It seems counter-intuitive, but a Monk who takes Tavern Brawler (for the free Grapple on a hit, which would be used in place of your normal unarmed bonus action) can whack and latch on to a fella, then next round has the option of knocking his target prone (via the Shove special manoeuvre) and keeping him there (a Grappled creature has a move of 0, therefore a prone creature has no move with which to stand). Then, the monk can drag that guy anywhere he likes (at half speed, which for a Monk, isn't too shabby).

And of course, because a Monk has two free hands, he can do this to two adjacent people and STILL technically kick them (as Monks don't need a free hand to unarmed strike).

The whole joy of this is, Grapple (and Shove) is an Athletics (STR) _skill check_, not an attack roll... so any class who can pump or affect Skill checks can benefit using these tactics.

Leugren · Nov 28, 2015

Herobizkit said:
There used to be a super-good Grappling handbook online, but it may have died with the collapse of the WotC boards.

Nah, it didn't die. An as-yet incomplete copy is available here:

http://www.enworld.org/forum/showth...ppler-s-Manual-(2-0)-Grappling-in-5th-Edition

If you want to look at the original with all of the builds, it's preserved on the Wayback Machine here:

https://web.archive.org/web/20150917000749/http://community.wizards.com/forum/player-help/threads/4142801

The biggest problem with monks as grapplers is that they are already quite MAD as it is without having to invest in Strength for a good Athletics roll.

--Leugren

Leugren · Nov 28, 2015

Shadowdweller00 said:
I've played a couple low-level monks. I think the trick to survival is to realize that they're not really tanks. As in, don't just rush in at the earliest opportunity and draw the immediate ire of a horde of enemies. I've seen sooooo many monks go down that way. They seem to function better at mopping up once the main party tank has managed to engage the main force of the enemy in melee. Alternate with ranged attacks if this hasn't happened yet or you should be low on health. Unless you can position yourself so that only a few of the enemy can reach you. Yes this will decrease your damage output; sometimes survival is better. Monks seem to work particularly well with battlefield control assistance from allies.

Sadly the Monk of the Long Death scare feature lasts only a single round. So...not such a great use of an action except in very fringe cases. (Also received at 6th level, after both extra attack and stunning fist).

This makes a ton of sense. Thank you!

Bardbarian · Nov 29, 2015

Remember the Dodge action is your friend at the low cost of a bonus action and a Ki point at level 2 onward. This can be a good go to action when caught out in the open ahead of your party. Monks also can be very stealthy which can be useful when you need to cross long distances against ranged enemies. Like many have said already, they work best when paired with a tough defender like character that can take some of the pressure off.

ClockworkNinja · Dec 7, 2015

Ilya said:
Remember the Dodge action is your friend at the low cost of a bonus action and a Ki point at level 2 onward. This can be a good go to action when caught out in the open ahead of your party. Monks also can be very stealthy which can be useful when you need to cross long distances against ranged enemies. Like many have said already, they work best when paired with a tough defender like character that can take some of the pressure off.

Using bonus actions and Ki points is kind of the linchpin of the class- your damage, defense, and movement all depend on these tightly limited things, along with half the utility class features besides. A low-level monk who has just run up to and attacked an enemy has to make a choice: "Do I want to do my job or do I want to survive?" That forced choice (every round until you run out of Ki, at which point you can do neither) seriously reduces the fun of playing a monk.

Also, yes- Monks do work well when paired with a defender. You know what else works well with a defender? EVERY OTHER CLASS. Except all the other classes can typically work fine on their own, either by keeping their distance from an enemy or having the AC and HP to go toe-to-toe.

PnPgamer · Dec 10, 2015

ClockworkNinja said:
Using bonus actions and Ki points is kind of the linchpin of the class- your damage, defense, and movement all depend on these tightly limited things, along with half the utility class features besides. A low-level monk who has just run up to and attacked an enemy has to make a choice: "Do I want to do my job or do I want to survive?" That forced choice (every round until you run out of Ki, at which point you can do neither) seriously reduces the fun of playing a monk.

Also, yes- Monks do work well when paired with a defender. You know what else works well with a defender? EVERY OTHER CLASS. Except all the other classes can typically work fine on their own, either by keeping their distance from an enemy or having the AC and HP to go toe-to-toe.

I agree what you are saying but there are some exceptional albeit rare cases in which being a monk might pay off.
there are situations when the defender goes down for some reason. at that point monk is the second best at keeping distance, aside rogue. Warlock, sorcerer or wizard might have ran out of spells and may be caught into melee.

D&D 5E How Do Monks Survive At Low Levels?

Eltab

Lord of the Hidden Layer

Shadowdweller00

Adventurer

Herobizkit

Adventurer

ClockworkNinja

Explorer

Herobizkit

Adventurer

Leugren

First Post

Leugren

First Post

Bardbarian

First Post

ClockworkNinja

Explorer

PnPgamer

Explorer

Similar Threads