A couple months ago I got together most of my old gaming group from middle and high school to play 5E. Some of them haven't played D&D in 20 years. We're now 7 sessions into a campaign and the group will probably hit 4th level next session. One player has a wood elf Way of Four Elements monk. We're using the revised version from reddit. He loves having 45 feet of movement and the ability to shoot fire from his fists. He's not the most powerful character, but due to the versatility of the class, he thinks he is. He's even taken a vow of poverty (excepting magic items) because he feels the class is so self-sustaining.
D&D 5E [poll] Monk Satisfaction Survey
- Thread starter Sacrosanct
- Start date
This is the first one I've voted dissatisfied on, and even now I'm conflicted. On the one hand, on paper the class is exciting: it's full of special abilities that when exploring possible characters always make me want to squeeze in more monk levels. On the other hand, no one has ever decided to take any monk levels at my table, nor have I played in a game where anyone chose to. Also, when it comes time to switch from exploring character builds to finalizing concepts for NPCs and PCs, the monk levels always seem to be the ones that end up in the chopping block.
Part of this could be coincidence: the monk abilities thematically and mechanically model a narrower range of concepts than most classes, so perhaps I simply need a larger sample size before I start seeing characters with monk levels making the cut. Another possibility is that many of the Monk's main abilities don't synergize terribly well with the abilities of other classes (e.g. Martial Arts). The few that do aren't necessarily worth the number of levels required to reach them. For example, I'd love to have Stunning Strike on almost any melee character, but it's almost never worth five levels to get it, particularly on any character that already has (or will get) Extra Attack from another class.
Part of this could be coincidence: the monk abilities thematically and mechanically model a narrower range of concepts than most classes, so perhaps I simply need a larger sample size before I start seeing characters with monk levels making the cut. Another possibility is that many of the Monk's main abilities don't synergize terribly well with the abilities of other classes (e.g. Martial Arts). The few that do aren't necessarily worth the number of levels required to reach them. For example, I'd love to have Stunning Strike on almost any melee character, but it's almost never worth five levels to get it, particularly on any character that already has (or will get) Extra Attack from another class.
Xeviat
Hero
I like the monk a lot. The only two things that stand out to me as weaknesses is a lack of a damage boosting class ability at 11th level (at this point, they fall in damage behind the others; if you were playing them as a damage dealer, they suddenly switch to being more of a controller). There's also the whole issue with the Way of the 4 Elements. But otherwise, I love the way the Ki mechanic works, and you get something fun at almost every level.
Eltab
Lord of the Hidden Layer
I made up an AL Wood Elf Open Hand Monk with 1 level of Rogue (for Expertise). What he's done:
- Tried to be a Jackie Chan showoff but failed an Acrobatics roll; wound up flat on my back in front of a guard.
- Passive Perception so high that I saw everything trying to sneak up on us, got to spend more time with the Climactic Fight.
- Martial Arts and Flurry of Blows feel like having Advantage on a single attack, I was doing at least some damage every round.
- Ran down a giant frog in a swamp where every last square was difficult terrain; single-handedly saved my team member the Frog was trying to Swallow Whole.
- Played Ranger for one adventure after I got a magic bow; nobody knew the difference (insubstantial undead don't care if you punch them).
- Perception and Stealth are so high I can sneak in and out of the enemy camp to collect information and get the lay of the land. (I still want an Elven Cloak.)
- Accidentally bluffed our way through the biggest fight of one module: we had just put a Minotaur to Sleep and put manacles on him when his buddies showed up. I said, "He scared me. You ... don't scare me."
I could tell at first reading that Wo4E burns too much ki for too little spell effects, after PotA there are enough spells available to fix that problem.
- Tried to be a Jackie Chan showoff but failed an Acrobatics roll; wound up flat on my back in front of a guard.
- Passive Perception so high that I saw everything trying to sneak up on us, got to spend more time with the Climactic Fight.
- Martial Arts and Flurry of Blows feel like having Advantage on a single attack, I was doing at least some damage every round.
- Ran down a giant frog in a swamp where every last square was difficult terrain; single-handedly saved my team member the Frog was trying to Swallow Whole.
- Played Ranger for one adventure after I got a magic bow; nobody knew the difference (insubstantial undead don't care if you punch them).
- Perception and Stealth are so high I can sneak in and out of the enemy camp to collect information and get the lay of the land. (I still want an Elven Cloak.)
- Accidentally bluffed our way through the biggest fight of one module: we had just put a Minotaur to Sleep and put manacles on him when his buddies showed up. I said, "He scared me. You ... don't scare me."
I could tell at first reading that Wo4E burns too much ki for too little spell effects, after PotA there are enough spells available to fix that problem.
pukunui
Legend
I played a sun soul monk / light cleric in Curse of Strahd. That was fun.
I've seen other monks in play as well, and they all seem to work pretty well.
The only one I think needs tweaking is the Way of Four Elements. When I first read it, I thought: "Hey cool, now I can play a bender!" But it just doesn't have enough juice (ki points) or options really.
I've seen other monks in play as well, and they all seem to work pretty well.
The only one I think needs tweaking is the Way of Four Elements. When I first read it, I thought: "Hey cool, now I can play a bender!" But it just doesn't have enough juice (ki points) or options really.
Ancalagon
Dusty Dragon
I am a bit troubled here... The satisfaction numbers we are seeing here are not fantastic, but they are pretty decent ( sorcerer did far worse).
However, there was another poll a few weeks ago about "what class(es) does your group never plays" (or something like that). The written responses were all over the place, but when the poll data was tallied up, the monk emerged as *massively * the loser. Sorcerer didn't fare well at 15% ish, but the monk was over 60%!
This doesn't jive... A class people are reasonably satisfied with (ok one subclass sucks) yet is quite unpopular.
Sent from my SM-G930W8 using EN World mobile app
However, there was another poll a few weeks ago about "what class(es) does your group never plays" (or something like that). The written responses were all over the place, but when the poll data was tallied up, the monk emerged as *massively * the loser. Sorcerer didn't fare well at 15% ish, but the monk was over 60%!
This doesn't jive... A class people are reasonably satisfied with (ok one subclass sucks) yet is quite unpopular.
Sent from my SM-G930W8 using EN World mobile app
MechaTarrasque
Hero
I suggest this interpretation: there are a lot of disincentives to play the monk (the oft mentioned not the DPR king, too "kung fu" for LotR, "I hated the monk from X edition"), so people who want to play the monk, really want to play the monk (high popularity among the faithful). The more popular the class, the more likely that there are blocks of people who like (and dislike) certain features of it. Due to the magic of the Internet, these blocks of people know they are blocks of people (not just a lonely gamer crying out to the night), and they can easily argue with the other blocks of people. Occasionally one block gets really big, and stuff changes to fit their vision (see the revised ranger), but usually that doesn't happen (see the sorcerer). That makes people angry, but perversely unwilling to abandon the thing that makes them angry (or else the other guys win, and they should be the ones finding a new class when WotC finally sees the wisdom of my position).
MarkB
Legend
I'd say it's that it's satisfactory mechanically, but in terms of its role in the gameworld it's a bit of an outlier. The D&D Monk can encapsulate a number of favourful concepts, but it's never really been fleshed out flavourwise the way other classes have, so it's just not a concept that's often embraced. And mechanically, it does all sorts of little things well, but it doesn't punch at full weight in any of the game's classic roles.
So it may well be a lot of peoples' second or third choice, but it's not often anybody's first choice.
I like the way the 5e Monk is built, but in order for people to engage with it, it needs to fully embrace the tropes it represents. The Way of the Open Palm monk should be built like the Battlemaster, with a wider range of very specific maneuvers, so that players can really go full kung-fu style and essentially build up their own martial arts style through the maneuvers they choose. The Way of Shadow monk should feel like the full ninja experience with ways to specialise in stealth, deception or distraction. More of the monk's abilities should be baked into the subclasses rather than the base class, to allow for deeper specialisation and more pronounced archetype identity.
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