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Death Cleric Build
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<blockquote data-quote="Alatar" data-source="post: 6963249" data-attributes="member: 38424"><p>I hadn't thought of that at all. Actually, I've never played a monk. We did run an Oriental Adventures campaign once, back in 3e, but I went with a Vanara Wu Jen on that occasion. That campaign was a bit of a departure for us. We otherwise have almost always played in a homebrew world that loosely hews to the western european fantasy tropes. I originally got into this game to play Gandalf. Still hasn't happened. I also tend to view with suspicion any race or class that didn't make its appearance in 1st edition AD&D. It's part of the deal. There are bylaws for grognards. I did play a goliath once. Hoo, wild times!</p><p></p><p>Posturing aside, the first thing that strikes me about the monk is that it gets Dexterity proficiency. I rather like that. It builds on a strength and fills a hole in the current construction. But no Wisdom and no Constitution. Those are the two ability proficiencies that directly bolster my spellcasting. I can cover one with Resilient, but not both. War Caster would prop up the Con. But now I'm at two feats for core competencies.</p><p></p><p>OK, I've overstated that. Wisdom proficiency is not a cleric spellcasting core competency. But it is a saving throw core competency and it supports Medicine and Perception. I really wanna have it. I don't want the other clerics sniggering behind my back.</p><p></p><p>The monk gets Insight, which will be more useful to me than Religion, given the character's state of idiocy. But no Perception. That's a knock against the monk. My DM employs both skills in his games, Athletics <em>and</em> Perception. I could go looking for Perception in the backgrounds, but I'm already getting Medicine from the Hermit, the only background that features it. I'm not going to concoct a custom background (Hawkeyed Medicine Man). I've already gone to the DMG for the main character class. One must keep up appearances.</p><p></p><p>The monk is a d8 HP class. That's 11 HP at 1st level rather than 13. By itself, just a quibble. Unarmored Defense starts me off at AC 16. It does build to 18, eventually, but not till halfway through the campaign. So we're looking at a level 1 melee guy with 16 AC, 11 HP, and no Second Wind. Could be a one-shot. But an unarmored cleric would be cool. I could dress him in a cassock and amice. Constantine would look like Neo.</p><p></p><p>Patient Defense and Step of the Wind are delightful. They more than make up for Action Surge. Flurry of Blows would lose its efficacy for this build rather quickly. Wisdom will grow stronger with time. Dexterity will not. Once I have enough spell slots to do something besides healing, I expect to deliver Channel Divinity/Touch of Death via remotely cast "melee" spells. But Step of the Wind would really add ground truth to the tactical mobility concept. And Patient Defense has a whole lot of utility. Monk level 2 has win all over it. </p><p></p><p>The monk's level 3 Touch of Death is a bit underwhelming. I do kinda like that we'd spend the the whole campaign confusing Touch of Death with Touch of Death. Way to go, Mearls. But I don't think I'd sacrifice my 3rd Channel Divinity and a 5th level spell slot at 20th for this flavorful yet fanciful feature. I don't think it would get used after 5th level, and I wouldn't have it till 11th. Still, that's not a knock against the monk MC concept. It just renders the Long Death monk MC concept moot. I'd be stopping the progression before anything Long Deathy comes along.</p><p></p><p>I could see multiclassing with fighter 1 to start, then a bit later monk 1 & 2. Patient Defense would be a tasty treat with a 19 AC. This is definitely something to mull over. Thanks for the idea.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Alatar, post: 6963249, member: 38424"] I hadn't thought of that at all. Actually, I've never played a monk. We did run an Oriental Adventures campaign once, back in 3e, but I went with a Vanara Wu Jen on that occasion. That campaign was a bit of a departure for us. We otherwise have almost always played in a homebrew world that loosely hews to the western european fantasy tropes. I originally got into this game to play Gandalf. Still hasn't happened. I also tend to view with suspicion any race or class that didn't make its appearance in 1st edition AD&D. It's part of the deal. There are bylaws for grognards. I did play a goliath once. Hoo, wild times! Posturing aside, the first thing that strikes me about the monk is that it gets Dexterity proficiency. I rather like that. It builds on a strength and fills a hole in the current construction. But no Wisdom and no Constitution. Those are the two ability proficiencies that directly bolster my spellcasting. I can cover one with Resilient, but not both. War Caster would prop up the Con. But now I'm at two feats for core competencies. OK, I've overstated that. Wisdom proficiency is not a cleric spellcasting core competency. But it is a saving throw core competency and it supports Medicine and Perception. I really wanna have it. I don't want the other clerics sniggering behind my back. The monk gets Insight, which will be more useful to me than Religion, given the character's state of idiocy. But no Perception. That's a knock against the monk. My DM employs both skills in his games, Athletics [I]and[/I] Perception. I could go looking for Perception in the backgrounds, but I'm already getting Medicine from the Hermit, the only background that features it. I'm not going to concoct a custom background (Hawkeyed Medicine Man). I've already gone to the DMG for the main character class. One must keep up appearances. The monk is a d8 HP class. That's 11 HP at 1st level rather than 13. By itself, just a quibble. Unarmored Defense starts me off at AC 16. It does build to 18, eventually, but not till halfway through the campaign. So we're looking at a level 1 melee guy with 16 AC, 11 HP, and no Second Wind. Could be a one-shot. But an unarmored cleric would be cool. I could dress him in a cassock and amice. Constantine would look like Neo. Patient Defense and Step of the Wind are delightful. They more than make up for Action Surge. Flurry of Blows would lose its efficacy for this build rather quickly. Wisdom will grow stronger with time. Dexterity will not. Once I have enough spell slots to do something besides healing, I expect to deliver Channel Divinity/Touch of Death via remotely cast "melee" spells. But Step of the Wind would really add ground truth to the tactical mobility concept. And Patient Defense has a whole lot of utility. Monk level 2 has win all over it. The monk's level 3 Touch of Death is a bit underwhelming. I do kinda like that we'd spend the the whole campaign confusing Touch of Death with Touch of Death. Way to go, Mearls. But I don't think I'd sacrifice my 3rd Channel Divinity and a 5th level spell slot at 20th for this flavorful yet fanciful feature. I don't think it would get used after 5th level, and I wouldn't have it till 11th. Still, that's not a knock against the monk MC concept. It just renders the Long Death monk MC concept moot. I'd be stopping the progression before anything Long Deathy comes along. I could see multiclassing with fighter 1 to start, then a bit later monk 1 & 2. Patient Defense would be a tasty treat with a 19 AC. This is definitely something to mull over. Thanks for the idea. [/QUOTE]
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