High Strength Monk

[Guest 6801328]

Hillsy7's objections aside, I still think this is a great concept that deserves a sub-class.

I talked with the player. The idea for the concept is someone who is channeling their ki into tremendous, supernatural Strength. She imagines the character blocking attacks rather than dodging them, and waiting for openings to make big attacks rather than a flurry of little attacks.

I love this. Maybe if you skip your turn, on the next turn you get Advantage on a mega-hit that does tons of damage. Or something like that.

EDIT: Or replace Flurry with something that is one big attack. Although if you balance the numbers its hard to see why it's anything more than flavor. You would want some kind of risk/reward mechanism. "I'll risk missing in order to do more damage." I guess it's starting to sound like Great Weapon Master...

 

[smbakeresq]

Watch Five Deadly Venoms, look at toad.

Let monk use Con for AC as long as weak point isn’t exposed.


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[Guest 6801328]

Ok, I almost have a version I like. Still needs fluff.

Way of the Moving Mountain

Level 3:
- When an opponent targets you with a melee attack, as a Reaction you may add your Strength modifier to your AC. You may choose to do this after the roll.
- Mighty Blow (Still figuring this one out...suggestions welcome. Something that consumes bonus action so that it's mutually exclusive with offhand attacks and Flurry of Blows)

Level 6:
- When computing the DC for the Saving Throw versus your Stunning Strike, you may use Strength instead of Wisdom
- When using Stunning Strike, you may use your bonus action to also attempt to Shove the same target

Level 11:
- For 1 Ki, you gain Advantage on any Strength check and also add your Proficiency bonus to the roll, even if you already have Proficiency.

Level 17:
- You gain damage resistance to non-magical Slashing, Piercing, and Bludgeoning. Against magical Slashing, Piercing, and Bludgeoning you have damage reduction equal to your Strength modifier.

 

[Xeviat]

Ok, I almost have a version I like. Still needs fluff.

Way of the Moving Mountain

Level 3:
- When an opponent targets you with a melee attack, as a Reaction you may add your Strength modifier to your AC. You may choose to do this after the roll.
- Mighty Blow (Still figuring this one out...suggestions welcome. Something that consumes bonus action so that it's mutually exclusive with offhand attacks and Flurry of Blows)

Level 6:
- When computing the DC for the Saving Throw versus your Stunning Strike, you may use Strength instead of Wisdom
- When using Stunning Strike, you may use your bonus action to also attempt to Shove the same target

Level 11:
- For 1 Ki, you gain Advantage on any Strength check and also add your Proficiency bonus to the roll, even if you already have Proficiency.

Level 17:
- You gain damage resistance to non-magical Slashing, Piercing, and Bludgeoning. Against magical Slashing, Piercing, and Bludgeoning you have damage reduction equal to your Strength modifier.

I wouldn’t use everything, but I really like your 6 and 11th level abilities.

For Mighty Blow, I’d use something like the Psychic Weapon from the Mystic. Bonus action, add 1d10 per ki, max 1 ki at 2nd, 2 at 5th ... but I’d add that the Damage happens even on a miss since flurry is 2 attacks, not one, so it needs to have a benefit.

I haven’t done the math on it yet.


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[TheCosmicKid]

I allow STR + WIS for AC at my table, one player (a Goliath monk) took me up on it and it made for a very interesting and not overpowered at all monk. I also made an archetype but he didn't use it.

Absolutely. You can even call it iron shirt kung fu and say they don't use Dex because they're bracing for the hit instead of dodging -- basically turning their body into heavy armor. While there's certainly nothing wrong with a whole "Way of the Mountain" subclass, there's nothing wrong with big strong monks going into the other subclasses either (okay, Way of Shadow might be a little odd).

 

[Guest 6801328]

I wouldn’t use everything, but I really like your 6 and 11th level abilities.

I don't like the capstone. I mean, I like the idea of damage reduction instead of AC but it's a boring capstone. I'll keep pondering...

For Mighty Blow, I’d use something like the Psychic Weapon from the Mystic. Bonus action, add 1d10 per ki, max 1 ki at 2nd, 2 at 5th ... but I’d add that the Damage happens even on a miss since flurry is 2 attacks, not one, so it needs to have a benefit.

I haven’t done the math on it yet.

Whereas the damage from Flurry is fairly smooth because it's spread over three attempts, Mighty Blow might be spikier. I think that's ok, as long as averaged over many rounds it's a little higher (Since unpredictability is a downside, I think it's fair to boost it slightly). So, yeah, need to do some math on this, which I will. Just not tonight.

 

[Tormyr]

I talked with the player. The idea for the concept is someone who is channeling their ki into tremendous, supernatural Strength. She imagines the character blocking attacks rather than dodging them, and waiting for openings to make big attacks rather than a flurry of little attacks.

I’m already working on a variant monk that has more options for their ki abilities. Combining that with her concept makes me think Monk is the way to go.

I don’t want to use Str to AC instead of Dex. I think I’ll use Wis to AC instead of Dex, but allow light armor. If her character has a decent Dex, her AC won’t suffer too much at 1st and 2nd level.

I do like the idea of a mountain stance as an early ability. Stand your ground, get an AC bonus, and a reaction attack against attackers.


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It sounds a lot like a barbarian from one point of view; although there are other elements that do not line up. Half damage from raging is blocking but absorbing a portion of the damage. Reckless attack is the big attack.

 

[Satyrn]

I'd consider a sleight change to all monks: "When attacking with Strength, increase the monk's martial arts die by one size."

This ought to give all monks a choice to focus on AC or damage.

 

[cmad1977]

Maybe build a barbarian/monk multi class?


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[Xaelvaen]

Replacing Dexterity with Strength for Monks Unarmored Defense bonus is innately weaker due to dexterity controlling initiative, and strength just really controlling carrying capacity. Athletics having a higher bonus instead of Acrobatics could somewhat dissuade that argument, but a very tiny nuance there. Due to a Monk's limitation on the weapons they can wield, you aren't getting to take advantage of 'high strength' equipment like Greatswords, and of course with Unarmored Defense you aren't getting the use out of Heavy Armor, so the two stats are practically interchangeable, and it all boils down to flavor.

I've used this quite a few times in my homebrew systems, and it really is self-balancing.