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

[MwaO]

Is there a correct way to play a Monk? This is news to me.

Monk has a lot of trap options. Take advantage of too many of them and you can royally suck in ways hard to do with other classes. As a straightforward example:
The Unarmed 14 AC Monk who takes Mobility because someone told him it was an awesome feat.

 

[Z. H. Darkstar]

A 3rd level Sun Soul Monk plays like a close-range switch hitter. Toss a flurry of hadoukens at opponent on turn 1 for up to 3d4+9 (12-21, avg 16.5). Close the gap on turn 2 and go for the kill.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

Monk has a lot of trap options. Take advantage of too many of them and you can royally suck in ways hard to do with other classes. As a straightforward example:
The Unarmed 14 AC Monk who takes Mobility because someone told him it was an awesome feat.

That's no different from a wizard who takes Planar Binding "because somebody told him" it was an awesome spell. It is an awesome spell, but blindly following advice that you don't comprehend never leads to success. If you don't know what to do with Planar Binding and why, it is just dead weight on your spell list.

An AC 14 Mobile monk could be fun and effective, but if you're just doing what "somebody told you" you probably won't know how to take advantage of your strengths. That's true for everything, from monks to bladesingers to deadlocks to paladins. Nothing substitutes for skill.

 

[muppetmuppet]

I am playing a human monk with the healer feat. This made me very useful to the group at level one as no one could heal much yet. The world we are playing in has little metal so finding decent armor will be a problem for others.
So far I hid behind the paladin a lot and healed people. Some of the game was based on ships with inter ship fighting where I was able to use a crossbow and heal people again.
The most dodgy part so far was assaulting a small fortified house with archers surrounded by a mud field. I hadn't yet got deflect missile. I was saved by the paladin and dragged to safety.
I am now level 3 and feel a little more confidant to scout and ambush enemy scouts trying to drop them before they can send alarms. I leave the heavy fighting to the paladin and ranger and try to get in when its safe.
The character that probably has been the most useless in our game has been the rogue where it has been hard to set him up to sneak attack much because combat has either been at choke points or on ships.
The paladin was our only death but he has been raised leaving most of the party in debt.
It looks like our next mission will involve a fortified tower assault so stealth attacking may well be useful again.
That hasn't been mentioned much in this thread but comes up a lot in play I find the monk is good at stealth and killing things or taking them out fast which is often very important.

 

[mellored]

I'd rather save ki for Pass Without Trace, Darkness, and occasional Stunning Strike, which are actual game changers.

Darkness and stun both prevent OA's.

Thus even with the way you play, mobility is only useful 1/3 of the time. Not completely useless, but not exactly a great feat either.

 

[cmad1977]

Dodge action. Timely strikes. 'Problem' solved,

 

[Kithas]

We have a monk in our oldest campaign(since a little after release) we are level 17. He has had mobility for quite some time, maybe 4 on. It has always been useful for him. He is a Elemental monk so he uses tons of ki dropping spells on people and stunning, doesn't really want to use it to have to disengage. Also using ki for that uses your bonus action too, so no Flurry. We usually get either 1 big thing or umpteen small ones that still hit really hard so getting Opp atks for him isn't really an option, his ac is good but he still goes down quickly. Basically having mobile lets him do more damage because he doesn't have to use his ki to stay alive. Stunning is good and does take their oa, however it isn't a guarantee and I've seen him blow 2-3 ki trying to stun one guy and failing. Mobile is no-questions-asked, no save, no action economy and no ki, it also gives you 10' of movement, it's a great feat, not mandatory of course but great.

As far as how he survived at low levels, it was a lot of hit-and-run, he did go down a lot but we have a decent group for healing so we haven't let him die yet.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

Darkness and stun both prevent OA's.

Thus even with the way you play, mobility is only useful 1/3 of the time. Not completely useless, but not exactly a great feat either.

An option which gives you more options is useful even when it isn't exercised. Mobile may not get used often by my shadow monk because shooting arrows is better, but having the option (which unlike Stunning Strike is guaranteed, and unlike Darkness doesn't cost concentration or cost a separate action) allows her to freely do things that otherwise would be risky... like scout ahead alone in close quarters, or with only one companion following behind.

So the way I play, it's useful almost 100% of the time.

 

[Leugren]

I am playing a human monk with the healer feat. This made me very useful to the group at level one as no one could heal much yet. The world we are playing in has little metal so finding decent armor will be a problem for others.
So far I hid behind the paladin a lot and healed people. Some of the game was based on ships with inter ship fighting where I was able to use a crossbow and heal people again.
The most dodgy part so far was assaulting a small fortified house with archers surrounded by a mud field. I hadn't yet got deflect missile. I was saved by the paladin and dragged to safety.
I am now level 3 and feel a little more confidant to scout and ambush enemy scouts trying to drop them before they can send alarms. I leave the heavy fighting to the paladin and ranger and try to get in when its safe.
The character that probably has been the most useless in our game has been the rogue where it has been hard to set him up to sneak attack much because combat has either been at choke points or on ships.
The paladin was our only death but he has been raised leaving most of the party in debt.
It looks like our next mission will involve a fortified tower assault so stealth attacking may well be useful again.
That hasn't been mentioned much in this thread but comes up a lot in play I find the monk is good at stealth and killing things or taking them out fast which is often very important.

Thanks, muppet. You are exactly the type of person I was hoping to solicit feedback from. I fully agree with you about monk Stealth: monks can be great at scouting depending on the build. This is definitely one of their strengths.

 

[Leugren]

We have a monk in our oldest campaign(since a little after release) we are level 17. He has had mobility for quite some time, maybe 4 on. It has always been useful for him. He is a Elemental monk so he uses tons of ki dropping spells on people and stunning, doesn't really want to use it to have to disengage. Also using ki for that uses your bonus action too, so no Flurry. We usually get either 1 big thing or umpteen small ones that still hit really hard so getting Opp atks for him isn't really an option, his ac is good but he still goes down quickly. Basically having mobile lets him do more damage because he doesn't have to use his ki to stay alive. Stunning is good and does take their oa, however it isn't a guarantee and I've seen him blow 2-3 ki trying to stun one guy and failing. Mobile is no-questions-asked, no save, no action economy and no ki, it also gives you 10' of movement, it's a great feat, not mandatory of course but great.

As far as how he survived at low levels, it was a lot of hit-and-run, he did go down a lot but we have a decent group for healing so we haven't let him die yet.

Thanks a lot for chiming in, Kithas. Your point about Stunning Strike not always succeeding is spot on, and highlights a key difference between theorycrafting and actual play experience.