shadowoflameth
Adventurer
Anyone have thoughts on optimizing a Kensei Monk?
Kensei Monk
Voort
Explorer
Variant Human, Mobile feat.
Max Dex, then Wis. Some Con.
Pick Longsword, Warhammer, or Battleax for the first K melee weapon.
Skills: Acrobatics, Perception, and Stealth to stay alive. Insight and Survival to contribute outside combat.
Abuse your immunity to opportunity attacks. Always be attacking. And once you have Stunning Strike, don’t waste ki points on anything else.
Max Dex, then Wis. Some Con.
Pick Longsword, Warhammer, or Battleax for the first K melee weapon.
Skills: Acrobatics, Perception, and Stealth to stay alive. Insight and Survival to contribute outside combat.
Abuse your immunity to opportunity attacks. Always be attacking. And once you have Stunning Strike, don’t waste ki points on anything else.
Gladius Legis
Legend
Definitely take the Whip at Lv. 11.
shadowoflameth
Adventurer
I was thinking whip had the special property but I guess not. That would be useful. I was considering the dagger since it can be thrown too.
River Michael
First Post
I was thinking about trying to do some build that used the whip in one hand, hand crossbow (with crossbow expert) in the other, for a cool almost Indiana-Jones-esque vibe. The problem is that your bonus action is way too competitive and that the reach of whips doesn’t combo well with the unarmed strike +2 AC. Does someone better than me at this have an idea of how to make this work?
Recent Build I made, was Wood Elf, 17Kensei/2Warlock/1Warpriest based of Samurai Jack.
STR:9
DEX:14 (+2)
CON:14
INT: 8
WIS:13 (+1)
CHA: 14
Pick up Longbow, and Longsword proficiency for free. Warlock Dip gets you Armour of Shadows Invocation, and Fiendish Vigor for AC starting at 16. 18 when Agile Parry is enabled. 20, once Dex is Capped. 22 if you can get Bracers of Defense.
Also gives access to Spells Protection from Good and Evil for disadvantage, as well as Hex for Damage Boosts.
Warpriest gives you access to Shield of Faith and Sanctuary, for another 2+AC or cause wasted attacks, as well as martial weapon proficiency.
Also gives you access to 8 Cantrips, and 9 Spells, as well as 4 Level 1 Spell Slots, and depending on if all Splatbooks allowed, Booming Blade and/or Green-Flame Blade can come into play as well to further round out your toolkit, especially for earlier levels before extra attack comes.
From Level 7 onwards going 5/1/1, once hex is applied you can potentially do 1d10+7d6 damage for 5 rounds before running out of Ki, which scales as Martial Arts Die increase.
If you pick up Mobile, you completely negate OAs from targets attacked without needing to burn Ki, meaning you become incredibly annoying and sticky Tank/OT that can dive into the backline with a 45ft movement speed.
Alternatively, you can go Vuman to pick up Mobile from 1st Level, and pick up Alert as well, or Boost Wis further, though you need a +4mod for the Wis to outstrip Armour of Shadows.
STR:9
DEX:14 (+2)
CON:14
INT: 8
WIS:13 (+1)
CHA: 14
Pick up Longbow, and Longsword proficiency for free. Warlock Dip gets you Armour of Shadows Invocation, and Fiendish Vigor for AC starting at 16. 18 when Agile Parry is enabled. 20, once Dex is Capped. 22 if you can get Bracers of Defense.
Also gives access to Spells Protection from Good and Evil for disadvantage, as well as Hex for Damage Boosts.
Warpriest gives you access to Shield of Faith and Sanctuary, for another 2+AC or cause wasted attacks, as well as martial weapon proficiency.
Also gives you access to 8 Cantrips, and 9 Spells, as well as 4 Level 1 Spell Slots, and depending on if all Splatbooks allowed, Booming Blade and/or Green-Flame Blade can come into play as well to further round out your toolkit, especially for earlier levels before extra attack comes.
From Level 7 onwards going 5/1/1, once hex is applied you can potentially do 1d10+7d6 damage for 5 rounds before running out of Ki, which scales as Martial Arts Die increase.
If you pick up Mobile, you completely negate OAs from targets attacked without needing to burn Ki, meaning you become incredibly annoying and sticky Tank/OT that can dive into the backline with a 45ft movement speed.
Alternatively, you can go Vuman to pick up Mobile from 1st Level, and pick up Alert as well, or Boost Wis further, though you need a +4mod for the Wis to outstrip Armour of Shadows.
shadowoflameth
Adventurer
I thought about hexblade but you need at least 3 levels to get anything good, and I don't want to miss Empty Body at 18th.
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