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Kung Fu Panda: How do wildshape and monk class abilities interact?
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<blockquote data-quote="juggerulez" data-source="post: 6726542" data-attributes="member: 98250"><p>The point of a monk bear has never been *only* about boosting your AC. You could gain 3 extra AC with a WIS of 18 thus dropping barkskin to cast a more useful concentration spell becomes more viable! (i.e. choose between 16AC and nothing else or 14AC and get some more control over the field).</p><p>The monk bear is due mostly to better your performance output, which is overall sub par compared to other first liners. For instance, in most cases the druid never uses the bonus action because she often won't heal over her temporary hp (unless it's her last shapeshift and the encounter is becoming more and more consuming) and there are very few other things that can make her spend it (spells, mostly) thus in those occasions when she have nothing to do with her BA, dealing that extra d4+str damage is a wise way to keep up the pace with the other classes.</p><p></p><p>this from a mechanics point of view, of course. this has nothing to do with the role-playing aspect, which someone finds way more appealing than the theorycrafting we're doing... if someone wants to portray kung fu brown bear, why shouldn't he do it? at least now he knows it's not only cool but effective too! <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>as a monk you boost your dpr while pushing a little extra AC (up to 15 @ 20WIS),</p><p>as a barbarian you boost your damage mitigation (implying you can rage), gain a little extra damage and stack an extra AC which is always useful. You can't concentrate on spells, so you'll loose effectiveness on the controlling aspect of the game, but if you have a wiz or another controller, this shouldn't be a problem at all <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>this is completely off.</p><p>you bite at 1d8+4 and you claw at 2d6+4, both hit with a +6 (levels 1-4) rather than a +5 (you retain your proficiency bonus as a shapeshifter, the bear has only +1).</p><p>as a monk you can spend a bonus action to dish an extra d4+4 as unarmed strike, double the fun if you spend a Chi point. You won't use your claws as unarmed strike!</p><p>as a barbarian you can rage, halving all incoming damage (bear totem) or all physical damage (standard rage) and dealing extra damage (+2), while stacking extra AC due to high CON. Downside is that you can't keep up casts, thus you will soak extra damage but without controlling the field as expected. It's still viable indeed, since you rarely need to control *and* soak damage in the same encounter (unless the DM is a heartless bastard, that is xD ) thus you can adapt to the two "styles", but it's still something you have to reckon with.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>The issue here is not that you're nerfing your monk by MC'ing druid: you're boosting your overall performances as a first liner by MC'ing monk as a druid. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p><p></p><p>You are a first liner that needs a little extra to stay on the edge. You can Multi Class to do so or simply stick to your temporary hit points with the slim chance the developers will show some extra love to druids and fix their thirst for extra shapeshift charges (all classes increase their class features' charges by gaining levels, druids start with two shapes and stick to that up to level 18th, implying they don't shape to elemental forms, which costs two charges for a single shift!) which is something really unreasonable, because forces you to choose between not shapeshift during certain encounters, which is something you will end up doing eventually, or increase the number of short rest taken per day, which is something not all DM allow (e.g. my DM allows 2 short rests per day, which is really frustrating sometimes!)</p><p></p><p>Also, in my humble opinion, there is nothing worthwile after level 10th to a moon druid - perhaps just the druid spells (which aren't your main focus anyways) - thus going MC could prove a wise solution to boost your performances. Someone say that is best to wait level 11th to MC, other say it's best to mix the two classes, beneficing from both classes early levels' features. I don't know what's best...i think it's mostly up to how your gaming sessions develop: </p><p>if you need mitigation, perhaps it's best to go barbarian at least a couple of levels, better 3 so you can get the bear totem's full resistance package, and then sticking to druid up to the 8th (you won't need elementals because you already halve the incoming damage and you really need to spread shapeshifts between short rests); if your sessions go smooth but you still think you need some extra bang, best thing to do is to go monk, or stack druid levels and get the higher level spells (conjure animals is awesome to control the field <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite8" alt=":D" title="Big grin :D" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":D" /> )</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="juggerulez, post: 6726542, member: 98250"] The point of a monk bear has never been *only* about boosting your AC. You could gain 3 extra AC with a WIS of 18 thus dropping barkskin to cast a more useful concentration spell becomes more viable! (i.e. choose between 16AC and nothing else or 14AC and get some more control over the field). The monk bear is due mostly to better your performance output, which is overall sub par compared to other first liners. For instance, in most cases the druid never uses the bonus action because she often won't heal over her temporary hp (unless it's her last shapeshift and the encounter is becoming more and more consuming) and there are very few other things that can make her spend it (spells, mostly) thus in those occasions when she have nothing to do with her BA, dealing that extra d4+str damage is a wise way to keep up the pace with the other classes. this from a mechanics point of view, of course. this has nothing to do with the role-playing aspect, which someone finds way more appealing than the theorycrafting we're doing... if someone wants to portray kung fu brown bear, why shouldn't he do it? at least now he knows it's not only cool but effective too! :) as a monk you boost your dpr while pushing a little extra AC (up to 15 @ 20WIS), as a barbarian you boost your damage mitigation (implying you can rage), gain a little extra damage and stack an extra AC which is always useful. You can't concentrate on spells, so you'll loose effectiveness on the controlling aspect of the game, but if you have a wiz or another controller, this shouldn't be a problem at all :) this is completely off. you bite at 1d8+4 and you claw at 2d6+4, both hit with a +6 (levels 1-4) rather than a +5 (you retain your proficiency bonus as a shapeshifter, the bear has only +1). as a monk you can spend a bonus action to dish an extra d4+4 as unarmed strike, double the fun if you spend a Chi point. You won't use your claws as unarmed strike! as a barbarian you can rage, halving all incoming damage (bear totem) or all physical damage (standard rage) and dealing extra damage (+2), while stacking extra AC due to high CON. Downside is that you can't keep up casts, thus you will soak extra damage but without controlling the field as expected. It's still viable indeed, since you rarely need to control *and* soak damage in the same encounter (unless the DM is a heartless bastard, that is xD ) thus you can adapt to the two "styles", but it's still something you have to reckon with. The issue here is not that you're nerfing your monk by MC'ing druid: you're boosting your overall performances as a first liner by MC'ing monk as a druid. :) You are a first liner that needs a little extra to stay on the edge. You can Multi Class to do so or simply stick to your temporary hit points with the slim chance the developers will show some extra love to druids and fix their thirst for extra shapeshift charges (all classes increase their class features' charges by gaining levels, druids start with two shapes and stick to that up to level 18th, implying they don't shape to elemental forms, which costs two charges for a single shift!) which is something really unreasonable, because forces you to choose between not shapeshift during certain encounters, which is something you will end up doing eventually, or increase the number of short rest taken per day, which is something not all DM allow (e.g. my DM allows 2 short rests per day, which is really frustrating sometimes!) Also, in my humble opinion, there is nothing worthwile after level 10th to a moon druid - perhaps just the druid spells (which aren't your main focus anyways) - thus going MC could prove a wise solution to boost your performances. Someone say that is best to wait level 11th to MC, other say it's best to mix the two classes, beneficing from both classes early levels' features. I don't know what's best...i think it's mostly up to how your gaming sessions develop: if you need mitigation, perhaps it's best to go barbarian at least a couple of levels, better 3 so you can get the bear totem's full resistance package, and then sticking to druid up to the 8th (you won't need elementals because you already halve the incoming damage and you really need to spread shapeshifts between short rests); if your sessions go smooth but you still think you need some extra bang, best thing to do is to go monk, or stack druid levels and get the higher level spells (conjure animals is awesome to control the field :D ) [/QUOTE]
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Kung Fu Panda: How do wildshape and monk class abilities interact?
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