D&D 5E monk magic weapon

[Lanliss]

Umm... Barbs and fighters out-damage monks (without magic weapons) any day of the week. I've watched a raging Barb KO a boss in one turn.

I was referring to weapons in general. The post I quoted did not specify you meant "monks don't need (magic) weapons, but neither does anyone else."

 

[nswanson27]

I was referring to weapons in general. The post I quoted did not specify you meant "monks don't need (magic) weapons, but neither does anyone else."

I could maybe buy the necessity of magic weapons for their way of overcoming non-magical resistances and immunities, but not for the damage increase, which I guess is the point was trying to make.

 

[lowkey13]

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[NotActuallyTim]

Seems like it works well enough. particularly since it doesn't work with Martial Arts past 6th level. Or at all, depending on how much attention someone pays to Sage Advice.

Welp, you know what this means! TIME FOR MONK SPECIFIC MAGIC ITEMS THREAD! I KNOW FENG SHUI!

 

[lowkey13]

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[Lanliss]

1. Aren't all Monk-specific magic items threads the same? You know-
a. There really aren't any.
b. They can use simple weapons.
c. There's that insignia in HoTDQ.
d. Real monks(tm) don't use magic.
e. Whatever.

2. Feng Shui! Dude, I need to know where to put my couch. I think my couch placement has been killing my ability to play Helldivers. Not my skill. Definitely my couch placement.

That is where they get you. It's never the couch, it is your neighbor's chandelier. Move it, and your life becomes more glorious than the sun.

 

[NotActuallyTim]

2. Feng Shui! Dude, I need to know where to put my couch. I think my couch placement has been killing my ability to play Helldivers. Not my skill. Definitely my couch placement.

You live under a cloud shaped like a pouncing tiger. There's no hope for you.

 

[nswanson27]

I have often found that when someone says, "Are you saying A or B" then the person they are responding to said neither A nor B.

But to simplify-
1. You can do what you want. That's kind of the raison d'etre of D&D. Get rid of the monk class. Give them magic weapons. Whatever.

2. If you're into theorycrafting, and focus on DPR, and don't pay much attention to the monk's other abilities, I'm not sure that a straight up monk class is what you're looking for. So it's kind of a moot conversation.

3. I pointed you to an example of an already written "monk" magic item- Insignia of the Claws, from HoTDQ. You might want to start there before theorycrafting your own. Unless you want an actual weapon, in which case any (simple) magic weapon works (albeit not with unarmed attacks).

4. Personally, I think that since the monk gains ki-empowered strikes, it's kind of a neat feature that the Monk doesn't need magic weapons. After all, while Olaf the Often-Drunk Fighter is Blathering on about his beloved Stormbringer, your monk is mocking him. YMMV.

1. True
2. If "m" = monks without magic weapons, "o" = other melee classes without magic weapons, "w" = magic weapons, "=" = balanced, and ">" = unbalanced, then my argument is that:
a) m = o (if not, then this is a separate discussion)
b) m < o + w
c) m + w = o + w
I guess I don't see why proposing this item is so controversial.

3) And that's my point - for monks there isn't a single magic weapon currently covers it's full damage spectrum. Other classes that only attack with their (magic) weapon do not suffer from this. My suggested magic item patches this up for monks.

4) True, but I think that's beside the point. If you personally want to forgo magic weapons for monk, great, but then we're back to point 1).

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

Not quite. Unarmed strikes then are considered magical only for the intent and purpose of bypassing nonmagical immunities and resistances.

Resistances and Immunities are against non-magical attacks according to the Monster Manual errata.

That means if monk unarmed attacks are magical for the purpose of bypassing them, that they are magical attacks - at the very least, so long as attacking an enemy that has such a resistance or immunity to bypass.

So even if the scenario I describe isn't universal (applying no matter what the monk is making an unarmed attack against), it still seems to be the case in more than zero scenarios.

At any rate, I think this item wouldn't actually be more thrilling to my players than some other magic weapon that doesn't rise and fall in effectiveness with the whims of their d20. I envision both irritation that they missed some attacks so they aren't getting much out of the magic item on the attacks that did hit, and irritation that they finally got up to 4d4 damage from repeated hits and rolled 4 damage among them undercutting what is supposed to have felt like a bonus by not continuing their luck with dice one roll further.

 

[lowkey13]

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