UA Monks Introduces the Kensai and Tranquility Traditions

The Kensei was pretty much exactly how I expected/wanted it to be. With the exception of the bludgeoning damage. A d4 that doesn't scale? I hate d4s, and especially at higher levels it's hardly worth anything. Especially since as a monk, I could just use my bonus action to make an unarmed attack and use monk damage dice for that.

I've never been a fan of pacifist PCs, so the tranquil monk isn't my cup of tea. I understand others may feel differently though.

 

[dpkress2]

Sooooo......

I played the Tranquility Monk last night. I had just turned level 3 and my little happy-go-lucky peacenik dwarven monk had already been spec'ed out for The Way of the Open Hand.

....until I found the Unearthed Arcana article yesterday morning.

It was perfect. They way I had been role-playing him already it was as though the new tradition was written just for me. I was landing healing hands left and right, particularly on the party druid who kept running ahead into combat and getting knocked out like that idiot player who runs ahead into combat and gets knocked out all the time. Three times I saved him from death last night. THREE TIMES. Let that sink in for a second.

Healing hands was amazing, especially in a party without a cleric. 30 HP to dole out is nothing to joke about at 3rd level, and all the while still creaming folks with awesome 5th edition monk power. Gnolls were dropping like Carrion Crawlers and Carrion Crawlers were dropping like flies. Everything was going nice and smooth. Until the very, very end.

The final fight against the evil gnollish priestess of Yeenoghu didn't go so smooth. I was going toe to toe with her and her vile magic. Being the only melee combatant in the party as well, my dwarven fury was holding up spectacularly as the main healer AND the main tank. I didn't have much of a choice though. The druid ran ahead into the room AGIAN and was imediately dropped because you know...."CRAAAAA-ZY" I had to run up and save him from dying for the THIRD time. PFFFFT...whatever. I was seriously carrying this party. I didn't have any reason to fear. I had 20 HP and this literal she-bitch was looking rough. Until she landed a 3rd level inflict wounds on me and down I went.

The druid ran away. Let that sink in for a second.

The rest of the group finally killed her. I had meanwhile made 2 of my death saves and failed 1. The druid eventually came back and made an attempt to stabilize me and failed.

That's when I rolled a 1.

Maybe if I could have used the Open Hand Technique on the Gnoll, my awesome character who I loved would still be alive.

Anywho....The Tranquility Monk is awesome. The need to RP as a non-violent character was not a deal-breaker for me. I was already doing it, but gnolls simply can't be reasoned with and the villagers were saved.

 

[Yunru]

Sooooo......

I played the Tranquility Monk last night. I had just turned level 3 and my gruff little peacenik dwarven monk had already been spec'ed out for The Way of the Open Hand

....until I found the Unearthed Arcana article yesterday morning.

It was perfect. They way I had been role-playing him already it was as though the new tradition was written just for me. I was landing healing hands left and right, particularly on the party druid who kept running ahead into combat and getting knocked out like that idiot player who runs ahead into combat and gets knocked out all the time. Three times I saved him from death last night. THREE TIMES. Let that sink in for a second.

Healing hands was amazing, especially in a party without a cleric. 30 HP to dole out is nothing to joke about at 3rd level, and all the while still creaming folks with awesome 5th edition monk power. Gnolls were dropping like Carrion Crawlers and Carrion Crawlers were dropping like flies. Everything was going nice and smooth. Until the very, very end.

The final fight against the evil the gnollish priestess of Yeenoghu didn't go so smooth. I was going toe to toe with her and her vile magic. Being the only melee combatant in the party as well, my dwarven fury was holding up spectacularly as the main healer AND the main tank. I didn't have much of a choice though. The druid ran ahead into the room AGIAN and was imediately dropped because you know...."CRAAAAA-ZY" I had to run up and save him from dying for the THIRD time. PFFFFT...whatever. I was seriously carrying this party. I didn't have any reason to fear. I had 20 HP and this literal she-bitch was looking rough. Until she landed a 3rd level inflict wounds on me and down I went.

The druid ran away. Let that sink in for a second.

The rest of the group finally killed her. I had meanwhile made 2 of my death saves and failed 1. The druid eventually came up and made an attempt to stabilize me and failed.

That's when I rolled a 1.

Maybe if I could have used the Open Hand Technique on the Gnoll, my awesome character who I loved would still be alive.

Anywho....The Tranquility Monk is awesome. The need to RP as a non-violent character was not a deal-breaker for me. I was already doing it, but gnolls simply can't be reasoned with and the villagers were saved.

If you hadn't been tranquility the druid would of died. If the druid would of died, he wouldn't of attempted stabalization. If he hadn't attempted stabalization, you wouldn't of died.

All for the want of a nail.

 

[Gardens & Goblins]

If you hadn't been tranquility the druid would of died.

And that'd be fine. Natural selection. Druid would have understood

I'm also making a tranquility monk for a party, an NPC that will offer their services for food, company and a slice of the treasure. (Peace and tranquility is great and all, but it does not build monasteries.)

One of the things I like about the sub class is its potential durability - you can jump in, flip some jabs and spin those kicks, than bliss-bubble up if needs. Or jump in the middle of some goons, blissbubble/dodge action tank until they figure out what's going on.

While the class lacks direct damage options (until 17th, though I hope we can agree that's a fairly niche level bracket for many tables), the core monk class is nothing to be sniffed at, with its multiple attacks, stuns and mobility. Slap on the layers of defence that monks gain as they level and, when combined with tranquility and healing pool of potentially over a 100 of hit points, and you've got a monk that's decidedly tough.

[sblock]In a jam? Need a breather? Leg it with your monk-legs of movement, heal up and all is well. Not taking a beating? Great! Why not pop on over to the rogue, slap a heal on him, grant him the chance to sneak attack and heck, why not headbutt that bugbear while you're at it? Good times![/sblock]

Their ribbon ability of advantage on Diplomacy checks, given specific circumstances, also helps to offset the typically ok-to-poor charisma of your typical optimized monk. And their hit-and-time-out punch is useful for one-on-one target elimination. Though what exactly a target is doing if its not attacking is open to interpretation (it could be standing there, blissfully content, or it could be shouting for help, for example).

So yes! Loves me some tranquility. Let's just remember that they don't have to be pacifists and even pacifists can hit people. Personally, mine will be working with a philosophy akin to 'Peace and Love - enforced with extreme prejudice. YOU THERE! LOVE ONE AND OTHER. OR ELSE!'. He's totally fine with this philosophy. At one with it. Content.

 

[Bloodsausage]

Personally I don't mind if the Monk gets a better healing pool then the Paladin. Paladins have a bunch of spells to back up their healing.

Plus, and I feel this is key: it's a full action for the Monk and only a bonus action for the Paladin. Sure, you can use it with Flurry, but you still lose an attack. Paladin can Lay on Hands and still make all attacks.

I'm sure the pool recharges with a long rest, but it doesn't actually say.

EDIT: Wait, yes it does right in the first sentence. Not where it usually mentions recharge. Reading comprehension fail.

 

[Bloodsausage]

I actually really like the Tranquility monk. It probably needs a few tweaks in general, but I have one main complaint:

Compared to almost any other class or path, it's crazy MAD (Multiple Ability Dependent). This was common for Monks in PF or 3.x, but not typically in 5e. You'd need DEX, WIS, and CHA to be relatively high for this monk to be effective at his job.

 

[Gardens & Goblins]

You really don't need any more than 10 Cha and the Diplomacy skills, tops. Advantage is going to give you a roughly +4/+5 worth of a bonus on the check, depending on the DC. That's about as much as most charming folks will be getting, outside of bards cha-focused, rogues (I'm sure someone has one..), and buffed charisma-main-stat casters.

While you could try to get even better at being at playing diplomat than a super specialist, simply being really good at it, with a minimal investment, is aok in my book. Lets you focus on Dex and Wis, so you can punch them into submission before giving them a stern talking to (PHB pg. 198 "When an attacker reduces a creature to 0 hit points with a melee attack, the attacker can knock the creature out. The attacker can make this choice the instant damage is dealt".)

[sblock]Sure, everyone wants to be Jerry Springer, but sometimes we have to settle with being Jeremy Kyle - and you know what, he's also his own TV show.[/sblock]

 

[Werebat]

But can you use the new rules to make a HENTAI kensai?

 

[smbakeresq]

Anywho....The Tranquility Monk is awesome. The need to RP as a non-violent character was not a deal-breaker for me. I was already doing it, but gnolls simply can't be reasoned with and the villagers were saved.

Don't think of it as non-violent, think of it as non-death. Superman was violent but never killed anyone until the recent movie. Its actually the way most LG paladins should act but never do, along with all the evil- hating neutrals.

From a RP seems to me Tranquility monks would make a good police force or bounty hunters who capture rather than kill their quarry. To ingratiate the TM Monastery into the community they could volunteer themselves (or charge money) to the local constabulary. They would also make good diplomats and negotiators in the violent world of D&D, a reputation for not killing but still being a formidable warrior would add gravitas to such a person. Or legendary bounty hunters who always capture and bring back their guy. There are many ways to fit them into a campaign.

I think the TM has many RP hooks. I also think it is far stronger than most realize, with ready healing like that you will out HP everything at your level, and you can attack while healing. You just can wear things down. Seems to fit with the bounty hunter theme.

I would though enforce the non-violent part, making sure they player knocks out intelligent creatures or animals as appropriate instead of just killing all of them all the time. They might also need an alignment restriction, although that's a tough one. We did have a healer cleric in our group who was LE, worshipped Asmodeus, and healed on the theory that the longer you were alive the more chance he had to get your soul.

I would also watch carefully about the virtual poison and disease immunity, they could be abused. You could just cover yourself in poison or disease and use it as a rider to your attacks. Also, a 10 level TM could wipe out a plague affecting 20 creatures, that would certainly mark the player as legendary in the locals eyes and make them sought after (or hunted) for such an ability.

 

[Xeviat]

kensai with sword. 1 attack. at 5th 2 attacks. with flurry 4 attacks, at a price of 1 ki point and lose your bonus action. Which means you can't use an off hand.
Even if you could use your sword, this would still suck.

Kensai without Flurry:
1st: 1 attack, +1d4 unarmed (2 attacks per round, half attacks suck)
1st +1 ki point: 1 attack +2d4 unarmed (3 attacks per round, 2/3rds of attacks suck)
5th: 2 attacks, +1d6 unarmed
5th +1 ki point: 2 attacks +2d6 unarmed
6th+: Same. 3-4 attacks, 2 with sword, 1-2 with unarmed 1d6-1d10. (3-4 attacks per round)
5th level party+: with haste +1 weapon attack (4-5 attacks per round)

Fighter:
1st: 1 attack, +1 attack off hand weapon (2 attacks per round)
2nd: action surge: 2 attacks, +1 attack off hand
5th: action surge: 4 attacks +1 attack off hand, otherwise 2 attacks +1 attack offhand (3-5 attacks/round)
11th: 6 attacks +1 offhand, otherwise 3 attacks +1 offhand (4-7 attacks/round)
20th level: 8 attacks +1 offhand, otherwise 4 attacks +1 offhand (5-9 attacks/round)
5th+ level party: haste. 3-5 attacks becomes 4-6 attacks, 4-7 attacks becomes 5-9 attacks at 11th level. 5-9 attacks becomes 6-10 attacks at 20th level.

Action surge is once per short rest. At 5th level, flurry is five times per short rest.

5th level monk (kensei), great sword:
Base: 2d6+4 x2, 1d6+4 (martial arts) = 29.5
Flurry (5/short): 2d6+4 x2, 1d6+4 x2 =37
Across 2 combats, 3 rounds each, 6 total = 214.5
DPR potential: 35.75

5th level fighter (battle master), short swords (because you were looking at number of attacks):
Base: 1d6+4 x3 (two weapon) = 22.5
Action surge: 1d6+4 x5 (2 base, one twfing, 2 action surge) = 37.5
Plus: 4d8 superiority per short, no miss = 18
Across 2 combats, 3 rounds each, 6 total = 168
DPR potential: 28/round

5th level fighter (battle master), great sword:
Base: 2d6*+4 x2 = 24.7
Action surge: 2d6*+4 x4 = 49.3
Plus: 4d8 superiority per short, no miss = 18
Across 2 combats, 3 rounds each, 6 total = 190.8
DPR potential: 31.8

The monk does fall behind in damage at 11th and 20th, but then they have more ki than they know what to do with. The ability to stun on nearly any hit switches their role from a damage dealer to a controller.


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[rczarnec]

Plus, and I feel this is key: it's a full action for the Monk and only a bonus action for the Paladin. Sure, you can use it with Flurry, but you still lose an attack. Paladin can Lay on Hands and still make all attacks.

I'm sure the pool recharges with a long rest, but it doesn't actually say.

EDIT: Wait, yes it does right in the first sentence. Not where it usually mentions recharge. Reading comprehension fail.

Lay on Hands is an action, not a bonus action.