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.

 

[MechaPilot]

On the Tranquility monk, it is important to note that the monk has no penalties for getting in combat, other than losing Sanctuary once he actually starts fighting...

*Re-reads sanctuary*

ROFLOL

You can totally play a Jackie Chan character, who runs into a large group of enemies, and keeps asking to not fight, while the enemy keeps getting their blows redirected into each other, showing that violence hurts you more than the person you aimed it at.

That is almost too perfect, crank wisdom for that save DC and allow the orc horde to tear itself apart while trying to kill the guy in the middle.

Then, you can still break sanctuary and be a normal monk, taking down enemies who refuse to listen to reason to protect the innocent. The flavor isn't pure pacifist, but "violence is my last resort" type of character.

While that's an amusing concept, it's not really how the spell works. The attacker has to choose a new target or lose the attack or spell. Presumably, this is what an attacker would do instead of targeting an ally.

 

[SkidAce]

Jeremy Crawford &#8207 [MENTION=4036]Jeremy[/MENTION]ECrawford 6m6 minutes ago
Jeremy Crawford Retweeted Tyler Bechstein
Regarding the current version of the kensei, it has a few errors. The main correction: a kensei chooses Str/Dex for a Str weapon only. #DnDJeremy Crawford added,


Tyler Bechstein @wetsail [MENTION=4036]Jeremy[/MENTION]ECrawford If you could immediately change or tweak one thing about the new UA Monk features, what would it be?

 

[Thiago Rosa Shinken]

At level 5 you can attack for 2d6+4, 1d6+4, 1d6+4, and get +2 AC all for no Ki cost. That's pretty good.

Not really. A greatsword is not a monk weapon. Therefore, you can't use martial arts if you are wielding one. Therefore, your unarmed attacks only deal 1 + Strength modifer damage.

 

[Leatherhead]

Mearls also stated on twitter that the Kensai weapons are too good to use with flurry. So that's the logic. Based on his other comments, he seems to be unhappy with the klugey-ness. They probably suspected as much but wanted to see how people would react.

We'll probably get a more elegant solution in the final go.

AD

That's only "true" if you think that the Greatsword and Greataxe are the only Kensei weapons. Every other non-shortsword weapon is getting hosed by those two, and the shortsword is still outperforming those two greatweapons in normal situations.

 

[cbwjm]

Something I like about the Tranquillity monk is the image of an ally getting all beat up, the monk charging in, doing a flurry of blows, striking two enemies and then touching the brow of their ally with their index finger and healing them up.

 

[hejtmane]

That's only "true" if you think that the Greatsword and Greataxe are the only Kensei weapons. Every other non-shortsword weapon is getting hosed by those two, and the shortsword is still outperforming those two greatweapons in normal situations.

Then what is the point of taking the sub class pummel is useless you are better off taking the martial arts attack. In fact that is such a crappy argument because I can already just multi classing with 3 fighter or ranger get duelist +2 and more giving me better flexibility still a weapon master oh and I get all the goodies out of the better sub classes way of the hand or long death. Concept is great implementation is total garbage.

The sub class in the current format is good for one thing 3 level dip to make a great weapon master fighter (dex based)

 

[THEMNGMNT]

Thematically, I really like both of these subclasses.

For the kensai, it's problematic that the kensai weapon attacks don't synergize with Martial Arts or Flurry of Blows. Those are defining monk abilities. So kensai weapons need to be tweaked so that they modify or supplement those abilities. Right now it's an awkward bolt on and the rivets are showing.

For the tranquility monk, I wonder if it should gain "disciplines" like the four elements monk. In other words, spells to spend their ki on. I could see a variety of spells being thematically appropriate, from hold person to reincarnation. In other words, I would give this subclass more cleric abilities.

Regardless, there's some good stuff here. Just needs to be refined.

 

[The-Magic-Sword]

https://mobile.twitter.com/mikemearls/status/808904018265341952?s=09 you keep the benefits of martial arts with kensai weapons apparently. That changes things...

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[Valetudo]

https://mobile.twitter.com/mikemearls/status/808904018265341952?s=09 you keep the benefits of martial arts with kensai weapons apparently. That changes things...

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that's not what they where saying earlier, but is good to hear. They really need to drop the stupid stuff like pummel and the subclass will balance out with the others. It will have a higher dpr but lose out on some of the other things.

 

[dpkress2]

I really like the Tranquility Monk too. Am I in the minority?

But is it just me? The tranquility monk is not the far off from The Way of the Open Hand? They both get a healing feature. They both get Sanctuary. Just at different levels.

Lots of folks are asking for the tranquility monk to have some sort of Non-violent combat action. But wouldn't that be too similar to the "Open Hand Technique." You would just be adding another similar Way of the Open Hand feature to the Tranquility Monk.