D&D 5E Upgrading the WoS Monk

[Tanaka Chris]

So I was initially looking at the skill set of the Shadow monk and realize he can cast Darkness and at lvl 6, shadow step from one patch of shadow into another.
At 6th level, you gain the ability to step from one shadow into another. When you are in dim light or darkness, as a bonus action you can teleport up to 60 feet to an unoccupied space you can see that is also in dim light or darkness. You then have advantage on the first melee attack you make before the end of the turn.


Obviously I'm thinking of a character jumping from pools of his own darkness, doing surprise attacks with advantage and all.

However, the PHB has this to say about Darkness.

A heavily obscured area—such as darkness, opaque fog, or dense foliage—blocks vision entirely. A creature
in a heavily obscured area effectively suffers from the blinded condition (see appendix A).

Blinded -
• A blinded creature can’t see and automatically fails any ability check that requires sight.
• Attack rolls against the creature have advantage, and the creature’s attack rolls have disadvantage.

Meaning basically, when a WoS monk jumps into a pool of his own magically created Darkness, he's effectively blind and as hopeless as the person he targeted. Arguably for the first attack, his first attack advantage counters the darkness disadvantage but still, it feels like he's being stunted or something.

Now I was wondering what would be reasonable to overcome that, WITHOUT multiclassing with a Warlock to get Devil's Sight. And I think I've got it, Give all monks Blindsight of 5ft when they hit Lvl 6.

This fully fits in with the theme and scope of the warriors who fully focus on honing their bodies and senses.
I imagine the trainings include fighting blindfolded and sensing the movements of air currents around them.

It also serves as a pre cursor to his expanded skills of Evasion at lvl 7 and Diamond Soul at lvl 14.
So what do you guys think?

 

[DocSun]

I think it is working as intended. You cant jump from your own ball of darkness into another one since you need to see it... Though you would be able to stand in dim light cast darkness behind the foe on one turn then on the next turn teleport to it then step out of the darkness because as written you get the advantage on your next attack before the end of the turn and it does not say you need to remain in shadow. Which turns this from OP to a nice attack every once and a while.

 

[Warmaster Horus]

Or operate in shadows (lots of those in dungeons) and don't use your Darkness at all.

 

[PnPgamer]

Or pick a race that has darkvision.

 

[Tanaka Chris]

Well, I was going on the fact that his skills don't seem to synergize too well.
Casting Darkness as Doc Sun said would not allow me to jump from one to another unless I can say part of the body touching the shadow is sufficient to make the jump.

PnPgamer, I'm specifically adressing magical darkness which Darkvision cannot see through

 

[PnPgamer]

The devils sight is insane thing and i wouldnt recommend it applied to game as raw. It is way too overpowered with darkness spell. I would say that darkness spell by raw would block the sight and thus also the shadow teleporting.

Blindsight wouldnt help much if you were to teleport in or out of the darkness anyway, youstill dont see into the sphere with range so short, and no point teleporting to a place which is right next to you.

You could cast the darknesd into air(might not be possible, though) and it creates a shadow into which youcan see and teleport.

 

[sobchak]

Casting pass without trace can solve this issue. I am not fan of the devil's sight warlock/monk MC. In actual play I imagine it would wreak havoc with party members. Now PWT does have a concentration drawback, but it unquestionably works with low light vision and more importantly works with party members. It is not clear what the spells area effect is because it is meant to be utility spell cast out of combat-perhaps 30 ft sphere max. This is what the spell description indicates. Work it out with your DM. I doubt any reasonable DM would object to this use.

I am curious about your initial question-Does the WoS need to be upgraded? I'm currently playing a Lvl 2 wood elf monk/trickster cleric, and most likely headed for the WoS. When I started this PC, I thought I would go open hand all the way. Perhaps open hand is more powerful, but WoS is flavorful, fun, cool, and has lots of utility. So once I went trickster cleric MC, I set myself upon the path to the dark side.

 

[Sacrosanct]

I have a human WoS monk, and I don't see a real need to upgrade. The whole point of the monk and it's abilities are to be in shadowy areas already. Not to be in a brightly lit area without any shadows at all. Of course you'll be at a disadvantage there. That's why you avoid those areas when possible Heck, I suppose is you really wanted it to work, take the magic initiate feat and learn fog cloud. As a DM, I would consider "heavily obscured" to be the same as "dim light", since the effect is similar.

 

[Gerry Jordan]

Id use darkness to cover light sources, creating shadowy areas to jump to.

 

[Mouseferatu]

It's never really occurred to me before now, but since the area of a darkness spell is opaque, doesn't that suggest that the sphere of darkness would, in and of itself, cast a nonmagical shadow? I mean, light obviously doesn't pass through it any more than would pass through a non-transparent solid object.

So cast the spell above you, or between yourself and the nearest light source, and then jump from the shadow that just fell over you.