D&D 5E Do monks get enough Ki?

[Joe Liker]

The monk in my group is 3rd level and he runs out of ki fast. Without the ki his effectiveness plummets.

I have seen a level 3 monk in action and I have to say, this just doesn't sound accurate to me. Either your monk is Doing It Wrong, or your way of tracking effectiveness is not remotely the same as mine.

A level 3 monk can deal plenty of damage without using any ki at all. Are your monk's and fighter's ability scores commensurate? That might be one problem.

 

[Mort]

I have seen a level 3 monk in action and I have to say, this just doesn't sound accurate to me. Either your monk is Doing It Wrong, or your way of tracking effectiveness is not remotely the same as mine.

A level 3 monk can deal plenty of damage without using any ki at all. Are your monk's and fighter's ability scores commensurate? That might be one problem.

All characters have the standard phb point buy (27 points, I believe, don't have the book with me right now).

I don't think the monk's player is Doing it Wrong, he's certainly coming prepared and trying to take advantage of his character.

I'd be glad to see that I was missing something - that's one reason I started the thread.

The "extra" abilities start piling on pretty nicely (self healing, arrow catching, even spells if the monk goes that route. And quite a bit else) later, but at low levels I can see the players point, which again is why I started the thread.

 

[Joe Liker]

All characters have the standard phb point buy (27 points, I believe, don't have the book with me right now).

Is the monk's Dexterity similar to the fighter's Strength?

Is the monk using a weapon or relying entirely on unarmed attacks?

Are you letting the monk add his Dexterity bonus to his off-hand attack's damage, or are you treating it the same as Two-Weapon Fighting? The Two-Weapon rules do not apply here, as this bonus action is granted by the class, not the more general TWF action. The rule in the monk section doesn't say anything about leaving the ability mod off of the damage calculation.

 

[Mort]

Is the monk's Dexterity similar to the fighter's Swtrength?

Yep, not sure if they're identical, but both have a +3 modifier.

Is the monk using a weapon or relying entirely on unarmed attacks?

Started with just unarmed attacks, now using 2 shortswords. He's not keeping up with the fighter or the rogue. I think that may be part of the problem.

Are you letting the monk add his Dexterity bonus to his off-hand attack's damage, or are you treating it the same as Two-Weapon Fighting? The Two-Weapon rules do not apply here, as this bonus action is granted by the class, not the more general TWF action. The rule in the monk section doesn't say anything about leaving the ability mod off of the damage calculation.

Letting him use his full dex bonus to damage to all attacks.

 

[Paraxis]

A 3rd level monk shouldn't have any issues keeping up with a fighter, attack action with staff used two-handed d8+dex and bonus action for d4+3. Spend a ki point and get a third attack for another d4+3.

I do think they could use more ki, it fuels all the fun stuff the class does and with hour long short rests there doesn't seem to be enough.

 

[Minigiant]

A monk's weapon attack (1d6+Dex) plus unarmed attack (1d4+Dex) is similar in damage to a rogue's weapon attack (1d6+Dex/1d6/1d6 SA) or a fighter/paladin/ranger Twf (2x 1d6+Dex) or GWF (2d6+Str, reroll 1s&2s).

 

[Sacrosanct]

I'm playing a shadow monk in HotDQ and I haven't noticed any falling behind, and I hardly use my ki (I'm stingy that way and tend to play really conservative with my resources). The ability to add ability modifier damage to your bonus unarmed/monk weapon attacks essentially gives you the feat for free since every other class needs to get that feat in order to do so with their weapons. That's a pretty big deal. I'm also human, so I took the magic initiate feat at level 1 (eldritch blast cantrip and hex spell), so when I'm going up against a tough opponent, I hex them and then use my flurry of blows ki. I'm one of the best damage dealers in the party that way.

 

[Mort]

I'm playing a shadow monk in HotDQ and I haven't noticed any falling behind, and I hardly use my ki (I'm stingy that way and tend to play really conservative with my resources). The ability to add ability modifier damage to your bonus unarmed/monk weapon attacks essentially gives you the feat for free since every other class needs to get that feat in order to do so with their weapons. That's a pretty big deal. I'm also human, so I took the magic initiate feat at level 1 (eldritch blast cantrip and hex spell), so when I'm going up against a tough opponent, I hex them and then use my flurry of blows ki. I'm one of the best damage dealers in the party that way.

Hex combined with flurry of blows, nasty, I like it! Probably won't fit this player's character, but still.

I'm glad to see quite a few people providing in play examples of monks keeping up just fine.

Will see how next session pans out.

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[Dana Owens]

Give them a special ability that is essentially the power up from Dragonball Z. Monk spends full action and regains 1d4 Ki points. They can even holler and get glowy about it if they like.

 

[jgsugden]

Limited resouces, like spell slots, ki points, etc... are, well, limited. If you did not risk running out of them, there would be no point in limiting them. With the assumption of 1 to 3 combats per short rest (and 1 or 2 short rests per long rest), you need to ration the points at lower levels. They'll be accents for key moments in battle. At high level, however, you should have points enough to use one or more every round. It is fine as is.