I don't agree. One or two spells by a monk and they're done. That is too high a cost. They can't even output as much magical power as an Eldritch Knight or Arcane Trickster. The Elemental Monk should have been an equivalent caster to an Arcane Trickster or Eldritch Knight. The ki costs should have reflected that.
D&D 5E Are monks very samey?
- Thread starter Minigiant
- Start date
I don't agree. One or two spells by a monk and they're done. That is too high a cost. They can't even output as much magical power as an Eldritch Knight or Arcane Trickster. The Elemental Monk should have been an equivalent caster to an Arcane Trickster or Eldritch Knight. The ki costs should have reflected that.
Element monks outpace EKs and ATs. AT/EKs get 2 1st level spells "per day" at level 3. Elemental Monks get 3 ki per rest so 3 burning hands a day. (with 2 shorts per long that's 9 ki "per day").
At level 7. it's 4/2 for the AT/EK and monks have 7 ki per rest (good for 1 2nd level burning hands and 2 1sts).
The issue is that monks really don't have many features to differentiate themselves once out of ki. The general monk options are all cosmetic from level 5 (unarmed, daggers, shortsword, or staff). And of the most played levels of D&D (lower level), the subclasses grant more ki uses to fret over. The Shadow monk is best as it at least grants a cantrip and shadow step. The Element Monk is a ki-addict and the Open Hand monk encourages FoB spam.
I think the biggest issue with the comparison is that the spells for an Eldritch Knight or Arcane Trickster come in addition to everything the class can normally do. For an elemental monk, the spells cannibalize the base monk abilities by drawing from the same resource.
The Crimson Binome
Hero
Both the Eldritch Knight and the Arcane Trickster have basic attacks as their normal class thing, and then they have a little bit of magic every now and then. The Elemental monk has punching as its normal class thing, and then they have a little bit of magic every now and then.
The Elemental monk gets about one really good spell per encounter, same as warlocks.
I think the point is here. They should be compared to the warlock class instead of full casters. Warlock is more closer to the concept of "falling back to the spammable things".
Maybe the ki isn't too out of whack.
My low level monk motors through ki. I hope it doesn't feel that way at higher level as much. I couldn't imagine playing an Elemental Monk at lower levels. Ki is hard enough to come by. Burning hands sucks.
The issue is just part of the whole issue.
Ki abilities are balanced
But you can run out of ki fast, once you do every nonshadow no-ki monk is nearly identical, and monk abilities aren't as powerful as caster to make that okay (who get to choose cantrips).
The Crimson Binome
Hero
Are monk at-will abilities less interesting than cantrips? Is punching (with a fist, sword, or nunchaku) less exciting than what a champion does?
I'm not going to make a judgment on the monk too soon. They have some stuff they can do that is helpful to the party as long as they have ki. They seem to do ok damage with the bonus action. Wish they had made the Dodge action with Ki operate as a reaction effect similar to the shield spell. That would make it more useful and for more efficient ki management. It is nice to be able to take away reactions and knock targets prone with Open Hand style. I wish the self-healing ability were similar to a fighter's Second Wind as an Open Hand monk is more like a hand-to-hand fighter that has to be in melee. Recharging on a short rest would make it more useful throughout the adventuring day.
I'm not sure what niche the monk fills at the moment. I can't compete in hand-to-hand combat very well without ki. I don't have much ki and can't last very long in an adventuring day without quite a few short rests. I don't have any of the nifty abilities like a rogue that allow for a big Sneak Attack hit and then move out of combat.
I understand why they did certain things. If you give a monk the ability to Disengage without ki as a Bonus Action, they will rarely be touched in melee combat given their movement. And an ability like that would encroach upon the rogue some.
At the moment the monk feels a little lost and on the weak side. I'm hoping it improves as I level. The monk in 3E and most older editions was a slow build character that gained a lot of power with levels.
I'm not sure what niche the monk fills at the moment. I can't compete in hand-to-hand combat very well without ki. I don't have much ki and can't last very long in an adventuring day without quite a few short rests. I don't have any of the nifty abilities like a rogue that allow for a big Sneak Attack hit and then move out of combat.
I understand why they did certain things. If you give a monk the ability to Disengage without ki as a Bonus Action, they will rarely be touched in melee combat given their movement. And an ability like that would encroach upon the rogue some.
At the moment the monk feels a little lost and on the weak side. I'm hoping it improves as I level. The monk in 3E and most older editions was a slow build character that gained a lot of power with levels.
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