D&D 5E How might one monk grab and steal another monk's staff in combat?

[mattcolville]

I've got a monk PC with a staff of striking, we both agree it's a bit too much for a lower-level character and I'm going to throw a higher-level Monk against him in the next encounter.

I want to give this Evil Monk an opportunity to grab and steal the Staff of Striking. I can't find a mechanism for this which leads me to conclude it's up to me to come up with something.

I'm thinking some custom version of deflect missiles that would let the Evil Monk intercept the Player Monk's attack. That would certainly be very dramatic!

A grapple followed by an opposed strength check would be my next idea.

Any advice? I want it to be subject to an opposed strength test in either event. I want to roll off with the player.

 

[Sunseeker]

Where I come from, this is what is called "a jerk move".

Throwing an evil monk against your guy? Sure, classic good vs evil. But throwing anything against a character because you goofed and gave your players something powerful just for the sake of stripping it from them is not cool. If you don't have an awesome poker face, you run a serious risk of giving away that you're not challenging the player but trying to take things from him and potentially damage your player-DM-relationship.

You want to up the ante because your party is tougher? Sure, go for it. But the point is to increase the challenge because your players are more powerful, not to bust their bolts and make them weaker because of a DM goof.

Otherwise your monk just needs to either ready an action or a reaction and attempt to grab the weapon (probably an opposed grapple check, STR based), then your monk needs to successfully yank it from your player's hands, and of course, succeed at running away.

 

[mattcolville]

So the player in question read the DMG and came up to me and said "I think I shouldn't have this, it's way too much."

I said "No man, you earned it fair and square," and he suggested maybe there was a dramatic way we could balance things.

I appreciated that, I like it when the players are mature enough to say "I feel like I'm getting away with something here." And then suggest maybe there might be a cool way to resolve it.

He volunteered to just give the item up, trade it in for something less ridiculous, but I suggested this. There should be a chance he gets to keep it and in my eye an even chance. And the party is getting to the point where it's not as unbalancing as it once was anyway. This is in the spirit of "I think I got this before when I shouldn't have and would now like a chance to earn it for real," which I love.

But I *really* appreciate the criticism, which I didn't ask for. It's aces and makes me feel great about posting here. No reason to assume we're all adults over here on the other side of the screen.

 

[Saeviomagy]

If you both agree, then don't bother with a mechanic (because that's just begging for your players to decide that this is a great tactic... which it is if your NPCs ever use weapons). Just tell him it's coming.

Outside of that, the DMG has rules on disarming, and the result of disarming is that the weapon is on the ground, ready for an object interaction to pick it up and a boosted monk with mobility's movement to get away with it.

 

[Flamestrike]

I've got a monk PC with a staff of striking, we both agree it's a bit too much for a lower-level character and I'm going to throw a higher-level Monk against him in the next encounter.

I want to give this Evil Monk an opportunity to grab and steal the Staff of Striking. I can't find a mechanism for this which leads me to conclude it's up to me to come up with something.

I'm thinking some custom version of deflect missiles that would let the Evil Monk intercept the Player Monk's attack. That would certainly be very dramatic!

A grapple followed by an opposed strength check would be my next idea.

Any advice? I want it to be subject to an opposed strength test in either event. I want to roll off with the player.

Its a simple disarm action from the DMG isnt it? Here we go:

Disarm

A creature can use a weapon attack to knock a weapon or another item from a target's grasp. The attacker makes an attack roll contested by the target's Strength (Athletics) check or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check. If the attacker wins the contest, the attack causes no damage or other ill effect, but the defender drops the item.

The attacker has disadvantage on its attack roll if the target is holding the item with two or more hands. The target has advantage on its ability check if it is larger than the attacking creature, or disadvantage if it is smaller.​

After disarming the PC, your DMPC monk uses his 'one free object interaction' to catch the staff before it hits the ground, or picks it up off the ground or whatever.

 

[Sunseeker]

So the player in question read the DMG and came up to me and said "I think I shouldn't have this, it's way too much."

I said "No man, you earned it fair and square," and he suggested maybe there was a dramatic way we could balance things.

I appreciated that, I like it when the players are mature enough to say "I feel like I'm getting away with something here." And then suggest maybe there might be a cool way to resolve it.

He volunteered to just give the item up, trade it in for something less ridiculous, but I suggested this. There should be a chance he gets to keep it and in my eye an even chance. And the party is getting to the point where it's not as unbalancing as it once was anyway. This is in the spirit of "I think I got this before when I shouldn't have and would now like a chance to earn it for real," which I love.

But I *really* appreciate the criticism, which I didn't ask for. It's aces and makes me feel great about posting here. No reason to assume we're all adults over here on the other side of the screen.

Considering you didn't mention any of that, I was under no obligation to assume the situation was anything other than what you wrote. If you can't take criticism, then yeah, you probably shouldn't spend much time online.

 

[mattcolville]

Its a simple disarm action from the DMG isnt it? Here we go:

Disarm
​

Good lord, an answer! Thank you very much!

I don't know why I didn't look in the DMG for combat actions, I foolishly presumed they'd be in the combat section of the PHB.​

 

[mattcolville]

Considering you didn't mention any of that, I was under no obligation to assume the situation was anything other than what you wrote. If you can't take criticism, then yeah, you probably shouldn't spend much time online.

Man I gave you XP for it! You're participating in a great and noble tradition where you assume the folks on the other side of the screen are hapless. What's the alternative? Assume people know their business? I think we can agree, this is not what the internet is for.

Astonishingly, I got an answer from someone who managed not to psychoanalyze me or the group, or tell me I shouldn't want what I want. Frankly, I'm surprised it arrived in only 3 replies!

 

[mattcolville]

Specifically the PC in question is The Master of Locusts.

At one point at (I think) 1st level, the players were supposed to fight 4 monks and I thought "This is boring, I should make one of these monks cooler" and I invented the idea of the Masters. Well, not "invented" I took it from the old AD&D PHB where there were monks with level titles like Master of Flowers, and there were a limited number of them.

So I gave the head evil monk a couple of levels and said he was the Master of Locusts and explained to the player that if he could defeat him in single-combat, HE would become the Master of Locusts.

Mind you, this person has never played D&D before, he doesn't know I'm making this up. He thinks this is just how Monks work! Makes it feel more real to him.

He managed to deliver the killing blow to the guy (I didn't want to get too hung up on what "single combat" meant, killing blow was enough for me) and there was a cool cutscene where the demon-grasshopper tattooes on the bad guy burn themselves into the PC.

I gave him a Defile power I stole from 4E, he's used it twice in six months, once to little effect, once to EPIC effect. And I told him "there are other masters, and they'll want to challenge you."

That was months ago and he's been waiting every since. Now they're almost at the end of the first tier of adventures, about to fight the big bad guy they've been afraid of for five levels, and he's going to have some interesting lieutenants with him, including the Master of Crows!

The battle of the Masters, with the Staff and titles as stakes, will be epic.

Of course, the PC should have the chance to disarm back!

 

[n00b f00]

That sounds like a pretty dope adventure you got going.