D&D General me finally making the big monk discussion thread

[doctorbadwolf]

Some ideas, real quick.

Basic grappling is solid. All I'd add as special moves anyone can do are;

• Throw - When you have a creature grappled you can use an attack to slam them to the ground or against an object or other creature. Make opposed Athletics check, if you win, you deal damage to the target equal to 1d6 + your strength modifier and they are either knocked prone, or thrown up to 10ft. If you choose to throw them into another creature or object, the creature or object also takes the damage.
• Reversal - When you are grappled, use an attack to try to reverse the grapple. (This means you could reverse, and then use a second attack to throw, trip, etc)
• Lock - When you have a target grappled, you can use an attack to perform a lock. Make an unarmed attack, and if you hit the target takes damage equal to your strength modifier at the start of it's turns until it escapes from the grapple. You can choose to forgo the damage, and instead restrict their behavior. The target either cannot speak, cannot perform somatic spell components or perform other fine motor actions, or cannot take reactions.

Then, I'd rewrite the terrible Grappler feat, specifically the second bullet point. Only the other creature is restrained. I'd add a third bullet that allows you to use a reaction when a creature tries to grapple you and fails, to instead grapple them an perform a Throw, Lock, or an unarmed melee weapon attack against them.

Next, the Monk. I'd add to Martial Artist a bullet point that you can use Dex for any attack or damage as part of grappling, and can use Acrobatics to attempt to grapple. Then, I'd add to Ki Features that you can spend 1 ki to grapple as part of an attack with your unarmed strike.

 

[Mind of tempest]

okay, I am seeing the concept of having martial arts not be an only monk thing being battered about this is good?

 

[Stalker0]

So one thing I have not seen mentioned. Monks tend to be a healing burden on the party more than other fighter classes. Fighters have innate healing, Paladins and Rangers have healing spells and abilities. Barbarian's rage reduction means they absorb a lot of damage.

Monks on the other hand tend to take a lot of damage, and don't have any innate recovery outside of subclasses. So more healing "juice" is required to keep them up.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

So one thing I have not seen mentioned. Monks tend to be a healing burden on the party more than other fighter classes. Fighters have innate healing, Paladins and Rangers have healing spells and abilities. Barbarian's rage reduction means they absorb a lot of damage.

Monks on the other hand tend to take a lot of damage, and don't have any innate recovery outside of subclasses. So more healing "juice" is required to keep them up.

They do now

 

[Stalker0]

So I've made several alternate monks over the years, and several I've posted to ENWORLD. As I've pruned through what changes I felt were really good vs overcompensating, this is the short list of things that fix a lot of the monk issues for me.

Base Changes

• Monks do d8 damage with unarmed strikes. Their flurry of blows and martial arts bonus action attack use the martial arts die. (monk no longer have to use a quarterstaff to feel effective).
• Patient Defense is now a reaction (aka use it when you need it, and you no longer have to sacrifice offense for defense as you can still use your other Ki abilities on the same turn).
• Stunning Strike: When you hit with a melee weapon, you may attempt a stunning strike. You can do this no more than once per round. (remove the KI requirement but also removed the stun spam. Monks gain a cool effect attempt each round, but spend their ki on their other fun stuff).
• Unarmored Defense: Now 11 + Dex + Prof Bonus (remove the requirement of wisdom for basic combat effectiveness, reduce the MAD dependency).

Added Ability

• 1st level monk ability: Healing Trance. As an action, spend one of your monk hitdice. You become incapacitated for a number of rounds equal to the value of the hitdice rolled, though you may choose to end the condition early. While incapacitated in this way, you heal 1 damage at the start of your turn.

(I gave monk's effective but slow after combat healing, as opposed to the fighter who gets less healing but is immediate and does not consume hitdice. Also note this only works with monk hitdice, so there is no multiclass dipping issues).

 

[Stalker0]

They do now

Honestly, that healing is absolute garbage. The only time its useful if you are literally about to rest, to save a few hitpoints instead of a hitdice. But as far as actual recovery from one battle to another...I would never spend my precious ki on such weak healing.

 

[Stalker0]

Throww - When you have a creature grappled you can use an attack to slam them to the ground or against an object or other creature. Make opposed Athletics check, if you win, you deal damage to the target equal to 1d6 + your strength modifier and they are either knocked prone, or thrown up to 10ft. If you choose to throw them into another creature or object, the creature or object also takes the damage.

Great idea! I think we simplify this to work with the existing 5e shove mechanic.

Shove: (normal shove language). If you shove a target that you have grappled, in addition to the normal effect, you may also deal damage equal to 1d6 + strength modifier.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Great idea! I think we simplify this to work with the existing 5e shove mechanic.

Shove: (normal shove language). If you shove a target that you have grappled, in addition to the normal effect, you may also deal damage equal to 1d6 + strength modifier.

I prefer to allow it to throw them into a creature or object, and have the distance be slightly greater, but yeah it’s basically an expansion of Shove.

 

[Mind of tempest]

okay so healing needs to be better but ides on how to make grappling better is nice.

anyone got interesting ideas for subclasses?

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

meh, I'd just give the base monk the same lay on hand feature as the Paladin.
if a ridiculously designed class such as the Paladin can have a healing pool in addition to his DNDwiki-adjacent features, I guess we dont have to worry about giving the Monk a little more staying power.