D&D (2024) (+) Hopes for The Monk

[Horwath]

Monk just need few small tweaks to make it competitive with the rest.

HD increased to d10 or even maybe d12

Martial arts die increased from d4->d10 to d6->d12

Wis bonus to ki pool.

regain 1 ki point after you score a crit or a crit is scored on you.

AC: light armor proficiency,
AC calculations:
light armor, STR, DEX and WIS. pick 2 that you use for AC.

stun limited to once per round.

 

[NaturalZero]

Make Str monk viable. It's one of the glaring problems with putting subclasses off until 3.

Have the unarmed strike balanced against other weapons. Getting rid of the 5e version of GWM master is a good first step. In my homebrew, i have charkra-based magic users that just get attacks that are directly on par with weapons. It's not hard to design.

Stunning strike is dumb because it's either worthless or over-powered, depending on wacky RNG. Too swingy. It often feels like the only decent thing the monk has that other classes aren't doing, and yet it fails a lot. The people who meticulously track Critical Role have data from like 200 sessions with monk against a range of opponents and it had an abysmally low success rate, and they use over-tuned rolled ability scores.

 

[Minigiant]

1. Monks get fighting styles
   1. Martial Arts becomes a Fighting Style
      1. Unarmed can be Dex based
      2. 1 bonus unarmed strike attack
   2. Brawling becomes a Fighting style
      1. Light armor and shield proficiency
      2. 2 HP per level
   3. Wrestling becomes a Fighting Style
      1. Grapple and Shove deal unarmed damage
      2. Can grapple and shove 2 sizes larger
2. Choice of Brawling, Martial Arts or Wrestling as 1st level Fighting Style.
3. Unarmed Damage is independent of Martial Arts and is based on Monk level
4. Less baked on Kung Fu TV show/movie stuff
5. Monk can spend HD to gain KI
6. Stunning strike is 2 KI to stun, 1 Ki to daze

 

[Stalker0]

Patient defense becomes a reaction, so you use it only when you need it.

Stun works more like a smite, x/day, only triggers when you hit, max 1 use per round, no ki cost.

Unarmored defense: dex + prof bonus

Monk can use all abilities in armor if they have the proficiencies (like any other class).

 

[Blue]

To know what a monk need, we need to know what a monk is and is not. And if those match what we want.

Current monk:

• It's a skirmisher. It's not a front-liner.
• It's currently an action-denial specialist. It's not a striker.
• It's subclasses are all over in terms of both theme, power, and efficiency. For instance 4 Elements is an homage to Avatar: The Last Arirbender but the Ki usage to mimic those archetypes is way more then other subclasses use for basic foundational presentation.
• It's very dependent on class levels for both Ki and Martial Arts die.
• MAD: DEX, WIS, CON at the least.
• Low level monks run out of Ki so quickly, losing much of what makes them fun to play.

For me, I like that the base class is a skirmisher and not a front-liner. Increased mobility, not increased staying power, is what should be delivered and generally is. I wouldn't mind a little more single-target mitigation. And a tanking subclass would be fine.

Which brings to widening the class. Other types of pugilists, wrestlers, and full-body fighters. A STR build that isn't just more MAD since we still need DEX for defense. These I'd like to see - more options that don't stack with each other but do give flexibility in covering more archetypes.

The action-denial of Stunning Fist is strong, especially at spamming multiple save-or-suck the same round until a save is failed and/or legendaries saves are burned through, but it's a bit of a one trick pony. I'd love to see equally valid play styles without focusing on that that don't take a power hit. Stunning Fist is just 1 Ki.

I'd like to see Martial Arts die start off a bit higher, and go up with character level just like cantrips do, and for the same reason. Right now monks are dependent on super DEX to add to damage for their larger-than-average number of attacks to be reasonable (and still not strikers). This limits advancement choices, and also can favor rolling well over point buy.

Several of the points above bring up MAD, and we haven't even really touched needing WIS for saves and AC, and CON for HPs yet. Consolidating some could definitely help. Simple is to make martial arts work with DEX or WIS, and the weapon-wielding subclass (currently Kensei) also allows WIS use. More complex but potentially more fulfilling is to allow STR, DEX or WIS for martial arts, and each of them gets a different rider so what ability score you pick will make a difference in play. Now that I've written that, I really like it.

Allow more fantastical uses of physical prowess, like we see in Martial Arts movies. Wuxia, impossible jumps, parrying magic attacks, diving out of a area of effect, etc. More than just reducing damage from a single ranged attack. Codifying this will help the issue where some people who play see magic as able to break the "psychics engine" rules but anything done by martials must fit real-world criteria.

Make that Ki is for doing something amazing, not a resource for basic actions. A monk without Ki should still feel like a monk, play like a monk, and be at a reasonable point of the power curve. Alternately, give out a lot more Ki, such as partial refills on every Initiative roll.

Some of the later subclasses got the idea correct that the mystic energy of Ki can be used in places besides combat, like Mr. Miyagi fixing Daniel-san's knee. Have features for other pillars of play that spotlight "this is a monk".

 

[Blue Orange]

I like 'martial artist' for a title. There's a whole range of lore there ranging from historical Shaolin to kung fu movies. And it's more accurate--monks IRL were studious and spiritual, more like clerics or wizards.

Given the lore is so broad, maybe have different (fictional) martial arts that specialize as tank (load on CON), striker (load on STR), or skirmisher (load on DEX)? You could give them animal names that are pretty widespread a la Barbarian Totems to avoid any unwanted cultural associations/appropriations (I think wolves and bears had range over most of Eurasia, for instance, so Way of the Bear could be a tank for many cultural backgrounds.)

 

[Kobold Avenger]

Speaking about Martial Arts schools, they should just use the names introduced in Book of Nine Swords at the end of 3.5e. Like Diamond Soul, Iron Heart, White Raven and Setting Sun.

 

[Gadget]

While I'm not for turning monks into a front line bruiser (That is what the fighter, barbarian, paladin &, to a lesser extent, Ranger are for). But it seems that is what WOTC is attempting to do so by putting them in the warrior group. Traditionally, they have been slotted in the expert/rouge group, but I guess they have never really hit it there, so maybe putting them in the warrior group is a good thing.

I would like to center them less around Stunning Strike, which is too much of an all or nothing ability, and focus them more on other mystical abilities, rather than make them into just a fancy pugilist as I've seen some suggest over the years. They struggle with many of the their abilities ki cost at low levels, which makes them not as fun to play. I've toyed with the idea of allowing certain abilities to function as long as they have ki remaining (or x ki for higher level abilities?). This makes it more a tough choice for expending ki on "big gun" ability while also hopefully makes it less necessary to fire off those "big guns" to remain viable and flavorful.

 

[Minigiant]

Hadokens.

The base Monk ranged attack should be thrown daggers or hadokens/ki blasts.

 

[mellored]

While I'm not for turning monks into a front line bruiser (That is what the fighter, barbarian, paladin &, to a lesser extent, Ranger are for).

Agreed.
There are enough classes that just stand still and hit stuff and wait to be hit back.

Monks should encourage ducking in and out of combat, jumping over foes, and other skirmish stuff.

Stuff like..
-You do not provoke opportunity attacks.
-Move up to your speed, make an attack against each creature who you pass by.
-deal bonus damage based on how far you moved.
-once a creature is stunned, they are immune to stunning strike effects for 1 round (so go hit someone else).
-as a reaction, when an enemy moves within 5', you can move 10'.