D&D (2024) 2024 Player's Handbook reveal: "New Monk"

Monk article! https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/1758-2024-monk-vs-2014-monk-whats-new

Video Breakdown

Base Monk Class Notes

• Knew monk was going to get a lot of attention - both satisfaction scores and actual play numbers have historically tended to be a bit low
• Similar to ranger, monk is largely a "new class"
• Martial Arts feature at 1st level
  • Monk weapons have been broadened to all simple melee weapons and martial melee weapons with light property
  • Can make an unarmed strike as bonus action
  • Can choose to use Dex to set DCs for unarmed strike grapple and shove options (see general notes below)
  • Martial Arts die - starts at d6 at level 1, scales to d12 at level 17
• Monk's Focus feature at 2nd level
  • Ki/Discipline Points are now Focus Points
  • Patient Defense - can Disengage as bonus action for free
    • Spending 1 Focus Point lets you both Disengage and Dodge at the same time
  • Step of the Wind - can Dash as bonus action for free
    • Spending 1 Focus Point lets you both Dash and Disengage at the same time, and additionally your Jump distance is doubled for the rest of your turn
  • Flurry of Blows - Spend 1 Focus Point to make two unarmed strikes as bonus action
• Uncanny Metabolism feature at 2nd level ("I didn't hear no bell.")
  • When rolling initiative, can regain all expended Focus Points and restore a number of hit points (1/long rest)
• Redesigned Deflect Attacks feature at 3rd level
  • Roll d10 + Dex + Monk level to reduce damage from any attack that deals bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage
  • If damage is reduced to zero, can spend Focus Point to redirect force of attack to someone else - target makes a saving throw and on failure suffers an amount of Force damage based on your Martial Arts die
  • Upgrades to Deflect Energy at 13th level - can deflect any damage type
• Self Restoration feature at 10th level
  • Can end Charmed, Frightened, or Poisoned condition on self at end of monk's turn for free
• Heightened Focus feature at 10th level - further enhancements to Patient Defense, Step of the Wind, and Flurry of Blows (not detailed)
• Superior Defense feature at 18th level - mentioned as example of ways they've increased monk survivability, but not detailed
• Disciplined Survivor feature (level not mentioned) - mentioned as example of ways they've increased monk survivability, allows monk to reroll saving throws
• Stunning Strike feature
  • Can only be used once per turn, but always does something
  • If target fails saving throw, they are stunned
  • If target succeeds on saving throw, their speed is halved and the next attack roll against them has advantage
• Epic Boon at 19th level - no example specified

Subclass Notes

• Warrior of Mercy
  • Largely the same, save for tweaks to better integrate subclass with new version of the base monk class
• Warrior of the Elements
  • Completely replaces Way of the Four Elements
  • Elemental Attunement - not always active, costs Focus Points to "turn on"
    • Can increase reach of unarmed strikes using elemental power ("Not a Mr. Fantastic or One Piece style stretchy punch" )
    • Can change damage type to one of elemental themed options (not specified, but generally guessable)
    • Can force target to make a saving throw and move them around battlefield on a failure
  • Gain Elementalism cantrip
  • At 6th level, can take Magic action and expend some Focus Points to cause elemental explosion in 20-foot radius sphere up to 120 feet away, dealing damage based on Martial Arts Die
  • Themed around tapping into Elemental Chaos as a whole, rather than just one of the Elemental Planes
  • At 11th level, gain fly and swim speed when Elemental Attunement is active
  • Elemental Epitome at 17th level
    • Further improves Elemental Attunement
    • Gain elemental damage resistance (can be changed at start of every turn)
    • When using Step of the Wind, speed is increased and you can cause damage to enemies you pass
    • Additional option to deal bonus elemental damage once per turn (not elaborated)
• Warrior of Shadow
  • Can cast Darkness spell as before, but can now see through that darkness
  • Improved Shadowstep at 11th level
    • Can expend Focus Point to remove requirement to start/end teleportation in dim light or darkness, and can make an unarmed strike as part Shadowstep bonus action
  • Cloak of Shadows at 17th level
    • Turn invisible and partially incorporeal (can pass through occupied spaces as difficult terrain), and Flurry of Blows does not cost Focus Points while Cloak of Shadows is active
  • Kendrick: "Would love to see the Archfey Warlock and Shadow Monk teleporting around the battlefield fighting each other."
    • Crawford: "Not a PvP game."
• Warrior of the Open Hand
  • Wholeness of Body feature at 6th level
    • Now a bonus action and can be used multiple times per day
  • Fleet Step feature (level not specified)
    • Whenever you take a bonus action to do anything other than Step of the Wind, you can also use Step of the Wind immediately after that bonus action
  • Revised Quivering Palm
    • Deals a "truckload" of damage on failed save and a "smaller truckload" of damage on a successful one, but can no longer instantly drop creatures down to 0 hp

General Notes

• Baseline (gold?) dragonborn monk iconic art has a tail.
• Unarmed strike redesigned, intended to grant similar tactical versatility to that offered by weapon mastery - now includes three options:
  • Deal damage
  • Attempt to start a grapple
  • Attempt to shove target

 

[g00se99994]

They also lost Silence, and likely the darkvision spell. The class is now just put darkness down (and hopefully not screw over other party members) and punch things. Lots of utility was lost.

Personally, I feel like the base class took several steps forward, but subclasses somehow managed to regress.

No joke, I think the base class is so good I'd play a monk without even having a subclass. It's that solid. The subclass features are icing on the cake.

 

[Chaosmancer]

I thought that such options were always available.
grapple needed free hand, shove too

Yes and no.

You did always need a free hand to grapple or shove, but it was not an unarmed strike. It could replace an attack, but specifically for monk, it could not be used with martial arts or flurry of blows, because those required you to make an unarmed strike.

Now, you can make an unarmed strike and deal damage, or an unarmed strike and cause the enemy to save versus a grapple, or an unarmed strike and cause the enemy to save versus a shove/knock prone. All with any attack or bonus action attack the monk has. Plus, there is now at least one feat that allows you to (once per turn) deal damage AND shove/knock prone as a single unarmed strike.

 

[Chaosmancer]

Darkvision spell could go on your allies that can't see in your darkness. While I would agree that the new Elements monk is stronger, I don't think it is better. A lot of the draw of the old one is gone, replaced with 10 ft of reach and a feature that is a cantrip.

I hate to be harsh, but the only draw of the old one was the aesthetic, and you still have the aesthetic in the new one. I don't think you actually lost anything.

 

[Merlecory]

I hate to be harsh, but the only draw of the old one was the aesthetic, and you still have the aesthetic in the new one. I don't think you actually lost anything.

Pass without Trace, Dark vision, and likely silence were lost. All of these offer great utility to a party, and expand the subclass to more than just "I punch things when the lights are out". I think more than just aethstetics were lost here.

 

[GarrettKP]

Darkvision spell could go on your allies that can't see in your darkness. While I would agree that the new Elements monk is stronger, I don't think it is better. A lot of the draw of the old one is gone, replaced with 10 ft of reach and a feature that is a cantrip.

The Darkvision spell doesn’t allow you or allies to see in your magical darkness anyway.

Also, Elements Monk is most certainly better. I understand what you mean about the mechanical flexibility, but nothing in the 4-elements monk subclass was as powerful, pound for pound, as being able to push enemies around with your unarmed strikes like the current Elements monk can now do.

The only features that aren’t possible to replicate the effects of (thematically and somewhat mechanically) between the two Element variants are Shape the Flowing River and the Wall Spells at level 17. Everything else (Flying, pushing or pulling or knocking prone, creating big elemental blasts, etc.) can effectively be replicated.

 

[FrogReaver]

Pass without Trace, Dark vision, and likely silence were lost. All of these offer great utility to a party, and expand the subclass to more than just "I punch things when the lights are out". I think more than just aethstetics were lost here.

those will be missed. On the other hand the buff to the level 6 feature is really nice.

 

[Merlecory]

I feel it is because they needed to limit the range, and make sure it didn't feel useless in specific situations. For example, they didn't want to figure out if an arrow shot 600 ft away by a sharpshooter could be thrown 600 ft back, while a dagger could only be thrown back 30 ft. Hence, everything is 60 ft for range and 5 ft for melee.

I don't think the saving throw portion is required for determining range. Just listing a specific range does that just fine (it is odd that 2014 doesn't make any mention of range)

You can't have the damage of the reflected attack based off the attack itself, because deflecting smaller attacks like a 1d4+2 shouldn't feel like a waste of ki compared to deflecting big attacks like 2d12+6. SO the damage is standardized. This also makes it easier to run at the table.

Why can't you use the orignal weapons damage though? It's not standardized (though monk weapons could be), but it doesn't really need to be. A knife and a ballista bolt don't need to deal the same damage, and it is fine for a monk to decide that they don't need to throw things back.

Then, you have to consider Deflect Energy. Since it is possible for a mage to use Firebolt from 120 ft away, and the only viable target for your redirect could be a fire elemental summoned by that mage, it makes a lot of sense that, to keep the ability useful, you can't have the deflected attack use the same damage type.

It is also possible (but rare) that there are no enemies within range of Deflect. That's not a damage type thing, it's a range thing. I also don't see a problem with an enemy not being worried about it's own attack. 5E's Drunken Master has Tipsy Sway, which would let you re-direct melee attacks to some creature that wasn't the original attacker. I think that is fine for melee, and don't see why ranged should be any different.

 

[Chaosmancer]

Pass without Trace, Dark vision, and likely silence were lost. All of these offer great utility to a party, and expand the subclass to more than just "I punch things when the lights are out". I think more than just aethstetics were lost here.

Um... that's the shadow monk. I was responding to your statement that the appeal of the 4 elements monk is gone. Unless you think the Shadow monk got reach and a cantrip

 

[Merlecory]

Um... that's the shadow monk. I was responding to your statement that the appeal of the 4 elements monk is gone. Unless you think the Shadow monk got reach and a cantrip

That look's like my bad. The first sentance in my comment you replied to talked about shadow, and you didn't specify. I made a bad assumption on that one.

 

[Chaosmancer]

I don't think the saving throw portion is required for determining range. Just listing a specific range does that just fine (it is odd that 2014 doesn't make any mention of range)

True, but I was laying out each part of the ability.

Why can't you use the orignal weapons damage though? It's not standardized (though monk weapons could be), but it doesn't really need to be. A knife and a ballista bolt don't need to deal the same damage, and it is fine for a monk to decide that they don't need to throw things back.

Well, for a few reasons. One it is more complicated to have to ask the DM what damage this weapon was supposed to do, especially since it might be being boosted by one of the monster's abilities. The rocks Giant's throw are sometimes boosted by the giant's statblock, or a Hobgoblin's dart could be boosted by spells and their sneak attack analog, those would have to be pulled back out of the weapon damage. Much easier to standardize.

Secondly, it does matter. If early in the adventure the monk doesn't throw back a dagger, because daggers don't do enough damage and they want to make sure they are dealing the most damage with their ki, then they may not use an ability they have purely on an assumption of larger weapons later in the adventure. It also makes this ability far more effective against an assassin with a heavy crossbow than one with a dagger, even though the majority of the damage comes from the same place. And that makes it harder to balance.

It is also possible (but rare) that there are no enemies within range of Deflect. That's not a damage type thing, it's a range thing. I also don't see a problem with an enemy not being worried about it's own attack. 5E's Drunken Master has Tipsy Sway, which would let you re-direct melee attacks to some creature that wasn't the original attacker. I think that is fine for melee, and don't see why ranged should be any different.

Someone might not be in range, but that is different than someone being in range, and then they turn out to be immune or resistant to the damage. Because if no one is in range, you don't spend the ki in the first place. But if you redirect a fire attack, and then find out the enemy is immune to fire damage (and wasn't obvious like my first example) then you've wasted your ki and that feels bad.