D&D 5E (2024) 2024 Kensai?

Parmandur · 2026-03-24T00:13:59+0000

The base Monk Class changes seem to make the central Schick fairly redundant. I wouldn't be surprised if they do revisit it, though, with a fresh focus on manipulating Weapon Mastery.

Bill Zebub · 2026-03-24T01:32:15+0000

Tigris said:
Haha thats kind of the vibe I got from your initial post, because Kensei, except using weapons, is really not that interesting, and the new monk (without a subclass even) is not a worse fit for a sword master.

Well you just need your GM to give you a light 2 handed sword then

Honestly it should be a light saber to compensate for the inconvenience.

Bill Zebub · 2026-03-24T01:34:04+0000

Parmandur said:
The base Monk Class changes seem to make the central Schick fairly redundant. I wouldn't be surprised if they do revisit it, though, with a fresh focus on manipulating Weapon Mastery.

Ugh. That would be the downside. Weapon Mastery is probably the one feature that most contributed to me finally being pushed away from D&D.

Tigris · 2026-03-24T01:37:02+0000

Bill Zebub said:
Ugh. That would be the downside. Weapon Mastery is probably the one feature that most contributed to me finally being pushed away from D&D.

For me this was the best feature in 5.5 and showed that the game finally improves again XD

Also if you reflavour monk to use sword it would still not have weapon mastery, just boring basic attack so you would be fine!

Parmandur · 2026-03-24T01:48:03+0000

Bill Zebub said:
Ugh. That would be the downside. Weapon Mastery is probably the one feature that most contributed to me finally being pushed away from D&D.

Ooookay...?

Bill Zebub · 2026-03-24T01:54:37+0000

Tigris said:
Also if you reflavour monk to use sword it would still not have weapon mastery, just boring basic attack so you would be fine!

I was just reacting to the idea of a new Kensai somehow incorporating weapon mastery.

Bill Zebub · 2026-03-24T01:55:25+0000

Parmandur said:
Ooookay...?

Ok, the truth is that Shadowdark pulled me away, D&D didn't drive me away.

But Weapon Mastery certainly is a poster child for where I think D&D was going wrong.

Tigris · 2026-03-24T02:32:15+0000

Bill Zebub said:
Ok, the truth is that Shadowdark pulled me away, D&D didn't drive me away.

But Weapon Mastery certainly is a poster child for where I think D&D was going wrong.

I mean shadowdark is just a simplified D&D 5e homebrew. In the end you still play a homebrewed version D&D 5e, just with lower complexity and more Old School vibe.

Lidgar · 2026-03-24T02:40:34+0000

Bill Zebub said:
Ok, the truth is that Shadowdark pulled me away, D&D didn't drive me away.

But Weapon Mastery certainly is a poster child for where I think D&D was going wrong.

Yeah, we ignore weapon mastery. It’s too fiddly for our tastes.

One option is to blend the battle master with the monk where you use ki points to do maneuvers. I’d need to think about it more to see how viable that is.

And katanas should definitely be finesse longswords in my opinion. Just make them light too and you’re good to go.

Bill Zebub · 2026-03-24T03:23:02+0000

Tigris said:
I mean shadowdark is just a simplified D&D 5e homebrew. In the end you still play a homebrewed version D&D 5e, just with lower complexity and more Old School vibe.

Uh....ok.