Starting with the most important takeaway - I think you are focusing on high levels too much, especially when most campaigns fizzle before they get there. Look for characters that will really start clicking by level 6 or 7 instead of characters that sounds really awesome just at level 20.
Honestly I think the character probably works better as a single classed monk. If you have alot of melee allies then open hand is great - also great if allies you zone spells that you can knock enemies into). If you have more ranged allies shadow is nice. (Pass without trace for party to have +10 stealth!, ability to give Darkvision to any allies without it when needed and then a mostly at will teleport option!!). Keep leveling monk for the KI and great high level monk abilities!
Thanks guys. Those were some good breakdowns, even if they weren't quite what I was hoping to hear. I guess I didn't have a good grasp on the bonus action and it's limitations. I had envisioned a monk that could make up for some inherent weakness by getting a boatload of attacks per round augmented by spells, but that doesn't look possible. The choice between a Martial Arts attack or a Flurry of Blows seems pretty weak... I can spend my one and only bonus action to get another swing at 1d4 damage or I can spend a precious Ki to get two swings at 1d4 each. That feels... underwhelming. Especially since I can't add on a whack from a Spiritual Weapon (I was envisioning a giant ghostly fist) or the War domain bonus attack.
I find Monk damage to be fine. High optimization with a few specific feats can really out shadow it, but in tier 1 (levels 1-3) using a quarterstaff versatile and then unarmed attacks does 1d8+3 + 1d4+3 = 13 damage. When you flurry that goes up to 18.5. Tack on 2-3 more damage at level 4 if you raise dex (which you probably should).
An EB warlock with hex in Tier 1 is just doing 1d10+3+1d6 = 12
=13 at level 4.
Tier 2 that comparison comes out to be more like
1d8+4+1d8+4+1d6+4 = 24.5
With flurry = 32
The warlock at this stage is doing
1d10+4+1d6+1d10+4+1d6 = 26
Flurry of blows isn't super strong on it's own, it's just more that ki is a relatively cheap resource and you get so much of it (assuming you get adequate short rests) that you can use 1 ki most turns fairly quickly.
*People think high level monk damage drops off offensively compared to other classes but that's just because they never consider the monks ability to grant advantage to himself or allies. Seriously, a stunning strike on your first attack can give you advantage on 3 more attacks (assuming you flurry of blows too) and your next 4 attacks (assuming you flurry of blows), not to mention your allies get advantage on their next attacks too.
I still haven't quite abandoned the idea of this character, as the DM and I have already begun writing his backstory. He's a dragonborn (I know, terrible stats for a monk, but I'm waiting for the +2/+1 to any ability change to species) that is a member of a small niche monastic tradition called the Platinum Fist. They are martial artist/clerics of Bahamut the Platinum Dragon and combine mastery of their bodies as well as devotion to their deity to thwart the various schemes of Tiamat, the Cult of the Dragon, etc.
Sounds cool. I'd see if the DM wouldn't go ahead an implement floating ASI's from race choice. It's a simple enough houserule. *Also the updated 2024 monk to come out later this year is looking better than the 2014 one as far as we can tell.
@mellored - I wasn't planning on wearing armor with him, he was going to function mostly like a monk, with a small amount of casting ability to add some flavor. It feels like the perks of the War domain will be largely lost on him, so maybe I'll look around at some other domains that might be a match with Bahamut (Light shows some promise) to see if anything fits thematically before I bail on this guy completely.
For your multiclass... Light for combat. Knowledge for out of combat. Tempest for runner up. That said, i wouldn't multiclass out of monk levels so much since they are so ki dependent and they are one of the few martials that get really good high level features. Maybe a 1 level dip?
@FrogReaver (great name btw) -
Thanks!
I wasn't going to rush into melee with him. I figured maybe I start off round one with a Guiding Bolt or Bless to help my tankier allies (or self-buff with Guardian Spirits), then move in the following round as more of a melee opportunist.
I like the thoughts here! A few caveats.
Guiding Bolt is great before extra attack but not great after you get extra attack. It might be marginally better than 2 shortbow attacks with +4 dex mod.
That said, bless, shield of faith, protection from good and evil are all great buff spells at level 1. Access to healing word is very useful as well. While I love spirit guardians, i don't think i would try to go the 5 levels required to put it on a monk (at least not till long after your campaign probably ended at level 11-12).