D&D 5E 5th edition monks

[Jd Smith1]

Really?

Since you obviously asked from a scientific viewpoint, here are those measurements in a clearer photo:

Spoiler

 

[DND_Reborn]

That was pretty offensive.

 

[Garthanos]

Thread takes a tacky turn

 

[Undrave]

Looks to be about a 34-22-34.

ha ha.

Seriously tho, the standard array in 5e is 15, 14, 13, 12, 10 & 8.

Using those scores, I could, using the current rules, make my monk like this:

STR: 12
CON: 13
DEX: 15
INT: 10
WIS: 14
CHA: 8

BEFORE Racial bonuses. Training in Athletics at first level would give me a +3 to Athletics Checks and Acrobatics check of +4, and an AC of 14 (equivalent to Hide armor). Also 9 hit points... it's a bit frail, hopefully you picked a race with a bonus to DEX or WIS...

Is that stat spread a problem for you? Using my suggestion of swapping WIS for STR in Unarmored Defense and Stunning Strike would result in a stat spread of

STR: 14
CON: 13
DEX: 15
INT: 10
WIS: 12
CHA: 8

Is that a better representation of a Monk for you?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Thread takes a tacky turn

Isn't the whole point of monks to run around with no clothes on?

 

[Horwath]

Are you, though (evaluating 5e as it’s own game, that is)? Cause It’s sounding like what you’re picturing when you’re thinking of a monk is this:

And that’s not what the 5e monk is. The 5e monk looks like this:
View attachment 116800

That doesn’t look like a character who particularly needs strength to be realized.

by this picture 3rd edition is 10-12 str while 5th is 8-10 str.

 

[Jd Smith1]

by this picture 3rd edition is 10-12 str while 5th is 8-10 str.

I don't know about that; her level of muscle definition could result in a much higher stat. A monk won't have a weight-lifter's build, because they need to be able to do more than just a simple repetitive movement or two.

 

[Horwath]

I don't know about that; her level of muscle definition could result in a much higher stat. A monk won't have a weight-lifter's build, because they need to be able to do more than just a simple repetitive movement or two.

this looks more like 3-4% of total body mass as fat rather than strong muscles.
But, that is also nice as you are not slowed down by lugging around 15kg of blubber.

 

[Horwath]

ha ha.

Seriously tho, the standard array in 5e is 15, 14, 13, 12, 10 & 8.

Using those scores, I could, using the current rules, make my monk like this:

STR: 12
CON: 13
DEX: 15
INT: 10
WIS: 14
CHA: 8

BEFORE Racial bonuses. Training in Athletics at first level would give me a +3 to Athletics Checks and Acrobatics check of +4, and an AC of 14 (equivalent to Hide armor). Also 9 hit points... it's a bit frail, hopefully you picked a race with a bonus to DEX or WIS...

Is that stat spread a problem for you? Using my suggestion of swapping WIS for STR in Unarmored Defense and Stunning Strike would result in a stat spread of

STR: 14
CON: 13
DEX: 15
INT: 10
WIS: 12
CHA: 8

Is that a better representation of a Monk for you?

Best monk would be wood elf at 1st level.
With point buy you get

str: 12
dex: 16
con: 14
Int: 8
Wis: 16
cha: 8

HP:10
AC:16

and you get nice 1st level option for excellent ranged combat in longbow and if you use UA option for monk weapons, you can pick longsword for 1d10+3 damage plus flurry.

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

That is...a pretty wild leap.

I'm not going to get mixed up in the whole "image of Asian men" issue.
However I will note that a lot of the earlier posts wanting to expand the 5e weapons table had a prediliction of granting Finesse to anything with an oriental-sounding name. - Or justifying giving a weapon the Finesse quality by defining it as an Asian variant.

There is nothing Asian about kung-fu except its origin.

Isn't much of Kung-Fu of Greek origin?

I think my point was missed in both quotes here.

Re: Parkour; My point is that DnD’s Dex score encompasses the strength (and perception, and physical health) required to perform tasks that the game and players associate with Dex and it’s skills. Thus, parkour is a Dex activity, because that is the primary stat associated with parkour. Parkour is a type of acrobatics. DnD 5e doesn’t make you roll several ability checks for one action, you just roll against the main stat associated with the thing.

No, I think I understand. - I'm just regarding Parkour as an activity that incorporates several skills rather than there being a single "Parkour" skill. (Or rather a single skill that covers all parkour activities.)
I'm not going to make all Parkour activities covered by Str (Athletics) checks, because a couple of the things that a Parkour artist might do would fall under different skills. A single task such as "Get across the city really fast and avoiding the crowds" might be a Str (Athletics) check, but if the weather is rainy or Icy, I might make it Dex(Athletics) for example.

Re: Weapons. My point here was that pretty much all weapons should attack with Dex, and add Strength to damage, because that actually shows the need for both stats to actually be good with any weapon.

The usual split of making power and athleticism used for attacking in melee and reflexes and balance being the most important in defence seems the best mix to me.

It's not just monks. Rangers also ought to be good at athletics (and you need a whole lot of strength to shoot a longbow), but unless you're a melee ranger there's just not enough benefit to investing in Strength (You can't afford to max it - and putting 12-14 in Strength is a big investment for one or two points on a single skill.)

And as I mentioned earlier - most Rogues I've seen are poor climbers.

At least part of the issue is conflating realism and character image with the demands of optimisation and ability score distribution.

Str and Dex 14 make a more realistic martial artist than one stat at 16 and the other at 8. - But people feel that the game would not reward them enough for those scores.