D&D 5E Buffing monks: with simple changes.

[Garthanos]

I am of the (very personal) opinion that the whole game works better without feat and 10000 exotic archetypes

I think the fighter was actually designed with the assumption of feats. The extra ASIs instead of swappable class features.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

I think your changes should work out well.
I think I would make unarmored defense a bit weaker and change it to WIS + either DEX or STR. This way it does not overlap with barbarian.

 

[pming]

Hiya!

I am thinking about buffing monks for next campaign:

If I was inclined to "buff" the 5e Monk...I'd probably make only three changes.

1. Up the Unarmoured Defense. I'd simply add 1/2 the monks level, rounding down. So yes, a 20th level Monk would be nigh unhittable...and I'm totally cool with that.

2. Up the Martial Arts damage by 1 die (e.g., 1d6 at level 1 to 4; 1d8 at 5 to 10; etc).

3. Bonus to Jumping (Athletics: STR score) equal to the Unarmoured Movement bonus.

That should do it.

^_^

Paul L. Ming

 

[Mind of tempest]

buff the ki I did that for my way of shadow kenku monk and it becomes a whole different game.
also, write down your final version as I will want to use it as monk fit well in my headspace for some reason.

 

[Minigiant]

A really simple Monk fix is:

Each Monk chooses a Form

Air: Step of the Wind costs 0 Ki
Earth: Patient Defense costs 0 ki
Fire: Flurry of Blows cost 0 Ki
Water: Bonus AC equal to Prof Mod

Can spend an action with no bonus action to swap forms.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

I think the fighter was actually designed with the assumption of feats. The extra ASIs instead of swappable class features.

Yeah, I modified my fighter a lot in the past years to remove those extra ASI.
I tend to go with a mix'n match of the Banneret features and the Brute improved save and extra damage.

Added to the fact that I allow martial characters to use their whole attacks allotment for AoO, my martials tend to be pure beast in combat.

 

[Stalker0]

Treantmonks variant is not bad for relatively simple changes…with the exception of his unarmored defense bonus. That scales way too high, 5e ACs are just not meant to be that high even at later levels.

I like the concept of using 11 + dex + prof mod. That takes off some of the MAD pressure and scales smoothly. People can still take wisdom if they want strong monk DCs but can choose other stats if that’s not as big a deal to them

 

[Stalker0]

A really simple Monk fix is:

Each Monk chooses a Form

Air: Step of the Wind costs 0 Ki
Earth: Patient Defense costs 0 ki
Fire: Flurry of Blows cost 0 Ki
Water: Bonus AC equal to Prof Mod

Can spend an action with no bonus action to swap forms.

Making flurry 0 ki is probably a bit much, but I could see like a +2 damage or something.

or you could say that one unarmed strike a round that hits is an automatic crit. That might sound OP at first but math wise it’s actually surprisingly little extra damage.

 

[Garthanos]

Treantmonks variant is not bad for relatively simple changes…with the exception of his unarmored defense bonus. That scales way too high, 5e ACs are just not meant to be that high even at later levels.

he didnt have a bonus to unarmored defense in his videos.

I like the concept of using 11 + dex + prof mod. That takes off some of the MAD pressure and scales smoothly. People can still take wisdom if they want strong monk DCs but can choose other stats if that’s not as big a deal to them

that isnt bad either he took the heat off of wisdom by making saves dex based too. In the video variant.

 

[Stalker0]

he didnt have a bonus to unarmored defense in his videos.

that isnt bad either he took the heat off of wisdom by making saves dex based too. In the video variant.

Can you link me to that video? I was goijg off the pdf version someone posted earlier