D&D 5E Can ki-fueled attack be triggered by step of the wind

[ECMO3]

I am playing a Long Death Monk. On the good side not a lot of ki-draining abilities. On the bad side not a lot of abilities to trigger Ki-fueled attack. Other than quickened healing, anything that would trigger Ki-fueled attack would be after/on an attack action when I could use martial arts anyway.

So I was thinking about Step of the Wind: You can spend 1 ki point to take the Disengage or Dash action as a bonus action on your turn, and your jump distance is doubled for the turn.

Can I spend the ki on step of the wind, doubling my jump distance and then NOT use the disengage or dash and instead spend my bonus action on Ki-fueled attack instead?

The primary tactical use of this would be to get an attack after using my hour of the reaping ability as my action.

I think the answer is no :-( What do you think?

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Tricky situation. I find myself waffling back and forth here. On the one hand, it seems to be worded in such a way that you must actually spend both the ki point and your bonus action. On the other hand, the jump effect seems to make the case that you could do as you say, and use it only for increasing your jump distance, without spending the bonus action.

I think this is just fundamentally something you'll need to ask your DM about (since it sounds like you aren't the DM yourself here.) I wish you and them luck on this. The ability is simply not clear.

 

[billd91]

I'd go with No as well. The ki point spent is for a Disengage or Dash bonus action as well as the jump distance increase. So that bonus action is already spent, preventing the ki-fueled attack as a bonus action.

 

[Swarmkeeper]

No. You spend the ki point “to take the Disengage or Dash action as a bonus action.” If you don’t take either action, you haven’t actually spent the ki point.

 

[shadowoflameth]

Agree, it's No. As a side note, I think they should eliminate the Ki cost of Step of the Wind and of Patient Defense.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

No. You spend the ki point “to take the Disengage or Dash action as a bonus action.” If you don’t take either action, you haven’t actually spent the ki point.

If the jump effect were written differently, I would not hesitate to agree. But because of how it is written, I consider it unclear--I think a case could be made that one could spend the ki point to get the jumping ability and ENABLE spending one's bonus action that way. Yet I would not at all blame a DM who said exactly what you say here.

I will keep my grumbles about rules clarity to myself.

Agree, it's No. As a side note, I think they should eliminate the Ki cost of Step of the Wind and of Patient Defense.

Well, they aren't doing that in playtest packet 6, but they did buff the former so you take both Dash AND Disengage as a single bonus action. Patient Defense remains the same however.

 

[Andras]

To use Ki fueled attack, you need to spend the Ki point as a part of your action. SotW doesn't qualify for that.

"If you spend 1 ki point or more as part of your action on your turn, you can make one attack with an unarmed strike or a monk weapon as a bonus action before the end of the turn."

 

[Swarmkeeper]

If the jump effect were written differently, I would not hesitate to agree. But because of how it is written, I consider it unclear--I think a case could be made that one could spend the ki point to get the jumping ability and ENABLE spending one's bonus action that way. Yet I would not at all blame a DM who said exactly what you say here.

I think the "and" in the sentence makes it clear enough. You take one of those actions and get double jump... if you spend the ki point.

 

[ECMO3]

Agree, it's No. As a side note, I think they should eliminate the Ki cost of Step of the Wind and of Patient Defense.

A free Bonus action dodge every single turn from PD would be extremely OP I think.

Free step of the wind less so, but overall I think it is fine as is. Once you get into tier 2 the bonus action is more valuable than the Ki anyway .... and as far as this discussion goes, if I am not spending ki I definitely can't use KI Fueled attack.

 

[ECMO3]

Well, they aren't doing that in playtest packet 6, but they did buff the former so you take both Dash AND Disengage as a single bonus action. Patient Defense remains the same however.

Taking both dash and disengage as the same Bonus seems like a lot for one ki (and your bonus). Combined with Monk speed that will enable Monks to run in attack and then run well out of range not taking AOOs and not being reachable.