D&D 5E D&D's Monk Way of the Sun Soul in 'Xanathar's Guide To Everything'

[CapnZapp]

What are the flaws?

At the absolute minimum it needs synergy between its signature attack (the radiant 30 ft attack) and the reason you're a monk: delivering stunning strikes.

The best suggestion I've seen is to let the Sun Monk spend a point of Ki to make its ranged attack a Blinding Strike, just as every monk can spend a Ki point to make a Stunning Strike in melee.

But has the subclass changed since SCAG? Nope



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[CapnZapp]

The PHB+1 rule in the AL is really the only reason.

That's a horrible reason, and most likely untrue.

Why would the greater community accept wasted pages just to satisfy a small subset of gamers...?

Until we have proof, the cynic in me prefers the simpler explanation: follow the money.

And reprints are just cheap. That's really all I need to know.

And likely that's all there's to it. I really can't blame them. As long as we let them get away with padding (such as duplicating monster stats in book after book) or simply sparse books (like SCAG), why should they stop...? Hasbro is running D&D on a minimal crew and it's made pretty clear the bottom line is all that counts this edition.

Likely it's a way to keep the brand alive and active so they can cash in the big bucks later; with movies and toys and whatnot.


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[Li Shenron]

All of which was known a long time ago, when the subclass hit UA.

You mean SCAG? IIRC the Sun Soul Monk was never previewed in UA, so the community didn't get to provide feedback on its design. By the time it was published in SCAG, it was set in stone, as WotC doesn't seem to be willing to revise materials published in printed books.

The PHB+1 rule in the AL is really the only reason.

I don't think so. This would mean they wanted the Sun Soul Monk (and the other 3 reprinted subclasses) to be playable in AL together with other material from XGE, and at the same time they didn't want the 7 non-reprinted subclasses to be the same. But if you look at the rest of the player's material in XGE there is basically only racial feats and spells, however spells apply only to the reprinted Storm Sorcerer. So all that's left a reason is allowing a Sun Soul Monk to use 2-3 feats? :/

 

[Li Shenron]

Until we have proof, the cynic in me prefers the simpler explanation: follow the money.

And reprints are just cheap. That's really all I need to know.

And likely that's all there's to it.

Yep. "It's popular" is just their innocent-sounding jargon for it.

Even tho I am going to take advantage of the reprints (at least I always wanted the Swashbuckler and Storm Sorcerer added to my games, now I can have them without buying SCAG), part of me can't stop thinking that reprints are a little bit like musicians deciding to include their most popular song or two from an older album into the latest one, and not even a "remake" (which is 99% a cheapskate's low blow in music anyway) but really just exactly the same song they've already sold in a previous album.

This makes me wonder if we should expect in a couple of years to even see some "best of 5e" books to exploit AL players. And then more of them by popular demand because there's a guy there in Nevada who still can't play his Firbolg Mystic/Hexblade with Green Flame Blade in AL.

My bottom line being, why coming up with this big AL+1 umbrella rule at all, if you aren't willing to stick with it and instead start sneaking exceptions in the new books?

 

[cbwjm]

At the absolute minimum it needs synergy between its signature attack (the radiant 30 ft attack) and the reason you're a monk: delivering stunning strikes.

The best suggestion I've seen is to let the Sun Monk spend a point of Ki to make its ranged attack a Blinding Strike, just as every monk can spend a Ki point to make a Stunning Strike in melee.

But has the subclass changed since SCAG? Nope



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I think we play for different reasons. I don't play a monk just for the stunning strike so I don't really see that as a flaw.

The signature of champions.

 

[Mistwell]

That's a horrible reason, and most likely untrue.

Why would the greater community accept wasted pages just to satisfy a small subset of gamers...?

There is this ongoing idea that if pages are spent on stuff people don't like that it's "wasted". That the space would have been used for something you do like. As opposed to simply not having those pages at all, or those pages being filled with other stuff you don't like.

AL isn't that small a subset of players, and it often represents the greatest source of NEW players. Which for this edition has been huge.

Until we have proof, the cynic in me prefers the simpler explanation: follow the money.

The overwhelming majority would buy the same product even if it didn't have those pages at all. I don't think it's making them a lot more money to reprint it.

And likely that's all there's to it. I really can't blame them. As long as we let them get away with padding (such as duplicating monster stats in book after book) or simply sparse books (like SCAG), why should they stop...? Hasbro is running D&D on a minimal crew and it's made pretty clear the bottom line is all that counts this edition.

Actually they've made it pretty darn clear that quality of product is what counts more than quantity with this edition. They're just not servicing YOUR tastes as much as some other editions did, and you're doing that thing you've done so many times this past three years on this message board - assume your tastes are nearly universal or much more common than they are

Likely it's a way to keep the brand alive and active so they can cash in the big bucks later; with movies and toys and whatnot.

They've sold more than 3e and 4e combined with 5e, and D&D is as popular now as it was at it's peak in the early 80s and more popular than it's been for the past 30 years. You keep pushing this weird agenda of yours to claim the game isn't doing nearly as well as we can all see for ourselves it is doing. Maybe try a different tactic for once? This one isn't working anymore. Or keep doing it, and keep getting eye rolls?