D&D 5E (2014) Do monks get enough Ki?

[Evenglare]

It seems to me the short rest is supposed to function exactly like 4e's but they made it longer attempting to get rid of the 5 minute work day (which honestly I've only ever seen on message boards, but thats just me I guess).

 

[Mort]

Which feat might that be? I cannot find such a feat in the PHB.

Shield Mastery: not particularly useful to monks, but awesome for fighters, monks, etc.

While that's true, it is often true for PCs as well. Our group took out a group of foes in HotDQ, then waited for more foes to show up. Plenty of time to get in a short rest, in fact, it ended up that the other foes did not show up until the next day because they had not yet been alarmed (they were a few miles away). This happen again the next day (course, we were outnumbered 2 to 1 with higher level foes that third fight).

Granted, there are scenarios where short rests do not often occur, but smart players often figure out ways to gain short rests.

Often the DM does not control the short rests. The players do. The DM controls the consequences of taking a short rest.

Unless players want to suck up a lot of their Potions of Healing and use a lot of their healing spells, a certain number of short rests are even mandatory to continue on. Someone in a group will be seriously hurt after many encounters.

Yes, short rests are a good idea. Still, an hour is a long time.

Yes, if you are being defensive, you cannot be offensive.

I would say that's the whole point of the ability, and very in line with martial arts in general.

I agree that costs are necessary, but this one is quite high.

This is no different than a lot of additional effects that use bonus actions. You can only use one of them.

How is this so limiting as to affect the discussion of Ki? [/QUOTE]


K is a very limited resource, that's the difference. Compare to the rogue.

You mean like 5E Wizards?

This is a fairly standard game element for D&D.

1e, 2e and early 3e wizards absolutely. Late 3e and now 5e wizards? Not anymore, good cantrips, rituals and long lasting spells keep the wizard going even at low levels. WoTC clearly made a concerted effort to mitigate abs lessen wizard's early weakness!

 

[Leatherhead]

Rage resets on a long rest.
Ki is more like Superiority Dice.

 

[KarinsDad]

Shield Mastery: not particularly useful to monks, but awesome for fighters, monks, etc.

Shield Mastery is not a free action. It's a bonus action.

This means that it can only be used once per round to knock a foe down for a fighter, but Flurry of Blows allows prone to be attempted up to twice per round (once per flurry that hits). It's also DM dependent as to whether that bonus action can be used before the Attack action for SM.

For a PC that does not use a lot of bonus actions, Shield Mastery is very nice. For someone who relies on bonus actions (like a Fighter/Rogue using Cunning Action a lot), it's less helpful.

But yes, that feat is solid because of knocking foes prone.

K is a very limited resource, that's the difference. Compare to the rogue.

Yes, there are probably 6 to 10 rounds between short rests in most games, so at second level, the Monk's Ki is once per three to five rounds. But a lot of classes have incentive to take short rests (Second Wind and Superiority Dice for fighters, Bardic Inspiration for bards, etc.), so I suspect that most groups do short rests as often as possible.

Even at 6th to 8th level, a Monk can often use a Ki point nearly every round.

At 14th level?

1e, 2e and early 3e wizards absolutely. Late 3e and now 5e wizards? Not anymore, good cantrips, rituals and long lasting spells keep the wizard going even at low levels. WoTC clearly made a concerted effort to mitigate abs lessen wizard's early weakness!

I play a 5E wizard. Sorry, but cantrips suck. Without the standard +3 damage that every other attack in the game gets, the odds of rolling a decent amount of damage is very low.

On a 4 round encounter, I'm lucky to get one good solid shot in, even with things like Acid Splash and both of them have to hit in order to do slightly less average damage than anyone else.

 

[MarkB]

You could steal from the World of Warcraft monk: Normal attacks generate Ki, which can subsequently be channelled for additional effects. Your level-based Ki limit is the maximum amount you can have stacked up at one time.

 

[Paraxis]

You could steal from the World of Warcraft monk: Normal attacks generate Ki, which can subsequently be channelled for additional effects. Your level-based Ki limit is the maximum amount you can have stacked up at one time.

You know I like this idea, it has potential I might try it one day.

 

[ranger69]

That was actually my exact thought.

I'm planning on giving the monk a "headband of ultimate focus." It will have charges like a wand and replenish like a wand. If it proves too much the charges will fade. If it proves perfect, the ki will eventually become inherent (it was him all along, bit cheesy, but hey).

I hadn't really considered magic items on my list as I do not know a lot about them yet. However, the headband is a viable option. I like that the DM can make it's powers fade if proves too powerful.

 

[was]

I think they're a little low at lower levels. Maybe you could allow them to add their Wis. bonus to the total. That would probably give them an additional 1-3 total ki points.

 

[Kalshane]

My thoughts would either be the previously suggested "Add Wis Mod to Ki Points" suggestion or borrow a page from Pathfinder and change some of the Monk abilities to "As long as you have at least 1 ki point remaining, you can do X." without them actually costing ki. I don't have the book in front of me, so I can't suggest which abilities would be best to use with the latter mechanic.

 

[Minigiant]

Personally I think the problem is that most we monks as closer to fighters and not to rogues. Because if you see monks as "pop in, throw punches, pop out", their ki can last a bit. They do need a few more ki. But I think monk players just burn through it too fast.