D&D 5E Does a Way of Mercy Monk (11th level) obsolete a Life Cleric?

[Stalker0]

My party got to see the Way of Mercy Monk in a recent 11th level one off adventure (one of the players tried it) and they were floored by the amount of healing it was dealing:

with a 16 wisdom (aka not even wisdom optimized), the monk was doing 1d8 + 3 per attack, or 4d8 + 12 if it used all its attacks. That is sliiightly better (by 1 heal) to a life cleric using a level 4 cure wounds.... aka 1 ki = 4th level spell. If the party takes a short rest with any ki left, its just free healing.

The monk also have the maneuverability to get to allies and heal them, and can split its healing much more freely than a cleric can with its spells. Lastly, the monk can remove a lot of very nasty conditions very easily with its heals.

On the counter, the life cleric has the big whammy in Heal and Cure Mass Wounds, and still has its channel divinity for 55 healing that it can divine amongst its allies.


So the fact that my party is even making the comparison is impressive considering how low an opinion they normally have of the monk. But what do you all think, is the Mercy Monk's healing at 11th level "nice" or does it now top the Life Cleric in terms of being a healer?

 

[Auramancer]

The mercy monk can only heal once per round. The healing replaces one of the two flurry attacks, not all attacks.

 

[Stalker0]

So for pure fun, lets look at a few raw numbers just for comparison.

so for a mercy monk actually going for the healing crown, I think we can assume they would have a weaker dex and instead focus on their wisdom, for a 20 wisdom, just as the life cleric would. I will also assume our standard 4 member party, which is important for our mass heals. I am going to ignore the heal itself bonus, but I will include the cleric as a person in the mass heals to compensate.

Available Healing
So a mercy monk would heal 2d8 + 10 per ki, or 209 healing per short rest.

Lets look at the life cleric.

2 Channel Divinity (55 x 2 = 110)
1 6th - Heal (78)
2 5th - Mass Cure Wounds (102 x 2 = 204)
3 4th - Cure Wounds (29 x 3 = 87)
3 3rd - Cure Wounds (23.5 x 3 = 70.5)
3 2nd - Cure Wounds (18 x 3 = 54)
4 1st - Cure Wounds (12.5 x 4 = 50)

653.4 healing per day, +110 healing per short rest.

Total Healing (0 short rest)
Mercy Monk: 209 healing
Life: 653.4 healing

Total Healing (1 short rest)
Mercy Monk: 418 healing
Life Cleric: 763.4 healing

Total Healing (2 short rests)
Mercy: 627 healing
Life: 873.4

So in terms of "general amount of healing".... the life cleric delivers a good bit more than the monk.

Power Healing
Mercy Monk: 19 healing per round.

Life Cleric: (Heal) 78 healing
Life Cleric: (Channel Divinity) 55 healing
Life Cleric: (Cure Wounds 4th + Beacon of Hope) 43 healing

So in emergency scenarios when you need a big single heal, the life cleric has several ways to deliver more powerful individual heals than the mercy monk.

Condition Removal
Mercy: Remove two conditions from Blinded, deafened, diseased, paralyzed, poisoned, or stunned per 1 Ki spent.

Life (Heal): blindness, deafness, disease (same as lesser restoration but all at once).
Life (Greater Restoration): Exhaustion (one level), Charmed, Petrified, Curse, reduction in ability score, reduction in hitpoint maximum
Life (Lesser Restoration): blinded, deafened, disease, paralyzed, poisoned

The Life Cleric can handle a few exotic conditions the mercy monk can't. The Mercy monk can handle some of the "core conditions" very easily and with a minimal cost. Further, the monk can restore two conditions a round with 1 ki....while the life cleric can only handle 1 person at a time....and other than the Heal spell only 1 condition at a time.

While the life cleric is certainly useful when the exotic conditions come around, the mercy monk is going to be generally more useful at dealing with conditions, and doesn't have to sacrifice any healing to do it.


Overall: I think the Mercy monk is a better "condition remover" than the life cleric, but when it comes to raw healing power, the life cleric is still a good bit better.

 

[Stalker0]

The mercy monk can only heal once per round. The healing replaces one of the two flurry attacks, not all attacks.

At 11th level, it can replace all flurry attacks..... but I think your right that it only replaces the 2 flurry attacks and not all the attacks for the round. Ok, that would explain why my party was wowed by the healing.... sigh, I really wish I had read this before I made that chart above me with all the healing numbers

 

[Auramancer]

Agree, just the two flurry attacks at 11th level. Amusingly, at 11th the monk heals more per ki in combat than out of combat.

 

[Stalker0]

Agree, just the two flurry attacks at 11th level. Amusingly, at 11th the monk heals more per ki in combat than out of combat.

I updated my earlier post with the appropriate healing for 2 attacks instead of 4. Yeah makes quite a difference!

 

[Seramus]

Mobile Mercy Monks do have the extremely nifty trick of kicking you in the face, then walking over to slap an unconscious friend.

 

[J-H]

I really like the "Apply the poisoned condition, no save" option at 6. Disadvantage on all attack rolls is pretty good... although it is in competition with Stunning Fist, it has no save.