Wis and Dex 20 don't come cheap. Assuming you use the standard array and put a 15 in Dex and 14 in Wis, and play a Wood Elf getting +2 Dex and +1 Wis, that's 8 points of ability increases - so you'll get there by level 16 assuming you don't take a feat or something. The fighter gets AC 20... well, it depends on how much money the DM gives out, but probably some time between level 6 and 10. And the fighter is free to plow his stat increases into other stats, or even pick up feats.
D&D 5E Does anyone have any experience with Monks?
- Thread starter EroGaki
- Start date
Wis and Dex 20 don't come cheap. Assuming you use the standard array and put a 15 in Dex and 14 in Wis, and play a Wood Elf getting +2 Dex and +1 Wis, that's 8 points of ability increases - so you'll get there by level 16 assuming you don't take a feat or something. The fighter gets AC 20... well, it depends on how much money the DM gives out, but probably some time between level 6 and 10. And the fighter is free to plow his stat increases into other stats, or even pick up feats.
Well they are not as flimsy as mages or even rogues, but yeah, at low levels they squish nicely.
- A starting monk has an AC of 16 or 15 if they max Dex and Wis, while someone with chainmail+shield gets an 18 regardless of any stats. And it's not too hard for the warrior to buy splint mail and eventually plate for another +2, and if they want, Defense fighting style for another +1; while the monk has to wait for an ability increase to get a +1. So at low levels the monk will be getting hit about 10-20% more often than a warrior-type.
- Not only is their hit die smaller, it's common for monks to put Con in third place behind Dex and Wis. Depending on race, they could wind up with only a +1 Con mod. The warrior types, fighter and barbarian in particular, often put Con in second place and wind up with a +2 Con mod. Those points add up fast; a monk with +1 Con has about 3/4 the HP of a fighter with +2 Con of the same level. That can make a difference in 5e's swingy damage system.
Are monks totally defenseless? Heck no. Once the ki points and fast movement kick in, they have some very nice options. But they work better as skirmishers who avoid attacks than as tanks who withstand them.
Voort
Explorer
Looking at the PCs in your group, I have to wonder why you don't count the Druid as a melee character.
TrippyHippy
Hero
Halflings make great Monks, incidentally.
I think they work best as supplementary combatants, rather than front line, although their defence is usually pretty good anyway.
I think they work best as supplementary combatants, rather than front line, although their defence is usually pretty good anyway.
TrippyHippy
Hero
Groups may vary, but I don’t tend to see Druids as great combatants. They can handle themselves, but their armour is pretty light weight really, and players tend to keep the mental abilities (Wis, Int, Cha) high so they don’t max out well in the physical abilities that are beneficial for combat. With their shapeshifting aspects they tend to work better as wilderness scouts, and they usually double as party diplomats also.
Ah yes. The druid.
He *could* potentially be a melee character. He just doesn't want to. Despite the fact that he's a moon circle druid, his player has no interest in going melee in animal form; I can count on one hand the number of times he has done so. He prefers to sling spells, whether it be the humble Produce Flame or a Spike Growth.
His character uses his animal forms for...wackiness. For instance, we just finished a week long down time in a major city. He spent the majority of that time in the form of a pigeon, flying around and pooing on random folks. That and a cat, climbing up on peoples window sills and knocking potted plants off.
Sacrosanct
Legend
In my actual play experience, monks are sort of a glass cannon, especially at lower levels, compared to other melee types. Although, I don't like the term glass cannon either because they aren't that either. They are a hybrid of sorts, as I mentioned earlier.
With WIS and DEX as your primary scores, you're lucky to have a +1 CON mod. So your hit points are going to be significantly lower than a fighter, paladin, barbarian, etc, and as mentioned your AC won't be higher than a 1st level marital character in chain mail and shield in most cases.
In our game, my monk has gone down the most. I think 4 times. All of those from level 1-3. Haven't gone down since though.
With WIS and DEX as your primary scores, you're lucky to have a +1 CON mod. So your hit points are going to be significantly lower than a fighter, paladin, barbarian, etc, and as mentioned your AC won't be higher than a 1st level marital character in chain mail and shield in most cases.
In our game, my monk has gone down the most. I think 4 times. All of those from level 1-3. Haven't gone down since though.
And there are more AC magic items that stack with the fighter types (shield, armor, and ring) and few that stack with the monk. So by the time a monk does get to level 16 in a world with some reasonable level of defensive magic items, the fighter types will still typically have better AC. To my knowledge, Bracers of AC do not stack (or are not supposed to stack) with Monk or Barbarian or Sorcerer defenses (or with Mage Armor).
