D&D 5E Feats for Monks

[Eltab]

A feat that lets your number of Flurry of Blows attacks equal your proficiency bonus? I haven't worked the math for how much damage you could do.

A defensive feat that somehow ties Perception to an AC bonus: out of the corner of your eye you see something move, and react.

 

[Gammadoodler]

Hmm. I like the reaction defense. I wonder if there might be something where you move some of your bonus action stuff into the reaction.

Like a reaction dodge or movement, that costs ki.

And I guess I should be a little clearer, I didn't mean to suggest that there are no feats that work for currently monks so much as it feels like the design philosophy for a lot of the martial feats is some version of "give em a bonus action" or "give em some armor", with the monk looking around going, "uhh, sir, I've got a bonus action and I can't really wear armor". And then the design philosophy swats the monk with a newspaper and yells at them to get off its lawn.

I'm currently playing a gnomish mage slayer monk.
Definitely trying stuff.

 

[Hawk Diesel]

So after a second look, a good point of comparison for Zen Defense would be the Martial Adept feat (which I personally think is a fairly weak feat). You get a few more options with Martial Adept, but you only get to use the feat once per short rest. And you could roll a 1 on that d6, making it pretty underwhelming. @NotAYakk I like the idea of also granting resistance. It makes sense and keeps it from feeling like a wasted use of Ki.

 

[Sacrosanct]

One of my first official 5e PCs was a shadow monk with magic initiate. Hex works awesome for a monk, almost like it was made for a monk. And Eldritch blast solves the ranged attack problem very well

 

[NotAYakk]

Martial Adept best use is riposte or precision.

A GWM miss is like 20 damage. At 10+ such attacks/rest you are going to see a miss by 1 or 2 about half of the time. So it is worth "non spike" 20ish damage/rest that way.

As a riposte, it is worth about 10ish (more if you have advantage), but a bit spikable.

Optimally, on a shadowblade arcane trickster in dim light at say level 7, it is an attack for 4d6+2d8+3 (29) on a riposte (per rest).

I'd take elven accuracy instead.

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On a monk, MA is junk. You need ASIs so much more. You already put out 4 taps/round, each +1 dex is up to 4 tap damage and makes those taps hit more often.

A feat that would tempt a monk would be one that granted reaction attacks (another tap).

 

[Guest 6801328]

One of my first official 5e PCs was a shadow monk with magic initiate. Hex works awesome for a monk, almost like it was made for a monk. And Eldritch blast solves the ranged attack problem very well

I...might have to try that.

 

[squibbles]

So over the course of some time I've played a few different monk PCs in different games, and I feel like I've gotten into the position where there just aren't any feats that really define a monk playstyle (and an awful lot they can't even use without significant sacrifices).
So when the new UA came out, I was really hoping to see something with 'monk' written all over it....and not so much.

Take Eldritch Adept and pick up Armor of Shadows with it. Ignore that monks use Wisdom. Not optimal... but it would 100% define a monk playstyle. It would work best with Way of Shadow or Kensei monks, since they only use Wisdom for stunning strike.

Eldritch Adept-->Fiendish Vigor would also be pretty nice, maybe on a variant human monk at level 1. That extra 1d4+4 temp HP every time you have a spare action adds up.

I have obtained plenty of mileage with a variant human monk and the magic initiate feat (warlock, hex, mage hand, prestidigitation).

One of my first official 5e PCs was a shadow monk with magic initiate. Hex works awesome for a monk, almost like it was made for a monk. And Eldritch blast solves the ranged attack problem very well

Fey Touched now allows you to pick up Hex simultaneously with +1 Wis, making that Hex with 4 attacks a round combo even better. Being able to cast Misty Step with the spell slot is some nice versatility too.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Take Eldritch Adept and pick up Armor of Shadows with it. Ignore that monks use Wisdom. Not optimal... but it would 100% define a monk playstyle. It would work best with Way of Shadow or Kensei monks, since they only use Wisdom for stunning strike.

You can already pick up Mage Armour with Magic Initiate, and there are several race options that have a similar effect (Lizard Folk, Tortles, Loxodon). But they are all inferior to maxed out DEX and WIS.

Kensei might look at a single level dip into barbarian though.

Fey Touched now allows you to pick up Hex simultaneously with +1 Wis, making that Hex with 4 attacks a round combo even better. Being able to cast Misty Step with the spell slot is some nice versatility too.

Since you might start out with 17/16 in prime stats any DEX/WIS half feet can bypass the MAD-tax. One of the reasons Crusher is so good. I fear a nerf bat hovering over Fey Touched though. Observant in the PHB has this benefit, but since it isn't combat pillar tends to get overlooked by power gamers. Monk as trapfinder.

Yeah Dueling would be great early on! Grab a Shortsword and inflict d6+2, and then, once you reach high enough that your fists are better you can grab a maneuver with the new fighting style... But really, your fists aren't gonna be better than d6+2 until you get to d10 at level 17! A d6+2 has an average roll of 6, which is worth more than a d10's average, and even if you miss out on rolling a 10, your minimum is 3.

So every turn you're making two attacks with your short swords and then 1 or more unarmed strike. Really good buff to your DPS I think.

You are actually better with Unarmed Fighting until you get your extra attack at level 5, since it gives you 1d8 on both main and bonus action attacks, then switching to Duelling at level 5, then switching to something else (e.g. Blind Fighting) at 11. Kensei can benefit from Duelling all the way to 20 though.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

One of the things I would like to see for monk is the option to not have AC depend on dexterity (without having to play a ninja tortle). I tried to come up with a way to do that that made sense, and eventually came up with this:

Elemental Discipline (enhances Way of the Four Elements)

Armour of Stone. As an action you can spend 2 ki points to surround yourself with stone armour similar to full plate. This armour lasts for 8 hours or until you dispel it as a bonus action. Whilst the Armour of Stone is in effect your AC is 15+your proficiency bonus, and cannot be affected by any other modifiers. It does not interfere with any monk abilities.


Now, on it's own this is only of value to 4e monks, but if you combine it with a feat that lets you acquire an elemental discipline, like the one I posted earlier, anyone can spend a feat to pick it up.

I think it would also make 4e monks suck less.

 

[Undrave]

You are actually better with Unarmed Fighting until you get your extra attack at level 5, since it gives you 1d8 on both main and bonus action attacks, then switching to Duelling at level 5, then switching to something else (e.g. Blind Fighting) at 11. Kensei can benefit from Duelling all the way to 20 though.

Well we're already depending on 1 elemental of UA that might not make it (because people hate feat somehow and don't want us to have fun?) so I didn't want to count on ANOTHER UA and went for core fighting styles only.