D&D General Help with Mystic Arts Monk

[Clint_L]

Hey - I'll be starting a Deadfall campaign soon and playing a monk. Thinking of trying a Warrior of the Mystic Arts. Wondering what folks would recommend for spells, especially some of you theory crafters like @ECMO3. At Level 11 she'll have three sorcerer cantrips, along with eight spells with four level one and three level two slots.

 

[Mort]

Blade ward seems like a pretty good pick. As does shield. Both together make your effective AC quite high.

 

[Mort]

If your going the grappler route, enlarge/reduce is a solid choice. It allows you to grapple huge opponents, and the 1d4 per attack adds up quick.

 

[g00se99994]

Be a Goliath. Racial ability increases your encumbrance. Even with 8 STR you can move around 240 lbs. Take the jump spell. Level 4 take grappler feat. At level 4 you can grapple a creature that weighs around 200 lbs and jump straight up with with zero movement penalty, so 30 ft. You have slowfall, they don't so they take 3d6 falling damage and are knocked prone. Since you have grappler feat you also do hit damage on the initial grapple. Once you are on the ground you can bonus action martial arts them or flurry of blows to hit them twice with advantage. At level 5 this all gets even more ridiculous. Jump is non concentration and lasts a minute so you could do this multiple times if the grapple lands and the target is not over the weight limit.

 

[Willie the Duck]

One of the main questions would be whether the party already has arcane casting support. If not, I would leverage the same advice as I do Eldritch Knights -- don't be afraid to let your base class be most of the answers for 'what do I do in combat?' while your spells add to your general utility. Spells like Comprehend Language, Enhance Ability, Invisibility, Knock, Mage Hand, Mending, Message, Minor Illusion, See Invisibility, Suggestion and the like are useful for every party, and if no one else has them, grab one or two.

Beyond that, shore up weaknesses you have, or things other sub-classes would have given. If you don't have Darkvision as a species, grab it as a spell. Since you don't have a shadow-monk's 60' teleport, pick up Misty Step.

After that, yeah, Blade Ward, Enlarge/Reduce, and Shield are all combat-useful. An AoE like Shatter might be useful, but it's hard to say. Certainly up close one punch to each goblin quickly outpaces Burning Hands. If you pick up Hex/Hunter's Mark from somewhere, getting extra slots to use them with while still advancing as monk is also pretty nice.

 

[SLJ]

I ran a grappling MA monk in a midlevel one-shot (level 9) while in playtest and it was a blast.

I took Tavern Brawler, Grappler and Street Justice on a Hill Giant Goliath. With my leveled spells I mostly took defensive stuff, Mirror Image was a standout, as was Shield when I got surrounded and was going to face multiple attacks in a round. I didn't use all my spell slots every day and turned them into Focus points instead.

For cantrips I took Create Bonfire and Booming Blade. My primary strategy was to attack, use the Grappler free grab, then cantrip replace my next attack with a Create Bonfire in the enemy square. On their turn, they faced the tough choice of standing in that fire (for more damage) or wasting their turn trying to break the Grapple. If they elected to stand in the fire and swing at me, then the next turn I'd drag them out of the fire and back in, proc'ing the Bonfire damage, then do my attack sequence with Booming Blade as the cantrip replacement. The whole time Street Justice was giving advantage to all my allies.

If we'd gone to level 10 I'd probably have taken Blade Ward as well, although I would be tempted to go the Mind Sliver/Fairy Trickster route instead to set up big save debuffs for allies.

The real fun move was Grappling and then using my killer movespeed to drag an enemy out of line of sight. I would set up my Bonfire under them, then on the next turn, use Street Justice to tie them up with a Rope and leave them there. With the +DC to escape from Street Justice, frequently enemies would be stuck around a corner (or down a pit or whatever, because I could run on walls) for a couple of turns trying to break out, the whole time taking fire damage. Worked basically like a budget Wall of Force encounter splitter. I reflavored the Rope as a magical binding technique.

 

[Mort]

Hey - I'll be starting a Deadfall campaign soon and playing a monk. Thinking of trying a Warrior of the Mystic Arts. Wondering what folks would recommend for spells, especially some of you theory crafters like @ECMO3. At Level 11 she'll have three sorcerer cantrips, along with eight spells with four level one and three level two slots.

Looks like your starting new characters?

What is your DM allowing for starting magic items for 11th level?

The adventure just says "If players don’t already have characters of this level, they’ll need to create new ones."

The guidelines in the DMG are: 2 common, 3 uncommon, 1 rare. Which seems a bit generous when you actually get to pick the items.

 

[Clint_L]

Looks like your starting new characters?

What is your DM allowing for starting magic items for 11th level?

The adventure just says "If players don’t already have characters of this level, they’ll need to create new ones."

The guidelines in the DMG are: 2 common, 3 uncommon, 1 rare. Which seems a bit generous when you actually get to pick the items.

She hasn't told us yet, but she will be either giving us or letting us choose some magic items.

I'm open to suggestions as to what to take if we pick our own. I think bracers of defence or ring of protection, plus eldritch claw tattoos, then not sure about the other four.

 

[Mort]

She hasn't told us yet, but she will be either giving us or letting us choose some magic items.

I'm open to suggestions as to what to take if we pick our own. I think bracers of defence or ring of protection, plus eldritch claw tattoos, then not sure about the other four.

Even at 11th level, a ring of jumping can be pretty big for a monk.

For the MA monk, I think a pearl of power isn't bad.

If you get a rare item, I think a belt of Hill giant strength will serve the monk better than bracers of defense (especially if doing a grappler build). Sure, the monk can use Dex, but a high strength allows for more flexibility and less arguments when grappling big opponents. Though, admittedly, it's a bit cheesy to go with 8 Str, then grab the belt.

Combine the Belt and the Wraps of unarmed power (highest level you can get, +1 is uncommon) and the monk hits HARD.

 

[Clint_L]

This campaign goes to 20 - I don't see much benefit to using strength when her dex is already 20 and will eventually reach 24+. She already has the grappler feat. Boots of jumping (I assume you mean Striding and Springing?) are a cool option that I never thought of! Thinking of the wraps +1 - they actually stack with the eldritch claw tattoo...and with the insignia of claws as well, if I wanna get to an extra +3 to hit and damage just using uncommon items. Seems cheesy, though.

Edit: or winged boots, which complement monk's speed. Though they kind of overshadow her ability to run up walls and on water.