D&D (2024) (+) Hopes for The Monk

[doctorbadwolf]

Immediate idea I don’t have time to write down elsewhere

Focus regimens are like artificer infusions in that you know more than you have active, and you choose when you start the day which ones you have active.

So what if Force Regimens give different attack chains with wild finishers? Or maybe not that wild, but 1 ki makes the finisher go buck wild.

Oh! And you can forgo the finisher to regain 1 focus die instead, helping that resource be nice and fluid without being at-will?

But yeah each regimen is a different attack chain. Might even level-scale the finishers.

I like it

 

[ZetaShift]

I think my recalcitrance toward the boxer monk is simply that I don’t know what you can add to the boxer concept to make it not mundane, not wholly “martial”.

Like fencing gets called an art, and has some almost occult history, but boxing is called “the sweet science”. To me, that is pure fighter territory. Unarmed Battlemaster in the meantime, but certainly I could see a subclass. Maybe call it a Pit Fighter, to let cover a little more than just straight boxing, conceptually, but Pugilist if you don’t want it straying from boxing as such.

I think it's doable as a subclass, provided a reworked monk makes STR monks viable and customizable features like an invocation system or a spell-adjacent system. An idea I had for this was to lower the amount of spirituality tied to the subclass. So their stunning strike would get a nerf in that it can't stun anymore and acts more like the Slow spell. But in response, they gain two abilities that they can use in place of their stunning strike. One that can indefinitely lower a creature's AC(until end of initiative or some other effects fixes it) and another that works similar to the Sentinel feat.

 

[Shardstone]

I want the monk to have COMBO attacks. Like, if you hit a creature with X amount of Martial Arts attacks, you can do X, or spend ki to do Y to the creature. The more hits, the more potent the effect, scaling 2-4. Use your reaction to trigger the combo effect. Would be such a cool way to stylize the monk IMO.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

I not only want a Monk to do a Hadouken, I also want some of them to do "Get Over Here!"

 

[Vael]

I've never seen one in play, but in theory, I've always liked 13th Age's implementation of the Monk. Those monks learned martial techniques that consisted of three parts: an opener, a chain and a finisher. You could only use a chain attack after using an opener, and a finisher after using a chain. You didn't have to use them from one technique, so you could use a Crane style opener and follow up with a Mantis style Chain attack. It's how I'd consider implementing Tome of Battle in 5e.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I think it's doable as a subclass, provided a reworked monk makes STR monks viable and customizable features like an invocation system or a spell-adjacent system. An idea I had for this was to lower the amount of spirituality tied to the subclass. So their stunning strike would get a nerf in that it can't stun anymore and acts more like the Slow spell. But in response, they gain two abilities that they can use in place of their stunning strike. One that can indefinitely lower a creature's AC(until end of initiative or some other effects fixes it) and another that works similar to the Sentinel feat.

My preference is to not have subclass take away from the base class, but I do think you could just have the subclass not add any mysticism?

I not only want a Monk to do a Hadouken, I also want some of them to do "Get Over Here!"

Could work with a reach weapon?

I've never seen one in play, but in theory, I've always liked 13th Age's implementation of the Monk. Those monks learned martial techniques that consisted of three parts: an opener, a chain and a finisher. You could only use a chain attack after using an opener, and a finisher after using a chain. You didn't have to use them from one technique, so you could use a Crane style opener and follow up with a Mantis style Chain attack. It's how I'd consider implementing Tome of Battle in 5e.

Yeah tbh I have been thinking about two things.

One, changing flurry of blows to any time you spend ki on your turn you can make a second unarmed strike when you make an unarmed strike as a bonus action. Two, something like what you're describing, but definitely not flavored around East Asian martial arts specifically.

 

[ZetaShift]

My preference is to not have subclass take away from the base class, but I do think you could just have the subclass not add any mysticism?

Fair. I do feel like it would lead to more unique design paths if subclasses were to alter base class features, or even "replace" them with different things. Although I can see that leading to the argument on you should just make a whole new class instead.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Fair. I do feel like it would lead to more unique design paths if subclasses were to alter base class features, or even "replace" them with different things. Although I can see that leading to the argument on you should just make a whole new class instead.

Maybe a good compromise would be to package a new subclass with an optional variant feature or two that the subclass doesn't need, but does benefit from.

 

[Lojaan]

No. Not all mystic orders are sacred orders, and not all sacred orders are especially esoteric or any more mystical than everyday practice of a given faith.

They are different concepts.

Nope. They are exactly the same thing. Just one is seen from within the culture, and one is seen from the outside.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Nope. They are exactly the same thing. Just one is seen from within the culture, and one is seen from the outside.

Nonsense, you just aren’t paying attention to the description.

The notion is laughable, when the Paladin is based on chivalric knights of Christendom, and the concept being discussed her finds its primary inspiration in European esoteric swordmasters.

You and I are done discussing this.