D&D 5E Is the Monk of the Long Death overpowered?

[FormerlyHemlock]

By 5th level you could certainly be encountering enemies with ranged attacks, or that melee is less effective against.

To be fair, monks are pretty awesome against ranged attacks too, especially when lying prone to leverage Missile Catch more effectively.

 

[One_Shots]

Cue people complaining that rolled stats are overpowered.

Facts are facts.

 

[Flamestrike]

The martial arts bonus attack states it specifically excludes weapons you have to wield with 2 hands. The quarterstaff isn't a 2 handed weapon normally, but you can make it a 2 handed weapon by using the versatile feature. Therefore, when using a 2 handed weapon, you aren't able to use the martial arts bonus attack.

No it doesnt.

At 1st level, your practice of martial arts gives you mastery of combat styles that use unarmed strikes and monk weapons, which are shortswords and any simple melee weapons that don’t have the two-handed or heavy property.

You gain the following benefits while you are unarmed or wielding only monk weapons and you aren't wearing armor or wielding a shield...

When you use the Attack action with an unarmed strike or a monk weapon on your turn, you can make one unarmed strike as a bonus action. For example, if you take the Attack action and attack with a quarterstaff, you can also make an unarmed strike as a bonus action, assuming you haven't already taken a bonus action this turn.​

A monk can attack with a Quarterstaff (a simple melee weapon that doesnt have the two handed or versatile property) held in two hands, and use his bonus action to make an unarmed strike with the martial arts class feature.

 

[ninjayeti]

Or is it just my high rolled stats?

Its the stats.

With a standard array and no magic weapon your monk would be: 18 Dex; 16 Wis; 13 Con;AC 17 and attacks at +7 for d8+4/d8+4 and d6+4. You would also have 10 less HP with the lower Con and one less temp HP with the lower Wis.


A half orc fighter (two-weapon style) with a standard array, no magic weapon would be: 18 Str; 16 Con; AC 17 or 18 and attacks at +7 for d6+4/d6+4 and d6+4. The fighter also has 16 more HP than the monk from a better hit die and being able to put his second best stat in Con.


So overall pretty comparable just based on the stat line. How 16 extra HP stacks up against 8 temp HP on kills would depend on the fight – against a horde of mooks you would be nearly invincible, but against 1 or 2 tough foes the temp HP might not be a factor at all.

 

[CTurbo]

Yeah I actually think it's mostly the stats too. The Long Death Monk is definitely a VERY strong class though. All 4 of it's features at 3rd, 6th, 11th, and 17th are strong.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Staff monks seem even cooler with the new UA feats. Don't have the article on my phone tho. Any of those feats a big deal for monks?

 

[Lanliss]

in addition to the errors produced by the complexity of the action economy of 5e (actions, reactions, turns, attacks, bonuses, concentration, overlaps, non overlaps, and special class abilities intermingling spells, etc.) which I agree with the others,

let it be said up to 15 damage per round is pretty normal for level 1 characters of any class. Being 3-5 levels higher, you might see that value jump to around 30-48. Around level 17-20, the damage max might be closer to 100-300+, with 200+ usually possible at least once per combat scene. monster hit points are going to range from about 8-15 to 300-600 in those levels, so you really shouldn't fret about your damage.

The second you enter combat with something like a Giant, Troll, or Purple Worm, you will wish you did considerably more damage. Not less.

15 is average damage at first level? No one in my group was hitting more than 10 on average at level 1.

 

[Lanliss]

let it be said up to 15 damage per round is pretty normal for level 1 characters of any class.

"up to x" is the same as saying "x = max".

So 2d6 +3, 1d6 + 1d6+3, 3d4+3, 1d6+3+1d6, etc.
or put another way,
16 stat,
two handed weapon 2d6, +3 from stat = up to 15
two thin blades, 1d6+3 first hand +1d6 off hand = up to 15
magic missile 3 missiles 1d4+1 each = up to 15
sneak attack 1d6+3 +1d6 rogue bonus = up to 15


​

Ah, I misunderstood you, thought you meant that a given lvl 1 character would usually deal 15 dpr.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

Ah, I misunderstood you, thought you meant that a given lvl 1 character would usually deal 15 dpr.

Up to (15 damage per round) vs. (Up to 15 damage) per round.

Grrr, English ambiguity.

 

[TwoSix]

Up to (15 damage per round) vs. (Up to 15 damage) per round.

Grrr, English ambiguity.

English is (vastly improved) by (using parentheses).