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Message: <blockquote data-quote="SailorNash" data-source="post: 6782820" data-attributes="member: 6788401">When in doubt, Druid. You've got attack, utility, and survivability within both your forms and your spell list. Guidance and Shillelagh in particular open up a lot of options. You can afford to dump more into your mental scores because of Wildshape, and you can just pick up skills you'd like from feat or from race. It's my preferred "jack of all trades" over even the Bard.Druid seems borderline-unfair at some levels, and with one of those coming so early (Bear at 2nd) they get a lot of flak. But actually playing one, it's significantly less powerful when you're still using that same form several levels later. Also, with other tanks picking up plate, high HP buffers don't seem much better than shrugging off the blows entirely. Same with Multiattack versus Extra Attack. Different mechanic to accomplish the same.Biggest downsides for me was fewer RP options when you're not allowed to speak, and for the most part no longer caring about magical treasure? Since you're so self-sufficient, you'll uncover a magic dagger or something and dismissively pass it on to whoever needs it the most. Druids don't really need a power boost, but it's slightly disappointing when everyone else starts getting Christmas presents and you're feeling a little left out.For Monks? I've only played it once, but played with one in almost every session. They seem great at lower level due to the extra strike, but I'm not sure how long that stays ahead of the curve. Open Hand seems the toughest and the most Monk-y, while Shadow plays more like a Rogue with different mechanics.What I've found is that Monk requires a pretty lenient DM to play properly. If you describe flipping off a building and they shrug and say "with Advantage, I guess" it won't be much fun. But if they geek out when you're describing hitting someone with the Macho Man big elbow and they roll with it, you can easily be the star of the table.Biggest downside for me there was that you're almost forced into being a Karate striker, without options to be the Aikido or Judo master. I took Rogue 1 just to get Expertise in Athletics for grappling purposes...something of an oversight in the base class, and even that's partially redundant with the Acrobatics you'll likely also have.</blockquote>

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