D&D (2024) Playtest 8 Monk Discussion

AdmundfortGeographer

Getting lost in fantasy maps
I don't think it's ever been explicitely part of the druid or priest category?
In the AD&D 2e era, when the monk and assassin were removed from the PHB, in 1999 TSR released The Scarlet Brotherhood and published a 2e version of both Monk and Assassin. Assassin was tagged a rogue class, Monk was tagged a priest class.
 

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James Gasik

We don't talk about Pun-Pun
Monk was it's own class in 1e, though confusion could be found in that it could use Thief items, and have Thieving abilities, used the Cleric/Druid/Monk attack matrice, but the Thief saving throw table. In 2e, AFAIK, the Fighting Monk Kit was for Priests, and no official Monk class was made (but there's a lot of 2e books so it might appear someplace I haven't seen).
 

Clint_L

Legend
The Monk was never a melee heavy class since it's birth, even then it was part of the Druid or Priest (Cleric) subclass that's why it's has a d8 hit dice and for some reason has never changed.
That's not really accurate. The monk in D&D goes back to 1974, when Arneson had a vague notion of it as a sort of thief/cleric hybrid, and it was it's own class in AD&D (1978 PHB) but used a d4 despite definitely being a melee class. However, it sucked until high levels when all its crazy abilities kicked in and I never saw a single person try to play one.

IMO, the 2024 iteration represents the first fully realized version of the class, fifty years later. It's the first time where I feel like I can recommend the class without reservation (except that it might be a bit overturned right now).
 

Clint_L

Legend
Treantmonk's report on a one-shot play test. So, turns out 2024 monk is a beholder killer (anti-magic field? I'll just use step of the wind to pick up our spell caster and put him over here, and then grapple you, stun you, and point you in another direction, all on turn 1). Also, he emphasizes the synergy between having casters and martial characters working together:

 
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Mistwell

Crusty Old Meatwad (he/him)
Treantmonk and two other YouTube folks just rain a public playtest that included him with a 15th level monk. It's just one playtest, just three scenarios, three different maps and groups of foes, and one short rest. So it's an extremely small sample size. But all that said, the new playtest monk functioned very well. It didn't seem overpowered, but it was very effective. It did not outshine the spellcasters nor did it play as lesser to the spellcasters. It was very complimentary to the spellcasters and they were very complimentary to the monk. A lot of the effectiveness of the monk was not in DPR but in other things, though its DPR seemed fine.

Weakness: It was highly vulnerable to Telekinisis, which does not give a save but rather an ability check. Possible that spell will change in the new rules, but it took someone else breaking concentration on the caster to "unfreeze" the monk.

Strengths: flight (Elementals monk 11th level ability Stride of the Elements), speed (I think 110' with Step of the Wind dashing as a bonus action, base 30' + 25' from monk level 15), grappling, ability to carry someone else along (10th level Heightened Discipline feature - so he could fly an ally 110' essentially for free), ability to deflect some damage and reflect it back on the attacker, number of attacks, and stunning. He also did a bit with the 15' reach (3rd level Elemental Monk ability) and energy attacks with pushing and pulling (3rd level Elemental Monk Elemental Strikes ability).

But really, a whole lot of it was grappling and flying a disgusting amount, so able to do things like grab foes, fly them up, punch them a lot, and drop them into a spellcasters field of damage like Spirit Guardians or the new Conjure Animals swarm, sending them prone, taking falling damage, spell damage, etc..
 
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mellored

Legend
But really, a whole lot of it was grappling and flying a disgusting amount, so able to do things like grab foes, fly them up, punch them a lot, and drop them into a spellcasters field of damage like Spirit Guardians or the new Conjure Animals swarm, sending them prone, taking falling damage, spell damage, etc..
I expect zones and pushing will become a dominant strategy, especially for Char-op. It used to just be warlocks + repelling blast used the be the main way to do it, which limited it. But a lot most classes have the ability now, and there are more zones.

The fact that Elements can push and pull on the really helps with zones makes them really good at that.

I don't think dropping enemies added all that much, but might as well.

One thing I didn't consider is that Stunned enemies auto-fail grapple and trip checks. Even a wizard can hold someone down, wasting an action to get out.
 

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