D&D (2024) Playtest Packet 6: Monk reactions?

[mellored]

+1 to all scores?

 

[Vael]

+1 to all scores?

Is that to me? No. What I was suggesting was replace each Ability Score Improvement with ...

Monk's Ability Score Improvement: You gain the Ability Score Improvement Feat or another feat of your choice for which you qualify. Additionally, you increase an ability score of your choice by 1, up to a max of 20 as long as that ability score was not also increased by the chosen feat.

 

[THEMNGMNT]

Haven't read through all the comments, but my first thought is monks should be able to add any Weapon Mastery property to their unarmed attacks with 1 discipline point. Effectively, they know ALL the Weapon Masteries--but at a cost. Obviously the amount of discipline points they have would need to be fine tuned.

 

[OB1]

Is that to me? No. What I was suggesting was replace each Ability Score Improvement with ...

Monk's Ability Score Improvement: You gain the Ability Score Improvement Feat or another feat of your choice for which you qualify. Additionally, you increase an ability score of your choice by 1, up to a max of 20 as long as that ability score was not also increased by the chosen feat.

Think this is really in the right direction. I would drop the restriction on what you can spend the +1 on.

And also want to propose taking this one step further. Monk ASI Improvement: Choose a Feat of your choice for which you qualify and gain an additional +1 to an ability score of your choice. Alternatively, choose any stat and raise that score to 20.

With this change, Monks no longer need to rely on magic items at all. Their power comes completely from their discipline. If you don't care about getting 20s across the board, you can pick up an array of interesting feats over your career and still push your three primary scores to 20s.

 

[Valetudo]

Make it separate from feats

 

[Valetudo]

Maybe what martial need is a 1st lvl feature called combat role. Kinda like how you decide whether your cleric armored or cantrip. So defender role would get "mark" any opponent attacked is marked and gets a -2 or disadvantage if they target another person."striker" 1.5 ability damage for 2hd weapons."controler" 5' push or pull.

 

[Chaosmancer]

Maybe what martial need is a 1st lvl feature called combat role. Kinda like how you decide whether your cleric armored or cantrip. So defender role would get "mark" any opponent attacked is marked and gets a -2 or disadvantage if they target another person."striker" 1.5 ability damage for 2hd weapons."controler" 5' push or pull.

Well, if you allow monks to use Unarmed Strike Saves with Dexterity, they come with grapple, shove 5ft and prone baked in, just without dealing damage unless they take feats.

 

[Clint_L]

Think this is really in the right direction. I would drop the restriction on what you can spend the +1 on.

And also want to propose taking this one step further. Monk ASI Improvement: Choose a Feat of your choice for which you qualify and gain an additional +1 to an ability score of your choice. Alternatively, choose any stat and raise that score to 20.

With this change, Monks no longer need to rely on magic items at all. Their power comes completely from their discipline. If you don't care about getting 20s across the board, you can pick up an array of interesting feats over your career and still push your three primary scores to 20s.

So I could start with a dexterity of 8 but play a variant human and use the feat to immediately make that a 20? And start with a wisdom of 10 as well and raise it to 20 at level 4? So with standard array at level 4 I would have, say, S16 C16 D20 I13 W20 Ch12? AC20 and 35HP?

This seems very powerful. It also seems weird from a story perspective - how did the monk double their wisdom over night?

If I was really gaming this, I would be willing to leave con at 12 until level 8, especially with that high AC, so at level 8 I could have S16 Con20 D20 I 16 W20 Ch13 (swapping I and Ch according to taste).

 

[OB1]

So I could start with a dexterity of 8 but play a variant human and use the feat to immediately make that a 20? And start with a wisdom of 10 as well and raise it to 20 at level 4? So with standard array at level 4 I would have, say, S16 C16 D20 I13 W20 Ch12? AC20 and 35HP?

This seems very powerful. It also seems weird from a story perspective - how did the monk double their wisdom over night?

If I was really gaming this, I would be willing to leave con at 12 until level 8, especially with that high AC, so at level 8 I could have S16 Con20 D20 I 16 W20 Ch13 (swapping I and Ch according to taste).

The level 1 exploit wouldn’t work since this is a monk ability not a feat. So the earliest you could get 20 Dex and Wis would be 8 and the earliest for dex/wis/con would be 12.

 

[mellored]

Yet another idea.

Hit Points at 1st Level: 8 + your wisdom modifier
Hit Points per Level after 1st: 1d8 (or 5) + your wisdom modifier