D&D 5E Rogue Subclass - The Monk

[Stalker0]

So I had a thought in one of the various Monk threads. At its core, the rogue already makes a really solid monk, as it cores a ton of the core payload. Rogue's are super fast with cunning action, able to deal extra damage through "weak spots", can become expert grapplers (expertise in athletics), able to soak damage through technique (uncanny dodge). At high levels blindsense and evasion.... all the meat is there. So instead of trying to carve out some special version, why not just do what subclasses were meant to do.... and just make it a rogue subclass.

And so I present a 1st draft.

Rogue Subclass - The Monk
You have honed your skills at a monastery or under a master, learning to master your body and mind to their ultimate height.

Unarmed Technique - At 3rd level you learn to make your body a living weapon. Your AC = 13 + dex when you aren't wearing armor. Your unarmed strike becomes a finesse weapon that deals 1d8 damage. The AC bonus and damage both increase by 1 at 9th, 13, and 17th level.

Slow Fall - Beginning at 3rd level, you can use your reaction when you fall to reduce any falling damage you take by an amount equal to five times your rogue level.

Stunning Strike - At 9th level, when you make a sneak attack with a melee weapon, you can force the creature to make a Constitution saving throw or be stunned until the end of your next turn. You can do this a number of times per day equal to your proficiency modifier.

Purity of Body and Mind - At 13th level, as an action you can end an effect on yourself that is causing you to be poisoned, diseased, charmed, or frightened.

Perfect Self - At 17th level, you gain proficiency in all saving throws, no longer require food or water, and do not suffer the frailties of old age. You still die of old age.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

Pretty good.

I'd personally go with something like this:

3) Martial arts
You can now use your unarmed strikes or any simple weapons in which you are proficient and lacks the heavy or two-handed property for your sneak attack. You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the attack and damage rolls of your unarmed strikes and other simple weapons. Any damage roll from your unarmed strikes or simple weapons is replaced by a d6, if it is lower.

Furthermore, when you are unarmored and not wielding a shield, your speed increases by 10 and you gain a bonus to AC equal to half your proficiency bonus (rounded down)

Fluid Grace
When you use Cunning Action to take the Disengage or Dash action as a bonus action on your turn, your jump distance is doubled for the turn.
At 9th level, you gain the ability to move along vertical surfaces and across liquids on your turn without falling during the move.

Disrupting Strike - At 9th level, whenever you hit a creature with one of the attacks granted by your Flurry of Blows, you can impose one of the following effects on that target.

• It must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or be knocked prone.
• It must make a Strength saving throw. If it fails, you can push it up to 15 feet away from you.
• It can't take reactions until the end of your next turn.

Masterful form - At 13th level, you gain the following benefits.

• Leap to Your Feet. When you're prone, you can stand up by spending 5 feet of movement, rather than half your speed. When you fall, you can also use your reaction to reduce the fall damage by three times your rogue level.
• Redirect Attack. When a creature misses you with a melee attack roll, you can use a reaction to cause that attack to hit one creature of your choice, other than the attacker, that you can see within 5 feet of you.

Perfect Self - As an action you can end an effect on yourself that is causing you to be poisoned, diseased, charmed, or frightened and you can regain hit points equal to three times your rogue level. You must finish a long rest before you can use this feature again.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

So I had a thought in one of the various Monk threads. At its core, the rogue already makes a really solid monk, as it cores a ton of the core payload. Rogue's are super fast with cunning action, able to deal extra damage through "weak spots", can become expert grapplers (expertise in athletics), able to soak damage through technique (uncanny dodge). At high levels blindsense and evasion.... all the meat is there. So instead of trying to carve out some special version, why not just do what subclasses were meant to do.... and just make it a rogue subclass.

And so I present a 1st draft.

Rogue Subclass - The Monk
You have honed your skills at a monastery or under a master, learning to master your body and mind to their ultimate height.

Unarmed Technique - At 3rd level you learn to make your body a living weapon. Your AC = 13 + dex when you aren't wearing armor. Your unarmed strike becomes a finesse weapon that deals 1d8 damage. The AC bonus and damage both increase by 1 at 9th, 13, and 17th level.

Slow Fall - Beginning at 3rd level, you can use your reaction when you fall to reduce any falling damage you take by an amount equal to five times your rogue level.

Stunning Strike - At 9th level, when you make a sneak attack with a melee weapon, you can force the creature to make a Constitution saving throw or be stunned until the end of your next turn. You can do this a number of times per day equal to your proficiency modifier.

Purity of Body and Mind - At 13th level, as an action you can end an effect on yourself that is causing you to be poisoned, diseased, charmed, or frightened.

Perfect Self - At 17th level, you gain proficiency in all saving throws, no longer require food or water, and do not suffer the frailties of old age. You still die of old age.

Level 17 is good, but Rogue end caps are big. The monk gets this much sooner. This is a place to put running up walls and over water, in addition to prof in all saves.

Also I would add bonus action dodge and/or a speed/jump increase when taking the dash action, at level 3, and give the bonus action unarmed attack when you use an unarmed strike. Without that, the rogue is better off using a short sword than unarmed strikes.

 

[Greg K]

For myself, it is a miss.

 

[jmartkdr2]

Nitpick: as written, you can't stunning strike with an unarmed strike, because it's not an attack with a melee weapon (although it is a melee weapon attack).

 

[Stoutstien]

Need to fix wording to allow unarmed strike to work with SS. I'd probably remove the limits on number per day because doing once a turn is already a huge limiting factor. The only reason why the monks running strike is so powerful it's because it's spammable so RNG will eventually work in the players favor.

Also it's missing the flurry of attacks that makes monks iconic. Maybe add a feature at lv 3 that gives them a dex based melee AoE of strikes based on sneak attack dice so they can lash out with a massive amount of attacks. Then you could add in half damage on passed saves at some point.