WotBS Two Winds Monks... underwhelming?

[emeraldbeacon]

One of the new players in my live game has decided to become a West Wind style Monk, per the player's guide. Outside of the hassle of making the character, since few character builders allow spellcasting monks, most of us have found that the spellcasting abilities of the class are underwhelming, at best. The ki cost for spells seems too high (1+spell level), compared to the rest of what the monk can do. However, if you reduce the ki cost at all (spell level only), it flips to being almost too powerful. Is there a middle ground that might benefit the subclass, for a custom adjustment?

One thought I had was to give each of the monk classes a trait similar to the Rogue's Steady Aim. Something like this:

STEADY THE SOUL - As a bonus action, you can center your focus on your own ki, and channel it into magic more efficiently. Until the end of your turn, your spells cost 1 less ki to cast (minimum 0). You can use this bonus action only if you haven’t moved during this turn, and after you use the bonus action, your speed is 0 until the end of the current turn.

...Thoughts?

 

[Tormyr]

Putting these subclasses together, the cost breakdown came from the elemental monk in the PHB. As half casters, they have a limited spell list, and the cost has them needing to treat the casting like a warlock: mainly relying on cantrips, casting maybe one or two spells, and recharging on a short rest.

The steady aim might work. There are certainly many things for which a monk could be expending a bonus action, so the monk conceivably has to give something up to get the bonus.

 

[Fuzzybear]

I certainly don't think the change you suggest is overpowered. I think it will really come down to 2 things - how often your monk wants to cast, and how often you allow the party to short rest. I think the ki points early can be a pain for monks, but by adventure 5 or 6, they really shouldn't run dry unless they are trying to just cast.

What I can offer is that our monk is playing this subclass (changed to cold instead of lightning) and has been pleased with it. She does mix things up melee more than cast, but I don't think the subclass is intended to make a monk into a wizard. It is nice for her to have more choices to make when unable to close distance or fighting airborne enemies though for sure. I don't keep close track of her resources or anything, so I don't have perfect information here, but I have very rarely heard her talk about being low on ki points despite the options to cast.

 

[emeraldbeacon]

Putting these subclasses together, the cost breakdown came from the elemental monk in the PHB. As half casters, they have a limited spell list, and the cost has them needing to treat the casting like a warlock: mainly relying on cantrips, casting maybe one or two spells, and recharging on a short rest.

The steady aim might work. There are certainly many things for which a monk could be expending a bonus action, so the monk conceivably has to give something up to get the bonus.

Even more than the bonus action, monks are one of the most mobile classes in the game. Forcing them to stand still for a turn can be excruciating.

I certainly don't think the change you suggest is overpowered. I think it will really come down to 2 things - how often your monk wants to cast, and how often you allow the party to short rest. I think the ki points early can be a pain for monks, but by adventure 5 or 6, they really shouldn't run dry unless they are trying to just cast.

What I can offer is that our monk is playing this subclass (changed to cold instead of lightning) and has been pleased with it. She does mix things up melee more than cast, but I don't think the subclass is intended to make a monk into a wizard. It is nice for her to have more choices to make when unable to close distance or fighting airborne enemies though for sure. I don't keep close track of her resources or anything, so I don't have perfect information here, but I have very rarely heard her talk about being low on ki points despite the options to cast.

The player in question is very inexperienced with 5e (a fact I did not understand when they first joined the game), so their character and play is EXTREMELY sub-optimal. Which isn't a bad thing! It simply means that as it stands now, they tend to burn through ki rather quickly.

 

[Tormyr]

The steady aim change will probably work, but if they want to cast "big" spells more often, maybe let them respec as a cleric with a level dip in monk?

 

[RangerWickett]

I would have the condition for discounting the ki point cost be related to the philosophy of the two brothers. Do not require them to stand still. That is antithetical to the vibe of magic monks.

Hard striking east wind monks could do it as a bonus action if they are adjacent to an enemy, whereas soft and evasive westwind monks could do it as a bonus action if they have moved at least 30 ft. from where they started this turn.

 

[RangerWickett]

Or set it up to be even cooler, just limited. Like, once per short rest, and east wind monk can as a bonus action dash - and gain a fly speed equal to their base speed for the turn - as long as they move towards an enemy and reduce the next ki point cost this turn by one. And once per short rest a westwind monk can as a bonus action disengage - and gain a fly speed equal to their base speed for the turn - and reduce the cost by one.