D&D 5E Way of the Four Elements in actual play?

[I'm A Banana]

I've seen multiple comments to the effect that the W4E monk is underpowered or otherwise mechanically problematic, but I've done no real in-depth analysis myself. I'm curious what the reasoning on that is, and--particularly from those who have actually played one or seen it played--whether said concerns are legit.

I saw one in play during Hoard of the Dragon Queen (a Warforged, no less). Seemed fine. Was focused on fire powers. Player did not voice any concerns to me about being weak. Big showpiece moments include burning hands being kind of a huge AoE and a lot of mobility (jumping, dashing, etc.) Definitely turned out to be one of the more memorable characters of the campaign, though I don't think that had much to do with his class.

 

[Satyrn]

So yeah, there was a TPK last night, and I get to create a new character (Woo! ). I've gone with a dex based, forest gnome eagle totem barbarian (with a rapier!), but a halfling elemental monk tempts me.

 

[DEFCON 1]

If you do find as you work through the subclass that it does indeed seem a bit underpowered (especially when compared against Open Hand and Shadow)... the UnearthedArcana reddit came together to help create a Remastered version of the Way of the 4 Elements, which powers it up just a little bit. From what I can tell it doesn't overboard by any stretch... it gives things like bring in a bunch of the Elemental Evil spells into the subclass as options, drops the Ki cost of spells by a point (so that they are equal in cost to the Shadow subclass's spells), and give a slight bonus to the number of disciplines the monk receives.

Go HERE to take a look at it and see if it buffs things just enough to make it a more worthwhile tradition.

 

[Fanaelialae]

I played one, albeit in an atypical gestalt campaign where we were viking warriors possessed by einherjar spirits (2 characters sharing one body). I played an elemental monk/light cleric and had fun with it, although it was only a mini campaign so I didn't get to see it at high levels (we ended around 7th level I think). I took Shape the Flowing River, which I was planning to combine with create water to create ice slicks (but never got around to trying). It was useful when I drew Ruin from the Deck of Many Things. Without a holy symbol as a focus, I couldn't cast many of my spells and we were far from civilization. I had water but no clay, but was able to use Shape the Flowing River to fashion a holy symbol out of ice, which I used to cast Stone Shape in order to create a more permanent holy symbol. I do wish I'd gotten to use it more as I think it's such a cool and versatile ability.

It's not a bad option, particularly for a party that's light on AoE options. I do agree that the ki costs could be reduced by a point without overpowering it, but it certainly didn't feel as though it were particularly lacking.

 

[Saeviomagy]

I think the main issue with it is that in early levels you run out of ki extremely quickly, even without abilities from your way. The ki spells are not particularly efficient, and the way gives you no free abilities apart from a cantrip on par with prestidigitation.

Open hand monks get a raw upgrade of an already good ability, plus a couple of free abilities that can save them Ki. It's fairly easy for them to keep up a steady flow of abilities from their way.

Shadow monks get 5 different spells to the 4 element monk's 2, and those spells are much more efficient, plus several ki-free abilities. Their spells will alter how the party function, and even when they run out of ki, they'll be jumping from shadow to shadow and taking advantage of openings.

Four element monks have a lot of instant, combatty things that burn Ki quickly. It's really easy to make a minimal impact and then have no ki left until your next short rest... and when you have no ki, you're basically a monk without a way.

 

[Sunseeker]

If you do find as you work through the subclass that it does indeed seem a bit underpowered (especially when compared against Open Hand and Shadow)... the UnearthedArcana reddit came together to help create a Remastered version of the Way of the 4 Elements, which powers it up just a little bit. From what I can tell it doesn't overboard by any stretch... it gives things like bring in a bunch of the Elemental Evil spells into the subclass as options, drops the Ki cost of spells by a point (so that they are equal in cost to the Shadow subclass's spells), and give a slight bonus to the number of disciplines the monk receives.

Go HERE to take a look at it and see if it buffs things just enough to make it a more worthwhile tradition.

That actually does a good job addressing most of my problems with it.

 

[Horwath]

Maybe if you lower all ki cost of Elemetal monk spell that cost 2 or more ki it would work.

 

[Charles Rampant]

So I have a level 15 Dwarven character of this subclass in my campaign. The character is hugely annoying to me, and I'd happily Power Word Kill him out of existence, but if we are being honest the main reason for that is Stunning Fist. The subclass adds a lot of flavour, but doesn't noticably add much raw power, especially after Water Whip was nerfed to not be a useful Bonus Action. There is a fair degree of versatility added, with Fire Whips extending reach being a non-trivial benefit at times, but broadly speaking the subclass was not hugely noticeable. (To be fair, that is also true of the Way of Shadows monk in my Curse of Strahd campaign, but he's not really had much chance to do his own sneaky stuff yet.)

It is safe to say that this subclass is fine if you want to have 'more options' rather than 'be better at your core thing', which I understand the Open Hand monk is focused on; I've never seen one of those in play though, so can't really offer any comments on them.


In the end, we switched him to the variant version that Defcon1 linked, and the player seems happier with that. He didn't want to be more powerful, he just wanted the Elemental theme to come through a bit more prominently. I've noticed that he uses Stunning Fist less now, so that is probably a net gain for my campaign

 

[Feanedhell]

Player from the post above, I do very much enjoy the 4 element monk and I think it will play fine in most campaigns, it is not the most powerful build out there but i've found it to be fairly versatile and good enough to help the party in almost every single combat we faced. I have changed to the revised edition as it has more options to play with and feels a lot more elemental than the base rules but even without the change it is a character i'd play again.

 

[tglassy]

I just started playing one. I wanted to make a water based monk. Came THIS CLOSE to picking a Water Genasi, and wound up with a Human Variant with Magic Initiative, taking Shape Water, Frostbite and Ice Knife. I wanted a little more of the elemental flavor than just 4 elements gives, but I also wanted it to be a little more combative than what the Water Genasi would have given, though I do regret it now cause with Water Genasi, I could have breathed under water, but I don't know if that'll ever actually come up, and even then, I can use Shape Water to hold an air bubble around my head if I need to. That'll last a while, at least.

Anyway, I've found it fun. He's definitely a monk first, he just has other options that a normal monk doesn't have. He came in late to the game, so he started at level 6, so he has Water Whip and the other water based one, where you can reshape the terrain, and Water Whip does come in handy when you want to try to push someone away and deal some decent damage to them. He's only got six Ki points, and Flurry of Blows often seems like the best bet, but on hindsight, with a little more use of his water whip, he could have controlled the battlefield a little more that would have made the difference in some of the fights. Now that I've been ruminating, I think that would be the best use of his 'magic', as a controller rather than just a hitter. It makes him a primary warrior class (monk) with some controller capabilities, such as using water or wind to push people around and manipulate the battlefield.

But he was fun to play. I've never played a warrior class before, and I must admit, I liked rushing in to the fire giant and slamming my quarterstaff into the back of his knees, then darting away out of his reach.