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Way of the Pistol Monk. Is it balanced?
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<blockquote data-quote="Blue" data-source="post: 7597867" data-attributes="member: 20564"><p>Before anything else, the firearm rules aren't balanced against normal D&D weapons. Considering how powerful ranged already is, those will change the whole balance. So trying to critique this class agaisnt an unkwnon balance is a bit hard.</p><p></p><p>(Note that the reload is absolutely no limitation - for those without multiple attacks all except the shotgun should last a full combat, and for those with extra attack just carry several weapons. Think of all the action ovies where the heroes just drop empty weapons and pull out more.)</p><p></p><p>Onto the class.</p><p></p><p>Gun Fu: Hmm, let's make your attacks do twice as many dice of damage, and the disadvantage of that is that it's at range ... oh wait, that's an advantage in most situations, especially with a fast moving character that can spend a Ki to disengage.</p><p></p><p>And being able to bonus action firearm when doing melee, with no close-up penalty, is also more powerful than unarmed bonus attack because, well, double martial arts die.</p><p></p><p>Looking at the 3rd level features fo other monk subclasses, Gun Fu is not even in the neighborhood. It is much, MUCH more powerful then what any other monk subclass gets.</p><p></p><p>Reload without Thought - your firearm rules don't have the Loading property, so it does nothing.</p><p></p><p>Disarming Shot - fine.</p><p></p><p>Ki-Empowered Bullets - similar to Kensei's ability, fine.</p><p></p><p>Zen Marksmanship - unusable since none of the DM's custom weapons can hold 10 pieces of ammunition without reloading. The DMG firearms have the loading property (which this class would ignore) and would be usable. But your DM has made more powerful weapons but they specifically require either an action, or with a feat, a bonus action to load. So you can't get 10 ammo. Assuming that the DM allows this, it's fine. Though it's really odd it's a set DC.</p><p></p><p>Fatal Shot - no, 5e doesn't do save-or-die. Absolutely no "regardless of HPs reduce to 0" powers.</p><p></p><p>Conclusion:</p><p>This isn't close to balanced, but only because of two feature. Replace Gun Fu and Fatal Shot and you could have something fine.</p><p></p><p>Personally, the official Kensei subclass will work just fine with pistols and can work really well with them. For example a 3rd level Kensei firing a pistol and spending a bonus action for "Kensei's Shot" would be doing d10+d4+DEX damage. (And that d4 will add into all ranged attacks that round.) At 6th level you can spend Ki to add your martial arts die in as well. They will count as magic, you can gain advantage with them for a round, etc.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Blue, post: 7597867, member: 20564"] Before anything else, the firearm rules aren't balanced against normal D&D weapons. Considering how powerful ranged already is, those will change the whole balance. So trying to critique this class agaisnt an unkwnon balance is a bit hard. (Note that the reload is absolutely no limitation - for those without multiple attacks all except the shotgun should last a full combat, and for those with extra attack just carry several weapons. Think of all the action ovies where the heroes just drop empty weapons and pull out more.) Onto the class. Gun Fu: Hmm, let's make your attacks do twice as many dice of damage, and the disadvantage of that is that it's at range ... oh wait, that's an advantage in most situations, especially with a fast moving character that can spend a Ki to disengage. And being able to bonus action firearm when doing melee, with no close-up penalty, is also more powerful than unarmed bonus attack because, well, double martial arts die. Looking at the 3rd level features fo other monk subclasses, Gun Fu is not even in the neighborhood. It is much, MUCH more powerful then what any other monk subclass gets. Reload without Thought - your firearm rules don't have the Loading property, so it does nothing. Disarming Shot - fine. Ki-Empowered Bullets - similar to Kensei's ability, fine. Zen Marksmanship - unusable since none of the DM's custom weapons can hold 10 pieces of ammunition without reloading. The DMG firearms have the loading property (which this class would ignore) and would be usable. But your DM has made more powerful weapons but they specifically require either an action, or with a feat, a bonus action to load. So you can't get 10 ammo. Assuming that the DM allows this, it's fine. Though it's really odd it's a set DC. Fatal Shot - no, 5e doesn't do save-or-die. Absolutely no "regardless of HPs reduce to 0" powers. Conclusion: This isn't close to balanced, but only because of two feature. Replace Gun Fu and Fatal Shot and you could have something fine. Personally, the official Kensei subclass will work just fine with pistols and can work really well with them. For example a 3rd level Kensei firing a pistol and spending a bonus action for "Kensei's Shot" would be doing d10+d4+DEX damage. (And that d4 will add into all ranged attacks that round.) At 6th level you can spend Ki to add your martial arts die in as well. They will count as magic, you can gain advantage with them for a round, etc. [/QUOTE]
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Way of the Pistol Monk. Is it balanced?
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