D&D 5E Who is best in damage output Barbarians? Monks?

[jgsugden]

The answer is it depends upon build, magic items, and other inputs. Both are very playable, and offer unique contributions to a party.

 

[FrogReaver]

There's alot of variables to factor in here. Some of the biggest are number of combats and number of short rests in the day. Enemy AC is a big factor too as advantage on the barbarians attacks makes him much better at hitting lower AC targets than the monk.

My money is on a Barbarian for damage.

 

[FrogReaver]

In fact, Rangers have a good damage output? I saw some comments about this

It depends on many factors. Level being one of the biggest.

 

[Eltab]

Welcome to EnWorld !

A barbarian can cause a big splashy chunk of damage as long as he does not miss.
A monk can do a little damage more reliably because he makes multiple attacks to start with.

When I played a low-level monk I felt like Attack + Martial Arts = advantage on one attack. Because I attacked twice and usually hit once.
If the monk can arrange to not miss, he can do more damage with his smaller attacks because he adds his static modifiers over and over. (Until the barbarian gets Extra Attack and can do it too, then he catches up.)

 

[Mort]

There's an old, but still relevant, thread on this.

Long story short, barbarian comes out on top as to both damage and Survivability, but the more fights between rests the better the fighter does. The monk lags behind on dealing out damage and survivability in a straight fight(but, in theory, has other benefits he can provide).

 

[Helldritch]

These characters fill very different roles in a party. Not everything is about damage. The barbarian will ditch tons of damage on big targets such as ogres and BBEG. Depending on the build the barb could also be a good critter killer too.

The monk on the other hand, is an entire other story. The monk is about going straight to the boss and enemy spell casters and effectively shutting them down. A variant human is especially good as he can start with either mobility or mage killer. At level 12, he will have both feats. Casters will hate the monk as he will get to them. At high level the monk jumps incredible distances and can even run on walls. He will get to his target within the first round or the second round max.

Both characters are great and fun to play.

 

[Undrave]

The monk on the other hand, is an entire other story. The monk is about going straight to the boss and enemy spell casters and effectively shutting them down.

Yeah right...

 

[Paul Farquhar]

What if there are no mages to fight?

 

[Helldritch]

There's an old, but still relevant, thread on this.

Long story short, barbarian comes out on top as to both damage and Survivability, but the more fights between rests the better the fighter does. The monk lags behind on dealing out damage and survivability in a straight fight(but, in theory, has other benefits he can provide).

I checked the post, a few things come out as a bit outdated.
Damage wise the monk is behind, the barb and the fighter. That much I agree. On damage taken however, the monk will take a lot less. Especially with mobility. Even without it, it will be better for the monk to take an opportunity than to stay static and take a hit. He can even reduce damage taken from thrown rocks (the example uses a fire giant).

One other thing, why has he taken level 10? Going for level 12 would have been better as the fighter would get his third attack and more ASI or feat. I understand that level 10 was arbitrary taken but it was doing a disservice to the fighter. As the fighter gets more feats to compensate. I would also have taken a battlemaster as this fighter can do a lot of things with its maneuvers.

I tend to be skeptical about these white room analysis. They can be a good indicator but they are not absolutely accurate. Too many factors can change the outcome.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

In both my experience and white room analysis battlemaster fighter is well ahead of both barbarians and monks. And monks have an additional drawback - if they are avoiding damage via hit and run tactics they do nothing to mitigate the overall damage a party takes. It's a lot better if the enemy attacks you and misses (high AC) than them attacking a different party member.