Critique my build: Monk//Wizard

[AgentPaper]

Since this is my first foray into 5e proper (I played around with the playtest a bit, but a good while ago), and with the extra complications of gestalt, it seems like a good idea to subject my character to some critique from more experienced players to make sure I'm not making any really terrible mistakes.

Character Sheet (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=42220)

The basic idea of the character is that he's essentially a militant librarian from a library/monastery out to collect overdue books from the BBEG. Mechanically, I imagine him as a front-line brawler who uses abjurations to enhance his offense and defense, primarily fighting with his fists, but also able to serve as a stand in for a more dedicated caster when the need arises.

Note that there's a few houserules in effect: Gestalt (as should be obvious), two extra feats at 1st level, and the max ability score is 26 instead of 20. Starting stat array is 18/16/14/12/10/8.

My main concern is picking the right spells, since there's no guarantee that I'll be able to find scrolls and such any time soon (we start with no money). I've specifically avoided most of the blasty spells, especially the more destructive ones and especially especially anything to do with fire, since it would go against the character's motivations of seeking to preserve knowledge to risk accidentally burning any books or other writings. I also figured that I'd be using my fists for most of my damage anyways. Ray of Frost and Magic Missile should serve my ranged needs well enough. Besides that I've mostly tried to take spells that enhance myself or others, plus key, very useful spells like Color Spray, Hold Person, and Dispel Magic. If there's anything you think I missed or useless spells you think I should drop, though, I'd very much appreciate the advice because I really just don't know what's good and what isn't.

The second thing I want advice on is feats. I took War Caster mostly because it seemed like the thing to do as a melee caster type, but I don't know if it's really necessary or not. My AC is already sky-high, I have ways of preventing my opponents from making reactions, and I shouldn't need to cast spells in the thick of battle very often anyways, so perhaps there's something else I can use for that better? Though casting a spell as an AoO does sound pretty sweet. Person runs -> Hold Person, anyone? Keen Mind I took because it sounds cool and fits the character pretty well, but if there's something more important I'm all ears.

[MaxWilson]

I'm confused. I don't know the rules for Gestalt characters in 5E, but from that starting stat array it looks like you've taken +16 in ability score increases. How does that work? Did it cost you any feats? It's hard to give advice on tradeoffs without knowing the rules and what your options are.

Edit: also, you mention spells you've "tried to take", but I don't see your spells listed anywhere on that sheet.

[AgentPaper]

I'm confused. I don't know the rules for Gestalt characters in 5E, but from that starting stat array it looks like you've taken +16 in ability score increases. How does that work? Did it cost you any feats? It's hard to give advice on tradeoffs without knowing the rules and what your options are.

Edit: also, you mention spells you've "tried to take", but I don't see your spells listed anywhere on that sheet.

Rules for Gestalt, at least in this game according to the DM, are: You get the highest proficiency bonus between the two characters, the most number of skill proficiencies allowed by the two characters, the highest hit die between the two characters, and all the tool and weapon proficiencies granted by both characters.

For the stats, looks like I accidentally doubled the bonus number somewhere along the line. Oops :smalltongue:. Should have known that was higher than it should've been.

For spells, they should show up on the second page of the sheet. If you can't see them, I can post them here as well.

[MaxWilson]

Okay, now I see your spells and your stats have changed a bit. I still don't see how you are getting Dex 24/Int 18/Wis 18, maybe you can walk me through the math?

As far as spells go, the two changes I'd recommend for your consideration are 1.) Drop Magic Missile in favor of Expeditious Retreat, and 2.) Drop Enlarge in favor of Misty Step. Mobility is king in 5E (IMHO). Since you're using Warcaster to lock down fleeing persons, you might also want to lock down casting persons, so trade in one of your ABIs for Mage Slayer. (Depending on how you calculate your stats, that may drop your Str from 11 to 10 and your Cha from 9 to 8.)

[AgentPaper]

Okay, now I see your spells and your stats have changed a bit. I still don't see how you are getting Dex 24/Int 18/Wis 18, maybe you can walk me through the math?

As far as spells go, the two changes I'd recommend for your consideration are 1.) Drop Magic Missile in favor of Expeditious Retreat, and 2.) Drop Enlarge in favor of Misty Step. Mobility is king in 5E (IMHO). Since you're using Warcaster to lock down fleeing persons, you might also want to lock down casting persons, so trade in one of your ABIs for Mage Slayer. (Depending on how you calculate your stats, that may drop your Str from 11 to 10 and your Cha from 9 to 8.)

Stats are:

STR 10 + 1 (human) = 11
DEX 18 + 1 (human) + 5 (levels) = 24
CON 12 + 1 (human) = 13
INT 16 + 1 (human) + 1 (keen mind) = 18
WIS 14 + 1 (human) + 3 (levels) = 18
CHA 8 + 1 (human) = 9

I could drop 2 points in dex/int/wis in order to get Mage Slayer, not sure if it's still worth it that way. Being the anti-mage is appealing, though, so I may end up doing that, if not right away then at least later on. Perhaps I could swap it for Keen Mind, drop dex to 22, and use that to bring int back to 18 and boost con to 14?

For spells, it seems like dropping Magic Missile would be a bad idea, since it's my only ranged attack spell other than Ray of Frost. Looking at it again though, perhaps something like Chromatic Orb would be a better choice as a versatile and powerful ranged attack? Ill drop Jump for it instead, at least for now.

Expeditious Retreat also sounds good. Must have skipped over it since I don't plan to do much retreating :smalltongue:. Misty step also looks fun. I read that Enlarge Person was strong, but I think that's outdated, so I'm fine dropping it.

Edit: Just realized that Step of the Wind makes Expeditious Retreat a bit redundant. I could conceivably want to use it when I'm out of ki points, but I think I have enough of them and enough ways to want to use my bonus action that it's not likely to come up very often. Switching that back to Jump, under the assumption that it stacks with the bonus from Step of the Wind, allowing me to jump stupid far if I need to. If those bonuses don't stack, though, I may end up picking something else.

[MaxWilson]

Expeditious Retreat is also good for attacking. It costs only a bonus action and it doubles your movement and has a super long duration. On consideration though, monks have good movement already and they use their bonus actions for ki strikes, so it may not be necessary in your case. It depends very much on how you're intending to play your guy. The way I see it, monk scouts ahead of the party and if it turns out there's an iron golem up ahead, and if he is so unlucky as to be seen by the golem, he casts Expeditious Retreat and comes zooming back to the party to tell them about the angry golem headed their direction.

You can also take a Disengage + Expeditious Retreat to wind up in the middle of the Drow war party standing next to the wizard, ready to Reaction him with Hold Person as soon as he tries to cast a spell. Or just hit him.

[AgentPaper]

Expeditious Retreat is also good for attacking. It costs only a bonus action and it doubles your movement and has a super long duration. On consideration though, monks have good movement already and they use their bonus actions for ki strikes, so it may not be necessary in your case. It depends very much on how you're intending to play your guy. The way I see it, monk scouts ahead of the party and if it turns out there's an iron golem up ahead, and if he is so unlucky as to be seen by the golem, he casts Expeditious Retreat and comes zooming back to the party to tell them about the angry golem headed their direction.

You can also take a Disengage + Expeditious Retreat to wind up in the middle of the Drow war party standing next to the wizard, ready to Reaction him with Hold Person as soon as he tries to cast a spell. Or just hit him.

Expeditious Retreat uses concentration, though, and I can already use Step of the Wind to dash or disengage as a bonus action, if I need to. It would let me run very fast for a while, but I don't know how useful that would be except in niche cases. Concentration is also a valuable resource for me, and if there's a tough battle I'd probably rather use it for Stoneskin or Fly for protection or mobility, respectively.

[Grayson01]

Stats are:

STR 10 + 1 (human) = 11
DEX 18 + 1 (human) + 5 (levels) = 24
CON 12 + 1 (human) = 13
INT 16 + 1 (human) + 1 (keen mind) = 18
WIS 14 + 1 (human) + 3 (levels) = 18
CHA 8 + 1 (human) = 9

I could drop 2 points in dex/int/wis in order to get Mage Slayer, not sure if it's still worth it that way. Being the anti-mage is appealing, though, so I may end up doing that, if not right away then at least later on. Perhaps I could swap it for Keen Mind, drop dex to 22, and use that to bring int back to 18 and boost con to 14?

For spells, it seems like dropping Magic Missile would be a bad idea, since it's my only ranged attack spell other than Ray of Frost. Looking at it again though, perhaps something like Chromatic Orb would be a better choice as a versatile and powerful ranged attack? Ill drop Jump for it instead, at least for now.

Expeditious Retreat also sounds good. Must have skipped over it since I don't plan to do much retreating :smalltongue:. Misty step also looks fun. I read that Enlarge Person was strong, but I think that's outdated, so I'm fine dropping it.

Edit: Just realized that Step of the Wind makes Expeditious Retreat a bit redundant. I could conceivably want to use it when I'm out of ki points, but I think I have enough of them and enough ways to want to use my bonus action that it's not likely to come up very often. Switching that back to Jump, under the assumption that it stacks with the bonus from Step of the Wind, allowing me to jump stupid far if I need to. If those bonuses don't stack, though, I may end up picking something else.

Unless your DM has housed ruled it, you do know that you can't raise a single stat above 20?

[AgentPaper]

Unless your DM has housed ruled it, you do know that you can't raise a single stat above 20?

Yeah, as I mentioned he changed that cap to 26 (for better or worse).

[MaxWilson]

Expeditious Retreat uses concentration, though, and I can already use Step of the Wind to dash or disengage as a bonus action, if I need to. It would let me run very fast for a while, but I don't know how useful that would be except in niche cases. Concentration is also a valuable resource for me, and if there's a tough battle I'd probably rather use it for Stoneskin or Fly for protection or mobility, respectively.

Yeah, I need to re-read the monk rules I guess. Anyway, your spell sheet has vanished again, but the last thing I can think of that you might consider is Find Familiar. It can be amazing to have an owl familiar with Flyby doing Help on you every turn, flapping in the enemy's face to give you advantage on attacks or put them off-balance for a Shove attempt.

[AgentPaper]

Yeah, I need to re-read the monk rules I guess. Anyway, your spell sheet has vanished again, but the last thing I can think of that you might consider is Find Familiar. It can be amazing to have an owl familiar with Flyby doing Help on you every turn, flapping in the enemy's face to give you advantage on attacks or put them off-balance for a Shove attempt.

I actually ended up putting Expeditious Retreat back on, mostly because I realized having an amazing jump wasn't so useful when I can already just, you know, fly. Still a spell I'd like to pick up, but not a priority.

Familiar sounds fairly useful, I'll keep it in mind as I continue to refine the character.