Monk advice (feat for variant human)

[foREVer_Lawliet]

Hi all, since seeing the 5e rules I have been dying to play a monk, now my dilemma lies with what feat to take if I chose the variant human race?

At first I was considering the Martial adept feat, this would also help at lower levels when I have a low amount of Ki points, not quite sure yet though as to what manoeuvres to take?

Any advice on this, is anything going to clash, and would it work well?

Also i plan on taking way of the Open palm later on.

[Daishain]

For my two cents, I'd try Alert, Mobile, or Lucky. Martial Adept might be interesting, but is pretty weak for all but the lower levels and won't scale with you. Magic Initiate might also be an option, pick up a bit of extra utility that way, possibly including a ranged attack or two for when punching things is not an option.

[DireSickFish]

Mobile is your best best. Even more movement speed, and the ability to not take auto attacks means that you are wherever you want to be on the field hitting whoever you want.

[Garimeth]

I'll second both mobile, and Lucky. Lucky is an exceptionally strong feat for anyone, regardless of build.

[kaoskonfety]

Another voice for mobile - good long and short term.

Lucky is also excellent in general.

Ritual caster and or Magic adept can help broaden your role and give you the mystical karate man thing without necessarily going all out with Way of the elements (ritual caster is quite nice if the party lacks a Wizard or Tome Warlock, magic adept for an ok ranged option and say Goodberry)

[Felvion]

Lucky is pretty decent in general. As a monk you already have a high amount of attacks so offensively it won't make a huge difference and probably you'll find yourself using it mostly for defence.
Alert is good, mobile is an obvious choice too.
I've also seen that monks are mobile enough to be exceptional mage slayers. There was a guy with both sentinel and mage slayer at level 4 that, combine with mons' build-in mobility, could shut down every enemy caster but his stats were rolled and i'm not sure whether such a build is equally efficient in a point buy system.

Ps:I think i miss those "monkday" comments already....
I guess they're still there, it's just that i'm stuck in a wrong corner of this forum:smallannoyed:

[CrusaderJoe]

Magic Initiate "Druid" allows you to go Wis > Dex >= Con

2 Cantrip: Shillelagh and Thorn Whip
1st Level: Goodberry

Never go hungry again, maneuver creatures into position, and be Wis based for attack and damage.


If you want, switch out Shillelagh for guidance.

[TrollCapAmerica]

I've been actually tinkering with the idea of an element Monk with a dash of mysticism thanks to Magical Initiate and maybe ritual master. I was even gonna make a topic before I saw this one.

Anyone care to critique?

I kind of like the idea of grabbing Vicious Mockery and Faerie Fire from the Bard list even though Druid looks like a strong choice. If I go with Druid I wonder about a few spells that haven't been mentioned like Thorn Whip to keep enemies near me and maybe Longstrider and Mobilty for insane move rate. Still what about Warlock and snagging Eldritch blast and Vexing people's Con saves to make sure I can stun?

It's amazing the kind stuff you think up after watching the original Kung Fu TV series

[kaoskonfety]

I've been actually tinkering with the idea of an element Monk with a dash of mysticism thanks to Magical Initiate and maybe ritual master. I was even gonna make a topic before I saw this one.

Anyone care to critique?

I kind of like the idea of grabbing Vicious Mockery and Faerie Fire from the Bard list even though Druid looks like a strong choice. If I go with Druid I wonder about a few spells that haven't been mentioned like Thorn Whip to keep enemies near me and maybe Longstrider and Mobilty for insane move rate. Still what about Warlock and snagging Eldritch blast and Vexing people's Con saves to make sure I can stun?

It's amazing the kind stuff you think up after watching the original Kung Fu TV series

Most will recommend a wisdom caster spell selection for magic initiate, cause you need wisdom anyway, but it really depends on what you are grabbing - expeditious retreat and longstrider both work well with your monk move speed tricks and stick with utility cantrips (no attack roll or save) and you caster stat literally doesn't matter.

For ritual caster its more an RP/utility choice in the first place - do you want nature at your call, cleric holy powers, or arcane tricks. Take a look at the list and decide what "fits"

I personally think both these feats are excellent though they are not generally damage or role optimizers.

[Joe the Rat]

I kind of like the idea of grabbing Vicious Mockery and Faerie Fire from the Bard list even though Druid looks like a strong choice. If I go with Druid I wonder about a few spells that haven't been mentioned like Thorn Whip to keep enemies near me and maybe Longstrider and Mobilty for insane move rate. Still what about Warlock and snagging Eldritch blast and Vexing people's Con saves to make sure I can stun?
Hex on an Open Hand Monk could be pretty scary. All those flurry maneuvers you get at level 3? The ones with saves? If you can get the Hex to stick first, you will be tripping and pushing everything around. Or just stunning them, but being stunned is a lot less interesting than being pushed off a bridge.

That bard list though... trash-talking your enemies so hard they take damage, and screw up their next attack. I've had a shadow monk "trickster" idea that would work well for.

[kaoskonfety]

That bard list though... trash-talking your enemies so hard they take damage, and screw up their next attack. I've had a shadow monk "trickster" idea that would work well for.


*Rapid mouth movements over several second* "You!" *Rapid mouth movements over several second* "I will crush you" *a moment of pause, a single syllable mouthed carefully, sharply* "You son of ill kept filthy swine!*

Roll initiative... I think it works BETTER on open hand - pleasantly direct "You all must die, I alone am best!", hex feels more shadow.

[Joe the Rat]

*Rapid mouth movements over several second* "You!" *Rapid mouth movements over several second* "I will crush you" *a moment of pause, a single syllable mouthed carefully, sharply* "You son of ill kept filthy swine!*

Roll initiative... I think it works BETTER on open hand - pleasantly direct "You all must die, I alone am best!", hex feels more shadow.Hmmm, level 4 is not that far off for my Saturday night game. I may toss that at the monk to see what he thinks. "No, your Kung Fu is no good. You have no talent, and your blows are too weak."
Though maybe it's just the idea of the monk and the tomelock insulting each other into unconsciousness. And then the cleric charging them a copay to revive them.

[Easy_Lee]

For me, it depends on your stats.

Let's say I'm starting off a variant human monk with the standard point array: 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8. This thing sucks for MAD characters, so my personal approach will be putting my 15 in wisdom with +1 from human, 14 in Dex with +1 from human, them taking the athlete feat for another +1 Dex. That's because I wouldn't want to start with less than dual 16s, because otherwise your character will be permanently gimped. At this point, you may as well play a woodelf.

On the other hand, let's say I can do point buy. Then I'm buying two 15s and a 14 in con, so I can get dual 16s and still get the feat I want.

Mobile is a good choice. I'm also partial to feats that let you focus on a concept. If you want your character to be a mage killer, take mage slayer. If you want to defend your allies, take sentinel. If you want to level wisdom first, you could take magic initiate for shillelagh, picking up goodberry while you're at it so that you're totally self-sufficient. But if you just want your character to run all over the battlefield, mobile is a good choice.

[kaoskonfety]

Hmmm, level 4 is not that far off for my Saturday night game. I may toss that at the monk to see what he thinks. "No, your Kung Fu is no good. You have no talent, and your blows are too weak."
Though maybe it's just the idea of the monk and the tomelock insulting each other into unconsciousness. And then the cleric charging them a copay to revive them.

The fact that you CAN have a smack talk duel TO THE DEATH using the system is somewhat refreshing. That really feels more Exalted...

[TrollCapAmerica]

The fact that you CAN have a smack talk duel TO THE DEATH using the system is somewhat refreshing. That really feels more Exalted...


I'm still waiting to use "You fight like an impregnated yak with clubbed feet"

My idea right now is a Pirate Monk. His order was deemed a potential threat by a new Emperor and they attempted to destroy the order before they could ally with any of his enemies. The survivors of the battle took to the seas swearing vengeance against the evil empire.

200 years later the empire is still in power it's no more or less corrupt/evil than any other and the rebel organization the Monks ran has become little more than pirates. My Monk now believes that we failed because we focused on revenge rather than justice with years of moral comprimise eroding their cause. He leaves his brethren on a quest to rediscover lost enlightenment and perhaps one day establish a new monastery in a new land

[SharkForce]

Hex on an Open Hand Monk could be pretty scary. All those flurry maneuvers you get at level 3? The ones with saves? If you can get the Hex to stick first, you will be tripping and pushing everything around. Or just stunning them, but being stunned is a lot less interesting than being pushed off a bridge.

That bard list though... trash-talking your enemies so hard they take damage, and screw up their next attack. I've had a shadow monk "trickster" idea that would work well for.

1) hex pretty much always sticks, unless there's magic immunity of some form. there is no difficulty in getting it to stick.
2) hex does not do anything to saves. only checks. it will help you push people around or knock them down (because those actions are resisted with athletics or acrobatics checks), but does absolutely nothing to help you stun (saves are not checks).

still, not a bad idea. too bad monks already have lots of uses for their bonus action.

[jazzymantis]

Magic Initiate "Druid" allows you to go Wis > Dex >= Con

2 Cantrip: Shillelagh and Thorn Whip
1st Level: Goodberry

I second this, I would go with this but switch thorn whip with produce flame. Same range for attack, more damage, but way more utility. Free torches forever, can light fires -always useful.
If not that, then guidance.

[CrusaderJoe]

I second this, I would go with this but switch thorn whip with produce flame. Same range for attack, more damage, but way more utility. Free torches forever, can light fires -always useful.
If not that, then guidance.

Yeah, the thorn whip/produce flame option comes down to play style and party dynamic. I usually have ranged characters who can shoot fire so I don't tend to take produce flame on my monk.

However using Thorn Whip to bring a creature into threatened zone of a bruiser so the enemy can't get to a squishy character or to line them up for a magic/breath weapon attack... I find that to be worth taking TW.

[TrollCapAmerica]

Yeah, the thorn whip/produce flame option comes down to play style and party dynamic. I usually have ranged characters who can shoot fire so I don't tend to take produce flame on my monk.

However using Thorn Whip to bring a creature into threatened zone of a bruiser so the enemy can't get to a squishy character or to line them up for a magic/breath weapon attack... I find that to be worth taking TW.

I was thinking about Thorn Whip myself for a while but im worried about it only pulling somebody 10 feet in a 30 foot range.It feels less and less adequate to me the more I think about it even if I wasent going Elemental and snagging Water Whip

[CrusaderJoe]

I was thinking about Thorn Whip myself for a while but im worried about it only pulling somebody 10 feet in a 30 foot range.It feels less and less adequate to me the more I think about it even if I wasent going Elemental and snagging Water Whip

Still a good backup, if you run out of ki/want to use ki for other options then you still have Thorn Whip.

It isn't the be all end all of options but I've seen TW come in handy quite a bit. Less so if you are going water whip but it does still have uses.

Ask your DM if you can target objects with TW such as beams or tree branches and pull yourself 10' up when you jump. I've seen others use it to awing from tree to tree with a fun DM.

[TrollCapAmerica]

Hmm the thought of at will brachiation does sound intriguing to me

I guess im going Guidance TW and Longstrider then.No one shall ever escape me

[Joe the Rat]

1) hex pretty much always sticks, unless there's magic immunity of some form. there is no difficulty in getting it to stick.
2) hex does not do anything to saves. only checks. it will help you push people around or knock them down (because those actions are resisted with athletics or acrobatics checks), but does absolutely nothing to help you stun (saves are not checks).

still, not a bad idea. too bad monks already have lots of uses for their bonus action.Good catch. I was on a roll there and missed the switch.