Four Elements monk vs Dragon

[Alejandro]

Summary: Our group is playing through Rise of Tiamat. One PC is a Four Elements monk. This PC's plan for battling the dragons we encounter is to use ki to cast Fly on themselves (one of those Four Elements powers) and then fly up to the airborne dragon and start punching it. The rest of us plan to use massive spell and ranged weapon attacks.

Is there anything better the monk could do, or are they actually right? It seems to me they are just likely to get smacked, their concentration broken, and promptly fall.

[RickAllison]

Is there anything better the monk could do, or are they actually right? It seems to me they are just likely to get smacked, their concentration broken, and promptly fall.

Provide entertainment or a distraction as he is devoured?

Seriously, though, it depends on the party. If the party has Strength users (or him, possibly...), he could use Shape the Flowing River to make ice javelins if there is any body of water handy. If he has Fist of Four Thunders, he could get swallowed and then Thunderwave to screw up his organs. Alternatively, using Fireball inside of him might do the trick. Come to think of it, most of the strategies I could think up for him involve getting swallowed...

[Douche]

Can he even catch the dragon? What's his move speed? Don't dragons have like 80 or 120 or something?

[Foxhound438]

enough stunning blows will be good, but getting eaten is a major drawback

[Alejandro]

Can he even catch the dragon? What's his move speed? Don't dragons have like 80 or 120 or something?

Fly gives you a movement speed of 60.

The rest of the party plans to use long bows, heavy crossbows, evocation spells, etc to blast away at the dragon, as it likely won't let us melee it (even in its lair, it will surely have room to fly or at least get out of our reach.)

[RickAllison]

enough stunning blows will be good, but getting eaten is a major drawback

"DM, what's the AC of a uvula? I ready an action to fly into his mouth when he uses his breath attack! Flurry of Blows forever!"

[Zalabim]

He can also use a shortbow, or longbow if it's an elf. It might still require flying, but he could do something more hit and run with dodging in the air to be the party tank (works better against Dex save breath dragons), or fangs of the fire snake if it isn't a fire dragon and he can use the reach to skirmish better. Either way, if he's punching it, he'd better be making a stunning strike on every hit. If he's out of Ki, it's definitely time to land. He could launch shatter or fireball, though the shortbow is probably a better option on a single dragon. If his concentration on fly does get broken, hey slowfall. If a stunning strike gets through instead, the dragon falls. Expect to hear I told you so if it lands on anyone. If it isn't too large to shove or grapple, either of those can bring the dragon down as well. Water Whip or Fist of Unbroken Air would also knock it down, but requires a failed save. At least they can be readied for when the dragon comes in to attack.

So there's some options that don't require getting eaten by a dragon.

[Alejandro]

He can also use a shortbow, or longbow if it's an elf. It might still require flying, but he could do something more hit and run with dodging in the air to be the party tank (works better against Dex save breath dragons), or fangs of the fire snake if it isn't a fire dragon and he can use the reach to skirmish better. Either way, if he's punching it, he'd better be making a stunning strike on every hit. If he's out of Ki, it's definitely time to land. He could launch shatter or fireball, though the shortbow is probably a better option on a single dragon. If his concentration on fly does get broken, hey slowfall. If a stunning strike gets through instead, the dragon falls. Expect to hear I told you so if it lands on anyone. If it isn't too large to shove or grapple, either of those can bring the dragon down as well. Water Whip or Fist of Unbroken Air would also knock it down, but requires a failed save. At least they can be readied for when the dragon comes in to attack.

So there's some options that don't require getting eaten by a dragon.

The monk has shape the flowing river and fangs of the fire snake. Neither will do much here. Archery is probably a better option :) Stunning it would be awesome, but it's going to be able to auto pass some of the saves and possibly easily make the rest, considering how tough it is.

[Vogonjeltz]

Summary: Our group is playing through Rise of Tiamat. One PC is a Four Elements monk. This PC's plan for battling the dragons we encounter is to use ki to cast Fly on themselves (one of those Four Elements powers) and then fly up to the airborne dragon and start punching it. The rest of us plan to use massive spell and ranged weapon attacks.

Is there anything better the monk could do, or are they actually right? It seems to me they are just likely to get smacked, their concentration broken, and promptly fall.

I forget if Dragons still have bad dexterity saves, but they could use Ride the Wind, get into range for Water Whip to yank the dragon prone (i.e. out of the sky) on a failed Dex save, then using his superior movement the Monk moves back out of range/into cover to avoid being a target and having his concentration broken.

i.e. hit and run tactics. The best part about Water Whip is that there's no limit to the size of creature it can work on. Same goes for Fist of Unbroken Air, but that requires a Strength Save which I imagine the Dragon has a better shot at.

I think you're right that if they just slap on fly and go into melee, it probably won't end well. Although, he could use the climb on a bigger creature option from the DMG which, iirc, imposes disadvantage on the dragon's attacks. So they probably won't hit.

Plus, even if he loses concentration he'd still be clinging to the Dragon.

[Arkhios]

Fly gives you a movement speed of 60.

The rest of the party plans to use long bows, heavy crossbows, evocation spells, etc to blast away at the dragon, as it likely won't let us melee it (even in its lair, it will surely have room to fly or at least get out of our reach.)

And Unarmored Movement increases your speed. (note, the book doesn't specify which movement speed, so I'm assuming that it does indeed apply even to your fly speed!)

[Alejandro]

And Unarmored Movement increases your speed. (note, the book doesn't specify which movement speed, so I'm assuming that it does indeed apply even to your fly speed!)

I don't think it can increase your Fly speed from the Fly spell. The spell specifically tells you what speed it sets you at, and I think it's a specific beats general thing. Besides, if it can make a heavily armored fighter and an unarmored person both fly at X speed, then it apparently does not matter.

[PoeticDwarf]

Fly will work. Dragons can't eat you if the PC doesn't want to or maybe like a speci grapple if the DM wants. His dpr is higher. Breath attack can't target anyone and losing concentration and falling works with fall dmg reduction. The Monk can fly around, irritate the dragon and at the end die, but he did it for the party :)

[PoeticDwarf]

I don't think it can increase your Fly speed from the Fly spell. The spell specifically tells you what speed it sets you at, and I think it's a specific beats general thing. Besides, if it can make a heavily armored fighter and an unarmored person both fly at X speed, then it apparently does not matter.

Although this is true. It sets it on a specific speed and is more RAI. Any heavily armored person (with some str) is as fast as an unarmed person and that's not the reason

[EvilAnagram]

Remember that monks can reduce falling damage. He'll be fine.