Monk/Fighter Optimization

[Lucan Aligheri]

I want to create a character (For 5e) who has the same mentality as a monk (Self-perfection, martial discipline, etc) and has the mechanics to back it up, mechanics that allow my character to focus on being an excellent martial artist, without having to work with the ki powers of playing the monk class. My main problem with ki is how it takes away from pure martial and fighting ability.

[CantigThimble]

I want to create a character (For 5e) who has the same mentality as a monk (Self-perfection, martial discipline, etc) and has the mechanics to back it up, mechanics that allow my character to focus on being an excellent martial artist, without having to work with the ki powers of playing the monk class. My main problem with ki is how it takes away from pure martial and fighting ability.

What kind of weapon? (Melee, Ranged, Unarmed, Two-hander ect.) Are there other mechanics you want to avoid like spells, invocations, rages or battlemaster dice? Are you using point buy and are feats allowed? Do you want to avoid having ki at all or just want a functional character that doesn't rely on ki?

[Joe the Rat]

I'm still not clear on the issue - is it the concept of ki, or the mechanics of ki?

The way ki works mechanically is that it's a fine-grain resource that gives you on-demand boosts to your fighting ability (spend ki for more hitting, spend ki for less getting hit, spend ki for manuverability, spend ki to push/trip/stun, etc.). Just about every other "disciplined warrior" option will have some sort of resource management - Champion Fighter and "Battle Focus"-flavored Barbarian are as "always on" as you get.

[Lucan Aligheri]

What kind of weapon? (Melee, Ranged, Unarmed, Two-hander ect.) Are there other mechanics you want to avoid like spells, invocations, rages or battlemaster dice? Are you using point buy and are feats allowed? Do you want to avoid having ki at all or just want a functional character that doesn't rely on ki?

I want to avoid spells and other similar abilities. I want a character that relies on fighting 85% of the time. For a weapon, likely a staff or some light blunt weapon, interchanged with unarmed.

[Joe the Rat]

Open Hand Monk. There's very little in their abilities that is going to be "spell-like." - the worst offenders being self-healing (which every Fighter has) and the flaky incorporeal business at highest levels. The longer you stay in monk, the better damage you will do unarmed, and eventually with whatever weapon you use.

If you want to cut down on the amount of Monk, I still think Battle Master Fighter is a good thematic mix. If you get enough monk to pick up the Open Hand tradition, you can skip the pushing, tripping, and footwork maneuvers.

The wrinkle is the cutoff. Extra attack does not stack, so 5+ of both seems a waste. But 5 in monk is where your unarmed damage goes up.

[BladeWing81]

I want to avoid spells and other similar abilities. I want a character that relies on fighting 85% of the time. For a weapon, likely a staff or some light blunt weapon, interchanged with unarmed.

Well, Champion or battle master seem like something that's up your alley, Champion lets you get improved critical which is perfect for Monk since you get to throw a lot of attacks in a single turn and battle master lets you add some nice abilities on each f those attacks. not to mention that you can either grab dueling to get extra damage out of your non fist attacks or great weapon fighting lets you re-roll low hitting quarterstaff attacks regardless of what path you choose. on the other hand if you want to concentrate more on fighter the best Monk subclass for any fighter is open hand since it gives you extra abilities on each of your flurry of blows strike.