D&D 5e: Monk/Cleric/Fighter multiclass: is it good?

[Lombra]

Edit: starting with the default human trait ASIs looks better since gives a 14 in CON and you won't need to rely on tough to keep up the HPs.
Hopefully fixed the numbers of the ability scores following PHB's point buy system.

The other day I stumbled across the idea of making a character with lots of AC, and I said to myself:"well just make a barbarian, dump a lot of points in DEX and CON and use a shield" but barbarians are fun to use with STR weapons, therefore I tought about monks: pump DEX and WIS and you'll get less AC compared to a shield barbarian, but at least you are bringing up two stats that are useful to the character. Which other cool class relies on WIS? The cleric, so why not making a cleric/monk that has the AC of a full-plate cleric with nothing but his bare body? But monk/cleric doesn't look good to me: which class can get the maximum benefit from DEX? Sure monks and rogues do, but fighters get way better offensive options on the battlefield so that's what I came up with:
Start at level 1 with monk, take 8 cleric levels with war domain, and the last 11 levels should go in battle master fighter, start human and you get plenty of feats.
Go around dressed as you like, hit hard with either a shortsword or a rapier, buff your weapons at will, and if you loose it you have punches that give you good back-up, and obviously cleric spells.
What do you think? Does it look good? Is there a better way to stay both safe and stylish at the same time?

Here's how I thought the character:

•Race: human (default)
+1 to each ability score.

•Ability Scores (using point-buy system):
STR 10
DEX 16
CON 14
INT 11
WIS 16
CHA 10

•Multi-class breakpoints (needs a second look)
1st level: monk
2-9: cleric
10-20: fighter

•ASI's/feats
5th level: War Caster
9th level: +2 DEX
13th level: +2 WIS
15th level: +2 DEX
17th level: +2 WIS

You start with a base AC of 16, and a good balance between melee and magic power, no armor means flexibility in every situation. No shield, only a finesse weapon and the "duelist" fighting style, pair it up with the war domain features and magic weapon and I think that you'll be able to get a lot of DPR and defense at the same time. Also this class looks versatile both in and out of combat in my opinion.

[PoeticDwarf]

Another way to do that is full fighter. Same AC. Works earlier. More damage. A cleric/fighter/monk won't add much. Better go full cleric or full fighter for same DPR or more and better AC and heal earlier....

[Moreplovac]

Within a featless game, and with a max level of 12, I have build a monk/cleric, 8/4 respectfully. For RP reasons I use only my fists, they cannot "disarm" you ever, when the rest of the party must surrender their weapons, they can count on you to clear the room full of enemies, while knowing you'll keep the rest of the party alive.

Usually our combats look like this, the rest of the party starts fighting, I buff them, and then look for the strong DPS targets in the backline. I teleport in, give them a whamie and then look to my teammates and prevent them from dying.

Monk of the open hand is a CC monster, Cleric Life is the best healer out there, with evasion, 4 attacks, heals, buffs and CC, you're the monster that is just waiting to be unleashed.

But if it weren't a max lv12 game, I would go 2 more levels in Cleric, thus making it 8/8 and add 3 levels of Fighter to him, Champion is my best bet, 4 attacks, and a lot of chance of criting.

But that's just my two cents. :D

[Lombra]

I edited the thread adding some actual numbers, it would be easier to just stick to a full-plate/shield combo, but I'm looking for something more original. Taking the monk levels further is objectively a good choice, but since you need to be wielding a weapon in order to get the most out of the war domain, fighter looks like a good option to me.

[Lombra]

Another way to do that is full fighter. Same AC. Works earlier. More damage. A cleric/fighter/monk won't add much. Better go full cleric or full fighter for same DPR or more and better AC and heal earlier....

I struggle at seeing how a full fighter get more damage over what I proposed: can you make an actual explaination please?

PS: Yes a battle axe champion fighter can get 4 d12 + 20 per round at level 20 (without counting potential weapon buffs) and while wearing a full plate he has 19 AC, on the other hand the character that I planned at level 20 will have 20 AC without armor and still 4 attacks (using war priest) with a rapier for a total of 5d8 + 20 + 8 (because of dueling fighting style)(the extra d8 comes from the divine strike feature, and I didn't count magic weapon buff).
However this doesn't take in count critical hits, and while the battle axe champion will be able to lend statistically more damage, it's not enaugh to make me want to throw away the cleric spells versatility.

[Foxhound438]

honestly i'd go monk 1 -> fighter 5 before touching cleric at all. Extra attack waiting until level 14 seems bad, even with a bonus attack (it's only a d4 for you). Divine favor, in any case, would be pretty good for you at that point since you get 3 attacks to add a d4 to. Maybe drop a couple cleric levels for monk 3?

However, for the sake of maxing AC, know that below 24ish AC you're still pretty easy for high level monsters to hit.

[Foxhound438]

I struggle at seeing how a full fighter get more damage over what I proposed: can you make an actual explaination please?


either "power attack" feat puts a full fighter's dpr around 100, and battle master has precision attack to curb the drop in hit chance.

[Foxhound438]

either "power attack" feat puts a full fighter's dpr around 100, and battle master has precision attack to curb the drop in hit chance.

and for some math for the sake of math,

your build gets 4 attacks, 3 of which are a d6+7 and the fourth is a d4+5, so you average 39. Divine favor adds 10 if you use that, magic weapon 2 adds 6 with better hit chance.

So 49 is your average with one spell slot- not bad.

Full fighter with polearm master and great weapon master gets 5 attacks, 4 at a d10+15 and one at a d4+15, average 99.5 (without great weapon fighting style), but with limited precision attacks; without super dice he'd probably forego the power attack and average 49.5 instead.

so 99.5 with the GWM attack option and 49.5 if he doesn't want the drop in hit chance. So way more or indifferentiable.

Full paladin with polearm master gets 3 attacks, 2 at a d10+5, one at a d4+5, and each getting a d8 radiant from improved divine smite. Average there is 42, which is baseline okay, but he also has a couple spell options that can add damage to each hit. Vengeance gets hunter's mark (10.5), everything else gets divine favor (7.5). If they have an action to waste, either pre-combat or between enemies in a fight, they might go for elemental weapon 2 (15 dpr).

so poley pally gets, depending on the spell he uses, 49.5, 52.5, or rarely 57. All good, and he can smite if he really feels it's necessary.

So you're at the same level, though lacking power attack options or smites, your top end is pretty limited. 56 is a good number to aim for (what warlocks get for zero effort in building their character), and 49 is close enough. Your ac is better than those guys, even if they take defense fs, and you keep up in damage for the most part, and have some good options from cleric.

[Lombra]

and for some math for the sake of math,

your build gets 4 attacks, 3 of which are a d6+7 and the fourth is a d4+5, so you average 39. Divine favor adds 10 if you use that, magic weapon 2 adds 6 with better hit chance.

So 49 is your average with one spell slot- not bad.

Full fighter with polearm master and great weapon master gets 5 attacks, 4 at a d10+15 and one at a d4+15, average 99.5 (without great weapon fighting style), but with limited precision attacks; without super dice he'd probably forego the power attack and average 49.5 instead.

so 99.5 with the GWM attack option and 49.5 if he doesn't want the drop in hit chance. So way more or indifferentiable.

Full paladin with polearm master gets 3 attacks, 2 at a d10+5, one at a d4+5, and each getting a d8 radiant from improved divine smite. Average there is 42, which is baseline okay, but he also has a couple spell options that can add damage to each hit. Vengeance gets hunter's mark (10.5), everything else gets divine favor (7.5). If they have an action to waste, either pre-combat or between enemies in a fight, they might go for elemental weapon 2 (15 dpr).

so poley pally gets, depending on the spell he uses, 49.5, 52.5, or rarely 57. All good, and he can smite if he really feels it's necessary.

So you're at the same level, though lacking power attack options or smites, your top end is pretty limited. 56 is a good number to aim for (what warlocks get for zero effort in building their character), and 49 is close enough. Your ac is better than those guys, even if they take defense fs, and you keep up in damage for the most part, and have some good options from cleric.

Actually using war priest (limited to 5 uses/long rest) the damage per round with both a 4th slot magic weapon, a rapier and divine strike the total damage amounts to 5d8+9×4 which I think means an avarage of 58.5 DPR, without counting critical chance, if war priest is not available you still get 4d8+9x3 which on avarage is 45 DPR, and that's without divine favour applied. Am I missing something? That PAM-GWM with precision strike looks nasty tho, especially paired with other accuracy buffs. But this won't convince me for a trade with the possibility to go naked with only a rapier in battle and still avoid hits xD

PS: in these calculations none of us took in count the optional superiority die damage.

[Lombra]

honestly i'd go monk 1 -> fighter 5 before touching cleric at all. Extra attack waiting until level 14 seems bad, even with a bonus attack (it's only a d4 for you). Divine favor, in any case, would be pretty good for you at that point since you get 3 attacks to add a d4 to. Maybe drop a couple cleric levels for monk 3?

However, for the sake of maxing AC, know that below 24ish AC you're still pretty easy for high level monsters to hit.

Yeah the upgrade path needs to be re-thought, but why monk 3? For deflect missiles and open hand techniques?

I don' t know... I mean I can choose up to 7 maneouvers from the battle master archetype which I think can widely replace the 3rd level monk features, and not going for cleric 8 would prevent the extra d8 DPR and the actually cool spells...
Also talking about AC at level 20 is kinda relative in my opinion, by that level you are most likely to have equipment that buffs it

[Foxhound438]

Actually using war priest (limited to 5 uses/long rest) the damage per round with both a 4th slot magic weapon, a rapier and divine strike the total damage amounts to 5d8+9×4 which I think means an avarage of 58.5 DPR, without counting critical chance, if war priest is not available you still get 4d8+9x3 which on avarage is 45 DPR, and that's without divine favour applied. Am I missing something? That PAM-GWM with precision strike looks nasty tho, especially paired with other accuracy buffs. But this won't convince me for a trade with the possibility to go naked with only a rapier in battle and still avoid hits xD

you would get 4 rapier attacks with war priest 5 times, and i did forget divine strike. without you have 4 attacks if you use a monk weapon (shortsword), d6+d6+d6+d4+7+7+7+5, and with your war priest you can use a rapier for, as you said, 4d8+28, and in both cases the first hit has an extra d8.


you still get 4d8+9x3 which on avarage is 45 DPR, and that's without divine favour applied.

You can't have both magic weapon and divine favor at the same time since they're both concentration, so it's either 8 and then 6 once you're out of wp, or 10 all the time with divine favor. i'm not going to worry about the change in hit chance, that has to be a case-by-case thing, and 4th level slots are spendier than 1st, so divine favor is a more sustainable choice that will be simple in calculation. for a whole 5 rounds you can have ~64, and otherwise with the shortsword and monk bonus attack you get ~57. It's kind of difficult to calculate average damage for once per turn damage effects like divine strike, so take with a grain of salt the fact that i added a bit extra on both to account for the multiple attempts, the exact value you get from that depends on target AC. A very low ac monster won't give you much extra value from it while a very high ac monster will give more.

as a final note on your build, you really should carry a shortsword. you only get 5 rounds of use out of war priest per long rest.



That PAM-GWM with precision strike looks nasty tho, especially paired with other accuracy buffs.

it gets even better for some, a pal-sorc with elemental weapon, a greatsword, and quicken for green flame blade can deal upwards of 120 per round, and devotion pally's channel completely cancels out the accuracy drop from GWM. Really greedy on resources but can deal a ton of damage.

[Foxhound438]

Yeah the upgrade path needs to be re-thought, but why monk 3? For deflect missiles and open hand techniques?

I don' t know... I mean I can choose up to 7 maneouvers from the battle master archetype which I think can widely replace the 3rd level monk features, and not going for cleric 8 would prevent the extra d8 DPR and the actually cool spells...

shadow gets you neat utility, long death gets you 8 thp on a kill. Otherwise it's for flurry of blows, mostly. 5 wp per long rest and 3 flurries per short is pretty good, but again you need to carry a shortsword or it doesn't really do anything. divine favor gives a bit more damage at a lower attack bonus and lesser resource, so losing magic weap 2 isn't horrible. Eldritch knight can get you to 4th level slots if you really want magic weapon though, and also nets you shield. Probably not terrible to leave as is, though.

[Lombra]

You can't have both magic weapon and divine favor at the same time since they're both concentration, so it's either 8 and then 6 once you're out of wp, or 10 all the time with divine favor.

Didn't realize that they're both concentration spells, also totally forgot that you can anyways use divine strike on a shortsword xD

[PoeticDwarf]

I struggle at seeing how a full fighter get more damage over what I proposed: can you make an actual explaination please?

PS: Yes a battle axe champion fighter can get 4 d12 + 20 per round at level 20 (without counting potential weapon buffs) and while wearing a full plate he has 19 AC, on the other hand the character that I planned at level 20 will have 20 AC without armor and still 4 attacks (using war priest) with a rapier for a total of 5d8 + 20 + 8 (because of dueling fighting style)(the extra d8 comes from the divine strike feature, and I didn't count magic weapon buff).
However this doesn't take in count critical hits, and while the battle axe champion will be able to lend statistically more damage, it's not enaugh to make me want to throw away the cleric spells versatility.
1. You don't count polearm master, fighting style, great weapon master etc. And a champion will have 19AC and defense. With feats dpr is way higher
2. Using war priest... yeah, count the nova. Then I may count action surge 2/rest.. The nova does not count. If you count polearm master and GWM style, together with NOT ADDING YOUR NOVA ABILITIES the DPR of the fighter is twice as high.
3. Your progression is worse and slower
4. Fighter has more HP and ASIs. So toughness from an extra feat is +40hp. And HD makes +50HP more which is better than your +1AC

[Lombra]

1. You don't count polearm master, fighting style, great weapon master etc. And a champion will have 19AC and defense. With feats dpr is way higher
2. Using war priest... yeah, count the nova. Then I may count action surge 2/rest.. The nova does not count. If you count polearm master and GWM style, together with NOT ADDING YOUR NOVA ABILITIES the DPR of the fighter is twice as high.
3. Your progression is worse and slower
4. Fighter has more HP and ASIs. So toughness from an extra feat is +40hp. And HD makes +50HP more which is better than your +1AC

Why shouldn't the nova count? It's an hybrid class, using spells and divine features is the key of it, yes I didn't watch over GWM and PAM because as I said my thougts were directed to better AC, which means high DEX. Yeah the progression of the character isn't the best, but multiclassing is never easy, one could simply play the first 10 levels as an armor-less generic cleric and then gradually change play style thanks to the fighter levels. As far as HP are concerned they do are an issue: it would be a DEX based character without dodge as a bonus action, which means that it's likely to take a couple hits, although healing spells may rebalance the deficit in HP in my opinion. Action surge would anyways be used in extreme need scenario, obviously two is better than one, but I don't think it's something to complain about since it's traded for heals/buffs. By the way I didn't mean to sound mean, if I did I'm sorry, since I see in your text some traces of upsetness :/

[djreynolds]

Monk/ranger/cleric, could be very cool. Good archery, good melee, good spells. I wouldn't select tough though at 1st level, wait it later. I might take mobile for the monk, so I can save my KI point bonus action and freely disengage. Grab archery style, lots of healing and utility spells. And might take 6 levels of monk, magic fists, and then some ranger and cleric mixed in.

[Lombra]

Monk/ranger/cleric, could be very cool. Good archery, good melee, good spells. I wouldn't select tough though at 1st level, wait it later. I might take mobile for the monk, so I can save my KI point bonus action and freely disengage. Grab archery style, lots of healing and utility spells. And might take 6 levels of monk, magic fists, and then some ranger and cleric mixed in.

Looks very cool for a ranged character, but I would like to focus the build on melee damage, ranged attacks sure are more versatile tho.
I thought that placing tough right at the beginning would compensate for the low CON score, also I don't see any other useful feats rather than war caster, sure mobile is cool, and the option to take disengage/dodge as a bonus action is very tempting. Although you'll lose the extra attack and action surge, which bothers me more than taking a couple hits that I could anyways heal

[PoeticDwarf]

Why shouldn't the nova count? It's an hybrid class, using spells and divine features is the key of it, yes I didn't watch over GWM and PAM because as I said my thougts were directed to better AC, which means high DEX. Yeah the progression of the character isn't the best, but multiclassing is never easy, one could simply play the first 10 levels as an armor-less generic cleric and then gradually change play style thanks to the fighter levels. As far as HP are concerned they do are an issue: it would be a DEX based character without dodge as a bonus action, which means that it's likely to take a couple hits, although healing spells may rebalance the deficit in HP in my opinion. Action surge would anyways be used in extreme need scenario, obviously two is better than one, but I don't think it's something to complain about since it's traded for heals/buffs. By the way I didn't mean to sound mean, if I did I'm sorry, since I see in your text some traces of upsetness :/

It's a rule, and a 3 times ability should not count as an an always, it's not like I may say I use action surge every round or something. And EVEN if you may use nova and I may not use it, I could easily take some feats as polearm master to doulble your DPR. I can sound upset because my English is never polite ish but we are just having a discussion:smallbiggrin:

[Vogonjeltz]

Why shouldn't the nova count? It's an hybrid class, using spells and divine features is the key of it, yes I didn't watch over GWM and PAM because as I said my thougts were directed to better AC, which means high DEX. Yeah the progression of the character isn't the best, but multiclassing is never easy, one could simply play the first 10 levels as an armor-less generic cleric and then gradually change play style thanks to the fighter levels. As far as HP are concerned they do are an issue: it would be a DEX based character without dodge as a bonus action, which means that it's likely to take a couple hits, although healing spells may rebalance the deficit in HP in my opinion. Action surge would anyways be used in extreme need scenario, obviously two is better than one, but I don't think it's something to complain about since it's traded for heals/buffs. By the way I didn't mean to sound mean, if I did I'm sorry, since I see in your text some traces of upsetness :/

A Fighter has a higher armor potential than the Monk. Monk caps at 20; Fighter can reach 21 with defense fighting style and either plate armor with shield or medium armor mastery with shield. The fighter also has the possibility of finding magical armor that raises their cap even higher.

Barbarian could hit 22 AC with max dex/con scores and the cap bonus to con.

[bid]

A Fighter has a higher armor potential than the Monk. Monk caps at 20; Fighter can reach 21 with defense fighting style and either plate armor with shield or medium armor mastery with shield. The fighter also has the possibility of finding magical armor that raises their cap even higher.
Fighter 1 / monk X is enough to get the same defense style. It comes down to bracers of defense vs magic armor.


BTW OP, your stat count is off. You can get Con13 : 10 16 13 10 16 8.

[Lombra]

A Fighter has a higher armor potential than the Monk. Monk caps at 20; Fighter can reach 21 with defense fighting style and either plate armor with shield or medium armor mastery with shield. The fighter also has the possibility of finding magical armor that raises their cap even higher.

Barbarian could hit 22 AC with max dex/con scores and the cap bonus to con.

Items that increase AC exist also for unarmored characters, and a level 20 barbarian has an AC cap (without magical items) of 24 using a shield. Fighters do get smilar AC, and can output more damage, but they need to rely on full plate armor which is a pain to use during a campaign. Cleric spells can compensate with buffs and heals in my opinion. Having a character with lots of AC is easy, you kust need to go dex barbarian, but it's not nearly as functional as a fighter, which I think is less versatile than what I proposed. Tomorrow I'll look up more numbers to compare and analyse the different cases much more carefully.

[Lombra]

BTW OP, your stat count is off. You can get Con13 : 10 16 13 10 16 8.

using point buy system you have 69 points to allocate in the ability scores, and you can't put more than 15 or less than 8 points in each ability, so there are 2 extra points in your abilities.

Using the default human trait can get the scores to 10 16 14 10 16 9, which is better than relying on tough, so thank you for making me noticing it:)

[bid]

using point buy system you have 69 points to allocate in the ability scores, and you can't put more than 15 or less than 8 points in each ability, so there are 2 extra points in your abilities.
The PHB point buy system is 27 points as described on p13:
- Str10 = 2
- Dex15 = 9 (+1 racial for 16)
- Con13 = 5
- Int10 = 2
- Wis15 = 9 (+1 racial for 16)
- Cha8 = 0
Total 9 + 9 + 5 + 2 + 2 + 0 = 27.

I'm sorry, I didn't expect you to use a different system.

[Lombra]

The PHB point buy system is 27 points as described on p13:
- Str10 = 2
- Dex15 = 9 (+1 racial for 16)
- Con13 = 5
- Int10 = 2
- Wis15 = 9 (+1 racial for 16)
- Cha8 = 0
Total 9 + 9 + 5 + 2 + 2 + 0 = 27.

I'm sorry, I didn't expect you to use a different system.

You are right, i mis-interpreted the PHB , thanks xD

[djreynolds]

Looks very cool for a ranged character, but I would like to focus the build on melee damage, ranged attacks sure are more versatile tho.
I thought that placing tough right at the beginning would compensate for the low CON score, also I don't see any other useful feats rather than war caster, sure mobile is cool, and the option to take disengage/dodge as a bonus action is very tempting. Although you'll lose the extra attack and action surge, which bothers me more than taking a couple hits that I could anyways heal

The only reason to pick up archery style, is that +2 is always there when you need it. No reason not to soften up the bad guys and then move in and hurt them.

Mobile is a great feat. Use a KI point for FOB and then just move away. You only get one bonus action, and sometimes you have to way whether it is worth it to stay put after your attack. A monk can get beat on, now you do not have to hang there because mobile lets you disengage freely. That's its power cause now you can stay and use that KI point for FOB and then leave and move and not suffer an AoO.

Trust me, mobile is great because it saves those KI points for FOB and not escaping.

Ranger just gives you more spells, increases the spells slots you have, only half caster but fighter is no caster, and you can still take duelist. But that +2 damage will go away in time, but the archery style opens up possibilities. You can shoot someone far away and then use that huge movement of yours to get to that other guy far away

War caster is good, but really for using spells for AoO. But remember your DEX and WIS affect you AC and to hit and DC of spells and stunning fist. Max those out first. Higher AC means getting hit less often, meaning you may not need tough. Bonus action healing word for 1st level cleric is nice to.

[Arelai]

Want the highest AC? Barbarian 1, bladesinger X

Pump CON, then DEX, then INT last.
You have 20 AC from maxed con and dex, while bladesinging you have a +int to AC probably putting it at 22-23. Buff yourself with mirror image and Haste(up to 24-25 AC). If someone does somehow hit you-cast shield for 29-30 AC.

CONGRATS, you did it.

[NewDM]

Want the highest AC? Barbarian 1, bladesinger X

Pump CON, then DEX, then INT last.
You have 20 AC from maxed con and dex, while bladesinging you have a +int to AC probably putting it at 22-23. Buff yourself with mirror image and Haste(up to 24-25 AC). If someone does somehow hit you-cast shield for 29-30 AC.

CONGRATS, you did it.

Throw on Stoneskin and False Life for 2x as much HP.

[Vogonjeltz]

Fighter 1 / monk X is enough to get the same defense style. It comes down to bracers of defense vs magic armor.

You have to wear armor for the defense fighting style, that makes it mutually exclusive with the unarmored defense calculations. Bracers of defense only grant as much value as a shield and they're a magic item.


Items that increase AC exist also for unarmored characters, and a level 20 barbarian has an AC cap (without magical items) of 24 using a shield. Fighters do get smilar AC, and can output more damage, but they need to rely on full plate armor which is a pain to use during a campaign. Cleric spells can compensate with buffs and heals in my opinion. Having a character with lots of AC is easy, you kust need to go dex barbarian, but it's not nearly as functional as a fighter, which I think is less versatile than what I proposed. Tomorrow I'll look up more numbers to compare and analyse the different cases much more carefully.

Sorry, what is it besides the bracers of armor that exists for unarmored characters?

And, if we include magical armor (I wasn't), the fighter's cap increases from 21 to 27 for a +3 shield and +3 armor.

A Barbarian with maximum dex and con and with a +3 shield could also reach AC 27 but only at 20th level thanks to their capstone. Until then their AC cap would be 25 from unarmored calculations and if wearing +3 armor and +3 shield and having medium armor mastery, then they could reach AC 26 (ironically slightly worse than not wearing armor at all).

[RickAllison]

You have to wear armor for the defense fighting style, that makes it mutually exclusive with the unarmored defense calculations. Bracers of defense only grant as much value as a shield and they're a magic item.



Sorry, what is it besides the bracers of armor that exists for unarmored characters?

And, if we include magical armor (I wasn't), the fighter's cap increases from 21 to 27 for a +3 shield and +3 armor.

A Barbarian with maximum dex and con and with a +3 shield could also reach AC 27 but only at 20th level thanks to their capstone. Until then their AC cap would be 25 from unarmored calculations and if wearing +3 armor and +3 shield and having medium armor mastery, then they could reach AC 26 (ironically slightly worse than not wearing armor at all).

If Unearthed Arcana is allowed, they could take the Mariner fighting style to boost AC instead.

[bid]

You have to wear armor for the defense fighting style, that makes it mutually exclusive with the unarmored defense calculations. Bracers of defense only grant as much value as a shield and they're a magic item.
Yeah, I forgot only mariner works. And plate only give AC18, you need the shield to reach AC20.

Without any magic item, both plate+shield+defense and Dex20+Wis20+mariner have the same AC21.

[MeeposFire]

Also remember that the bracers of armor take up an attunement slot. That is a potential big deal.

[bid]

Also remember that the bracers of armor take up an attunement slot. That is a potential big deal.
True, that's a limitation picking the naked monk defense.

[Foxhound438]

Sorry, what is it besides the bracers of armor that exists for unarmored characters?


cloak of prot, ring of prot. armored characters can get those too, but they do work for unarmored.

[djreynolds]

Ranger will give horde breaker at 3rd, really good. Free attack no bonus action involved.

Punch your enemy, and then punch his friend. And then punch his friend again. Or kick them and you spells slots increase for cleric.

[Vogonjeltz]

cloak of prot, ring of prot. armored characters can get those too, but they do work for unarmored.

Both of those require attunement, as do bracers of defense. Regular +X weapons, armors, and shields do not require attunement. So if both have the ring and cloak then the Fighter would have a spare attunement slot free, while the Monk would have used all three up.