Sun soul in Barovia

[BladeWing81]

I want to make a Sun soul Monk for the Curse of strahd adventure since it seam like the obvious choice thanks to the radiant sun bolts and Burning hands. But I'm in a conundrum, do I go for Half elf for a skill monkey helping in all the investigations and perception skill checks or go for V-Human and get a feat and if so which feat has a good synergy with the sun soul Monk? any suggestion would be appreciated.

[Sir cryosin]

I want to make a Sun soul Monk for the Curse of strahd adventure since it seam like the obvious choice thanks to the radiant sun bolts and Burning hands. But I'm in a conundrum, do I go for Half elf for a skill monkey helping in all the investigations and perception skill checks or go for V-Human and get a feat and if so which feat has a good synergy with the sun soul Monk? any suggestion would be appreciated.

Why not a race with a wisdom to stats? I would say go with the wood elf

[PeteNutButter]

Why not a race with a wisdom to stats? I would say go with the wood elf

I'd say with point buy, V human is pretty much an obvious choice for wisdom builds. The 17 dex is no better than a 16, especially on a monk who won't want resilient on any stat, since he'll eventually get prof to all saves. The feat is a lot better, unless you really need darkvision, as you are the only party member without/plan to scout. Elf proficiencies don't help a monk either.

The neat thing about monk's is you don't really NEED any specific feat. So pick one you like. Mobile is popular although probably not as needed if you plan on staying in range mostly. Crossbow Expert, although seemingly silly, would enable you to blast in melee without disadvantage. Defensive Duelist and Dual Wielder could both add some AC with shortsword(s). Spell Sniper is amazing for sun soul, if your DM actually enforces cover rules properly, although I find most don't. Any feat that adds +1 dex, con, or wis would enable you to start w 3 16s. With Observant you start with a PP of 20, see everything. So basically anything...

[Sigreid]

I'd say with point buy, V human is pretty much an obvious choice for wisdom builds. The 17 dex is no better than a 16, especially on a monk who won't want resilient on any stat, since he'll eventually get prof to all saves. The feat is a lot better, unless you really need darkvision, as you are the only party member without/plan to scout. Elf proficiencies don't help a monk either.

The neat thing about monk's is you don't really NEED any specific feat. So pick one you like. Mobile is popular although probably not as needed if you plan on staying in range mostly. Crossbow Expert, although seemingly silly, would enable you to blast in melee without disadvantage. Defensive Duelist and Dual Wielder could both add some AC with shortsword(s). Spell Sniper is amazing for sun soul, if your DM actually enforces cover rules properly, although I find most don't. Any feat that adds +1 dex, con, or wis would enable you to start w 3 16s. With Observant you start with a PP of 20, see everything. So basically anything...

Well, if you do wood elf with point buy you could have Wisdom and Dexterity both of 16 simply by making wisdom your 15 and Dex your 14.

Edit: I mean standard array, of course. :(

[BladeWing81]

I'd say with point buy, V human is pretty much an obvious choice for wisdom builds. The 17 dex is no better than a 16, especially on a monk who won't want resilient on any stat, since he'll eventually get prof to all saves. The feat is a lot better, unless you really need darkvision, as you are the only party member without/plan to scout. Elf proficiencies don't help a monk either.

The neat thing about monk's is you don't really NEED any specific feat. So pick one you like. Mobile is popular although probably not as needed if you plan on staying in range mostly. Crossbow Expert, although seemingly silly, would enable you to blast in melee without disadvantage. Defensive Duelist and Dual Wielder could both add some AC with shortsword(s). Spell Sniper is amazing for sun soul, if your DM actually enforces cover rules properly, although I find most don't. Any feat that adds +1 dex, con, or wis would enable you to start w 3 16s. With Observant you start with a PP of 20, see everything. So basically anything...

your options for feats seem intriguing to me, the Tavern brawler could make me a grapple Monk which is not what I want for this character but it's still something I wasn't aware of the CON +1. I can't take spell sniper because of the prerequisite (my DM is a grade A A-hole not just for rules, he literally doesn't allow me to use quarterstaff 2 handed because he says that you can't use 2 handed quarterstaff unless you use Strength instead of dexterity to make the attack/damage :smallannoyed:).

I feel WotC should change the Monk Martial arts rule of the monk weapons to read: "any melee weapon that you are proficient with that don't have the two handed or heavy property" because not only will WotC probably make a book with new "exotic weapons" at some point and I can bet none of them will also be "simple", but also the race features like elf/dwarf weapon training and Feats like weapon master are completely useless to a Monk.

[PeteNutButter]

your options for feats seem intriguing to me, the Tavern brawler could make me a grapple Monk which is not what I want for this character but it's still something I wasn't aware of the CON +1. I can't take spell sniper because of the prerequisite (my DM is a grade A A-hole not just for rules, he literally doesn't allow me to use quarterstaff 2 handed because he says that you can't use 2 handed quarterstaff unless you use Strength instead of dexterity to make the attack/damage :smallannoyed:).
I feel WotC should change the Monk Martial arts rule of the monk weapons to read: "any melee weapon that you are proficient with that don't have the two handed or heavy property" because not only will WotC probably make a book with new "exotic weapons" at some point and I can bet none of them will also be "simple", but also the race features like elf/dwarf weapon training and Feats like weapon master are completely useless to a Monk.

I didn't realize the prereq for Spell Sniper, sorry. It may still be worth picking up if you start as a casting class or took magic initiate feat first, as the starting 30 ft range on your balst is pretty poor.

If he is such a stickler for the rules, he shouldn't be nerfing the double handed quarterstaff. Its RAW. Look at any RL martial artist, and tell me they aren't 2handing that thing... with finesse! It has the VERSATILE property, not heavy or two-handed. In contrast the Greatclub is a simple weapon that is Two-handed but not heavy, hence no monks with Greatclubs.

The more common complaint is that you shouldn't be able to even use a staff one-handed, which is debatable, but still totally legit RAW. Best answer to DMs is just follow the RAW for weapons they are balanced mechanically on purpose.

If they want to homebrew change the monk...
The monk suffers right now from narrow scope in fluff hindering possible builds. It isn't designed to be anything but a bruce lee clone, and nearly every monk ends up the same, because of the lack of incentive to MC they have probably the lowest diversity of builds. Imagine a str based monk that is a lumbering brawler possibly in heavy armor, or a one that uses a katana, etc...

I'd suggest you lifting the restrictions on wearing armor. If you want to take first level in fighter and be a str monk afterwards, who cares if you are in heavy armor. You'd be a lumbering brawler. It is no more overpowered than any other class taking, a level of fighter first (such as wizard, ranger, rogue, etc). The only reason the armor restriction even exists is because the monk is pigeonholed into a narrow flavored archetype. Open that up.

Same goes for weapons, I'd say anything that isn't heavy or two-handed can't be a monk weapon, but anything else you are proficient with.. go wild. If you want to be an elf and use that longsword (katana) why not? The restriction on not using greatswords etc, is to keep down the GWM damage OPness. That'd be too much. But the difference between a versatile staff and longsword is 1 damage, certainly worth the price of having to either MC or start as an elf/dwarf.

You could even design a weapon master subclass that offers extra proficiencies in say light and medium armor and maybe martial weapons.

That's just me though. I'm of a mind that mechanics should be balanced mechanically, and if you want to do something abnormal it shouldn't be prohibited by fluff. Nothing in these restrictions makes a character overpowered. In theory heavy armor with a shield is 2 more AC than a normal monk, but its an investment. Being a monk is about mastery over your form. If you aren't naturally dexterous and you have a high wisdom... you'd put on ****ing armor.

[Foxhound438]

I want to make a Sun soul Monk for the Curse of strahd adventure since it seam like the obvious choice thanks to the radiant sun bolts and Burning hands. But I'm in a conundrum, do I go for Half elf for a skill monkey helping in all the investigations and perception skill checks or go for V-Human and get a feat and if so which feat has a good synergy with the sun soul Monk? any suggestion would be appreciated.

why would you chose half elf for skills when you can take skilled as a vuman? Cha is a dump stat for monks, so there's really no point in taking half elf. You end up with a total of 8 skills if you chose Vuman-skilled, but only 6 with half-elf.

[BladeWing81]

I didn't realize the prereq for Spell Sniper, sorry. It may still be worth picking up if you start as a casting class or took magic initiate feat first, as the starting 30 ft range on your balst is pretty poor.

If he is such a stickler for the rules, he shouldn't be nerfing the double handed quarterstaff. Its RAW. Look at any RL martial artist, and tell me they aren't 2handing that thing... with finesse! It has the VERSATILE property, not heavy or two-handed. In contrast the Greatclub is a simple weapon that is Two-handed but not heavy, hence no monks with Greatclubs.

The more common complaint is that you shouldn't be able to even use a staff one-handed, which is debatable, but still totally legit RAW. Best answer to DMs is just follow the RAW for weapons they are balanced mechanically on purpose.

If they want to homebrew change the monk...
The monk suffers right now from narrow scope in fluff hindering possible builds. It isn't designed to be anything but a bruce lee clone, and nearly every monk ends up the same, because of the lack of incentive to MC they have probably the lowest diversity of builds. Imagine a str based monk that is a lumbering brawler possibly in heavy armor, or a one that uses a katana, etc...

I'd suggest you lifting the restrictions on wearing armor. If you want to take first level in fighter and be a str monk afterwards, who cares if you are in heavy armor. You'd be a lumbering brawler. It is no more overpowered than any other class taking, a level of fighter first (such as wizard, ranger, rogue, etc). The only reason the armor restriction even exists is because the monk is pigeonholed into a narrow flavored archetype. Open that up.

Same goes for weapons, I'd say anything that isn't heavy or two-handed can't be a monk weapon, but anything else you are proficient with.. go wild. If you want to be an elf and use that longsword (katana) why not? The restriction on not using greatswords etc, is to keep down the GWM damage OPness. That'd be too much. But the difference between a versatile staff and longsword is 1 damage, certainly worth the price of having to either MC or start as an elf/dwarf.

You could even design a weapon master subclass that offers extra proficiencies in say light and medium armor and maybe martial weapons.

That's just me though. I'm of a mind that mechanics should be balanced mechanically, and if you want to do something abnormal it shouldn't be prohibited by fluff. Nothing in these restrictions makes a character overpowered. In theory heavy armor with a shield is 2 more AC than a normal monk, but its an investment. Being a monk is about mastery over your form. If you aren't naturally dexterous and you have a high wisdom... you'd put on ****ing armor.

I like your Ideas, especially the weapon master subclass, I think I saw something in the DM guild that does that, maybe unarmored defense could be selective as with the martial arts where you can choose STR or DEX to make the attacks, should also go to the AC but still not allow Armor unless you create a a new subclass, and Like I said before changing Martial arts to melee weapons you are proficient with that don't have heavy or two handed property would be great, elf and Dwarf Monks could benefit with their weapon training and you could finally get to use more Magic weapons since in most of the weapons in the published adventures give out nothing but longswords, warhammers and a couple of greatswords here and there.

[Coyote81]

your options for feats seem intriguing to me, the Tavern brawler could make me a grapple Monk which is not what I want for this character but it's still something I wasn't aware of the CON +1. I can't take spell sniper because of the prerequisite (my DM is a grade A A-hole not just for rules, he literally doesn't allow me to use quarterstaff 2 handed because he says that you can't use 2 handed quarterstaff unless you use Strength instead of dexterity to make the attack/damage :smallannoyed:).

I feel WotC should change the Monk Martial arts rule of the monk weapons to read: "any melee weapon that you are proficient with that don't have the two handed or heavy property" because not only will WotC probably make a book with new "exotic weapons" at some point and I can bet none of them will also be "simple", but also the race features like elf/dwarf weapon training and Feats like weapon master are completely useless to a Monk.

If you took Half-Elf(High Elf variant) You could get skills and a cantrip from the wizard school, then at level 4 you could take Spell Sniper which would sync well with your radiant bolts.

[BladeWing81]

If you took Half-Elf(High Elf variant) You could get skills and a cantrip from the wizard school, then at level 4 you could take Spell Sniper which would sync well with your radiant bolts.
the Skill versatility Feat is replaced by the cantrip when choosing the half elf/high elf variant according to the SCAG book so you probably only end up with 4 skills at the most depending on your background.

[RickAllison]

the Skill versatility Feat is replaced by the cantrip when choosing the half elf/high elf variant according to the SCAG book so you probably only end up with 4 skills at the most depending on your background.

At which point, you question why you didn't just be an elf so you at least get the +2 in Dex rather than Charisma.

[BladeWing81]

At which point, you question why you didn't just be an elf so you at least get the +2 in Dex rather than Charisma.

No, becuase I want the normal Half elf, I never mentioned I wanted a variant, my reasoning behind wanting half-elf is because the half elf provides +1 in any 2 abilities which will be Dex and Wis and also 2 skills which coupled with the +2 on Cha can provide options on what skills I want. I could go full intimidation and performance skills and get 12 on Cha or if I want to have a little investigation to my roleplaying I could set up 10 INT and 10 CHA. Believe it or not the reasoning behind half-elf is half power half roleplay. otherwise I'm leaning more on V-human for the Feat which will probably be either Mobile or Alert to avoid surprises and get better initiative scores.

[SliceandDiceKid]

Human variant
16 dex/wis
Healer feat. Pick up your downed allies. Because that's probably what a sun soul would do.

(I say, speculating wildly...)