Matheusz
2016-12-24, 07:26 PM
Monastic Traditions in 5e
As i wasn't able find any Monk guides that include all the added Monastic Traditions from the Sword Coast Adventurer Guide and Underneath Arcana, I decided to write down my own guide about them to share my thoughts and experiences with the traditions! English is not my first language, so please forgive or report me mistakes you find. Im also happy about critique and suggestions!
The Monk is one of the rarer played classes in DnD because he does not fall in to one of the three typical roles of DnD characters (tank/damage/untility). While there are usually Fighters/Barbars/Paladins in the frontline, Sorcerers/Wizards in the backline and Druids/Bards/Clerics somewhere in the middle to keep the team together, the Monk has fewer appearances in classical Dnd setups (at least in the group i play with). He is a robust damage & utility hybrid.
While the d8 health die is only average, the Monk has a lot of ways to dodge or to mitigate damage. The class as a whole is very good in utilizing the action economy (main action/bonus action/reaction) and also has a suprisingly high damage output with all the bonus attacks! The Monk is a very constant class, that gives you a lot of options and probably never will feel useless, even if you already spent your KI points. However, while the class gains loads good of features on its way to lvl 20, it does not get any ridiculous capstone abililties that allow you to permanently turn your allies into fully grown dragons or to cast fireballs at will. (The only feature thats comparable is QUIVERING PALM from the "Way of the open Hand" tradition)
The thing i like most about the monk is that he is a character that has very viable attacks (i dont like to rely on very medicore cantrips when im out of spellslots), while still getting loads of free or KI based abilities and even spells. One could argue that classes like the knight can also gain spells by choosing the eldritch knight path, but that only enables the typicaly used shield spell and a few other utility spells, while the whole playstyle of the Monk is based around the effective usage of KI points (which you regain every SHOT REST)
The monk excels at locking down single targets and misses the ability to dish out AOE damage to deal with large groups (like most fighting based classes). While the basic features of the Monk already form a very feasible class, the 7 Monastic Traditions allow you to customize the class into a direction of your choice (ranged combat/ AOE damage / Healing/ weapon fighting / rouge like shadow skills ect....)
I will comment on Feat and Background choices in a short manner as there are many other guides about them and you are better off choosing based on your own preferences anyways.
Gold represents the best abilities
Sky blue represents excellent choices and very strong abilities
Blue represents good abilities that you might not want to miss
Violet represents optional abilities that are not necessarily bad but often weak compared to other choices
Red represents suboptimal choices that you should only pick up if you like the style and the flavour
Important: im not only rating the abilities based on their utility and strength but also based on their cost and on the level where you get access to it. For example abilitys that you get between lvl 17 and lvl 20 have to have a major impact on the character to get a good rating!
STR increases your carrying capacity and helps you with sometimes occuring strengths checks. If you have some points left you could spend them here.
DEX besides being your comat stat it also increases your AC, you initiative, and often required DEX saving throws and dex checks (like stealth). Your key Stat, max it!
CON boosts your HP and helps you with CON saves which occur from time to time
INT is the worst stat for you as there are not a lot if INT saves/INT ability checks and you dont benefit from it in other ways. The only reason for me to invest 2 points here is flavourwise to avoid playing an unintelligent character
WIS increases your AC and also your DC that enemies have to beat. Its also helps you to succeed on commonly apperaing WIS saving throws, that often have bad consequences if you miss your save. High WIS checks like Perception are also nice to have. This is your second priority after DEX
CHA i'd only increase this flavourwise or to be better in situations where you have to be talkative as there are a lot of usefull CHA based skills. If you have a lot of other CHA based characters in your party its even less important.
UNARMORED DEFENSE if you pick your Stats right this will give you good armor values early on and scale up to 20 AC as soon as your max DEX and WIS score. Definetely good to have!
MARTIAL ARTS enable your further abilities and allow you to do decent damage with your unarmed strikes. I would recommend to use a monk weapon in the beginning (at least till lvl5) because your unnarmed strikes only to 1d4 damage. This feature also allows you to make an unarmed strike as a bonus action for free! Very important as it allows you to attack two times a turn beginning from level1!
KI is the resource that enables a lot of strong things. Unlike most rescources it replenishes every short rest, which means you get to use it very frequently once you gained a few levels. You also dont have to be too concerned about spending too many points during combat. Important: KI Points allow the Monk to hit with additonal attacks or to stun an opponent. They increase the Monks fighting abilities. This means that if you gain additional abilities with KI Point costs their usage is not pure upside, but comes with the restriction that you have to decrease the ammount of bonus hits and stunns in order use the other ability. (contrary to the eldritch knight, whose additional spells dont tax him in the usage of other comabt abilities) Keep this in mind while evaluating abilities with KI point requirements!
Flurry of Blows allows you to make 2 instead of 1 unarmed strike as bonus action. After level 5 thats potential FOUR ATTACKS per turn! It gets bonus effects if you choose the Way of the open Hand as your Monastic Tradition. Be aware that you can only use it after you used your main action to attack!
Patient Defense and Step of the Wind can be very usefull in the right situation. Its a nice option to have but generally you dont want to spend a lot of your KI points here
UNARMORED MOVEMENT very nice ability to have as it allows you to move in and out of combat and close gaps. The bonus gets ridiculous at higher levels. Movement on water and along vertical surfaces can also be very usefull in the right situations
DEFLECT MISSILES Monks often can stun or run from melee fighters. So getting an ability to stop ranged foes is nice but its not a gamechanger. It requires your reaction, so you only can use it once a turn.
SLOW FALL is often handy, but rarely really important. I ll still take it if i get it for free!
EXTRA ATTACK allows the monk to strike 3 or 4 times when other combat classes strike 2 times. While the figher gets a 3rd and 4th attack we use Flurry of Blows and increase the damage of the unarmed strike with with increasing level.
STUNNING STRIKEgives you a lot of utility against single strong foes. You can attempt to stun somebody with every meele attack you make (also with Flurry of Blows). All further attacks from everyone (and your attacks on your next turn) are with advantage as the enemy is stunned until the end of your next turn. In addition he cant take any actions and reactions, which keeps your opponent from being relevant. Great ability!
KI EMPOWERED STRIKES are very important as the campaign goes on, to dodge resistances or immunities
EVASION not as good as i thought when i read it the first time, because it only dodges 1. Area of Effect 2. spells that 3.require a DEX save. Still very usefull!
STILLNESS OF MIND is situational, but still very usefull for getting rid of annoying effects that otherwhise could potentially disable you completely
PURITY OF BODY is no gamechanger either, but nice to have in certain situations
TONGUE OF THE SUN AND MOON I rate this rather high, because i have come into a lot of situtions where combat and difficulties could have been avoided by talking to and understanding creatures that are in your way. Of course there will be dumb creatures or creatures that will fight no matter what. But often understanding the reasoning behind an encounter helps you to avoid the encounter or to advance the knowledge about your campagin.
DIAMOND SOUL is GREAT, proficiencys for all saving throws (including death saving throws) is already great. Getting rerolls for 1 KI point makes it even better!!
TIMELESS BODY its nice to age like a super saiyajin, but its rarely relevant for campaigns
EMPTY BODY is very good, but comes a bit late. At least you have enough KI points at lvl 15 to make use of it
PERFECT SELF it's not bad to have, but its weak compared to other lvl 20 capstone features
There is no obvious best one that you have to pick above all the others so i will rate none of them Gold. I will start with the three from the players handbook, continue with the ones from the Swords Coast Adventure Guide and finish with the Underneath Arcana traditions.
Way of the open hand
OPEN HAND TECHNIQUE adds free features to your Flurry of Blows. The most commonly used one is to knock your opponent prone. Standing up will cost him half of his movement. Damagewise it is a two edged sword as prone opponents can be attacked with advantage in meele, but can only be attacked with disadvantage from the distance
WHOLENESS OF BODY of course its nice, but the bad scaling (3x your monk lvl) and the one time use per day make it rather weak. Still the ability to heal half of your HP once a day should not be underdestimated!
TRANQUILITY a weak abilty that only gets cast once a day and you cant even control when it gets cast. Obviously it has some utility but compared to everything else its a stinker!
QUIVERING PALM is the only save or die spell in 5e (to my knowledge). For only 3 KI points and one action you can kill anyone or deal 10d10 if they succeed on their CON save. Extremely strong! Its one of the main reasons why i would choose the Way of the open Hand. Be aware that you wont be able to use it before lvl 17!
Way of Shadow
I would rate this Tradition half lightblue / half blue if it wasnt so dependent on the surrounding light conditions. The Players Handbook states that even the worst weatherconditions during day are not enough to get dim light and a torch or the dancing lights cantrip can ruin your day
SHADOW ARTS can be pretty usefull. 2 KI points per spell are a lot in the beginning when KI points are limited, but mages also have to be canny with their spellslots in the beginning. You basically get the option to cast one of four very usefull spells for the cost of 2 KI points! (and a free usefull cantrip!) Taxing on your KI point economy, still very usefull!
Pass Without Trace The main gamechanger here is the +10 Stealth for your whole group, allowing you to suprise attack in encounters or to dodge them completely
Darkness can have a lot of utilities! (especially if you took 2 levels in warlock and the evocation to see trough the darkness!)
Silence usefull to have if you want to stop someone from talking or casters from casting!
Darkvision if a light source would keep you from being undetected it might be usefull, but generally you dont want to spend your KI points on it
Minor Illusion is one of the most usefull cantrips in and out of combat. Getting it for free as a non caster class is awesome!
SHADOW STEP makes you the perfect ninja if you can create a setting with lots of darkness or dim light. Advantage on attacks and teleport are quite good. It sounds good, its is not too bad, but keep in mind that you loose your Flurry of Blows if you use your bonus action to teleport and that its hard to use it if your surroundings are not naturally dark or dim. Bonus: You can use your teleport to get out of attackrange without the risk of opportunity attacks
OPPORTUNIST is a free attack (requies reaction) when you set it up right. Not too bad, but id expect something more powerfull at lvl 17
Way of the four Elements
To be honest the Way of the four Elements if the Tradition i have explored the least. It offers some powerfull spells, that otherwhise only can be cast by Wizards or Sorcerers. One highlight is the Fireball spell for 4 KI points at lvl 11, which gives you the option to dish out AOE damage! Some other examples for usefull spells:
Burning hands gives some nice AOE damage at early levels for 2 KI Points
Fly gives some nice utility for 4 KI points (lvl 11 required)
Water Whip was another usefull option until it was declared that it also has to be used as main action (instead of a bonus action)
The class offers some utility but in general the spells have too high level and KI point requirements to be used efficiently. If you want to play a spellcaster, id reccomend you to do so, because you will be able to cast your spells much earlier, much more often and with more additional benefits!
Way of the long Death
This is currently my favourite Monastic Tradition. It gives you utility and makes you hard to kill while complimenting your combat abilities.
TOUCH OF DEATH can support you with multiple health boosts per day or even per combat if you get to finsh some creatures. You can use it beginning with level 3 and it scales while you advance. If your group lets you deal finishing blows on purpose its even better! On the other hand its useless against single boss monsters
HOUR OF REAPING can provide a lot of utility for your party. You get it early, it has a big AOE and you can keep your opponents from comming closer to your squishy casters. Bonus: Its totally free and castable at will! Downside: If you dont use your main action to attack, you wont be able to use your bonusaction for unarmed strikes
MASTERY OF DEATH it basically makes you unkillable as long as you have KI points to spend. It gets weaker if you fight against hordes of enemies or against foes with multiple attacks as it requires you to spend more KI points to avoid death. Bonus: If you manage to slay somebody after using Mastery of death, you ll get some temporary hitpoints to keep going on.
TOUCH OF THE LONG DEATH is not bad as burst damage to finish somebody or if you know that you will have a short rest to replenish your KI points soon. It costs a lot of KI points to be effective and even if you spend a lot , its very likely worse than QUIVERING PALM. Damagewise you need to invest at least 5 KI Points to make it better than 4 unarmed strikes (from Flurry of Blows) so you better spend a lot of points or none!
Way of the Sun Soul
This Monastic Tradition gets undervallued by a lot of people. In my oppinion this is the most viable way to play a ranged Monk and to gain some AOE damage. The only real downside and the reason why I rate it half violet is that you miss out on some main class benefits, that can only be used by meele combatants. Also other lightblue classes also get additional utility in their Monastic Tradition. Dont let this discourage you from playing the Sun Soul Monk and keep in mind that you can also go into meele combat any time!
RADIANT SUNBOLT gives you 30 feet ranged attacks with radiant damage. They are as strong as your unarmend strikes and you can also spend one KI point here to add two attacks as your bonus action (a perfect substitute for Flurry of Blows). What you are missing is the one free bonus strike that close combat Monks can use as bonusaction (if you dont want to spend a KI point on Flurry of Blows) and the ability to use STUNNING STRIKE as it only works with meele attacks! This still makes you a very viable ranged combatant.
SEARING ARC STRIKE can be a usefull AOE spell as bonus action but i feel like it gets overshadowed pretty fast and you really dont want to sink lots of your KI points into this
SEARING SUNBURST provides you with an improvable free AOE spell. Monks usually have no way to deal with hordes of enemies, but this basically is a FIREBALL if you spend 3 KI points on it (same AOE, same Damage, same Range). You cant use this before level 11, but having an AOE spell is huge and one or two of these will still fry large hordes of critters
SUN SHIELD is a good effect with some return damage against meele attackers (reaction required!). Its strong and flavourful but nothing crazy for a lvl17 ability.
Way of the Kensei(without a shortsword)
This one is very hard to evaluate! You can choose up to three martial weapons, which you will be proficient with. The problem is that the only martial weapon that also counts as "Monk weapon" is the Shortsword. If you use anything else as you Kensei weapon, you loose all benefits from your MARTIAL ARTS. Unarmed strikes will only deal 1 damage again and you get no free unarmed strike as your bonusaction (but you can still use Flurry of Blows with 1 damage). In my oppinion you really have to use shortswords to be effective, otherwhise this Tradition is a trap.
PATH OF THE KENSEI makes using Martial Weapons viable. As you loose your bonuses on unarmed strikes if you dont use a shortsword, you get the option to use "pummel" as your bonus action to at least deal 1d4 (instead of you unarmed strikes). You get +2 AC if you use an unarmed strike in your attack action. This can push your AC significanty, however it keeps you from attacking with your martial weapon (which you wanted to do in the first place.) After lvl 5 you at least get to attack once with your Martial Weapon while you get the +2 AC
ONE WITH THE BLADE gives magical attacks with your weapons (which is needed against resistant/immune monsters) and another minor benefit. It's between blue and violet, because you unarmed strikes get this feature anyways
SHARPEN THE BLADE this is potentially very good as it gives you a strong buff for a long time. The downside is that this only counts for weapon attacks and not for unarmed strikes. Let me show you the following comparison: You often will attack 4 times after lvl5 (2 main attacks + 1-2 Unarmed strikes as bonus action) if you choose another Monastic Tradition. Using SHARPEN THE BLADE will cost you your bonus action and stengthen weapon attacks that you only can use once or twice a turn, depending on if you want to get your +2 AC. It might be viable, but is worth choosing the whole Monastic Tradition for it?
UNERRING ACCURACY finally a proper lvl 17 ability. Rerolling missed weapon attacks for free is a serious advantage! (keep in mind this does not count for unarmed strikes!)
Im sure this Monastic Tradition is viable if you use shortswords as your Kensei Weapon. My issue are all the hoops you have to jump through, just to use martial weapons during your main action and get the occassional +2 AC. While most other Tradtions give you AOE frightens , knock prone, AOE damage or unkillability,...... this Tradition only improves your Damage and sometimes your AC. In the end you will be able to make 2 Weapon strikes (with some good bonuses) and 2 unarmed strikes for a lot of damage.
Way of Tranquility
This Monastic Tradition is less combat based and gives you the possibility to heal and to avoid attacks. If you dont have a healer in your group, this might at least provide some help, while giving you a new monk experience!
PATH OF TRANQUILITY Do you remember the crappy TRANQUILITY ability from the Way of the open hand? This is so much better. Its still an ability with a medicore effect, but you can cast it for free beginning from level 3 and have unlimited uses with the only restriction that you cant cast it more often than once a minute. Nice to have and nice to use in and out of combat
HEALING HANDS is so good, because the scaling is so ridiculously good. With a HP pool that is 10 times your Monk level, you will be able to heal A LOT! Way of the open Hand Monks only get a weak 3xMonklevel self heal and even Clerics and Paladins only get to heal 5*Characterlevel once a day. You get double the amount, which itself contributes a lot to the viability of this Monastic Tradition!
DOUSE THEFLAMES OF WAR The ability itself is very very potent. Its also castable for free and at will! You can stop single enemies from attacking you to pass by or to negotiate. The big problem is, that the tamed creature and its allies cant take damage and cant get forced to do saving throws or the whole thing will end. So while you try to convince your second target to stop attacking, you force it to make a saving throw which will set your first target free again. Once cheesy thing you could try to do is to seperate your enemies somehow so that they wont free each other from the effect. (but seperating wont be easy with hostile creatures)
ANGER OF A GENTLE SOUL a potentially strong lvl 17 ability, as it can add 17*4= 68 damage a turn too your attacks, if you hit four times. The problem i see here is that you generally dont want so see your allies dying. As a result you wont benefit from this too often. A way to abuse this would be to play with a group that can conjure a lot of small beings. Everytime one of them dies you get these ridiculous damage bonuses
I will only shortly mention optimized choices here. Many other choices will also be solid, bring benefits and allow you to add personal flavour to your character!
RACEs
Wood elfs get you +2 DEX and +1 WIS which is very helpfull. Nightvision can be very usefull and 35 FT movespeed increases your already fast movement even more! Also you only have to be in trance for 4 hours during a long rest!
Ghostwise Halflings give you +2 to DEX and +1 to WIS. The reduced movementspeed (25Ft) gets compensated by the monks movementspeed increase! The "Lucky" ability is also very usefull to have! Bonus: Telepatic communication
Variant human is lightblue for most classes. Its also good here as you can increase two stats of your choice and add a feat on top, but because the monk is MAD and needs his stat increases more than additional feats, i rate it blue
Aarakocra +2 DEX and +1 WIS are perfect and flying speed opens a whole new World of options. I personally dont like them that much, because of their short lifespan and because there are many settings where they dont fit in
Backgrounds
In my oppinion pick whatever fits the story of your character, but if you still want to optimize here:
Outlander is a good background because you get proficiency atlethics and survival, an extra language and proficiency with an instrument. The wanderer feature is also not too bad
Sailor&Pirate Perception is King and you will be proficient in it (and in Athletics). The Sailors/Pirates Features are also quite good!
Urchin is also pretty good with Stealth and Sleight of hand as proficiencies!
FEATs
The Monk is one of the few classes that prefers stats increases over feats. If you still want to get some, here are some usefull ones:
Lucky: You basically can never go wrong with Lucky. If you want to increase your chances on getting good d20 rolls go ahead
Observant Increases your Wisdom by one and gives you +5 on passive perception and passive invetigation. If you have an odd WIS score and dont need additional stat boosts, this is quite good as passive perception can help you A LOT if your DM uses it regularly (which he should) to figure out if your group recognizes something without actively searching
Mobile: Makes you even faster and stops opportunity attacks, which enables a hit and run style. (the other option would be to use a KI point and a bonus action to disengage)
I ll only give a few thoughts as i generally dont like to multiclass with the monk, to avoid missing KI Points and to not lag behind in the power of my abilities during the game. On the other hand the monk does not have any crazy capstones to reach between level 18, 19 and 20, so taking a few levels off is possible.
(2-3 levels) Warlock:
CANTRIPS & LVL1 SPELLS Warlock spellslots refresh during short rests, having a repertoire of cantrips and lvl1 spells as a non caster class is very nice and adds new options!
Evils Sight is a nice combo with the Way of the Shadow because you will be able to create magical darkness while having the ability too have vision in it. That means in your darkness you get advantage on your attacks against creatures that rely on their vision and the creatures get disadvantage on their attack rolls if they can guess your location. If they guess wrong they straight out miss!
LvL3 gives you the option to use one of the three Pact features the Warlock offers!
FIGHTER and ROGUE are two other popular multiclassing options for the Monk.
2 levels of Fighter are a natural fit for every weapon oriented class as you get action surge and a Fighting Style.
Going into Rogue levels because you are a Shadow Monk is a bad idea in my oppinion as:
your sneak attack only scales with rogue level
and your sneak attack only triggers once a turn (but you have the ability to attack multiple times)
Cunning action with level 2 is still nice to have as you get to dash/disengage/hide as a bonus action!
Conclusion & TLDR:
I can recommend all Monastic Traditions except the Way of the four Elements. Depending on what you want to do all other Traditions are perfectly viable, while the Element Monk lags behind them in some aspects. Keep in mind that choosing one of the Traditions does not lock you into a certain playstyle or into the permanent use of the additional features you get. You will still have all the basic features that make the Monk a great fighter!
Way of the open hand for improved Flurry of Blows with utility and one shot kills beginning from lvl 17
Way of Shadow for teleport ninja action in the shadows and some lvl2 spells that have high utility
Way of the long Death to avoid death for a long time and for AOE frighten effects at will
Way of the Sun Soul for ranged attacks and AOE damage
Way of Tranquility for healing capabilities and to stop creatures from attacking
Way of the Kensei to use a Shortsword or other Martial Weapons
As i wasn't able find any Monk guides that include all the added Monastic Traditions from the Sword Coast Adventurer Guide and Underneath Arcana, I decided to write down my own guide about them to share my thoughts and experiences with the traditions! English is not my first language, so please forgive or report me mistakes you find. Im also happy about critique and suggestions!
The Monk is one of the rarer played classes in DnD because he does not fall in to one of the three typical roles of DnD characters (tank/damage/untility). While there are usually Fighters/Barbars/Paladins in the frontline, Sorcerers/Wizards in the backline and Druids/Bards/Clerics somewhere in the middle to keep the team together, the Monk has fewer appearances in classical Dnd setups (at least in the group i play with). He is a robust damage & utility hybrid.
While the d8 health die is only average, the Monk has a lot of ways to dodge or to mitigate damage. The class as a whole is very good in utilizing the action economy (main action/bonus action/reaction) and also has a suprisingly high damage output with all the bonus attacks! The Monk is a very constant class, that gives you a lot of options and probably never will feel useless, even if you already spent your KI points. However, while the class gains loads good of features on its way to lvl 20, it does not get any ridiculous capstone abililties that allow you to permanently turn your allies into fully grown dragons or to cast fireballs at will. (The only feature thats comparable is QUIVERING PALM from the "Way of the open Hand" tradition)
The thing i like most about the monk is that he is a character that has very viable attacks (i dont like to rely on very medicore cantrips when im out of spellslots), while still getting loads of free or KI based abilities and even spells. One could argue that classes like the knight can also gain spells by choosing the eldritch knight path, but that only enables the typicaly used shield spell and a few other utility spells, while the whole playstyle of the Monk is based around the effective usage of KI points (which you regain every SHOT REST)
The monk excels at locking down single targets and misses the ability to dish out AOE damage to deal with large groups (like most fighting based classes). While the basic features of the Monk already form a very feasible class, the 7 Monastic Traditions allow you to customize the class into a direction of your choice (ranged combat/ AOE damage / Healing/ weapon fighting / rouge like shadow skills ect....)
I will comment on Feat and Background choices in a short manner as there are many other guides about them and you are better off choosing based on your own preferences anyways.
Gold represents the best abilities
Sky blue represents excellent choices and very strong abilities
Blue represents good abilities that you might not want to miss
Violet represents optional abilities that are not necessarily bad but often weak compared to other choices
Red represents suboptimal choices that you should only pick up if you like the style and the flavour
Important: im not only rating the abilities based on their utility and strength but also based on their cost and on the level where you get access to it. For example abilitys that you get between lvl 17 and lvl 20 have to have a major impact on the character to get a good rating!
STR increases your carrying capacity and helps you with sometimes occuring strengths checks. If you have some points left you could spend them here.
DEX besides being your comat stat it also increases your AC, you initiative, and often required DEX saving throws and dex checks (like stealth). Your key Stat, max it!
CON boosts your HP and helps you with CON saves which occur from time to time
INT is the worst stat for you as there are not a lot if INT saves/INT ability checks and you dont benefit from it in other ways. The only reason for me to invest 2 points here is flavourwise to avoid playing an unintelligent character
WIS increases your AC and also your DC that enemies have to beat. Its also helps you to succeed on commonly apperaing WIS saving throws, that often have bad consequences if you miss your save. High WIS checks like Perception are also nice to have. This is your second priority after DEX
CHA i'd only increase this flavourwise or to be better in situations where you have to be talkative as there are a lot of usefull CHA based skills. If you have a lot of other CHA based characters in your party its even less important.
UNARMORED DEFENSE if you pick your Stats right this will give you good armor values early on and scale up to 20 AC as soon as your max DEX and WIS score. Definetely good to have!
MARTIAL ARTS enable your further abilities and allow you to do decent damage with your unarmed strikes. I would recommend to use a monk weapon in the beginning (at least till lvl5) because your unnarmed strikes only to 1d4 damage. This feature also allows you to make an unarmed strike as a bonus action for free! Very important as it allows you to attack two times a turn beginning from level1!
KI is the resource that enables a lot of strong things. Unlike most rescources it replenishes every short rest, which means you get to use it very frequently once you gained a few levels. You also dont have to be too concerned about spending too many points during combat. Important: KI Points allow the Monk to hit with additonal attacks or to stun an opponent. They increase the Monks fighting abilities. This means that if you gain additional abilities with KI Point costs their usage is not pure upside, but comes with the restriction that you have to decrease the ammount of bonus hits and stunns in order use the other ability. (contrary to the eldritch knight, whose additional spells dont tax him in the usage of other comabt abilities) Keep this in mind while evaluating abilities with KI point requirements!
Flurry of Blows allows you to make 2 instead of 1 unarmed strike as bonus action. After level 5 thats potential FOUR ATTACKS per turn! It gets bonus effects if you choose the Way of the open Hand as your Monastic Tradition. Be aware that you can only use it after you used your main action to attack!
Patient Defense and Step of the Wind can be very usefull in the right situation. Its a nice option to have but generally you dont want to spend a lot of your KI points here
UNARMORED MOVEMENT very nice ability to have as it allows you to move in and out of combat and close gaps. The bonus gets ridiculous at higher levels. Movement on water and along vertical surfaces can also be very usefull in the right situations
DEFLECT MISSILES Monks often can stun or run from melee fighters. So getting an ability to stop ranged foes is nice but its not a gamechanger. It requires your reaction, so you only can use it once a turn.
SLOW FALL is often handy, but rarely really important. I ll still take it if i get it for free!
EXTRA ATTACK allows the monk to strike 3 or 4 times when other combat classes strike 2 times. While the figher gets a 3rd and 4th attack we use Flurry of Blows and increase the damage of the unarmed strike with with increasing level.
STUNNING STRIKEgives you a lot of utility against single strong foes. You can attempt to stun somebody with every meele attack you make (also with Flurry of Blows). All further attacks from everyone (and your attacks on your next turn) are with advantage as the enemy is stunned until the end of your next turn. In addition he cant take any actions and reactions, which keeps your opponent from being relevant. Great ability!
KI EMPOWERED STRIKES are very important as the campaign goes on, to dodge resistances or immunities
EVASION not as good as i thought when i read it the first time, because it only dodges 1. Area of Effect 2. spells that 3.require a DEX save. Still very usefull!
STILLNESS OF MIND is situational, but still very usefull for getting rid of annoying effects that otherwhise could potentially disable you completely
PURITY OF BODY is no gamechanger either, but nice to have in certain situations
TONGUE OF THE SUN AND MOON I rate this rather high, because i have come into a lot of situtions where combat and difficulties could have been avoided by talking to and understanding creatures that are in your way. Of course there will be dumb creatures or creatures that will fight no matter what. But often understanding the reasoning behind an encounter helps you to avoid the encounter or to advance the knowledge about your campagin.
DIAMOND SOUL is GREAT, proficiencys for all saving throws (including death saving throws) is already great. Getting rerolls for 1 KI point makes it even better!!
TIMELESS BODY its nice to age like a super saiyajin, but its rarely relevant for campaigns
EMPTY BODY is very good, but comes a bit late. At least you have enough KI points at lvl 15 to make use of it
PERFECT SELF it's not bad to have, but its weak compared to other lvl 20 capstone features
There is no obvious best one that you have to pick above all the others so i will rate none of them Gold. I will start with the three from the players handbook, continue with the ones from the Swords Coast Adventure Guide and finish with the Underneath Arcana traditions.
Way of the open hand
OPEN HAND TECHNIQUE adds free features to your Flurry of Blows. The most commonly used one is to knock your opponent prone. Standing up will cost him half of his movement. Damagewise it is a two edged sword as prone opponents can be attacked with advantage in meele, but can only be attacked with disadvantage from the distance
WHOLENESS OF BODY of course its nice, but the bad scaling (3x your monk lvl) and the one time use per day make it rather weak. Still the ability to heal half of your HP once a day should not be underdestimated!
TRANQUILITY a weak abilty that only gets cast once a day and you cant even control when it gets cast. Obviously it has some utility but compared to everything else its a stinker!
QUIVERING PALM is the only save or die spell in 5e (to my knowledge). For only 3 KI points and one action you can kill anyone or deal 10d10 if they succeed on their CON save. Extremely strong! Its one of the main reasons why i would choose the Way of the open Hand. Be aware that you wont be able to use it before lvl 17!
Way of Shadow
I would rate this Tradition half lightblue / half blue if it wasnt so dependent on the surrounding light conditions. The Players Handbook states that even the worst weatherconditions during day are not enough to get dim light and a torch or the dancing lights cantrip can ruin your day
SHADOW ARTS can be pretty usefull. 2 KI points per spell are a lot in the beginning when KI points are limited, but mages also have to be canny with their spellslots in the beginning. You basically get the option to cast one of four very usefull spells for the cost of 2 KI points! (and a free usefull cantrip!) Taxing on your KI point economy, still very usefull!
Pass Without Trace The main gamechanger here is the +10 Stealth for your whole group, allowing you to suprise attack in encounters or to dodge them completely
Darkness can have a lot of utilities! (especially if you took 2 levels in warlock and the evocation to see trough the darkness!)
Silence usefull to have if you want to stop someone from talking or casters from casting!
Darkvision if a light source would keep you from being undetected it might be usefull, but generally you dont want to spend your KI points on it
Minor Illusion is one of the most usefull cantrips in and out of combat. Getting it for free as a non caster class is awesome!
SHADOW STEP makes you the perfect ninja if you can create a setting with lots of darkness or dim light. Advantage on attacks and teleport are quite good. It sounds good, its is not too bad, but keep in mind that you loose your Flurry of Blows if you use your bonus action to teleport and that its hard to use it if your surroundings are not naturally dark or dim. Bonus: You can use your teleport to get out of attackrange without the risk of opportunity attacks
OPPORTUNIST is a free attack (requies reaction) when you set it up right. Not too bad, but id expect something more powerfull at lvl 17
Way of the four Elements
To be honest the Way of the four Elements if the Tradition i have explored the least. It offers some powerfull spells, that otherwhise only can be cast by Wizards or Sorcerers. One highlight is the Fireball spell for 4 KI points at lvl 11, which gives you the option to dish out AOE damage! Some other examples for usefull spells:
Burning hands gives some nice AOE damage at early levels for 2 KI Points
Fly gives some nice utility for 4 KI points (lvl 11 required)
Water Whip was another usefull option until it was declared that it also has to be used as main action (instead of a bonus action)
The class offers some utility but in general the spells have too high level and KI point requirements to be used efficiently. If you want to play a spellcaster, id reccomend you to do so, because you will be able to cast your spells much earlier, much more often and with more additional benefits!
Way of the long Death
This is currently my favourite Monastic Tradition. It gives you utility and makes you hard to kill while complimenting your combat abilities.
TOUCH OF DEATH can support you with multiple health boosts per day or even per combat if you get to finsh some creatures. You can use it beginning with level 3 and it scales while you advance. If your group lets you deal finishing blows on purpose its even better! On the other hand its useless against single boss monsters
HOUR OF REAPING can provide a lot of utility for your party. You get it early, it has a big AOE and you can keep your opponents from comming closer to your squishy casters. Bonus: Its totally free and castable at will! Downside: If you dont use your main action to attack, you wont be able to use your bonusaction for unarmed strikes
MASTERY OF DEATH it basically makes you unkillable as long as you have KI points to spend. It gets weaker if you fight against hordes of enemies or against foes with multiple attacks as it requires you to spend more KI points to avoid death. Bonus: If you manage to slay somebody after using Mastery of death, you ll get some temporary hitpoints to keep going on.
TOUCH OF THE LONG DEATH is not bad as burst damage to finish somebody or if you know that you will have a short rest to replenish your KI points soon. It costs a lot of KI points to be effective and even if you spend a lot , its very likely worse than QUIVERING PALM. Damagewise you need to invest at least 5 KI Points to make it better than 4 unarmed strikes (from Flurry of Blows) so you better spend a lot of points or none!
Way of the Sun Soul
This Monastic Tradition gets undervallued by a lot of people. In my oppinion this is the most viable way to play a ranged Monk and to gain some AOE damage. The only real downside and the reason why I rate it half violet is that you miss out on some main class benefits, that can only be used by meele combatants. Also other lightblue classes also get additional utility in their Monastic Tradition. Dont let this discourage you from playing the Sun Soul Monk and keep in mind that you can also go into meele combat any time!
RADIANT SUNBOLT gives you 30 feet ranged attacks with radiant damage. They are as strong as your unarmend strikes and you can also spend one KI point here to add two attacks as your bonus action (a perfect substitute for Flurry of Blows). What you are missing is the one free bonus strike that close combat Monks can use as bonusaction (if you dont want to spend a KI point on Flurry of Blows) and the ability to use STUNNING STRIKE as it only works with meele attacks! This still makes you a very viable ranged combatant.
SEARING ARC STRIKE can be a usefull AOE spell as bonus action but i feel like it gets overshadowed pretty fast and you really dont want to sink lots of your KI points into this
SEARING SUNBURST provides you with an improvable free AOE spell. Monks usually have no way to deal with hordes of enemies, but this basically is a FIREBALL if you spend 3 KI points on it (same AOE, same Damage, same Range). You cant use this before level 11, but having an AOE spell is huge and one or two of these will still fry large hordes of critters
SUN SHIELD is a good effect with some return damage against meele attackers (reaction required!). Its strong and flavourful but nothing crazy for a lvl17 ability.
Way of the Kensei(without a shortsword)
This one is very hard to evaluate! You can choose up to three martial weapons, which you will be proficient with. The problem is that the only martial weapon that also counts as "Monk weapon" is the Shortsword. If you use anything else as you Kensei weapon, you loose all benefits from your MARTIAL ARTS. Unarmed strikes will only deal 1 damage again and you get no free unarmed strike as your bonusaction (but you can still use Flurry of Blows with 1 damage). In my oppinion you really have to use shortswords to be effective, otherwhise this Tradition is a trap.
PATH OF THE KENSEI makes using Martial Weapons viable. As you loose your bonuses on unarmed strikes if you dont use a shortsword, you get the option to use "pummel" as your bonus action to at least deal 1d4 (instead of you unarmed strikes). You get +2 AC if you use an unarmed strike in your attack action. This can push your AC significanty, however it keeps you from attacking with your martial weapon (which you wanted to do in the first place.) After lvl 5 you at least get to attack once with your Martial Weapon while you get the +2 AC
ONE WITH THE BLADE gives magical attacks with your weapons (which is needed against resistant/immune monsters) and another minor benefit. It's between blue and violet, because you unarmed strikes get this feature anyways
SHARPEN THE BLADE this is potentially very good as it gives you a strong buff for a long time. The downside is that this only counts for weapon attacks and not for unarmed strikes. Let me show you the following comparison: You often will attack 4 times after lvl5 (2 main attacks + 1-2 Unarmed strikes as bonus action) if you choose another Monastic Tradition. Using SHARPEN THE BLADE will cost you your bonus action and stengthen weapon attacks that you only can use once or twice a turn, depending on if you want to get your +2 AC. It might be viable, but is worth choosing the whole Monastic Tradition for it?
UNERRING ACCURACY finally a proper lvl 17 ability. Rerolling missed weapon attacks for free is a serious advantage! (keep in mind this does not count for unarmed strikes!)
Im sure this Monastic Tradition is viable if you use shortswords as your Kensei Weapon. My issue are all the hoops you have to jump through, just to use martial weapons during your main action and get the occassional +2 AC. While most other Tradtions give you AOE frightens , knock prone, AOE damage or unkillability,...... this Tradition only improves your Damage and sometimes your AC. In the end you will be able to make 2 Weapon strikes (with some good bonuses) and 2 unarmed strikes for a lot of damage.
Way of Tranquility
This Monastic Tradition is less combat based and gives you the possibility to heal and to avoid attacks. If you dont have a healer in your group, this might at least provide some help, while giving you a new monk experience!
PATH OF TRANQUILITY Do you remember the crappy TRANQUILITY ability from the Way of the open hand? This is so much better. Its still an ability with a medicore effect, but you can cast it for free beginning from level 3 and have unlimited uses with the only restriction that you cant cast it more often than once a minute. Nice to have and nice to use in and out of combat
HEALING HANDS is so good, because the scaling is so ridiculously good. With a HP pool that is 10 times your Monk level, you will be able to heal A LOT! Way of the open Hand Monks only get a weak 3xMonklevel self heal and even Clerics and Paladins only get to heal 5*Characterlevel once a day. You get double the amount, which itself contributes a lot to the viability of this Monastic Tradition!
DOUSE THEFLAMES OF WAR The ability itself is very very potent. Its also castable for free and at will! You can stop single enemies from attacking you to pass by or to negotiate. The big problem is, that the tamed creature and its allies cant take damage and cant get forced to do saving throws or the whole thing will end. So while you try to convince your second target to stop attacking, you force it to make a saving throw which will set your first target free again. Once cheesy thing you could try to do is to seperate your enemies somehow so that they wont free each other from the effect. (but seperating wont be easy with hostile creatures)
ANGER OF A GENTLE SOUL a potentially strong lvl 17 ability, as it can add 17*4= 68 damage a turn too your attacks, if you hit four times. The problem i see here is that you generally dont want so see your allies dying. As a result you wont benefit from this too often. A way to abuse this would be to play with a group that can conjure a lot of small beings. Everytime one of them dies you get these ridiculous damage bonuses
I will only shortly mention optimized choices here. Many other choices will also be solid, bring benefits and allow you to add personal flavour to your character!
RACEs
Wood elfs get you +2 DEX and +1 WIS which is very helpfull. Nightvision can be very usefull and 35 FT movespeed increases your already fast movement even more! Also you only have to be in trance for 4 hours during a long rest!
Ghostwise Halflings give you +2 to DEX and +1 to WIS. The reduced movementspeed (25Ft) gets compensated by the monks movementspeed increase! The "Lucky" ability is also very usefull to have! Bonus: Telepatic communication
Variant human is lightblue for most classes. Its also good here as you can increase two stats of your choice and add a feat on top, but because the monk is MAD and needs his stat increases more than additional feats, i rate it blue
Aarakocra +2 DEX and +1 WIS are perfect and flying speed opens a whole new World of options. I personally dont like them that much, because of their short lifespan and because there are many settings where they dont fit in
Backgrounds
In my oppinion pick whatever fits the story of your character, but if you still want to optimize here:
Outlander is a good background because you get proficiency atlethics and survival, an extra language and proficiency with an instrument. The wanderer feature is also not too bad
Sailor&Pirate Perception is King and you will be proficient in it (and in Athletics). The Sailors/Pirates Features are also quite good!
Urchin is also pretty good with Stealth and Sleight of hand as proficiencies!
FEATs
The Monk is one of the few classes that prefers stats increases over feats. If you still want to get some, here are some usefull ones:
Lucky: You basically can never go wrong with Lucky. If you want to increase your chances on getting good d20 rolls go ahead
Observant Increases your Wisdom by one and gives you +5 on passive perception and passive invetigation. If you have an odd WIS score and dont need additional stat boosts, this is quite good as passive perception can help you A LOT if your DM uses it regularly (which he should) to figure out if your group recognizes something without actively searching
Mobile: Makes you even faster and stops opportunity attacks, which enables a hit and run style. (the other option would be to use a KI point and a bonus action to disengage)
I ll only give a few thoughts as i generally dont like to multiclass with the monk, to avoid missing KI Points and to not lag behind in the power of my abilities during the game. On the other hand the monk does not have any crazy capstones to reach between level 18, 19 and 20, so taking a few levels off is possible.
(2-3 levels) Warlock:
CANTRIPS & LVL1 SPELLS Warlock spellslots refresh during short rests, having a repertoire of cantrips and lvl1 spells as a non caster class is very nice and adds new options!
Evils Sight is a nice combo with the Way of the Shadow because you will be able to create magical darkness while having the ability too have vision in it. That means in your darkness you get advantage on your attacks against creatures that rely on their vision and the creatures get disadvantage on their attack rolls if they can guess your location. If they guess wrong they straight out miss!
LvL3 gives you the option to use one of the three Pact features the Warlock offers!
FIGHTER and ROGUE are two other popular multiclassing options for the Monk.
2 levels of Fighter are a natural fit for every weapon oriented class as you get action surge and a Fighting Style.
Going into Rogue levels because you are a Shadow Monk is a bad idea in my oppinion as:
your sneak attack only scales with rogue level
and your sneak attack only triggers once a turn (but you have the ability to attack multiple times)
Cunning action with level 2 is still nice to have as you get to dash/disengage/hide as a bonus action!
Conclusion & TLDR:
I can recommend all Monastic Traditions except the Way of the four Elements. Depending on what you want to do all other Traditions are perfectly viable, while the Element Monk lags behind them in some aspects. Keep in mind that choosing one of the Traditions does not lock you into a certain playstyle or into the permanent use of the additional features you get. You will still have all the basic features that make the Monk a great fighter!
Way of the open hand for improved Flurry of Blows with utility and one shot kills beginning from lvl 17
Way of Shadow for teleport ninja action in the shadows and some lvl2 spells that have high utility
Way of the long Death to avoid death for a long time and for AOE frighten effects at will
Way of the Sun Soul for ranged attacks and AOE damage
Way of Tranquility for healing capabilities and to stop creatures from attacking
Way of the Kensei to use a Shortsword or other Martial Weapons