Monk / ranger help

[Symbiot]

We are starting a new campaign. We will be using a points buy and starting at level 8. So my idea is to make a Monk 5 open hand ranger 3 hunter. I'm thinking of a wood elf for the dex and wis boosts. Do to having one asi at this point my stats would look like 8, 20, 14, 8, 16, 8. This will give me a OK ac 4 attacks with flurry. I was thinking of taking a spear in one hand. Taking the dueling fighting style. So my damage would be good at 4d6 + 20 dex + 4 style + d8 colossus. 43 damage average. Also I would have hunters mark for an additional 4D6. If you add all the possible effects to use along side.
So here are the questions
Is this a decent build idea?
Where should I go on level progress. Probs will play to 16.
Is there anything I am missing or people would change?

[Foxhound438]

I've thought a lot on monk/ranger and pretty much the plan I thought was best is close to what you have, minus aesthetic/utility preference of shadow monk. Moving forward I think you probably want to go the rest in monk. An asi at ranger 4 might be worth it to you, but ranger 5 doesn't really add much for you... you already have extra attack, and ranger L2 spells aren't that stellar for a multi. Utility like silence and pass without trace might be worth, but... I haven't really weighted that personally since shadow monk already gets those.

[djreynolds]

We are starting a new campaign. We will be using a points buy and starting at level 8. So my idea is to make a Monk 5 open hand ranger 3 hunter. I'm thinking of a wood elf for the dex and wis boosts. Do to having one asi at this point my stats would look like 8, 20, 14, 8, 16, 8. This will give me a OK ac 4 attacks with flurry. I was thinking of taking a spear in one hand. Taking the dueling fighting style. So my damage would be good at 4d6 + 20 dex + 4 style + d8 colossus. 43 damage average. Also I would have hunters mark for an additional 4D6. If you add all the possible effects to use along side.
So here are the questions
Is this a decent build idea?
Where should I go on level progress. Probs will play to 16.
Is there anything I am missing or people would change?

I think its great, but I vote for archery style. Having a longbow opens up the battlefield and just who you can hit, and those who think they are beyond your reach. Its always on.

You can shoot a mook and soften him up for the fighter as you run over to the enemy caster and mess him up with your fists

But duelist style is just as good

[Lombra]

I think its great, but I vote for archery style. Having a longbow opens up the battlefield and just who you can hit, and those who think they are beyond your reach. Its always on.

You can shoot a mook and soften him up for the fighter as you run over to the enemy caster and mess him up with your fists

But duelist style is just as good

Ranged weapons aren't monk weapons (sadly) unless you were talking about the revised kensai.

[djreynolds]

Ranged weapons aren't monk weapons (sadly) unless you were talking about the revised kensai.

You are right, but a longbow is 1d8 and until 17th level it is just as good as you fist and has a range of up to 600ft, coupled with your base speed of 50ft... you now have a huge range of who you can actually attack.

Now you may want to use a sling or dart or javelin, and archery style works with a sling or dart as they are ranged weapons and do not have the two-handed property

So you can use a longbow which is 1d8 (better than anything a monk has in damage from range up to 150/600ft till 11th level) and split up your attacks

All you need is one melee attack to be able to get to use FOBs 2 extra attacks,

So since you have a 20 in dex a bow is awesome, as it is 1d8 in damage. So use a bow as you make you way to your enemy or until you are in range to use a sling, or dart, or javelin, or spear.

600ft is a longbows maxed range, and normal range is 150ft, spear and dart is 20ft, and sling and javelin are 30ft, even a short bow is 80ft. By the time you get in range to attack, it could be 2 rounds of 50ft of movement or you wasted KI on dashing.

[Symbiot]

Looking at the options I might take the next level in ranger for the asi and bump wis to 18, extra ac and dc, then Monk all the way until we finish. Also the dm has told us that we can have 1 +2 and 2 +1 items to start, at the dm's discretion ofcourse. So i was thinking braces of armour a ring of protection and a +1 spear. Are they good choices as ac 21 on a Monk seems rather good at level 8 and a couple more points of damage never hurts.

[djreynolds]

Looking at the options I might take the next level in ranger for the asi and bump wis to 18, extra ac and dc, then Monk all the way until we finish. Also the dm has told us that we can have 1 +2 and 2 +1 items to start, at the dm's discretion ofcourse. So i was thinking braces of armour a ring of protection and a +1 spear. Are they good choices as ac 21 on a Monk seems rather good at level 8 and a couple more points of damage never hurts.

Looks good to me, go with a spear its very cool.

Either archery or duelist style is awesome. In your case, as more of a melee type, duelist style is a better choice.

[Symbiot]

Not sure what adventure we are playing but knowing the dm they tend to ne more dungeon crawl then open terrain so range doesn't really play a large factor. It usually is up close and personal. Not sure on the damage front tho. 3d8 is an average of 15 plus dex is 30. 4d6 is 14 plus 20 dex plus 4 dueling. Or am I missing something off the longbow?

[djreynolds]

Not sure what adventure we are playing but knowing the dm they tend to ne more dungeon crawl then open terrain so range doesn't really play a large factor. It usually is up close and personal. Not sure on the damage front tho. 3d8 is an average of 15 plus dex is 30. 4d6 is 14 plus 20 dex plus 4 dueling. Or am I missing something off the longbow?

Your high dexterity makes the use of longbow a viable option, obviously in a dungeon crawl not so big of an advantage. But just buy one and sling on your back till you need it.

You will be fine with a spear, just have some darts handy to throw. As you don't want to lose that +1 spear when you throw it.

[Isaire]

Do to having one asi at this point my stats would look like 8, 20, 14, 8, 16, 8.

Just to check, using standard point buy wouldn't allow you to reach these stats. The highest you can buy is a 15, which can be made 17 with wood elf and 19 with one ASI.

[Symbiot]

I must have missed that bit getting carried away with other parts of the build I will have to swap some stats around

[Symbiot]

Would this be a better option? Go human variant instead of wood elf. Would lose 1 dex but I would get a feat! This could be spear mastery. Meaning D8 with the 2 attacks. Could cast hunters mark move into position and set for charge. So first turn if charged would get 4d8 and 6d6 plus bonuses? Then take away 1 d8 for the remainder. As I won't get d8 damage from martial arts until final level of campaign.

[Specter]

Would this be a better option? Go human variant instead of wood elf. Would lose 1 dex but I would get a feat! This could be spear mastery. Meaning D8 with the 2 attacks. Could cast hunters mark move into position and set for charge. So first turn if charged would get 4d8 and 6d6 plus bonuses? Then take away 1 d8 for the remainder. As I won't get d8 damage from martial arts until final level of campaign.

It's good, but Spear Mastery itself blows. That d8 damage will eventually be matched by your monk damage. Alert, Mage Slayer or even Tough are good feats for you in general.

[Mandragola]

How do you get to 20 dex at lvl 8 after only one ASI? With point buy you can only start out with 17 at best.

Duelist seems ok, but bear in mind that it's only really 1 more damage per attack with a spear. You can use it two-handed as a versatile weapon, which raises your average damage by 1/hit (from 3.5 to 4.5 on average on the dice). So on the whole, that fighting style doesn't do too much.

Hunter's mark is an interesting one. It's quite good against big creatures, if you can keep up concentration. Against little guys it's useless though, as you'll always need to keep moving it around - using up bonus actions that you'd otherwise be using to attack.

For these reasons, the monk/ranger combo isn't as amazing as it might seem initially. A single-class monk, with the extra ASI and more progress towards improved damage dice, might well be better in terms of dpr. The ranger does add fun things though.

[Foxhound438]

I would recommend lucky or observant if you do decide to go Vuman.