Monk / Warlock

[Widjit]

Just made my second 5e character as my first one gave up his life (fighter) to let the rest of the party escape. This time around I'll be playing a Monk (Shadow) / Warlock (Raven Queen). We roll stats in our game and I rolled well enough to make it work stat wise.

I'm starting out at 5th level. I'm thinking of 3 levels monk, 2 levels warlock. This gets me some decent cantrips that stack with both monk and warlock levels as well as hex to synergize with monk flurry. Devil's Sight to go with monk's darkness ki ability. I've gone with half elf for the stats though I'm wondering if variant human would be better for mobility feat or something.

For stats I rolled 8, 14, 14, 16, 17, 17 which I placed thus;
Str 14
Dex 17 + 1 racial = 18
Con 14
Int 8
Wis 17 + 1 racial = 18
Cha 16 + 2 racial = 18

I went Devil's Sight and the Disguise self on Eldrich Invocations. I'm going to be RPing this kind of like a cross between the faceless from GoT and a a Van Helsing style undead hunter. So I'll have multiple personalities to gather information in towns. I'm curious if people have suggestions on my second and third spell besides hex? I "think" I want to go 6 Warlock 14 Monk eventually. Though I'm open to suggestions one way or another. I'm less worried about total combat ability as that was my fighter. This one I want to have fun with RP wise so I'm working more on that as my target to synergize abilities with.

Any advice / suggestions would be great, thanks!
-Widj

[Naanomi]

We had a warlock/monk/rogue in our party that was built along those lines... only had two levels of warlock and it worked fine, but I could see going for more. Sounds like a great starting point

[Widjit]

I'm wondering if it would hurt to swap str and int to help with skills and maybe dip a 2 levels bard for jack of all or a couple rogue. Considering this is more of a RP character than a fighter at heart.

[Naanomi]

I'm wondering if it would hurt to swap str and int to help with skills and maybe dip a 2 levels bard for jack of all or a couple rogue. Considering this is more of a RP character than a fighter at heart.
The character at our table went Assassin Rogue for some impressive 'flurry' Crit storm surprise rounds... though looking at their character sheet now they actually went a different route than you (not focusing on Wis and using Mage Armor invocation for their AC). It would work well with your character as well; if you got more Assassin levels for the 'disguise' abilities to go with your Warlock disguise invocation

[Widjit]

The character at our table went Assassin Rogue for some impressive 'flurry' Crit storm surprise rounds... though looking at their character sheet now they actually went a different route than you (not focusing on Wis and using Mage Armor invocation for their AC). It would work well with your character as well; if you got more Assassin levels for the 'disguise' abilities to go with your Warlock disguise invocation

So, instead of bard, you suggest Rogue? How many dips? Right now I'm 3 monk, 2 lock. Was looking at the next level monk to get the feat observant. What would I look for in levels? As my main class I believe to be monk first. Warnock 2, then rogue ?

Thank you!

[Mortis_Elrod]

I'd probably take monk to 6 before dipping out into assasin. Probably end with warlock or rouge 4/2 and 14 monk. Alternatively you could pick up ranger levels, monster slayer is pretty good for a Van Helsing type of stalker or deep stalker. Wouldn't go pass 4 levels so if you make it to 20 you get your 14th level monk feature. Switch Int and Str, better to be smart than weak. Use short sword as your weapon. Other options include swash buckler 3/raven queen chain or tome 3 / shadow monk 14

SA always and Cha to initiative as well as free run away if you attack.

[Bloodcloud]

You are probably better off getting monk 6 before going warlock. Grab extra attack, stun and shadow teleport, then get all the darkness goodies going.

I like warlock 3 on this, get the chain familiar and second level slots for darkness casting. Be carfeull with multiclassing too much, you might lose out on some core goodies and not get as much in return. Always compare your gains with your loss/push back. Check how your character competes at level 11 too.

[Captain Bob]

I'd agree with pushing for monk 6 first. Not having extra attack when everyone else has that or 3rd level spells also just feels bad, even if you have means of generating extra hits - this is discounting the fact that teleportation is ****ing awesome thematically and mechanically if your setting is lighting-appropriate. As good as chain pact is, I'd say there's an argument to be made for tome...this class may be the only one where control flames is worth a damn...then you can also nab useful goodies like mage hand or friends OR go for the guidance cheese. Level 3 warlock is a good choice so you can conserve KI for laying down the pain or dodging - I'd also ask if you can use variant half elf from sword coast...nab a 1 / day darkness spell. At monk 6 it's basically the equivalent of having misty step fo free.

**In terms of spells...protection from evil and good is independent of spell save and thematically useful if you're talking about a monster hunter or something. Maybe unseen servant? If you had the ritual casting invocation you could pick based on the ritual tag

[Widjit]

I'd agree with pushing for monk 6 first. Not having extra attack when everyone else has that or 3rd level spells also just feels bad, even if you have means of generating extra hits - this is discounting the fact that teleportation is ****ing awesome thematically and mechanically if your setting is lighting-appropriate. As good as chain pact is, I'd say there's an argument to be made for tome...this class may be the only one where control flames is worth a damn...then you can also nab useful goodies like mage hand or friends OR go for the guidance cheese. Level 3 warlock is a good choice so you can conserve KI for laying down the pain or dodging - I'd also ask if you can use variant half elf from sword coast...nab a 1 / day darkness spell. At monk 6 it's basically the equivalent of having misty step fo free.

**In terms of spells...protection from evil and good is independent of spell save and thematically useful if you're talking about a monster hunter or something. Maybe unseen servant? If you had the ritual casting invocation you could pick based on the ritual tag

I love the idea of the extra darkness but I worry about the loss of the two skill proficiency.

[Widjit]

Any thought on taking lvl 1 as rogue foe the 4 skills and 2 expertise?

[Naanomi]

I think the 'end build' might look something like... 3 Warlock (fiend or GOO; I could see arguments for any of the pact boones)/Monk (shadow) 6/Rogue (Assassin) 11... a teleporting sneaky Darkness exploiting combatant that can really shred someone in a surprise round...

Funny, when looking at this the exact same 'ratio' one could make a much different character that is also effective; an Open Hand/Swashbuckler/Feylock

[Captain Bob]

I think a good question to ask is what your end level is going to be. If your campaign will last a while, you can afford to jump classes a bit - if not, you probably want a build that will be up and running a quick as possible. If you have time and levels to play with, rogue is pretty cool. If not, I'd probably sprint to Monk 6 / Warlock 3 as quickly as you can.

[Widjit]

I think a good question to ask is what your end level is going to be. If your campaign will last a while, you can afford to jump classes a bit - if not, you probably want a build that will be up and running a quick as possible. If you have time and levels to play with, rogue is pretty cool. If not, I'd probably sprint to Monk 6 / Warlock 3 as quickly as you can.

This group seems to be going strong and most players are level 7 with no end in sight. lol I was a level 7 fighter who died to save the party be giving them time to retreat. So now I'm back at level 5 (1 under the lowest member of the party).

[Widjit]

So, I think I've settled on 3 Rogue (Scout), 3 Warlock (Raven Queen {Pact of the Tome}), and the 14 Monk (Shadows). The scout rogue for Skirmisher. Pact of the Tome for extra cantrip goodness. And Monk to 14.

Any suggestions on good cantrips for the free three ones I get from other classes?

I changed my race to human. My cha drops to 16 but I keep the 18 in Dex and Wis. This gives me the Mobile feet to start out with for some more survivability.

[Naanomi]

Any suggestions on good cantrips for the free three ones I get from other classes?
You can't go wrong with Guidance as a place to start, especially as a skill heavy character