Need help choosing monk archetype

[jitzul]

About to start a game next week using the tal'dorei setting starting at lvl 1. Party is 4 people moon druid, illusion based sorcerer, life cleric and me. I need to know which archetype best complements the party and fills in any gaps the party may be missing. Long death and 4 elements are out the question. Long death was my first character and i'm not a big fan of that subclass. And i'm not keen on trying 4 elements. So any suggestions?

[polymphus]

Well I mean, you clearly like monk if that was your last character, so what do you like about it? You could make the case for most of the archetypes with that setup, but it would be good to know what sorta play is fun for you.

[bid]

About to start a game next week using the tal'dorei setting starting at lvl 1. Party is 4 people moon druid, illusion based sorcerer, life cleric and me. I need to know which archetype best complements the party and fills in any gaps the party may be missing. Long death and 4 elements are out the question. Long death was my first character and i'm not a big fan of that subclass. And i'm not keen on trying 4 elements. So any suggestions?
No martial classes, but 2 melee characters. No skill monkeys. Truly, a rogue's expertise would fill gaps better.

Way of the kensei would allow you to use maul with Dex. That would be very different.
Shadow might help for out-of-combat operations, although you have druid spells and illusions.
Open hand seems less useful with no big hitters.


I think it's mostly RP concept that will decide which way you pick.

[jitzul]

Well I mean, you clearly like monk if that was your last character, so what do you like about it? You could make the case for most of the archetypes with that setup, but it would be good to know what sorta play is fun for you.

Monk was my first character and my dm at the time convinced me to go long death. The main selling point for me was lvl 11 feature and the campaign crapped out at lvl 10:smallannoyed:. The main thing I liked about the monk was that their aesthetic of being a barefisted fighter resonates with me big time. In terms of "gameplay" whenever I was able to utilize the mobility of class I was having buckets of fun. One thing I did not like about the class was that the main useful feature of the class stunning strike felt kinda like a chore to use on enemies that weren't big sacks of con and feeling useless when fighting big sacks of con.

[polymphus]

Well so, there's two routes I see here:

1) Way of the Kensei or Open Hand will both make you more of a frontline guy, to stick with the cleric and keep the sorc safe. You and the druid can jump around/switch positions depending on his form, and you've got some solid tankiness.
2) Way of Shadow synergises really well with everybody except the life cleric -- you've got a pretty bomb-ass team of infiltrators set up there.

Personally, I can tell you shadow is buckets of fun -- you get the mobility stuff turned up to 11 (at lvl6!), you get minor illusion (the most fun cantrip in the game) and you'll be a good asset to your stealth buddies.

The big question to ask re shadow here is whether you think it's redundant or not -- whether you want to leave the sneaking to the other two, or whether you want to make that the party's thing.

(nb: no idea how well you know him, but if you go Shadow and talk the cleric into running Trickery that would be a pretty amazing party)

[polymphus]

Of the others: Sun Soul doesn't synergise with your party at all, Drunken Master is a mess that needs rebalancing (lol), Tranquility is possible I guess but I feel like you're already low on damage and probably need somebody to help put on the hurt.

You're right to put a Hard No on Four Elements -- it's trash. It's not great in gameplay OR in terms of being fun.

[mephnick]

You need damage and some spunk in that party. Lizardfolk Kensai. Bite people endlessly, do good damage, good racial AC with a bonus to AC because of your weapon. Extra racial skills. Take a battle axe or something for a versatile 1d10 attack since you don't need free hands to bite people in the face. Use javelins for your ranged attacks (works with kensai features). Be a giant rushing terrifying rage monster. With a Life Cleric you and the Druid can tear things to shreds without worrying too much about damage.

[polymphus]

You need damage and some spunk in that party. Lizardfolk Kensai. Bite people endlessly, do good damage, good racial AC with a bonus to AC because of your weapon. Extra racial skills. Take a battle axe or something for a versatile 1d10 attack since you don't need free hands to bite people in the face. Use javelins for your ranged attacks (works with kensai features). Be a giant rushing terrifying rage monster. With a Life Cleric you and the Druid can tear things to shreds without worrying too much about damage.
Second this. It sounds good as hell.

One issue -- I'm not sure you can use Natural Armor and Unarmored Defence together.

NA: "when you aren't wearing armor, your AC is 13+ your dexterity modifier"
UA: "while you are wearing no armor and not wielding a Shield, your AC equals 10 + your Dexterity modifier + your Wisdom modifier."

It seems like Unarmored Defence replaces (instead of buffing) the usual thing that happens when you're not wearing armor. It doesn't make a huge amount of sense just logically that a lizard's scales would prevent it from doing kung-fu, but see if you can get DM clarification on that one.

But yeah, Battleaxe Lizardman Kensei sounds kickass and would slot into your team well.

[jitzul]

So I think i've decided to go kensai. Also liked playing dps like characters so hopefully it will turn out fun.

[polymphus]

Awesome! Make sure you're using the most up-to-date one:

http://media.wizards.com/2017/dnd/downloads/UA-RevisedSubclasses.pdf

There's two versions around, and the older one is broken (in a bad/underpowered way).