Monk help, what race, what subclass?

[Khrysaes]

Hello, I am having trouble picking a race and subclass for a monk.

The problem is, all options look great. Halfing, Aarakocra, tabaxi, wood elf..

Drunken monk(gonna rp this regardless of subclass), open hand, shadow, kensei.

I am having problems deciding.

Stats rolled are 13, 17, 14, 12, 14, 13.

[MxKit]

Dang, those are some nice stats!

I'm heavily biased towards Drunken Master, though the other subclasses are also very fun. I'm not quite as heavily biased towards Tabaxi; Aarakocra would also be great for you, and Halfling would be both great and (imo) kind of hilarious. Tabaxi would make especially good Drunken Masters and Shadow Monks; Aarakocra I'd be inclined to make Open Hand but could also make quite a strong Kensei (since they get strong ranged options as well as melee ones); Halfling could go any subclass very easily.

Maybe narrow it down by what kind of things you think you'd like to do in this game. How do you see yourself behaving in combat, or out of it? Do you know anything about the campaign or its world yet?

[Nidgit]

Man you've got a real wealth of options there. With stats like those, I'd suggest you consider some unorthodox or difficult to achieve multiclass options since you'll be able to dip into pretty much anything you want. It all depends on how you want to fight and play your character.

[Crgaston]

With a wood elf, if you switch your Dex and Con scores, you can have a 18 Wis and 16 Dex for a 17 unarmored ac. That’s pretty strong. Plus the Wis benefits your Ki DC.

[the secret fire]

The Goblins from Volo's make surprisingly strong monks, as well. Their stat bonuses are excellent for any Dex-based class, and Nimble Escape is wonderful for a monk, especially a shadow monk.

Monk of the Long Death is also awesome, though it doesn't become really scary until 11th level. Monks are pretty cool in 5e.

[Mortis_Elrod]

Lizardfolk Any monk. I personally love shadow here for a nice predator of the night feel.

Arrange stats like this: 13/17/16(14+2)/12/15/13

Using lizardfolk AC you have 16 with the option of shield puting to 18. Your bite is an unarmed attack that works perfectly with monk abilties, so you start with 1d6 unarmed strikes which is more than any other monk AND you can effectively use a shield. If you do tho you lose out on 2 damage and accuracy since you have to go back to using STR but that might not be as important.

IDK what level you are starting at but it sounds like 3. Go shadow monk. At level 4 Increase Dex and wisdom. increasing you AC by 1 without the shield.

By level 2 you have 3d6+9 damage around if you hit all three attacks (flurry). Without furry you do about as much as a twfer without a feat using shortswords/scimitars/handaxes.



Lizardfolk Monks are also superflavorful. You can make your own weapons and shield, gain extra skills, swim and hold your breath, PLUS you're a cool lizardman with an Alien brain. Whats not to love?

[Khrysaes]

Ok. I actually chose a feral winged teifling, that just looks like an aarakocra.

I am thinking kensei, though I'll probably act like a drunkard.

[MarkVIIIMarc]

Pick your race based on what sounds fun, let the 5% difference (at best) a +1 here vs a +1 there break any ties.

[MxKit]

I am thinking kensei, though I'll probably act like a drunkard.

Maybe tweak the Urchin background to be a Drunken Gutterbird. Intimidation, Stealth, thieves' tools, and brewer's supplies for background proficiencies; brewer's supplies, a small knife, a map of the city, a set of common clothes, and a pouch containing 10 gp for your background equipment. You could keep the Urchin's feature as-is, or work with your DM to come up with a new one, maybe something related to taverns.

[Khrysaes]

Maybe tweak the Urchin background to be a Drunken Gutterbird. Intimidation, Stealth, thieves' tools, and brewer's supplies for background proficiencies; brewer's supplies, a small knife, a map of the city, a set of common clothes, and a pouch containing 10 gp for your background equipment. You could keep the Urchin's feature as-is, or work with your DM to come up with a new one, maybe something related to taverns.

Well, as I was making my character, the other people were playing their game.

The DM, unknowing of my racial choice (Aarakocra) at the time, said there was a hawk heard over head.

Two people decided to chase the hawk.

I called the DM over and told him I was thinking of Aarakocra as the race.

So, what the DM did was tell the people chasing the hawk that they lost it in the woods, howver they noticed a plume of smoke in the direction it went.

When they aproached, they noticed a camp with four bird-like people.

Then, without trying to talk or anything, one of the two attacks.

The Aarakocra retaliate. 3 of them die, one escapes.

Later, when they meet up with the rest of the part and get back to town, the Aarakocra were there, including me(now a winged tiefling, but I can look like an Aarakocra.)

So I drink because some *******s killed my tribe members. Drink to their honor and memory. Also being drunk is fun.

[Spiritchaser]

Ok. I actually chose a feral winged teifling, that just looks like an aarakocra.

I am thinking kensei, though I'll probably act like a drunkard.

Winged bow Kensei is hilariously effective in an open fight... particularly if you fit in a single level of fighter for archery and take sharpshooter

[The_Jette]

Well, as I was making my character, the other people were playing their game.

The DM, unknowing of my racial choice (Aarakocra) at the time, said there was a hawk heard over head.

Two people decided to chase the hawk.

I called the DM over and told him I was thinking of Aarakocra as the race.

So, what the DM did was tell the people chasing the hawk that they lost it in the woods, howver they noticed a plume of smoke in the direction it went.

When they aproached, they noticed a camp with four bird-like people.

Then, without trying to talk or anything, one of the two attacks.

The Aarakocra retaliate. 3 of them die, one escapes.

Later, when they meet up with the rest of the part and get back to town, the Aarakocra were there, including me(now a winged tiefling, but I can look like an Aarakocra.)

So I drink because some *******s killed my tribe members. Drink to their honor and memory. Also being drunk is fun.

Why did they attack the Aarakocra?

[Khrysaes]

Why did they attack the Aarakocra?

Because they are murder hobos?

They also didnt know what aarakocra were(as players.)

[Khrysaes]

Winged bow Kensei is hilariously effective in an open fight... particularly if you fit in a single level of fighter for archery and take sharpshooter

I was actually thinking this.

I was thinking of going 3 Fighter/17 Kensei.

Currently I am thinking the Brute subclass from UA.

For damage that would be 1d8(d10 when level 20) + 2d4 damage. with Martial arts damage for 1 ki point.

Conversely, with a Longsword, it is 1d10(because why wouldnt I use 2 hands?), +1d4. With martial arts dice for 1 point. Also can use flurry or unarmed strike this way, and gain 1-2d Martial Arts and +2AC.

The +2 from dueling is less than the +10 from sharpshooter.