Way of the Drunken Idiot

[Vogie]

I usually play casters, but had an idea of a decidedly not-monk who has it in their head that they are a monk. Drinking was most certainly involved. If they have a shield, it probably started the night as a tabletop.

Core would be Barbarian 2 / Brute Fighter 3, with Tavern Brawler to give you proficiency with unarmed strikes & improvised weapons, then further amplified by the Brute Force class feature as they level up.

Does this work? Or am I missing something?

[Ventruenox]

It certainly looks like it could be fun. There are Halfling Bards who think that they are Paladins, so why not? If you can play up the kung-fu geeky obsession angle, even roll failures can be entertaining. (Think Jack Black in Kung Fu Panda)

[tatsuyashiba]

5 levels in you’ve missed the second attack most martial classes give, and your first ASI/feat. You might want to go 5 straight levels fighter before the barbarian dip.

[Vogie]

5 levels in you’ve missed the second attack most martial classes give, and your first ASI/feat. You might want to go 5 straight levels fighter before the barbarian dip.

That's a good point - I didn't know which direction to go up next, and would probably start variant human to start with the tavern brawler. I wanted to have at least 1 level of barbarian for Unarmored Defense - I wanted to capture the feel that he is not a soldier, but just a dude. However, maybe starting 4/1 to have a snag the extra attack at next level.

I was probably going to creep up the fighter tree for the Brute force scaling... on the other hand, I could go just as easily go another level in Barbarian for a quick access to an extra attack while raging through Berzerker.

[tatsuyashiba]

Since you are starting at level 5, and considering 4 levels in Fighter, you might consider other races than variant human. Even normal human (+1 to all stats).

Worst case if you start with 15 strength regardless of race, you could bump it to 16 at level 4 with Tavern Brawler (a “half feat”).

Mountain Dwarf gets +2 strength and +2 con - awesome for stength based Barbarian using the Unarmored Defense feature. Including darkvision and other benefits of Dwarf package, I think it’s superior to an extra feat. Also note Fighters pick up feats quickly in mid to high levels.

[Lombra]

You can be a monk by class but not by roleplay.

[Rusvul]

^ I think that's a good idea.

There's a drunk monk in XGtE. It's pretty powerful, and I think it's best played without the 'monk' flavor--I had an idea for a character a while back who just gets drunk and wrestles things. Monk 5, Barbarian 1, Rogue 1 gives you Extra Attack, Rage (aka "tactical whiskey") for advantage on grapples, Expertise in Athletics (again, for grapples), proficiency in unarmed strikes, and a bunch of ki goodies. The downside is you can't wear armor, so you're a little MAD--but you can use either the Monk's or the Barbarian's Unarmed Defense, whichever works better with your stats. From there, I'd take at least one more level in Monk and Rogue for Tipsy Sway and Cunning Action respectively, but after that you have options. More Monk is probably best, but Fighter is a good option too (battlemaster for extra versatility, probably), and Rogue has some nice goodies too, if you want to build towards sneak attack.

At level 7, it's a fairly powerful build, but extremely versatile--grapples, sneak attacks, mobility, basically the only thing you can't do is nova damage. Super fun flavor, in my mind, too.