5e Monk subclass let me know

[Ogrillian]

D&D Class monk subtype Fist of the Wargod
You didn’t get trained in some monestary, you’ve walked countless battlefields relying on the only reliable weapon, yourself. Dodging countless strokes with death among hordes of enemies the essence of war has been engraved into your very bones and soul. So you have an enchanted sword, a spear that shoots lightning? So what, no matter what weapon you wield it still requires mastery of the body. What happens if I take it away, what if I break it, what can you do?


This was an extremely poor rough draft better version few comments below


Let me know what you think

[Lalliman]

I like the theme, but there's some issues.


Starting at level three when you choose this subclass you can now choose to make your unarmed attacks slashing, piercing, or bludgeoning. By spending an Extra Ki point when you activate Flurry of Blows you can change their attack type as well at -1 to hit. The two attacks must be of the same type.
This is a tiny benefit that, even when it matters, is really only useful for your bonus action attacks, since you can just use a slashing or piercing weapon with your main attacks. So why the restrictions? Just let them choose the damage type of all unarmed strikes at will.


All non magical melee attacks rolled as critical are reduced to half damage and you move 5 feet left or right, unless reduced to 0 hitpoints. Also unless stunned or bound spend 2 ki points to make a DEX check movement with advantage 1d4 feet away from an attack by any enemy your not targeting, including surprise and back attacks. If there is a person directly opposite of the attack, regardless friend or foe, they must make DEX roll as well or take the attack.
This one is undecipherable beyond the first sentence. Please explain what this is supposed to do.


Add your WIS modifier to your Health points and again every third level..(6,9,12, etc)
I like this one. There's not enough ways to be a tough monk in the base game.


Never too much deception in war - at level 7 You’ve learned exposing all your cards is a sure path to defeat, let them think your weak and when you get in close you explode with all your might. Spend 2 Ki points to make FoB one die higher. (2ki points 1d6 =1d8, 1d8=1d10 etc)
This should be 6th level, not 7th. Also, this is really terrible. Never ever worth it. You're wasting two FoBs (equivalent to ~15 future damage) to gain 2 extra damage, if you even hit.

Perhaps you can replace this with "When you use Flurry of Blows, you can spend 2 extra Ki points to make an additional attack as part of your bonus action." Similar application, still pretty niche, but much better. (It gives ~7.5 extra damage instead of 2.)


If not killed outright you can spend 4 ki points to regain 1d8xWIS hit points, next round all attacks you do are -5 to hit, if healed penalty goes away. 3 uses per long rest, 1 per battle.
I think you mean for this to be usable outside of your turn, in which case it should be something like "When you are reduced to 0 hit points but not killed outright, you can immediately spend 4 ki points to..."

That aside though, this is quite weak. It's a big ki cost for meagre healing, with a big offensive penalty attached. Admittedly you're not supposed to get a very powerful feature at this level, but even so it could be buffed. I suggest you remove the attack penalty, reduce the cost to 2 ki, and add a reaction cost for consistency. Also remove the per day and per battle limits, there's no need to have those when there's already a ki cost.


Roar of the Wargod: Lvl 17 Your very voice releases ki energy in a sonic attack. You can spend 10 Ki points to blast ki energy in a cone 20 feet long. The attack deals 8d10 + your Wisdom modifier in damage to all within the cone. A successful save (DC 15 + Wisdom modifier) halves the damage. ... Freely admit that this is a modified skill from 3.5 red avenger
First, no character gets static DCs. You should just leave the DC out, which will automatically imply that it uses the Ki save DC, which is 8 + prof + Wis. It also doesn't say what kind of save the target should actually make.

Secondly, this is cool, but the ki cost is horrendous. Quivering Palm can instantly kill a creature on a failed save, or deal 10d10 damage on a successful one, and that only costs 3 ki. This deals about the same damage on a failed save, and half that on a successful one. So I'd say the single target power is about half that of Quivering Palm. Assuming that you'll reliably hit about three targets with this, that makes this move about 0.5 x 3 = 1.5 times as powerful as quivering palm, perhaps a little more because of the better damage type (thunder assumably). So I'd put the ki cost at 5.

[Ogrillian]

Thanks for the advice. I was scrambling a little for the chill of death it was supposed to keep my monk from getting mobbed or ambushed kinda ridiculous probably change to spending 2 Ki points to avoid a critical damage hit. Will take your advice on the rest

[Ogrillian]

Oh-Kay here’s the re-revised edition
D&D Class monk subtype Fist of the Wargod


Battle Body - You’ve attacked and been with countless weapons until you’ve absorbed their essence and you’ve learned that your body is the only reliable one. Starting at level three Each time you make an unarmed strike, you can choose to deal bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage on a hit.

Also at 3rd level, your hit point maximum increases by an amount equal to 3 + your Wisdom modifier. Thereafter, your hit point maximum increases by 1 every time you gain a monk level.

Siege war - Lvl 6 Castle walls or armor it’s the same thing let your fist hail down like catapults! When you use Flurry of Blows, you can spend 2 Ki points to make it 1 die higher and gain an additional attack as part of your bonus action: ie FoB(1d8+1d8) becomes (1d10+1d10+1d10)

Undying Will - lvl 11 You’ve been ambushed, on the wrong side of losing wars, and countless fights. So what if your bleeding or have a broken arm? Your will is stronger than any blow they can dish out! When you are reduced to 0 hit points but not killed outright, you can immediately spend 3 ki points and a reaction to regain your Martial Arts die + Monk level in hit points. (Was trying to keep from OP figured it’ll scale decently)

Roar of the Wargod: When you reach 17th level, your voice becomes a harbinger of the power of war. As an action, you can spend 5 ki points to unleash a furious roar from your mouth. Each creature in a 20-foot cone must make a Dexterity saving throw, taking 8d10 thunder damage and Knocked back 10 feet and stunned on a failed save, or half as much damage and 5 foot knock back on a successful one. Creatures Large or bigger suffer no knock back but can be still be stunned on a failed save.

[Composer99]

Oh-Kay here’s the revised edition
Fist of the Wargod

I had a long review of the original version of this subclass half done last night, and finished it this morning only to have it vanish into the ether because the form had expired.

Just as well, seeing as there's a revised version.

Anyway, as an overall comment, I would recommend rewording the subclass flavour text and feature descriptions so they're a bit more in line with 5e standards.

As another overall comment, most monastic traditions have only one feature at each level they get a feature (3rd, 6th, and so on). The drunken master gets a second feature at 3rd level in the form of a bonus proficiency, so you probably need to cut one feature out of this archetype.


Battle Body - You’ve attacked and been with countless weapons until you’ve absorbed their essence and you’ve learned that your fist is the only reliable weapon. Starting at level three when you choose this subclass you can now choose to make your unarmed attacks slashing, piercing, or bludgeoning including Flurry of Blows

Definitely better than the original. That said, it's unclear when you choose to adjust your unarmed strike damage type, and how long the effect lasts.

I would suggest rewording the key feature text as follows:

Each time you make an unarmed strike, you can choose to deal bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage on a hit.

That covers every situation in which you make using an unarmed strike, including when you do so with Flurry of Blows, so you don't actually need to call it out.


Tactical Retreat- Your not fleeing your seeking better ground. Spend 2 Ki points to gain advantage on any creature you’ve disengaged from

What are you getting advantage on?

Anyway, this feature (and the one it replaced) is a good candidate to be removed so you don't have an excess of features.


Heart of War - Years of marching and being pounded on by shields, hammers, fists rocks, and pretty much everything else has taught you that war is won in the will as much as the body. Add your WIS modifier to your Health points and again every third level..(6,9,12, etc)

I would suggest smoothing out the hit point gain to something like the following:

Also at 3rd level, your hit point maximum increases by an amount equal to 3 + your Wisdom modifier. Thereafter, your hit point maximum increases by 1 every time you gain a monk level.

This seems like a minor enough feature that you can keep this and battle body at 3rd level.


Never too much deception in war - at level 6 You’ve learned exposing all your cards is a sure path to defeat, let them think your weak and when you get in close you explode with all your might. When you use Flurry of Blows, you can spend 2 extra Ki points to make an additional attack as part of your bonus action.

This feature is a marked improvement over its original version. I would say that (1) its name is overlong, and (2) the feature itself doesn't really fit the theme of deception.

Instead, I might suggest either of the following alternatives:

As a bonus action, spend 1 ki point and choose a creature you can see and that can see you. Make a Charisma (Deception) check contested by the target's Wisdom (Insight) check. If you win the contest, you have advantage on your first weapon attack against the target.


When you use Flurry of Blows, spend 1 additional ki point and choose a creature you can see and that can see you. The target must make a Wisdom saving throw against your ki save DC. On a failed save, you can make an additional attack against the target as part of your bonus action.

In either case, the benefit ties in to deceiving the target somehow, mechanically represented either by the contest or by it failing its Wisdom saving throw.


Undying Will - lvl 11 You’ve been ambushed, on the wrong side of losing wars, and countless fights. So what if your bleeding or have a broken arm? Your will is stronger than any blow they can dish out! When you are reduced to 0 hit points but not killed outright, you can immediately use a reaction to spend 2 ki points to regain 1d8xWIS hit points.

This is better than its original, although I don't really like how swingy it is. You could go from 3-4 to 24-32 hit points regained, depending upon the roll of the die.

I would suggest smoothing out the hit point gain: something like a roll of 2d8 or 3d8 and add your Wisdom modifier, or the sum of your monk levels plus your Wisdom modifier, or whatever you come up with, as long as it's not so swingy.


Roar of the Wargod: Lvl 17 Your very voice is the Harbinger of War, releasing ki energy in a sonic attack. You can spend 5 Ki points to blast ki energy in a cone 20 feet long. The attack deals 8d10 + your Wisdom modifier in damage to all within the cone.

First, this needs a bit of rewording. Second, what happened to the saving throw to halve the damage? Without that possibility, this feature needs to cost quite a bit more ki. Third, you still need to specify a damage type. Fourth, you need to specify the action required to use this feature - presumably, it's an action.

Maybe something like this?

When you reach 17th level, your voice becomes a harbinger of the power of war. As an action, you can spend 5 ki points to unleash a furious roar from your mouth. Each creature in a 20-foot cone must make a Dexterity saving throw, taking 8d10 thunder damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

Given the flavour of the feature, you could even have creatures being pushed away from you and knocked prone on a failed save.

[Ogrillian]

Will take these into consideration as I said I’m new so still a lot of fine tweaking to be done

[Lalliman]

As a bonus action, spend 1 ki point and choose a creature you can see and that can see you. Make a Charisma (Deception) check contested by the target's Wisdom (Insight) check. If you win the contest, you have advantage on your first weapon attack against the target.

When you use Flurry of Blows, spend 1 additional ki point and choose a creature you can see and that can see you. The target must make a Wisdom saving throw against your ki save DC. On a failed save, you can make an additional attack against the target as part of your bonus action.
The first one is terrible. Compare Shadow Step, which automatically gives advantage in addition to your teleport, as long as you're in dim light. This one doesn't require dim light, but has about a quarter of the benefit, and costs 1 ki.

The second one is good, though it does add up to two extra rolls to your turn, which is not ideal from a usability standpoint.

The rest of your advice is solid.

[Ogrillian]

Thank all of you for the advice it’s been a great help, trying to build a monk around a pure unarmed attacker with some utility (WotOH is great but I could smack whoever thought of tranquillity) if there’s anything you can think of (or a better skills/name) please don’t hold back Keeping the roar though that’s a must.

[Ogrillian]

Oh-Kay here’s the re-revised edition
D&D Class monk subtype Fist of the Wargod


Battle Body - You’ve attacked and been with countless weapons until you’ve absorbed their essence and you’ve learned that your body is the only reliable one. Starting at level three Each time you make an unarmed strike, you can choose to deal bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage on a hit.

Also at 3rd level, your hit point maximum increases by an amount equal to 3 + your Wisdom modifier. Thereafter, your hit point maximum increases by 1 every time you gain a monk level.

Siege Engine - Lvl 6 Castle walls or armor it’s the same thing let your fist hail down like catapults! When you use Flurry of Blows, you can spend 2 Ki points to make it 1 die higher and gain an additional attack as part of your bonus action: ie FoB(1d8+1d8) becomes (1d10+1d10+1d10)

Undying Will - lvl 11 You’ve been ambushed, on the wrong side of losing wars, and countless fights. So what if your bleeding or have a broken arm? Your will is stronger than any blow they can dish out! When you are reduced to 0 hit points but not killed outright, you can immediately spend 3 ki points and a reaction to regain your Martial Arts die + Monk level in hit points. (Was trying to keep from OP figured it’ll scale decently)

Roar of the Wargod: When you reach 17th level, your voice becomes a harbinger of the power of war. As an action, you can spend 5 ki points to unleash a furious roar from your mouth. Each creature in a 20-foot cone must make a Dexterity saving throw, taking 8d10 thunder damage and Knocked back 10 feet and stunned on a failed save, or half as much damage and 5 foot knock back on a successful one. Creatures Large or bigger suffer no knock back but can be still be stunned on a failed save.

[Durzan]

You might wanna note that this is a 5th edition thread through the Title Tags in the OP.

[Ogrillian]

You might wanna note that this is a 5th edition thread through the Title Tags in the OP.

??? If your talking about what I said at the end of the level 11 skill I meant keep from being OverPowered

[Durzan]

??? If your talking about what I said at the end of the level 11 skill I meant keep from being OverPowered

No, I'm literally talking about letting people know what edition of D&D this is for. Correct me if I am wrong, but Subclasses like you are describing in the OP are a thing that only occurs in 5th Edition.

Set your title Prefix to the appropriate tag, so that people can tell at a glance which edition this homebrew thread belongs under.