Arcane Archers, Monks and weighted chain. For your opinions.

[BBQ Pork]

1) I haven't seen much discussion about the Arcane Archer. What's the general consensus on this archetype? Generally okay? Does it "need" anything?

2) Monk. Either Open Hand or Shadow Monk from PHB. Same questions.

3) Weighted Chain: 1d4 Bludgeoning, 2H, Reach, can be used for various maneuvers. Seem reasonable for a "martial arts weapon"?

[Gydian]

Archane Archer is limited on the number of shots they get. Because of this I suggest you don’t go higher than level 7 or 8 than multiclass.

[Blood of Gaea]

3) Weighted Chain: 1d4 Bludgeoning, 2H, Reach, can be used for various maneuvers. Seem reasonable for a "martial arts weapon"?
Just reflavour a whip and play a Battlemaster Fighter. The game is not built around non-magical weapons giving you special abilities. I'd personally remove the Finesse property, add the two-handed property, and give it 1d8 damage die.

[BBQ Pork]

Archane Archer is limited on the number of shots they get. Because of this I suggest you don’t go higher than level 7 or 8 than multiclass.

That's good to know. I'm not a fan of multiclassing when it's being done from sheer powergaming, but if it works thematically with the character, sure. Some levels of a spellcasting class would work.


Any opinions about Monks?

[Armored Walrus]

Any opinions about Monks?

Literally all over this board if you do a little searching. :P

[Vogie]

Curse Archers typically do Arcane Archer 11 / Warlock 9. That gives the Fighter's 3 attacks (invocation-free), 4 Arcane archer shot options (total of 2 shots/rest), plus solid spellcasting and smites (total of 2 slots/rest), with everything refreshing on a short rest.

Open hand is a solid monk archetype. Most monks can start burning down a target's legendary resistances from level 5 with repeated stunning strikes, but Open hand can start it at 3 by using their FoB to knock the target prone. Quivering Palm can really wrench an encounter, and can be easily applied if you have someone with Bestow curse on the team (or another way of giving a target disadvantage on Con saves).

I haven't played a Shadow monk myself, but I hear they're fantastic with a Rogue dip

I like the idea of the weighted chain, but I'd have a feeling that making it a 2 handed weapon might not pass a DM's sniff test if you're dipping fighter for GWF. "Whip, but bludgeoning damage instead of Slashing" would be a much easier swallow.

According to the wiki the bian was a monk weapon that used mace stats in the PHB (I'm AFB and cannot confirm), and that's a chain whip.

[Consensus]

I like the idea of the weighted chain, but I'd have a feeling that making it a 2 handed weapon might not pass a DM's sniff test if you're dipping fighter for GWF. "Whip, but bludgeoning damage instead of Slashing" would be a much easier swallow.
Great Weapon Fighting is strictly worse than dueling, without GWM which this weapon doesn't quality for. It's fine.

[Joe the Rat]

3) Weighted Chain: 1d4 Bludgeoning, 2H, Reach, can be used for various maneuvers. Seem reasonable for a "martial arts weapon"?

What are you going for here - like a manriki / gusari fundo, or something more like a meteor hammer?

Special traits related to maneuvers are outside of standard design (the ability to trip or disarm is tied more to user skill than weapon), so I'm going to leave that be.

Reskinning: For an all-monks weapon, you could treat this as a mace, or if you really want to get fancy, a quarterstaff. For Kensei you could grab whip (and do a damage switch to bludgeoning), or use the flail.

Building out: There are no simple reach weapons, so we are setting a new concept, or you could add this to the martial list, and add it as a monk option.

For the light chain, you could add finesse and keep those numbers, maybe upping to d6. Does the technique really require two hands? Finesse and reach might overdo it for simple, but okay on martial.

For heavy weight, it's a flail with reach. 1d8 bludgeoning reach, probably two hands (but not heavy).

Alternatively, this could be a missile weapon; with long enough chain, it's a sling bullet on a leash. (range 10/20, 1d4/6 bludgeoning, special: use chain/cord to retrieve after each attack). This would make using it while adjacent to foes more difficult, but that might better reflect usage - needing room to build momentum.