4th and 5th kensei weapons?

[Millstone85]

Choosing your first three kensei weapons seems obvious:

Either the battleaxe, the longsword, or the warhammer, so you immediately get that d10.
The longbow, which is the ranged weapon with the best range, best die available, and no loading.
The whip, for when you need the reach.

Do tell me if I am already wrong.

But what of the fourth and fifth kensei weapons? What can you take that wouldn't be entirely redundant?

An idea I have is to go for "improvisable" weapons. When separated from your kensei weapons, you pick up some object you think can be treated like one of them. But I am not sure which weapons would be the most improvisable.

[GlenSmash!]

Whatever Magic Weapon you may have found that you like, but didn't fall into a previous choice would be my first vote.

[ciarannihill]

For flavor reasons I really like Darts, but I wouldn't necessarily consider them "optimal".

I think I wouldn't necessarily plan for them, but leave them open to be chosen based on magic items your group comes across with cool properties that might be situationally useful even when they aren't necessarily the best weapon for you in a vacuum.

EDIT: For example, you have a Sun Blade as your primary weapon. It's a good Longsword. You guys acquire a Giant Slayer Battle Axe from a corpse at the foot of a mountain where Giants are known to inhabit? I might pick up Battleaxe as an additional Kensei weapon.

[Lunali]

A melee piercing weapon would be a good idea, personally I'm a fan of daggers since the damage die doesn't really matter at that point. Another decent choice would be quarterstaff since it's often available even in areas with weapon restrictions.

[Speely]

I like daggers a lot. By that point, the damage die doesn't matter, and you could use daggers for whatever. Ignore the 5th weapon because it doesn't matter if you already took Longbow.

[Tiadoppler]

#4: the weird, exotic, unbalanced homebrew weapon that the DM made for the big-bad's most powerful assassin or general.
#5: a squeaky rubber hammer for amusement value.

[Lolzyking]

Musket or pistol are interesting choices as well

[Vogie]

Whip is my favorite


Musket or pistol are interesting choices as well

Pistol Monk?

Alright, looks like I'm going to be making a refluffed Sun Soul Monk that's a Grammatron Cleric... probably with a couple levels of Stalker Ranger for that explosive first turn.

[Millstone85]

Thank you all for your answers, though I see that nobody commented on improvisable weapons.

A magic weapon the character isn't already proficient with would certainly make the choice easier. But that's on the DM.

Darts, yes, if you consider them a signature of the class. Monks do start with 10 of those.

But I think I am going to join the dagger hype. Since we are talking rare cases, a piercing melee weapon could be needed. Plus, daggers can be used much like darts.

[Millstone85]

I gave some more thought to this.

The particular character I have in mind uses a longsword, a longbow and a whip.

That means no source of crushing damage. Also, I am still going with my idea of an improvisable weapon.

So club it is.

[Unoriginal]

I gave some more thought to this.

The particular character I have in mind uses a longsword, a longbow and a whip.

That means no source of crushing damage. Also, I am still going with my idea of an improvisable weapon.

So club it is.

5e lists the nunchaku as a refluffed club, if it helps.

[Millstone85]

That means no source of crushing damage.That is to say, no source of crushing damage beside your fists. But you can't use kensei options on them.


5e lists the nunchaku as a refluffed club, if it helps.Thanks. Although I won't really emphasize the eastern origin of the art.

[Naanomi]

Blowdart because it is funniest

[Nod_Hero]

Blowdart because it is funniest

"Awwwwww, is the widdle monkey-wonkey gonna shoot a widdle blowdart at me? How adorable!"

[1d10+1d10+1d4+8 damage later]

"What the FRAK!"

[Man_Over_Game]

Sling. There's not anything else that's going to provide what you don't already have. But a sling is a weapon you can always get. You just need some scraps for a sling and a few rocks and you're good. I'd dismantle it and store it somewhere in your stuff, so in case your weapons get confiscated, you always have a backup plan.