New player help required

[Eboweth]

Hi there, I recently started playing 5e after a long break from DnD and I'm looking for other players thoughts regarding character paths.

I'm currently playing a Variant Human Monk with ok stats (12, 16, 12, 11, 14, 12) we've just hit lv 2 in our group so it's early days so far but I can't work out what path to go down at lv3.

My character was taken into a monastery of Shar (probably closest path would be shadow) but was ultimately forced to leave, and is currently being hunted by the other members.

I can't work out if he would stay on the path of shadow as it's what he was taught growing up or if he would completely reject those teachings in favor of something else?

The other paths I had considered were Sun soul or open hand). Can you help by giving your opinions?

Obviously multi classing would be limited without spending an ASI.

If it helps the rest of the party is a Dwarf Fighter, Tiefling Druid, Tiefling Cleric & Dragonborn Paladin.

Many thanks ^_^

[nickl_2000]

Are you asking from a Roleplaying aspect or an optimization aspect with the character and the party?

[Eboweth]

Sorry I should have clarified. I am asking purely from a RP perspective :)

[pronate]

If you want to completely separate him from his clan, sun soul is pretty much the opposite of shadow, although long death might be appropriate as an adaptation and changing of their teachings

[Wildarm]

Torn inside by the betrayal of those you trusted, you could devolve into a spiral of depression and drinking. Drunken Hand technique could totally be viable to RP that way.

[Guy Lombard-O]

I'd say stick with Shadow. Sort of like Batman Begins. He takes the training, but puts it to a different use.

[Eboweth]

I hadn't considered the drunken master approach but like the idea. Unfortunately our whole group is limited on book resources so we don't have Long death or tranquility available.

I think thematically the main choices would boil down to:

Shadow - following what he learnt

Sun - to defy teaching (though not sure how he'd learn those skills without teaching - unless the Cleric/paladin inspired it)

Drunken Master - to forget his past (he's been on the run for about a year so may not have discovered his ability yet)

[Particle_Man]

I would go with shadow. You use your abilities for good!

[TheRatAlliance]

I would say it depends what type of personality he has. If he's angry and rebellious, or violent then he'd probably go Sun. If he's calm and collected or has high wisdom he'd probably go Shadow, but use it for his own purposes. If he's reckless and young, or kind of a lone wolf/pessimistic character, more likely to go for Drunken Master. Honestly, all the options are interesting and you can have really good character development with them, it just depends on what you feel is right for the character or most interesting for you!

[nickl_2000]

My 2 cents.

Go shadow, you are being hunted by the old members of your order, you don't have time to find a new order and get trained by them to learn these new abilities.

[Unoriginal]

Torn inside by the betrayal of those you trusted, you could devolve into a spiral of depression and drinking.

Or learn to enjoy the world via partying.

[Keravath]

It really depends on why he split from the school and the character's personality.

Perhaps he realized that the school where he was studying was taking the teachings of the school of shadow and twisting them to evil purposes. None of the schools are inherently good or evil, they just have different teachings and different ways of harnessing ki. Shadow focuses to some extent on stealth potentially making them excellent scouts.

However, perhaps the school he was at took a darker turn and was working with the local assassin's guild. When he found out, he couldn't stay and the knowledge he now has makes him a target of his former companions.

In this case, the character might choose to follow the true meaning of the school of shadow and use his abilities to oppose the heretics. On the other hand, perhaps he will become just disillusioned with the school of shadow and search out a different path. This is the part that depends on how you envisage the character. Is he likely to give up on what he has been taught or does he persevere?

---

If you have Xanathar's source book (probably the best to get next to the PHB) then one of the best multiclasses for a Variant Human monk would likely be 3 levels of gloomstalker ranger. The level 6 shadow monk ability requires being able to see in the dark ... Gloomstalker ranger gives you darkvision and you only need 13 dex and wis for the multiclass which you already have. It also would give you hunter's mark 3/day (and a couple of other possibly useful spells). Hunter's mark works pretty well against the targets with more hit points by boosting the monk damage potential.

Another possible multiclass is rogue for cunning action and more mobility.

Finally, you didn't mention what feat you took at 1st level ... but mobile tends to work very well for monks. Also, if you are planning to boost dex and ideally wis to 20 ... that would require 5 ASIs which you would only get with a 16 monk/4 X type build or 19-20 monk/1X (if staying mostly monk)

[Eboweth]

He grew up on a farm and returned home to find his mother and sister killed and the house burnt down (no idea where his father was but he was always distant so character didn't care about that so much). He stumbled upon the monastery who took him in.

Skimming the finer details he got another initiate pregnant and unfortunately both her and the child died I'm the process. He blamed the monastery for their deaths as they wouldn't get medical help from outside the monastery and they blamed him for the death of one of their initiates (from what I have read temples to Shar in particular are very strict) and planned on sacrificing him to repay the favor and appease the goddess. He's been on the run for the best part of a year. For an idea in distance he's originally from Rasheman and the campaign started near Waterdeep (the other side of Faerun).

He blames himself for not being able to help either of his families and figured he had run far enough.

In terms of his feats I picked up Athlete for the +1dex among other things. Getting both Dex and Wis to 20 would be great but 'max' base stats aren't exactly required for the role play side of the game. I'm more thinking of short term for the time being as who knows where the RP will end up taking the group.

I think though after the initial comments here my choice has narrowed to either Shadow or Drunken master though...

[Man_Over_Game]

Just a heads up, the Drunken Master doesn't inherently involve anything "drunken". It's a highly mobile melee combatant that relies on hitting hard and avoiding being hit.

The Shadow Monk relies heavily on controlling the combat scenario, silencing mages, teleporting through shadows, and using magic to enhance his stealth. A versatile, stealthy assassin type.

The Long Death Monk uses life energy to make himself more durable while making nearby enemies weaker. They're extremely hard to kill.

Another option is the Open Hand Monk. It's a "universal" style of monk, moving and manipulating enemies as they get hit. It also has a solid balance of defensive abilities.

You can kind of think of it like this:


PHYSICAL
Drunken Master
Open Hand
Long Death
Shadow
MAGICAL



MOBILE
Shadow
Drunken Master
Open Hand
Long Death
DURABLE



You can use that as a sort of guideline to determine how you'd like to play, and what you'd want to retain from your temple. Do you still want to use magic for good, or do you see Ki as an evil abuse of power? Do you use your mobility to run towards danger, or do you despise the assassin-style of your temple and learned to stand your ground?

There are other monk subclasses, but these seem to be the ones that would best fit what you're looking for.

[Eboweth]

Thank you all for your help and suggestions :)

After some thought I think it's likely I'll be going down the path of the Drunken master. I know it doesn't necessarily involve actually drinking but as an earlier post mentioned I think the depression thing would lead him down that path.

Although he couldn't prevent it, he blames himself for not being able to save his family or his wife and child. He's spent the last year looking over his shoulder for members of his order, so hasn't had the time to 'relax' or allow emotions to take control.

It would also be very ironic as in the characters eyes it would make him feel like his father (who he hates) which would probably drive him to drink more.

Having become like someone he promised not to be like, and feeling like the past has caught up to him would add to the story as well, with later levels and RP to allow him to potentially sober up.

[Mercurias]

Even after sobering up, the Drunken Master is probably the most fun “Here I am, so try and get me” spec you could pick outside of the Long Death Monk. It’s a good spec for fighting multiple enemies at once.