Way of the Open Hand or Way of the Shadow?

[xroads]

Which path should my monk take? Open Hand? Shadow? Or some other path entirely?

In our last game session my kenku monk, Ship Horn, reached 3rd level. I can't decide which path to choose for him.

If it helps provide food for thought, Ship Horn has the background "gladiator" due to being tossed into the gladiator arena when he was a young street urchin. After learning his monk skills from a fellow sympathetic gladiator who took him under his wings, Ship Horn escaped and became an adventurer.

Several encounters later, he now finds himself on an alternate plane of existence where magic has been forgotten but still exists. And most other races, kenkus included, don't exist.

[nickl_2000]

How high will this campaign go?
What type of monsters are you fighting and expect to fight?
What is the rest of the party like? What classes, how do they behave?
What is the role of your character?
Most Importantly: Do either of them seem more fun to you?

[Keravath]

It depends mostly on what you prefer.

Open hand is probably mechanically better at fighting. The rider effects on their flurry of blows strikes can be extremely useful and very ki efficient.

On the other hand, shadow brings a lot of versatility to the table. Casting silence/darkness/darkvision etc for 2 ki can be extremely useful. Shadowstep 60' in dim light or darkness as a bonus action at level 6 is amazing.

My monk went with the Way of Shadows but I'd suggest picking what you want to play and if you can't decide then what fits the character and their experiences better.

[zinycor]

Without knowing your party composition is hard to give good advice. really depends on your role in the party.

[xroads]

How high will this campaign go?
Not high. I suspect tier 2 at the highest.


What type of monsters are you fighting and expect to fight?
So far we've encountered kobolds & duergar. And I expect we'll encounter monsters that fit thematically in a low magic world (for example, nobody has seen dragons for centuries).


What is the rest of the party like? What classes, how do they behave?
We have a bard, a ranger, and a sorcerer in the party.


What is the role of your character?
Still defining it. But stealthy scrapper so far.


Most Importantly: Do either of them seem more fun to you?
Both do. I was originally aiming for Way of the Shadow (hence the stealthy scrapper). But it occurred to me recently that Way of the Open Fist might be fun too. And fits with his background just as smoothly.

[zinycor]

I believe Open hand would fit better, since your party seems to already be pretty mobile as it is.

[nickl_2000]

Given that most of the rest of the party is decent at stealth and that they will be good at ranged attacks I would go Way of the Shadow. You won't be wanting to knock prone from open hand since it give them disadvantage on ranged attacks.

However, that is me and I love Way of the Shadow.

[Cicciograna]

Whatever suits your gaming style and aesthetics. For example, whenever I play Small Monk characters, I'm really fond of the Open Hand, because I find the idea of a Halfling flinging larger opponents around and making them fall on their butts amusing.

[Expected]

Given that most of the rest of the party is decent at stealth and that they will be good at ranged attacks I would go Way of the Shadow. You won't be wanting to knock prone from open hand since it give them disadvantage on ranged attacks.

However, that is me and I love Way of the Shadow.
I agree. Way of the Open Hand would be better if you had frontliners who could get advantage from enemies being knocked prone.

[Magicspook]

After learning his monk skills from a fellow sympathetic gladiator who took him under his wings,

He took a kenku umder his wing? That's harsh man...

Imo, open hand monk is only fun because you can say "omae wa mu shindeiru" and explode someone. I vote shadow monk all day every day.

[Keravath]

With your group, most of the utility of the open hand monk is wasted since you don't have many melee characters to take advantage of targets that you would knock prone. Bard, ranger and sorcerer aren't usually front liners and prefer to stay at range (if the ranger is using a bow) but even if they aren't the ranger AC is 1 less since they usually go light or medium armor+shield if in melee.

In addition, if you face a group with enemy casters, the shadowstep ability can be a great way to get behind the opponents and attack/stun important targets early in the fight.

So, I'd probably recommend shadow monk as well.