Greywander
2020-05-18, 08:18 PM
I'm not super familiar with monks, but I was looking at Sun Soul recently and thought it seemed okay-ish, but could use a bit of revision.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Eic-RV22t4SBE-MKFw02vHYV28oZWBDThqx0eo7FgSs/edit?usp=sharing
Here's some of the logic of this:
Radiant Sun Bolt doesn't really let you do anything you couldn't already do with a shortbow. It was an interesting ability, but it didn't make the monk stronger, just a bit more versatile, and that versatility came at the cost of power. Most of your other monk features can't be used with the sun bolts (which, to be fair, is also true for a shortbow). So I tweaked it a bit to make it more of a "ranged monk" ability, allowing you to use more of your existing features. Because it's now a weapon attack instead of a spell attack, you can buff your range with Sharpshooter if you want to.
I thought Searing Arc Strike was mostly fine, but people like being able to change the damage type. I added the option, but with a ki cost, and offered a couple different damage types.
Since Stunning Strikes, the bread and butter of the monk, require a melee weapon attack, I gave the Sun Soul a Blinding Strike ability that works with any weapon attack (ranged or melee). Blinded isn't as good of a condition to inflict as stun, but it's better than nothing. Stunning Strike still gives you a reason to close to melee range, but Blinding Strike allows you to still contribute while keeping your distance.
People also complain that Searing Sunburst does no damage on a successful save. I agree that this hurts, but it's also a fairly powerful at-will ability. I added a ki cost to make it half damage on a passed save.
Sun Shield was always underwhelming. I made it not require a reaction to deal damage to an attacker, and instead you can use a reaction to (basically) turn invisible until the start of your next turn (at the cost of 1 ki). It struck me as odd that an ability with "shield" in the name didn't really have any defensive properties.
Thoughts? Experienced monk players, how does this stack up? Too strong, too weak?
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Eic-RV22t4SBE-MKFw02vHYV28oZWBDThqx0eo7FgSs/edit?usp=sharing
Here's some of the logic of this:
Radiant Sun Bolt doesn't really let you do anything you couldn't already do with a shortbow. It was an interesting ability, but it didn't make the monk stronger, just a bit more versatile, and that versatility came at the cost of power. Most of your other monk features can't be used with the sun bolts (which, to be fair, is also true for a shortbow). So I tweaked it a bit to make it more of a "ranged monk" ability, allowing you to use more of your existing features. Because it's now a weapon attack instead of a spell attack, you can buff your range with Sharpshooter if you want to.
I thought Searing Arc Strike was mostly fine, but people like being able to change the damage type. I added the option, but with a ki cost, and offered a couple different damage types.
Since Stunning Strikes, the bread and butter of the monk, require a melee weapon attack, I gave the Sun Soul a Blinding Strike ability that works with any weapon attack (ranged or melee). Blinded isn't as good of a condition to inflict as stun, but it's better than nothing. Stunning Strike still gives you a reason to close to melee range, but Blinding Strike allows you to still contribute while keeping your distance.
People also complain that Searing Sunburst does no damage on a successful save. I agree that this hurts, but it's also a fairly powerful at-will ability. I added a ki cost to make it half damage on a passed save.
Sun Shield was always underwhelming. I made it not require a reaction to deal damage to an attacker, and instead you can use a reaction to (basically) turn invisible until the start of your next turn (at the cost of 1 ki). It struck me as odd that an ability with "shield" in the name didn't really have any defensive properties.
Thoughts? Experienced monk players, how does this stack up? Too strong, too weak?