Merciful feats for a merciful monk

[Vulryn]

Hellow there guys&gals,

For an upcoming campaign Starting at lvl 3, I am going to Play a half-elf monk (Guess what, Way of Mercy). Thanks to tashas, until my martial arts dice Start to scale, I can fight with a longsword (or some other martial versatile weapon, proficiency coming from Race Variant). Some Kind of Striker/Support, taking Most of the wisdom-Based skills.

We are also Granted one free feat. I think I want to increase the striking potential. Now I Wonder, whether I should take Elven accuracy, or Maybe feytouched (hex) due to the amount of Hits a monk can dish out. But maybe I Miss something Else entirely (I also Plan to get mobile at some point, since ist seems very Handy for a monk.)

Insights on the Topic appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Bonus question: When I crit and apply Hand of Harm, are the dice of HoH also doubled?

[stoutstien]

Hellow there guys&gals,

For an upcoming campaign Starting at lvl 3, I am going to Play a half-elf monk (Guess what, Way of Mercy). Thanks to tashas, until my martial arts dice Start to scale, I can fight with a longsword (or some other martial versatile weapon, proficiency coming from Race Variant). Some Kind of Striker/Support, taking Most of the wisdom-Based skills.

We are also Granted one free feat. I think I want to increase the striking potential. Now I Wonder, whether I should take Elven accuracy, or Maybe feytouched (hex) due to the amount of Hits a monk can dish out. But maybe I Miss something Else entirely (I also Plan to get mobile at some point, since ist seems very Handy for a monk.)

Insights on the Topic appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Bonus question: When I crit and apply Hand of Harm, are the dice of HoH also doubled?

first off, yes hands of harm die would double on critical hits. its might be worth saving it for then but with ki-fueled attack granting you a weapon attack as a bonus action when you spend ki its pretty much always worth trying to land HoH first then finish off with weapon attacks.

with feats mercy really pushes for higher dex and wis at one time. with all the new feats it is also easy to forget about the really nice ones in the PHB like observant and skulker

[nickl_2000]

I really don't think you can beat mobile on a monk. It makes movement easier, it makes you zoom through a battlefield with no one messing with you, and it gives you more opportunities to get to teammates to heal.

For optimization purposes it would be hard to beat.


You could also consider the healer feat, it is very fitting from a RP perspective (and it's actually a really good feat).

[MaxWilson]

I really don't think you can beat mobile on a monk. It makes movement easier, it makes you zoom through a battlefield with no one messing with you, and it gives you more opportunities to get to teammates to heal.

For optimization purposes it would be hard to beat.

Defensive Duelist is also quite good on a monk because they need AC and usually have at least one free hand for a finesse weapon. Defensive Duelist is sort of the opposite of Mobile: if you intend to tank (e.g. an Elemonk), you want Defensive Duelist and you'll probably use Patient Defense frequently. If you want to kite, you want Mobile, and your bonus action will usually go towards Martial Arts or sometimes Flurry of Blows.

[stoutstien]

Defensive Duelist is also quite good on a monk because they need AC and usually have at least one free hand for a finesse weapon. Defensive Duelist is sort of the opposite of Mobile: if you intend to tank (e.g. an Elemonk), you want Defensive Duelist and you'll probably use Patient Defense frequently. If you want to kite, you want Mobile, and your bonus action will usually go towards Martial Arts or sometimes Flurry of Blows.

i didn't mention DD because OP said he wanted to use a versatile weapon for more damage. definitely a gold star feat for tanky monks even over mobile. monks are one of those classes that want to eat the AOO if they can.

[Vulryn]

Think you all very much for your advice! Ill give it some More time Before I will make my choice. Its Not an easy one for sure x)

[MaxWilson]

i didn't mention DD because OP said he wanted to use a versatile weapon for more damage. definitely a gold star feat for tanky monks even over mobile. monks are one of those classes that want to eat the AOO if they can.

Makes sense, but there's nothing stopping you from attacking with a longsword and then drawing a dagger with your object interaction afterwards, so you can end your turn ready to DD. This approach works for Crossbow Experts too. Just carry enough daggers that you can afford to drop some if necessary.

[nickl_2000]

Think you all very much for your advice! Ill give it some More time Before I will make my choice. Its Not an easy one for sure x)

It's really easy to make choices for other people's characters, when it comes to making a choice for your own that's much harder.

It took me 2 weeks to decide what to do with my level 5 on my now AT 4/WW 1

[king_steve]

If you have higher wis than dex then one option to consider might be Magic Initiate (Druid) to pick up Shillelagh, one other cantrip and maybe something like Healing Word for a ranged heal. There are other good picks for a monk on the druid spell list but picking up Shillelagh early might be nice to let you focus on wis over dex.

[Pandamonium]

One good option might be if you take Elven Accuracy early on and then the Crusher feat at a later time for when the Martial Arts die comes along.
If you get one crit you can crit fish with the following advantage from the crusher feat!

[Vulryn]

If you have higher wis than dex then one option to consider might be Magic Initiate (Druid) to pick up Shillelagh, one other cantrip and maybe something like Healing Word for a ranged heal. There are other good picks for a monk on the druid spell list but picking up Shillelagh early might be nice to let you focus on wis over dex.

I was thinking about that as well. Wisdom would pump armor, saves, HoH heal/dmg and my skills.
Shillelagh would restrict me to quarterstaffs, though.

Dex would pump armor, initiative, Dex skills, weapon dmg. But it is less feat intensive, and it opens up a lot of weapons.

I try to plan around late game. In that Department, I guess it’s hard to beat the boost of, let’s say, a flametongue or something similar. Unfortunately there are not a lot of nice quarterstaffs around that are really good for a monk (the ones that are are pretty late lvl though :x).

I’ll have evaluate it all some more, though. There are more options than I thought, that’s for sure. I’m glad for your insights, folks. Thank you.

[stoutstien]

I was thinking about that as well. Wisdom would pump armor, saves, HoH heal/dmg and my skills.
Shillelagh would restrict me to quarterstaffs, though.

Dex would pump armor, initiative, Dex skills, weapon dmg. But it is less feat intensive, and it opens up a lot of weapons.

I try to plan around late game. In that Department, I guess it’s hard to beat the boost of, let’s say, a flametongue or something similar. Unfortunately there are not a lot of nice quarterstaffs around that are really good for a monk (the ones that are are pretty late lvl though :x).

I’ll have evaluate it all some more, though. There are more options than I thought, that’s for sure. I’m glad for your insights, folks. Thank you.

HoH does require an unarmed strike to proc so you will need some dex to land that if you want to use it.

[king_steve]

I try to plan around late game. In that Department, I guess it’s hard to beat the boost of, let’s say, a flametongue or something similar. Unfortunately there are not a lot of nice quarterstaffs around that are really good for a monk (the ones that are are pretty late lvl though :x).

I’ll have evaluate it all some more, though. There are more options than I thought, that’s for sure. I’m glad for your insights, folks. Thank you.

There is the Staff of Striking (very rare), Gulthias Staff (rare), Spider Staff (rare), Staff of Defense (rare) and Skyblinder's Staff (uncommon) are usable on a Monk. The other staffs would require at least 1 level of various spellcasters before you can make full use of them. Re-reading the Staff of Defense and Spider Staffs descriptions though, I wonder if you can cast the spells on the staff or not. Its worded in a strange way:


The staff has 10 charges, which are used to fuel the spells within it. With the staff in hand, you can use your action to cast one of the following spells from the staff if the spell is on your class’s spell list: mage armor (1 charge) or shield (2 charges). No components are required.

So, as a monk you don't have a spell list, but it also says you can use an action to cast the spell, which is odd and sounds like you can't use Shield as a reaction then. The Spider Staff does +1d6 poison damage and its two spells (Web and Spider Climb) are at least a little more useful to you than Mage Armor and Shield that you might not be able to cast as a reaction.

The Staff of Striking is a +3 and can add up to +3d6 force dmg if you expand charges on it, so its not exactly a Flame Tongue weapon, it's still pretty powerful.

Looking at the list, yea, its not that much, other than generic weapon traits. Maybe a 1 level dip into druid would be better than Magic Initiate (Druid) since it would give access to more spells and open up the ability to use more staffs, but it might not be worth the full level investment or fit your character concept.

[Delph]

I'm voting for Mobile feat. Free disingage and move,Is great when you need heal your companions.
You are in combat? Doesn't matter. Hit enemy, than go heal, again hit, go away...