Kensai and Heavy weapons?

[Schwann145]

How do others feel about this limitation?
IMO, it doesn't need to exist, and actually goes directly against the source material.

Kensei are pretty clearly based on sohei, and sohei are famous for using naginata (the Japanese version of a European glaive) and bisento (a heavier version of a naginata!). In 5e, a kensai could not use these? That... really doesn't fit.
(They also pretty famously used kanabo, which is the heavy studded maul of the east - another heavy weapon a Kensai couldn't use!)

Silly restriction is silly.
Thoughts?

[MrStabby]

Well its not really a game about historical realism, so that doesn't bother me much.

On the other hand the class just doesn't appeal to me that much without it and it doesn't seem to add much to the monk. More varied weapons would certainly make it more fun whilst still remaining at the right power level.

Personally I am more concerned about the special weapons than the heavy ones - things like lances and nets. I had a few fun concepts lined up after the UA where it was introduced and between the heavy weapon restriction and the special weapon restriction all of them were invalidated.

[Spiritchaser]

I think there is legitimate concern that a Dex based GWM monk would be overpowered and or would be conceptually problematic for some. To my mind kensai is already pretty limited on a base class that is also limited, and I’d guess that Dex GWM would break things much less than hexblades. That said I’m certainly not privy to play test notes from the UA version so... who knows.

Conceptually? It’s certainly much less problematic than some existing mechanics.

Ah well, see if your DM will go for it.