Newb Needs advice Monk/Fighter build

[Newb_be_gentle]

I'm 33 years old and am just now starting my first campaign in DnD and I could use advice on how to build this character as I progress. I wanted to do something really offbeat and make it my own but I don't just want to muddle through it, I want this character to be effective. What I've done is I chose to be a half-orc Monk/fighter and he is not a typical half-orc stature. I'm what would be considered a Runt and a bit of a cast away. Anyway there' back story to how I became what I am but that's not relevant right now. To date I am a level 3 Open hand Monk, and instead of taking the feats at level 4 I chose to multiclass into Fighter, and then our DM alows us to use features from unearthed arcana and I chose the unarmed fighting style. It's important to know that I use a 10ft chain with a hook as a weapon and the DM has also allowed me to use categorize it as a monk weapon. With this build so far I can grapple foes with my chain and with the unarmed fighting style I do damage each turn I keep someone grappled, I also get 1D8 for unarmed attacks because of my fighting class and that's great for a Monk who mostly punches and kicks. I know I will never be a tank and I won't do the most damage in a battle, but I would love to hear some advice on how to continue to build upon what I've already started. Again it's my first go around so if this build is complete nonsense to you veteran players I'm sorry I just wanted to make him as interesting as possible without really knowing what I was doing.

[FabulousFizban]

fighter is great to dip into but there is no need to take more than 3 levels of it. You really want to get up to Monk 5 for 2nd attack and stunning blow. Mobile is the classic feat choice for a monk. With a 10' reach Sentinel might be worth looking into as well. After that just boost Dex/Wis. Remember, float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.

[Newb_be_gentle]

Thanks Fizban! There's a lot of moving parts to this character and I'll definitely check out sentinel..Our DM is being very liberal as to what we can do as this campaign is 6 PC's who are all playing for the first time, so it's a lot of mayhem and a lot of questions. The thing about my character is I rolled horribly when it came to building my stats, and I have A LOT of negative proficiencies and one of them is wisdom...I know right a monk idiot?? I play as a loveable dummy but I have decent strength due to my halforc background and my dexterity is decent as well through some training in my backstory...my horrible stat rolls were part of the reason I thought to multiclass as I'm trying to compensate for my shortcomings.

[Aett_Thorn]

Thanks Fizban! There's a lot of moving parts to this character and I'll definitely check out sentinel..Our DM is being very liberal as to what we can do as this campaign is 6 PC's who are all playing for the first time, so it's a lot of mayhem and a lot of questions. The thing about my character is I rolled horribly when it came to building my stats, and I have A LOT of negative proficiencies and one of them is wisdom...I know right a monk idiot?? I play as a loveable dummy but I have decent strength due to my halforc background and my dexterity is decent as well through some training in my backstory...my horrible stat rolls were part of the reason I thought to multiclass as I'm trying to compensate for my shortcomings.

Well, your DM granting a lot of liberties with your first ever play-through is not exactly the advice that I would give (I usually recommend playing with the basic rules straight-up first so that new players get a feel for the rules and then expanding from there). But if that is the world you're playing in, then those are the rules that we'll use. However, keep in mind that without knowing exactly all of the house rules that you have in place, some of our advice might not make much sense.

With this in mind, a dip into Fighter might be better than first expected. Usually, a Monk wants high Dex and Wisdom, because they need it. Having a low Wisdom is going to hurt you in areas that Monks are expected to focus on, however, including Unarmored Defense and Stunning Strike. Without those two things, you're going to want to focus on other areas.

However, this is where you might be able to capitalize on this particular combo, and despite being mostly a Monk, you're going to be a heavily armored Monk. Now, normally I'd recommend this kind of build go Fighter first so that you get heavy armor, but that's out. Still, you're going to have medium armor and a good Dex. You're only going to take two levels in Fighter to get Action Surge, then take the rest of your levels as Monk (and I'd recommend getting to level 5 Monk next before going Fighter 2).

Now, wearing armor is going to shut down some of your basic abilities, but not as many as you'd think. Sure, you lose the scaling unarmed damage, and the ability to make a bonus action attack for free, but we can deal with that. The unarmed fighting style is going to compensate for a lot of that, anyways, and Flurry of Blows is going to give you bonus action attacks anyways (though keep in mind the range of unarmed attacks is still only 5 feet, despite your chain allowing you to attack from 10 feet away). However, the main benefit here is that you can use your Ki and Bonus Action to Patient Defense and take the Dodge Action, giving enemies disadvantage on all attacks against you. That's actually pretty good, especially if you've got a decent-ish AC. You won't have the same movement speed as a normal Monk, but you'll have the same as everyone else, so no big loss there.

Just lean in to the fightery side of the character, even though you're not going to take many levels in it. Make people think that you're just another Fighter, then do all of your cool Monk stuff to confuse them. Who is going to think that the guy in Half-Plate armor can catch the arrow they're shooting at them? Nobody, that's who.

[Newb_be_gentle]

Thanks Thorn! You're probably spot on about us playing a real liberal game when it comes to the rules, but I have to say it has definitely made our campaign pretty interesting and fun, as the DM and all of us are very close friends so we get what we're each trying to accomplish and having him bend on some rules to let us achieve those ideas has been fun...but I'm glad to hear that I may not be totally wasting my time with this multiclass and how far I should go with it.