Shadar-kai is a great option for shadow monk. I usually prefer goblin shadow monk. You can disengage or hide as a bonus action with nimble escape and deal extra damage from fury of the small.
After 6 lvl of monk, I would take 3 lvls in gloom stalker. For the umber sight ability, that makes you invisible to other creatures as long as you stay in the darkness. It also gives you some more spells to use
As written, the GS feature would only work in natural darkness, not magical darkness. It's not "invisible in darkness." It is "invisible to any creature that relies on darkvision to see you in that darkness."
I think it opens up more possibilities though bc you’re invisible anywhere you can teleport. That would also give you access to some nice spells to give you more options I think
3 level of fighter for echo knight, 3 level of ranger for gloomstalker (shilele + magic stone) primary Wisdom, can start human for extra feat, less ki point, slow down shadow monk progression a lot but can give a lot (mobility, fog clowd, huge DC for entangle and stunning strike, action surge, nice initiative, can take expertise in perception), i like that with Ki-Fueled Attack you can cast silence, attack someone maybe with stun and then move into melee with the caster inside silence.
My current character is a 7 level Shadow Monk and 4 Level Phantom Rogue with Sentinel and Devil's Sight Invocation from Eldritch Adept and some auto-spider-climb boots. It is the most fun I've ever had with a character. (My DM hates me :P) I am a walking lie detector that cannot be surprised due to +11 in perception and insight and I am undetectable with a +18 in stealth through Pass without a Trace. Landing those Sneak Attacks when you have such mobility and stealth is a really fun activity, even if this isn't the most optimal class damage-wise. I cannot believe that they gave a class 60 feet of teleport with no cost. When it's dark, you are literally a god.
For me My shadow Monk is Tabaxi Dex build with good wisdom and charisma multiclassed with Gloomstalker ranger and Storm Sorcerer. (Definently more on infiltrator/ possible assassin) Using Storm magic to give extra mobility when ever you cast a leveled spell, this would include magic items as well so have a ring of jumping and not only do you have amazing jumps but after you cast it you get Temperous magic granting you 10ft of flying; combine that with step of the wind you are having jumps that would get you to rooftops/ tree tops. Ranger : Hunters mark may not be all that good, but it is useful to track down targets. Plus giving a d10 hit die can help grant alot more health and gaining proficiency with martial weapons opens the door to more creative monks. Make sure to have blind fighting fighting style so you can not only navigate in Darkness spell (up to 10ft)...but also have a one-sided fight enemies attacking with disadvantage while your character just do normal attack rolls. Being a gloom stalker any creature that relies on darkvision will not see us, practically being invisible to them so long as you are out of the light. Ranger is only up to 4 levels to not only get a feat but for my character that is all that is needed as monk and sorcerer gives more benifits. Finally, Being a tabaxi you also have feline agility availible. Doubling your walking speed like the dash action, if you are trying to lose your enemies/guards...you literally can out run them. If you are able to shadow step a good distance away and use your feline agility you will most likely escape so long you are being smart. Also...being a sorcerer you have access to haste....just saying~ Main build focus: Infiltration and Control for stealth base missions. Info gathering, stealing documents, Stalking to find an enemy's place of operations. Combat wise: Extremely flexible with bow and arrow, can be armed with any weapon you want that would fit your monk thanks to multiclassing. If you are on melee range always make sure that the fight is on your advantage with darkness and blind fighting. Anyone on the outside won't know who or where to strike, those on the inside will struggle with navigation and retaliating attacks; all while your monk will be able to strike with precision so long as you get pass their AC. Overall Main focus on levels are monk and sorcerer. Ranger is to amplify stealth and gives fighting style.
The tongue-piercing strat with free action... I dont see this flying on many tables. After coffee lock, it is perhaps the most immersion breaking munchkin strat I have ever heard of.
I don't see it as immersion breaking. It seems like a very plausible thing for an order of ninjas to do. And @ the comment above this one: honestly, if you're going to contrive a way to ruin your player's fun like that, why DM at all?
@@elliotbryant3459 Sure, because they couldn't just cast darkness on a dagger. A dagger that they could throw and retrieve at anytime because they have blind sight. You going out of your way to try punishing something that they could have easily just done another way anyway is silly.
@@LupineShadowOmega 1. It's immersion breaking because it flaunts an awkward but necessary game mechanic [the isolated turn of individual creatures] to achieve what the player wants, to the detriment of any depiction of time [-and time seems pretty essential for most forms of immersive story telling]. A round is 6 seconds. On this player's turn, they [instantly] spread darkness in a 30' sphere, carried out 6 seconds worth of activities, and then [instantly] caused the darkness to dissipate, leaving everyone else's 6 seconds of time completely unaffected? 2. You have 1 free object interaction a turn. There is no rule about how often you can open and close your mouth. So they really couldn't do it just as easily as closing their mouth, if using a dagger. Meanwhile, it seems clear that the spell was written with an object interaction in mind for negating the darkness -given that every example provided would be an object interaction. So the mouth exploit is in TRDSIC territory. 3. You have 10' radius of blingsight. If you've ever thrown knives, the knife is likely to go far beyond the target unless it buries itself into it. Meanwhile that location is cloaked in darkness for the duration and you will have to go out of your way to retrieve it before you can benefit from it again and return that area from being a blind spot, bringing you back to the original darkness problems.
My group only have access to PHB and Custom lineage, so I'm thinking of using variant human with eldritch adept feat for Devil's Sight. Of course that means my 1st level will probably be a spellcaster, likely Twilight cleric. Play style would be more scouting to get a read on the scene before reporting back to the party, using Minor illusion to create a floor plan of the scene. Initiate infiltration using Pass Without Trace after the party decides on the course of action. What say you? Oh, I like your idea of using mirror (thieves' tools comes with a mirror) to scout under the door
Since you have been putting a few shadow monk builds out… have you considered going shadow monk dipping into two levels of trickery domain cleric? The channel divinity fixes the darkness issue and can also give you advantage on weapon attacks.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Tortles Teenage Mutant Ninja Tortles Heros in a half shell, TORTLE POWER!! brah, I couldn't resist it. I was compiled. Tho, artificer for goggles of night could be a option. And horizon Walker Ranger for more teleports. .... I say that cause the capstone is kinda .... eh. So......
Rogue 1 for the skills, 6 shadow monk levels, 4 gloom stalker ranger. rest any rogue you like Archery or blind fighting style . if you choose Bugbear better. fey touched at 4 for misty step and silvery barbs or gift of alachrity ( or hex). 20 Dex at lvl 11. A true ninja. infiltrator, skill monkey and reliable damage. You also can convince your Dm to make a custom weapon (ninjato) there is plenty of them online. At lvl 12 you have: 3 expertises i go with stealth, perception and slight of hand. Feats to have in mind after that: Eldritch Adept (mask of many faces or devil sight) and Mobile mostly because the bonus action is use in our teleport.
I would probably consider to take the level deep in fighter after 6 levels of monk because I don't like to slow down the extra attack, stunning strike and the Shadow step, but the idea of the blind fighting style is cool! Amazing as always bro! 😎
@@LupineShadowOmega hi, i rewatched the video to give you a proper answer; i think that for the sake of that specific combo that Sage desidered to pull off (blind fighting+darkness+sentinel feat) you could take the route that he suggested, because It's the faster one to reach that combo and gives you Con saves too that are useful for concentration (and this shadow monk specifically relies a lot on that); but you must keep in mind that extra Attack Is really strong and bonus actions aren't free, obviously the comparison doesn't even make that much sense because even the monk with extra Attack can use bonus action attacks and flurry, so extra attack it's just a big flat upgrade on damage and damage reliability, It's a flat extra chance to hit with a 1d10+3 damage, it's a lot of extra damage. More than this if you take 5 levels of monk First, you gain access to flurry of blows before, you have more ki points to use spells and flurries, you take stunning strike before, that technically serves a similar purpose of sentinel but obviously with pros and cons (pros like the fact that you don't remove the sight of your teammates from the target, it gives advantage to all your allies not only to you that can see in Darkness and cons obviously are that isn't guaranteed because requires a saving throw and creatures could rarely be immune to the stun condition). So in conclusion, this build Is basically a Shadow monk with sentinel and Blind fighting, you can choose your route of level progression depending on what you prioritize, do you want the combo as fast as you can? Than starts with fighter; do you want ki points, spells, extra Attack and stunning strike faster? Than starts with Monk. Edit: oh, i forgot, if you take the 5 levels monk route first you increase your martial dice and movement speed faster too.
I think the Poisoner feat works well with Monks, but with Shadow Monk, i think its exceptional. Poison prolly is more consistant and reliable than Stunning Stike. and it also save your Ki Points...
Death domain cleric, for at least 6 levels, for that twice per short rest Touch of Death. You might find some synergy with Spirit Shroud too, if you're going to do several FoB rounds. If not, the old Spirit Guardians reliable would make you really dangerous in melee.
I think that while its a bummer that shadow monks can't get a sneak attack-like feature (because then they'd be a bit broken), but then it really makes sense for shadow monks to use poison to over come that weakness, much like ninjas then again, poison is kinda horrible in dnd, so you'd have to make a compromise with your DM.
Currently, Shadar-Kai Shadow Monk 6 and the next 4 levels will be Warlock for invocations and 2nd level spells. Although my stats were rolled in accordance to our game where we are working to give the players some survivability. So roll 4d6 drop lowest rolled 12 times, rerolling only one 1 each set of rolls, taking the 6 highest rolls. My current stats are Str: 14, Dex:19, Con:18, Int:15, Wis:20, Cha:16 (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 18) with three +1s as the racial stat bonus and +1 Wis from Fey Touched(Misty Step/Hex). The stats might make this monk viable.
My intuition says you'd want at least 6 levels of Shadow Monk, to get to Shadow Step, 3 Levels of Gloomstalker Ranger for Blind Fighting, Dread Ambusher and Umbral Sight, and 3 Levels of Assassin Rogue for Assassinate. And then take more Monk and Rogue levels to get more ki points and sneak attack damage.
Your noise and mouth are connected. Just closing your mouth may not stop the effect. IMO. I suppose it's how does it work at your table. Is it like a negative light source or is it like a deep dark mist. Depending on how it's ruled it may not work.
human lvl 1 take shadow touched feat, you get invisibility spell as ritual, i grab change-self too. Kinda cool for lvl 1 to get free invisibility. No more stealth check to make!
![[DRIP] ‘Love, Maybe’ PREVIEW](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/U7hwHp95m1k/mqdefault.jpg)
Shadar-kai is a great option for shadow monk. I usually prefer goblin shadow monk. You can disengage or hide as a bonus action with nimble escape and deal extra damage from fury of the small.
I gave my shadow monk Devil's Sight and Aspect of the Moon. Very useful, very fun.
After 6 lvl of monk, I would take 3 lvls in gloom stalker. For the umber sight ability, that makes you invisible to other creatures as long as you stay in the darkness. It also gives you some more spells to use
As written, the GS feature would only work in natural darkness, not magical darkness. It's not "invisible in darkness." It is "invisible to any creature that relies on darkvision to see you in that darkness."
I think it opens up more possibilities though bc you’re invisible anywhere you can teleport. That would also give you access to some nice spells to give you more options I think
3 level of fighter for echo knight, 3 level of ranger for gloomstalker (shilele + magic stone) primary Wisdom, can start human for extra feat, less ki point, slow down shadow monk progression a lot but can give a lot (mobility, fog clowd, huge DC for entangle and stunning strike, action surge, nice initiative, can take expertise in perception), i like that with Ki-Fueled Attack you can cast silence, attack someone maybe with stun and then move into melee with the caster inside silence.
My current character is a 7 level Shadow Monk and 4 Level Phantom Rogue with Sentinel and Devil's Sight Invocation from Eldritch Adept and some auto-spider-climb boots. It is the most fun I've ever had with a character. (My DM hates me :P)
I am a walking lie detector that cannot be surprised due to +11 in perception and insight and I am undetectable with a +18 in stealth through Pass without a Trace. Landing those Sneak Attacks when you have such mobility and stealth is a really fun activity, even if this isn't the most optimal class damage-wise.
I cannot believe that they gave a class 60 feet of teleport with no cost. When it's dark, you are literally a god.
For me My shadow Monk is Tabaxi Dex build with good wisdom and charisma multiclassed with Gloomstalker ranger and Storm Sorcerer. (Definently more on infiltrator/ possible assassin)
Using Storm magic to give extra mobility when ever you cast a leveled spell, this would include magic items as well so have a ring of jumping and not only do you have amazing jumps but after you cast it you get Temperous magic granting you 10ft of flying; combine that with step of the wind you are having jumps that would get you to rooftops/ tree tops.
Ranger : Hunters mark may not be all that good, but it is useful to track down targets.
Plus giving a d10 hit die can help grant alot more health and gaining proficiency with martial weapons opens the door to more creative monks. Make sure to have blind fighting fighting style so you can not only navigate in Darkness spell (up to 10ft)...but also have a one-sided fight enemies attacking with disadvantage while your character just do normal attack rolls. Being a gloom stalker any creature that relies on darkvision will not see us, practically being invisible to them so long as you are out of the light. Ranger is only up to 4 levels to not only get a feat but for my character that is all that is needed as monk and sorcerer gives more benifits.
Finally, Being a tabaxi you also have feline agility availible. Doubling your walking speed like the dash action, if you are trying to lose your enemies/guards...you literally can out run them. If you are able to shadow step a good distance away and use your feline agility you will most likely escape so long you are being smart. Also...being a sorcerer you have access to haste....just saying~
Main build focus: Infiltration and Control for stealth base missions. Info gathering, stealing documents, Stalking to find an enemy's place of operations.
Combat wise: Extremely flexible with bow and arrow, can be armed with any weapon you want that would fit your monk thanks to multiclassing. If you are on melee range always make sure that the fight is on your advantage with darkness and blind fighting. Anyone on the outside won't know who or where to strike, those on the inside will struggle with navigation and retaliating attacks; all while your monk will be able to strike with precision so long as you get pass their AC.
Overall Main focus on levels are monk and sorcerer. Ranger is to amplify stealth and gives fighting style.
The tongue-piercing strat with free action... I dont see this flying on many tables. After coffee lock, it is perhaps the most immersion breaking munchkin strat I have ever heard of.
right? that behavior will drive a DM to seek out the first poetic opportunity to have the monks tongue cut off, lol
I don't see it as immersion breaking. It seems like a very plausible thing for an order of ninjas to do.
And @ the comment above this one: honestly, if you're going to contrive a way to ruin your player's fun like that, why DM at all?
@@elliotbryant3459 Sure, because they couldn't just cast darkness on a dagger. A dagger that they could throw and retrieve at anytime because they have blind sight. You going out of your way to try punishing something that they could have easily just done another way anyway is silly.
@@LupineShadowOmega 1. It's immersion breaking because it flaunts an awkward but necessary game mechanic [the isolated turn of individual creatures] to achieve what the player wants, to the detriment of any depiction of time [-and time seems pretty essential for most forms of immersive story telling]. A round is 6 seconds. On this player's turn, they [instantly] spread darkness in a 30' sphere, carried out 6 seconds worth of activities, and then [instantly] caused the darkness to dissipate, leaving everyone else's 6 seconds of time completely unaffected?
2. You have 1 free object interaction a turn. There is no rule about how often you can open and close your mouth. So they really couldn't do it just as easily as closing their mouth, if using a dagger. Meanwhile, it seems clear that the spell was written with an object interaction in mind for negating the darkness -given that every example provided would be an object interaction. So the mouth exploit is in TRDSIC territory.
3. You have 10' radius of blingsight. If you've ever thrown knives, the knife is likely to go far beyond the target unless it buries itself into it. Meanwhile that location is cloaked in darkness for the duration and you will have to go out of your way to retrieve it before you can benefit from it again and return that area from being a blind spot, bringing you back to the original darkness problems.
Doesn’t Dark Vision last 8 hours? We can short rest then adventure after casting it. So it can be virtually free when you can short rest after.
My group only have access to PHB and Custom lineage, so I'm thinking of using variant human with eldritch adept feat for Devil's Sight.
Of course that means my 1st level will probably be a spellcaster, likely Twilight cleric.
Play style would be more scouting to get a read on the scene before reporting back to the party, using Minor illusion to create a floor plan of the scene. Initiate infiltration using Pass Without Trace after the party decides on the course of action.
What say you?
Oh, I like your idea of using mirror (thieves' tools comes with a mirror) to scout under the door
Since you have been putting a few shadow monk builds out… have you considered going shadow monk dipping into two levels of trickery domain cleric? The channel divinity fixes the darkness issue and can also give you advantage on weapon attacks.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Tortles
Teenage Mutant Ninja Tortles
Heros in a half shell,
TORTLE POWER!!
brah, I couldn't resist it. I was compiled.
Tho, artificer for goggles of night could be a option. And horizon Walker Ranger for more teleports. ....
I say that cause the capstone is kinda .... eh. So......
Rogue 1 for the skills, 6 shadow monk levels, 4 gloom stalker ranger. rest any rogue you like Archery or blind fighting style . if you choose Bugbear better. fey touched at 4 for misty step and silvery barbs or gift of alachrity ( or hex). 20 Dex at lvl 11. A true ninja. infiltrator, skill monkey and reliable damage. You also can convince your Dm to make a custom weapon (ninjato) there is plenty of them online. At lvl 12 you have: 3 expertises i go with stealth, perception and slight of hand. Feats to have in mind after that: Eldritch Adept (mask of many faces or devil sight) and Mobile mostly because the bonus action is use in our teleport.
I would probably consider to take the level deep in fighter after 6 levels of monk because I don't like to slow down the extra attack, stunning strike and the Shadow step, but the idea of the blind fighting style is cool!
Amazing as always bro! 😎
But you are already a monk, you have a bonus action attack and Flurry, so while extra attack is nice, it isn't as big an issue as it is for others.
@@LupineShadowOmega hi, i rewatched the video to give you a proper answer; i think that for the sake of that specific combo that Sage desidered to pull off (blind fighting+darkness+sentinel feat) you could take the route that he suggested, because It's the faster one to reach that combo and gives you Con saves too that are useful for concentration (and this shadow monk specifically relies a lot on that); but you must keep in mind that extra Attack Is really strong and bonus actions aren't free, obviously the comparison doesn't even make that much sense because even the monk with extra Attack can use bonus action attacks and flurry, so extra attack it's just a big flat upgrade on damage and damage reliability, It's a flat extra chance to hit with a 1d10+3 damage, it's a lot of extra damage.
More than this if you take 5 levels of monk First, you gain access to flurry of blows before, you have more ki points to use spells and flurries, you take stunning strike before, that technically serves a similar purpose of sentinel but obviously with pros and cons (pros like the fact that you don't remove the sight of your teammates from the target, it gives advantage to all your allies not only to you that can see in Darkness and cons obviously are that isn't guaranteed because requires a saving throw and creatures could rarely be immune to the stun condition).
So in conclusion, this build Is basically a Shadow monk with sentinel and Blind fighting, you can choose your route of level progression depending on what you prioritize, do you want the combo as fast as you can? Than starts with fighter; do you want ki points, spells, extra Attack and stunning strike faster? Than starts with Monk.
Edit: oh, i forgot, if you take the 5 levels monk route first you increase your martial dice and movement speed faster too.
I'm playing a human shadow monk with few levels of fighter (echo knight). Having a lot of mobility is really fun to play with
I took Eldritch Adept: Devil's Sight. (Dark Lady’s Sight) as a Shar worshiper (Order of the Black Moon).
I think the Poisoner feat works well with Monks, but with Shadow Monk, i think its exceptional. Poison prolly is more consistant and reliable than Stunning Stike. and it also save your Ki Points...
It's tempting to go 3 levels deep in rouge in order to take the assassin subclass for those auto crits on unaware targets who haven't acted yet.
Death domain cleric, for at least 6 levels, for that twice per short rest Touch of Death. You might find some synergy with Spirit Shroud too, if you're going to do several FoB rounds. If not, the old Spirit Guardians reliable would make you really dangerous in melee.
So, one thing I did in my games was give shadow monk the ability to deal all critical hits when attacking an enemy from surprise.
I think that while its a bummer that shadow monks can't get a sneak attack-like feature (because then they'd be a bit broken), but then it really makes sense for shadow monks to use poison to over come that weakness, much like ninjas
then again, poison is kinda horrible in dnd, so you'd have to make a compromise with your DM.
Currently, Shadar-Kai Shadow Monk 6 and the next 4 levels will be Warlock for invocations and 2nd level spells. Although my stats were rolled in accordance to our game where we are working to give the players some survivability. So roll 4d6 drop lowest rolled 12 times, rerolling only one 1 each set of rolls, taking the 6 highest rolls. My current stats are Str: 14, Dex:19, Con:18, Int:15, Wis:20, Cha:16 (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 18) with three +1s as the racial stat bonus and +1 Wis from Fey Touched(Misty Step/Hex). The stats might make this monk viable.
rogue 1, monk 6, fighter 1, rogue 3 (swash, scout, assas), fighter 2, monk 14, fighter 3(battlemaster or samurai) totals: monk 14, fighter 3, rogue 3
My intuition says you'd want at least 6 levels of Shadow Monk, to get to Shadow Step, 3 Levels of Gloomstalker Ranger for Blind Fighting, Dread Ambusher and Umbral Sight, and 3 Levels of Assassin Rogue for Assassinate. And then take more Monk and Rogue levels to get more ki points and sneak attack damage.
Your noise and mouth are connected. Just closing your mouth may not stop the effect. IMO.
I suppose it's how does it work at your table. Is it like a negative light source or is it like a deep dark mist. Depending on how it's ruled it may not work.
❤️
Go Gloom stalker for 3 levels so your running around with a 17 stealth while completely invisible at like level 5.
human lvl 1 take shadow touched feat, you get invisibility spell as ritual, i grab change-self too. Kinda cool for lvl 1 to get free invisibility. No more stealth check to make!
Magic initiate druid pick controll flames create bonfire and rope trick...
Still don't like the tongue piercing or the emo elf, but it's not all about me.