Errata! Gathered Swarm requires you to choose between the extra d6 *or* movement - we'd be doing movement, obviously, which does lower our high level damage numbers just a teeny bit.
Sorry to bother you, but I got curious while I was watching the video and I had to check on the PHB. I don't think that water whip has a limit on how many ki points you can spend on it. The PHB mentions that the spells have a limit and have to wait till level 5 to spend extra ki points, but the "disciplines" (fist of unbroken air, fangs of the fire snake...) just have the extra damage written in their descriptions, so technically, I think it would be possible to spend extra ki points on it right away. I don't know though, maybe I misinterpreted.
Kobe is safe, the ogl contract does not affect Financial gains made from patreon support. There would be some licensing fees that will apply to him but nothing that's any more damaging than the original contract. Now if Kobe was to make a book based on his stories Wizards of the Coast would have royalties on that content. If Colby was to make Minis based off his content Wizards of the Coast would have royalties. As long as he is giving away the social media content for free and only making money off patreon-based support he has no worries.
Also I would like to add that everyone is bad-mouthing Wizards of the Coast, this however is not the case. The deal they made with Hasbro was a bad move, but Wizards of the Coast wanted access to their digital Technologies. Hasbro now has the marketing rights to D&D. They bought this for $325 million. When a company makes a purchase of another Company's stock, contracts or Legacies of said stock does not have to be honored. The new ogl is being crafted by Hasbro to turn DND into a online experience. This sucks tremendously for a new generation of content creators. There will be a grandfather clause placed into the contract that will protect content creators on a lower level. If you're making under $700,000 a year you're under the radar.
You know in retrospect there are some fixes I would have for 4 element monk: 1. Elemental Attunement given for free and you gain the Control Flames, Gust, Mold Earth and Shape Water cantrips. 2. Make the cost 1 less ki for every discipline. While per your suggestion learn all of them at appropriate levels so no need to choose. 3. Give them a feature where their unarmed strikes can be cold, fire, acid, or thunder.
dude I love these videos. Colby is one of the most charismatic and disarming hosts on youtube. I rarely leave comments, but these videos just make me happy to watch
As a slight change of pace, I'd love to see a couple of builds that don't use point buy: one build for if you roll god-tier stats, and one for if you roll terrible stats (that isn't just a Moon Druid).
Wow... Until today I saw you as a school of optimization wizard, but this time you proved you are a lvl 20 optimization domain cleric and you have just performed a miracle!
You didn’t mention how Moonbeam works with the theme of being a waterbender! The Moon spirit is one of the spirits from which water benders derive their power (tides), and is a focal point of the season 1 The Last Airbender finale!
I like water benders for this, because all the other elements learned from the fantastical animals, water benders learned from the moon. It both sounds ridiculous and somehow makes sense at the same time.
A dwarf with a hammer makes for a great earth avatar, kinda reminds me of Gow, the guy Zuko fought when he was traveling through the earth kingdom alone.
@@alexanderbyrne9684 You could flavour that Momo ran away, is doing something else or was asleep when the time of the "spell" ends. He's always shown being sleepy, doing other stuff while the plot is keeps going and being a little coward and flying away at some moments of danger.
Such a tortured path was necessary to arrive at the peak of the... small hillock of might. Kudos to you for finding a way around the obstacles! Great build effort.
Colby: "I'm not a huge fan of trying to recreate third party fictional characters to be played in DnD." DnD designers: "Wow, an original series with a monk who does cool elemental stuff! Let's give our players the option to play one!"
Hidden bonus feature: this build is one of the few "cheese grater" builds that can handle flying enemies (so long as they don't fly using magic or hovering), since both Fist of Unbroken Air and Water Whip can knock prone = knocking the birdies out of the sky.
I wish the Four Elements Monk got: -reduced Ki point cost for their spells -some passive that lets you apply a little bit of elemental damage to your fists, maybe once per short/long rest you could swap out which element you're channeling and until you swap it for something else, your punches would (at no extra Ki cost) always deal a bit of extra damage of that element
I’d love to see more Brandon Sanderson characters! He’s my favourite fantasy author, and the very specific magic systems might be a challenge to work into the mechanics of D&D.
My Avatar theorycraft has been re-flavoring the Ascendant Dragon Monk and multi-classing with Nature Cleric. You get access to cleric spells and some Druid spells including shape water and mold earth and can change both your weapon and unarmed strike damage to become elemental. Monk8/Cleric12 would get you evasion and a D6 and now you can ask past avatars for divine intervention. You can use your reactions to protect yourself and others from the elements. And both subclasses have some peaceful features for communicating with plants, animals and making charisma checks. Hold heat AND preach non-violence. 💕
Obligatory "What sort of bender would you be?" comment thread: Generally I think I'd be earth: very stubborn, sometimes overly literal, and I've actually studied Tiger Fist Hung Ga. I think Colby would have to be air because... that voice...
I buffed the monk class a fair bit to allow it to be mechanically viable for the player who plays at my table. I gave him extra ki equal to his Wisdom modifier (a desperately needed buff for low level monks), made Patient Defence and Step of the Wind free, gave him a d10 hit die and two reactions per turn (feels like a very monk thing to have amazing reflexes) and access to a very small list of spells that he could cast once per day for free (like Blur and Haste which are super thematic for monks), and then use ki equal 1+spell level to cast later (which prevents spamming of low level spells for 1 ki, but doesn't tax recasting high level spells more than once per day insanely) With all these buffs, my player is..... About on par mechanically with the rest of the party (paladin, rogue and wizard). Just about. Monks need some buffs.
I love the build, the mental image of this monk dragging their foes though a fields of stones spikes they created with a whip of water is legendary, and to follow all that up with multiple punches to the face adds insult to injury.
Intriguing, 4 elements monk build was the second ever build I uploaded on my channel, and naturally it was HEAVILY Avatar themed. Can't wait to see what you did with this ☺️
Ok, so totally not what I thought you were going with. First thing I'd like to point out; the ki point restriction for the Four Elements Monk only applies to elemental disciplines that allow you to cast spells; Water Whip and Fist of Unbroken Air are not spells(see book description). This means you can spend as many points as you have available for one attack. So I'd have went 15 levels of monk with 2 levels of Path of the Grave Cleric for 16d10 x 2 damage, modified for your save and average damage calculations. I'm fairly certain this makes for a super strong nova build. You could also go three levels for assassin and 2 levels of fighter(to get divinity use on surprise round) for 11d10 x4 damage. Now if we wanted to go all multiple attack about it, Fangs of the Fire Snake, (another non spell discipline) + halo of spores + battle master maneuvers (including superiority die fighting style and feat selections) + Action Surge gets you 6d10(fangs) + 6d8(unarmed) + 6d6(spores) + 4d8(battle master) + 2d6(feat + martial style) damage, all of which cost you 7 ki. I think that might also do more damage than this cheese grater build; but it's a bit closer. On another note, the Open Hand monk has the greatest nova damage of all when fighting your neighborhood tarrasque; who doesn't love some quivering palm.
I’ve been thinking about the 4 elements monk build lately for some reason 🤔 (Netflix) and have been thinking about Colby’s build. I was thinking on the same lines as you for the Path of the Grave aspect and came across your post. Unfortunately Path of the Grave takes an action to use so you can’t use it on the same round unless you use Action Surge. You might have been hoping to get it off before combat, but it might be hard most of the time since it only has a 30 foot range. Also Assassinate wouldn’t work on it, since it is a saving throw not an attack roll. Too bad, because that would be awesome! Unfortunately for the other build Fangs of the Fire Snake actually takes 2 Ki to get the 1d10 damage not 1 Ki. It’s one Ki to make it Fire and a 10ft reach and another to give it a 1d10 of damage, which really sucks! So it would actually take 13 Ki to pull this off not 7. Both are is still a really good builds just not as strong as you thought there were.
Nice to see this build! I've played a campaign inspired of the characters of Avatar in a Edo Japan-like world. The master had prepared for us the characters using the base of four element monks but adding more (features from others subclasses, form other classes and homebrew features) for made them more thematic and viables. I was the waterbending and I needed l liquids for use my power so I bought acid and I started to acid wips my enemy for extra dmg. So in case you try out this build and your DM allow, this can be a nice tip 😉 thank you again Colby for your work!
Love the theme of this character. It's always incredible to see how much you manage to get out of each level in a class and I always feel inspired to make more characters after a Tuesday
So the monk feature of up casting limitations is only for spells. The water wipe isn’t a spell and doesn’t have a cap, so spend as much as you want😊 Technically at 20th level you can do 23d10 damage, even though you probably wouldn’t.
I was optimizing the 4 elements monk and came up with a different approach that stays mostly in monk and does good damage. I only figured out level 9, and I’m sure you can do better optioning higher levels. It does depend on hold person like Critlander though. Start with being a bugbear and pickup sharpshooter at your first ASI. At level 9 you have 3 levels in battle master/ 6 monk. Cast hold person with 3 Ki points. Action surge and attack with your sling and then do a second attack with flurry of blows. You can use your battle master maneuvers to add damage or use precision attack to help with sharp shooter. That’s 4 attacks with the bugbear sneak attack at 2d6, 2 of which are with sharpshooter and all being crits. Of course this only works if you attack a humanoid. I do like your avatar flavor though😁
It is my personal beliefs that monks make the best bbegs. Especially against party of casters. I recently did a game where my party of 5 2martials 3 casters came up against 4 elementals. Instead of using stat blocks I made the elementals genasies of the different types and did builds for each. The rock was a barbarian, the water was a cleric, the fire was a sorcerer and the air a 4 elements monk. When I tell you I had them shook when on round 3 I went the full distance around the party and hit the Wizard with an upscaled fist of the northern winds that instantly downed them and sent them landing at the feet of the bard you best believe it was some of the best feelings I have gotten as a dm watching my players scramble and work together as a team to take out this perceived threat. The truth is I burnt through all but 1 ki point but they didnt know that. So now the air elemental was a bigger problem then the rock berserker barbarian charging at them. Plus I didny have to spend months of my life as the weakling trying to level out of the early game monk struggle.
My personal favourite avatar build is straight stars druid. You get all the elemental and spirit world powers you could want. Starry form is the avatar state. Shillelagh can be aang's stick. But this seems fun too.
When you started singing at the end for a split second I thought you were gonna sing leaves from the vine, what an emotional rollercoaster that would have been lol
I love how you give an example of why the character would make a multi class decision. It really helps me create a character based on these videos instead of just following a build.
I would love it if the design team stopped being afraid of the monk class and fucking buffed it for once. I love the monk class as an idea, but I just can't bring myself to play it. I would have to optimize it to hell to be just competent, while I can be just competent playing whatever other class, unoptimized.
You could easily reflavor your Warhammer as a Meteor Hammer style monk weapon. Sure it’s more of a flail technically but it follows the idea of hitting your opponents with lots of blunt force trauma. In fact it pairs well with the water whip because you are making an extra meteor hammer made out of ice and water to bludgeon further while still flipping around and kicking your normal meteor hammer at people!
For All the Fans: over on The Rules Lawyer’s channel, a series with Colby and Chris (Treantmonk) playing PF2 has started to be posted. Colby’s playing a monk.
i made the the 4 elements monk a 1/3 caster with spell slots, selecting spells from a custom spell list (mostly the druid and sorcerer elemental spells), casting with Wisdom. Gaining the feature to attack after casting a cantrip (later spells) as a bonus action, and gaining access to meta magics at level 11 for Ki points.
The fix for Four Elements monk that I am home brewing for my campaign is a focus on one element, reducing the cost of those disciplines by one ki (with the appropriate level requirements reduced) and adding one in-element discipline for each of 3rd and 6th, along with a once per long rest spell for the 11th (investiture spells) and 17th that is on par with a caster of the same level.
I hate that Water Whip was nerfed from a bonus action to an action, and Eternal Mountain Defense requires 17th level to use instead of 11th. The subclass didn't need more reasons to skip it. It's ironic that WotC did that, but are perfectly fine with the Mercy monk. Go figure.
Spike Growth, Action Surge, and everything Nova. These are the ingredients chosen to create the perfect little optimized character. But Professor Colby accidentially added an extra chemical to the concoction: Chemical 4 Elements Monk
I like how four elements monk literally just have 1 cantrip-feature and 4 spells without any actual subclass features. How can any game designer see it as viable at all? What were they thinking? They probably wanted to add some features but, as all editions of DND showed, they hate monk and just forgot about it and printed it as is.
My first character was a way of 4 elements monk. It was a blast! I did get my dms to allow me to use water whip as a bonus action (since that was what was published in my handbook prior to the errata). It made a fun bursty option for when I had ki to spare. Took him to level 12 with 2 levels of tempest cleric as more flavor! Started human with druid magic initiate for shilelegh and produce flame. Tons of fun.
My first ever character in 5e was a human four elements monk with this chain-whip kinda thing. If he saw how this character turned out, he'd definitely be proud.
I would vote for Wildfire, too. The wildfire spirit familiar can teleport (right after your turn, instead of during like misty step, sure.... But it doesn't take a spell slot!)
Not sure if anyone caught this but water whip and fist of unbroken air are not spells. Therefore there is no limit to the ki you can spend to upcast it. Ki spells will say that you CAST the spell. Which then the upcasting limitations apply.
Dnd was fun while it lasted. I'm going to miss vids like these and hope the ogl ends up changing, but I'm not very optimistic. I'll keep watching these vids til the end, tho. Love this concept as well, btw.
So I have never played DnD yet or any tabletop games, but for some reason watching Colby the last few months, is always so enjoyable and soothing to listen to. I will have to try something eventually but great video as always! Also I can see a calm Avatar Colby XD
forced movement is a nice way to use 4E monk. I kinda would be interested in a build that works more closely to an Avatar in the series, but no Monk levels. just a focus on using as many elemental spells as possible.
Daily dungeon builds did a similar concept, but their rule was no more than 3 level dip in another class. In the right group with decent short rests monk is decent and 4 elements offers a lot of options. Not many get flight and AOE and ranged attacks that knock prone. Wisdom is definitely this monks dominant stat though.
We home brewed 4 elements to use the eldritch knight casting table, wisdom as a stat and all spells to require earth, wind, fire or water manipulation.
This build hits me right ♥️! My second DDAL character is a 4 Elements Monk. I started at Monk 4 / Druid 1 to beef up elemental magic with spells. While I got a lot of utility from cantrips out of combat, the lack of synergy in combat was frustrating. I've taken advantage of AL rules to rebuild a few times. After looking at Wildfire Druid but deciding against a pet with action economy cost, I'm planning to try Ranger next. I was going to do Gloomstalker for Dread Ambusher and Umbral Sight, but this has me looking at Swarmkeeper.
Just had a crazy Monk tank Build Idea Colby! Dwarf Monk utilizing Patient Defense combined with Dwarven Fortitude and Durable. Maybe multiclass with Barbarian to get some D12 Hit Dice. And if you're lucky enough (or have a kind DM) find a Periapt of Wound Closure... that's potentially a lot of healing for a Ki point and a bonus action...
Wasn't expecting the tin whistle haha! Regarding Smaointe, while I don't know the official way of writing pronunciations, you'll probably get close to how it's said with "Smweenta"
Thank you. For trying to make 4-elements work. The push-and-pull is truly something Aang and Katara would do (while Toph concentrates on Spike Growth).
Really fun build today! One note on Gathered Swarm though: you only get one of the options, not multiple. So you can either: 1. Try to move an enemy 2. Do an extra d6 of damage or 3. Move yourself 5 ft.
This is... impressive. It takes a lot of talent and understanding of the system to polish this turd of a subclass. But speaking of Elements, I'd like to see what you can do with the Pyromancer sorceror class from the Planeshift:Ixalan semi-official supplement.
I think WotC really screwed the pooch with the way of four elements. I think it should have been a 1/3 caster, that prepares their spells and is a wisdom based caster, and has access to the spells that are element based (water wind fire earth). A four elements monk can use their ki to manipulate the spells in some way. Also keeping in mind how their spells can synergise with other monk abilities. Like replenishing some not all spell slots on a short rest. Maybe be able to use water whip or thorn whip with deflect missiles feature. Love your videos, and this one is definitely something that sounds fun with the handicap of the four elements. I like this idea, but I wouldn't know where to start.
You should try and make a build around using the Double-Bladed Scimitar + Revenant Blade feat. It's strange to get a feat that's specific to only one particular weapon which gives you so many different bonuses. It's always so interesting to see what you come up with!
Yesterday I was thinking of some concepts for Four Elements Monk, playing with ideas of Druid or Nature Cleric, and was wondering if you'd ever done a build with it... now it's today and I'm so happy to see it. This is awesome and I can't wait to use some of these ideas in my own build!
Say Colby, will the OGL 1.1 impact your work if it is published in the version that leaked ? I'm not looking to steer any drama. I really care about your work. I hope you will be free to carry on
It will most certainly affect sponsors like the one he had on this episode, that are 3rd party supplements for D&D, so they might go belly up and not be able to sponsor him anymore. That's the main thing I could see happening.
@@nessesaryschoolthing this - I'm more concerned for all of my friends that rely on creating content for D&D than I am for myself, though of course I'm concerned for the overall health of the game and the community too :(
@@DnDDeepDive I’m probably going to end up where the other third party creators go. Would love to see you taking this fantastic show structure and bring it to other systems. PF2 build?? Would love to see you dive in and optimize your PF2 Monk.
I wonder if a druid or ranger with the Tavern Brawler feat could make an avatar-ish thing work! Might make them a bit MAD, so maybe a STR-based ranger, with some more elemental-focused spells. Just an idea off the top of my head that I have not fleshed out beyond this lololol
Hey Colby, I think you missed something about Water Whip. "Upcasting" it isn't barred by level, since it isn't a spell. So you can whip out 4d10 damage at level 3.
I love your videos and your energy 😀 I've just recently started watching but I was wondering if maybe you've already kind of made a build that's in line with what I'd like my first character to be. I can't help but want to play a rogue but I really wanna use like weapon spells? I.e. flame blade and shadow blade. Not really sure how to make it work or where to start. If you or anyone here could point me in the right direction I would be very grateful 🙏 I obviously don't wanna copy you straight up I just don't really know what I would need to make a sneaky sneak with weapons made of magic work :/
can i get a location of description used for ki-empowered strikes? i've looked at 3 sources (wikidot, my go to; player's handbook ov; DND Beyond) and all only say unarmed strikes not monk weapons
The monk (most especially this subclass) benefits greatly from some homebrew. I'd love to see some homebrew treatments for various subclasses to boost their effectiveness.
Viable Four Elements monk?! So cool! Never thought about how Tasha's might have changed it. Also, could be really good if someone in your party can cast Spike Growth. With Water Whip and Pushing Attack, you're making even a warlock jealous. Maybe cast it yourself as a Lotusden Halfling with Action Surge. Never mind, I see you go Druid for Spike Growth.
Honestly way of the four elements should just be a tertiary caster like Eldritch Knight and Arcane Trickster with limited spells based on elements. Around level 6 or 7 let them spend a Ki point to Cast a spell after making an attack with a monk weapon or unarmed strike.
I have my version of this build, which includes monk and stars druid for very distinct glow and lots of spells to replicate manipulation of nature. Additionally, you can reflavour spells
I was actually making a monk for a one shot just yesterday, and had been originally thinking of going with the 4 Elements Monk, but ahh.... he didn't end up a 4 Elements Monk at the end of the character creation brainstorming session haha!
Yeah. Way of the Four Elements Monk is too weak. I tried to play a character where I tried to be like the "master of all 4 elements" and all. I ended up taking Storm sorcerer and the elemental cantrips like Mold Earth and Shape Water to get elemental control. Sorcerers get a lot of cantrips, so it worked out in the end. Not Monk, but honestly, I could think of no way to make monk work. I later got produce flame by taking spell sniper and convinced my DM to (please) allow me to use control flames on the magical fire I created as long as I didn't do damage.
Its also possible to just flavor thron whip as a advanced water bending move, there were the people bending the water in the vines in that swamp episode in avatar
The fact that Colby not only owns a tin whistle, but also knows how to play it, fills my hear with joy (and yes that's a reference to the Tommy Mulvihill version of Kerry Dances) 😄 (Also, I don't how to type the required phonetic characters, but smoyn-cheh should get you close enough.)
I had a similar idea once, just without the ranger and fighter. Good to see the monk/druid combo can actually come in handy. For the idea, btw, it was just taking open-hand technique and doing the same thing with Spike Growth.
Errata! Gathered Swarm requires you to choose between the extra d6 *or* movement - we'd be doing movement, obviously, which does lower our high level damage numbers just a teeny bit.
Sorry to bother you, but I got curious while I was watching the video and I had to check on the PHB. I don't think that water whip has a limit on how many ki points you can spend on it. The PHB mentions that the spells have a limit and have to wait till level 5 to spend extra ki points, but the "disciplines" (fist of unbroken air, fangs of the fire snake...) just have the extra damage written in their descriptions, so technically, I think it would be possible to spend extra ki points on it right away. I don't know though, maybe I misinterpreted.
"Making sound investment strategies sound very, anti monkish" but, it also sounds very dwarvish.
@@mattmakermusic9743 You're right! No limit to extra ki spent on Water Whip or Fist of Unbroken Air (other than the Monk's meager pool of ki points).
I mean its by 2-3 on average so it doesnt seem that bad.
You can actually combo shape water and minor illusion very easily
But when the world needed OGL most, it vanished
WOTC reading this: 👁👄👁
Out of the Maw already sweating and their third party Sourcebook just came out. I wish them the best with WoTC craziness.
I came for rhetorical prowess and innovation and find it in the comments!?
This is hilarious!
There are workarounds, but fuck WoTC
Wizards Of The Coast are grateful for all your cool builds. Soon will be theirs cool builds.
lol there won’t be any IP on builds anyway.
@@Zynovus yet.
Kobe is safe, the ogl contract does not affect Financial gains made from patreon support. There would be some licensing fees that will apply to him but nothing that's any more damaging than the original contract. Now if Kobe was to make a book based on his stories Wizards of the Coast would have royalties on that content. If Colby was to make Minis based off his content Wizards of the Coast would have royalties. As long as he is giving away the social media content for free and only making money off patreon-based support he has no worries.
Also I would like to add that everyone is bad-mouthing Wizards of the Coast, this however is not the case. The deal they made with Hasbro was a bad move, but Wizards of the Coast wanted access to their digital Technologies. Hasbro now has the marketing rights to D&D. They bought this for $325 million. When a company makes a purchase of another Company's stock, contracts or Legacies of said stock does not have to be honored. The new ogl is being crafted by Hasbro to turn DND into a online experience. This sucks tremendously for a new generation of content creators. There will be a grandfather clause placed into the contract that will protect content creators on a lower level. If you're making under $700,000 a year you're under the radar.
@@matthewlenard8346 I don't think it applies to a character build like these videos. Then again I haven't read the whole thing so I could be mistaken.
You know in retrospect there are some fixes I would have for 4 element monk:
1. Elemental Attunement given for free and you gain the Control Flames, Gust, Mold Earth and Shape Water cantrips.
2. Make the cost 1 less ki for every discipline. While per your suggestion learn all of them at appropriate levels so no need to choose.
3. Give them a feature where their unarmed strikes can be cold, fire, acid, or thunder.
Love this!
If colby can make a 4 elements monk work he would indeed be the Avatar
The problem about the 4 elements monk is its the worst subclass on the worst chassis.
"My name is Oong"
*Sun Soul monk has entered the chat*
@@life-destiny1196 still suboptimal compared to a divine soul sorcerer with guiding bolt
dude I love these videos. Colby is one of the most charismatic and disarming hosts on youtube. I rarely leave comments, but these videos just make me happy to watch
cheers!
Welcome home...
He also dances... which he has promised to do the very next time he includes Bladesinger on a build. 🙂
@@Tusitala1967 😏
He seems to be such a cool guy. I hope he supports minorities' rights.
As a slight change of pace, I'd love to see a couple of builds that don't use point buy: one build for if you roll god-tier stats, and one for if you roll terrible stats (that isn't just a Moon Druid).
If we are going to change the pace make Colby combine existing builds at random, but Live. I would pay to see that.
I am just amazed to see Welsknight here!
@@phanspiritus910 same bro
Wow... Until today I saw you as a school of optimization wizard, but this time you proved you are a lvl 20 optimization domain cleric and you have just performed a miracle!
🤣
You didn’t mention how Moonbeam works with the theme of being a waterbender! The Moon spirit is one of the spirits from which water benders derive their power (tides), and is a focal point of the season 1 The Last Airbender finale!
I like water benders for this, because all the other elements learned from the fantastical animals, water benders learned from the moon. It both sounds ridiculous and somehow makes sense at the same time.
You can also treat any radiant damage as a "solar wind" effect.
I heard that "pull them 25 feet" and knew druid would be coming
Me too!
A dwarf with a hammer makes for a great earth avatar, kinda reminds me of Gow, the guy Zuko fought when he was traveling through the earth kingdom alone.
Tiny pebbles or even Sand seems like a good way to flavour the swarmkeeper feature
Warhammer definitely gives Earthbender vibes, so a strong wind or sandstorm seems great!
As a longtime fan, I'm looking forward to your pathfinder 2e builds!
Did Colby confirm this somewhere or are you just speculating?
@@abcrasshadow9341 More like trying to wish it into existence. 😊
I mean pathfinder builds are so much much more complex and better.
now let's figure out a way to cast Find Familiar to get Momo and get a flying Appa mount
Momo is definitely a bonded familiar as opposed to a summoned one
Dude, I didn't think the build could get cooler
I think he could spend a Wildshape to summon a familar?
Reskin a 'Find Greater Steed' Griffin
@@alexanderbyrne9684 You could flavour that Momo ran away, is doing something else or was asleep when the time of the "spell" ends. He's always shown being sleepy, doing other stuff while the plot is keeps going and being a little coward and flying away at some moments of danger.
Such a tortured path was necessary to arrive at the peak of the... small hillock of might. Kudos to you for finding a way around the obstacles! Great build effort.
While the square peg doesn’t fit into a round hole very well, where does the round peg go?
That’s right, it goes in the square hole!
Colby: "I'm not a huge fan of trying to recreate third party fictional characters to be played in DnD."
DnD designers: "Wow, an original series with a monk who does cool elemental stuff! Let's give our players the option to play one!"
The problem is its still a monk
Hidden bonus feature: this build is one of the few "cheese grater" builds that can handle flying enemies (so long as they don't fly using magic or hovering), since both Fist of Unbroken Air and Water Whip can knock prone = knocking the birdies out of the sky.
I wish the Four Elements Monk got:
-reduced Ki point cost for their spells
-some passive that lets you apply a little bit of elemental damage to your fists, maybe once per short/long rest you could swap out which element you're channeling and until you swap it for something else, your punches would (at no extra Ki cost) always deal a bit of extra damage of that element
You are going to love PF2's Kineticist when that comes out! Elemental user "martial" character with unlimited use spell like abilities from feats!
Ok, I always love when the outtakes include singing, but that recorder bit was particularly amazing 😻
I’d love to see more Brandon Sanderson characters! He’s my favourite fantasy author, and the very specific magic systems might be a challenge to work into the mechanics of D&D.
My Avatar theorycraft has been re-flavoring the Ascendant Dragon Monk and multi-classing with Nature Cleric.
You get access to cleric spells and some Druid spells including shape water and mold earth and can change both your weapon and unarmed strike damage to become elemental. Monk8/Cleric12 would get you evasion and a D6 and now you can ask past avatars for divine intervention. You can use your reactions to protect yourself and others from the elements. And both subclasses have some peaceful features for communicating with plants, animals and making charisma checks.
Hold heat AND preach non-violence. 💕
Experts. Priests. Mages. Warriors.
Long ago the four class types live together in harmony.
But everything changed when WotC messed with the OGL.
Obligatory "What sort of bender would you be?" comment thread: Generally I think I'd be earth: very stubborn, sometimes overly literal, and I've actually studied Tiger Fist Hung Ga.
I think Colby would have to be air because... that voice...
I buffed the monk class a fair bit to allow it to be mechanically viable for the player who plays at my table. I gave him extra ki equal to his Wisdom modifier (a desperately needed buff for low level monks), made Patient Defence and Step of the Wind free, gave him a d10 hit die and two reactions per turn (feels like a very monk thing to have amazing reflexes) and access to a very small list of spells that he could cast once per day for free (like Blur and Haste which are super thematic for monks), and then use ki equal 1+spell level to cast later (which prevents spamming of low level spells for 1 ki, but doesn't tax recasting high level spells more than once per day insanely)
With all these buffs, my player is..... About on par mechanically with the rest of the party (paladin, rogue and wizard). Just about. Monks need some buffs.
I love the build, the mental image of this monk dragging their foes though a fields of stones spikes they created with a whip of water is legendary, and to follow all that up with multiple punches to the face adds insult to injury.
Intriguing, 4 elements monk build was the second ever build I uploaded on my channel, and naturally it was HEAVILY Avatar themed. Can't wait to see what you did with this ☺️
Ok, so totally not what I thought you were going with. First thing I'd like to point out; the ki point restriction for the Four Elements Monk only applies to elemental disciplines that allow you to cast spells; Water Whip and Fist of Unbroken Air are not spells(see book description). This means you can spend as many points as you have available for one attack. So I'd have went 15 levels of monk with 2 levels of Path of the Grave Cleric for 16d10 x 2 damage, modified for your save and average damage calculations. I'm fairly certain this makes for a super strong nova build. You could also go three levels for assassin and 2 levels of fighter(to get divinity use on surprise round) for 11d10 x4 damage. Now if we wanted to go all multiple attack about it, Fangs of the Fire Snake, (another non spell discipline) + halo of spores + battle master maneuvers (including superiority die fighting style and feat selections) + Action Surge gets you 6d10(fangs) + 6d8(unarmed) + 6d6(spores) + 4d8(battle master) + 2d6(feat + martial style) damage, all of which cost you 7 ki. I think that might also do more damage than this cheese grater build; but it's a bit closer. On another note, the Open Hand monk has the greatest nova damage of all when fighting your neighborhood tarrasque; who doesn't love some quivering palm.
I’ve been thinking about the 4 elements monk build lately for some reason 🤔 (Netflix) and have been thinking about Colby’s build.
I was thinking on the same lines as you for the Path of the Grave aspect and came across your post. Unfortunately Path of the Grave takes an action to use so you can’t use it on the same round unless you use Action Surge. You might have been hoping to get it off before combat, but it might be hard most of the time since it only has a 30 foot range. Also Assassinate wouldn’t work on it, since it is a saving throw not an attack roll. Too bad, because that would be awesome!
Unfortunately for the other build Fangs of the Fire Snake actually takes 2 Ki to get the 1d10 damage not 1 Ki. It’s one Ki to make it Fire and a 10ft reach and another to give it a 1d10 of damage, which really sucks! So it would actually take 13 Ki to pull this off not 7.
Both are is still a really good builds just not as strong as you thought there were.
I've always wanted an Avatar build from you Colby, what a way to kick off 2023 :D
Colby at the end of his rope trying to build a house out of sawdust. XD
Nice to see this build!
I've played a campaign inspired of the characters of Avatar in a Edo Japan-like world. The master had prepared for us the characters using the base of four element monks but adding more (features from others subclasses, form other classes and homebrew features) for made them more thematic and viables. I was the waterbending and I needed l liquids for use my power so I bought acid and I started to acid wips my enemy for extra dmg. So in case you try out this build and your DM allow, this can be a nice tip 😉 thank you again Colby for your work!
Love the theme of this character. It's always incredible to see how much you manage to get out of each level in a class and I always feel inspired to make more characters after a Tuesday
So the monk feature of up casting limitations is only for spells. The water wipe isn’t a spell and doesn’t have a cap, so spend as much as you want😊
Technically at 20th level you can do 23d10 damage, even though you probably wouldn’t.
I was optimizing the 4 elements monk and came up with a different approach that stays mostly in monk and does good damage. I only figured out level 9, and I’m sure you can do better optioning higher levels. It does depend on hold person like Critlander though.
Start with being a bugbear and pickup sharpshooter at your first ASI. At level 9 you have 3 levels in battle master/ 6 monk. Cast hold person with 3 Ki points. Action surge and attack with your sling and then do a second attack with flurry of blows. You can use your battle master maneuvers to add damage or use precision attack to help with sharp shooter. That’s 4 attacks with the bugbear sneak attack at 2d6, 2 of which are with sharpshooter and all being crits.
Of course this only works if you attack a humanoid. I do like your avatar flavor though😁
It is my personal beliefs that monks make the best bbegs. Especially against party of casters. I recently did a game where my party of 5 2martials 3 casters came up against 4 elementals. Instead of using stat blocks I made the elementals genasies of the different types and did builds for each. The rock was a barbarian, the water was a cleric, the fire was a sorcerer and the air a 4 elements monk. When I tell you I had them shook when on round 3 I went the full distance around the party and hit the Wizard with an upscaled fist of the northern winds that instantly downed them and sent them landing at the feet of the bard you best believe it was some of the best feelings I have gotten as a dm watching my players scramble and work together as a team to take out this perceived threat. The truth is I burnt through all but 1 ki point but they didnt know that. So now the air elemental was a bigger problem then the rock berserker barbarian charging at them. Plus I didny have to spend months of my life as the weakling trying to level out of the early game monk struggle.
My personal favourite avatar build is straight stars druid. You get all the elemental and spirit world powers you could want. Starry form is the avatar state. Shillelagh can be aang's stick.
But this seems fun too.
When you started singing at the end for a split second I thought you were gonna sing leaves from the vine, what an emotional rollercoaster that would have been lol
I love how you give an example of why the character would make a multi class decision. It really helps me create a character based on these videos instead of just following a build.
I would love it if the design team stopped being afraid of the monk class and fucking buffed it for once. I love the monk class as an idea, but I just can't bring myself to play it. I would have to optimize it to hell to be just competent, while I can be just competent playing whatever other class, unoptimized.
You could easily reflavor your Warhammer as a Meteor Hammer style monk weapon. Sure it’s more of a flail technically but it follows the idea of hitting your opponents with lots of blunt force trauma.
In fact it pairs well with the water whip because you are making an extra meteor hammer made out of ice and water to bludgeon further while still flipping around and kicking your normal meteor hammer at people!
For All the Fans: over on The Rules Lawyer’s channel, a series with Colby and Chris (Treantmonk) playing PF2 has started to be posted. Colby’s playing a monk.
th-cam.com/play/PL5LfnOlAZRY7jbHCxuALktf-x2HV4o4AE.html
i made the the 4 elements monk a 1/3 caster with spell slots, selecting spells from a custom spell list (mostly the druid and sorcerer elemental spells), casting with Wisdom.
Gaining the feature to attack after casting a cantrip (later spells) as a bonus action, and gaining access to meta magics at level 11 for Ki points.
The fix for Four Elements monk that I am home brewing for my campaign is a focus on one element, reducing the cost of those disciplines by one ki (with the appropriate level requirements reduced) and adding one in-element discipline for each of 3rd and 6th, along with a once per long rest spell for the 11th (investiture spells) and 17th that is on par with a caster of the same level.
I made an Avatar style build once. He was a Tabaxi. I just have him as half sorcerer half druid so far. For lots of elemental spell variety.
I hate that Water Whip was nerfed from a bonus action to an action, and Eternal Mountain Defense requires 17th level to use instead of 11th. The subclass didn't need more reasons to skip it. It's ironic that WotC did that, but are perfectly fine with the Mercy monk. Go figure.
Spike Growth, Action Surge, and everything Nova. These are the ingredients chosen to create the perfect little optimized character.
But Professor Colby accidentially added an extra chemical to the concoction: Chemical 4 Elements Monk
I like how four elements monk literally just have 1 cantrip-feature and 4 spells without any actual subclass features. How can any game designer see it as viable at all? What were they thinking? They probably wanted to add some features but, as all editions of DND showed, they hate monk and just forgot about it and printed it as is.
My first character was a way of 4 elements monk. It was a blast! I did get my dms to allow me to use water whip as a bonus action (since that was what was published in my handbook prior to the errata). It made a fun bursty option for when I had ki to spare. Took him to level 12 with 2 levels of tempest cleric as more flavor! Started human with druid magic initiate for shilelegh and produce flame. Tons of fun.
Sound investment strategy and a warhammer seem like perfectly reasonable qualities for a -Dwarven- monk. ;)
My first ever character in 5e was a human four elements monk with this chain-whip kinda thing. If he saw how this character turned out, he'd definitely be proud.
I would vote for Wildfire, too. The wildfire spirit familiar can teleport (right after your turn, instead of during like misty step, sure.... But it doesn't take a spell slot!)
Not sure if anyone caught this but water whip and fist of unbroken air are not spells. Therefore there is no limit to the ki you can spend to upcast it. Ki spells will say that you CAST the spell. Which then the upcasting limitations apply.
I noticed that too, in sure it's raw but not Rai but it's so bad to waste all your ki in sure DMS would allow it
Dnd was fun while it lasted. I'm going to miss vids like these and hope the ogl ends up changing, but I'm not very optimistic. I'll keep watching these vids til the end, tho. Love this concept as well, btw.
I would have personally made the character building rule "You can only use attacks that you unlock/get proficiency in by going monk."
This is far from your best build, but quite possibly your best video ever. And that's a fine trade. Great work!
So I have never played DnD yet or any tabletop games, but for some reason watching Colby the last few months, is always so enjoyable and soothing to listen to. I will have to try something eventually but great video as always! Also I can see a calm Avatar Colby XD
This is why WotC should appreciate third party content creators and not punish them. Thanks for making the point.
forced movement is a nice way to use 4E monk. I kinda would be interested in a build that works more closely to an Avatar in the series, but no Monk levels. just a focus on using as many elemental spells as possible.
I wish the optional features in Tasha's were just given automatically like so many people act like they are
Daily dungeon builds did a similar concept, but their rule was no more than 3 level dip in another class.
In the right group with decent short rests monk is decent and 4 elements offers a lot of options. Not many get flight and AOE and ranged attacks that knock prone. Wisdom is definitely this monks dominant stat though.
We home brewed 4 elements to use the eldritch knight casting table, wisdom as a stat and all spells to require earth, wind, fire or water manipulation.
This build hits me right ♥️! My second DDAL character is a 4 Elements Monk. I started at Monk 4 / Druid 1 to beef up elemental magic with spells. While I got a lot of utility from cantrips out of combat, the lack of synergy in combat was frustrating. I've taken advantage of AL rules to rebuild a few times. After looking at Wildfire Druid but deciding against a pet with action economy cost, I'm planning to try Ranger next. I was going to do Gloomstalker for Dread Ambusher and Umbral Sight, but this has me looking at Swarmkeeper.
Love it Colby, just watch out for copy right flaggers!
Why would this get flagged?
@@cmccbuilds8229 I’m making a joke about studios hunting to copyright strike anyone who mentions their characters or whatever
@@DrunkenDonuts_96 ahh ok
man, I'm glad to see this; a four elements monk was my first ever D&D 5e character and talk about disappointing.
Just had a crazy Monk tank Build Idea Colby!
Dwarf Monk utilizing Patient Defense combined with Dwarven Fortitude and Durable. Maybe multiclass with Barbarian to get some D12 Hit Dice. And if you're lucky enough (or have a kind DM) find a Periapt of Wound Closure... that's potentially a lot of healing for a Ki point and a bonus action...
The Four Elements Avatar: d4 #124
Level 1:(see above) [monk 1 & race]
Level 2:(see above) [monk 2]
Level 3:(@15:27) [monk 3 & sub-class]
Level 4:(@21:24) [fighter 1 & fighting-style]
Level 5:(@23:19) [fighter 2]
Level 6:(@23:39) [fighter 3 & sub-class]
Level 7:(see above) [monk 4 & ASI]
Level 8:(@29:16) [monk 5]
Level 9:(@31:08) [fighter 4 & ASI]
Level 10:(see above) [druid 1]
Level 11:(@35:14) [druid 2 & sub-class]
Level 12:(@38:19) [druid 3]
Level 13:(@42:29) [monk 6]
Level 14:(see above) [druid 4 & ASI]
Level 15:(@48:04) [ranger 1]
Level 16:(@49:31) [ranger 2 & fighting-style]
Level 17:(@50:35) [ranger 3 & sub-class]
Wasn't expecting the tin whistle haha!
Regarding Smaointe, while I don't know the official way of writing pronunciations, you'll probably get close to how it's said with "Smweenta"
Cheese Grater build... Perfect depiction of your channel. Name should be Colby Jack.
Thank you. For trying to make 4-elements work. The push-and-pull is truly something Aang and Katara would do (while Toph concentrates on Spike Growth).
Really fun build today!
One note on Gathered Swarm though: you only get one of the options, not multiple. So you can either: 1. Try to move an enemy 2. Do an extra d6 of damage or 3. Move yourself 5 ft.
posted an errata on this :)
This is... impressive. It takes a lot of talent and understanding of the system to polish this turd of a subclass.
But speaking of Elements, I'd like to see what you can do with the Pyromancer sorceror class from the Planeshift:Ixalan semi-official supplement.
I think WotC really screwed the pooch with the way of four elements.
I think it should have been a 1/3 caster, that prepares their spells and is a wisdom based caster, and has access to the spells that are element based (water wind fire earth). A four elements monk can use their ki to manipulate the spells in some way. Also keeping in mind how their spells can synergise with other monk abilities. Like replenishing some not all spell slots on a short rest. Maybe be able to use water whip or thorn whip with deflect missiles feature.
Love your videos, and this one is definitely something that sounds fun with the handicap of the four elements. I like this idea, but I wouldn't know where to start.
You should try and make a build around using the Double-Bladed Scimitar + Revenant Blade feat. It's strange to get a feat that's specific to only one particular weapon which gives you so many different bonuses. It's always so interesting to see what you come up with!
Kolby has one - rogue/paladin mix
Yesterday I was thinking of some concepts for Four Elements Monk, playing with ideas of Druid or Nature Cleric, and was wondering if you'd ever done a build with it... now it's today and I'm so happy to see it. This is awesome and I can't wait to use some of these ideas in my own build!
As I was just having my headphones on and not watching the screen. I must admit I got really confused by the tin whistle xD
Swarmkeeper, i wonder what would synergize with it to make a vampire
A battle axe reskins pretty easily into a hook sword of that's your thing. Or a Warhammer into just a ... really thick staff.
Say Colby, will the OGL 1.1 impact your work if it is published in the version that leaked ? I'm not looking to steer any drama. I really care about your work. I hope you will be free to carry on
It will most certainly affect sponsors like the one he had on this episode, that are 3rd party supplements for D&D, so they might go belly up and not be able to sponsor him anymore. That's the main thing I could see happening.
@@nessesaryschoolthing I thought so
@@nessesaryschoolthing this - I'm more concerned for all of my friends that rely on creating content for D&D than I am for myself, though of course I'm concerned for the overall health of the game and the community too :(
@@DnDDeepDive I’m probably going to end up where the other third party creators go. Would love to see you taking this fantastic show structure and bring it to other systems.
PF2 build?? Would love to see you dive in and optimize your PF2 Monk.
I wonder if a druid or ranger with the Tavern Brawler feat could make an avatar-ish thing work! Might make them a bit MAD, so maybe a STR-based ranger, with some more elemental-focused spells. Just an idea off the top of my head that I have not fleshed out beyond this lololol
Hey Colby, I think you missed something about Water Whip. "Upcasting" it isn't barred by level, since it isn't a spell. So you can whip out 4d10 damage at level 3.
You can flavor Spike Growth as a bed a pointy spikey icecycles.
I love your videos and your energy 😀 I've just recently started watching but I was wondering if maybe you've already kind of made a build that's in line with what I'd like my first character to be. I can't help but want to play a rogue but I really wanna use like weapon spells? I.e. flame blade and shadow blade. Not really sure how to make it work or where to start. If you or anyone here could point me in the right direction I would be very grateful 🙏 I obviously don't wanna copy you straight up I just don't really know what I would need to make a sneaky sneak with weapons made of magic work :/
Moonbeam could be reflavored as a torrent of all of your elemental powers mixed into one, bright white pillar of hurt 😁
can i get a location of description used for ki-empowered strikes?
i've looked at 3 sources (wikidot, my go to; player's handbook ov; DND Beyond) and all only say unarmed strikes not monk weapons
The monk (most especially this subclass) benefits greatly from some homebrew. I'd love to see some homebrew treatments for various subclasses to boost their effectiveness.
Viable Four Elements monk?! So cool! Never thought about how Tasha's might have changed it. Also, could be really good if someone in your party can cast Spike Growth. With Water Whip and Pushing Attack, you're making even a warlock jealous. Maybe cast it yourself as a Lotusden Halfling with Action Surge.
Never mind, I see you go Druid for Spike Growth.
Sooooooo much flavor! Love it, keep it up Colby!
Homebrewing advice at the end of the video is nice 😃
Honestly way of the four elements should just be a tertiary caster like Eldritch Knight and Arcane Trickster with limited spells based on elements. Around level 6 or 7 let them spend a Ki point to Cast a spell after making an attack with a monk weapon or unarmed strike.
I have my version of this build, which includes monk and stars druid for very distinct glow and lots of spells to replicate manipulation of nature. Additionally, you can reflavour spells
I was actually making a monk for a one shot just yesterday, and had been originally thinking of going with the 4 Elements Monk, but ahh.... he didn't end up a 4 Elements Monk at the end of the character creation brainstorming session haha!
Colby and Korra and Aang! Oh MY!
💪😇
Fun idea: A short video of "Colby saying some of those things he should not say!" xD
Yeah. Way of the Four Elements Monk is too weak. I tried to play a character where I tried to be like the "master of all 4 elements" and all.
I ended up taking Storm sorcerer and the elemental cantrips like Mold Earth and Shape Water to get elemental control. Sorcerers get a lot of cantrips, so it worked out in the end. Not Monk, but honestly, I could think of no way to make monk work.
I later got produce flame by taking spell sniper and convinced my DM to (please) allow me to use control flames on the magical fire I created as long as I didn't do damage.
Thank you Colby! Very cool build, I would skip ranger but love the RP potential on this!
How to fix the Monk class a bit: Give them a +Wis modifier Ki. So now u can start with 5 Ki at lvl 2.
Its also possible to just flavor thron whip as a advanced water bending move, there were the people bending the water in the vines in that swamp episode in avatar
The fact that Colby not only owns a tin whistle, but also knows how to play it, fills my hear with joy (and yes that's a reference to the Tommy Mulvihill version of Kerry Dances) 😄 (Also, I don't how to type the required phonetic characters, but smoyn-cheh should get you close enough.)
I had a similar idea once, just without the ranger and fighter. Good to see the monk/druid combo can actually come in handy.
For the idea, btw, it was just taking open-hand technique and doing the same thing with Spike Growth.
Indeed! th-cam.com/video/GYDTx5NtJMY/w-d-xo.html
I refused to believe that his jaw is real. It's some kind of mimic trying to capture the visage of the giga chad.
lol