Y'know, Sailor background for an Elements Monk makes perfect sense. You're already an ATLA reference, might as well go sailing around looking to capture the Avatar.
I feel like people didn't vote for the Sun Soul over the four elements because they don't even know what Sun Soul does or that it exists. Sun Soul is a masterclass on how not to design a subclass.
Played a sunsoul monk lotusden halfling for 3 yrs now and while the flavor was fun, especially paired with stars Druid, my first feature was limited over unarmed strike and I didn't bother with getting 2nd. When current campaign switches to revised rules, I'm replacing with Revised Elemental monk ASAP.
I thought it had good ideas that were mostly failed by the base class. Unarmed strikes with a 30 foot reach that deal radiant damage is a perfectly fine feature as long as unarmed strikes are worth using, but their poor scaling in the base class meant you were better off not using them. A mini-fireball that can be cast every single turn for zero cost that does less damage and targets a stronger enemy save could have used tweaking but it wasn’t outrageously underpowered. The only inherently terrible feature was the final one that lets you deal ten damage with a reaction.
Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! I'm starting a 2024 game as an elemental monk in ten days and love to see this video! Thanks for reading my my mind D4! Defo skipping multiclass on my build though, there's just too much flavour in the higher level features
@@bobbyLNZ It was awesome, my monk kicked a zombies hand clean off, dove into the water and fought some more and then used his ass (well, tail) to temporarily seal the hole of the sinking ship we were on.
You have a son that is 17???!!!!!!!! My god Colby what kind of eldritch pact did you make to look so young? I legitimately thought you were in your low thirties. You could almost be my father hahaha. And yeah absolutely sing that song for your kid. It is that kind of thing that maybe will embarrass him in the moment but remember fondly over the years 😊
@@devilkidhugger1199this is why I came here. People regularly think I’m in my early 20s. The secret to longevity is fitness. The “secret” to fitness is getting up and doing it.
Kind of sad that they got rid of the Dedicated Weapon feature. It's not like Monks really need it anymore with better damage scaling but I just really liked using a Longsword like a Katana or being a Dwarf Monk flailing around with a Warhammer.
If I had a player that wanted to use a weapon for flavor instead of mechanics (i.e. using a club as a monk weapon, which is allowed, and it being reskinned as a warhammer), it would absolutely fly on my tables.
It was always an optional feature which means it was not replaced which also means from lead designer himself, you can still take it just talk to DM and let them know.
I'd argue you can still use dedicated weapon. Its listed as an optional feature in tashas rather than a full on add on to the class; so no reason why it wouldnt be optional still as far as i know. Deffo something to talk to dm about.
Slight correction for Uncanny metabolism: You recover ALL your focus points when you use it, and you recover a number of hit points equal to a roll of you Martial Art die + your monk level
The default custom background I think shows just how unusual their decision to tie feats and ASIs to background. I expect “custom background” to be near universal in 5.5e.
NGL, my excitement was greatly tempered when I saw we were going to see yet another Spike Growth build. Feel like that horse has been beaten quite soundly. Still love you Colby! And I look forwards to a different build next week.
Yeah spike growth is amazing on the spread sheet, but quite tedious in actual play. It's a very white box theory crafting idea that doesn't work in actual play half the time. And even if it does work, it's a one trick pony idea that is very boring very quickly. It's cool to make one build like that, but after the first time any more mention of it feels unjustified.
I mean the issue with monk period is your base features pigeonholed you into a very narrow build path, and instead of the game rewarding you for the sacrifices the base class demands, you get features that are choked full of flavor ribbons and abilities other classes get earlier and not tied to a limited resource pool
@@lethargy4098 I meant the old monk is the best as skirmisher. You cannot deal reliable damage with fists and cannot use heavy weapons as monk weapon for "power attacks", but you can use range weapons with Sharpshooter and Focused Aim from TCE works great with that. On top of that, you have Unarmored Movement. Now you can grapple well or shoot fire with your firsts. Not only the Way of the Open Hand Monastic Tradition has forced movement.
Colby: **says slightly inflamatory opinion and backs it up with enough generalities to get people ready with their "um acktually..." then sits back and watches as the algorithm is fueled by riteous fury of keyboard warriors** Also Colby:
There's an argument to taking the dagger/nick weapon mastery feat instead of dipping fighter. I'm building a high lvl campaign monk tank with this idea though it's a bit off base. Lvl 1: +2 Wis, +1 Dex (stay with me) Lvl 4: +1 Dex - dagger weapon mastery Lvl 8: +1 Dex -defensive duelist (this is arguably better for multi-attack enemies or against numerous enemies since it lasts until the start of your next turn now) Lvl 12: +2 dex or wis Lvl 16: +2 dex or wis Lvl 19: +1 wis - epic boon Lvl 20 that sweeeet capstone At lvl 20 you're making 6 d12 attacks, have all saves proficiencies, and can effectively give yourself 31 AC when you choose. Not including all the shenanigans you get from your subclass. Straight monk is just beast mode. Edit: I forgot to mention, this build requires taking 8, 15, 14, 10, 15, 8 to respective stats through point buy.
This is my plan as Shadow Monk but Deflect Attacks is such a stacked feature (a potential DPR boost on top of just its defensives) that I'm just going to keep using that instead and take Charger for more DPR or free pushes. I think DD also has less value in general for Shadow since most enemies will have disadvantage against you anyway.
@Auesis from a dpr perspective you're correct and like i said, deflect attack is great if you're only expecting a few attacks and tbh better for low level campaigns. Defensive duelist being better (defensively) if you're dealing with multi attack creatures or multiple enemies. Personally I like having options but that's my preference. And can tell you, from personal experience, that a pit fiend with +15 to attack and 4 attacks does not care about disadvantage to hit. But again, that's a high lvl campaign monster that most probably won't have to deal with.
Uncanny metabolism actually gives you all focus points back on innitiative and lets you roll your martial arts die plus monk level for the ammount of hp you regain, so even better
I do think that just having a druid buddy is best. Instead of investing the levels just invest some pizza and some persuasion. I'm wondering, how would grappling work for cheese grafting? Do grappled creatures stay in the same space relative to you? Can you walk around them? Can you move them without moving? There's so much gray area
I cannot remember which video this was, but a few months back Colby did a Grapple+Cloud of Daggers build where this was brought up. Like you said, it's very vague and this came down to "check with your DM" iirc
me and my friend came up with a build where im playing a aaracokra monk, and then he is playing a druid, have him cast spike growth and then i would drag a grappled enemy through the spike growth whilst im flying above it, and it results in ridiculoud amounts of damage, around 150dpr i think every round to one enemy at 4th level
@@bominfoodgaming7703 Here's the kicker, so the grappled enemy was dangling under you, right? There's no actual rules to support that 😅 Not saying y'all did it wrong or anything but technically they'd stay in the air next to you? Who knows.
@@20storiesunder well i would be grappling them with my feet, and if thats not allowed, im going way of the elements so an extra 10ft of grapple distance, which i can use to have them well away from me and drag them from the spike growth that way
Cody, there is an AMAZING race... "Spiritfarer Erina" from the Book of Ebon Tides. It is MADE for this build! It will MASSIVELY bump your damage on this build!
I think you could do an interview with ludic savant when he came out with a New calculator .his builds, his greyhawk's cult writeup or his calculator tell me this will be a great and inspiring discussion !
I am so glad that I discovered you. Monk is fav class and I love playing every version of it. I love the changes except Open Hand monk, I will be using 2014 version because if wizard can cast wish at level 17 I should be able to have a button says that "You're dead"
18:16 I feel the reason why this js the case is because yes you are throwing the attack/projectile back at the attacker, but you are also guiding that attack somewhere else with a bit of your ki
Super happy to see this video knowing your love for Monks. Great job!! Love seeing your passion for the class. I have a passion, and you know what it is. Give me that sweet sweet Beast Master 3.0!!!
Kind of surprised to see you took a fighter level over the Grappler feat. When I was looking over the new rules, Grappler seemed like the go-to way to boost the damage of straight classed monks, and for a cheese grater build... well, yeah, being able to move grappled creatures more effectively is pretty great! Especially on a class that is already really good at grappling and moving. Seems worth forgoing the nick attack to me.
Absolutely, it's massively buffed since 2014 due to the movement options. I think we will do the combo once with my druid friend and then likely nerf the spell. Perhaps by breaking the spikes when they do damage, perhaps by restricting the per turn damage on a target
I forget which spell it was, but theres one that only can do so much total damage before it auto ends. Maybe give it a "it has a pool of this much damage" every time it does damage subtract from the pool, when pool is zero the spell ends.
Grappling is harder to pull off now, but Grappler feat's been buffed into orbit so it's more rewarding. Push weapon mastery is a thing now, and there are other such cases. I think by the time this build gets it, we're at the point where parties will frequently encounter monsters that fly, or are immune to being grappled, or have offensive capabilities that are comparably threatening, etc. But parties can do things like that much earlier than this. Wouldn't necessarily be against capping the damage on a given turn to some number (my instinct is 8d4; maybe even make it scale with upcasting!) and/or just ruling you can't drag people you've grappled except directly behind you. It's still a very good spell in the context of non-grapple push effects, and absolutely it's a unique spell tactically that should continue to exist, but these numbers are harder to argue with than CME's (I have complained in the past that despite its numbers, CME presents risks and opportunity costs that are rarely acknowledged, but I don't think this is as true for Spike Growth).
@@TerminalDevastationI think the spell you are reffering to is guardian of faith: bit of flavor text, any creature hostile to you that movex within 10ft of the guardian for the first time on a turn must make dex save 20 radiant or half on success. Guardian vanishes when it has dealt 60 damage.
I don’t have the new book so I’m just piecing together what I’ve heard from TH-cam, but going with a race with 35 starting speed, +30 from straight monk, +10 from speedy, +10 from charger, and grappler feat while double dashing gives a total of 255 feet per round. Average of 5 damage per square in spike growth gives us 255 damage on average as well. If another party member can also cast haste on us, that’s another two chances to dash, giving us 425 feet movement and 425 average damage. If someone also can cast longstrider on us that’s an extra 50 damage for 475. If we happen to roll all 190d4 and got max results that’s 760 damage. Some of this could be wrong since I don’t have the book in front of me so someone can correct me if I’m wrong. This is also assuming you already had the enemy grappled before your turn started, which with a high dex you may go before your party can cast their spells. You could also grapple two enemies at once to double all this damage.
"When you roll Initiative, you can regain all expended Focus Points. When you do so, roll your Martial Arts die, and regain a number of Hit Points equal to your Monk level plus the number rolled." Its' even better than you described - *all* Focus points and recover HP equal to one roll of the MA die plus your Monk level. That's incredibly good.
I am, for the first time ever, really excited to play a monk. To the point that this is probably my first new 5.24 character. It seems like so much fun. Either that or a World Tree Barbarian.
I love that they kind of took the best parts of the astral monk and added it here! Another banger Colby! Would love to see a 2024 Goliath War or Light cleric when you get a chance ❤
@@DnDDeepDive oh wow, really looking forward to see how u made the same build as me but better hahaha, i myself found it to be one off the only ways to deal ranged damage somewhat good on the spread sheet
Playing my Elemental Monk at Lv 3 for the first time tonight. The starter build wasn't up to me (we created chars for each other) so his background feat was lousy (entertainer) , but I am excited to go elemental on enemies from now on. Not sure yet if'll go with Grabbler or Tavern Brawler feat next level. Cool video!
Honestly Grappler is still a must have- since grapple is tied to unarmed strikes I contend you can maintain grapple at 15’ with Elemental Attunement and like you mention near the end, you’re missing reliable advantage and that’s a great way to add it at least reasonably consistently. Does explicitly require a free hand so Nick will be harder to use. Replace Two Weapon Fighting with Dueling Fighting Style, or obviously Blond Fighting or Protection are fine, hell Unarmed is OK just to be on theme
An interesting minor change to Focus Points compared to Ki points, a 5e Monk had to meditate for at least 30 minutes as part of the rest to regain Ki, meaning strict RAW a feature that allowed you to benefit from a Short Rest in less time such as Catnap or the Epic Heroism rest variant would not regain them. Most people likely didn't enforce that, many not even realizing the restriction was there and it always felt like it was intended more as flavor than mechanics, but that's what the rule said. A 5.5 Monk's feature makes no such restriction, so they can benefit RAW from such features.
I just hit level 7 on my dual wielding fey wanderer ranger. He is the "The Blade of Sylvanus", and last session, the party was visited and saved by Sylvanus with an on the spot long rest right before a surprise dragon encounter so they could go into the fight fresh. I'm loving the look of those first three levels of elements monk a lot, flavor and mechanics wise. Then, I probably would just grab the level 4 and level 8 feats back to back going from 10 -> 12. Then, probably push for fey reinforcements? Flavorwise, I think I'm going to flavor his 15ft elemental unarmed strike as imbued slashes of his sword. Free hand to throw or stab with a dagger for the free nick attack. Two weapon fighting style+weapon mastery, as the elements carry the thrown dagger to target. Also, free hand to grapple, which can be done with the ranged elemental unarmed strike. Grappler feat will probably be the level 11 feat, I have an odd strength score, but I should probably make dex 19. Speedy at 12 for 60ft speed+ some other things and I have an odd Con score. I'm probably not going to be doing the spike growth thing often, but it would be really good.
37:15 I wonder if the numbers took into account that missing on the pull on the second attack (either by missing the attack or they resisting the pull) means you are unable to do subsequent melee weapon attacks such as the nick attack. Probably doing more consistent damage just by grappling and dashing around.
Have you considered including the use of the jump spell and longstrider spell, I would highly consider a three-level dip in scout Rogue as well for a reaction movement. The jump spell I believe does stack with the increased jump height of step of the wind, whether or not you get the increased jump distance without spending the key point is up to interpretation based on wording. But if you use step of the wind and jump 90 ft in the air with two people grappled, you'll hopefully not take damage due to snowfall, and they will and be prone, so advantage on attacks and their likely bloodied
One thing for calculating DPR with Vex Colby - it’s essentially a +3 on average to the next attack roll. You have a 65% chance to have an 87.75% chance to hit after Vex, so ~57%. You have a 35% chance to have a 65% chance to hit after Vex, so 22.75%. 57+22.75=79.75. Damn near 80%. 80 is 15 more than 60, so a +3 overall :)
@@jeffreyrankine2533 yeah but it’s complicated. What if you didn’t hit with the vex weapon? What if did on your last attack of your turn, but your target is dead before your next one? Also, I always like to calculate for specific AC rather than assuming a blanket chance to hit 😬
@@DnDDeepDive well, if you didn’t hit with the Vex weapon, that’s accounted for in the 35% chance to again have a 65% chance to hit, right? That said, I do agree the golden “65% chance to hit” isn’t as good as doing comparisons across a range of AC values :)
Im playing a barbarian with push mastery and charger with a paladin who grapples and shoves a lot, and our druid cast spike growth on a big group of ghouls and it was a blast! Sure spike growth can be strong especially with a party who can take advantage of it, but even as a DM im not worried about it because its just so fun to teamwork it like that
I know you don't do builds that rely on other players, but with the new conjure elemental you could use a similar concept. If you have the grappler feat on a monk and have someone cast the elemental you can use your bonus action and action to dash and just drag them in and out of the elemental for 8d8 each time the enemy enters the elementals space.
Would love a video series with the subclasses that didn’t make it into the 2024 players handbook built on top of the new class rules to see whether any of them have improved significantly and how they stack up against the four that made it into 5.24.
I wonder if by the wording on the new Action Surge, if you could flurry of blows twice in a round? Could be the basis for a burst build if it works that way. Patiently I await the Berzerker Build, thank again for the Build Colby :)
The most important thing for monks now isn't their damage (it's alright, not crazy but it's better) but their survivability is crazy improved. They finally fill the roll of a support martial, which is crazy in a game without good ways to distract or tank really well outside of magic.
Agreed with the DM that a druid could wear linothorax - the armour of the Greek and Macedonian hoplite. It is made of multiple layers of hardened linen ...🤯
I've been toying around with an update to your Street Fighter, combining it with this build, focused heavily on unarmed combat+throwing weapons+grappling. The crux of the matter is choosing between a DEX based Goliath Fighter/Elements Monk vs a STR based Tortle Fighter/Elements Monk/Barbarian. The idea is to use TWF with light weapons +grappling an enemy, using Elemental Strikes+Tavern Brawler's move/push mechanic to launch an enemy into the air, making them take falling dmg+prone and Flurry of Blows for extra dmg If the STR based build only takes the Lvl 1 Barb dip at lvl7 both builds should have a 32.5 DPR at lvl5. But the DEX build will get Extra Attack 1 round earlier, and will be able to proceed to Fighter 2 for Action Surge and Fighter 3 Battlemaster earlier. I'm wondering if the Barbarian dip makes sense, since activating Rage as a BA slows down damage at first; they would need about 3/4 rounds to get on par with the DEX build. And if the Tortle is not an option, AC for the STR build would be really bad, since DEX or CON need to be dumped.
I'm not about to do the spike growth thingy in anything but a one-shot, but using the Nick property to get five attack sounds awesome! My interpretation on the build after watching is probably Ranger 2/Monk X. I still get the Nick and twf. I wouldn't need constitution saves that much because I don't care about spike growth. Rangers can cast hunter's mark a lot and you probably just want to do it on the big chunky guys that will be up for 3+rounds. You make a ton of attacks so big win. I'm going dual scimitars. Is using a scimitar and shortsword better? Yes. Do I care more about aesthetic symmetry? Also yes. Besides, I lose advatage Vex, but can get a lot of advantage with the Grappler feat. I don't plan on pushing people, unless it's off a cliff. Element monk can grapple 15 ft away now that grapples are just an option for an unarmed attack. Pull and dragging up to my full monk speed with a pretty consistent advantage engine? 5 atacks and hunter's mark? Oh boy. That sounds fun to me.
Just pointing out that - at least on D&D Beyond - the Hand Crossbow is a Martial weapon with the Light, Ammunition, Loading, and Vex properties. So yes, Hand Crossbows are in fact Monk weapons. (A monk character sheet on DDB even lists Hand Crossbow as your first Weapon proficiency.) EDIT: Oh, Monk weapon as in "applies to the Martial Arts ability". Yeah, I can see why they might've changed that - D12 Hand Crossbows would be a bit much, lol
The warrior of the elements is the character I’m most excited to play with the new rules. Might not even multiclass, just enjoy the amazing monkness of the new monk and avatar style of the elements
Like the thematic synergy with Elements monk and Land Druid. Might be tempted to go that way with species also: Dragonborn, Goliath, or Genasi - though, of course, none of those come with the elemental versatility of the classes, so maybe human is best after all. But ultimately, I think I’d rather see this concept executed with two characters - one Druid and one Monk.
I will post this on the new video as well I suggest the following changes for a more streamlined progression for elemental monk If custom background is allowed select mage of high sorcery and take the feat it gives, by RAW it is given in place of a origin feat, thats okay tavern brawler is good but not essential, we start with any class that gives constitution proficiency, our stats using point buy should be 15 on dex, 12 on cons, 15 on wisdom and 13 in whatever class you choose, weapon mastery is good but absorb elements can be very handy, up to you Then we go full monk, on lvl 5 we choose Adept of the red robes and get spike growth as our second level spell, now we can cast it once a day for free, on level 9 then get grappler, now you dont need extra movement to move your grappled foe, after that just max out your dexterity,wis and cons and you are fine. Alternatively you can take halfling lotusden, the main halfling was updated but the older subraces are still available, with that you can pick any background and grappler at lvl 4 and you are good to go to cast it when you reach lvl 5 as a pure monk
If your GM allows yo8u to play a flyer (aarakocra) take the fighter 1st level and then go straight monk (assuming you don't get anywhere near level 20 as the fighter level is a waste at high levels but good earlier on). Don't bother with tavern brawler get toughness Then grab grapple at monk level 4, and on the ground/dungeon you grapple from range and slap them around with advantage lightning (more Emperor Palpatine than air bender) at 15 feet. You can do the pushing to get back into that position if they escape In the air just fly above them and drag them them 10 feet into the air and drop then where they will fall prone. Then repeat with advantage/fall damage (reach 15 feet)
Quick question about the build, wouldn't taking Grappler and focusing on using your crazy monk movement to drag enemies through spike growth while attacking them with advantage or attacking a second enemy with the push pull combo help the damage out a lot? I mean dragging an enemy 50 ft. through spike growth is a free 20d4 damage as long as you have an enemy grappled and there is no restriction on you attacking other enemies while you do so. You might even be able to grapple two enemies and drag them (I don't have the book so I can't say for sure if grappling two enemies is still possible) for a maximum of 40d4 damage and you can STILL attack up to 5 times using your feet potentially causing a third enemy to take some spike growth damage. It's possible I am missing something here, but I feel like that would have increased the damage by quite a bit.
I would love to see an elements monk build with light domain cleric. Kinda like the cheese greater build but instead you have step of the wind and spirit guardians… think that could hold up?
Hi Colby, love you channel and your soft asmr voice! Just wanna give my two cents: i'm not a big fan of starting a build with another class, like fighter in this instance, because I think most campaigns in the real world take some time to get going and that makes every level a precious resource you don't want to spend on another class when you envision your build. I'd love to see more builds that don't go multiclassing just for one or two benefits and that manage the limitations of going with a single class, or multiclassing only when you plan to develop both classes further than just one or two levels. But that's just my opinion! Keep up the good work!
I have to say that I can't wait to play this. I am a little miffed that I am going to have to take a 1 level dip into Fighter, but it will be worth it, especially since the game I am going to use this is going to start at level 5 so I won't have to play as a Fighter and have the conundrum of wanting to stay a one instead of going ahead with the plan of being Monk.
not sure you'll see this, but i'm wondering what your thoughts would be on forgoing using a short sword/scimitar at all, and instead use the first attack(from level 5 on) to douse your target in oil, then make your extra attack as an unarmed strike, changed to fire, followed by FoB also changed to fire. round 1, that's 3 unarmed strikes, and if all land, an extra 15 flat fire damage. more damage on subsequent rounds, as the oil burns for 1 min, so just blast away with unarmed strikes, from range, as your enemy flails helplessly slapping at their face and clothes. oil in the new adventuring gear seems really good.
Check out World Anvil here! worldanvil.com/?c=D4 - Use the promo code d4 at checkout to save 51%!
Y'know, Sailor background for an Elements Monk makes perfect sense. You're already an ATLA reference, might as well go sailing around looking to capture the Avatar.
With the dual scimitars and fighter dip this is pretty much the blue spirit
@@MoutainMannPro
"I am the Blue S- I mean... Red Ghost."
tbh it's tiresome that avatar is all people think about when elemental monk is discussed
@@RealRamaladni I do think avatar is the main inspiration behind the subclass. Where do you draw inspiration from for the warrior of the elements?
@@RealRamaladni Well, what else is the original main inspiration for it?
Rick Astley 🤝Colby
"You know the rules, and so do I"
"We know the game and we're gonna play it"
Well this is the best comment I've ever seen
"A full commitment's (to spend an hour watching a video) what I'm thinking of"
Colby after starting at fighter 1 for the 1000 time
th-cam.com/video/HSyOH3AtOJI/w-d-xo.htmlsi=3Y5Kb7dFJbhiwWln
I feel like people didn't vote for the Sun Soul over the four elements because they don't even know what Sun Soul does or that it exists. Sun Soul is a masterclass on how not to design a subclass.
This. Sun Soul was by far the weakest subclass in all of 2014. Here's to hoping they buff it when they release the updated version
Played a sunsoul monk lotusden halfling for 3 yrs now and while the flavor was fun, especially paired with stars Druid, my first feature was limited over unarmed strike and I didn't bother with getting 2nd. When current campaign switches to revised rules, I'm replacing with Revised Elemental monk ASAP.
I thought it had good ideas that were mostly failed by the base class. Unarmed strikes with a 30 foot reach that deal radiant damage is a perfectly fine feature as long as unarmed strikes are worth using, but their poor scaling in the base class meant you were better off not using them. A mini-fireball that can be cast every single turn for zero cost that does less damage and targets a stronger enemy save could have used tweaking but it wasn’t outrageously underpowered. The only inherently terrible feature was the final one that lets you deal ten damage with a reaction.
Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! I'm starting a 2024 game as an elemental monk in ten days and love to see this video! Thanks for reading my my mind D4!
Defo skipping multiclass on my build though, there's just too much flavour in the higher level features
How'd the game go?
@@bobbyLNZ It was awesome, my monk kicked a zombies hand clean off, dove into the water and fought some more and then used his ass (well, tail) to temporarily seal the hole of the sinking ship we were on.
That sounds like a blast
@@bobbyLNZ Session ended with a one handed, one eyed man asking us to sign a scroll... Next session is next month!
TOOK YOU LONG ENOUGH TO MAKE A MONK!
Listening to this while cleaning up from flooding after hurricane Florence. Feeling super depressed and down and that sign off hit me. Thank you.
Oh man, sorry you got flooded! Glad I could bring at least a smidge of lift - keep going!
You have a son that is 17???!!!!!!!! My god Colby what kind of eldritch pact did you make to look so young? I legitimately thought you were in your low thirties. You could almost be my father hahaha. And yeah absolutely sing that song for your kid. It is that kind of thing that maybe will embarrass him in the moment but remember fondly over the years 😊
Won't be a kid for long
The pact of "Exercise". You trade some of your time and inconvenience, for health. It's pretty great.
@@devilkidhugger1199this is why I came here. People regularly think I’m in my early 20s. The secret to longevity is fitness. The “secret” to fitness is getting up and doing it.
2014- live action Aang, 2024 the true Animated Aang 😂
Kind of sad that they got rid of the Dedicated Weapon feature. It's not like Monks really need it anymore with better damage scaling but I just really liked using a Longsword like a Katana or being a Dwarf Monk flailing around with a Warhammer.
If I had a player that wanted to use a weapon for flavor instead of mechanics (i.e. using a club as a monk weapon, which is allowed, and it being reskinned as a warhammer), it would absolutely fly on my tables.
It was always an optional feature which means it was not replaced which also means from lead designer himself, you can still take it just talk to DM and let them know.
I'd argue you can still use dedicated weapon. Its listed as an optional feature in tashas rather than a full on add on to the class; so no reason why it wouldnt be optional still as far as i know. Deffo something to talk to dm about.
kesnsai can still do this but ya it might need a refresh to have better interaction with fighting styles and weapon masteries
Slight correction for Uncanny metabolism: You recover ALL your focus points when you use it, and you recover a number of hit points equal to a roll of you Martial Art die + your monk level
The default custom background I think shows just how unusual their decision to tie feats and ASIs to background. I expect “custom background” to be near universal in 5.5e.
Ahh, fighter-rolled
It's time to invest in a rick roll parody for next April 1st Colby 😂
Hoping for a shadow monk soon - that new darkness sight seems so fun
For the one using it at least x')
“I have my Ang shirt on, my Last Air Bender shirt on, and you know what that means? We’re starting with a level in Fighter.”
NGL, my excitement was greatly tempered when I saw we were going to see yet another Spike Growth build.
Feel like that horse has been beaten quite soundly.
Still love you Colby!
And I look forwards to a different build next week.
Agreed, the moment he started multiclassing into Druid I dipped out of the video.
Yeah spike growth is amazing on the spread sheet, but quite tedious in actual play. It's a very white box theory crafting idea that doesn't work in actual play half the time. And even if it does work, it's a one trick pony idea that is very boring very quickly. It's cool to make one build like that, but after the first time any more mention of it feels unjustified.
We don't beat horses here 😮😅😅😅
Same! The new monk can stand on it's own feet.
The issue with old monk is you have one path to make the monk work, and you have to follow that path strictly.
And that one path does not meet the expectations of how you play a monk
I mean the issue with monk period is your base features pigeonholed you into a very narrow build path, and instead of the game rewarding you for the sacrifices the base class demands, you get features that are choked full of flavor ribbons and abilities other classes get earlier and not tied to a limited resource pool
Still kinda does, it's just better value now. I'd love to break the martial arts feature over my knee
@@lethargy4098 I meant the old monk is the best as skirmisher. You cannot deal reliable damage with fists and cannot use heavy weapons as monk weapon for "power attacks", but you can use range weapons with Sharpshooter and Focused Aim from TCE works great with that. On top of that, you have Unarmored Movement.
Now you can grapple well or shoot fire with your firsts. Not only the Way of the Open Hand Monastic Tradition has forced movement.
@@lethargy4098 how is the martial arts feature the problem?
I was saying to my self last week. The build I most wanna see is the elemental monk. I wonder when he’ll do it. Thank you for reading my kind Colby
The Elemental Monk: D&D Ep #182
Level 01 (see above) [fighter 1, background, species, feat & fighting-style]
Level 02 (see above) [monk 1]
Level 03 (@16:03) [monk 2]
Level 04 (@17:23) [monk 3 & subclass]
Level 05 (@20:36) [monk 4 & feat]
Level 06 (@22:19) [monk 5]
Level 07 (see above) [druid 1 & primal order]
Level 08 (@28:21) [druid 2 & wildshape] {maybe a baby Appa?}
Level 09 (@30:09) [druid 3 & subclass]
Level 10 (see above) [druid 4 & feat]
Level 11 (@40:24) [monk 6]
Level 12 (@42:18) [monk 7]
Level 13 (@42:28) [monk 8 & feat]
Level 14 (see above) [monk 9]
Level 15 (@44:40) [monk 10]
Level 16 (@45:55) [monk 11]
Level 17 (@46:24) [monk 12 & feat]
I know it's the Elemental Monk, but screw it I'm flavoring it as a Z-Fighter
Colby: **says slightly inflamatory opinion and backs it up with enough generalities to get people ready with their "um acktually..." then sits back and watches as the algorithm is fueled by riteous fury of keyboard warriors**
Also Colby:
There's an argument to taking the dagger/nick weapon mastery feat instead of dipping fighter. I'm building a high lvl campaign monk tank with this idea though it's a bit off base.
Lvl 1: +2 Wis, +1 Dex (stay with me)
Lvl 4: +1 Dex - dagger weapon mastery
Lvl 8: +1 Dex -defensive duelist (this is arguably better for multi-attack enemies or against numerous enemies since it lasts until the start of your next turn now)
Lvl 12: +2 dex or wis
Lvl 16: +2 dex or wis
Lvl 19: +1 wis - epic boon
Lvl 20 that sweeeet capstone
At lvl 20 you're making 6 d12 attacks, have all saves proficiencies, and can effectively give yourself 31 AC when you choose. Not including all the shenanigans you get from your subclass. Straight monk is just beast mode.
Edit: I forgot to mention, this build requires taking 8, 15, 14, 10, 15, 8 to respective stats through point buy.
I like it, but I don't think you'll be able to get the two weapon fighting style without a multiclass.
@tommorgan9073 You're correct. But that's offset because you're adding +2 to you're attack on all attacks and dmg on 5 of them with the capstone.
This is my plan as Shadow Monk but Deflect Attacks is such a stacked feature (a potential DPR boost on top of just its defensives) that I'm just going to keep using that instead and take Charger for more DPR or free pushes. I think DD also has less value in general for Shadow since most enemies will have disadvantage against you anyway.
@Auesis from a dpr perspective you're correct and like i said, deflect attack is great if you're only expecting a few attacks and tbh better for low level campaigns. Defensive duelist being better (defensively) if you're dealing with multi attack creatures or multiple enemies. Personally I like having options but that's my preference.
And can tell you, from personal experience, that a pit fiend with +15 to attack and 4 attacks does not care about disadvantage to hit. But again, that's a high lvl campaign monster that most probably won't have to deal with.
Uncanny metabolism actually gives you all focus points back on innitiative and lets you roll your martial arts die plus monk level for the ammount of hp you regain, so even better
I do think that just having a druid buddy is best. Instead of investing the levels just invest some pizza and some persuasion.
I'm wondering, how would grappling work for cheese grafting? Do grappled creatures stay in the same space relative to you? Can you walk around them? Can you move them without moving?
There's so much gray area
I cannot remember which video this was, but a few months back Colby did a Grapple+Cloud of Daggers build where this was brought up. Like you said, it's very vague and this came down to "check with your DM" iirc
@@LightsabreSMGN It's so odd that this area of the game is so undefined.
me and my friend came up with a build where im playing a aaracokra monk, and then he is playing a druid, have him cast spike growth and then i would drag a grappled enemy through the spike growth whilst im flying above it, and it results in ridiculoud amounts of damage, around 150dpr i think every round to one enemy at 4th level
@@bominfoodgaming7703 Here's the kicker, so the grappled enemy was dangling under you, right? There's no actual rules to support that 😅
Not saying y'all did it wrong or anything but technically they'd stay in the air next to you? Who knows.
@@20storiesunder well i would be grappling them with my feet, and if thats not allowed, im going way of the elements so an extra 10ft of grapple distance, which i can use to have them well away from me and drag them from the spike growth that way
can we just all appreciate that monk is now something worth playing
Cody, there is an AMAZING race... "Spiritfarer Erina" from the Book of Ebon Tides. It is MADE for this build! It will MASSIVELY bump your damage on this build!
Nice, another short and concise video, thanks Colby!
I think you could do an interview with ludic savant when he came out with a New calculator .his builds, his greyhawk's cult writeup or his calculator tell me this will be a great and inspiring discussion !
7:45 if there's anyone we'll never give up, it's Colby.
Just seeing you place this again makes me smile already lmao.
Can't wait to see the video when I get the chance, nice going Colby! 🙌
I am so glad that I discovered you. Monk is fav class and I love playing every version of it. I love the changes except Open Hand monk, I will be using 2014 version because if wizard can cast wish at level 17 I should be able to have a button says that "You're dead"
18:16 I feel the reason why this js the case is because yes you are throwing the attack/projectile back at the attacker, but you are also guiding that attack somewhere else with a bit of your ki
Super happy to see this video knowing your love for Monks. Great job!! Love seeing your passion for the class.
I have a passion, and you know what it is. Give me that sweet sweet Beast Master 3.0!!!
@@fatewalker recording it tomorrow!
@@DnDDeepDive omg yes!!! 🤩🤩🤩
Im going to try this build, but take the way of the sea druid and go full in on the sailor vibes. Thanks for making great content!
Kind of surprised to see you took a fighter level over the Grappler feat. When I was looking over the new rules, Grappler seemed like the go-to way to boost the damage of straight classed monks, and for a cheese grater build... well, yeah, being able to move grappled creatures more effectively is pretty great! Especially on a class that is already really good at grappling and moving. Seems worth forgoing the nick attack to me.
Yes! Been playing a goliath elemental monk for a little while now and I've been begging our druid to prepare Spike Growth
Yoo, I’ve never seen a video so soon after its release!
Does anyone else think that Spike Growth is becoming more and more of a problem spell over time?
Absolutely, it's massively buffed since 2014 due to the movement options.
I think we will do the combo once with my druid friend and then likely nerf the spell. Perhaps by breaking the spikes when they do damage, perhaps by restricting the per turn damage on a target
Yup. There needs to be a limit of some kind.
I forget which spell it was, but theres one that only can do so much total damage before it auto ends. Maybe give it a "it has a pool of this much damage" every time it does damage subtract from the pool, when pool is zero the spell ends.
Grappling is harder to pull off now, but Grappler feat's been buffed into orbit so it's more rewarding. Push weapon mastery is a thing now, and there are other such cases.
I think by the time this build gets it, we're at the point where parties will frequently encounter monsters that fly, or are immune to being grappled, or have offensive capabilities that are comparably threatening, etc. But parties can do things like that much earlier than this.
Wouldn't necessarily be against capping the damage on a given turn to some number (my instinct is 8d4; maybe even make it scale with upcasting!) and/or just ruling you can't drag people you've grappled except directly behind you. It's still a very good spell in the context of non-grapple push effects, and absolutely it's a unique spell tactically that should continue to exist, but these numbers are harder to argue with than CME's (I have complained in the past that despite its numbers, CME presents risks and opportunity costs that are rarely acknowledged, but I don't think this is as true for Spike Growth).
@@TerminalDevastationI think the spell you are reffering to is guardian of faith: bit of flavor text, any creature hostile to you that movex within 10ft of the guardian for the first time on a turn must make dex save 20 radiant or half on success. Guardian vanishes when it has dealt 60 damage.
"Unarmed Strikes don't have to be punches" Ooooooooooooh, so THAT'S why my mentor always said "Use your head" !!!
I bet Chris is loving life with these great Monk buffs!
I wonder what would the damage be with we focused on Grappling and dragging people through the briar patch with buffed monk speed + step of the wind
I don’t have the new book so I’m just piecing together what I’ve heard from TH-cam, but going with a race with 35 starting speed, +30 from straight monk, +10 from speedy, +10 from charger, and grappler feat while double dashing gives a total of 255 feet per round. Average of 5 damage per square in spike growth gives us 255 damage on average as well. If another party member can also cast haste on us, that’s another two chances to dash, giving us 425 feet movement and 425 average damage. If someone also can cast longstrider on us that’s an extra 50 damage for 475. If we happen to roll all 190d4 and got max results that’s 760 damage. Some of this could be wrong since I don’t have the book in front of me so someone can correct me if I’m wrong. This is also assuming you already had the enemy grappled before your turn started, which with a high dex you may go before your party can cast their spells. You could also grapple two enemies at once to double all this damage.
"When you roll Initiative, you can regain all expended Focus Points. When you do so, roll your Martial Arts die, and regain a number of Hit Points equal to your Monk level plus the number rolled."
Its' even better than you described - *all* Focus points and recover HP equal to one roll of the MA die plus your Monk level. That's incredibly good.
Love coming out of school and having a d4 video to enjoy. But Colby...answer the call Colby...Truly optimized CME damage...Colby...
Honestly obsessed with the new monk
I am, for the first time ever, really excited to play a monk. To the point that this is probably my first new 5.24 character. It seems like so much fun. Either that or a World Tree Barbarian.
I love that they kind of took the best parts of the astral monk and added it here! Another banger Colby! Would love to see a 2024 Goliath War or Light cleric when you get a chance ❤
Love it!! Gonna probably be playing one of these soon!!
I did a build close to this one, but was a ranger that used the push property of the heavy crossbow to deal the spike growth damage
Aw man, I'm writing a script for that as we speak ;)
@@DnDDeepDive oh wow, really looking forward to see how u made the same build as me but better hahaha, i myself found it to be one off the only ways to deal ranged damage somewhat good on the spread sheet
Playing my Elemental Monk at Lv 3 for the first time tonight. The starter build wasn't up to me (we created chars for each other) so his background feat was lousy (entertainer) , but I am excited to go elemental on enemies from now on. Not sure yet if'll go with Grabbler or Tavern Brawler feat next level. Cool video!
George R.R. Martin needs World Anvil.
Every video Colby becomes a tiny bit more like Pointy Hat and I'm here for it ❤
Honestly Grappler is still a must have- since grapple is tied to unarmed strikes I contend you can maintain grapple at 15’ with Elemental Attunement and like you mention near the end, you’re missing reliable advantage and that’s a great way to add it at least reasonably consistently. Does explicitly require a free hand so Nick will be harder to use. Replace Two Weapon Fighting with Dueling Fighting Style, or obviously Blond Fighting or Protection are fine, hell Unarmed is OK just to be on theme
"Not all unarmed strikes are punches." Correct! I flavor mine as a prehensile spleen.
I am...THE SPLEEN.
An interesting minor change to Focus Points compared to Ki points, a 5e Monk had to meditate for at least 30 minutes as part of the rest to regain Ki, meaning strict RAW a feature that allowed you to benefit from a Short Rest in less time such as Catnap or the Epic Heroism rest variant would not regain them. Most people likely didn't enforce that, many not even realizing the restriction was there and it always felt like it was intended more as flavor than mechanics, but that's what the rule said. A 5.5 Monk's feature makes no such restriction, so they can benefit RAW from such features.
Really minor but there is a misspeak at 17:15 Uncanny gives back all Focus and heals equal to the roll
Some things never change. I *KNEW* you were going to multiclass with fighter and druid ... 😄
> Elemental Monk build
> look inside
> starts as a fighter
I think this type of build would be insanely fun with a bugbear with the alert feat
I’m surprised it took Colby 4 or 5 videos to get to this!! I’ve been waiting on this one since the beginning of August haha
No way I was just trying to build an elemental monk!! You're a legend!
What’s this? After a great night’s sleep on my new Helix bed, a new Colby monk video? Why yes, I do think I will… 😃
I just hit level 7 on my dual wielding fey wanderer ranger. He is the "The Blade of Sylvanus", and last session, the party was visited and saved by Sylvanus with an on the spot long rest right before a surprise dragon encounter so they could go into the fight fresh.
I'm loving the look of those first three levels of elements monk a lot, flavor and mechanics wise. Then, I probably would just grab the level 4 and level 8 feats back to back going from 10 -> 12.
Then, probably push for fey reinforcements?
Flavorwise, I think I'm going to flavor his 15ft elemental unarmed strike as imbued slashes of his sword.
Free hand to throw or stab with a dagger for the free nick attack. Two weapon fighting style+weapon mastery, as the elements carry the thrown dagger to target.
Also, free hand to grapple, which can be done with the ranged elemental unarmed strike.
Grappler feat will probably be the level 11 feat, I have an odd strength score, but I should probably make dex 19. Speedy at 12 for 60ft speed+ some other things and I have an odd Con score.
I'm probably not going to be doing the spike growth thing often, but it would be really good.
This build is very mindful, very demure.
Mini appa sounds adorable!!!
37:15 I wonder if the numbers took into account that missing on the pull on the second attack (either by missing the attack or they resisting the pull) means you are unable to do subsequent melee weapon attacks such as the nick attack. Probably doing more consistent damage just by grappling and dashing around.
I love it when I make the earth come out and whack people with thunder damage :D
Have you considered including the use of the jump spell and longstrider spell, I would highly consider a three-level dip in scout Rogue as well for a reaction movement. The jump spell I believe does stack with the increased jump height of step of the wind, whether or not you get the increased jump distance without spending the key point is up to interpretation based on wording. But if you use step of the wind and jump 90 ft in the air with two people grappled, you'll hopefully not take damage due to snowfall, and they will and be prone, so advantage on attacks and their likely bloodied
One thing for calculating DPR with Vex Colby - it’s essentially a +3 on average to the next attack roll.
You have a 65% chance to have an 87.75% chance to hit after Vex, so ~57%. You have a 35% chance to have a 65% chance to hit after Vex, so 22.75%.
57+22.75=79.75. Damn near 80%. 80 is 15 more than 60, so a +3 overall :)
@@jeffreyrankine2533 yeah but it’s complicated. What if you didn’t hit with the vex weapon? What if did on your last attack of your turn, but your target is dead before your next one? Also, I always like to calculate for specific AC rather than assuming a blanket chance to hit 😬
@@DnDDeepDive well, if you didn’t hit with the Vex weapon, that’s accounted for in the 35% chance to again have a 65% chance to hit, right? That said, I do agree the golden “65% chance to hit” isn’t as good as doing comparisons across a range of AC values :)
This. This is what I was waiting for. I'm geekin
That's awesome! Will you ever make a full elements monk build?
Im playing a barbarian with push mastery and charger with a paladin who grapples and shoves a lot, and our druid cast spike growth on a big group of ghouls and it was a blast! Sure spike growth can be strong especially with a party who can take advantage of it, but even as a DM im not worried about it because its just so fun to teamwork it like that
A minor aside for species, if you go goliath, you can pick up huge creatures and fly 100 feet into the air and drop them when you get to monk 10.
I know you don't do builds that rely on other players, but with the new conjure elemental you could use a similar concept. If you have the grappler feat on a monk and have someone cast the elemental you can use your bonus action and action to dash and just drag them in and out of the elemental for 8d8 each time the enemy enters the elementals space.
Would love a video series with the subclasses that didn’t make it into the 2024 players handbook built on top of the new class rules to see whether any of them have improved significantly and how they stack up against the four that made it into 5.24.
I wonder if by the wording on the new Action Surge, if you could flurry of blows twice in a round? Could be the basis for a burst build if it works that way.
Patiently I await the Berzerker Build, thank again for the Build Colby :)
Bugbear is the obvious ideal species for the new Elements Monk because of the 5 ft extra reach on top.
Let's get Ele-monk-tal 😎
The most important thing for monks now isn't their damage (it's alright, not crazy but it's better) but their survivability is crazy improved. They finally fill the roll of a support martial, which is crazy in a game without good ways to distract or tank really well outside of magic.
Agreed with the DM that a druid could wear linothorax - the armour of the Greek and Macedonian hoplite. It is made of multiple layers of hardened linen ...🤯
I've been toying around with an update to your Street Fighter, combining it with this build, focused heavily on unarmed combat+throwing weapons+grappling.
The crux of the matter is choosing between a DEX based Goliath Fighter/Elements Monk vs a STR based Tortle Fighter/Elements Monk/Barbarian.
The idea is to use TWF with light weapons +grappling an enemy, using Elemental Strikes+Tavern Brawler's move/push mechanic to launch an enemy into the air, making them take falling dmg+prone and Flurry of Blows for extra dmg
If the STR based build only takes the Lvl 1 Barb dip at lvl7 both builds should have a 32.5 DPR at lvl5. But the DEX build will get Extra Attack 1 round earlier, and will be able to proceed to Fighter 2 for Action Surge and Fighter 3 Battlemaster earlier.
I'm wondering if the Barbarian dip makes sense, since activating Rage as a BA slows down damage at first; they would need about 3/4 rounds to get on par with the DEX build. And if the Tortle is not an option, AC for the STR build would be really bad, since DEX or CON need to be dumped.
I'm not about to do the spike growth thingy in anything but a one-shot, but using the Nick property to get five attack sounds awesome!
My interpretation on the build after watching is probably Ranger 2/Monk X.
I still get the Nick and twf. I wouldn't need constitution saves that much because I don't care about spike growth. Rangers can cast hunter's mark a lot and you probably just want to do it on the big chunky guys that will be up for 3+rounds. You make a ton of attacks so big win.
I'm going dual scimitars. Is using a scimitar and shortsword better? Yes. Do I care more about aesthetic symmetry? Also yes.
Besides, I lose advatage Vex, but can get a lot of advantage with the Grappler feat. I don't plan on pushing people, unless it's off a cliff. Element monk can grapple 15 ft away now that grapples are just an option for an unarmed attack. Pull and dragging up to my full monk speed with a pretty consistent advantage engine? 5 atacks and hunter's mark? Oh boy. That sounds fun to me.
Just pointing out that - at least on D&D Beyond - the Hand Crossbow is a Martial weapon with the Light, Ammunition, Loading, and Vex properties. So yes, Hand Crossbows are in fact Monk weapons. (A monk character sheet on DDB even lists Hand Crossbow as your first Weapon proficiency.)
EDIT: Oh, Monk weapon as in "applies to the Martial Arts ability". Yeah, I can see why they might've changed that - D12 Hand Crossbows would be a bit much, lol
I think you can hit the person straight up in the air to prone them (and take falling damage), so early on I think your damage reports would be higher
The warrior of the elements is the character I’m most excited to play with the new rules. Might not even multiclass, just enjoy the amazing monkness of the new monk and avatar style of the elements
I really want to see a 2024 grappling monk build
Like the thematic synergy with Elements monk and Land Druid. Might be tempted to go that way with species also: Dragonborn, Goliath, or Genasi - though, of course, none of those come with the elemental versatility of the classes, so maybe human is best after all. But ultimately, I think I’d rather see this concept executed with two characters - one Druid and one Monk.
I will post this on the new video as well
I suggest the following changes for a more streamlined progression for elemental monk
If custom background is allowed select mage of high sorcery and take the feat it gives, by RAW it is given in place of a origin feat, thats okay tavern brawler is good but not essential, we start with any class that gives constitution proficiency, our stats using point buy should be 15 on dex, 12 on cons, 15 on wisdom and 13 in whatever class you choose, weapon mastery is good but absorb elements can be very handy, up to you
Then we go full monk, on lvl 5 we choose Adept of the red robes and get spike growth as our second level spell, now we can cast it once a day for free, on level 9 then get grappler, now you dont need extra movement to move your grappled foe, after that just max out your dexterity,wis and cons and you are fine.
Alternatively you can take halfling lotusden, the main halfling was updated but the older subraces are still available, with that you can pick any background and grappler at lvl 4 and you are good to go to cast it when you reach lvl 5 as a pure monk
I would love it if at some point you do a fully unarmed build for monk.
Might be fun: Flame-blade plus Shillelagh dual-wield SAD gish build? Does Flame-blade have nick property?
Or any SAD gish builds using either would be fun, really.
If your GM allows yo8u to play a flyer (aarakocra) take the fighter 1st level and then go straight monk (assuming you don't get anywhere near level 20 as the fighter level is a waste at high levels but good earlier on). Don't bother with tavern brawler get toughness
Then grab grapple at monk level 4, and on the ground/dungeon you grapple from range and slap them around with advantage lightning (more Emperor Palpatine than air bender) at 15 feet. You can do the pushing to get back into that position if they escape
In the air just fly above them and drag them them 10 feet into the air and drop then where they will fall prone. Then repeat with advantage/fall damage (reach 15 feet)
Quick question about the build, wouldn't taking Grappler and focusing on using your crazy monk movement to drag enemies through spike growth while attacking them with advantage or attacking a second enemy with the push pull combo help the damage out a lot? I mean dragging an enemy 50 ft. through spike growth is a free 20d4 damage as long as you have an enemy grappled and there is no restriction on you attacking other enemies while you do so. You might even be able to grapple two enemies and drag them (I don't have the book so I can't say for sure if grappling two enemies is still possible) for a maximum of 40d4 damage and you can STILL attack up to 5 times using your feet potentially causing a third enemy to take some spike growth damage. It's possible I am missing something here, but I feel like that would have increased the damage by quite a bit.
im so excited for this!! monk is my favorite class, and theyre so good now!
I would love to see an elements monk build with light domain cleric. Kinda like the cheese greater build but instead you have step of the wind and spirit guardians… think that could hold up?
I was surprised you didn’t pick sea Druid. That was my pick for the cold damage that can also push away. But I do understand the land
Waiting for the grappling build using Polymorph and Armor of Agathys. Didn’t run the numbers myself but it looks pretty good to me.
Hi Colby, love you channel and your soft asmr voice! Just wanna give my two cents: i'm not a big fan of starting a build with another class, like fighter in this instance, because I think most campaigns in the real world take some time to get going and that makes every level a precious resource you don't want to spend on another class when you envision your build. I'd love to see more builds that don't go multiclassing just for one or two benefits and that manage the limitations of going with a single class, or multiclassing only when you plan to develop both classes further than just one or two levels. But that's just my opinion! Keep up the good work!
I have to say that I can't wait to play this. I am a little miffed that I am going to have to take a 1 level dip into Fighter, but it will be worth it, especially since the game I am going to use this is going to start at level 5 so I won't have to play as a Fighter and have the conundrum of wanting to stay a one instead of going ahead with the plan of being Monk.
To everyone who’s going to play the elemental monk:
Always remember to bring your spreadsheet and write-up of Uncle Iroh quotes
not sure you'll see this, but i'm wondering what your thoughts would be on forgoing using a short sword/scimitar at all, and instead use the first attack(from level 5 on) to douse your target in oil, then make your extra attack as an unarmed strike, changed to fire, followed by FoB also changed to fire. round 1, that's 3 unarmed strikes, and if all land, an extra 15 flat fire damage. more damage on subsequent rounds, as the oil burns for 1 min, so just blast away with unarmed strikes, from range, as your enemy flails helplessly slapping at their face and clothes. oil in the new adventuring gear seems really good.
Nobody expected starting the build with fighter! 🤣