This feels like a conclusion to the greatest arc in all of fantasy. Chris going from making the monk's suck video to this one. Just for that alone, I'll call 5.5/2024 edition a success. Cant wait to see the eventual monk build on this channel.
Dragonborn ascendant monk with the grappler feat is something that I'm using right now, sky dropping creatures from hundreds of feet in the air and occasionally dragoon jumping onto people with my spear has been fun
Not only that. He's excited to play Monks, barbarians and Fighters. The martial/caster divide is still there but it is really good to now that they're viable options now.
The think is that battlemaster 15 just became my favorite ability of all time. The monks are great... but the master samurai feelings of battlemaster is a huge draw
@@bragod Battlemaster was already cool and functional enough in my book. I’m just happy to see my favorite weak class get bumped up. Definitely a cool lv 15 ability though.
@@Gorbology functional but tooo unreliable...since in 2 rounds you expended all your resources... the way they are doing resource preservation in this edition is definitively a move in the right way. The biggest buff monks received is not because of the monk itself, but because gwm became more reasonable. Wizards always did all they could to never allow monks to benefit from -5 +10 and that was the main reason they were never close to competitive.
Everyone gets Topple Mastery but theirs is a Con save while Open Hand Monk topple is a Dex save. For most monsters I know which one I'd rather be targeting. And if the monster has a weak Con save that means I'll be stunning them instead!
Being able to target different saves like a spellcaster is great. I know as wizard I have Binding Ice for Con, Web for Dex and Hypnotic Pattern for Wis and I always have a good response for the situation. Saving throw versatility is an underrated tool, especially if you are good at intuiting a bad save on a creature.
It's also worth noting when comparing to Elements that Open Hand Technique's bonus effects are added to Flurry of Blows, so they actually cost 0 Focus (since that feature is worth using even without them), while Elements has a 1 Focus cost per fight on top of any Flurries. The Elements effect is well worth it, but it's a distinction worth bearing in mind.
@@DeadmanwalkingXI Your forgetting that you don't necessarily want to use flurry of blows every round, as there is several other things you might want to do with your bonus action also. And if you don't use flurry of blows, you basically have no subclass as open hand monk.
I can vouch for a dex based trip being awesome. I playtested an assassin rogue, and as soon as I hit lv5 and got cunning strike, I went on a tripping rampage. Highlights included land locking a wyvern ( Dex save +0 ) and soloing an earth elemental ( Dex save -1). Hand crossbow is now considered a monk weapon, so you should be able to topple creatures from range.
I’ve been playing an Elements monk, and Elemental Burst is FAR from a dud. I feel like everyone compares the damage to fireball for some reason - probably because it shares the radius and a potential damage type. But what it really should be compared to is Shatter. And when you make that comparison, it’s incredible. Twice the radius, more flexible damage typing (though thunder is already one of the best), and it scales up in damage as you level without spending additional resources. Do you want to use it if you’re hitting 2 or fewer targets? No. Will it drain your Focus quickly if you’re using it a lot? Yes. But when you *are* facing a lot of grouped enemies, it’s just more effective than anything else you can be doing. *And* you can Flurry of Blows in the same turn to maneuver more enemies into the AoE, too.
The part I really like about Shadow now is that you can cast Darkness without *ANY* components. So not only can it not be Counterspelled, there is absolutely zero indication that you did it. It just...appears. That's terrifying and awesome and has a lot of fun RP potential on top.
I was already playing the game that way, with a 15th level Armorer Artificer and a "Mage Grappler" Bard triple class. Control has always been the most effective strategy, all you need are a couple of bloodthirsty friends & you're off to the races. I played a Graviturgist Wizard and made a DM quit (not a brag, just a mild surprise)
@@pranakhan "Rugby" is a new strategy that involves exploiting new emanation spells and the fact that they do damage to creatures when you move the spell area into the creature, rather than just when the creature is moved into the spell area. Now you can trigger damage with readied movement, mounts, summons that can grapple, and friendly forced movement from monks, glamour bards, world tree barbs, ect. Sounds like you were playing pro-wrestling, not rugby.
@@pranakhan I would quit, too. Stuff like this encourages selfish, obnoxious metagame playstyles. I would absolutely not play with people who did this.
I would not play in a game that used the Rugby Meta. If people want to play D&D as an abstract battle between two spreadsheets, they can. Their fun is not wrong. But I would never play in such a game. And I'm a power gamer. But it's not OK to destroy the immersion and have your whole character and their actions in-game be based on a rulebook technicality exploit.
Mercy definitely got nerfed to avoid situations where the mercy monk after a combat just dumps their entire leftover ki supply into healing because uncanny metabolism makes it more or less risk free and it represents a LOT of raw healing. That being said, it should be wis mod # of times per short rest. Keeps it combat oriented and stops the monk from dumping up to 33d10+132 (when you get it, assuming 18 wis, scales up to 60d12+420 with 24 wis)healing into the party for virtually no cost, without feeling like you need to be super choosey with it in combat
Definitely agreed, even in combat having the third flurry of blows would mean more healing. So maybe it needed to change, but I think they went about it the wrong way
Yeah I mean 800 points of healing at level 16, just before initiative, that's certainly not bad, if the next fight is just a minir fight we get 4 focus back and heal another whole bunch for free, so it is more likely that we go completely resourceless until the boss, wherein we get everything back, have full hp, max focus, full power That would have been kinda fun ngl, and I am happy with how it is atm, basically stuck to those key moments in combat, and not being abused out of combat at all But yeah if it is limited use it shouldn't *also* cost focus points imo
@@nyanbrox5418 "But yeah if it is limited use it shouldn't also cost focus points imo" Honestly that's one of my favourite changes to the general design of this book. so many classes used to have features like this and now they're finally gone, but monks got given a new one for some reason?
I just checked the Patreon like ten minutes ago to see if you posted yet lmao! Welcome back and I hope you enjoyed your time off, very excited to see the next round of videos!!
Hey Chris - a DnD Beyond post from someone at WOTC posted on the elemental grapple. “Reach Out and Grab 'Em If you're looking to spice things up, the new Grappler feat combines exceptionally well with the Warrior of the Elements' extended reach and the 2024 Monk's ability to grapple using Dexterity. With the Grappler feat, you can attempt to grapple a creature you hit as part of the same Attack action you use to make an Unarmed Strike. Seeing as being Grappled reduces a creature's Speed to 0, you can easily hold them out of reach and wail on them with your elemental strikes, which you'll now get Advantage on thanks to Grappler.”
This is technicly correct. Envision a conjured chain of fire engangling them like a whip. They can still break out of it per grapple rules and it still renders your hand occupied as the grappler. They can still attack you without disadvantage with ranged attack though. You're not within 5'.
I hope that whatever DM I end up playing with for my Elements Monk allows this I think this is the intent of the feature, especially since the ability to extend reach has a duration beyond 1 round
@@bg-cc6hn That's correct - "This feature is the core power of the Warrior of the Elements Monk. It infuses your Unarmed Strikes with elemental energy, extends your reach to 10 feet, allows you to output Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning, or Thunder damage, and provides the potential to toss your enemies around the battlefield."
This still isn't RAW though. Right there under way of the elements subclass it says that the your unarmed reach is extended to 15ft *WHEN YOU ATTACK.* So when you are not performing an attack action, you're back at 5ft. This prevents the monk from controlling a 35ft circle with their opportunity attacks (could you imagine?) but also means that as soon as you're done your attack action you lose any long range grapple you started.
Monk is the only class from the 2014 handbook that as a DM I had no idea what it did. Read it once when I got the handbook and once more 3 years ago when one of my players wanted to play a Monk. Now after these changes I really wanna play one damn. Talk about a comeback, great success
Thanks for making this one! I feel like the wait on seeing a monk video was worse than the wait for August 1st... Also welcome back, I hope your family time was amazing for you all!
The new stunning strike guarantees the next attack has advantage, regardless of if they succeed on the save or not. If you REALLY need someone grappled or shoved, that "if they succeed on the save" half-stun effect is pretty significant.
@Klaital1 I don't believe that is true. When you land an unarmed strike (attack roll), you can grapple. It's a save to escape after the fact. At least that's how it was in the playtest. I haven't seen the new book with my own eyes, but if I recall from Treantmonks rule changes video, that went through from the playtest more or less the same.
@@Sirxeko No when you make an unarmed strike, you can choose to either attempt to do damage, grapple, or shove. If you choose the damage you do attack roll as normal, if you choose grapple or shove, you don't do an attack roll, but instead the target just makes a saving throw. I think you are getting confused by the grappler feat which lets you do both at same time.
I have access to the new PHB and one thing not mentioned that will synergize well with monks increased grappling ability is that there are now rules that allow you to restrain creatures with rope, manacles, or chain (with different rules for each) as a utilize action if they are grappled, restrained, or incapacitated. Grappling seems a lot better in the new rules.
So one cool non strength thing about monks, is that they can break a campaign around 10th level, or at least do feats that you really wouldn't expect from a pure martial. So: If a wood elf monk takes the charger feat and the speedy feat (both are good feats for a monk anyways), their movement speed for dashing twice on their turn is a whopping 215 feet, which for context is faster than the fastest an adult dragon can fly on their turn (i.e with a dash, at level 11 a four elements monk can *fly* this quickly for context), and this speed translates to a consistent 39.3 kmph/24.3 mph. What makes this pretty gnarly is because of speedy they aren't impeded by difficult terrain, they can run up walls and over water, and don't even need to drink water or eat food because of the level 10 feature self restoration. So, being an elf meaning 20 hour days, purely RAW regardless of what the DM might rule, a monk can travel about 800km/500 miles per day *without using any resources* if they so choose, and nothing be it difficult terrain, walls, or lakes, can impede them. Level 10 casters can for sure do some crazy stuff outside combat but a martial doing it in DnD without making a hyper-niche build is pretty impressive. I've always liked monks the best because they just get a lot of roleplay ribbons like running up walls or forgoing food which meant they could feel much more flavorful than other martials, but ribbons was all they had. Now, with monks becoming good I'd say they're in a great place, probably the best for martials for RP and combat combined.
@@20storiesunder and you miss out on nothing by going this route, wood elf is good since 5 ft move speed is always good, and we get longstrider and PWT, both nice spells, charger is probably the most synergistic with the monk imo since open hand, shadow, and elements all have ways to pretty much guarantee it on every turn (addle, darkness, +10ft reach and push) and that's a d8 more damage, and speedy is the only real issue here since while speedy is good, grappler is probably better (though maybe not that synergistic with charger). Even so, speedy just allows for a skirmisher playstyle which is strong enough, if not stellar like a grappler. A single class martial doing stuff like this *should* be the norm, but as it stands monks are just great
@@theformation3781 Mmm I don't see space for charger, grappler and speedy though. You want to get both dex and wisdom up and there's only so many asis.
This, all the way. I recognize old monk's issues but at least it had cool flavor. New monk now has all of the pros of old monk and none of the cons. I just wish other martials got similar flavor ribbons but with good functionality
One thing to take into consideration for flurry of healing and harm is how much the core monk changes signficiantly buffed the burst healing. At level 11, it went from 2d8+2xWis to 3d10+3xWis. Assuming a +3 wis at level 11, that's a jump from 15 to 25.5. Also the fact that the monk gets 3 attacks with flurry means that even just the basic level 3 hand of healing is better as it starts to take 1/3 attacks instead of 1/2. Also also, the better focus point economy means that, in general, youll be able to use the other abilities more often. So one direct nerf for several passive buffs. I think theyre still just fine.
The long rest limitation is what kills me, though. Like, that's your level 11 feature, which is a pretty major level, and you can only do it 3-5 times per day, and it's not even that impressive. You can heal additional 14 points three times per day. That's it. It's really bad...
@@limaTheNoob But everything else is also better. The individual ability might be weaker, but everything else is stronger. And in a theoretical level 20 scenario, it's over double as strong 7 times a day. For a bonus action it's not bad.
@@themonkeys96 I agree it's overall better, I just don't understand why they need to mess with what's already perfectly fine. Haven't seen a single person saying this was a necessary nerf...
@@limaTheNoob I think a reason it was nerfed (I would change it to be Wis mod uses per Short Rest, not long rest) is because at lvl 11+ it basically means with a short rest you can full heal the entire party out of combat, like at lvl 11 you would have an average of 313.5 healing you can do each short rest (with an 18 Wis) and up to lvl 20 where your Out of Combat healing is 810 HP per short rest)
So glad to hear you think the monk is better. Currently using the new shadow monk in a campaign. Only level 3 at the moment but I use darkness to blind the ranged enemies. Also the distance you can move the darkness is huge because it’s to a spot within 60 ft of yourself not its previous location
Thinking so hard about what feats to take here-lovely to actually have options! Grappler is tempting, of course, but also looking at Charger and Sentinel. It’s tough to spend too many ASIs on feats when we also wanna boost our Wisdom though.
I don't have the rules at hand, but for the sake of this response I'll assume that Charger and Sentinel offer +1 Dexterity. If so, you can get your Dexterity to 20 at 12th-level by taking those three feats. Then, boost your Wisdom to 18 at 16th-level, and enjoy that wild capstone feature.
@@cronykil74 been playing around with exactly that - since daggers are monk weapons and scale to d12s, and since you can stun with thrown weapons, a thrown weapon monk with Weapon Mastery is looking extremely tasty
Playing a 2024 Monk for the Vecna Eve of Ruin Campaign right now, so far I've taking Grappler, +2 Wis ASI, Sentinel, and MAge Slayer up to lvl 16 and its been amazing, I'm playing a Grappling Amethyst Gem Dragon Born, Ascendant Dragon Monk
Monk is looking so good, I’m super excited to play all the subclasses, especially shadow and elements. They really did a good job on improving the class and subclasses in unique ways that make you feel awesome and like a monk
A way to play around an ally's darkness spell is to upcast Continual Flame to 3rd level on an item. Since the magical light created by the item isn't 2nd level or lower, it can shine through the darkness. Once you're done with your turn you can stash the item to hide the light.
@ 20:22 that seems so perfect for a cleric and it suddenly made me realise there should totally be a cleric spell that surrounds the them & does a lot of damage, but it's not added to the clerics attacks, but rather to their comrades attacks. It would suit a cleric so well to aid others attacks, especially in a semi-visible cloud of spirits!
One thing totally glossed over here is that Open Hand can take Step of the Wind for free as long as they take ANY Bonus action. And this is the level 10 super Step of the Wind. So Flurry of Blows then dip with an ally, Patient Defense giving you 3 actions at once, any Bonus Action spell you might have all good. It sounds like just more move speed, but it isn’t. Edit: rereading it does say you only get the super Step of the Wind when you spend a focus point. So that might be something to take up with JC and learn the RAI.
Here are some monk builds I have been thinking of: The Dropper: Medium+ Sized Monk with a Flying speed or level 11+ element monk. Grapple enemies and fly them up. They will take falling damage that scales with your movment speed. Combine this with the grappler feat and tavern brawler you can do some crazy damage. I was calculating 130 DPR at level 10+. If you have more than 500ft of movment you can essentially concentration free banish people as you suspend them so high in the air their turn(s) disappear Dragging build: Pretty self explanatory. You can take a moon druid dip for increased base movement speed, and you can set your own spike growth. Really high DPR, 140+ at 10/3 monk druid
About fly-pile-driving enemies: 5e has rules for falling *on* creatures (crushing damage), so if you fly up and then drop with them, you can add 50% more damage to this technique. Use the monk's fall damage cancelling ability and you can do this safely.
@@TheJakeJackson you can voluntarily fall onto the ground but at least thematically I think monks falling on something with slow fall and still damaging them is kinda silly. Now if the barbarian did a 200ft elbow drop it would make sense that they only take 1/4 damage because of resistance and damage splitting. Grappling 2 creatures will let you drop them also which I did not include in the calculation
Hey Cris! Just wanted to leave an encouraging comment about the quality of your content. I'm a long term follower of your channel and I really enjoy how you present your ideas with data, but for these recent ones IDK I feel your energy is different, looks like you are having more fun! It makes the videos even more enjoying. Hope to continue seeing you with that light in your eyes! Thanks for the great content as always
I think the level 6 feature for warrior of elements isn't too bad, if you compare it to what they would be doing with their action instead, it's a little bit weaker than the two attacks they could make, but they're hitting multiple creatures potentially, and they can still flurry of blows after
Yes, but it also costs 2 Focus-points for getting that effect and if you then want to Flurry of Blows and stunning strike you spend another 2 Focus points. On top of that, apart from damage from your attacks, you also lose the ability to inflict control effects with your action as setup for your remaining attacks so your flurry of blows is going to be weaker than normal as well. It's just the combination of everything that makes this feel very underwhelming. Less damage, less control, less supportive utility... and all of that for 2 Focus points instead of none at all.
Thank you! People expecting _Fireball_ damage out of this white still having Martial Arts or Flurry of Bliws are asking too much. I know if I'm a level 6 Wizard, I am not quick to drop a _Fireball,_ because I don't have many. I am dropping _Shatter_ or _Flaming Sphere_ with my 2nd-level slots first. If I am a level 6 Warrior of Elements Monk, I am grappling at least one guy and moving him so that I get him and several other guys in the radius.
@@clarkside4493 And how many of these Elemental bursts does a 6th level monk have? 1 at maximum since they also want to use their Focus points for stunning strike and all their bonusactions. The problem is, that if you're not going to give this thing more damage then why is it even there in the first place? Because if its a suboptimal option to use, then players are not going to use it. Like, you have 6 Focus points, so you could Flurry of Blows and Stunning strike for 3 turns (which is about the duration of an average combat) and be effective in what you do. Or you could instead use elemental burst and deal less damage than with 2 attacks, have less utility for your party and potentially friendly fire... Like what is the situation in which spending 2 Focus-Points is actually worth using on this feature instead of just attacking, stunning and grappling one or multiple enemies to set up all your own and your parties other attacks? 3d8 at 6th level is just fucking abismal as damage on a failed save no matter how big the area of effect is.
I think it's actually a fine feature. 3d8 averages to 13.5 damage. If the enemy saves 50% of the time, your average is 10.1 damage. Compare this to a 4+1d8 attack (8.5 avg) with 60% chance of hitting (5.1 avg). So this deals two attacks worth of damage to multiple targets. My policy with ki points is that it should be slightly stronger than a similar spell with a level equal to the ki cost. 2 points means a 2nd level spell, and this beats the pants off of shatter. Remember, monks are essentially spell point half casters. Having a 2nd level spell at level 6 is right on track for the power of a feature. Lastly, let's consider the 2014 hunter ranger's level 10 feature that let you attack a large group with your attack's worth of damage. Everyone loved that. Of course, it didn't require a limited resource, but this deals double the damage. To be perfectly honest, I feel like the Mercy and 4 Elements monks are trying to add bigger numbers to a weak class, but are forgetting to have memorable flavor while doing it.
it feels like the fireball feature either needed to add dex/wis for some stable boost to damage, or maybe allow upcasting via spending more ki like the sun soul monk, possibly both.
I really wish you to reach 100k, I've been following you for years and you are by far the best D&D content creator I follow (and I follow a lot). Not only for your depth and clarity of analysis but also for your commitment to continuity in the series you make. Great job! Viewer, if you are interested in the mechanics of this game, I honestly can't recommend a better channel.
Monk have 0 spells (one spell if Shadow Monk). And ranger is halfcaster. Spells are still best feature in the game. Monk is strongest martial, yes, and it is good and have actual niche now - but monk is still martial, and ranger is still halfcaster.
I just want to say that all your thumbnails have been hilarious and high quality. Really sets the tone of what that particular video will be. If that, as well as your content, are any indication to the amount of effort you put in then I think I’m gonna opt to subscribe on Patreon!
An interesting minor change to Focus Points compared to Ki Points, the 5e Monk had to spend at least half an hour meditating to recover Ki, meaning RAW anything that allowed you the benefit of a Short Rest in less time such as the Catnap spell or the Epic Heroism rest variant strict RAW didn't allow them to regain them. Pretty much no one would actually run it that way, many not even realizing the restriction was there and it felt more like it was intended as flavor than mechanics, but that's what it said. 5.5 Monk has no such restriction on needing to meditate so can fully benefit from such features.
Okay, I have to admit that a monk grappling three casters and just sweeping the battlefield with their auras sounds awfully close to how all the 3.5 cheese used to work and I definitely don’t want to see it, both as a DM and as a player. 😀
Won't happen in 99% of tables. For one thing most people don't really try silly tactics like that, for another any decent dm would make it so the weight of those creatures would count against your carrying capacity.
The entire thing around making creatures enter area effects outside their turn feels very weird to me. They only partially solved issues surrounding it. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you can still move an enemy into an area for the first time on a turn, they take the damage, you move them out. Next player in initiative can then move them back in and out, and so on. Somehow a creature that spends its turns fully inside a dangerous environment is in way less danger than the one that is outside and is getting dipped in many times between its turns. I like this tactically, but this huge disconnect from common sense really puts me off.
41:16 Keep in mind guys, the bonus action attack from improved shadow step has advantage, since shadow step gives you advantage on your next attack Before, you had to use shadow step, then take the attack action to benefit from the advantage, Also, the bonus action unarmed strike from improved shadow step is separate from spending a focus point, so you do not need to expend a focus point to bonus action attack whatsoever, but also you have advantage if you start and end in darkness, which means that if you are in darkness or dimlight, you should *always* use improved shadow step if you aren't using flurry of blows and wanted to use martial arts, it's unlimited conditional advantage on the attack you were already making
On the fights where Stunning strikes is most useful It has been buffed. Stunning strike was used to bait out a legendary resistance, now when it does that, there is an effect, minor as it may be. On every other fight it's nerfed.
As a monk enjoyer this makes me very happy. Glad they gave 4 elements another pass. I do wish they would have included Kinsei and given it the same treatment instead of Mercy tho. I know it wasn't the best but man was it fun.
Something that i think is being skated over a bit is, if epic boons have a level 19 prereq, even if you are multiclassed. Isn’t there a world where someone levels to 15 X/ 3Y so you can actually get two epic boons with your last two feats
@@chaoticflanagan i generally agree, but it isn’t just a capstone, in the case of the monk I for the most part can’t see myself wanting to trade its last 4 levels for the first four levels of something else, but for a different class where I am willing to give up those 17,18,20 features for the 1,2,3 features of another class, + an extra boon +22 in my main stat Like i’m not super impressed with the Wizard or the Bard high level features if I remember correctly
@@nicholasarosemena3829 I could certainly see a ranger be like ''my capstone s*cks, I'm dipping fighter for action surge + subclass'' or even an EK or arcane trickster be like ''hmm I could dip paladin for a damage boost''. So uh I agree on some other classes that aren't monk, cleric, sorcerer or barbarian dipping for some specific features could be worth it.
@@nicholasarosemena3829 I largely agree, even with the capstones being improved for most classes, multiclassing can still be appealing and if you go far enough you could get 2 epic boons. In your Wizard and Bard examples it would mean losing lvl 17 in your main caster class, AKA access to 9th level spells though.
New Stunning Strike now lets Kensei stun with ranged weapons, seeing as it says Monk weapon (which a Kensei weapon is) OR Unarmed Strike. GUNK lives! Glory be to Gun-Monk!
Its a great option for sure. I think if you're interested in updating the Kensei Monk (like me, its one of favorite subclasses) might I suggest looking into the changes made by "Bone Wizard" as I think they are theme accurate. I will be adding weapon mastery to my Kensei Monk (2 at the start, definitely 1 more if not 2 at later levels) as my guess is that WotC will also be adding weapon mastery to this specific subclass in the future.
@@leslierobinson8724I've done my own personal update to it, only adding the addendum of allowing the Monk to use the Mastery properties of their Kensei weapons and changing all mentions of Ki Points to Focus Points.
In a beat-down battle I think a monk will want to dodge each round. Which they can. At some levels, the best option is to use focus to dodge as a bonus action and attack with your action, but at higher levels its actually better to dodge with your action and attack with Flurry of Blows. Both these options also have some side effects that may decide your choice in certain situations. I love all these options, but it is a bit complex!
I think the point of the Level 15 Perfect Focus feature is that at that point, you can blow throw your focus points like a crazy person and not worry about being "out of gas" toward the end of the day.
Open Hand Technique's buff is now being able to Flurry of Blows at the start of your turn. Topple an enemy to get advantage on your attacks with weapons (using Nick or another Weapon Mastery from a dip in Fighter, Ranger, or Rogue).
About the grapple effect of the elemental warrior (i really shouldve waited the entire video before start commenting), if you hit a flying creature, you could grapple it to 0 its move speed and make them fall to the ground instantly (much like trip or the web spell on flying targets).
The Tabaxi Taxi is now open. One thing you missed is empowered strikes is a slight nerf. It changes your damage to force so when you need to use it, you lose access to the crusher feat.
its CAN change the damage type. You dont have to. "Whenever you deal damage with your Unarmed Strike, it can deal your choice of Force damage or its *_normal damage_* type."
@@rogerexcell249 I said "when you need to use it" like when fighting a creature resistant to bludgeoning damage. It's only a slight nerf compared to 2014 version.
reducing the target move speed by half as a monk is probably more than just "a minor" thing. Assuming you have anything to protect you from attack of opportunities, or the enemy danger comes from their standard action, you can attack in melee, move away, and come back to attack in melee the next turn, denying the enemy their full turn of damage (assuming it is a melee enemy, of course). And then there's the party play; slowing an enemy even through legendary resistence when your caster have a hazard aoe spell is a big win
The new Monk seems awesome. It was always an archetype I liked, but I've never enjoyed its mechanics across the editions. Finally, it seems to be a class worth playing.
Man i wanted to say, thank you very much for everything that you do :D Your vids are awsome, but i hope you're not overworking yoursel, so take care dude
I love that the monk is the best martial now. It makes so much sense from a roleplay perspective. I mean, the character who spends their whole life mastering martial arts SHOULD be the best martial. It only makes sense.
main action stunning strike, bonus action flurry of blows. sound pretty good to me. also giving your entire party advantage on there attack rolls sounds pretty darn good to me.
Glad to finally see Monk getting the love they deserve, they've always been my favourite class thematically, and now they're actually good mechanically as well!
I think the problem with old Open Hand wasn't so much a problem with the subclass, but with the chassis. Most things in the subclass are just enhancements to the base class, and when the base class was garbage then that was bad, but now that the base class is excellent, and enhancement subclass is also good.
It was partially, but not only for that reason. The old open hand monk had a 3rd level feature that relied on the base-class being good, but the 6th and 11th level feature were still utter garbage no matter how good the base-class was and the 17th level feature was one of the most poorly designed features in all of DnD, costing a lot Ki and completely screwing your action economy for an unlikely instant-kill on enemies with 3 or 4 legendary resistances. So, the 3rd level feature was shit because of the base-class. The rest of it was just shit period.
Old open hand had two good features - at 3rd (and i would want something on top - one feature just wasn't enough) and at 17th. Geting dead feature after dead feature sucks.
A niche side effect of the changes to Deflect Attacks, is that there are the odd rare spell attacks that deal those damage types, eg Ice Knife or a Warlock using the Dao ability. that could be affected by this ability. Back in 3rd Ed iirc there were ways to deflect spell attacks, so this is a nice, if very limited, callback.
In the 2014 Monk Class Unarmed Movement: Starting at 2nd Level, your speed increases by 10 Feet while you are not wearing armor or wielding a shield. This Bonus increases when you reach certain Monk levels , as shown in Monk table. 9th level, you gain the ability to move along vertical surfaces and across liquids on your turn without falling during movement. This was how it was written, now it is separate in 2024 book 📖.
53:55 i think push on open hand is better than elements, since only an action surging fighter with 10 attacks can push a creature that far, but they dont have the movement to keep up most of the time. Monks only need to follow after the first 2 hits, 30 ft. Open hand monk, assuming 3 failed saves and 3 successful attack rolls, can push 45 ft, which is far enough that if any environmental effects are present on the field, they can reach them.
51:48 - The *Open Hand Technique* options should be applied to _any_ Unarmed Attack done by the Monk, not only for the attacks granded from Flurry of Blows. 2/3 of these options are basically slightly improved Weapon Masteries.
So many monk styles are viable now - grappling monk is my favorite but there are lots of options. I also love that a lot of the monk changes aren't completely new features - it's taking some of the features we already had, but upgraded to work like we wished they worked. Deflect Attacks in particular is a HUGE upgrade in this version.
Remembering that the Grappled codition is Now more Aggro and Tankier than never, now gives disavantage on attacks against any target other than the grappler
@@20storiesunder Hot take: it should have always done that. Then we might have actually had party synergies in 2014 that weren't the martials taking damage so the casters can win the game.
Clarify: I'm saying it should provide advantage to EVERYONE. It costs a free hand (that affects your weapons and shields, including regularly using smaller weapons), an attack, and has a save they might succeed or break out of with a check, or by hurling your ass away. I've seen the effects of the Grabbed condition in PF2e making creatures Off-Guard (-2 penalty to AC) on the game's teamwork and it's great. Prone has pros and cons for melee and range, and costs movement. Grappled has other pros and cons, but the pros should include advantage for everyone.
Way of mercy also has an indirect nerf at level 10. The increase in flurry of blows makes the hands of harm far less efficient to use. Previously it was just straight better than using flurry of blows in most cases, now this isn’t true (though it obviously still represents guaranteed damage versus 2 potential hits)
I am through the roof with these changes and so happy to share your joy with them. One point of contention: I don't think I read the new version of Quivering Palm the way you do re: nova rounds. We can start the vibrations with a hit of any unarmed strike, but to end them we either need to take our full action or to forego one attack from the attack action. So I'm not seeing the opportunity to get Quivering Palm damage more than once per turn. Granted, thats still really decent damage, but I'm not seeing the bananas DPR numbers of CME abuse that you allude to.
I believe it was clarified on D&D Beyond under the introduction to the new Element Monk that you CAN indeed grapple opponents with the extended elemental reach. Grappling opps with a thematic fire or ice hand is gonna be awesome. ~_~
Ah, to answer my own question, someone else posted this "[...]The condition also ends if the distance between you and the grappler exceeds the grapple’s range.[...]" It does talk about the "grapple's" range not the "grapplers" range.
43:15 That raises an interesting point actually. Crawford has stated that if any subclass does not appear in this book, then you are allowed to use the old 2014 version of that subclass with the new 2025 base class. However, there is no official list of which subclasses count as having being revised in this way. With spells, the implication is that any spell with the same name has been replaced, but ALL of the monk subclasses have had their names changed, so do any of them count? Same for the wizard and probably a few other classes.
While the stunning strike nerfs are pretty severe overall, if it's the cost for everything else in the monk kit getting improved and becoming much more interesting then I will consider it a worthwhile trade off. And it's not like the new stunning strike is a dead/useless feature, it is still very useful and it's consolation buff to still get some effects even if they pass the check is nice to have. Monks can't burn through legendary resistances like they used to, nor guarentee stuns as often, but with nearly nearly every monk ability, their damage, and the overall ki/focus point usage getting better it really feels like they don't need to worry about those anymore. 2024 Monk is the most fun and impactful the monk class has looked in years.
I finally got to test and play the new monk. Level 6 (element monk) with a single dip in Fighter. Teifling of Zari. For all intents and purposes, he is Akuma in Streetfighter. He dominated the battlefield and completely outshined the rest of the group by far even the Bard and Paladin. I can't believe how incredibly good this Monk was or monks are in general now and i eas never a fan before.
That’s a complaint as a monk player I’ve never understood. If I had a dollar for the number of times stunning strike has worked, I’d still have just a dollar. The statistics just aren’t great, especially against higher CR monsters. I sent the math every time Monk had a UA Feedback for the new handbook. Now I have to track it back down. I want to say that Treantmonk even did an older video about it.
I'd love to hear about some of that backwards compatibility, like how does it work and how do certain subclasses come out looking when paired up with the updated classes.
Sorry, Jeremy Crawford will break in and force you to do so. Jokes aside mate, you don't have to. Treatmonk is an optimiser but you can just play a monk as a monk and it will be great.
Its always been the case where you can shove or push a foe into an existing hazard for extra damage. But they can only trigger once per turn per target anyway and everyone keeps on assuming they dont take damage themselves. You drag people BEHIND YOU. You either push them away and in and you stay out, or you''re BOTH moving through the damage effect. Pisses me off when people keep saying they're standing on the edge or an area and holding them in as they run. Unrealistic, defies the basic laws of physics, and no DM should accept this. Try it yourself. Hold out a broom and walk along and watch your arms forced behind you by any weak child pushing the side of the broom. Basic leverage.
Same. Completely immersion-breaking. There is ~no genre tradition of this weird-ass interaction. I hate it. Now, other people's fun is not wrong. But I hate for unnatural in-game actions justified by arcane rule interaction exploits to be normalized as a mode of play. I hope most DMs will not allow this. The PCs' actions on the turn are means to be simultaneous, after all!
@@hawkname1234 This is less a failing of the system than a failing of the culture of these videos. Presenting as fact something that 99.99% dms would say no to is... Silly.
It's interesting, because when the 2014 PHB came out, I played a Monk, and my party often thought I was OP (out of a large party, with several different classes). Admittedly, only a couple other players are any good at optimizing, but the reason I played a monk is because I flipped through the PHB, and realized that Stunning Strike is quite possibly THE most powerful thing any character can do before characters get high level spells. Admittedly, being super thrifty with Ki can be difficult, but in almost every boss fight, I was able to unload with Stun attempts.
Human with tavern brawler and either tough or magic initiate wizard (for blade ward, find familiar, +1 cantrip) is probably the most optimal you can get.
I can already see the elemental monk grappler feat build where you yoink a dude from 15 feet away, pull him into your arms and fly up into the air only to drop him
There's a small problem with the monk grappling multiple creatures and pulling them around. The carry capacity section of the glossary says "While dragging, lifting, or pushing weight in excess of the maximum weight you can carry, your Speed can be no more than 5 feet." This means that if your medium monk with 10 str is pulling more then 150lbs, then their speed is capped at 5 feet. If the monk has a higher str, is a goliath (or other race with powerful build) or enlarged in some way, that weight limit goes up (or more if goliath and enlarged).
I think the cheese you're suggesting with Step of the Wind at 22:30 would have to be balanced by the DM with consideration for the weight of the allies you're forcibly dragging against encumbrance capacity which might be pretty low for the monk. I agree that the third ally being carried is moving due to a magical effect and doesn't need to be considered.
An amusing possible concept for a character: A flying character (like a Sprite) who attacks from 15 feet up, yanks characters 10 feet into the air with each strike, and lets them fall. Only 1d6 extra damage per attack, but it'll also leave the opponent prone. Dribble your enemy into submission.
I am a little confused about the Dextrous Attacks grapple save DCs, does this only apply to the initial save to avoid being grappled, or all escape attempts?
Question for Deflect Attacks, what is the ruling for an attack that deals two damage types? If you reduce an attack's piercing damage to 0 but it still does some poison damage, can you still redirect it?
I could see Level 10: Step of the Wind getting errata to need a free hand as it definitely seems implied by "you move the creature with you", but until then if I get the chance to do this at least once, I'm gonna, lol.
This feels like a conclusion to the greatest arc in all of fantasy. Chris going from making the monk's suck video to this one. Just for that alone, I'll call 5.5/2024 edition a success. Cant wait to see the eventual monk build on this channel.
I'll call like that too
feels like that video is what kickstarted the monk's training arc lol
Just need a quality ranger and it’s perfect
One good fix doesn't mean 5.5 is holistically good. I suspect it's lasting power will not be near as long as 2014.
Dragonborn ascendant monk with the grappler feat is something that I'm using right now, sky dropping creatures from hundreds of feet in the air and occasionally dragoon jumping onto people with my spear has been fun
Cleric: (to Monk) What are you doing?
Monk: I'm holding your neck so you don't get whiplash.
Cleric: What?
Monk: (exaggerated, slowly) Whhiiplaashh.
Oh my God I saw Days of Future Past literally last night lmao
Fantastic reference!
Hearing that treantmonk thinks the monk is the strongest martial class is awesome. I’m excited to see builds centered around the class!
Not only that. He's excited to play Monks, barbarians and Fighters. The martial/caster divide is still there but it is really good to now that they're viable options now.
The think is that battlemaster 15 just became my favorite ability of all time. The monks are great... but the master samurai feelings of battlemaster is a huge draw
@@tmzFRM for real. It’s pretty cool to see it dwindling away.
@@bragod Battlemaster was already cool and functional enough in my book. I’m just happy to see my favorite weak class get bumped up. Definitely a cool lv 15 ability though.
@@Gorbology functional but tooo unreliable...since in 2 rounds you expended all your resources... the way they are doing resource preservation in this edition is definitively a move in the right way.
The biggest buff monks received is not because of the monk itself, but because gwm became more reasonable. Wizards always did all they could to never allow monks to benefit from -5 +10 and that was the main reason they were never close to competitive.
Everyone gets Topple Mastery but theirs is a Con save while Open Hand Monk topple is a Dex save. For most monsters I know which one I'd rather be targeting.
And if the monster has a weak Con save that means I'll be stunning them instead!
That's a hell of a good point man
Being able to target different saves like a spellcaster is great. I know as wizard I have Binding Ice for Con, Web for Dex and Hypnotic Pattern for Wis and I always have a good response for the situation. Saving throw versatility is an underrated tool, especially if you are good at intuiting a bad save on a creature.
It's also worth noting when comparing to Elements that Open Hand Technique's bonus effects are added to Flurry of Blows, so they actually cost 0 Focus (since that feature is worth using even without them), while Elements has a 1 Focus cost per fight on top of any Flurries. The Elements effect is well worth it, but it's a distinction worth bearing in mind.
@@DeadmanwalkingXI Your forgetting that you don't necessarily want to use flurry of blows every round, as there is several other things you might want to do with your bonus action also. And if you don't use flurry of blows, you basically have no subclass as open hand monk.
I can vouch for a dex based trip being awesome.
I playtested an assassin rogue, and as soon as I hit lv5 and got cunning strike, I went on a tripping rampage.
Highlights included land locking a wyvern ( Dex save +0 ) and soloing an earth elemental ( Dex save -1).
Hand crossbow is now considered a monk weapon, so you should be able to topple creatures from range.
I’ve been playing an Elements monk, and Elemental Burst is FAR from a dud. I feel like everyone compares the damage to fireball for some reason - probably because it shares the radius and a potential damage type. But what it really should be compared to is Shatter. And when you make that comparison, it’s incredible. Twice the radius, more flexible damage typing (though thunder is already one of the best), and it scales up in damage as you level without spending additional resources. Do you want to use it if you’re hitting 2 or fewer targets? No. Will it drain your Focus quickly if you’re using it a lot? Yes. But when you *are* facing a lot of grouped enemies, it’s just more effective than anything else you can be doing. *And* you can Flurry of Blows in the same turn to maneuver more enemies into the AoE, too.
Hear hear. I feel folks just look at numbers and stop there. Actually playing stuff is where the real meat comes out
its bad because it cost 2 ki points
@@sirundying The math says its easily worth 2 focus points when there are three or more targets
The part I really like about Shadow now is that you can cast Darkness without *ANY* components. So not only can it not be Counterspelled, there is absolutely zero indication that you did it. It just...appears. That's terrifying and awesome and has a lot of fun RP potential on top.
21:00 The year is 2024, and we have forsaken DnD. We are now all Rugby players. I fear the Rugby Meta.
I was already playing the game that way, with a 15th level Armorer Artificer and a "Mage Grappler" Bard triple class. Control has always been the most effective strategy, all you need are a couple of bloodthirsty friends & you're off to the races. I played a Graviturgist Wizard and made a DM quit (not a brag, just a mild surprise)
@@pranakhan "Rugby" is a new strategy that involves exploiting new emanation spells and the fact that they do damage to creatures when you move the spell area into the creature, rather than just when the creature is moved into the spell area. Now you can trigger damage with readied movement, mounts, summons that can grapple, and friendly forced movement from monks, glamour bards, world tree barbs, ect. Sounds like you were playing pro-wrestling, not rugby.
4 kobolds/halflings in a trench coat party
@@pranakhan I would quit, too. Stuff like this encourages selfish, obnoxious metagame playstyles. I would absolutely not play with people who did this.
I would not play in a game that used the Rugby Meta. If people want to play D&D as an abstract battle between two spreadsheets, they can. Their fun is not wrong. But I would never play in such a game. And I'm a power gamer. But it's not OK to destroy the immersion and have your whole character and their actions in-game be based on a rulebook technicality exploit.
Mercy definitely got nerfed to avoid situations where the mercy monk after a combat just dumps their entire leftover ki supply into healing because uncanny metabolism makes it more or less risk free and it represents a LOT of raw healing. That being said, it should be wis mod # of times per short rest. Keeps it combat oriented and stops the monk from dumping up to 33d10+132 (when you get it, assuming 18 wis, scales up to 60d12+420 with 24 wis)healing into the party for virtually no cost, without feeling like you need to be super choosey with it in combat
Definitely agreed, even in combat having the third flurry of blows would mean more healing. So maybe it needed to change, but I think they went about it the wrong way
The main problem is that now you wouldn't want to use flurry of harm.
Yeah I mean 800 points of healing at level 16, just before initiative, that's certainly not bad, if the next fight is just a minir fight we get 4 focus back and heal another whole bunch for free, so it is more likely that we go completely resourceless until the boss, wherein we get everything back, have full hp, max focus, full power
That would have been kinda fun ngl, and I am happy with how it is atm, basically stuck to those key moments in combat, and not being abused out of combat at all
But yeah if it is limited use it shouldn't *also* cost focus points imo
@@nyanbrox5418 "But yeah if it is limited use it shouldn't also cost focus points imo"
Honestly that's one of my favourite changes to the general design of this book.
so many classes used to have features like this and now they're finally gone, but monks got given a new one for some reason?
I just checked the Patreon like ten minutes ago to see if you posted yet lmao! Welcome back and I hope you enjoyed your time off, very excited to see the next round of videos!!
I did the same!
Hey Chris - a DnD Beyond post from someone at WOTC posted on the elemental grapple. “Reach Out and Grab 'Em
If you're looking to spice things up, the new Grappler feat combines exceptionally well with the Warrior of the Elements' extended reach and the 2024 Monk's ability to grapple using Dexterity. With the Grappler feat, you can attempt to grapple a creature you hit as part of the same Attack action you use to make an Unarmed Strike.
Seeing as being Grappled reduces a creature's Speed to 0, you can easily hold them out of reach and wail on them with your elemental strikes, which you'll now get Advantage on thanks to Grappler.”
Wouldn't be the first a beyond article got something wrong but I do hope this is the case.
This is technicly correct. Envision a conjured chain of fire engangling them like a whip. They can still break out of it per grapple rules and it still renders your hand occupied as the grappler. They can still attack you without disadvantage with ranged attack though. You're not within 5'.
I hope that whatever DM I end up playing with for my Elements Monk allows this
I think this is the intent of the feature, especially since the ability to extend reach has a duration beyond 1 round
@@bg-cc6hn That's correct - "This feature is the core power of the Warrior of the Elements Monk. It infuses your Unarmed Strikes with elemental energy, extends your reach to 10 feet, allows you to output Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning, or Thunder damage, and provides the potential to toss your enemies around the battlefield."
This still isn't RAW though. Right there under way of the elements subclass it says that the your unarmed reach is extended to 15ft *WHEN YOU ATTACK.* So when you are not performing an attack action, you're back at 5ft. This prevents the monk from controlling a 35ft circle with their opportunity attacks (could you imagine?) but also means that as soon as you're done your attack action you lose any long range grapple you started.
Monk is the only class from the 2014 handbook that as a DM I had no idea what it did. Read it once when I got the handbook and once more 3 years ago when one of my players wanted to play a Monk. Now after these changes I really wanna play one damn. Talk about a comeback, great success
Thanks for making this one! I feel like the wait on seeing a monk video was worse than the wait for August 1st... Also welcome back, I hope your family time was amazing for you all!
The new stunning strike guarantees the next attack has advantage, regardless of if they succeed on the save or not. If you REALLY need someone grappled or shoved, that "if they succeed on the save" half-stun effect is pretty significant.
Advantage on the attack roll has no effect on grappling or shoving since those are saving throw not an attack roll.
@Klaital1 I don't believe that is true. When you land an unarmed strike (attack roll), you can grapple. It's a save to escape after the fact. At least that's how it was in the playtest. I haven't seen the new book with my own eyes, but if I recall from Treantmonks rule changes video, that went through from the playtest more or less the same.
@@Sirxeko So you cannot stop being grappled?
@@Sirxeko No when you make an unarmed strike, you can choose to either attempt to do damage, grapple, or shove. If you choose the damage you do attack roll as normal, if you choose grapple or shove, you don't do an attack roll, but instead the target just makes a saving throw. I think you are getting confused by the grappler feat which lets you do both at same time.
@@riotak0009 You can, just make the saving throw and your not grappled.
I have access to the new PHB and one thing not mentioned that will synergize well with monks increased grappling ability is that there are now rules that allow you to restrain creatures with rope, manacles, or chain (with different rules for each) as a utilize action if they are grappled, restrained, or incapacitated. Grappling seems a lot better in the new rules.
So one cool non strength thing about monks, is that they can break a campaign around 10th level, or at least do feats that you really wouldn't expect from a pure martial. So:
If a wood elf monk takes the charger feat and the speedy feat (both are good feats for a monk anyways), their movement speed for dashing twice on their turn is a whopping 215 feet, which for context is faster than the fastest an adult dragon can fly on their turn (i.e with a dash, at level 11 a four elements monk can *fly* this quickly for context), and this speed translates to a consistent 39.3 kmph/24.3 mph. What makes this pretty gnarly is because of speedy they aren't impeded by difficult terrain, they can run up walls and over water, and don't even need to drink water or eat food because of the level 10 feature self restoration. So, being an elf meaning 20 hour days, purely RAW regardless of what the DM might rule, a monk can travel about 800km/500 miles per day *without using any resources* if they so choose, and nothing be it difficult terrain, walls, or lakes, can impede them. Level 10 casters can for sure do some crazy stuff outside combat but a martial doing it in DnD without making a hyper-niche build is pretty impressive.
I've always liked monks the best because they just get a lot of roleplay ribbons like running up walls or forgoing food which meant they could feel much more flavorful than other martials, but ribbons was all they had. Now, with monks becoming good I'd say they're in a great place, probably the best for martials for RP and combat combined.
"oh our contact is in a different country and there's no way to get a message to them? Give me a day"
@@20storiesunder and you miss out on nothing by going this route, wood elf is good since 5 ft move speed is always good, and we get longstrider and PWT, both nice spells, charger is probably the most synergistic with the monk imo since open hand, shadow, and elements all have ways to pretty much guarantee it on every turn (addle, darkness, +10ft reach and push) and that's a d8 more damage, and speedy is the only real issue here since while speedy is good, grappler is probably better (though maybe not that synergistic with charger). Even so, speedy just allows for a skirmisher playstyle which is strong enough, if not stellar like a grappler. A single class martial doing stuff like this *should* be the norm, but as it stands monks are just great
@@theformation3781 Mmm I don't see space for charger, grappler and speedy though. You want to get both dex and wisdom up and there's only so many asis.
@@20storiesunder exactly, giving up grappler for speedy isn't really bad, but it is a net negative.
This, all the way. I recognize old monk's issues but at least it had cool flavor. New monk now has all of the pros of old monk and none of the cons.
I just wish other martials got similar flavor ribbons but with good functionality
Its marvelous see the big smile from Chris talking about the new monk
One thing to take into consideration for flurry of healing and harm is how much the core monk changes signficiantly buffed the burst healing. At level 11, it went from 2d8+2xWis to 3d10+3xWis. Assuming a +3 wis at level 11, that's a jump from 15 to 25.5. Also the fact that the monk gets 3 attacks with flurry means that even just the basic level 3 hand of healing is better as it starts to take 1/3 attacks instead of 1/2. Also also, the better focus point economy means that, in general, youll be able to use the other abilities more often. So one direct nerf for several passive buffs. I think theyre still just fine.
The long rest limitation is what kills me, though. Like, that's your level 11 feature, which is a pretty major level, and you can only do it 3-5 times per day, and it's not even that impressive. You can heal additional 14 points three times per day. That's it. It's really bad...
@@limaTheNoob But everything else is also better. The individual ability might be weaker, but everything else is stronger.
And in a theoretical level 20 scenario, it's over double as strong 7 times a day. For a bonus action it's not bad.
@@themonkeys96 I agree it's overall better, I just don't understand why they need to mess with what's already perfectly fine. Haven't seen a single person saying this was a necessary nerf...
@@limaTheNoob I think a reason it was nerfed (I would change it to be Wis mod uses per Short Rest, not long rest) is because at lvl 11+ it basically means with a short rest you can full heal the entire party out of combat, like at lvl 11 you would have an average of 313.5 healing you can do each short rest (with an 18 Wis) and up to lvl 20 where your Out of Combat healing is 810 HP per short rest)
So glad to hear you think the monk is better. Currently using the new shadow monk in a campaign. Only level 3 at the moment but I use darkness to blind the ranged enemies. Also the distance you can move the darkness is huge because it’s to a spot within 60 ft of yourself not its previous location
Thinking so hard about what feats to take here-lovely to actually have options! Grappler is tempting, of course, but also looking at Charger and Sentinel. It’s tough to spend too many ASIs on feats when we also wanna boost our Wisdom though.
I don't have the rules at hand, but for the sake of this response I'll assume that Charger and Sentinel offer +1 Dexterity.
If so, you can get your Dexterity to 20 at 12th-level by taking those three feats. Then, boost your Wisdom to 18 at 16th-level, and enjoy that wild capstone feature.
The feat that gives weapon mastery to open up dual wielding nick weapons
@@cronykil74 been playing around with exactly that - since daggers are monk weapons and scale to d12s, and since you can stun with thrown weapons, a thrown weapon monk with Weapon Mastery is looking extremely tasty
Playing a 2024 Monk for the Vecna Eve of Ruin Campaign right now, so far I've taking Grappler, +2 Wis ASI, Sentinel, and MAge Slayer up to lvl 16 and its been amazing, I'm playing a Grappling Amethyst Gem Dragon Born, Ascendant Dragon Monk
Yessssssss. Been craving this one. Thanks for the hard work!
Monk is looking so good, I’m super excited to play all the subclasses, especially shadow and elements. They really did a good job on improving the class and subclasses in unique ways that make you feel awesome and like a monk
So fun to finally be able to follow along in my own book. Thanks again for doing these videos, Chris!
A way to play around an ally's darkness spell is to upcast Continual Flame to 3rd level on an item. Since the magical light created by the item isn't 2nd level or lower, it can shine through the darkness. Once you're done with your turn you can stash the item to hide the light.
Alright time to see the rare occasion {treantmonk praising monk?}, let's see how happy he is with the changes. I'm expecting lot's of smiles.
@ 20:22 that seems so perfect for a cleric and it suddenly made me realise there should totally be a cleric spell that surrounds the them & does a lot of damage, but it's not added to the clerics attacks, but rather to their comrades attacks. It would suit a cleric so well to aid others attacks, especially in a semi-visible cloud of spirits!
One thing totally glossed over here is that Open Hand can take Step of the Wind for free as long as they take ANY Bonus action. And this is the level 10 super Step of the Wind. So Flurry of Blows then dip with an ally, Patient Defense giving you 3 actions at once, any Bonus Action spell you might have all good. It sounds like just more move speed, but it isn’t.
Edit: rereading it does say you only get the super Step of the Wind when you spend a focus point. So that might be something to take up with JC and learn the RAI.
So much better than before
Here are some monk builds I have been thinking of:
The Dropper: Medium+ Sized Monk with a Flying speed or level 11+ element monk. Grapple enemies and fly them up. They will take falling damage that scales with your movment speed. Combine this with the grappler feat and tavern brawler you can do some crazy damage. I was calculating 130 DPR at level 10+. If you have more than 500ft of movment you can essentially concentration free banish people as you suspend them so high in the air their turn(s) disappear
Dragging build: Pretty self explanatory. You can take a moon druid dip for increased base movement speed, and you can set your own spike growth. Really high DPR, 140+ at 10/3 monk druid
Fall with them you have slow fall.
About fly-pile-driving enemies: 5e has rules for falling *on* creatures (crushing damage), so if you fly up and then drop with them, you can add 50% more damage to this technique. Use the monk's fall damage cancelling ability and you can do this safely.
@@TheJakeJackson you can voluntarily fall onto the ground but at least thematically I think monks falling on something with slow fall and still damaging them is kinda silly. Now if the barbarian did a 200ft elbow drop it would make sense that they only take 1/4 damage because of resistance and damage splitting. Grappling 2 creatures will let you drop them also which I did not include in the calculation
Hey Cris! Just wanted to leave an encouraging comment about the quality of your content. I'm a long term follower of your channel and I really enjoy how you present your ideas with data, but for these recent ones IDK I feel your energy is different, looks like you are having more fun! It makes the videos even more enjoying. Hope to continue seeing you with that light in your eyes! Thanks for the great content as always
I think the level 6 feature for warrior of elements isn't too bad, if you compare it to what they would be doing with their action instead, it's a little bit weaker than the two attacks they could make, but they're hitting multiple creatures potentially, and they can still flurry of blows after
Wish it scaled better or allowed monk’s to use Ki points to improve it though
Yes, but it also costs 2 Focus-points for getting that effect and if you then want to Flurry of Blows and stunning strike you spend another 2 Focus points. On top of that, apart from damage from your attacks, you also lose the ability to inflict control effects with your action as setup for your remaining attacks so your flurry of blows is going to be weaker than normal as well.
It's just the combination of everything that makes this feel very underwhelming. Less damage, less control, less supportive utility... and all of that for 2 Focus points instead of none at all.
Thank you! People expecting _Fireball_ damage out of this white still having Martial Arts or Flurry of Bliws are asking too much. I know if I'm a level 6 Wizard, I am not quick to drop a _Fireball,_ because I don't have many. I am dropping _Shatter_ or _Flaming Sphere_ with my 2nd-level slots first. If I am a level 6 Warrior of Elements Monk, I am grappling at least one guy and moving him so that I get him and several other guys in the radius.
@@clarkside4493 And how many of these Elemental bursts does a 6th level monk have? 1 at maximum since they also want to use their Focus points for stunning strike and all their bonusactions. The problem is, that if you're not going to give this thing more damage then why is it even there in the first place?
Because if its a suboptimal option to use, then players are not going to use it.
Like, you have 6 Focus points, so you could Flurry of Blows and Stunning strike for 3 turns (which is about the duration of an average combat) and be effective in what you do. Or you could instead use elemental burst and deal less damage than with 2 attacks, have less utility for your party and potentially friendly fire...
Like what is the situation in which spending 2 Focus-Points is actually worth using on this feature instead of just attacking, stunning and grappling one or multiple enemies to set up all your own and your parties other attacks?
3d8 at 6th level is just fucking abismal as damage on a failed save no matter how big the area of effect is.
I think it's actually a fine feature. 3d8 averages to 13.5 damage. If the enemy saves 50% of the time, your average is 10.1 damage. Compare this to a 4+1d8 attack (8.5 avg) with 60% chance of hitting (5.1 avg). So this deals two attacks worth of damage to multiple targets.
My policy with ki points is that it should be slightly stronger than a similar spell with a level equal to the ki cost. 2 points means a 2nd level spell, and this beats the pants off of shatter. Remember, monks are essentially spell point half casters. Having a 2nd level spell at level 6 is right on track for the power of a feature.
Lastly, let's consider the 2014 hunter ranger's level 10 feature that let you attack a large group with your attack's worth of damage. Everyone loved that. Of course, it didn't require a limited resource, but this deals double the damage.
To be perfectly honest, I feel like the Mercy and 4 Elements monks are trying to add bigger numbers to a weak class, but are forgetting to have memorable flavor while doing it.
it feels like the fireball feature either needed to add dex/wis for some stable boost to damage, or maybe allow upcasting via spending more ki like the sun soul monk, possibly both.
I really wish you to reach 100k, I've been following you for years and you are by far the best D&D content creator I follow (and I follow a lot). Not only for your depth and clarity of analysis but also for your commitment to continuity in the series you make.
Great job!
Viewer, if you are interested in the mechanics of this game, I honestly can't recommend a better channel.
once again - the video thumbnail is so fun, and the in-depth content is great! Hoping for your 100k subscribers soon
I've already talked to my dm about the new monk and how my first character in 5.24 will absolutely be a human shadow monk. Very excited!
Treatmonk “I think Ranges are fine.” Proceeds to describe how monks outclass them in every way.
Also points out that they are also halfcasters.
Monk have 0 spells (one spell if Shadow Monk). And ranger is halfcaster. Spells are still best feature in the game. Monk is strongest martial, yes, and it is good and have actual niche now - but monk is still martial, and ranger is still halfcaster.
@@notsochosenone5669 Treatmonk says at the end that when he says monk is the best martial, he is including the half-casters Paladin and Ranger
I just want to say that all your thumbnails have been hilarious and high quality. Really sets the tone of what that particular video will be. If that, as well as your content, are any indication to the amount of effort you put in then I think I’m gonna opt to subscribe on Patreon!
just realized i've been watching your videos for years lol
An interesting minor change to Focus Points compared to Ki Points, the 5e Monk had to spend at least half an hour meditating to recover Ki, meaning RAW anything that allowed you the benefit of a Short Rest in less time such as the Catnap spell or the Epic Heroism rest variant strict RAW didn't allow them to regain them. Pretty much no one would actually run it that way, many not even realizing the restriction was there and it felt more like it was intended as flavor than mechanics, but that's what it said. 5.5 Monk has no such restriction on needing to meditate so can fully benefit from such features.
Okay, I have to admit that a monk grappling three casters and just sweeping the battlefield with their auras sounds awfully close to how all the 3.5 cheese used to work and I definitely don’t want to see it, both as a DM and as a player. 😀
Won't happen in 99% of tables. For one thing most people don't really try silly tactics like that, for another any decent dm would make it so the weight of those creatures would count against your carrying capacity.
You still gotta acount for carry weight when dragging people around
Monks notoriously dangerous in 3.5 /s
The entire thing around making creatures enter area effects outside their turn feels very weird to me. They only partially solved issues surrounding it.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but you can still move an enemy into an area for the first time on a turn, they take the damage, you move them out. Next player in initiative can then move them back in and out, and so on.
Somehow a creature that spends its turns fully inside a dangerous environment is in way less danger than the one that is outside and is getting dipped in many times between its turns. I like this tactically, but this huge disconnect from common sense really puts me off.
This. Ping ponging creatures around to use the new emenation rules really seems more like a bug than a feature. @@arcturuslight_
41:16
Keep in mind guys, the bonus action attack from improved shadow step has advantage, since shadow step gives you advantage on your next attack
Before, you had to use shadow step, then take the attack action to benefit from the advantage,
Also, the bonus action unarmed strike from improved shadow step is separate from spending a focus point, so you do not need to expend a focus point to bonus action attack whatsoever, but also you have advantage if you start and end in darkness, which means that if you are in darkness or dimlight, you should *always* use improved shadow step if you aren't using flurry of blows and wanted to use martial arts, it's unlimited conditional advantage on the attack you were already making
Thanks Treantmonk! ❤
Improved Shadow step = Another Focus point boost to a (sub)class feature that does NOT cost a Focus point. Nice trend.
On the fights where Stunning strikes is most useful It has been buffed. Stunning strike was used to bait out a legendary resistance, now when it does that, there is an effect, minor as it may be. On every other fight it's nerfed.
As a monk enjoyer this makes me very happy. Glad they gave 4 elements another pass. I do wish they would have included Kinsei and given it the same treatment instead of Mercy tho. I know it wasn't the best but man was it fun.
hoping they bring back kensei soon
Im planning on playing a monk next week. Looking forward to it!
Something that i think is being skated over a bit is, if epic boons have a level 19 prereq, even if you are multiclassed. Isn’t there a world where someone levels to 15 X/ 3Y so you can actually get two epic boons with your last two feats
Oh my
Definitely possible but trading a capstone for an extra epic boon feels like a downgrade in most cases.
@@chaoticflanagan i generally agree, but it isn’t just a capstone, in the case of the monk I for the most part can’t see myself wanting to trade its last 4 levels for the first four levels of something else, but for a different class where I am willing to give up those 17,18,20 features for the 1,2,3 features of another class, + an extra boon +22 in my main stat
Like i’m not super impressed with the Wizard or the Bard high level features if I remember correctly
@@nicholasarosemena3829 I could certainly see a ranger be like ''my capstone s*cks, I'm dipping fighter for action surge + subclass'' or even an EK or arcane trickster be like ''hmm I could dip paladin for a damage boost''. So uh I agree on some other classes that aren't monk, cleric, sorcerer or barbarian dipping for some specific features could be worth it.
@@nicholasarosemena3829 I largely agree, even with the capstones being improved for most classes, multiclassing can still be appealing and if you go far enough you could get 2 epic boons. In your Wizard and Bard examples it would mean losing lvl 17 in your main caster class, AKA access to 9th level spells though.
love the idea that the Monk has a Wizard/Druid/Cleric friend that they carry underarm like a duffle bag as they SPRINT around the battlefield
New Stunning Strike now lets Kensei stun with ranged weapons, seeing as it says Monk weapon (which a Kensei weapon is) OR Unarmed Strike. GUNK lives! Glory be to Gun-Monk!
Its a great option for sure. I think if you're interested in updating the Kensei Monk (like me, its one of favorite subclasses) might I suggest looking into the changes made by "Bone Wizard" as I think they are theme accurate. I will be adding weapon mastery to my Kensei Monk (2 at the start, definitely 1 more if not 2 at later levels) as my guess is that WotC will also be adding weapon mastery to this specific subclass in the future.
@@leslierobinson8724I've done my own personal update to it, only adding the addendum of allowing the Monk to use the Mastery properties of their Kensei weapons and changing all mentions of Ki Points to Focus Points.
@@ScrewBall105 Nice.
I am glad this class is finally getting some of the love it deserves.
In a beat-down battle I think a monk will want to dodge each round. Which they can. At some levels, the best option is to use focus to dodge as a bonus action and attack with your action, but at higher levels its actually better to dodge with your action and attack with Flurry of Blows. Both these options also have some side effects that may decide your choice in certain situations. I love all these options, but it is a bit complex!
Doding with the BA at higher levels also gives disengage + some THP, so, YMMV
I think the point of the Level 15 Perfect Focus feature is that at that point, you can blow throw your focus points like a crazy person and not worry about being "out of gas" toward the end of the day.
Open Hand Technique's buff is now being able to Flurry of Blows at the start of your turn. Topple an enemy to get advantage on your attacks with weapons (using Nick or another Weapon Mastery from a dip in Fighter, Ranger, or Rogue).
Thanks for the video!
You're welcome!
About the grapple effect of the elemental warrior (i really shouldve waited the entire video before start commenting), if you hit a flying creature, you could grapple it to 0 its move speed and make them fall to the ground instantly (much like trip or the web spell on flying targets).
The Tabaxi Taxi is now open. One thing you missed is empowered strikes is a slight nerf. It changes your damage to force so when you need to use it, you lose access to the crusher feat.
its CAN change the damage type. You dont have to.
"Whenever you deal damage with your Unarmed Strike, it can deal your choice of Force damage or its *_normal damage_* type."
@@rogerexcell249 I said "when you need to use it" like when fighting a creature resistant to bludgeoning damage. It's only a slight nerf compared to 2014 version.
That push from open hand looks mighty nice when paired with the crusher feat...
Shroyuken!
reducing the target move speed by half as a monk is probably more than just "a minor" thing. Assuming you have anything to protect you from attack of opportunities, or the enemy danger comes from their standard action, you can attack in melee, move away, and come back to attack in melee the next turn, denying the enemy their full turn of damage (assuming it is a melee enemy, of course).
And then there's the party play; slowing an enemy even through legendary resistence when your caster have a hazard aoe spell is a big win
The new Monk seems awesome. It was always an archetype I liked, but I've never enjoyed its mechanics across the editions. Finally, it seems to be a class worth playing.
Man i wanted to say, thank you very much for everything that you do :D
Your vids are awsome, but i hope you're not overworking yoursel, so take care dude
I love that the monk is the best martial now. It makes so much sense from a roleplay perspective. I mean, the character who spends their whole life mastering martial arts SHOULD be the best martial. It only makes sense.
main action stunning strike, bonus action flurry of blows. sound pretty good to me. also giving your entire party advantage on there attack rolls sounds pretty darn good to me.
Great update for the monk !
Glad to finally see Monk getting the love they deserve, they've always been my favourite class thematically, and now they're actually good mechanically as well!
I think the problem with old Open Hand wasn't so much a problem with the subclass, but with the chassis. Most things in the subclass are just enhancements to the base class, and when the base class was garbage then that was bad, but now that the base class is excellent, and enhancement subclass is also good.
It was partially, but not only for that reason. The old open hand monk had a 3rd level feature that relied on the base-class being good, but the 6th and 11th level feature were still utter garbage no matter how good the base-class was and the 17th level feature was one of the most poorly designed features in all of DnD, costing a lot Ki and completely screwing your action economy for an unlikely instant-kill on enemies with 3 or 4 legendary resistances.
So, the 3rd level feature was shit because of the base-class.
The rest of it was just shit period.
Old open hand had two good features - at 3rd (and i would want something on top - one feature just wasn't enough) and at 17th. Geting dead feature after dead feature sucks.
I'm sure that in the first errata incapacited (and therefore stunned) will add "any movement" in the inactive part.
I'm houseruling this anyway.
The Open Hand ability to Topple twice at the beginning of their combo will add a lot to their damage and their melee allies' damage.
A niche side effect of the changes to Deflect Attacks, is that there are the odd rare spell attacks that deal those damage types, eg Ice Knife or a Warlock using the Dao ability. that could be affected by this ability. Back in 3rd Ed iirc there were ways to deflect spell attacks, so this is a nice, if very limited, callback.
In the 2014 Monk Class Unarmed Movement: Starting at 2nd Level, your speed increases by 10 Feet while you are not wearing armor or wielding a shield. This Bonus increases when you reach certain Monk levels , as shown in Monk table.
9th level, you gain the ability to move along vertical surfaces and across liquids on your turn without falling during movement. This was how it was written, now it is separate in 2024 book 📖.
53:55 i think push on open hand is better than elements, since only an action surging fighter with 10 attacks can push a creature that far, but they dont have the movement to keep up most of the time. Monks only need to follow after the first 2 hits, 30 ft.
Open hand monk, assuming 3 failed saves and 3 successful attack rolls, can push 45 ft, which is far enough that if any environmental effects are present on the field, they can reach them.
My guy is about to put the MONK in Treantmonk!
51:48 - The *Open Hand Technique* options should be applied to _any_ Unarmed Attack done by the Monk, not only for the attacks granded from Flurry of Blows.
2/3 of these options are basically slightly improved Weapon Masteries.
So many monk styles are viable now - grappling monk is my favorite but there are lots of options. I also love that a lot of the monk changes aren't completely new features - it's taking some of the features we already had, but upgraded to work like we wished they worked. Deflect Attacks in particular is a HUGE upgrade in this version.
Remembering that the Grappled codition is Now more Aggro and Tankier than never, now gives disavantage on attacks against any target other than the grappler
And with the grappler feat the grappler gain advantage on all attacks on the grappled target.
@@20storiesunder Hot take: it should have always done that. Then we might have actually had party synergies in 2014 that weren't the martials taking damage so the casters can win the game.
Clarify: I'm saying it should provide advantage to EVERYONE.
It costs a free hand (that affects your weapons and shields, including regularly using smaller weapons), an attack, and has a save they might succeed or break out of with a check, or by hurling your ass away.
I've seen the effects of the Grabbed condition in PF2e making creatures Off-Guard (-2 penalty to AC) on the game's teamwork and it's great. Prone has pros and cons for melee and range, and costs movement. Grappled has other pros and cons, but the pros should include advantage for everyone.
@@AnaseSkyrider but now Grappled gives disavantage to the grappled crrature attacks but against the grappler
Way of mercy also has an indirect nerf at level 10. The increase in flurry of blows makes the hands of harm far less efficient to use. Previously it was just straight better than using flurry of blows in most cases, now this isn’t true (though it obviously still represents guaranteed damage versus 2 potential hits)
here we go!!!
I am through the roof with these changes and so happy to share your joy with them. One point of contention: I don't think I read the new version of Quivering Palm the way you do re: nova rounds. We can start the vibrations with a hit of any unarmed strike, but to end them we either need to take our full action or to forego one attack from the attack action. So I'm not seeing the opportunity to get Quivering Palm damage more than once per turn. Granted, thats still really decent damage, but I'm not seeing the bananas DPR numbers of CME abuse that you allude to.
I believe it was clarified on D&D Beyond under the introduction to the new Element Monk that you CAN indeed grapple opponents with the extended elemental reach.
Grappling opps with a thematic fire or ice hand is gonna be awesome.
~_~
You definitely can grapple them! but did they clarify that the grapple remains when your reach reverts?
Ah, to answer my own question, someone else posted this
"[...]The condition also ends if the distance between you and the grappler exceeds the grapple’s range.[...]"
It does talk about the "grapple's" range not the "grapplers" range.
43:15 That raises an interesting point actually.
Crawford has stated that if any subclass does not appear in this book, then you are allowed to use the old 2014 version of that subclass with the new 2025 base class.
However, there is no official list of which subclasses count as having being revised in this way.
With spells, the implication is that any spell with the same name has been replaced, but ALL of the monk subclasses have had their names changed, so do any of them count? Same for the wizard and probably a few other classes.
Subbed for the 100K!
While the stunning strike nerfs are pretty severe overall, if it's the cost for everything else in the monk kit getting improved and becoming much more interesting then I will consider it a worthwhile trade off. And it's not like the new stunning strike is a dead/useless feature, it is still very useful and it's consolation buff to still get some effects even if they pass the check is nice to have. Monks can't burn through legendary resistances like they used to, nor guarentee stuns as often, but with nearly nearly every monk ability, their damage, and the overall ki/focus point usage getting better it really feels like they don't need to worry about those anymore. 2024 Monk is the most fun and impactful the monk class has looked in years.
@treantmonk We have no problem with house rules in our group.. what do you think the “monk fireball” should do, damage wise? Should it scale?
I finally got to test and play the new monk. Level 6 (element monk) with a single dip in Fighter. Teifling of Zari. For all intents and purposes, he is Akuma in Streetfighter. He dominated the battlefield and completely outshined the rest of the group by far even the Bard and Paladin. I can't believe how incredibly good this Monk was or monks are in general now and i eas never a fan before.
As a forever dm I almost held a ticker tape parade when stunning strike was made once per turn instead of all the time.
That’s a complaint as a monk player I’ve never understood. If I had a dollar for the number of times stunning strike has worked, I’d still have just a dollar. The statistics just aren’t great, especially against higher CR monsters. I sent the math every time Monk had a UA Feedback for the new handbook. Now I have to track it back down.
I want to say that Treantmonk even did an older video about it.
@@baianojack It averages out to roughly 33% yeah
@@Woeboez yeah about there. RNG Jesus isn’t loving stunning strike as much as people seem to think it does
I'd love to hear about some of that backwards compatibility, like how does it work and how do certain subclasses come out looking when paired up with the updated classes.
22:30 this is absolute silliness. I'm not playing any game where the monk is dragging around allies to trigger their emanations.
Sorry, Jeremy Crawford will break in and force you to do so.
Jokes aside mate, you don't have to. Treatmonk is an optimiser but you can just play a monk as a monk and it will be great.
Its always been the case where you can shove or push a foe into an existing hazard for extra damage. But they can only trigger once per turn per target anyway and everyone keeps on assuming they dont take damage themselves. You drag people BEHIND YOU. You either push them away and in and you stay out, or you''re BOTH moving through the damage effect. Pisses me off when people keep saying they're standing on the edge or an area and holding them in as they run. Unrealistic, defies the basic laws of physics, and no DM should accept this. Try it yourself. Hold out a broom and walk along and watch your arms forced behind you by any weak child pushing the side of the broom. Basic leverage.
@rogerexcell249 right. Pushing a foe into damage is fun! Carrying your party member around is not.
Same. Completely immersion-breaking. There is ~no genre tradition of this weird-ass interaction. I hate it. Now, other people's fun is not wrong. But I hate for unnatural in-game actions justified by arcane rule interaction exploits to be normalized as a mode of play. I hope most DMs will not allow this. The PCs' actions on the turn are means to be simultaneous, after all!
@@hawkname1234 This is less a failing of the system than a failing of the culture of these videos. Presenting as fact something that 99.99% dms would say no to is... Silly.
It's interesting, because when the 2014 PHB came out, I played a Monk, and my party often thought I was OP (out of a large party, with several different classes). Admittedly, only a couple other players are any good at optimizing, but the reason I played a monk is because I flipped through the PHB, and realized that Stunning Strike is quite possibly THE most powerful thing any character can do before characters get high level spells. Admittedly, being super thrifty with Ki can be difficult, but in almost every boss fight, I was able to unload with Stun attempts.
I know it's not optimal but a human monk starting with tavern brawler and tough seems like a ton of fun. It's just extra hp and damage at lvl 1.
That sounds pretty optimal to me.
Human with tavern brawler and either tough or magic initiate wizard (for blade ward, find familiar, +1 cantrip) is probably the most optimal you can get.
@@cronykil74 most optimal is using alert to help your caster bros, since yoyr dexterity is so high you'll be able to manioulate the turn order.
I can already see the elemental monk grappler feat build where you yoink a dude from 15 feet away, pull him into your arms and fly up into the air only to drop him
There's a small problem with the monk grappling multiple creatures and pulling them around. The carry capacity section of the glossary says "While dragging, lifting, or pushing weight in excess of the maximum weight you can carry, your Speed can be no more than 5 feet." This means that if your medium monk with 10 str is pulling more then 150lbs, then their speed is capped at 5 feet.
If the monk has a higher str, is a goliath (or other race with powerful build) or enlarged in some way, that weight limit goes up (or more if goliath and enlarged).
I think that is for objects not creatures
Yeah I was wondering where the rankings were at the end of each subclass segment haha
Doesn't "incapacitated" mean they can't move or speak? (Reference around 16:30 in the video)
no. Incapacitated means you can't take actions or reactions.
Nope
I think the cheese you're suggesting with Step of the Wind at 22:30 would have to be balanced by the DM with consideration for the weight of the allies you're forcibly dragging against encumbrance capacity which might be pretty low for the monk. I agree that the third ally being carried is moving due to a magical effect and doesn't need to be considered.
Absolutely. But generally optimising channels don't really include a dm and common sense 😅
An amusing possible concept for a character:
A flying character (like a Sprite) who attacks from 15 feet up, yanks characters 10 feet into the air with each strike, and lets them fall. Only 1d6 extra damage per attack, but it'll also leave the opponent prone. Dribble your enemy into submission.
This may be a stupid question. How do you calculate the save DC for the strength saving throw for the push option for warrior of the open hand?
8 + wis + prof
@@AndreAlbuquerque-uk2oi not related to Dex at all then ?
@@nextx90 same as 2014 rules
1:00:59 it’s Colby isn’t it?
I am a little confused about the Dextrous Attacks grapple save DCs, does this only apply to the initial save to avoid being grappled, or all escape attempts?
Grappling and Escape a Grapple changed
Warrior of the Elements is dope now too - you can actually do something unique with your elemental magic that other casters can't!
Precisely. Folks pining for the old subclass design confuse me, at best it would be a pale shadow of a caster.
Question for Deflect Attacks, what is the ruling for an attack that deals two damage types? If you reduce an attack's piercing damage to 0 but it still does some poison damage, can you still redirect it?
@ 35:35 i assume the reason that nerf is there is because they boosted monks to the top of the martial hierarchy.
I could see Level 10: Step of the Wind getting errata to need a free hand as it definitely seems implied by "you move the creature with you", but until then if I get the chance to do this at least once, I'm gonna, lol.