#Beau hits it multiple times in campaign and has a 20 dex

[nairdde32]

He Just “Come at be Broed” You! A Guide to the Human Monk

I said I was going to do one of these for every character so here we go. As usual if you’re new to dnd, I would highly recommend watching “How to Play Dungeons and Dragons 5e – Intro” by Don’t Stop Thinking on YouTube. I will try and use as little jargon as possible so people who are new to D&D can figure it out. This week it’s everyone’s favorite disaster, Beauregard, the Human Monk.

Race: Variant Human

Technically (technically) there are two kinds of humans in dnd. There’s the normal boring human that gets absolutely nothing and nobody plays, and then there’s variant human. Variant humans get a feat! Why is that important you may ask? Well you see, in older editions of dnd, feats weren’t all that great. They were more like little level up bonuses. You needed a lot of them before they actually started making a difference. But in Fifth Edition D&D, Feats were drastically reduced. There are far less of them, and you get far fewer (to the point where they’re optional in the players handbook) as you have to sacrifice ability score increases to get them. But, they’re incredibly powerful now, some to the point of game breaking (anybody remember grog’s great weapon master shenanigans?). Because of how strong they are, being able to get a free one at 1st level is pretty fantastic.

The Deets

Ability score increase. +1 to two ability scores of your choice. While many will scoff, the fact that you can choose where to put them means that humans can be literally anything. Half-Elves have it better but still.

Skills. Free proficiency in one skill of your choice. Pretty good, but Half-Elves still have it better.

Feat. You get a free feat, so long as you meet the prereqs. If you listen closely, you can hear the sound of us salty Half-Elf players in the distance OH HEY THERE XGTE.

Class: Monk

The monk is a rather versatile class that focuses on big damage. They forgo any sort of armor in favor of mobility, and have a wide variety of abilities that make them good in almost any situation. They also have really high ac.

The feetsies.

Hit Points. You get a d8. This seems paltry, especially for someone who’s supposed to be a front line fighter. But hp doesn’t matter when you have a sky high ac and you can dodge like Neo.

Proficiencies. You get nothing. Ok that’s not quite fair, you do get a tool. Or an instrument, but like, don’t? Bards? Exist? That’s what they want you to think.

Unarmored Defense (1). Remember how I was talking about that big AC? Well this is how. With 20/20 in Dex/Wis your ac is 20. That’s the same as a fool in full plate & a shield! And you can run on walls, so that’s pretty cool.

Martial Arts (1). Congratulations, you are now (insert anime martial artist of your choice here). Your punches git gud, and only get better. The damage even applies to the weapons you’re proficient in!

Ki (2). This is your magic. You get “Ki Points” equal to your level, used to fuel various abilities. It doesn’t do a whole lot at first (besides turning you into Neo, and making you Star Platinum, ok maybe it does do a whole lot) but there are a few nifty tricks you can do later.

Unarmored Movement (2/9). Become sanic. And later, become hardcore parkour! A lot of people forget you can run on walls/water at 9th level.

Monastic Tradition (3). You can now choose to become one of the following: Kenshiro, Ezio Auditore, Aang, Jackie Chan, Ahsoka Tano, SSGSS Ultra Instinct Kaio Ken x20 Goku, Edgy or (if you have the Tal’dorei Campaign Guide) a Librarian. Beauregard has chosen to become a librarian.

Deflect Missiles (3). You can now catch arrows. Need I say more?  

Ability Score Improvement (4/8/12/16/19). You get five, same as everyone else sans fighter and rogue. Standard rules apply, moving on.

Slow Fall (4). You can reduce falling damage by a decent amount. Useful for when the wizard didn’t prepare feather fall, or you don’t have wings.

Extra Attack (5). You now attack twice. If you’re using a weapon (which you should be unless you’re Goku), it now become twice as good.

Stunning Strike (5). Stun on demand. For those of you who don’t get how powerful this is, if you’re stunned you auto fail dex saves. Disintegrate requires a dex save.

Ki-Empowered Strikes (6). Your unarmed attacks are now magical. Useful for the levels when you’re starting to encounter bigger foes that are immune to normal attacks.

Evasion (7). One wordy explanation later, you are now immune to fireball. Identical to the rogue feature, and NO you don’t have to actively use it. This isn’t uncanny dodge.

Stillness of Mind (7). You can use your action to not be scared. Alright then.

Purity of Body (10). Complete immunity to poison and disease? Yeah that’s good.

Tongue of the Sun and Moon (13). You understand everything and everything understands you. Who needs language when you’re a literal universal translator!

Diamond Soul (14). You have proficiency in all saving throws. All. Saving throws. And you can reroll failed saves so long as you have the Ki. Hooooooooooo BOY. That’s good.

Timeless Body (15). This walking disaster doesn’t need food or water and basically is immune to old age. How? Just become a Monk 15.

Empty Body (18). “Non-concentration invisibility for one minute plus resistance to most damage that doesn’t go away when you attack can be yours, for the low low price of just FOUR Ki points! Call now and we’ll throw in the ability to astral project!”

Perfect Self (20). Roll initiative, acquire Ki. Getting back Ki points when you need them but don’t have them is pretty good.

The base monk class is a sold chassis for some pretty fun and creative subclasses (but everyone goes Open Hand because memes). It has everything a damage focused martial character could need and just a little bit more.

Subclass: Way of the Cobalt Soul

A brand new subclass appearing in the Tal’dorei Campaign Guide, the Way of the Cobalt Soul is based on the Monks of the Cobalt Reserve. Joking aside, it is a rather powerful subclass, especially in a campaign where there’s significant homebrew. Which is Critical Role in case you couldn’t catch my meaning. The good stuff:

Mystical Erudition (3). Get more languages and spend Ki points to get advantage on knowlage checks. “But Beau already gets every language!” No, she can understand all languages. Learning a language means you can read it too. Which is really important when your DM writes everything in celestial.

Extract Aspects (3). When you hit someone with multiple attacks you can spend ki to learn several key pieces of info. Really, really good when your DM homebrews everything.

Extort Truth (6). You get a mini Zone of Truth at the cost of ki. Still requires you to land multiple attacks, though.

Mind of Mercury (6). You have more reactions each round based on your intelligence. They require Ki points though, so if you’re not careful you’ll exhaust yourself before you know it.

Preternatural Counter (11). If an attack misses you, you get to attack back. Synergizes nicely with other monk abilities.

Debilitating Barrage. For the low low price of three Ki, you can give something disadvantage on attacks until the end of the next round, and you can select a type of damage that they’re then vulnerable to. If you have a rogue in the party who uses a certain damage type (like piercing) that’s pretty good.

I never knew librarians were this badass. Huh. Remember kids, make sure to turn your library books in on time.