The monk in 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Dungeons & Dragons excels at combining martial prowess with spiritual discipline, making them a fast and versatile warrior. With the 2024 Player🍌’s Handbook, building a monk has become more streamlined while also becoming a powerhouse that will become the go-to for players looking for a strong class.

Monks are experts in unarmed combat,🎶 using their focus to enhance their attacks and defenses. In this guide, we’ll cover how to effectively build a Monk using the updated 2024 rules, going over the differences with the 2014 rules, as well as u♍nderstanding how each subclass differs.

Monk Highlights

The monk is a martial artist that doesn’t need to rely on equipment to get the job done. They can dodge away from danger and re-enter it, dealing multiple strikes to their foes as early as level one and gaining the highest armor class possible witho🌱ut really wearing anything.

While monks aren’t constrained by needing certain equipment, they still have a resource to manage: focus points. These points are used for nearly all special abilities of a monk, like redirecting attacks to your fo🔯es or stunning them with a simple unarmed strike.

Differences From The 2024 Player's Handbook

The first difference you’ll notice with the 2024 monks is the change of nomenclature for a few key elements: ki points are now focus points, and subclasses are called “warrior of” instead of “way of the.” This in itself isn’t a huge change, but it he🅠lps play💙ers who want to roleplay a monk character in a flavor different than usual.

The main difference, however, is with unarmed strikes, since they now deal a D6 at level one and go up to a D12 at level 17 instead of the D4 and D10 of the older edition. This alone is already a significant buff to the class, which can now also use its focus points more effectively.

Starting at level 15, all monk features have been replaced with a buffed-up form, losing some f𒈔un abilities but gaining a lot in utility that keeps monks relevant at higher levels.

Monk Subclasses

The four monk subclasses present in the 2024 Player’s Handbook are ones that we’ve seen before, and some of them have had changes that make them almost new subclasses altogether. They all still keep all the flavor they once had, but the warrior of shadow and the warrior of the elements, inꦓ particular, are the ones that changed the most.

Warrior Of Mercy

Warrior of mercy is 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:a support subclass that is extremely easy to use, as long as you keep track of your focus points. You can use these points to deal additional necrotic damage or to heal your allies, and the amount of damage/healing you do depends on your martial arts𓄧 die.

As such, while the subclass itself hasn’t changed much, the buff to the martial arts die itself makes this a great supportive subclass. The game designers seem to agree, since the flurry of healing has been slightly nerfed: you can now only use it a total number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier instead of as many times a🐟s you want as long as you have the points to spare.

Warrior Of Shadow

The changes to 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:the shadow arts for monks seem subtle at first, but they are all significant. The early levels are all about spending your focus points more reliably, and you gain constant darkvision without neediꦉng to spend any points on it. If you already have darkvision, it is improved.

At level three, you no longer have access to Pass Without Trace or Silence, but you can still cast Darkness for only one focus point. This Darkness is special, since you can see normally within it, and you can change its placement at the start of your turn.

The shadow step you earn at level six remains the same, letting you jump from shadow to shadow and gaining advantage on your next melee attack. It gets upgraded at level 11, letting you spend a focus point to not need to start or end in shadows.

Level 17 sees a new and improved cloak of shadows, turning you invisible, partially incorporeal, and able to use your flurry of blows without spending focus points, all for a one-minute duration. It is certainly an improvement over the old opportunist feature, which just allowed you t🥀o make an attack when an adjacent ally does so.

Warrior Of The Elements

Forget everything you knew about 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:the elemental style of monk from 2014, because the 2024 version is doing its own thing. Instead of gaining different versions of spells as if you were a caster, you instead have your own exclusive effects, and the only regular spell you know is th༒e cantrip Elementalism.

At level three, you can spend a focus point to imbue your unarmed strikes with elemental power, choosing a different damage type and gaining a 10 ft reach. You can’t do this with other monk weapons, so this subclass is best used bare-handed.

This attunement is later improved, but it's not the only toy these elemental warriors have to play with. At level six, you can create your own mini fireballs (you can change the damage type), giving you a reliable ranged option, and at level 11, you simply fly.

Warrior Of The Open Hand

The open hand style of monks continues to be 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:the most basic of them all, and that isn’t a bad thing. Sometimes, you just want to punch someone really hard, really fast, and that is what the open hand is about, all while also pushing enemies around or knocking them prone.

Like many other changes to the monk class, the features that changed the most are at higher levels. At level 11, for example, open hand monks no longer gain the effect of the Sanctuary spell, instead being able to use step of the wind whenever they use a bonus action.

Level 17 has a seemingly less dramatic change, but it is significant nonetheless. Quivering palm no longer has a chance to reduce the target to zero hit points, instead dealing 10D12 force damage on a failed save, half as much when successful. This is a slight nerf, but considering all the other buffs of the class and how many times💜 you can stack this effect, it is still a very destructive feature♔.

Best Species Options

There isn’t really a bad option when it comes to species for monks, so you should always pick what feels the most fun. Since species no longer dictate your starting Ability Scores, you can freely pick whatever you want, although some options combine better with monks than others.

168澳洲幸运5开奖网:The dragonborn species, for example, has a breath attack option that makes up for the lack of area damage that most monks have. The warrior of the elements subclass is the exception, however; a dragonborn monk ℱof that specific subclass would have several overlapping features.

168澳洲幸运5开奖网:The goliath species is a more general choice, with abilities that let you deal additional damage or knock enemies prone. The only bad choice for this species is the cloud giant ancestr♏y, since you have better uses for your bonus action than 🦄teleporting around.

If you want to play it safe, then you should 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:pick the elf species with the wood heritage. You gain extra speed and the Longstrider and Pass without Trace spells, making you the fastest and sneakiest monk around.

Best Stat Placements

As a monk, you’ll be focusing heavily on Dexterity and Wisdom, since they both dictate your unarmored defense. Constitution should be the third score you focus on, giving you 𓃲the needed hea▨lth to tackle your future adventures.

You can consider Strength as your dump stat, so if you want to raise anything else, it should be either Intelligence or Charisma. If you expect plenty of social encounters, then you should make sure you don’t have a negative score on Charisma, although monks aren’t u🃏sually the face of💫 the party.

Best Starting Equipment

If you start your adventure at level one, then the starting equipment offered by the Handbook will serve you well. You gain a spear, five daggers, artisan’s tools, and an explorer’s pack; the daggers, in particular, are your source of ranged damage, since you use Dexterity to throw them, and they deal a D6 in damage when wielded by a monk.

As for the tools, the cook’s utensils are the ones you could get the most use out of, since they depend on Wisdom and let you detect poisoned food.🎀 You could also take something like the leatherworker’s tools to make armor for your companions, but nothing you could make will have a use for yourself.

If you’re starting at higher levels, but your DM isn’t giving you any items beyond the starting ones, consider taking the 50 gold instead, since the subclasses can make up for your lack of range with speed or literal ranged options. If you start lower than level five, then buying a quarterstaff would slightly improve your damage.

Best Feats And Backgrounds

The best background by far for monks is the Sailor background, since it gives the tavern brawler origin feat. It allows you to reroll the damage die of any unarmed strike you deal if it lands on a one (and you’ll be dishing a lot of them per turn), as well as pushing enemies away once per turn.

As for general feats, grappler is the perfect offensive feat for monks, letting you grab and damage an enemy when you use an unarmed attack. If you want a feat that raises Wisdom and you took the cook’s utensils, then the chef feat can end up being a great utility option for you ꦜand your party, letting you make food that gives 🍸temporary hit points.

Best Multiclass Options

Players often use the multiclass options to dip their toes in one class while focusing on another. We will assume that you’re going to focus on monk, so we have a few classes that can improve your monk with only one or two levels spent on them.

Druid can be a great option to multiclass into, particularly if you want to focus on Wisdom rather than Dexterity for damage, thanks to the Shillelagh cantrip. Putting two levels into the class gives you their wild shape ability, which can mostly aid you in꧋ roleplay situations to pretend to be a cat.

Martial classes like fighter and paladin give the monk access to weapon masteries and fighting styles, which are useful but not tremendously impactful. One of the better choices, however, is ranger, since with a single level, you get access to Hunter’s Mark,𒆙 which scales wonder✤fully with the number of attacks being made by your average monk.