Summary

• Monks in D&D have received significant upgrades in the 2024 update, making them more powerful and versatile in combat.
• The changes to Unarmed strikes and their abilities like Patient Defence give them more to do in a turn.
• Deflect Attacks and the increased Focus (Ki) point regeneration means they're even harder to hit.

First introduced as a subclass of Cleric in 1975, the Monk class has undergone many changes over its tenure in 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Dungeons & Dragons. This tradition of change followsꦉ the class into its 2024 update, as the class has been almost entirely overhauled from its Fifth Edition iteration.

Players have long complained that the Monk is among the most underpowered classes in the game. These complaints were only exacerbated by the impressive interpretation of the Monk found in Baldur's Gate 3. Thankfully, it appears that the D&D designers have taken a page out of Larian Studios' book and improved upon the Monk greatly in the upcoming Player's Handbook.

6 Martial Arts And Unarmed 𝐆Strikes 🤪

Because Fists Are Better Than Weapons

The first biggest changes coming to Monks applies not only to Monks but all classes in Dungeons & Dragons. Unarmed Strikes have been reworked fro🅠m a wa✃y to make an attack without a melee weapon to also include the shove and grapple attack actions. This means any creature who wants to shove or grapple makes an unarmed strike to do so.

This is especially important for the Monk class, as their class features reward them 𒐪with more unarmed strikes. Consequently, the Monk can now use any unarmed strike it gets, of which it has many, to attack, shove, or grapple opponents. Furthermore, the Monk gets the special ability to use Dexterity 𓆉for grapples and shoves instead of just Strength.

On top of this, you can now make 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:a bonus action unarmed strike no matter what you do with your a♋ction. Previously, you were required to take the attack action to use a💝 bonus action unarmed strike. These changes will allow Monks to control the battlefield with their physical prowess like never before.

As if all of that weren't enough, the Monk's Martial Arts damage die now starts at a d6 and increases to a d12 by the end of your Monk's career. Monks also now gain Empowered Strikes at fifth level instead of Ki-Empowered Strikes at sixth level. Empowered Strikes allow Monks to choose to deal force damage with their unarmed strikes, making their attacks surpass nearly all damage resistances.

5 Monk's Focus

Not Going To Lie, We Preferred The Term Ki

At second level, you'll unlock the Monk's Focus feature, which is replacing the current Ki system. It will work quite similarly to how Ki functioned, however, the Patient Defense and Step of the Wind options have both been buffed. Previously, you needed to spend a Ki point to gain any sort of benefit from these abilities.

With Monk's Focus, you can instead use your bonus action without spending a point to disengage with Patient Defense or Dash with Step of the Wind. If you want to enhance these abilities, you can then spend a Monk's Focus point to gain an added benefit.

Spending a point on Patient Defense allows you to disengage and dodge as a bonus action while spending a point on Step of the Wind lets you disengage, dodge, and doubles your jumping distance until end of turn. The Flurry of Blows function of Monk's Focus remains exactly the same as its previous Ki form.

The design team was also concerned with Monks running out of Monk's Focus points too soon. To patch this concern, Monks gain the Uncanny Metabolism ability at level two. This feature allows them to regain all of their Monk's Focus points once per long rest any time they roll initiative.

4 𒁃 Deflect Attacks

A Much Needed Improvement

The Deflect Missiles feature gained at third level has been completely redesigned andꦓ renamed to Deflect Attacks. As before, this feature lets you use your 🅷reaction to reduce incoming damage by 1d10 + your Dexterity modifier + your Monk level. However, the big difference is you can now use this feature any time you take slashing, bludgeoning, or piercing damage from a ranged or melee attack.

If you reduce the damage of the attack to zero, you can then spend a Monk's Focus point to redirect the damage. Ranged attacks can be redirected to another creature within 60 feet, while melee attacks must hit another target within five feet. The target of the redirected attack makes a Dexterity saving throw and on a failure they suffer damage.

The damage equals two rolls of your Martial Arts die plus your Dexterity modifier. Furthermore, at level 13 Monks can use this reaction to deflect 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:all damage types. This is a masꦦsive buff that gives Monks a reliable reaction that both prevents incoming damage and has a chꦿance to dish out a fair amount of damage in kind.

3 Superior Longevity 🐭

Monks Are Playable At Higher Levels Now

Previously, Monks struggled at higher levels as their features failed to keep up with the improvements to the features other classes received at higher🌱 levels. This issue has been addressed by a slew of features picked up at level ten and beyond.

At level ten, Monks now get Heightened Focus and Self-Restoration. Heightened Focus improves your Monk's Focus ability by tacking on bonuses to Flurry of Blows, Step of the Wind, and Patient Defense. Flurry of Blows will now grant three extra attacks, Step of the Wind lets you move a willing creature along with you, and Patient Defense gives you 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:temporary hit points equal to two rolls of your Martial Arts die.

Meanwhile, Self-Restoration allows you to end the Charmed, Frighte🌼ned, or Poisoned conditions at the end of your turn entirely for free. It also prevents you from suffering from exha💜ustion due to hunger or thirst, however, this is unlikely to come up in most campaigns.

At level 15, Perfect Focus gives you a total of four Focus Points any time you roll for initiative if you have less than four Focus Points available. At level 18, Superior Defense lets you spend three Focus Points at the start of your turn to gain resistance to every damage type except for force for one minute. Finally, at level𓄧 20 your Wisdom and Dexterity scores are increased by four up to a total of 25.

2 Stunning Strike Cﷺhanges

A Necessary Nerf

The one area where Monks might have suffered a nerf is their notorious Stunning Strike feature. That being said, Stunning Strikes is more so different than strictly worse and the 📖changes will prevent Monks from being reduced to nothing more tha💧n stun machines.

The nerf is that Stunning Strike can now only be used once per turn instea▨d of applied to every attack you make. The target of your Stunning Strike will still be subjected to a Constitution saving throw, however, succeeding the save will still see them suffer ill effects. A creature who saves against Stunning Strike now has its speed reduced by half and the next attack made against them is granted advantage.

This is a nice change as many monsters have high Constitution modifiers and will save against this ability more often than not. It always felt bad to spend a Ki point for no benefit, and it was easy to waste all of your Ki points trying to stun a creat🍬ure wit🎶h a high Constitution bonus. This new Stunning Strike will always reward the Monk for using the feature even though it prevents them from going on a stunning spree.

1 ♉ ꦡ Updated Subclasses

Finally, Your Avatar Fantasy Is Possible

The four Monk subclasses present in the 2024 Player's Handbook are the Warrior of Mercy, Warrior of Shadow, Warrior of the Four Elements, and Warrior of the Open Hand. Monk subclasses have donned the "Warrior of" moniker in place of the previous "Way of" designation.

The Warrio💝r of Mercy and Warrior of the Open Hand remain largely unchanged, however, both subclasses have some slight differences. On the other hand, Warrior of Shadow and Warrior of the Elements have both received some serious changes that will completely alter how the subclasses are played. Below is a table with all the ﷽information we currently have available.

The new Monk looks to be exactly what players have wanted for the past decade. This is a mobility focused melee skirmisher that excels at controlling the battlefield with shove, grapple, and Stunning Strikes. The sheer breadth of these changes may very well result in the Monk being one of the best classes available to players in the 2024 Player's Handbook.