5/9/2019 The Homebrewery - NaturalCrit Monk - Base Class No money changed hands here Duncehack Edition This is a passion project. I want to keep it that way. I also want to avoid legal issues for self-evident reasons. So who are you? No UA? Just some tosser with an over inflated sense of self Too much changes between UA and official release. importance. The fewer corrections I have the do between UA changes, You can send hate mail here to the better. [email protected] Obligatory Natural Crit Plug What is the Duncehack? http://www.naturalcrit.com/ It emerged from a place of frustration. There's quite a Someone else made a thing that lets me make homebrews number of areas where 5e could be improved but... it's not without having to post them on pastebin or something. They going to happen for various reasons. deserve a lot of credit for that. The Duncehack is my attempt to fix these problems I have. Plan is to go through the whole game - all of it - and homebrew it into the game I think is should have been. Obligatory /tg/ Plug Feel free to disagree with me, but ultimately I think there's The feedback I got from various Anons on this helped me no harm in putting my thoughts out there, at the very least if build it into something that wasn't bad and stupid. even one DM decides to adopt these rules, then my job is I love you all in a way only abused spouse can possibly done. understand. Special thanks to the anon who helped me out with the Storm Herald, I wouldn't have realised how much work it No DM Guild? No OGL Release? needed to be on par with the other archetypes had you not I chafe under binding contracts and both of these are exactly explained its failings, so thank you very much. that. The DM Guild gives you more room to mess with established rules, but basically demands that all be under the No Images? service of flagship settings. Needed to get it under 8mb so I could upload it literally The SRD on the other hand gives more room for anywhere. interesting settings but clamps down extremely hard on what established rules you're allowed to use. Their biggest So what in Monk needs fixing? contention is that they don't want someone to sell a I don't know why, but the fact your martial arts doesn't end in sourcebook that removes the need for core books. d12 really annoys me. Irrationally, unendingly so. Dunno why. Translation: they don't want Pathfinder to happen all over It's probably fine and doesn't actually need fixing, but I'm again. going to do it anyway. More to the point, both assume money will change hands. I Also the capstone is awful in the way the Sorcerer one is. don't want money, I just want Wizards to fix their game. Other than that, the big elephant in the room is that they can't quite remove the MAD from the class. Essay next page. Groundrules Groundrules for the Duncehack are as follows: No Nerfs: the goal is to bring weaker archetypes on the What if I think these are too much? level of the stronger ones. I barely did anything though! Fine, here's couple of tweaks: Remove Traps: incentives built into classes and archetypes should provide an active payoff, rather than be 1d10 hit die. the suboptimal choice. Scale Martial Arts to 1d12. The die type increases are at 5th, 9th, 13th, 17th. Frontload Agency, Backend Power: Generally speaking, Remove Ki point cost from Deflect Missiles. people like having more options to do things, rather than more raw power. As a design rule: things that feel like core class features, or are defining class mechanics, should happen in the first ten levels, sheer numeric increases in power should come after that. MONK | DUNCEHACK https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/print/ryrtMx-DtE?dialog=true 1/6 1 5/9/2019 The Homebrewery - NaturalCrit An argument can be made that 'it's a reaction feature, so What's Wrong with Monks? you can use it when you're needing your bonus action for The one big issues with monks in every edition of the game, other things', but it costs Ki - and by the time you have the including 5e, has always been suriving the first 5 levels, and feature, you have 3 whole points to spend. Ki might come multiple attribute dependancy. back on a Short Rest, but each point is just so damn valuable. 5e is not anywhere near as bad on this subject, but Monks You could make the argument that 'oh it's not an issue later remain perhaps the most ASI hungry of the classes, and when you have more Ki points', to which I'd point out late many of the features meant to keep them safe in a melee take game survivability isn't an issue with Monks, it's early game a couple levels to come online. While this isn't necessarily a survivability that's the problem. bad thing, they're designed to be up with the Fighters and Paladins (who are likely in heavy armour) and Barbarians ASI Hungry (who have rage). Quick comparison: If you aren't getting 20 in both Constitution and Strength Frontline Fighter with Caster HP as a Barbarian, you're not necessarily doing it wrong, Survivability is a big issue with Monks, especially in the early because while Constitution is extemely efficient as a stat, game where they don't have the ASIs for extra Con. there's builds and archetypes (Polearm Master Zealot springs Barbarians get HP and AC from their features, but for extra to mind) that can make use of particular feats, and Rage is a HP Monks need Con, leading to a mild Multiple Attribute massive boost for effective hit points. Constitution for a Dependancy (I say mild because you don't need to max Con Barbarian is entirely a defensive stat and can be made up for necessarily), on a class that's already ASI hungry. in other ways. Every saving throw that matters and every Barbarians can also get around early game issues with weapon attack is based off Strength. survivability just by sticking heavier armour on until their If you aren't getting 20 in both Dexterity and Wisdom as a Unarmoured Defence catches up. Monk, you are doing it wrong. Every weapon attack is based Rogues get away with being d8 hit die because they have of Dexterity. Every saving throw is based on Wisdom. For hide as a bonus action. Clerics get away with it because the Monk to work properly however, you really need those frontline domains tend to have heavy armour, shields and a Stunning Strikes to work, but for Stunning Strike to work, whole spell list of get-out-of-trouble abilities. Blade Warlocks you have to first land the hit in the first place. have access to warlock stuff, Bards have shenanigans, Druids You could make the argument that a Monk can just 'go full have the fact they can turn into a bear. damage' and use their Ki points on Flurry of Blows, ignoring Monks have patient defense. Problem is, anyone who's the need for Wisdom. played a monk can tell you that they've already burnt their Ki Problem with that thinking: What about your AC? on stunning the big threats in the first couple of rounds, This isn't so bad as such, there's few feats that a Monk which for the Ki investment is a much better utility for the would care about (Mobile comes to mind) and 'fixing' the party - a stunned wizard can't fireball. Problem is, that comes Wisdom/Dexterity reliance is... not easy. at the direct cost of the feature they're meant to be exploiting So instead the better solution would be to take a swing at for personal safety. D&D is a team game, and if the choice is the issues pulling Monks toward Constitution. between your character's safety and party safety, well, guess (Side note, I also think Monks should get an ASI at 19th, which one wins out? but that's just me. This smooths out in the later levels, where ki is more abundant. Safety options are skewed You can use 1 ki point for Patient Defense to reduce the number of attacks that hit you. So far so good, and the superior option when dealing with hordes. You can also spend 1 ki point to use a Stunning Strike, the victim of which cannot attack, and everything that attacks it has advantage on the attack. Great to putting down big dudes. But you can also spend 1 ki point to spend a reaction reduce the damage of a singular ranged attack and hopefully get a free attack out of it. Great for... When do you actually use this feature? If you're getting nailed by archers, you're likely also getting tied up by frontline enemies, meaning that if you're trying to stay safe, you're spending your Ki on Patient Defence. If you're not being tied up by frontline and can charge straight at the archer, you're better off hitting Step of the Wind and getting into melee range, which is the safest place to be against a ranged combatant in 5e anyway. You might be able to make an argument that 'it's an extra attack' - except that only applies if you reduce the damage to 0.