Monk Deep Dive

 While I think the revisions to the Ranger maybe fell short of hopes for a revamped class (though I think it will be an unambiguous upgrade over the 2014 version,) the other Dex/Wisdom class that players have been asking to see buffed and redesigned has gotten the full treatment. I've always loved the Monk's mechanical identity, but in terms of pure power it has tended to fall short.

I don't think that'll be the case anymore.

We've, of course, already talked a lot about the changes from the UA, and most of the changes here are the same. But there are a few things of note:

First off, Ki Points will now be called Focus Points (rather than Discipline Points, from the UA). I think I might have actually predicted/suggested this term, and I think it will just be way easier to say and type and works great, so I'm happy.

First off, let's talk Martial Arts:

The smallest change but still a welcome one is that your martial arts die is bumped up a notch at each tier of play - rather than starting at d4s, you'll instead start at d6s, and by tier 4 you'll be using d12s. This is a 1-damage on average upgrade, which isn't huge but still welcome (and honestly if I can roll fewer d4s I'll be happy).

Much bigger is that your bonus action unarmed strike can now be used no matter what else you do on your turn. You no longer have to take the attack action first. Fantastic change, big fan.

But even better is that "unarmed strike" now includes either hitting for damage or grappling and shoving. So, for this and Flurry of Blows, you might choose more tactical options in case you need to lock down a foe or maybe shove them away from a friend.

You might be wondering, though, as a Monk, how you'll manage to shove or grapple anything when you're not prioritizing Strength. Good news! Martial Arts now lets you set the DCs for these Unarmed Strike options (which are available to all classes when they make Unarmed Strikes) using Dex instead of Strength.

So, I actually think Monks will be very good at grappling and dragging foes around the battlefield, which feels right.

Monk's Focus is the 2nd level feature that gives you Focus Points, and your three base options all get improved: Step of the Wind and Patient Defense now both have free options: With Patient Defense, you can always disengage as a bonus action without spending anything, but if you spend the Focus Point you'll also be able to dodge in addition to disengaging. Step of the Wind, likewise, lets you always Dash as a bonus action without spending anything, but if you do spend a Focus Point you'll get to Disengage as well, and also double your jump distance. (Flurry of Blows is basically unchanged, except that like your bonus action attack, you no longer have to take the Attack action first).

Monks also get Uncanny Metabolism, which allows you to, once per long rest, regain all your FP when you start a fight and also regain some HP. While I can imagine times when you'll be sad you don't have this multiple times a day, I see this as primarily acting as a back-up in case you get surprised by more encounters than you expected.

For me, though, I think perhaps the most impactful change is going to be the replacement of Deflect Missiles with Deflect Attacks. At level 3 you'll now be able to use your reaction to reduce the damage of any incoming attack that deals bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage, regardless of whether it's ranged or melee. At higher levels, this starts to affect attacks doing any kind of damage. Once again, if you reduce the damage of that attack to 0, you can spend a Focus Point to redirect it, dealing a standardized damage to a target that fails a dex save.

    The impact of this should not be underestimated. I did some napkin math comparing a Fighter or Paladin in full plate armor versus a Monk using this to deflect one attack per turn, and even against a Marilith, which makes many attacks each turn, the Monk wound up taking less damage overall (and yes, with a lower armor class). While I don't think this will let the Monks soak damage better than a Barbarian, they should be very capable front-line fighters thanks to all of this. This was always my biggest problem with the Monk, and this rather simple change basically fixes this problem the class had.

Stunning Strike has a better redesign than it had in the UA: it's still a little nerfed - you can only use it once per turn (not sure if it also ends at the start of your next turn rather than the end of it). Now, if the target succeeds on their save, they'll still have their speed halved and the next attack on them is made with advantage.

    This is a much better design than the UA version, which added extra damage on a successful save but not on a failed one. Here, instead, the success reduces the penalty compared to a failure, but still makes a failed save always preferable to a success (unless, I guess, the target is immune to being stunned?)

There are more great changes that I won't go into for the base class, but the bottom line is that I think anyone who likes monks is going to be very happy with the state of the class now.

Let's talk subclasses!

First off, they're "Warrior of" rather than "Way of." Not sure this change was necessary, but whatever.

The Warrior of Mercy is basically the same as the Way of Mercy, which is fine because it was probably the best monk subclass pre-2024 anyway. They've just changed some wording to make it work with the new monk.

The Warrior of the Elements is a basically fully-redesigned Way of Four Elements. Essentially, toss out what you know about the old subclass (which they acknowledged as the least popular subclass in the 2014 PHB - not just for monks, but for all of them). Now, you'll get a new cantrip called Elementalism that combines various old ones like Shape Water and Control Flames, Mold Earth, etc. The big concept here is that you'll be able to spend some FP to go into your "Elemental Mode," which has numerous benefits and will last a whole fight. You'll get an increased reach for your attacks (basically extending your strikes with bursts of water, air, fire, or earth) and can do various types of elemental damage, and will also be able to push foes around the battlefield with these strikes.

Later, you'll get stuff like a 20-ft radius burst of damage you can toss out to hit multiple foes, and also gain a swim and fly speed while in your Elemental Mode. I believe there's also an enhancement that lets you damage every enemy you run by when you use Step of the Wind.

I'll be curious to see how much of this subclass is reliant on this "elemental mode," as my biggest problem with the Astral Self was that you basically didn't have a subclass once you ran out of Ki Points. Still, this looks like the investment to get into your elemental mode at the start of combat should be worth it (and of course the loosened draw on your Focus Points will make it more affordable).

The Warrior of Shadow was always one of the more powerful Monk subclasses, so it retains a lot of its mechanical identity. One key difference is that when you cast Darkness with the subclass, you can now see in that darkness, which basically bakes in the old Warlock "Darkness/Devil's Sight" combo, giving you a huge combat advantage.

Shadow Step also gets improved, allowing you at higher levels to spend FP to teleport even if you don't have two shadowy areas to go between. (Also, by letting you see inside your Darkness spell, it becomes a perfectly valid spot for this feature).

Way of the Hand got a little tweaked, increasing mobility and readjusting how Quivering Palm works.

    I suspect that among all the class redesigns, the Monk will be the most applauded. Monks are tons of fun to play already, but now you won't feel as if you're sacrificing some power to play this fun class. And holy crap, I actually might consider playing an Elements monk now, which I had never seriously considered before.