Stunning Fist is really good.

[Magic Myrmidon]

Not much more to it than that. Been playing an 8th level monk lately. Went with Four Elements for flavor reasons despite it being somewhat underwhelming.

But having 8 ki points, and no limit to how many ki points I spend a round is nuts. I can stun a big monster, split up my move, use my bonus attack to stun another guy, split it again, use my Extra Attack to do it again, and if I really wanna nova, use flurry of blows to get another attack to stun with.

Normally I'd shy away from spending so many resources so quickly, but since they all regenerate on a short rest, it's not really an issue.

Am I doing it right? I've checked around, and it seems like there's no limit on how many times I can do that other than ki points. Locking down all of the enemies for multiple rounds seems pretty nuts.

[Zene]

Not much more to it than that. Been playing an 8th level monk lately. Went with Four Elements for flavor reasons despite it being somewhat underwhelming.

But having 8 ki points, and no limit to how many ki points I spend a round is nuts. I can stun a big monster, split up my move, use my bonus attack to stun another guy, split it again, use my Extra Attack to do it again, and if I really wanna nova, use flurry of blows to get another attack to stun with.

Normally I'd shy away from spending so many resources so quickly, but since they all regenerate on a short rest, it's not really an issue.

Am I doing it right? I've checked around, and it seems like there's no limit on how many times I can do that other than ki points. Locking down all of the enemies for multiple rounds seems pretty nuts.

Tempered somewhat by the fact that you have to both land the hit and make the save; so your attack stat and wisdom both have to beat their AC and wisdom save, respectively. And bumping both your attack stat and your wisdom can be tough —did you roll for stats?— unless you go the Shillelagh route, but then that means you’re really only making two of these attacks per round.

But yeah once you get past all that, it’s a pretty great ability.

[trctelles]

Sadly (or luckily) this is what Monks do best. They control the battlefield with Stuns... But that's about what they do. They can be slippery and all, but they don't have high damage (compared to a Fighter or Barbarian), don't have other forms of control, don't have great AoE.

They stun people, and they're good at it.

[Magic Myrmidon]

Tempered somewhat by the fact that you have to both land the hit and make the save; so your attack stat and wisdom both have to beat their AC and wisdom save, respectively. And bumping both your attack stat and your wisdom can be tough —did you roll for stats?— unless you go the Shillelagh route, but then that means you’re really only making two of these attacks per round.

But yeah once you get past all that, it’s a pretty great ability.

Didn't roll for stats, but we did roll for items. Happened to roll Gauntlets of Ogre strength. I did tell the DM that that was pretty good, but she was fine with it.

So I guess being given a 19 in strength for nothing was pretty nice. Allowed me to pump my wisdom instead of my dex.

[the secret fire]

Sadly (or luckily) this is what Monks do best. They control the battlefield with Stuns... But that's about what they do. They can be slippery and all, but they don't have high damage (compared to a Fighter or Barbarian), don't have other forms of control, don't have great AoE.

They stun people, and they're good at it.

They can obviously do more than that, but these things are subclass dependent. But yeah, stunning fist is quite powerful if you've got the ki points to burn.

[AttilatheYeon]

I play a Kensai who likes to plant myself at a choke point and patient defense. It's great to watch DMs try to hit my AC19 monk at disadvantage. 😉

[Joe the Rat]

Watch out for grapples. Just because they can't hit you doesn't mean they can't grab you and hoist you out of the way - and Patient Defense does not help with Dex checks.

Not an issue for the man with the iron fists here, but something to be wary of.

[Waterdeep Merch]

You're doing it right. Monks punch things so hard that the enemy is forced to applaud them for a whole round. They can do other things well, but this is the primary benefit to being a monk.

[Davrix]

The only thing I can say to this is that if your DM is letting you take short rests after every fight then yes its going to feel really powerful and good.

You really should be taking a short rest after maybe 2 or 3 combat encounters but most tables work on the 5 min work day agenda and take many many short rests. For the classes that recharge on a short rest. They become exponentially more powerful than classes that Regen abilities on a long rest.

Oh and on a side note having the 19 str is nice but part of the appeal of monk is that dex and wis = its AC so something tell's me your AC suffered from this build. I dunno if you could do it but with a feat and that much str a full plate monk sounds hilarious to me.

[Strangways]

Not much more to it than that. Been playing an 8th level monk lately. Went with Four Elements for flavor reasons despite it being somewhat underwhelming.

But having 8 ki points, and no limit to how many ki points I spend a round is nuts. I can stun a big monster, split up my move, use my bonus attack to stun another guy, split it again, use my Extra Attack to do it again, and if I really wanna nova, use flurry of blows to get another attack to stun with.

Normally I'd shy away from spending so many resources so quickly, but since they all regenerate on a short rest, it's not really an issue.

Am I doing it right? I've checked around, and it seems like there's no limit on how many times I can do that other than ki points. Locking down all of the enemies for multiple rounds seems pretty nuts.

Stunning strike is very powerful, but it needs to be because it’s the backbone of the monk class. Without it, you’re just a weak fighter with worse armor, lower damage output and no action surge.

Your other abilities, to some extent, essentially extend the effectiveness of stunning strike. Your speed, maneuverability, ability to run up walls (starting at level 9) etc, lets you get to the fragile caster enemy in the back, behind all those beefy guys in plate, and stun lock him into oblivion. But stunning is somewhat situational. It’s going to be a waste of Ki points against high CON targets with really strong CON saves (like a dragon), you’re almost totally helpless against flying enemies, and you have no area of effect abilities.

Your primary role, besides contributing melee damage like all melee characters, is to get to and disable spell casters and other ranged attackers who otherwise could spend much of a fight hurling damage at your party from a safe distance. In that regard, you can be very, very effective as long as your Ki points hold up. But if your DM is generous (perhaps overly generous) in allowing short rests after every fight, that shouldn’t ever become a problem.

[Magic Myrmidon]

The only thing I can say to this is that if your DM is letting you take short rests after every fight then yes its going to feel really powerful and good.

You really should be taking a short rest after maybe 2 or 3 combat encounters but most tables work on the 5 min work day agenda and take many many short rests. For the classes that recharge on a short rest. They become exponentially more powerful than classes that Regen abilities on a long rest.

Oh and on a side note having the 19 str is nice but part of the appeal of monk is that dex and wis = its AC so something tell's me your AC suffered from this build. I dunno if you could do it but with a feat and that much str a full plate monk sounds hilarious to me.

We rolled for items after building our characters. I was lucky that I had invested into dex and wis primarily, leaving strength at 10. So my AC is pretty dang good right now, actually. Was a pretty lucky roll for me.

It was all the DM's idea, i swear.