Accuracy?

[oconnor0]

I've been toying with building a Mountain Stance monk and am a little confused.

Mountain Stance (at level 1), Mountain Stronghold (at level 6), Mountain Quake (at level 14), +3 explorer's clothing (or equivalent), +3 handwraps, 22 Strength (start at 18, every ability bonus to Strength).

At level 20, here's what I see:

AC 49 (Base 10, Legendary unarmored proficiency +28, Dex cap +2, Mountain Stance +4 status bonus, Mountain Stronghold +2 circumstance bonus, +3 item bonus)

Falling stone attack bonus +35 (Master unarmed proficiency +26, Str +6, +3 item bonus).

Getting Belt of Giant Strength and say, using, Ki Strike gives an additional +2 making the attack a +37. Which still requires a 12 on the d20 to hit himself. I get that's kind of pointless, but I feel like I'm missing something in accuracy. Like this build needs something else to be able to hit reliably.

What have I missed? In other words, how does a monk like this hit reliably without requiring buffing from another party member?

[Arachnofiend]

What you're missing is that the Monk is well ahead of the curve on AC, competitive with Paladins. The level 20 monsters in the bestiary all have 45 or 46 AC - because of Perfected Form, this level 20 Monk will literally never miss their first strike of a round on a Balor.

It's not that you're inaccurate, it's that your AC is abnormally high.

[shroudb]

Mountain stronghold is akin to "raising a large shield" (both are +2 circumstance)
+6 total from "armor and dex" not including +item bonus, is akin to full plate armor.

so, you're targeting a Full plate character, with a raised shield and Legendary armor proficiency (only monk and paladin i think in the whole game get that). Sounds normal that you only hit on 12+

As for what you can do, a simple flat footed (flank, grab, trip, etc) makes that a 10 to hit. Add an intimidation on top, and it's now a 9.

[Lanathar]

Reliably hit against what?

And how accurate do you want to be? AC of a CR20 seems to be 45 or 46. Giving you about 50:50 chance on an inbuffed attack

I think that is potentially the design intent

[oconnor0]

Interesting. Thank you. I started with making a monk starting with Str 16 and without the Belt of Giant Strength and so was +34 which sounded bad against "legendary plate", but maybe it's all fine. :)