Hey there,
Since everyone was such a big help in organizing my thoughts on my previous build idea (the necksplitter guy), I figured I'd ask about another idea that exists in my head in just ten words or less. In this case, it's "Monk with a temple sword."
So the first thing I know (or think I know, anyway) is that maneuvers are a little more viable than they were in 1e. So the sword's trip property might actually mean I want to, you know, use it to trip people. Apart from that, did anyone in the playtest (or over the past three weeks (wow, it's already been three weeks!)) do anything particularly cool with a temple sword-armed monk?
Thanks for indulging my curiosity.
Later on,
Ghorrin Redblade
The problem you'll run into is that it's flat out worse than wolf stance, which is also a d8 trip weapon but is agile and finessable (and backstabby), unlike the temple sword. Wolf drag is also really solid.
If you want a weapon monk, I think that tangled forest style with a bo staff is one of the more interesting options. Doesn't come online until level 8 though.
If weapons worked with Mountain stance, that would be a good combo for temple sword, but that isn't the case.
The temple sword doesn't really do anything an unarmed monk couldn't do. For a weapon monk, I greatly prefer the Bo Staff for it's reach and great synergy with stand still and Tangled Forest stance.
The best I can come up with right now would be a Sword and Shield wielding monk, mostly because your offhand would be wasted otherwise. You can use mountain stance for AC, so you'll probably want to start with 18 strength and 16 dexterity. Beyond that, I don't think there's much special stuff you can do. Just raise your shield, use shield block and flurry away. Also get Iron Blood stance for additional sturdiness.
Come to think of it, only stances require you to be unarmored, I think. Flurry works just fine in armor. So maybe multiclass to Champion and get some full plate? (I don't have the book right now, so there might be more stuff in the monk class that doesn't work in armor). Would allow you to ignore Dex completely.
The best I can come up with right now would be a Sword and Shield wielding monk, mostly because your offhand would be wasted otherwise. You can use mountain stance for AC, so you'll probably want to start with 18 strength and 16 dexterity. Beyond that, I don't think there's much special stuff you can do. Just raise your shield, use shield block and flurry away. Also get Iron Blood stance for additional sturdiness.
You can't use a weapon in mountain stance. It's one of the stances that only lets you use its special unarmed strike. Which is a shame, because it would actually make a lot of the monk weapons actually have a point.
2nd level take champion ded, and you retrain your mountain stance into monastic weapons. take full plate. 20AC at level 2, 22 with shield raised. you can use your third action to trip with assurance if you are good enough(at lvl 3 you hit DC17 which hits most CR2 and even some cr3 monsters). or you can trip and then flurry while he's down. If you want to dump dex...
monk with temple sword is not a powerful build but it can work and be viable....but yeah....18 16 12 10 12 10 and shield + shield block.
and from that point on stunning fist and flurry of maneuvers...
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Armor on a monk is crazy late level when you're trading master/legendary unarmored proficiency for trained/expert in armor.
Armor on a monk is crazy late level when you're trading master/legendary unarmored proficiency for trained/expert in armor.
not if you dump that dex...and want to use a temple sword...
master is at 13, expert heavy is at 14...so you are really behind by 1 which is still ok(but with shield you are +1 and soak some dmg)
it's not better than a "regular" monk in dmg and even worse in mobility, but it's more durable and flurry gives it better action economy than champions or fighters...and trip + stunning makes it a bit different
you can take ki rush, ki strike, lay on hands, champions reaction....it would work...
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Things to note about the advantages of temple sword over stances:
-You can walk around sword drawn, but not in a stance, so you might save an action at the start of the fight.
-You get trip without investing 2 feats. So if you have a build reliant on trip without many feats, this helps.
-If you invest in critical specializations, you get a different effect. Whether flat-footed for 1 round is better than save v. Stun 1 is debatable, but it is a noteworthy difference.
-Special materials are easier to acquire for a sword. You might not need to wait until your class features give them to you.I
-You can use feats that require 1-handed weapons (though you must MC fighter to use this).
Things that may help take advantage of this:
-MC for quickdraw, which means you basically always have an action advantage over stances.
-Flurry of Maneuvers to get that trip in on your flurry.
-MC Barbarian for Brutal Bully to do damage on trips
-Grievous rune makes flat-footed more beneficial and easier to take advantage of for you. It means your first attack (the one most likely to crit) hits a lower AC. Note this may not be better than grievous runes for brawling weapons.
You can't use a weapon in mountain stance. It's one of the stances that only lets you use its special unarmed strike. Which is a shame, because it would actually make a lot of the monk weapons actually have a point.The best I can come up with right now would be a Sword and Shield wielding monk, mostly because your offhand would be wasted otherwise. You can use mountain stance for AC, so you'll probably want to start with 18 strength and 16 dexterity. Beyond that, I don't think there's much special stuff you can do. Just raise your shield, use shield block and flurry away. Also get Iron Blood stance for additional sturdiness.
Oh, I know. That was a very unfortunate typo I didn't notice before going to bed. Thanks for correcting it while I was sleeping. :)
As for the general idea, the Heavy Armor monk does of course have much lower AC in the long run, compared to one using Mountain Stance or a dex build.
But this isn't about getting the best numbers.
This is about doing Flying Kicks. In full plate. :D