D&D By The Numbers: Way Of The Masterful Monk
Monks punch well above their weight in D&D. With powerful martial arts techniques, there’s a lot to pick from–but what really is the perfect monk?
Monks are badass brawlers who know how to throw a punch. Or a kick. Or an elbow. Look their mastery over unarmed combat, and their special fighting techniques that let them stun or run along walls, make them a unique part of any D&D game. But what makes a monk really masterful? Well, obviously, it’s whatever the majority pick, because that’s the best way to run any system. Obviously. With that in mind, we’re going to take a look at what most people agree on and build the best possible Monk. We can only run the numbers though.
You’ll have to make them all add up.
First things first, let’s take a look at what kind of Monks are the most popular ones out there:
As you can see, Monks tend to be multiclassed. They’re not as strongly inclined towards it as something like a Sorcerer or a Cleric, but weighing in around 54% multiclassed, it’s more likely than not to see a Monk who’s multiclassed into Rogue. Which is an interesting combination, especially when we’re looking at what the most popular subclasses for Monk are.
Looking at the numbers, Way of the Open Hand leads, but only by a little. Catching up is the relatively newer Way of the Kensei, which focuses on weapon-wielding Monks. That means that our Monk is likely to be dropping various effects on enemies while brawling, which combines with the Rogue rather nicely for some sneak attack–and depending on the level split, possibly even some assassination features. Way of the Open Hand lets you knock enemies prone with your flurry of blows and grants access to healing, so you’ll always have at least one ace up your sleeve.
Now that we have our subclass, and our secondary class, it’s time to make our Monk stand out. The first way we’re going to do that is by taking a look at the spread of starting stats. It’s an interesting dilemma, since Monks need so much in the way of stats. You’ll find their spreads tend to be a little spikier than other classes’.
Our Monk most likely has a Dex of 15, a Wisdom of 14, a Con of 13, an Int of 10, a Strength of 12, and a Charisma of 8. Though there’s a lot of variation in there. While a few of the numbers stand out, it looks like by and large there’s no single Monk build for stats that shines through more than most–with the exception of high Dex. Again, we can see why they pair well with Rogue.
Now all we have left to do is pick out gear. Though that’s an interesting one to run, considering that monks don’t typically wield weapons or wear armor, so the usual charts are pretty useless. This would change, of course, if we were a kensei, but again, even that pushes us away from the normal list of weapons. So let’s instead check out what kind of feats we might take instead.
Mobility, it seems like, is key. The Mobile feat makes it easier to dart around the battlefield landing stunning fists where needed, so we can get even more out of our Way of the Open Hand abilities. And there you have it, the perfect Monk.
Happy Adventuring!
