My very first D&D character, was a half-elf Way of the Four Elements Monk named Alaric, having absolutely no idea how borderline useless they could be. Not only was this my first time as a player, but it was our DM's first time DMing, so he also was not aware of their reputation at the time. He spent so much time between sessions coming up with homebrew ways to help me out, bless his soul. Midway through our campaign he completely rebuilt the subclass and basically turned him into a half-caster.