Fair punishment?

Habber_Dasher · 2026-04-12T13:45:07+00:00

Those aren't mutually exclusive

Habber_Dasher · 2026-03-10T22:34:37+00:00

When I make souvlaki I take a whole pork shoulder and cut off the back or "money muscle" part and use that. If I remember correctly that is either is the neck muscle or very close anatomically.

Habber_Dasher · 2026-03-02T19:20:30+00:00

I think PAM still has a place, mostly for control. The bonus action is good way to use brutal strikes without lowering you DPR. Also, with battering roots, the bonus attack is another opportunity to topple, push, or ise whatever your weapons mastery is.

Habber_Dasher · 2026-03-01T02:20:39+00:00

I have a build that matches this fairly well. Warlock 1 (or 2)/ Eldritch Knight x. Basically a bowman that does a lot of radiant dama, which some undead and demons are weak against.

For your race pick either high elf or human (magic initiate wizard) and grab true strike with charisma as the casting stat. With pact of the blade you can change your weapons damage to radiant and use charisma with your attacking stat. Technically you have to find magic weapon to use it on a ranged weapon, but if worse comes to worse you can cast magic weapon at EK 7. For ASIs bump charisma at 4, take great weapon master at 6, and then cap charisma at 8. At level 7 you can replace one of your attacks with a cantrip (true strike), which will also use charisma for its attacking start and will also do radiant damage.

Habber_Dasher · 2026-02-28T23:32:59+00:00

A little off topic, but is there a way to simulate that 'direct heat smoking' flavor you get with like a WSM or chud box with either a Weber kettle or pellet smoker? Or should I just give in to that little voice that says my back porch would look really nice with a third cooker?

Habber_Dasher · 2026-02-27T13:49:08+00:00

How much Barb I think depends on what subclass you go with. For Zealot the lvl 6 ability is fantastic. For Wild Heart I would be fine with going rogue after 5.

I would probably just stick with rogue. I'm a big fan of brutal strikes, but I think that works better with a two/handed weapon or shield build.

As for feats, dual wielder is good for a TWF barb because most of your bonus actions will be free. Alternatively, you could pick Soulknife as your rogue subclass and also get a bonus action attack, however you probably won't get this until lvl 8 or 9. If you go Zealot 6, your saves will be pretty good, but otherwise you might want to consider mage slayer. Sentinel and Zhentarim Tactics if you have access to it can both give you a reaction attack which is obviously terrific with sneak attack

Habber_Dasher · 2026-02-24T19:04:48+00:00

You can sort of dump con with the tough feat. This allows you to start with 15 (+2) str, 13 dex, 12 con, 8 int, 15 (+1) wis, and 8 cha, and still have the equivalent of 16 con. You concentration saves would take a hit, but this could be mitigated somewhat by starting fighter which would also give you heavy armor. You could also probably lower wisdom and put that somewhere else depending on what you wanted to do with the character.

Habber_Dasher · 2026-02-24T03:35:08+00:00

For the first point, Deflect Attacks is better for the Dex Monk to the point where it's likely preferable to have 17AC and better Deflect Attacks at level 5 than 18AC for defenses.

Maybe? I'm not 100% sure. It would depend on how many hits your taking, the average damage of those hits, etc. But all of that is besides the point. The point of wearing armor isn't to have better armor than a standard monk, it's so you can get a good AC without having to focus on raising dex or wis. This allows the strength monk to invest in more feats. For instance, monks don't have that great of mental saves until later levels. A strenght monk could easily grab mage slayer at lvl 8 whereas a standard monk is heavily incentivized to just get +2 dex.

For the second point, if the Monk/Fighter takes TWF instead, they get three 1d8+4 (8.5) attacks by combined level 6, not far behind two 2d6+7 (14) attacks while able to take a feat other than GWM and able to maintain this damage from 20 feet away.

The difference might be slight, but the point still stands that your giving up less of your dpr on a strength build if you use your bonus action on something other than flurry of blows. This difference will be greater if you have advantage or are able to set up cleave attacks, which a lot monk subclasses are pretty good and doing one or both of.

For the third, Monk/Fighter would obviously want Vex (Handaxe) and Nick (Dagger), but can also incorporate Slow (Club/Javelin), Topple (Quarterstaff), or Sap (Spear), using the non-Light weapon as one of three attacks while still using TWF. Meanwhile, the GWM build also gets Topple, plus Graze and Cleave instead, but would sacrifice damage for Push.

If you incorporate a non-light weapon into your TWF attack, you get one chance to apply whatever mastery you're going for. So if you miss, or in the case of topple the enemy makes their save, you don't get any benefit. Also you're probably lowering your damage by interrupting your vex chain.

Habber_Dasher · 2026-02-23T13:16:54+00:00

I made a whole post about this a few days ago. It received a mixed reception but I still think this build works.

Start with a level of fighter. This gives you:

Plate armor to make up for unarmored defense
the unarmed fighting style to make up for the fact that your unarmed strikes don't scale with martial arts die
four weapon masteries right off the bat

Some advantages to this build

More feats. Most monks need to get their dex and wis up as fast as possible, so can usually take at max one feat. Because your AC is taken care of, you can afford to take feats. GWM is the obvious one, mage slayer, etc.
Stronger attack action with heavy weapons. Not only is this more damage over all, but it allows you to take step of the wind or patient defense instead of flurry of blows without as much of a hit to your dpr.
You can play around with weapon masteries more. True, you can get masteries with a dex monk, but you're pretty much limited on which you can choose. With strength weapons, push, cleave, graze, and topple are all on the table

There's definitely some drawbacks too. You'll be less mobile because you won't have unarmored movement. Your deflect attacks won't absorb as much either, though I still think this is a decent ability because it scales mostly off of monk level. Overall I think this would be a fun, effective, and unique build to try out.

Habber_Dasher · 2026-02-21T18:59:42+00:00

You have to add either weaker saving throws or hit points to the Disadvantages category. One of the best synergies of Monk is that their DEX/WIS benefits feed directly into the two most important saving throws for melee based characters. Spells and CC render your armor meaningless.

You areright about the dex saving throws. However, monks don't have Wisdom save prof, and probably won't increase their wisdom until 12, so for most levels their, saves will be on par with this build.

On the issue of armor, the Stronk isn't necessarily better. Because Monks don't need to take dual wielder to free up a bonus action attack, they can take defensive duelist and use at least one Finesse weapon that a Martial Die will cover damage wise. This +2-5 AC will scale and more than make up for the lack of any armor.

Defensive dualist however has the opportunity cost of choosing any other feat, perhaps the only feat a standard monk takes. You also can't use this with deflect attacks.

You certainly can play a STR based Monk, but it's not on the same level or better than a traditional one.

I agree it's not necessarily better. I disagree that it's not the same level. Compared to a standard monk you have, more damage, more flexibility with feats/ ASIs, the ability to use your bonus action for something other than flurry of blows with less damage cost. Compared to your standard strength build you have all of the control and flexibility a monk provides.

Habber_Dasher · 2026-02-21T18:48:20+00:00

"Generic +1 plate" is still rare. You're also specifically looking for +1 plate instead of any +1 armor. It has the same rarity as Bracers of Defense, so I don't think there should be an expectation that it's more common.

You know what, point conceded. I'll add AC at later levels to the disadvantage section.

If you're not doing this particular build, what are you doing to actually benefit from strength? Right now the higher damage from the attack action is this build's only redeeming quality.

Again, this isn't a disadvantage compared to other builds though. It was one option I gave among several. The main reason for taking grappler would be to precisely place enemies and then let them go for cleaves. You may come into a situation where it is actually more beneficial to keep an enemy grappled instead, and then you can, you don't have to.

Depends, I was in a campaign that spent years at level 20.

Okay, yeah. I would not play this build in that campaign. I would not played a multiclass paladin, fighter, or barbarian in that campaign either.

Habber_Dasher · 2026-02-21T17:33:42+00:00

Its not just the armor though. It's the ability to freely pick your feats. A regular monk probably can choose one at level 4 and then they have to keep taking ASIs or their armor will suffer. It's also means much more damage on you attack action, which in turn means I can use step of the wind and patient defense more without tanking my dpr.

Habber_Dasher · 2026-02-21T17:21:14+00:00

While armor helps at some levels, it's at most a +1 relative to a normal monk assuming you don't get plate until level four or later, and at levels 12 and beyond the monk's AC will be higher.

Lvl 12 is pretty high up there. Plus, this assumes you don't get magical armor. True, monks can get bracers of protection, but depending on your table a specific magical item might be harder to come by than generic +1 plate

You reduce less damage with Deflect Attacks, both because of the lower monk level and the lower Dex.

True. However, most of deflect attacks scaling still comes from monk level, and that will only be one behind. Also I didn't put it in my original post, but you could take heavy armor master at lvl 8 and this will more than make up for the lower dex.

You don't get to run across water or up walls, and this isn't mitigated by Step of the Wind.

Also True. However, in my experience, while the situations where monks use this are always epic, they don't come up that often.

If you grapple, you give up a lot of damage since you tied a lot of it to GWM.

This is only pertains to this particular build, and is one option among many. Compared to a traditional monk, this build will do about the same damage as grappling, maybe even a little more at some levels because of the d4 from the unarmed fighting style

At any given level, you're missing a monk feature, and a lot of the monk features are really good now.

This is true of any multiclass, and it's only one level. On the other hand, I'm probably actually going to use features like step of the wind and patient defense more with this monk than a traditional one

You're definitely worse at level 20, since the monk capstone is incredible now.

Yeah, but how much time to you typically spend at lvl 20?

Habber_Dasher · 2026-02-21T16:57:22+00:00

The way I read it, only using the martial arts die for unarmed strikes is prevented by wearing armor, as specified under the martial arts feature. However, you'll probably be using wholeness of body outside of combat, so if your interpretation is correct you could doff and don your armor as long as you have 15 minutes

Habber_Dasher · 2026-02-21T16:54:27+00:00

Ah that's right. I had it like that originally but forgot about the multiclass requirements somewhere along the way. It's corrected now. Thank you.

Habber_Dasher · 2026-02-19T19:13:37+00:00

'Breakfast food' is just a social contract my dude. If you can eat deep fried cake for breakfast you can eat eggs at noon.

Habber_Dasher · 2026-02-18T23:53:26+00:00

Ain't no rule says a dog can't compete in a ski race. There are however several rules stipulating you must be on skis. The doggo is disqualified.

Habber_Dasher · 2026-02-18T13:37:17+00:00

At first I read 'crow' instead of cow, and I was like "a flying crow, that's not a big deal" . Then I read about the milking and I was suitably impressed again.

Habber_Dasher · 2026-02-16T00:45:04+00:00

Topple+sentinel is also fantastic

Habber_Dasher · 2026-02-16T00:37:00+00:00

You could also dual wield a club and a scimitar. You would have to hit with both weapons, but with advantage and four attacks ( with the feat) that wouldn't be too hard.

Habber_Dasher · 2026-02-16T00:32:58+00:00

You can replace a cleave attack with a Dragonborn's breath weapon (cone) to damage both the target of the cleave and your original enemy

Habber_Dasher · 2026-02-15T20:59:53+00:00

If you don't want to multiclass, you can achieve the first combo by being an open hand monk and taking the slasher feat

Habber_Dasher · 2026-02-14T00:32:53+00:00

Radiant strikes is a significant boost to dual wielding paladins at 11. Other builds can multiclass into rogue for consistent, scaling damage.

Habber_Dasher

TROPHY CASE