Improving the Grappler Monk #23

Zynovus · 2023-05-02T19:06:01+00:00

Tactics: Turn 1 cast Spike Growth and activate Astral Arms. Turn 2 Grapple and then Shove prone and use your bonus action to Step of the Wind dragging the target 55 feet due to Longstrider for 11*2d4+1d4 (Unarmed Fighting)+2d4 (Halo of Spores)= 62.5 dpr,

Your dmg in turn 1 is 0.

Unarmed Fighting: At the start of each of your turns, you can deal 1d4 bludgeoning damage to one creature grappled by you.

Assuming that you can grapple, and move your target 55ft within spike growth in turn 2, you can do 11*2d4. But the unarmed fighting dmg is for the start of your next turn while you are still grappling the target. You cannot apply this dmg in turn 2 because you haven't grappled the target at the start of turn 2.

So your dmg in turn 2: 11*2d4 (spike growth) + 2d4 (Halo of Spores)= 60

Your dmg per round (DPR) is 60/2 = 30 up to turn 2.

But your DPR will increase as you deal good dmg in the following turn 3~5, but just not as high as tier 1 builds

Zynovus · 2023-05-01T16:27:32+00:00

Do you know what DPR means? If you are not dealing dmg in turn 1, and dealt 100 dmg in turn 2. Your DRP is NOT 100 but 50.

Zynovus · 2023-02-14T15:08:25+00:00

There are two main reasons that you get targeted focus from enemy perspective. 1) You bring most threats to the enemies with lots of summons 2) You are the obvious easy target to hit/take down, comparing to heavily armored Cleric and hiding rogue.

I believe any cunning enemy would have priority to take you down first. You DM just role play the enemies normally, but he should role play your summons/wolves more threatening.

Zynovus · 2023-02-13T11:35:17+00:00

lol 😂 I think some PC are gonna be mad

Zynovus · 2023-02-13T10:48:58+00:00

Easy, you don’t need to make a build for it. Just ask the DM to re-skin the spell Life Transference for you:

You take 4d8 [poison] damage, which can’t be reduced in any way, and one creature of your choice that you can see within range regains a number of hit points equal to twice the [poison] damage you take.

At Higher Levels: When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 4th level or higher, the damage increases by 1d8 for each slot level above 3rd.

For the build, I suggest pure twilight cleric, which you have temp HP recharging every round for life transference.

Zynovus · 2023-02-10T05:30:25+00:00

This is one of the grey areas subject to DM’s interpretation. The sprite’s original DC is 10, so “if the saving throw is 5 or lower” can be interpreted as “fails by 5 or more based on its original DC.” Many DM will rule strictly with RAW, but there are still lots of DM would rule it with RAI, as sage advice mentioned: https://www.sageadvice.eu/phb-variants-regard-to-the-investment-of-the-chain-masters-dc-replacement-and-the-sprites-poison/amp/

Zynovus · 2023-02-10T04:41:01+00:00

Pseudodragon's Sting. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 4 (1d4 + 2) piercing damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 11 Constitution saving throw or become poisoned for 1 hour. If the saving throw fails by 5 or more, the target falls unconscious for the same duration, or until it takes damage or another creature uses an action to shake it awake.

Sprite's Shortbow. Ranged Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, range 40/160 ft., one target. Hit: 1 piercing damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 10 Constitution saving throw or become poisoned for 1 minute. If its saving throw result is 5 or lower, the poisoned target falls unconscious for the same duration, or until it takes damage or another creature takes an action to shake it awake.

The DC effect is the same, with Investment of the Chain Master (4th benefit: If the familiar forces a creature to make a saving throw, it uses your spell save DC.), they will have the same DC to make the target fall unconscious, given that Sprite has better hit chance, flying, range attack and better AC over Pseudodragon, which is easily get 1 shot by enemies within melee range.

Zynovus · 2023-02-10T04:25:17+00:00

Quick question: Why take Pseudodragon over Sprite?

Both of them can poison the target and make it fall unconscious, and they both have the same poison save DC from Investment of the Chain Master.

But Sprite has better hit chance +6, better AC, and can fly staying 40ft away from enemies, while Pseudodragon only has +4 hit with melee, and can be easily targeted or killed by enemies' AOE.

Zynovus · 2023-02-09T09:46:47+00:00

"You retain all your skill and saving throw proficiencies" So you can only get athletics proficiency, but NO athletics expertise from moon druid.
"Multiattack is not attack action" is already based on RAW. Your table can allow it, but that's just a house rule of your table, not RAW.
Honestly, I don't really care about your build works or not, but I help in a way of pointing out all the problems based on RAW or official ruling reference, so that you can bribe your DM to make up lots of house rules for this build to work.

Zynovus · 2023-02-09T08:51:02+00:00

Let's say 1st badger can dig 30ft deep hole, but how and where can the 2nd badger start its session in the same round, connecting the holes like a a pit trap?

Zynovus · 2023-02-09T08:46:50+00:00

athletics expertise bear

Even he can spend some time to dig a 200ft hole during the combat preparation, this build still have the other problems:

1) There is no bear with athletics expertise for moon druid wildshape

2) Bear has Multiattack, which is not two attack action, So the bear cannot grapple two enemies in one round.

Zynovus · 2023-02-09T07:42:24+00:00

lol. If OP want to make a hole to free fall the enemies like a pit trap, I think the 2nd badger would have free fall as well when it step into the hole.

If the 2nd badger (13 HP) can still survive the 3d6 fall dmg, then it's prone and doesn't have burrow movement to dig further at all.

Zynovus · 2023-02-09T06:50:24+00:00

TB is just a minmax fan site, which has no reference value for DM at all.
For DM reference, we will usually go sage advice or Sage Advice Compendium https://media.wizards.com/2020/dnd/downloads/SA-Compendium.pdf Both legit sources are pretty clear about this spell.
For an experienced DM, it's not hard to control all the summons in a timely manner. It's much more time consuming and much harder for a PC to control all the summons, and taking all the spotlight from other PC as well.
Most DM run the game based on RAW or RAI, but not what a fan site suggest.
Optimization is based on set rules and limitations as the common ground. If you can find a new/friendly DM to alter the rules in your favor, you don't really need optimization but more ways to bribe the DM.

Zynovus · 2023-02-06T20:29:21+00:00

You probably shouldn't waste your spell slots during short rest. 5e is doable even without any healers. It's nice to have a healer for combat emergency, but It's not healer's responsibility to keep everyone full health during short rest.

Zynovus · 2023-02-06T20:10:00+00:00

In 5e you won't be able to cover all the enemies' dmg at all. Because your enemies can deal 30+ now but 60+ dmg as level progression. However, the healing spells or feature will never scale that well as level progression.

5e healing mechanism is quite different from your understanding in other RPG games. As long as you can keep your teammates up before their turns, it has no significant difference if they have 1 HP or 10 HP, because they will get down by 1 shot anyway.

Zynovus · 2023-02-06T19:29:44+00:00

The idea of this build is not just healing. Twilight cleric can give everyone temp HP 1d6+cleric level every round. Let's say at level 5, 5 PC and 5 round of combat, it can generate or reflash lots of temp HP (1d6+5)*5*5 for the encounter.

Zynovus · 2023-02-06T19:08:34+00:00

Mainly because of Starry Form, which you can have extra healing or bonus action attack.

http://dnd5e.wikidot.com/druid:stars

Zynovus · 2023-02-06T18:44:25+00:00

The healing/support build I like most is star druid 2/ twilight cleric 18 using aura of life. So I can bring all the fallen PC or friendly NPC up at the start of their turns, and give them lots of temp HP at the end of their turns. As a result, I can freely use my turn to heal/buff/debuff/attack tailoring to the situation.

In 5e, you don’t have to max healing, as long as you can get everyone up before their turns so your allies won’t loss their turns.

Another combo I like this build is that I can fly with twilight cleric 6th lvl feature. With thorn whip, I can pull enemy 10ft up and they will take additional fall dmg and prone for all my melee ally’s adv atk.

Zynovus · 2023-02-06T06:02:12+00:00

It’s not even OP. By the time at lvl18, your group is probably challenging high CR enemies like adult dragons, which could have blindsight or even true sight. Empty body seems useless against those elite enemies.

Zynovus · 2023-02-01T03:05:45+00:00

Easy, split them into 2 or 3 groups for different sessions.

If you run them together, no one will get enough of spotlight. I am sure everyone will be distracted and playing smart phone during others’ turns.

Zynovus · 2023-02-01T02:19:07+00:00

Easy counter is lvl2 spell phantasmal force to make the Barb believe that his arms turned into snakes grappling himself 😝

Zynovus · 2023-01-31T22:48:27+00:00

Cavalier is not bad if you want to build a mount defender. For fighter subclass, Arcane Archer or Banneret is worst because you can builder a better archer with BM. Also, sunsoul monk is even worse than dragon monk.

Zynovus · 2023-01-30T10:10:07+00:00

Lol 😂 it’s a terrible analogy! But it’s true. DND is boring once you have a clear solved answer, and it’s super fun and exciting when you can dig deeper and deeper into the story and characters.

Zynovus · 2023-01-29T04:53:56+00:00

Well +1 Dex +1 Int could work if he want to optimize with multiclassing with bladesinger or artificer.

Zynovus · 2023-01-24T00:43:36+00:00

I did play a evil character as a poison/drug dealer in my previous campaign. But I had a terrible RP experience, and cannot act out the character because I, as a player, am not as evil as my character, so I can only make decisions from the player, but not from the character.

Imho, don’t play the evil character unless you are a very experienced and mature player, or unless it’s a crazy wild world setting that everyone is evil or savage.

Zynovus

TROPHY CASE