Today I combine a couple of things I’ve been wanting to play with on a Monk – 1: Armor, and 2: Shadow Blade. The results are surprisingly effective :).
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Intro 0:00
World Anvil 6:36
Level 1 9:20
Level 2-6 13:28
Level 7-9 24:54
Level 10-13 39:04
Level 14-17 42:54
Final Thoughts 50:24
Outtakes 53:44
Math/Graph for this episode: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1iCoJ9-24hMUN2p9EH9lwNlDkcekIzXSQn3Q-dRbyehw/edit?usp=sharing
Master Sustained Damage Comparison (6 tabs):
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1HPMg7cDqOC-0-vNFgEV9E5WQLDdCOdI64Vbnu60pC78/edit?usp=sharing
Thanks to LudicSavant for the amazing DPR calculator! https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?582779-Comprehensive-DPR-Calculator-(v2-0))
Music Credits:
Achaidh Cheide – Celtic by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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Angevin 120 loop by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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Celtic Impulse – Celtic by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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Lord of the Land by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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Just FYI: I recorded this before my latest "Ranking My Builds" video from last week, so when I talk about "Tier 2, Tier 3," etc., it's going to be slightly off because at the time there were only 4 tiers, and now there are 5 :).
Consistently getting 3 shadow blade attacks is fairly easy. Eldritch knight can do it after level 11. But most games end there. So monk will be intersting!
were you a theater major, i feel the drama. ROFL
While I do love the unique marriage between Shadow Blade and Sharpen the Blade…it does feel like an arranged marriage. After Monk 8, we can skip a dead level and go straight into Fighter for the Dueling Fighting style. That's +2 damage on all our attacks right there. Sharpen the Blade is a steep Bonus Action setup. It's a significant amount of Ki to use. So it's kind of like the same amount of Ki if we multiclass out at this point. It's also overkill on the attack modifier. So Dueling is nearly as strong, and we can can just keep going to Action Surge and Battle Master.
Dueling and Maneuvers with a maximized DC will add a lot more damage + utility per short rest than Sharpen the Blade can hope to. Even at very high ACs since Triple Advantage and still a huge modifier is putting in serious work.
"At level 11, i [normally] would be dosappointed if we didnt have a weapon with a plus to hit and damage"
I think id be happier with a flametongue or frostbrand than a +1, maybe even a +2, to make no mention of other wonderful weapons that provide spells or other abilities
Could you do this to be able to use the thunder gauntlets from the armorer artificer with a monk build? being able to wear armor and still making them your monk weapon with the kensei weapon feature?🤔
i guess technically the thunder gauntlets aren’t listed in the kensei weapon options,, but just like how the shadow blade isn’t technically listed either, the thunder gauntlets are counted as simple melee weapons, and that’s what it says a kensei weapon has to be 🤷♂️
…you can only use this multiclass' gimmick 3x per shirt rest due to the number of ki points a level 6 monk gets. That's not terribly efficient.
Wow, the flavor of this build is so. damn. cool… I have never actually been excited to play a monk before… but I think this might be my next character.
Well done Colby, you really outdid yourself here!
Shadowblade is pretty cool, but have you tried Find Greater Steed? It's a niche spell that bards get at level 10, and to my knowledge no other class levels high enough to get it! Best spell, ever. Pegasus on demand.
It occurs to me that the monk can use the "if you spend ki you can make a bonus action action" in order to use a musket. 3 attack, sharpshooter musket gunk.
If you use pact of the chain you should choose an imp or quasit since they can give you magic resistance as well as being invisible. Thus they are better than a sprite that cannot give you that.
I’ve always said since Tasha’s came out, kensai monks are the most accurate characters in the game. My group also reads kensai’s sharpen blade as applied to that weapon class, so i went darts and all of the darts thrown are +3 magic weapons. A magic weapon is common, but a dozen +3 darts not so much.
My build was 4 levels samurai fighter the rest kensai monk.
(If you go to only lvl 12, I’d only take 1 lvl fighter or even none just get martial fighting style ranged attacks)
15:23 bonus action attacks with sharpshooter?
I do love your channel. And… WE GOT THE SAME FAVORITE STUFF! Monks, Shadow blade, elves, elven accuracy, aaaaaaah, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH
Don't worry Colby, I picked up on your Hobbit callback immediately!
If you want to use your armor, you need to use a REAL finesse weapon for your "not shadow blade" attacks, if you end up having to take them… So I would definitely suggest a Scimitar or Rapier instead of a Longsword.
This is Janky as fuck.
I love it.
I honestly didn't think D&D builds could be like this one. It feels like a pathfinder build.
Shadow Blade is neat. Been running it with a Playtest 7 Warlock (Archfey). Works REALLY well because of how Warlock spells automatically get upcast.
At level 12 currently and my 3 attacks deal 5+4D8+1D6 a piece (Shadow Blade + Lifedrinker). Thinking about going into Whispers Bard for the Smite-like Psychic Blades ability.
FYI you get more stat points in total if you do Con 14 +1 and Charisma 13, compared to Con 15 and Charisma 12+1, thanks to point buy mechanics
Great video! I might have to homebrew some rules so I can run this as a black dragonborn
if your dm generally bans elven accuracy, what would you go with instead? is it a pyf half feat then?
Hi, trying to find the shadow blade monk guide, written not vid. Or did I misunderstand that this is available when you join the channel?
Trying to build this character however there are differences. I had 1 x1 and 1 x2 skill points not the 2 x1 and 1 x2.
Plus I have no option for kensey at all or know what it is. Can anyone explain where I went wrong. The character is half elf, sub wood elf I’m about to choose my lvl 3 skills but cannot see what was talked about. I haven’t had baulders gate 3 for long so still learning the lingo
I deeply dislike Hexblade subclass. It's such an afterthought, all about being the minmaxer wet dream, it begs to go with pact of the blade and hardly anything else, and it's so overwhelmingly optimal that the flavor of the class gets lost. I'd rather it never existed.
But I'm also a big fan of your channel, I love the dedication you put into it, and when I heard you say you would take Hexblade also for thematic reasons and pass up making attacks with charisma too, I think you really outdid yourself
I’ve been an advocate for Chris’s armored monk forever, it’s definitely a different kind of monk but it can be awesome and lead to fun multiclass potential
Just a quick idea for you maybe, the new Remarkable recovry feat works on the Paladins lay on hands feature wich means that out of combat you can healyourself for aprox (if your con is 5) each lay on hands point you give yourself is sextupled (taken times 6) wich means at lvl 11 you would be able to healyourself for 330 hp ! wich means you would never be healed after a combat NEVER
wich also means you have more Lay onm Hands for your allies. would love to hear your thoughts about it
The "Ronin in the Shadows"
Now that you have a large repository of character builds, do you think you could pick a selection of 3-4 of them and do a vid for a whole min/maxed party to see how it synergized? Just one party vid for the year?
Can we call this build the "nuclear melee" or "The Wheaton's Monk"?
As seen in Ludic's run of the Gauntlet, Focused Aim was the low key MVP. Super underrated ability, especially if you've figured out enemy ACs and at higher levels.
Monks not using bows, swords, and polearms? Welcome to D&D IS ANTI-HISTORICAL. Just because you CAN fight without weapons doesn't mean you CAN'T fight with weapons.
Especially bows. How many bow-based martial arts exist?