The Hidden Ability of Monks

Hey Evan! Bards aren't the only ones with hidden abilities!

I've been told to use keywords in video descriptions, but I don't know what I'm doing. I stole these tags from MonkeyDM and Adan, both of whom seems on top of this type of thing when we chat.

DandD, Warlock, Bard, Dungeon Master, Fighter, Ranger, Artificer, Cleric, Barbarian, Wizard, Sorcerer, Monk, Paladin, Rogue, Adan, DnD Shorts, D&D Shorts, TikTok, Dungeons and Dragons, XP to level 3 with Davvychappy, potentially a bit a Critical Role with dungeoneering, tabletop community next to tabletop RPG, dungeons and dragons, Fjord, Beau, Jester, Yasha, Caleb, Nott, 5th edition dragons, 3.5e, dungeon dudes, DM GM, dungeon master, game master tips sprinkle a bit of Caduceus, Mollymauk in the Mighty Nein. Matt Mercer. Crap guide to dnd.

[DnDShorts]

Shout out to Pack Tactics, who has a great video on the Gun Monk if you want to dive deeper into this idea, and to MonkeyDM, who's bard video inspired me to shout out my 2nd favourite Monk trick! Best monk trick is in the main video, link above!

[EeveeWoot]

Ah, yes, the ancient arts of "Gun Karate".

[akulamatada]

I feel like you just called me out with the Monk "gun-fu" at the end

[Meichrob]

Notably this does nutty things in settings with unique or custom items. Antimatter rifle comes to mind.

[jf_kein_k]

I fancy more the battleaxe-swinging, half-naked dwarf that suddenly start to jump and move around like fricking Yoda.

[MLGHazrad]

Clearly if I'm playing as a Monk with guns, I'm imagining equilibrium.

[chaoslordnicky]

Alot of what he talks about are ether optional or custom rules always check with your dm first

[jonathanstern]

I actually homebrewed a Monk Subclass called Way of the Gun. They were able to use guns/crossbows at both melee and range, use their ki to generate bullets/bolts, walk on air for a limited amount of time, and stop time once per long rest. Basically, you're Keanu Reeves.

[golbez]

Monk: “I know Gun Fu.”
Morpheus : “Show me.”

[simondiamond]

If anything, I think this video showcases the exception that proves the rule. And that rule, as I see it, is this:

If a class needs (not 'wants', but 'needs') to make use of optional rules in order to make it mechanically viable, compared to other classes, then that means (to me, at least) that the class wasn't mechanically designed very well to begin with.

While it seems kind of obvious for me to mention this in the first place, the issue here is that not all DM's allow for certain optional rules within their games... In some rare cases, I've known of some DM's that don't allow for optional rules (within their game) at all, to include the banning of multiclassing and feats. And the fact that the 5E design team chooses to include optional rules (because it's easier on their time constraints, I imagine), rather than redesign the class from the ground-up, is rather telling of how they view certain mechanics, relative to one another.

Anyways, that's my 2 cents on the matter, FWIW.

[cfalkner]

My next monk is going to be a Cleric of the Tetragrammaton.
Love the Equilibrium clip.

[kamidesu]

Artificer: here monk, have my gun.... Have my power armor as well!

[leon]

I always use a quarterstaff for my monks: d8+dex damage if you wield it with two hands and you can hit with unarmed strikes anyway.

[conduit]

The feature doesn't really address the inherent issue, Monks are, "peaked in high school" the class. Monk's basically hit their combat zenith at level 5 and then drop off rapidly past level 10. A lack of damage boosting class abilities, useful feats, and magic weapons means that Monk scale poorly past level 5 compared to other martials.

[finaldarkfire]

So fun fact: Gun-wielding Monks have ABSOLUTELY been a thing in real life XD Look up the Saika Ikki and the battle of Ishiyama Hongan-ji. They were basically an entire company of Warrior Monk Musketeers.

[mico]

For my friend’s one shot I got variant human and got “Fighting Initiate” for unarmed fighting. Since it was a level two one-shot, I added two levels in monk and became a punching machine with TWICE the supposed damage. (And I can hit twice) (and again with ki)

[TheWisme]

The end is a joke but that's literally what I've done with my thri-kreen monk.

[RacoonsInATrenchCoat]

"You call using a gun a martial art?"
"Hey, if it works..."

[zSpectrez]

Monk has this pretty good cheese starting at level one. They can two hand a quarter staff make an attack then swap to one hand it as a free action by using their free action and make an unarmed strike with off hand for d8+d4+dex+dex every round without using resources

[Battleguild]

Kensai Monk w/ Mobile Feat that wields a Longsword is a lot of fun. It definitely gave it a Highlanders type feel.

(Though I do wish the Agile Parry feature was reworded because you can't really attack with your weapon, the whole purpose of the subclass, until 5th level.)