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« on: May 18, 2022, 01:38:06 pm »
Hey, ever wanted to play a monk that didn't play like monk? No? Well I don't have any better intros to this concept, so whatever.
Presenting: The Wood Elf Drunken Master
So, this is kind of a funky one, and it's hardly the biggest powerhouse, but it does have a lot of peculiar synergies. Right off the bat, Wood Elf gives +Dex and +Wis, exactly what you want on a monk, in addition to an extra +5' movespeed that will stack on top of what you're getting from monk levels.
More interestingly, however, is that you gain automatic proficiency in longbows. While they're not technically classed as monk weapons, there's no real penalty to using non-monk weapons (except for not getting the free bonus action unarmed strike), and it uses your primary stat anyway so go ahead. In fact, this thing's going to be our primary armament for the most part, and you'll see why in a second.
So if we're going to be using a longbow, why are we not picking Kensai? Because Kensai is for squares, we're here to do stupid gimmicks. Specifically, we're looking for that sweet, sweet level 6 ability Leap to Your Feet, which lets us spend only 5' movespeed to stand up from a prone position.
Why is this relevant? Because then you can fire at something far away with your longbow, then simply fall over to end your turn, granting disadvantage to all attacks aimed at you from more than 5' away. At the start of your turn you just stand back up again for 5' of movement, spend however much more of your considerable movement allowance you want in order to run away from approaching threats, and repeat.
And if you happen to find yourself up-close and personal with someone, level 3 Drunken Master has your back with one free Disengage (plus +10' bonus movespeed) served with every Flurry of Blows. Just kick the offending personal space violator a few times and scoot.
If things go that far, at level 7 you also get Evasion, which is good for all the usual reasons. Combined with the fact that you're super speedy and can run away from melee foes, while pretty much guaranteeing disadvantage on ranged attacks against you in most circumstances, having that huge of a defense against DEX save abilities just helps round out your un-touchability even more.
Drunkard's Luck is a pretty nice subclass feature all things considered, but at level 11 you're probably not gonna see it. Might as well mention it for completion's sake though.
The combo really takes on some fun light if you're using the optional abilities from Tasha's (and since monk isn't exactly an OP class in general, it shouldn't be too unreasonable for the DM to okay them). First off is Dedicated Weapon at level 2, which lets you turn a weapon you're proficient with into a monk weapon. Wood Elf's longsword proficiency seems like a great pick, and lets you finally do stupid ninja shit with a big(ish) sword. Curiously, the text on martial arts specifically says that you can use a martial arts die in place of the normal weapon die for your monk weapons... Not that you have to. So go ahead and have fun with your d10 finesse weapon.
Then at level 5 there's Focused Aim, which lets you spend 1-3 ki points after missing an attack and getting +2 to your attack roll for every point spent. Which, y'know, is a seriously good combo with Sharpshooter if you happen to pick that up for even more longbow-related shenanigans (recommended).
So, basically... You're a drunk bowman zooming through the forests and tripping over themselves every few seconds while you relentlessly pepper your enemies with arrows that somehow still manage to find targets despite the fact that you clearly should not be trusted around objects any pointier than your ears.
