D&D: New Monk’s Impossible Challenge – Making the Four Elements Finally Work
In the latest Unearthed Arcana, Monks take the stage, but are their changes really for the better?
Monks make their first “One D&D” appearance in the newest Unearthed Arcana. And like most of the other classes we’ve seen take the stage so far, they have had a close look at their core mechanics and seen some major changes.
But they’re one of the classes that need the most love. Monks bear the dubious honor of having the least-played subclass in 5E. The Way of Four Elements Monk. From the jump, there’s never been hope at delivering its core fantasy.
But will the new Monk be able to deliver?
New Monk: More Martial, Less Art
Let’s start with the basics for the new Monk. They’re a lot like the old Monk. In fact, the progression of abilities is still largely the same. But with a few, ahem, Ki differences. Notably Ki, as a concept, has been renamed “Martial Discipline”. It’s still “a well of extraordinary energy within yourself”, and does largely the same things. Though some features are improved – Step Of The Wind now gets you both Disengage AND Dash for a bonus action and one of your limited Discipline points. Which is almost to the point of not being charged an expendable resource for something Rogues can do for free.
And this dynamic kind of highlights the problem with the Monk, old or new. There are a lot of options, but often, the Monk is competing with a class that does the same thing but better. They can make better attacks–and there’s no denying Martial Arts are improved, a Monk’s unarmed damage starts at 1d6 instead of 1d4 and just gets better.
But this comes at the expense of the new Weapon Masteries. There are a few ways a Monk can gain effects for their unarmed attacks – but these come at the cost of Discipline points. DMs will be glad to see that Stunning Strike has been limited to once per turn, effectively eliminating a Monk’s ability to “stun lock” any target.
That said, overall this new design feels like a step in the right direction, but WotC has taken too hesitant a step here, especially now that the “new ideas” phase of playtesting is at an end.
Subclasses – Shadow, Hand, and Four Elements
The new Monk’s new subclasses are where some of the more exciting changes are. Instead of “Way of the X” the new nomenclature is “Warrior of X.” In this case, Warrior of Shadow, Warrior of the Elements, and Warrior of the Hand.
Warrior of the Shadow improves on the idea of being a shadowy striker. Monks can use Discipline to create Darkness (which they can see within), and can have it follow them around, like a cloak of shadows. They can teleport through shadows and eventually make a bonus action attack afterward.
Warrior of the Elements, the lowest-rated subclass, has a lot of work to do. Its fantasy has long been “you get to be a Bender, like in Avatar: The Last Airbender.” Previously it had tried by allowing the Monk to use Ki (now Discipline) to cast a variety of spells. This is no longer the case. Now the new Four Elements Monk can spend Discipline to create a much smaller variety of elemental effects.
And it highlights the biggest problem of WotC’s new design. You can do whatever you want, as long as it doesn’t matter. Elemental Monks can exude strands of elemental energy, replacing the burning hands and water whip of the previous edition, but now it’s much more streamlined and much more boring. The possibility has been reined in. And in doing so, the soul of the class feels flat. There’s a glimmer of potential here. But instead of designing fun new options, this just feels like more ways of doing what other classes can already do. There’s no distinct identity here. No distinct practice.
And the Warrior of the Hand, as it ever has, feels like it should just be class features that the base Monk has access to. It was true in 5E, it’s true in One D&D/5.5E, and the whole class would be better for it if it was just folded into the core identity.
But what do YOU think of the new Monk?
