The Flurry of Throws: D&D Build #160

do you like monks how about Rangers how about  beekeeping honey me making Ranger monks more   importantly do you like grating cheese because if  so you're going to enjoy today's build welcome to [Music] D4 hey everybody so here at D4 each week  we take a deep dive into character builds for my   favorite role playing games I like to crunch  numbers about them Theory craft about them   not so that I can tell you the right way or the  best way to play a character but to explore one   potential way to build something with the hopes  of creating a character that is both really fun   but also really powerful to play in game so if you  enjoy creating characters for your favorite role   playing games almost as much as you enjoy playing  the actual game itself or if you're just looking   for tips or ideas on how to build something that  you are thinking about playing then welcome home   this is where you belong and I'm so glad you're  here so thank you for watching my name's Colby   I put out these build videos every Tuesday so  if you enjoy what you see I would appreciate it   if you would uh consider joining the channel as a  member there's a little button down there it says   join you click on it it'll tell you about all of  the wonderful amazing things that you can get uh   by being a channel member like getting access  to the writeups that I create for each of these   builds to help you recreate the build yourself  without having to go back and rewatch uh the video   or getting access to the member Discord server  or even getting access to the monthly Q&A live   hangout sessions that we do for platinum members  anyways it's a great way to support the channel   thank you humongous shout out to my channel  members could not do this without you guys   you're amazing and everybody else you are also  amazing just watching and liking and subscribing   and clicking the notifications Bell are also great  ways to support the channel so even if you don't   want to be a member doing any or all of those  other things are also fantastic and I'm grateful   for you so last summer I was going through the  really fun Fun Dungeon dudes multiclassing Series   right usually taking interesting or challenging  to get them to work combos that Kelly and Monty   would talk about and then trying to combine these  two classes that they had discussed maybe in a   fun and Powerful way at one point when they were  doing their monk multiclassing tier ranking video   they challenged me to do a monk Ranger build  the result of which was the flurry of Darkness   video which you can see right up there however  when coming up with that build I actually had   a lot of back and forth with my good friend and  Bromance partner uh Kelly about different ways   to potentially take the combo one way that I did  not use but that seemed super fun and intriguing   was to combine them in a way and maybe actually  with a third class even that could result in a   huge massive 45t push off of a single attack I  remember Kelly seemed especially excited about   the idea I mean what kinds of things could you do  with all that forced movement think about all the   cliffs we could be launching people off [Music]  of now sure these days forced movement is fairly   easy to come by in D and D and that seems to be  only like becoming more the case in One D andd   if the stuff that we've seen in play test is any  indication anyways and I for one love that there   is just something to be said for doing stuff as  a marshall character that involves more than just   hitting stuff right plus it feels so cool to be  forcibly moving enemies around the battlefield   anyone who's watched Star Wars or like any anime  ever knows how cinematic and awesome that can feel and with all of the ways that exist in game  and again that are being added with one D and   D for doing damage to enemies when you move  them into or through something that a player   can potentially create usually in the form of a  spell it just adds a layer of tactical play and   cooperative play that makes combat encounters a  lot more fun I think as evidenced I would argue   uh with the oneshot that Chris Pack tactics and  insight check and I did a couple of months ago   you can watch it up there if you haven't seen it  yet it was a lot of fun so anyways needless to say   I loved the idea of a big pushy monk Ranger 2o but  felt at the time that I was talking over this with   Kelly that I had done some kind of similar things  in builds recently I told Kelly I'm going to put   this on my to-do list and get to it eventually and  today is the day that we finally build it and I'm   so excited because it's so awesome oh and speaking  of 1 D and D the new players handbook is due out   in September of this year 2024 for those who are  watching later I cannot wait I think uh that this   build gets better in some ways and maybe worse in  others at least one other if we're used using the   existing announced changes that are coming anyways  so especially if you're watching this after that   new rules update sometime in the fall of 2024 or  later stay tuned and in the final thoughts I will   talk about how 1 D and D changes things a bit for  this build um though I know that regardless it's   still going to work great arguably probably  I would say even better than ever oh and also   just FYI we're going to be building this character  for sustained damage DPR damage PR I think it will   work well for burst damage two eventually but not  until like level 10 or so it doesn't make a lot of   sense to call it a Nova build if there's no real  Nova option until the point at which most of us   are ending our campaigns right okay let's jump  into D and D build number 160 the pushy Munger   monk Ranger the cheese grater Ron Ranger monk wait  duh the cheese Monger Monger the cheese Monger   right it's perfect probably doesn't get enough  clicks as a thumbnail how about the open swarm   the Palm in the Swarm that's clever in the end I  think I'm going to have to go with the flurry of   throws thanks to everyone on the Discord server  for the suggestions and especially to Logan log   parenthesis n login uh for my favorite suggestion  there that uh we're going to be using for the   title also big thanks to my good friend Randall  Hampton for the artwork that he put together for   this build I love what he does this is a great  one he actually ended up doing two pieces for   the this week because originally I told him that  I was going with One race and then I changed my   mind and told him that I was going to do another  both of them were fantastic as you can see and   I'm going to let you guys guess which one we're  actually going to be going with um yes if you'd   like to follow Randall I'll put links on how to do  so in the video description as always reach out to   him see if you can commission him to create some  art for you or your entire party maybe and before   we jump into the build I want to talk to you guys  remind some of you about world Anvil the sponsor   for the video this week and also a company whose  Services many that play at my table take advantage   of me included World Anvil is basically the  greatest software out there both for GMS to build   their home brew world and for players to interact  seamlessly with that world for you world Builders   you game Masters World Anvil supports over 45  game systems including DND and Pathfinder but   dozens more besides it will even help you to  integrate your own gaming system to work with   their software with World Anvil it is super easy  to create Wiki style presentations of your world   and your writing so that you can keep track of  everything you build they also have an awesome   interactive map Builder that you can customize  to the nines and even Chronicles that combine   timelines with those Maps so that you can plot  and keep track of what happened where and when   in your world whether like before your campaign  started or while your campaign has been going on   right presenting information to your players has  never been easier and yes players World Anvil is   for you too it not only makes it easier than ever  to access everything that your GM wants you to   know about their world and their campaign but you  can even build your character right from within   World Anvil site regardless of the setting that  your game is taking place in you can keep track   of hit points spell slots and inventory sure but  it even has the best system for like back story   creation journal entries and session notetaking  that I've ever seen World Anvil does it all so   please do yourself a favor and go check them out  you will not regret it sign up for a free account   if nothing else to see what you might be missing  when you do I would appreciate it if you would   use this URL here so that they know I sent you  I'll put a link in the video description as well   of course and if you decide to purchase a premium  subscription use the code D4 at checkout to save   an insane 51% off of the subscription price like  over half that's nuts right stop losing money on   this deal and just go sign up right huge thanks  to World Anvil you guys are awesome and let's   jump into the build all right at level one for  our starting class I think I want to start off   here as a ranger the main reason is because with  all of the pushing that we are going to be doing   we really want a good spell that will actually  do something for us when we push an enemy into   or through it right and most of you can probably  guess where I'm going with this but yeah Ranger   will get us that spell so let's beine for it just  as soon as possible as for our race I'm going to   say let's go Mountain dwarf not a half elf as I  had originally planned and yeah I think Mountain   dwarf is I think that's two weeks in a row right  I love Mountain dwarfs you don't have to go this   route if you don't love Mountain dwarfs feel free  to play a half elf which would be a solid Choice   still I think or of course a very inhuman custom  lineage for a free feat or honestly just about any   race would work well here since you can always at  least get three plus ones but I do think Mountain   dwarf edges them all out mechanically if ever  so slightly because Mountain dwarfes famously   get a plus two to two ability scores right and  yes since tasas they get to choose where to put   those bonuses right not they don't have to be in  strength and Constitution unless your DM says they   have to be um but this is going to let us start  with a 17 in our two most important stats and we   really want a high dexterity and a high wisdom  so assuming Point by as always I'm going to say   for abilities let's take a 15 dexterity plus two  a 15 wisdom plus two and then a 14 Constitution   and that's going to be really really nice for us  having two 17s when we hit level four right as for   equipment we don't need any anything other than  what's offered to us with standard equipment so   yeah grab some scal male armor for now a couple  of short swords and whatever else you think you   might need at Ranger one then we get the Deft  Explorer canny feature uh which basically just   gives us expertise in one skill right letting us  double our proficiency bonus for a skill that we   are proficient in and I think I'd probably take  perception here as it's probably the most ofall   for skill check but feel free to go with stealth  if you want to be a party Scout or even persuasion   or something if you want to try to be a party face  though with your eight Charisma you're not going   to be a very awesome face but uh I mean hey at  least this could potentially keep you from being   terrible and it will scale so anyways we also at  Ranger 1 get favored foe this lets us with our   concentration and proficiency bonus times per day  mark an enemy so that we do an extra D4 of damage   to them once per round when we hit them with an  attack not something that we're going to use once   we're concentrating on a spell but better than  nothing other otherwise at level two we get a   fighting style and I think two weapon fighting is  going to be our best bet for now as that will let   us add our dexterity modifier to the short sword  attack we make as a bonus action which yeah I   mean that's what I'm going to be doing here at  least for these first few levels uh two weapon   fighting right so that we can make one short sword  attack with our action then another with our bonus   action and the offhand right and thanks to this  fighting style we can add the dexterity modifier   to that offand attack we're not usually able to  do that right and yeah two attack both adding   our uh dexterity modifier to the damage pretty  decent damage as a level two character we also   get Ranger spells here and I would for sure grab  entangle as it can be a decent little multi-target   control spell potentially restraining multiple  enemies which would give us advantage on attacks   against them and give them a disadvantage on their  attacks plus keep them from moving right beyond   that absorb elements is a nice defensive option  cure wounds and of course good Berry for some good   healing options should we take h Mark I mean maybe  probably it's not a fantastic spell but there are   times when it's worth using namely if you think  you're going to be attacking the same Target for   two or three rounds before they go down as it  adds a D6 of damage to every weapon attack you   make against an enemy right at the cost of both  our bonus action to cast and then after they die   transfer to somebody else and our concentration so  yeah most of the time it's not going to be worth   sacrificing your bonus action to do 1 D6 more  damage on a hit unless unless you were going to   be hitting them for at least a couple of rounds  or you could somehow get the spell off before   combat started I think I would learn it at least  eventually because in a little bit we are going   to be using it at least for a couple of levels  I think but arguably you might be better off   with favored Foe on most fights rather than this  even though that's only a D4 and it only works   on one hit per round I know I always badmouth  favorite foe but hey at least it doesn't cost a   bonus action to use or a spell slot right at level  three we get Primal awareness which at this level   basically just lets us know the speak with animal  spell and then cast it once per day without having   to spend a spell slot some nice little utility  but then we get our Ranger archetype our Ranger   subclass and we as I'm sure many of you have  guessed are going with one of my favorites the   Swarm keeper it really is one of my favorites but  I think I've only used it once in a build before   the Swarm keeper slingshot which was a lot of fun  uh it did run into some problems mechanically uh   with the rules as they're written anyways swarm  keepers are absolutely perfect for what we need   mechanically but I also love the idea the concept  of the Swarm keeper right because swarm keepers   first of all get the gathered swarm feature  which tells us that a swarm of nature Spirits   has bonded itself to us to help us out in battle  and since we get to choose the appearance of our   swarm I'm totally going with bees because monks  as everybody knows are famous for making honeyed   Mead every time I say that as everybody knows I  have to like quote princess Pride because ioane   comes from Australia as everyone knows and  Australia is entirely peopled with criminals   oh it's such a good movie where was I because  monks as everybody knows are famous for making   honeyed Mead okay maybe that's just like Western  frier tuck esque monks and not so much the Asian   inspired monk that's arguably more closely aligned  with what Wizards of the Coast is going for with   their monks but I don't care because my Ranger  Monk Is from a monastery that makes world class   me and as everyone knows to make world-class me  you need worldclass beekeepers and my character is   totally a world class beekeeper they're so good in  fact that even the spirits of the bees are in love   with them and that is just cute and awesome feel  free to make your spirits birds or butterflies or   Pixies or something else if you want but don't go  like locusts or cockroaches because you're going   to trigger somebody at your table anyways we're  told that once on our turn immediately after we   hit a creature with an attack we can have our  swarm do one of the following do an extra D6 of   damage move us 5 ft horizontally in a direction of  our choice or best of all and the main mechanical   reason we wanted to be a swarm keeper Force the  enemy we hit to make a strength save against   our wisdom-based spell DC or be moved 15 ft  horizontally in a direction of our choice and thus   we have our first forced movement ability that we  are kind of building around here right the fact   that we can move them in any horizontal Direction  here and not just away from us is especially nice   meaning that we could potentially make a ranged  or Throne attack against an enemy and pull them   towards us for example if we really needed to do  that for some reason it's also great that there's   no size restriction on who this can impact like  there so often is for forced movement yeah also as   a swarm keeper we get swarm keeper magic this just  tells us that we learned the Mage hand cantrip for   free always nice but our Mage hand looks like a  swarm of bees which is way better than a regular   Mage hand no question we also get an extra spell  for free with every spell level and for us here   that means fairy fire which is a nice spell  letting us debuff potentially multiple enemies   so that attacks against them have advantage and  keeping them from benefiting from invisibility did   I say bitting I felt like I said bitting what are  the subtitles think I said right at level four we   get our first ability score increase or feat and  that means we get to take a plus one to dexterity   and a plus one to wisdom so that we have an 18 in  both and that is just just so awesome since we are   going to get so much out of both of those stats  hooray for Mountain dwarves also with Tasha's   cauldron of everything we got the optional feature  Marshall versatility and I don't talk about it all   that often in my build but I wanted to mention it  here because I think we ought to use it to switch   out fighting styles now since this feature only  lets us do that when we gain a level that gives   us an ability score increase for feet in Ranger  right so here let's go ahead and switch from two   weapon fighting to Dueling letting us do an  extra two damage when we are only wielding   a single weapon in one hand it's a teeny step  backwards for us damage-wise but it would let   us like equip a shield for now to raise our armor  class and potentially make use of Hunter's Mark at   least at this level since if we're not too up in  fighting we don't need our bonus action as much   and doing what one d8 for our weapon if we grabbed  a long sword or something right plus two plus   four from our dexterity modifier plus a D6 for  hundred's mark is almost as good as the 2d6 Plus   8 that we were getting before right so yeah grab  your favorite one-handed da8 weapon now whether   that's a long sword or Warhammer or whatever and  probably a shield to boot at level five we get   extra attack so now we can make two attacks when  we take the attack action very nice and then we   get second level spells now swarm Keepers get web  for free which is similar to entangle but better   amazing for control super useful and then yeah  I'd want to grab Aid to both heal and increase   maximum hit points of several party members pass  without Trace to help your entire party to get a   massive plus 10 to their stealth checks lesser  restoration is nice when you need it but the   most important spell for us for this build is yes  Spike growth it's been a minute since I've done a   build for Spike growth but man is this spell  Rife with potential especially if you've got   a team built around it taking advantage of it so  yeah like I like this build even more if someone   else in your party is casting Spike growth  I probably do it differently I might start   with monk but if your team is not kind of built  around taking advantage anage of Spike growth it   can potentially be problematic let's discuss you  cast it as an action requires our concentration   lasts for up to 10 minutes that's nice it covers  a 20t radius area with spikes and Thorns so that's   like 40 ft end to end right way bigger than in  bg3 take a drink that area becomes difficult to   Rin and then importantly when a creature moves  into or within the area it takes 2 D4 piercing   damage for every 5 ft that it travels so yes going  forward our MO is basically going to be cast Spike   growth to make our enemies lives miserable and  on subsequent turns attack them and push them   into and through spite growth with our swarm here  doing extra damage to them when they fail their   save against that forced movement pretty simple  very effective one thing to keep in mind though   kind of like I said this spell while great can  potentially be a pain for your allies to deal   with if they're melee for example and they weren't  really planning on having to deal with it right   maybe the only enemies left are stuck in the  middle of your Brier patch and now your ally   has to either Wade through the brambles to attack  those bad guys taking damage for doing so or like   maybe get out of Throne or ranged weapon to attack  with and they weren't really built to do that very   effectively it can potentially sour their mood  especially if you're doing it all the time like   we probably will be so as always please be sure  to discuss your plans not only with your DM but   with the other players at your table before you  even begin playing this character so everyone is   on board and maybe you can all find ways to send  energize with the spell or at the very least help   set expectations around what combat is going to  look like for you and everyone else most of the   time right good don't forget also at this level  our Primal awareness feature gives us the Beast   sense spell for free now letting us kind of War  into a beast that we touch to be able to see and   hear with their senses which is a nice bit of  utility when we can take advantage of it but at   level six now that we've got extra attack one  of our important forced movement features and   our all important Spike growth spell I think it's  time to start our multiclassing to pick up even   more of said forced movement so yes that's going  to mean monk levels first and foremost so we would   be a monk one here and that's going to mean first  up we get unarmored defense which tells us that   so long as we are unarmored and unshielded our AC  is equal to 10 plus both our dexterity and wisdom   modifiers so yeah that's going to be a very small  step backwards for us here assuming that we had   like half plate by this point and we were using  a shield we were rocking a 19 AC not bad now if   we doed the armor and lost the shield we'd be at  an 18 one less right it's not terrible and going   this route will do nice things for our damage  because it's going to let us regain a weaponized   bonus action unfortunately until next level we're  actually going to have to go back to a D6 weapon   because those d8 one-handers can't be monk weapons  for us yet anyways as monk weapons are simple   weapons and short swords and we want to be using  a monk weapon because doing doing so lets us take   the best advantage of our martial arts feature  which we also get at monk one this tells us that   again so long as we are unarmored or unshielded we  can use dexterity instead of strength for unarmed   strikes use a D4 instead of just a flat one for  our unarmed strikes and make an unarmed strike as   a bonus action when we take the attack action so  long as that attack was with a monk weapon right   okay at level six it is time for our first damage  report let's talk about what combat looks like   for us here it's fairly straightforward on round  one we're casting Spike growth trying to get as   many enemies in the area of effect as we can and  this is going to do nice things for our team doing   damage slowing down enemies it's a strong move  after that though we simply walk up to a Target   that's ideally like just on the edge of Spike  growth or even just inside of Spike growth we make   two short sword attacks that deal one D6 plus two  for our fighting style plus four for our dexterity   and then an unarmed strike bonus AC ction for  1 D4 plus4 then pushing them with our swarm on   that last hit 15 ft into the spike growth for an  extra 6 D4 of damage now in the past when I've   done builds like this the uh the open spores Monk  and like the sorlock cheese grader I think that   might be my last card anytime an enemy is left in  the middle of Spike growth I always assume that   they're going to take damage on their turn like  trying to get out of course that won't always be   the case maybe they have a teleport ability maybe  they're a ranged enemy or a spellcaster right but   in order for me to kind of accurately compare  apples to apples with my builds here sure I'll   assume the same for this one and say that they've  got to Wade through 15 ft of thorns to get out   taking some more damage so all told if everything  lands and they fail their save we would be doing   2 D6 plus 7 D4 + 12 damage on our turn with them  taking another 6 D4 on theirs right and so against   enemies with a 10 Armor class and a plus zero to  their strength SA saving throw we would on average   do 46 damage per round and against a 15 AC and a  plus five it would be 32 DPR and I want to make a   quick note here of how I'm like calculating these  things for ease of being able to read this on the   spreadsheet yes in case you didn't know when I'm  targeting both Armor class and saving throws I   just do like 10 to 25 Armor class and like plus  0 to+ 15 strength save right and that's somewhat   useful I suppose keeps me from having to like do  two tables right but the reality is a 10 Armor   class you almost never see it super low a plus  zero to strength save especially at this level   is not that uncommon and strength saves very  rarely get higher than like A+ 10 and usually   they're much closer to like a you know plus 5 6 7  something like that even on strong monsters where   weak ones are having you know low single digits  sometimes even negative so keep that in mind   when you're looking at these numbers right I guess  what I'm trying to say is these numbers might be a   little bit deflated because while a 15 armor class  is fairly typical maybe even slightly low for   this level a plus five to strength save at this  level is pretty high right and so that's going to   skew these numbers regardless that's pretty solid  damage and yeah we can do this damage pretty much   every turn in theory at least so long as we've  got an enemy that's standing close to the edge   of our Spike growth and yeah admittedly that's  not going to be happening every single round but   as always I'm calculating based on the best case  scenario so that we can see the limits of what's   possible so compared to other sustained damage  dealers that I've done to date at this level   this is kind of middle of tier 2 not bad but it's  going to get a whole lot better here so stick with   me okay at level seven we would be a monk 2 and  that means we get key this tells us that we now   get one key Point per monk level they reset on a  short rest and they can be used at the moment for   three things patient defense and step of the wind  let us spend a key point to take the Dodge or Dash   or disengage actions as bonus actions instead this  is getting a really nice upgrade in 1 d and d and   Flurry of Blows our most important feature here  it says we can make two unarmed strikes instead   of one as a bonus action if we spend a key point  and take the attack action first that gives us   four attacks in a turn now so long as we've got  the key to spend on it and that's fantastic we   also get unarmored movement this says that so  long as we are unarmored and unshielded we get   an extra 10 ft of move speed which is really  nice for the dwarves of the world especially   with their 25 ft move speed right putting us up  to a much better 35 ft now which is especially   useful for those of us needing to constantly get  into just the right position to push people into   our Brier patch right or maybe like push then move  then push again which we'll be able to do here in   a minute you know whether on the same Target or  maybe on a different one and now we're pushing a   couple of people into the Brier patch very nice  don't forget the feature from Tasha that we get   at monk 2 also dedicated weapon this lets us  basically pick a non-heavy non-s special weapon   that we are proficient in and consider it a monk  weapon so yay now we can go back to our long sword   or Warhammer or whatever though we would still  rather be using it one-handed as opposed to like   two-handed since you know it's versatile but again  since we've got the dueling fighting style we get   plus two damage bonus if we use it one-handed  and that's slightly better damage I mean sure   we're just talking one more damage on average  so if you would have rather back at level four   picked up like blind fighting instead of dueling  right I wouldn't blame you right at level eight we   would be a monk 3 and that means we get our monk  subclass our monastic tradition and we are going   with you guessed it the way of the Open Hand  now let me actually mention that I think you   could make the four elements monk work pretty well  here as well if you'd rather flavor your monk with   some Avatar like qualities and oh my gosh that  reminds me tomorrow the liveaction Avatar show   comes out and I am cautiously optimistic I know  you guys are watching this it's already out it   might have really sucked and I'm nervous but I'm  not that nervous because knowing myself I always   tend to like be an apologist for like things  that I already really like and I kind of put   my rose-colored glasses on and and don't see the  flaws so I'm pretty sure that I'm going to like   it I hope I'm not wrong anyways but it is a little  tougher to pull off and it is also more resource   intensive open hand is my favorite Monk subass  perceptually at least because I love the idea of   like my body is the only weapon I need Kung Fu  Master right mechanically the main reason that   we're here is for the open hand technique which  we get at this level this tells us that whenever   we hit a creature with one of the attacks granted  by our Flurry of Blows that whenever is important   then we can apply one of the following effects on  the Target make them succeed on a deck save or be   knocked prone keep them from taking reactions  until the end of our next turn or best of all   for us of course make them succeed on a strength  save or be pushed 15 ft away from you this has   obvious great implications for us but I think it  might actually be better on this build than you're   thinking I know it took me a second to figure out  just how good this could be I'll discuss more uh   in the upcoming damage report don't forget we get  deflect missiles at this level as well which lets   us use our reaction when hit by a ranged weapon  attack to reduce the damage and maybe even throw   the missile back if we want to spend a key Point  here's another thing that is getting fantastic   upgrade in 1 D and D at least as per the latest  play test anyways at level 9 we would be a monk   four and that means we get another ability  score increase or feet and to be honest I'm a   little torn on which stat to increase here I mean  dexterity seems like the obvious choice since it   increases not only our Armor class as well as  some really nice skills our initiative but our   chance to hit and our damage bonus but wisdom is  super important especially on this build right now   mostly because it both increases our Armor class  too sure but better yet increases our chance to   push our enemy as both our swarm keeper push  and our open hand push get to be saved against   and that save is based on our wisdom modifier  right and a lot of our damage is coming from   those pushes almost half but yeah for now anyways  we get just a teeny bit more damage on average by   bumping dexterity to 20 here if you crunch the  numbers I mean I'm talking one to three points   on average but of course that's going to depend  on on their Armor class and also their strength   saving throw bonus so whether you take dexs or  wisdom here you're correct I'll assume dexterity   because the spreadsheet likes it a little bit  more we also get slowfall uh at this level so   yeah that's just you know we use our reaction to  reduce falling damage to ourselves by five times   our monk level so fun go cliff [Music] diving  okay at level 9 it is time for our next damage report and we are going to be in a much better  place now than we were since last check so let's   get into the details of why once we've got  Spike growth down we run up to our Target   ideally someone standing very near the edge of  Spike growth as always and attack them twice   with our d8 weapon then we Flurry of Blows now on  the first unarmed strike we push them 15 ft away   from us into the spike growth and then with that  same attack we pull them back towards us thanks to   gathered swarm say what can you do that yeah you  can or at least rules as written you can let's get   dirty do not take that statement out of context  don't want to see Memes of me popping up inviting   people to get dirty both open hand technique  and gathered swarm tell us that we can move the   enemy with the attack if they fail they safe open  hand specifies that it has to be away from us but   gathered swarm as we've talked about says that it  can be in any horizontal direction of our choice   choice and there's no reason that both can't  be applied to the same attack and there's also   no reason that say the gathered swarm movement has  to come before the Open Hand technique movement in   fact in xanathar's Guide to Everything we get this  fun little tidbit about simultaneous effects quote   if two or more things happen at the same time like  say two forms of forced movement right the person   who controls that creature that's us forcing the  movement decides the order in which those things   happen now your DM of course may decide to step  in and say no I'm going to decide that gathered   swarm movement comes first or that the gathered  swarm movement has to be in the same direction   as the Open Hand technique push even though the  rules clearly tell us otherwise but aside from   that DM intervention you should be able to push  away and pull towards with that single unarmed   strike deciding for yourself you know what I'm  going to do open hand technique push first and   then gathered swarm movement second and again  why not the push away from you comes from your   like Monkish anime like Massive Attack right but  the movement from your swarm comes from a swarm   of nature Spirits flitting about and moving a  creature around wherever you want them to no   reason it all has to be away from you all clear  okay good and thank you to Chris Triant monk for   helping me remember that this should work totally  fine rules as written right so we did all of that   with our first Flurry of Blows unarm strike we're  not done we still have one more unarmed strike   right and importantly as I mentioned earlier  we get to use open hand technique when ever we   hit a creature with one of our Flurry of Blows  attacks we're not limited to once per turn or   once per creature or anything so now that they  are conveniently back in front of us much worse   for where let's hit him again and push him back  through the Brier patch gorgeous now sure you are   not always going to get to attack an enemy who's  standing right on the edge of the spike growth and   sometimes an enemy might fail their save against  your initial push but succeed on the subsequent   save to pull them back towards you and then what  do you do weigh 10 ft into the spike growth to hit   them again maybe maybe might be worth it take a  little damage maybe you just go find someone else   to push instead as always I'm going to assume best  case scenario here to explore what's possible with   the understanding that it's not always going to  work out perfectly every round every fight right   but assuming things do line up for us on our  turn we would now be making four attacks and   ideally pushing them back and forth through 45 ft  of Spike growth and that's just freaking amazing   great that cheese and yes I am still going to  assume that they're having to walk out on their   turn as well and so against enemies here with a  10 Armor class and a plus zero to their strength   saving throws we would on average do 82 damage per  round and against a 16 AC and a plus six we would   be at 52 DPR and that's like almost double since  last check we we have really come into our own now   creeping into the bottom of tier one compared to  other sustained damage builds that I've done to   date and actually against those lower AC and plus  to save targets we're beating out everyone but   the good old blade singer 2.0 at this level the  problem is the damage drops off fairly steeply the   higher the AC gets since we don't have advantage  and the higher their strength save gets since it's   not like they're taking half damage on a save or  anything if they make their strength save they   just don't move and thus take no Thorns damage  right regardless this is definitely like the   high point of our cheese grater flurry of throws  career when compared to other builds we're going   to be doing some things to increase our damage  going forward forward but it will start to Plateau   a little bit by comparison that said hey peing at  around the point that most campaigns end not such   a bad thing right okay at level 10 we would be  a monk five and that means we get extra attack   why are we still in monk I hate getting redundant  features but no we need monk 5 because that means   we're going to get stunning strike and here's the  thing I almost never build around stunning strike   because it is so unreliable outside of maybe the  Fate Weaver build from back in the day I think I'm   out of cards but this is what the uh thumbnail  looks like that build was made explicitly to   like destroy enemy saving throws so that we could  in that case anyway more reliably stun lock them   among other things it was a lot of fun but yeah  I mean as great as potentially stunning an enemy   until the end of our next turn when we spend a  key point and make a melee attack against them   is the enemy gets to make a constitution saving  throw to avoid it completely meaning that when   we try to use it we might just end up wasting  one of our very few precious key points and   Constitution is generally the worst saving throw  for us to be targeting in 5e right but here is the   thing when enemies are stunned not only are they  incapacitated and can't move which is amazing not   only do all attacks against them have Advantage  which is amazing but best and most importantly   of all for this build when they're stunned they  automatically fail dexterity and yeah strength   saving throws so this is kind of everything for  us and it might just be the only time I'd ever   advise like maybe just blowing all of our key to  try and stun our Target the problem is doing so   would really hamper our sustained damage right  and I kind of run into this problem here do I   start now assuming that we have a burst damage  build that was my original plan when I started   creating this character actually but up until  now like I've kind of said we didn't have a lot   of like blow all your resources for a big Nova  round of damage option so didn't make a lot of   sense to call it a Nova build at least until  after level 10 but if I don't call it a Nova   build how do I account for stunning strike in  the spreadsheets if at all and make some kind   of assumption that the enemy has like a percent  chance to be stunned thus increasing our average   damage from pushing through Spike growth and maybe  giving us advantage on those attacks I honestly   I don't know it's it's going to vary so widely  right in game I think what we should be doing   at this point is trying our best to stun an enemy  early in the combat especially if they're a high   priority Target especially if we think they might  not necessarily have a great Constitution saving   throw so maybe your spellcasters or your rogish  type enemies right maybe begging and pleading   someone in our party to use the Bane spell or like  getting someone to go eloquence part or divination   wizard to help ensure that this important stun  actually sticks but if and when it does we will   laugh with Glee as our enemy now has no way to  resist our cheese grading pushing and pulling and   don't forget in the current version of the game  at least if you stun a Target they're stunned   until the end of your next turn meaning that next  turn even if you didn't want to blow any more key   on trying to keep them stunned you would still  have advantage on your attacks and guaranteed   strength save fails so that you could continue to  push and pull as far as how I might account for   this in the spreadsheets I don't think I will  we only have five key points right now meaning   we could only both try to stun once and Flurry  of Blows on the same turn for like two rounds   and that's not very sustainable plus the chance  of the stun actually sticking is fairly slim if   we're only making one attempt right depending on  what we're fighting I just felt like because of   the awesome Synergy between the stunned condition  and the pushing that we're doing I'd be doing the   build a huge disservice by missing out on stunning  strike so make good use of it when you can thanks   to Tasha we also get the focused aim feature at  this level which is kind of okay it lets us spend   more key up to three key points to add a plus  two to our hit chance for each key Point spend   potentially up to plus six right when we miss an  attack then possibly turning that Miss into a hit   I'm again not going to assume that we're using  this when I crunch numbers but it might be worth   it if you think you almost hit and you really  want to connect with that attack to get like a   final push into Spike growth finish off an enemy  Etc also don't forget our martial arts die goes up   to a D6 now from a D4 Small Bump but we'll take it  at level 11 part of me really wants to stay monk   here primarily to get more key key points so that  we could be trying to stun more often among other   things but if we went fighter we could potentially  do even more pushing so let's do that instead yes   for fun meaning that yes we would be a fighter one  here and that means we get second win so that we   can use a bonus action once per short rest to heal  ourselves for d10 plus our fighter level and then   we get a fighting style and we absolutely want to  take the superior technique fighting style as that   lets us learn a maneuver from the Battle Master  sub class list and gives us a single superiority   die per short rest to spend on it though it's only  a D6 which is weird the maneuver we want to take   pushing attack of course this tells us that when  we hit a creature with a weapon attack and yes   unarmed strikes should count here unless your  DM decides to rule otherwise I know the wording   for all of this melee weapon attack weapon attack  stuff in 5e is terrible they've tried to clarify   things with the sage advice compendium and tweets  from Jeremy Crawford but unarmed strikes are are   considered melee weapon attacks feel free to  argue about that in the comments if you want and   yes here's hoping that they clean up the wording  in the new player's handbook anyways when we hit   them with a weapon attack we can you guessed  it add our superiority die to the damage and   then push them 15 ft away from us as long as they  fail a strength save and they're large or smaller   unfortunately this is the first time that we've  run into a size restriction on our pushing Now   using pushing attack isn't really sustainable at  the moment we can only do it once per short rest   but it will be soon enough at level 12 we would  be a fighter 2 and that means we get action Surge   and yes it's one of the best features in the game  allowing for some nice burst damage potential or   maybe better yet for us I think allowing us to  like cast Spike Growth Action Surge and start   pushing enemies into it right away on round one  which I love sustained damage right from round   one no setup round or anything at least once  per short rest uh which is when action surgery   sets right at level 13 we would be a fighter three  and that means we get our Marshall archetype our   fighter subass and of course you knew we were  going to go Battle Master because we need more   superiority dice so that we can push every turn  right and now we can assuming of course that the   combat encounter Ends by round five which the  vast majority of 5V combat encounters at most   tables do so yeah I'll consider the bushing attack  sustainable now because we're going to get four   more superiority dice plus the one that we already  have and we get to learn three more Maneuvers and   and I'm going to say let's go with menacing attack  to potentially do some extra damage and frighten   our enemies always nice Precision attack which  I can see us using say on that first Flurry of   Blows attack where we're pushing and pulling right  we really want that one to land so if we make our   attack roll and get a crappy roll we can with  Precision attack add a superiority die to the   attack roll potentially turning a Miss into a  hit and then yeah my favorite uh trip attack   letting us attempt to knock an enemy prone which  would thus give us advantage AG on our subsequent   attacks if we had more superiority dice or if we  were going for a burst damage build I'd say we   try to use trip attack right get Advantage but of  course if we were going for a burst damage build I   would have said let's blow all of our key on our  Nova round to try and stun an enemy as well you   guys in case you couldn't tell I struggled with  this build a lot um I went back and forth back   and forth not unlike the cheese grading that the  build itself is doing right um trying to decide   if this was a Nova damage build or a sustained  damage build I had to rework things several times   it really at least at this point anyways feels  kind of like a sustained damage Nova damage hybrid   build and that's not a bad thing of course it just  makes it tough to know where to stick it in the   spreadsheets that's what she said but yeah having  some burst damage capabilities is always great   and we have them now with stunning strike action  surge all of these superiority Dice and having   that flexibility when we need it that's great  okay at level 13 it's time for our next damage report since last check we've added some nice  burst damage potential but as far as sustained   damage goes the big increases are coming from  the extra 15 ft of pushing we're doing on what   would be that last Flurry of Blows attack so with  our action we attack attack then Flurry of Blows   attack number one to push 15 ft pull 15 fet then  Flurry of Blows attack number two pushing with   open hand technique and adding our pushing attack  superiority die there to push them 30 ft deep into   Spike growth right meaning that on their turn the  closest exit would be 10 ft away now for a total   of 70 ft of Spike growth damage if they're walking  out of it on their turn but of course then if they   did that they would be on the back side of the  spike growth probably really far away from you   and your friends likely costing them a turn to get  back in combat range if they Dash and try and run   around right so so let's not discount the benefit  that we get from this build to like action economy   right and exercising a little bit of control  anyways assuming everything goes according to   plan for us against enemies with a 10 Armor class  and a plus zero to their strength save we would   on average do 103 damage per round and against  a 17 Armor class and a plus 7 to strength save   it would be 66 DPR and I mean you know we broke  the century mark at least at those lower AC and   save bonuses but while that is a nice since  last check it's not quite as big an increase   as we saw before you know between 6 and 9 this  puts us kind of more in like the middle of tier   2 compared to other sustained DPR builds that  I've done to date again by no means a bad place   to be at level 14 as badly as I'd love to get  back to monk for more key points I think we'd   be crazy not to grab Fighter 4 here first so that  we can get that ASI and cap either our dexterity   or our wisdom whichever one we didn't cap last  time right so now we're sitting pretty on a 20   Armor class unarmored with a a really nice DC on  all of our important features but then at level   15 yes I think we finished the build in monk  meaning we would be a monk six now we could go   back to Ranger and I think the decision on which  way to go is mostly going to depend on how many   combat encounters you're seeing at your table in  a typical day and how often you're getting short   rests we only have two second level spell slots  at the moment meaning we can only cast Spike   growth twice per day right now at my table  it's actually kind of rare that we even have   more than two maybe three combat Encounters in a  day if we do have more than two they tend to be   kind of more little skirmishes that are fairly  easy to win you don't have to spend a lot of   resources for I don't know my DMs just tend to  prefer like big epic setpiece combat encounters   more often than not and honestly I kind of enjoy  it that way myself as well though more frequent   smaller fights can be fun too anyways for me I'd  probably go back to monk here so that we can get   more key points primarily so that we can try to  stun more often at least among other things but   also to pick up up some other nice monk features  mostly in the realm of utility and survivability   if however you tend to have three or four or more  combat encounters per day especially if most of   those tend to be fairly difficult encounters then  yeah you're probably going to want to go back to   Ranger here for more spell slots primarily maybe  even before you took fighter levels right we'd   get to third level spells eventually and then we  could reliably cast Spike growth every fight if   we needed to neither route here is going to have a  huge impact on the damage that we're doing I have   to pick one so I'm going to assume we'll go back  to monk because well they're my favorite class   and like I said it probably make the most sense at  my table but you do what best for yours as a monk   six then we get key empowered strikes to make  our unarmed strikes magical for the purpose of   overcoming resistance and yes as always this is  something that you should have gotten to a long   time ago if you're often running into non-magical  attack resistant enemies and your DM isn't giving   you like an odor claw tattoo or an Insignia of  claws or something which I really really hope   for your sake that they are doing that or you're  going to have a hard time keeping up with other   weapon using damage dealers open hand monks also  get wholeness of body here which unlike in bers   Gate 3 take a drink it's pretty meh right you  can use an action to heal yourself for three   times your monk level so 18 hit points at the cost  of Your Action once per day hard to imagine using   this in combat and it's not all that necessary  outside of combat so yeah once in a while it'll   be nice but hey we got another key point and our  unarmored movement went up to 15 fees that's not   nothing 40 ft of move speed on a dwarf at level  16 we would be a monk seven and we get that sweet   sweet evasion which says that when we have to make  a deck save to take half damage on something like   a fireball or whatever we take no damage if we  succeed and only half if we fail very nice and   then we get Stillness of mind which lets us  use our action to end a Charmed or frightened   condition on ourselves that's Complicated by the  fact that often times when we we are frightened   or Charmed we don't actually get to choose what  to do with our action so at some tables the DM   will let this feature override whatever is keeping  you from using your actions but at others it won't   making this feature much worse but then finally  for us at level 17 we would be a monk8 and that   means we get another ability score increase or  feet I think I would take resilient Constitution   here at the very end of the game and yes of course  as so much of our damage is actually coming from   [ __ ] growth which we need concentrate on and we  don't have Proficiency in our constitution saves   and thus concentration checks we probably should  have taken this a long time ago or perhaps better   yet started off as a fighter one it wouldn't  have been a bad move at all especially since   we ended up wanting fighter levels eventually  anyways but yeah I decided to beine for Ranger   instead if you decide to foro fighter at level  one yeah I probably if I were playing this   character in game would take this feat sooner  maybe like after we got decks and wisdom to   18 so that would have been at what level 9 you  decide but that brings us to our final damage report and you may have noticed that aside from  capping our wisdom at 20 we didn't really get a   lot of things to help us on the damage front since  last check ah The Perils of post five monks in the   current version of DnD however since we did get a  few more key points and we've got five superiority   dice you know what I want to account for the  fact that we could very likely have an enemy   either stunned or tripped here somehow maybe to  make it easy on myself I'm just going to assume   that we've got advantage on our attacks I know  we won't always but also if the enemy is stunned   we'll be benefiting on our damage a lot more  than just having advantage on our attacks we'll   be pushing without a save over 60 ft of thorns for  60 damage on average so only assuming that we've   got advantage on the attacks feels like I might be  under selling the thing though maybe not lots of   enemies have big bonuses to their constitution  saves at this level right to say nothing of   legendary actions oh well I'm going to assume  advantage and you can be mad at me if you want   so against enemies with an armor class here of 10  and a plus zero to their strength save we would   on average do 113 damage per round and against an  18 AC and a plus 8 to their strength save it would   be 81 DPR and compared to other sustained damage  builds that I've done to date that puts us in like   the middle of tier three but we are disrupting the  battlefield pushing potentially multiple enemies   into a damage dealing snare inducing Brier patch  potentially throwing down some pretty serious   burst damage stunning enemies jumping off [Music]  cliffs catching arrows doing out some heels and   some good berries and truly living our best  Marshall cheese grater life all right let's   bring it on Home with some final thoughts the  tier score for this build if you take the damage   that we we were doing at every armor class and  strength save that we accounted for at each of   the four damage reports just averaged it all into  one big number we would end up with a 54 and that   lands Us near the top of tier three actually wait  a sec you kept talking about tier two even bottom   of tier one what the heck yeah the problem is  because we weren't having reliable Advantage at   least until the very end there the damage that  we were doing at high enemy armor classes and   especially at high enemy strength saves makes the  damage really fall off a [Music] cliff for most   of the build as the AC and saves go up right which  really brings the average way down and yeah like I   can't emphasize this enough especially with the  spike growth damage since it's not like they're   taking half damage on a save or anything a save  negates any of the damage from the pushing that   we're doing right but very few enemies have like  really high strength saving throws so all of that   said in hindsight we might have been better off  for going more pushing from fighter and instead   focusing on like getting more monk levels getting  more key points to get an enemy stunned more   consistently reliably I mean as early as level 10  if we did have an enemy stunned our average damage   goes way up we're talking like a 50% increase to  damage on average thanks to having both advantage   on our attacks and more importantly having the  enemy autof fail all of the pushing that we'd be   inflicting on them right for that reason yeah  sure maybe for go fighter altogether focus on   more monk levels so that we can have more key  to burn and thus take advantage of stun more   often wouldn't be a terrible move perhaps this  middling tier score is more demonstrative of how   not particularly helpful my overly simplified  tier ranking is right I mean we're doing really   fantastic at level 9 level 10 again where most  campaigns end and I mean while sure strength   isn't a great saving throw for us to be targeting  how many enemies are we running into with a plus   10 to their strength save not a lot way fewer  anyways than those that have a 20 Armor class   right but I'm kind of equating those things as the  same so while the numbers that we came up with and   frankly that we come up with every week do serve  to give us kind of a general idea of what might be   possible with the build I don't think they paint  a particularly accurate picture of the potential   with this build especially in the end here's the  important thing this build would be a t ton of   fun to play in game I mean sure sometimes things  aren't going to go your way your enemies are going   to make their saves or you're going to miss your  attacks or they're not positioned where you want   them to be but I mean you can say similar things  about almost any D and build right when things do   line up for this character though it's going to  be amazing you land a stun on your first attack   and suddenly you are wailing away for two rounds  with impunity pushing and pulling your enemies   they can't do anything about it or maybe you're  pushing multiple enemies into the Brier patch   right like I've talked about almost like a sheep  dog just running around the edges of the area hit   push hit push hit push hit push get back in there  Bessie I don't know why Bessie is Bessie a common   sheep name I think that's more of a cow name  anyways it would be so awesome now I promised   a little breakdown of how this build changes with  one D and D assuming the play test material that   we have most recently anyways actually goes live  on the one hand the build will be even better I   mean monks get all kinds of Buffs first of all  so just that alone is going to make us better   but then you've got weapon Mastery stuff and aside  from that supposedly we'll be able to unarm strike   as a bonus action whether we're using Flurry of  Blows or not without having to take the attack   action first so you could Spike growth with your  action and then bonus action punch and push right   on round one without even needing action surge  or potentially make attacks to trip them whether   because you're using weapon attacks or because  you're using the Open Hand topple right and now   you've got advantage on all of your attacks for  the rest of the round alternatively the way of the   four elements or Warrior of the elements if they  call it that could be really really strong here as   they can push and pull with every unarmed strike  to really just like grate the cheese back and   forth back and forth right the biggest potential  downside of the new rules you can only attempt   to stunning strike once per round and while that  does come with the benefit of still doing a little   necrotic damage if they make their save against  it it means there's a really high chance that we   won't be making attacks against a a stunned Target  you know we can't just blow all of our key to   really try and stun them if we need to right and  so it's less likely that we would have advantage   on our attacks and yeah they're going to continue  to be able to make saves against our pushing that   the stun Target would just auto fail in the end  though I do think the build overall is quite a bit   stronger with the 1 D and D rules again assuming  that they stay the same as we're currently seeing   and yeah I mean I'm sure they'll probably be  changed tweaked a little bit here and there but   I feel conf confident that monks are going to be  in a much better place when it's all said and done   regardless that is the build for the week and I  hope you guys enjoyed it man I had a lot of fun   with this one but yeah got really frustrated by  it at times too like I've said in the end I really   love that eventually at least it ends up being  pretty strong as both a sustained and burst damage   dealer and I would love to play this building game  I hope that I get the chance to do so soon and I   hope that you do as well but more importantly I  hope that you know how much I love you because I   do you guys are so awesome thank you so much for  all that you do for me for this channel I hope   you have a fantastic day and a great week and if  you don't I really hope you'll hang in there I   hope that you'll do good and be kind and that I  see you again very soon but until then take care [Music] bye I wish I have known you wished i'  have shown you all of the things I was on the   inside I'd pretend to be sleeping when  you'd come in in the morning to whisper   goodbye go to work in the rain I don't know  why don't know [Music] why oh sometimes the   best songs are the sad songs right I make fun  of D for being emo Patty Griffin she's just   she's just emo country but yeah that that is a  beautiful song and you know what it's okay the   sad songs sometimes they sort of they can  be cathartic right they can sort of help   us maybe make different choices so that we  don't end up like the character in the song   I think I don't know it's a rainy day and it  just felt like I wanted to sing a rainy song   cuz everyone's singing We just want to be heard  disappearing every day without so much as a word [Music] somehow you're cutting off Shepherd's head stop it [Music] Focus come on you can do it have you guys  ever uh been to mind flare hypnotherapy it's a   fantastic fantastic service really give you a  whole like a fresh new outlook on life oh obvious   mimic they're killing it with their t-shirts  is that looks like it might be crooked good enough recreate the build yourself without  having to there's a plant right here and   that seems to only be how do I that's  a tongue twister okay where was I we   also uh uh our AC man it does that um  got a little off topic there let's see   que back firsty to add plus two to we  still have one more blow all right so

Channel: d4: D&D Deep Dive

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Length: 60min 25sec (3625 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 05 2024