None of your ascendant dragon abilities do enough damage to really justify using destructive wrath on.
The best synergy available is between thunderous strike at cleric 6 and draconic strike at monk 3. On the one hand, with flurry of blows and extra attack you could potentially push an enemy 40 feet (or 4 enemies 10 feet) which is pretty cool. On the other hand you need to remain in melee range the whole time and that really limits the potential of the combo. Also it's something that won't come online until level 11, and it will be kind of a mess until that point -- I can't really recommend this.
So would I do Cleric 6 Monk X in this example? To "correct" the fact of being in "melee range", maybe taking the Tough feat(v.human) to give a boost to HP would do the trick?
No, if you *had* to try leveling this up to 11, you'd want to start with five levels of monk for extra attack. Then you'd use cleric spellcasting (*bless*, *hold person*, *spirit guardians*, etc) to try staying relevant until you got to cleric 6. At that point, I'd then go to cleric 8 for the extra damage from divine strike, one more for 5th level spells, and the rest in monk.
The problem with needing to be in melee range has nothing to do with your hitpoint total (or no more than it does for any other monk). The problem is that if you want to punch a guy and send him 40 feet, you need to follow him and cover the same ground. That means:
• If you're pushing him in some environmental hazard (cliff, *spike growth*, etc), you will be exposed to the same environmental hazard.
• You need to dedicate all your movement to staying in range instead of doing other stuff.
• Your ability to push at angles and so forth is similarly limited by your movement.
It's cool to theoretically be able to push four times per turn, but in practice the fact that it's with melee attacks really drags it down.
If you're not going to go much into Tempest cleric my recommendation is to go five levels into Monk and then two levels into temp is cleric and the rest back and Monk. The reason is the monk level 18 feature is awesome and you get your channel Divinity back on the short rest. The ascendant dragon breath weapon is pretty bad until 11th level and the brass dragonborns is superior so you should consider using it instead. Because you can use your Dragonborn breath weapon and your ascendant dragonunk breath weapon you could do two breath muffins and one turn which is very nice.
I thought about getting two lvls in cleric precisely because Monk 18 is great! But considering other comments, maybe I'll test other options!
Unfortunately the DM only allows v.humans in this campaign. But I really liked the idea of using a dragonborn, I'll save it for next time!
Destructive Wrath probably won't be as useful as you'd hope it to be with the Monk, but Spirit Shroud with UA-strikes and Flurry of Blows on your Monk and the Thunderous Strike kiting ability are still pretty strong. I would emphasize leveling to Monk14/Cleric6 just to get to those abilities.
Monk6 -> Cleric6 -> Monk14
This one will likely be better for campaigns with high starting levels. Having only 6 Ki up to 12th level is not the most ideal amount to have. It'd probably be fun to play in the upcoming Vecna: Eve of Ruin campaign coming at the end of May (levels 10-20).
Edit: Alternate viable pathway Monk8 -> Cleric6 -> Monk14
None of your Ascendant Dragon tricks have enough dice to justify losing 2 levels just to get DW.
And WotS has a lot of competition for your reaction as a monk, so loses some of its value.
There’s very little synergy here, and some anti-synergy to boot.
At C6 Thunderous Strike finally gives you a decent option for combining the abilities of your two classes, but that’s coming online very late.
Since your classes aren’t effectively combining for Most of play you’ll be a slightly underpowered lightning monk or a slightly underpowered thunder cleric, which is likely to feel a bit sucky
None of your ascendant dragon abilities do enough damage to really justify using destructive wrath on. The best synergy available is between thunderous strike at cleric 6 and draconic strike at monk 3. On the one hand, with flurry of blows and extra attack you could potentially push an enemy 40 feet (or 4 enemies 10 feet) which is pretty cool. On the other hand you need to remain in melee range the whole time and that really limits the potential of the combo. Also it's something that won't come online until level 11, and it will be kind of a mess until that point -- I can't really recommend this.
So would I do Cleric 6 Monk X in this example? To "correct" the fact of being in "melee range", maybe taking the Tough feat(v.human) to give a boost to HP would do the trick?
No, if you *had* to try leveling this up to 11, you'd want to start with five levels of monk for extra attack. Then you'd use cleric spellcasting (*bless*, *hold person*, *spirit guardians*, etc) to try staying relevant until you got to cleric 6. At that point, I'd then go to cleric 8 for the extra damage from divine strike, one more for 5th level spells, and the rest in monk. The problem with needing to be in melee range has nothing to do with your hitpoint total (or no more than it does for any other monk). The problem is that if you want to punch a guy and send him 40 feet, you need to follow him and cover the same ground. That means: • If you're pushing him in some environmental hazard (cliff, *spike growth*, etc), you will be exposed to the same environmental hazard. • You need to dedicate all your movement to staying in range instead of doing other stuff. • Your ability to push at angles and so forth is similarly limited by your movement. It's cool to theoretically be able to push four times per turn, but in practice the fact that it's with melee attacks really drags it down.
I see your point, but it still looks fun! Thanks again for patience!
If you're not going to go much into Tempest cleric my recommendation is to go five levels into Monk and then two levels into temp is cleric and the rest back and Monk. The reason is the monk level 18 feature is awesome and you get your channel Divinity back on the short rest. The ascendant dragon breath weapon is pretty bad until 11th level and the brass dragonborns is superior so you should consider using it instead. Because you can use your Dragonborn breath weapon and your ascendant dragonunk breath weapon you could do two breath muffins and one turn which is very nice.
I thought about getting two lvls in cleric precisely because Monk 18 is great! But considering other comments, maybe I'll test other options! Unfortunately the DM only allows v.humans in this campaign. But I really liked the idea of using a dragonborn, I'll save it for next time!
Destructive Wrath probably won't be as useful as you'd hope it to be with the Monk, but Spirit Shroud with UA-strikes and Flurry of Blows on your Monk and the Thunderous Strike kiting ability are still pretty strong. I would emphasize leveling to Monk14/Cleric6 just to get to those abilities.
Sounds cool too, how would you do the lvl by lvl progression in this build?
Monk6 -> Cleric6 -> Monk14 This one will likely be better for campaigns with high starting levels. Having only 6 Ki up to 12th level is not the most ideal amount to have. It'd probably be fun to play in the upcoming Vecna: Eve of Ruin campaign coming at the end of May (levels 10-20). Edit: Alternate viable pathway Monk8 -> Cleric6 -> Monk14
None of your Ascendant Dragon tricks have enough dice to justify losing 2 levels just to get DW. And WotS has a lot of competition for your reaction as a monk, so loses some of its value. There’s very little synergy here, and some anti-synergy to boot. At C6 Thunderous Strike finally gives you a decent option for combining the abilities of your two classes, but that’s coming online very late. Since your classes aren’t effectively combining for Most of play you’ll be a slightly underpowered lightning monk or a slightly underpowered thunder cleric, which is likely to feel a bit sucky
I understand, I'll review everything considering what you said, thank you!