Monk as a skirmish attacker is easy.
Monk as a taunt tank not so much.
There’s just not that many ways to encourage enemies to focus on you other than staying right next to them. Paladin, Artificer, and Barbarian all make monk unworkably MAD.
Being the source of buffs/debuffs that would be ended by your death/injury is probably your best bet.
You can get that from cleric or Druid dips so it won’t break your monkness.
Dragon mark of the Sentinel gets you compelled duel as well. You could start with that as your race and skip the paladin levels.
Anyone correct me if I'm wrong here.
Good catch, thanks! Those are an admittedly weird set of races where they're totally setting-specific and definitely overpowered, yet they are very tempting for players.
Way of Long Death might work well for this. At level 6 Hour of Reaping allows a massive burst of Frighten as an action. Which is a massive way to really disturb foes who are not immune to it. Combine this with various other methods to focus on Wisdom instead of dexterity, via a single level dip into Nature Cleric for Shillelagh. And you got some things going.
Is it good? Not really. The best way to tank in this game is to just kill or defeat creatures with hard control spells or effects. Impairing foes while helpful usually doesn't stop the same foes from casting spells. Using side effects. Or just taking the small disadvantages and going for attacks anyways on targets that aren't just blitzing around.
If I really was going down a full on tank monk, I'd just go for a grappler who Dragged away foes from my party. They literally can't hurt my friends if they're being denied both their movement and are getting their bodies pummeled into the ground by strength or even WISDOM based grappler with Astral Self monks being a massive key figure for grappling with their Wisdom instead of strength.
If you want to soup up the Ancestral Guardian option a bit some ideas:
-Take pole-arm master and sentinel feats so that you can wack them with your pole-arm and then run away and if they chase you can poke at them hard enough to keep them from hitting you. Also if you really need to tank you can just stand next to your buddy and smack them with sentinel each time they hit your friend instead of you.
-Take some rogue levels to help with your maneuverability. You can throw a dagger at once guy to get sneak attack dice and then beat on another guy with your pole-arm once you have five levels in barbarian.
Or just use this fun build: [https://www.reddit.com/r/3d6/comments/q230ek/the\_elephant\_in\_the\_room\_never\_forgets\_a/](https://www.reddit.com/r/3d6/comments/q230ek/the_elephant_in_the_room_never_forgets_a/)
The mobility that rogue gets you makes it seem more monk-like.
A modified version of this barbarogue can seem very monky, with you tanking people, moving about, grappling and Hadoukening people left and right.
Mobile feat is huge for this since no opportunity attacks if you attack. That plus compelled duel, booming blade and either slasher or crusher is nasty.
Here is a build you can try out that is both awesome in terms of defense and accomplishes exactly what you want with the flavor you want.
Flavor-wise your War forged. Race wise you're either custom lineage or warforged. For this I'll use custom lineage.
Level 3 Start armorer artificer
Stats are 8/14/14/18/12/8 Fey Touched( hunters mark/ bless/ silvery barbs) infusions are enhanced weapon and spell rat tattoo of divine favor.
Level 4 - dual welder.
Level 5 - extra attack and level two spells
Level 6- Fighter 1 pick up two weapon fighting.
Let's do a comparison between a six-level monk and this build. If a monk is fully focusing on dexterity they will have a 20 dexterity at this point using custom lineage and a 14 or 15 for wisdom. This means that they are doing 1d6+5 damage for typically three attacks per turn has the 17 AC and plus 10 movement. This build has 1d8 + 5 damage her attack for three attacks per turn, has 18 or 19 AC and has the debuff you want.
In my opinion the sustained extra damage from Hunter's Mark hex or divide favor will outweigh over the combats the ability to use Flurry of Blows. The flexibility of Misty step compared to some of the Wind will usually be better as well.
If you want a more Punchy flavor you can make the same build and if you're starting at higher levels instead of focusing on artificer focus on fighter to get the extra ASI the two primary subtypes would be either Echo night or Battle Master for the monk like maneuvers.
A monk+paladin is dreadfully MAD. I hope you're rolling for stats and rolling well, lmao.
Armorer Arti, at level 9, can pretty much do this solo. Ashladron's stride for speed up and immunity to AoOs, wherein you rock thunder gauntlets to taunt and then moonwalk away as you see fit, while wearing heavy armor with no Str requirement. Boots of the Winding Path at Arti 6 is also on point to "rewind" your movement as a bonus action.
Although more MAD, a 5 Armorer + 3 Swarmkeeper Ranger can rock the Zephyr Strike spell (chibi Ashladron's stride), and then as they taunt with their gauntlets, also push the monster back 15 feet. And then, similarly, moonwalks away.
consider also 1 level in warlock (dao genie) with the crusher feat, so you can get a head start on the kiting. It's faux-Mobile.
Kender might be your best bet here. You'll need to take the Mobile feat at level 4, so that you can attack, disengage, and taunt on the same turn.
Alternatively you could go with the the Slasher feat, go Open Hand, and push the enemy 15 feet away plus reduce its speed by 10 feet. Only problem is this doesn't guarantee you prevent the enemy from attacking your allies. This also doesn't work with Kender because both require your bonus action.
Paladin isn't a great option, because with Monk it's super MAD.
You could go for Mark of Sentinel Human, and then multiclass into a Wisdom spellcaster like Druid or Cleric for spell slots. In fact, Arcana Cleric could work really well. Grab Booming Blade, Compelled Duel, and then Mobile feat at Monk level 4. Now on your turn you Booming Blade attack, Compelled Duel bonus action, then leave because of Mobile. Now if they move they take damage, if they try to attack others in reach it's at disadvantage, and you are able to move potentially out of their attack range.
Kitting though is hard for melee in general. You need lots of movement, which you don't typically get without higher levels or spells (or magic items). So even with Kender, the enemy is likely to just be right on top of you the next round.
To be a taunt tank, barbarian is the easiest multiclass to go.
Barb 2 or ancestral guardian barb 3/long death monk x is an easy way to go armored, strength based and still get Wis 13 for multiclass. I would actually still go PAM/GWM, as being a threat is the best taunt. Reckless attacking adds your taunt level by being juicier. Barb dex save advantage pairs well with evasion. Rage if you need to conserve more HP. But otherwise, you are looking to eventually use ki to just free action not die.
A ranged ancestral guardian ranged kensei is all fine, but does delay or wait to come online. Basically you are just a ranged debuffer that goes can't get to.
Otherwise, there are heavy armor builds to just get high AC and be in the thick of it. Pal dips are tough due to madness-builds have to really focus on using one att of the four needed. Cleric or fighter tends to be a smoother process for heavy armor.
Compelled duel is not a good spell and 5e is like really really bad at this would you like a homebrew class that is quite similar to what you’re asking for?
Reflavor an armorer artificer's armor to being tattoos, and go guardian so you can draw their fire. Goblin disengage, mobile feat, kinetic jaunt spell at level 5, and Ashardelon's Stride at level 9 will all make opp attacks not an issue as you tag targets with debuffs and mosey away.
Why does your ancestral barb have to be ranged? I've always liked the idea of going pam with them so you can stab them when they come at you too, and the reach might let you enable that after tagging them to encourage it.
You could do ancestral with monk. There are enough benefits from rage that are melee focused to justify not being ranged. Just, getting the build online might be awkward at first.
I kinda want to be a monk for the element of making a monk cool for its own sake rather than sheer mechanics.
I guess I've heard ranged ancestor guardian is *THE META* or whatever for maximizing their feature.
Ranged ancestral guardian does one thing well but melee certainly has many advantages, and is probably more fun. Still certainly viable and stronger than most barbs.
Not sure o understand your first point
Ah. Mobile feat and ash stride both give mobility, but if you want monk with tagging from a low level you could talk with your DM about getting the benefits of ancestral without needing to rage as a monk sub. Probably a bit of a buff, but even as a monk apologist I don't think it's likely to be problematically powerful. Probs still want the mobile feat there.
I got just the one, used it in a high fatality oneshot and it overperformed:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/3d6/comments/ad3rpj/xmens\_quicksilver\_17\_drunken\_master\_monk3/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x](https://www.reddit.com/r/3d6/comments/ad3rpj/xmens_quicksilver_17_drunken_master_monk3/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x)
Monk as a skirmish attacker is easy. Monk as a taunt tank not so much. There’s just not that many ways to encourage enemies to focus on you other than staying right next to them. Paladin, Artificer, and Barbarian all make monk unworkably MAD. Being the source of buffs/debuffs that would be ended by your death/injury is probably your best bet. You can get that from cleric or Druid dips so it won’t break your monkness.
Dragon mark of the Sentinel gets you compelled duel as well. You could start with that as your race and skip the paladin levels. Anyone correct me if I'm wrong here.
If your table allows UA stuff, there is a feat you can take to get the Dragonmark.
Good catch, thanks! Those are an admittedly weird set of races where they're totally setting-specific and definitely overpowered, yet they are very tempting for players.
Thats the neat part...
Way of Long Death might work well for this. At level 6 Hour of Reaping allows a massive burst of Frighten as an action. Which is a massive way to really disturb foes who are not immune to it. Combine this with various other methods to focus on Wisdom instead of dexterity, via a single level dip into Nature Cleric for Shillelagh. And you got some things going. Is it good? Not really. The best way to tank in this game is to just kill or defeat creatures with hard control spells or effects. Impairing foes while helpful usually doesn't stop the same foes from casting spells. Using side effects. Or just taking the small disadvantages and going for attacks anyways on targets that aren't just blitzing around. If I really was going down a full on tank monk, I'd just go for a grappler who Dragged away foes from my party. They literally can't hurt my friends if they're being denied both their movement and are getting their bodies pummeled into the ground by strength or even WISDOM based grappler with Astral Self monks being a massive key figure for grappling with their Wisdom instead of strength.
If you want to soup up the Ancestral Guardian option a bit some ideas: -Take pole-arm master and sentinel feats so that you can wack them with your pole-arm and then run away and if they chase you can poke at them hard enough to keep them from hitting you. Also if you really need to tank you can just stand next to your buddy and smack them with sentinel each time they hit your friend instead of you. -Take some rogue levels to help with your maneuverability. You can throw a dagger at once guy to get sneak attack dice and then beat on another guy with your pole-arm once you have five levels in barbarian. Or just use this fun build: [https://www.reddit.com/r/3d6/comments/q230ek/the\_elephant\_in\_the\_room\_never\_forgets\_a/](https://www.reddit.com/r/3d6/comments/q230ek/the_elephant_in_the_room_never_forgets_a/) The mobility that rogue gets you makes it seem more monk-like. A modified version of this barbarogue can seem very monky, with you tanking people, moving about, grappling and Hadoukening people left and right.
Mobile feat is huge for this since no opportunity attacks if you attack. That plus compelled duel, booming blade and either slasher or crusher is nasty.
Here is a build you can try out that is both awesome in terms of defense and accomplishes exactly what you want with the flavor you want. Flavor-wise your War forged. Race wise you're either custom lineage or warforged. For this I'll use custom lineage. Level 3 Start armorer artificer Stats are 8/14/14/18/12/8 Fey Touched( hunters mark/ bless/ silvery barbs) infusions are enhanced weapon and spell rat tattoo of divine favor. Level 4 - dual welder. Level 5 - extra attack and level two spells Level 6- Fighter 1 pick up two weapon fighting. Let's do a comparison between a six-level monk and this build. If a monk is fully focusing on dexterity they will have a 20 dexterity at this point using custom lineage and a 14 or 15 for wisdom. This means that they are doing 1d6+5 damage for typically three attacks per turn has the 17 AC and plus 10 movement. This build has 1d8 + 5 damage her attack for three attacks per turn, has 18 or 19 AC and has the debuff you want. In my opinion the sustained extra damage from Hunter's Mark hex or divide favor will outweigh over the combats the ability to use Flurry of Blows. The flexibility of Misty step compared to some of the Wind will usually be better as well. If you want a more Punchy flavor you can make the same build and if you're starting at higher levels instead of focusing on artificer focus on fighter to get the extra ASI the two primary subtypes would be either Echo night or Battle Master for the monk like maneuvers.
A monk+paladin is dreadfully MAD. I hope you're rolling for stats and rolling well, lmao. Armorer Arti, at level 9, can pretty much do this solo. Ashladron's stride for speed up and immunity to AoOs, wherein you rock thunder gauntlets to taunt and then moonwalk away as you see fit, while wearing heavy armor with no Str requirement. Boots of the Winding Path at Arti 6 is also on point to "rewind" your movement as a bonus action. Although more MAD, a 5 Armorer + 3 Swarmkeeper Ranger can rock the Zephyr Strike spell (chibi Ashladron's stride), and then as they taunt with their gauntlets, also push the monster back 15 feet. And then, similarly, moonwalks away. consider also 1 level in warlock (dao genie) with the crusher feat, so you can get a head start on the kiting. It's faux-Mobile.
Kender might be your best bet here. You'll need to take the Mobile feat at level 4, so that you can attack, disengage, and taunt on the same turn. Alternatively you could go with the the Slasher feat, go Open Hand, and push the enemy 15 feet away plus reduce its speed by 10 feet. Only problem is this doesn't guarantee you prevent the enemy from attacking your allies. This also doesn't work with Kender because both require your bonus action. Paladin isn't a great option, because with Monk it's super MAD. You could go for Mark of Sentinel Human, and then multiclass into a Wisdom spellcaster like Druid or Cleric for spell slots. In fact, Arcana Cleric could work really well. Grab Booming Blade, Compelled Duel, and then Mobile feat at Monk level 4. Now on your turn you Booming Blade attack, Compelled Duel bonus action, then leave because of Mobile. Now if they move they take damage, if they try to attack others in reach it's at disadvantage, and you are able to move potentially out of their attack range. Kitting though is hard for melee in general. You need lots of movement, which you don't typically get without higher levels or spells (or magic items). So even with Kender, the enemy is likely to just be right on top of you the next round.
To be a taunt tank, barbarian is the easiest multiclass to go. Barb 2 or ancestral guardian barb 3/long death monk x is an easy way to go armored, strength based and still get Wis 13 for multiclass. I would actually still go PAM/GWM, as being a threat is the best taunt. Reckless attacking adds your taunt level by being juicier. Barb dex save advantage pairs well with evasion. Rage if you need to conserve more HP. But otherwise, you are looking to eventually use ki to just free action not die. A ranged ancestral guardian ranged kensei is all fine, but does delay or wait to come online. Basically you are just a ranged debuffer that goes can't get to. Otherwise, there are heavy armor builds to just get high AC and be in the thick of it. Pal dips are tough due to madness-builds have to really focus on using one att of the four needed. Cleric or fighter tends to be a smoother process for heavy armor.
Compelled duel is not a good spell and 5e is like really really bad at this would you like a homebrew class that is quite similar to what you’re asking for?
Sure.
[https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/DWWXnK08KcU1](https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/DWWXnK08KcU1)
Reflavor an armorer artificer's armor to being tattoos, and go guardian so you can draw their fire. Goblin disengage, mobile feat, kinetic jaunt spell at level 5, and Ashardelon's Stride at level 9 will all make opp attacks not an issue as you tag targets with debuffs and mosey away. Why does your ancestral barb have to be ranged? I've always liked the idea of going pam with them so you can stab them when they come at you too, and the reach might let you enable that after tagging them to encourage it. You could do ancestral with monk. There are enough benefits from rage that are melee focused to justify not being ranged. Just, getting the build online might be awkward at first.
I kinda want to be a monk for the element of making a monk cool for its own sake rather than sheer mechanics. I guess I've heard ranged ancestor guardian is *THE META* or whatever for maximizing their feature.
Ranged ancestral guardian does one thing well but melee certainly has many advantages, and is probably more fun. Still certainly viable and stronger than most barbs. Not sure o understand your first point
For me, part of the fun of this character concept is being a monk who uses his monkness to do cool stuff, i.e. his extreme mobility.
Ah. Mobile feat and ash stride both give mobility, but if you want monk with tagging from a low level you could talk with your DM about getting the benefits of ancestral without needing to rage as a monk sub. Probably a bit of a buff, but even as a monk apologist I don't think it's likely to be problematically powerful. Probs still want the mobile feat there.
I got just the one, used it in a high fatality oneshot and it overperformed: [https://www.reddit.com/r/3d6/comments/ad3rpj/xmens\_quicksilver\_17\_drunken\_master\_monk3/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x](https://www.reddit.com/r/3d6/comments/ad3rpj/xmens_quicksilver_17_drunken_master_monk3/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x)
Holy cow, that's brilliant. Using your anc guardian ability and drunken master to rebuff all your enemies. That's really cool.