u/benjaminloh82

So it’s probably not a controversial thing to say that your choice of cantrip matters a whole lot for the Mystic Monk, given it’s your main source of boosted damage and other effects come lvl 6.

But you only get 2 of them to start and 3 at lvl 10, so you have to make them count.

What are you choosing?

I’m going for the Cold Caster/Mind Sliver Stunning Fist combo, so mine at lvl 10 are:

Mind Sliver (naturally)
Ray of Frost (ranged option and so I can pick a utility option with my not-sorceror cantrip from Cold Caster)
Bladeward at lvl 10
Minor Illusion or Mage Hand from my not Sorcerer Cantrip from Cold Caster

I decided not to go with any of the blade or strike cantrips because it is still iffy if unarmed strike qualifies for any of those.

So some of the previews have already dropped the skinny on the going to print version of the Mystic Monk, so I'm thinking to play one in AL by retraining an existing 10th level monk character.

Here are my thoughts for the base:

Frost Goliath Mystic Monk 10

- Frost Goliath gets to proc that cold damage which can stack with Mindsliver cantrip swap to impose a -2d4 penalty to saves vs stunning fist, making it much more likely to land.

Feats

- Cold Caster (+1 Wis) and Grappler (+1 Dex), this lets me start with odd values in both Dex (17) and Wis (15) which rounds out to 18 and 16 in play. I know 18 is a bit low for primary melee ability at lvl 10, but hopefully the stacking unarmed boosting gear's +4 to hit and damage will rectify that a bit.

Spells

Not having played an Eldritch Knight before, I'm dithering a bit here, for cantrips I'm hovering over the following:

- Mindsliver (for the combo)

- Bladeward (for more AC)

- Ray of Frost (Range and from Cold Caster)

- Thunderclap? (For AoE if needed, or should I take something utility?)

For spells themselves, I'm wondering if it is at all worth it to get blasting in general, because single target, I would think my fists would do a comparable job.

So mostly defensive and utility then? Like absorb elements and.. Shield? (Shield is a weird one, because it's competing for it's reaction with deflect attacks), maybe mirror image for defensiveness or Jump? I'm more than grateful for any sage advice here.

To the exclusion of Dex, I mean.

We already have all the moving parts and it looks reasonably good, so I was thinking up a build of the Cold Caster variant I posted about already and I’m just wondering.

One thing about Monk in AL is that you can kinda control what magic items you have by trading so you can get tier appropriate boosts to unarmed strike to hit and damage that all conveniently stack so you can have +4 to hit and damage in T2 and +5 in T3, which should offset Dex a bit, but at the same time, could you just go 17 Dex 16 Wis like a typical monk and rush to 20 Dex with grappler et al.

Which makes for the more satisfying playstyle?

So I'm just ruminating on the new Warrior of the Mystic Arts and it's potential interaction with Cold Caster.

The basic idea is like so:

1. Warrior of the Mystic Arts Monk, attack, Cantrip swap to Mindsliver (-1d4 to saves)
2. Extra attack, Unarmed Strike, Frost Goliath with Cold Caster, choose to apply Frost's Chill (-1d4 to saves, and Cold Caster boosts Wisdom, which we want)
3. If both proc, then choose to Stunning Strike and apply that -2d4 to the opponent's save
4. (optional): If you also have the grappler feat, you can choose to grapple off the unarmed strike after they are stunned and they don't get to make a save against it.
5. Bonus Action Flurry of Blows against a very neutralized foe (note: Mystic Arts Monks on average get more Focus than regular monks because they can do the conversion thing)
6. Goliaths can do the large size thing and you can cast enlarge again to get huge if grappling everything appeals to you.

The main con is that Frost's Chill is not infinite, you get it proficiency times per day basically, so this is not as much value as, say, Monk of the Elements with Cold Caster.

Hmm, maybe you could rely on Mindsliver mostly, but switch to both for really tough foes?

So Lupins probably make very decent monks, this is known, I’m just curious what type of damage it is, is it always slashing or can they pick between bludgeoning and slashing to start?

What’s more survivable than becoming a ghost and hiding in the ground or the walls in between your turns?

Sure you take 1d10 damage per round, but that beats getting hit by spells or getting ganged up by a horde of beatsticks.

It’s like the old earth elemental trick Moon Druids could pull in 5e dnd.

So at 6th level the Undead Warlock gets to tack an extra die onto necrotic attacks, which conveniently also includes your pact of the blade attacks, once per turn.

Per turn, huh, so if I have Zhentarim Tactics I can opportunity attack them, when hit, with another attack that tacks on another die of damage.

And of course if the weapon is a greataxe, said die is a d12, so potentially 2d12 bonus damage per turn on top of all the other bladelock goodies.

That's a decent amount of extra damage at potentially just level 6, and you can do the customary stuff like dip paladin for the AC and extra slots, take Great Weapon Master, might be a decent build here.

MDBob is their name. I’m only asking as their Patreon page disappeared.

MDBob is their name. I’m only asking as their Patreon page disappeared.