I have a Fighter character and want to multiclass into Barbarian. Our current campaign goes up to level 6, and we plan to play a follow-up campaign with the same characters, so the planning needs to extend beyond level 6. My questions are: Which Fighter subclass should I choose, given that I’ve just reached level 3? At what level should I multiclass into Barbarian?
Yes, this is yet another evocation adept post. I wonder how many of these we need before people accept that this is a problem.
So AOE nova is pretty rare, but tempest domain has always been a fun pick to try to optimize around for AOE nova builds.
Back in 5e, we had builds that dipped into tempest domain for 2 levels but were mostly sorcerer. These builds transmuted fireballs from fire damage to thunder damage and maximized a 4th level fireball for 54 damage at level 7(sorcerer 5/cleric 2). These builds could do this once per short rest and couldnt really afford to take more cleric levels because they were charisma based(so they wanted more sorcerer levels) since there were no good ways of getting a wis based fireball(for that build). If you wanted to go cleric 6/sorcerer 5, you would become a one trick pony that did very little other than to go nova in turn 1.
Fast forward to early days of 5.5e, we had cleric subs at level 3, so this build got online even later, and level 7 was already late enough. Then we saw a new build, tempest 3/sea druid 5. This also came online at level 8 but it had a wisdom based lightning bolt. It was also fully wisdom based so as you level up either class, you would get spells like spirit guradians and conjure woodland beings which upcast fairly well too. This build could do 54 damage at level 8 with a 4th level fireball but it had an additional use of channel divinity thanks to the 5.5e cleric buffs and it could level cleric to level 6 to get even more channel divinities so you could go nova every combat. This build had the weakness of relying on the significantly worse AOE of lightning bolt and the more commonly resisted lightning damage. You also had only 2 4th level slots at level 8 as you cant create more like a sorcerer could.
And now in 2026, everbody has fireball. You get fireball, and I get fireball, and everybody gets fireball. Its like the old darkvision meme. So now, a level 4 tempest cleric/level 2 sorcerer can take the evocation adept feat(which gets them to 18 wisdom), and transmute their fireballs to thunder damage. Yes, in case you didnt know, multiclassed casters can use evocation adept to cast the spells that they have the slots for, even if they cant normally prepeare spells of that level. This build can add 2d8 hit die to the damage of their thunderballs(which also get maximized with the rest of the dice) and deal 64 damage at level 6. This character can do this 3 times with a single short rest, only the final one will be 60 damage as you will be left with sorcerer hit dice.
This build is fully wisdom based, so you can comfortably level up cleric to get more d8 hit dice, more wisdom based high level spells, and more channel divinity uses. It doesnt have the weaknesses of either the sea druid or the old sorcerer build. You get wall of force at level 9, which neither used to get. From a standard optimization lens, you get armor from cleric and the shield and absorb elements spells from the sorcerer levels. At some point you can take the 3rd sorcerer level for a usefull subclass like wild magic and also get second level spells like misty step, blur, mirror image, etc. that are not reliant on charisma and clerics lack.
Im not gonna provide a full build, this is the core and you can take it various ways from here. The 64 damage 6th level is obviously a very high peak, the damage gets comparatively less impressive as you level up. Even then the build stays solid because evocation adept allows you not to be one dimensional. Let me know what you think.
Title. Might be starting a new campaign soon and want to roll up with my favorite class. I love the flavor of wildfire druids but I get disappointed in remembering they don’t get fireball unless you’re using the unearthed arcana version. I’m not super up to date on 2024 rules, but are there any ways to get fireball without going 5 levels into another class?
This warrants being its own post, rather than only part of my on-going Mystic Arts Monk discussion. Specifically, I'm going to discuss the interaction of the cantrip Sorcerous Burst and the feats Evocation and Spellfire Adept.
I'll divide this into four sections. First, a discussion of how I believe Sorcerous Burst works and what it involves. Second, a discussion of the Evocation and Spellfire Adept feats that add hit dice (HD) to a spell attack. Third, a discussion of RAW/RAI to understand if what I am proposing makes sense or is not allowed within the rules. Finally, I will propose some basic ways I've thought of this interaction to work on a couple classes/subclasses, though I'm sure there are other ways this knowledge can be used in the game.
TL;DR: I propose that Sorcerous Burst (SB) interacts with Evocation and Spellfire Adept in interesting ways, namely when the HD you add to the roll are d8s. Because of the wording of SB and the ruling of a Sage Advice, I believe that this can count as increasing the chances of rolling more d8s to this cantrip, making it more potent in terms of the number of damage dice it can roll. From this I extrapolate 3 potential builds that can utilize this damage boost cantrip: Warlocks (specifically a Celestial Tomelock), Valor Bards with a dip into Sorcerer, and the Mystic Arts Monk. The result is a potentially powerful cantrip attack, though probably less powerful than other cantrips using similar tactics.
Let's start off by looking at the text of Sorcerous Burst, which is a Sorcerer exclusive cantrip.
>Evocation Cantrip
>Casting Time: Action
Range: 120 feet
Components: V, S
Duration: Instantaneous
>You cast sorcerous energy at one creature or object within range. Make a ranged spell attack against the target. On a hit, the target takes 1d8 damage of a type you choose: Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning, Poison, Psychic, or Thunder.
>If you roll an 8 on a d8 for this spell, you can roll another d8, and add it to the damage. When you cast this spell, the maximum number of these d8s you can add to the spell’s damage equals your spellcasting ability modifier.
>Cantrip Upgrade. The damage increases by 1d8 when you reach levels 5 (2d8), 11 (3d8), and 17 (4d8).
On its surface, a fun if not particularly powerful cantrip. But I want to highlight a few things. First, it allows us choose the damage type among elemental damages (so it does not inherently deal radiant damage, which will be important later), a nice benefit for avoiding resistance. Second, it is an evocation spell, which we will use to our benefit. And third is the line about rolling additional d8s if you roll an 8.
Here we need to understand exactly what is being stated and what the intention is. When the cantrip is considered at level 1, it's pretty straight forward. Roll 1d8, and if it's an 8, roll another d8. If that d8 also rolls an 8, roll a third d8, etc., up to your spellcasting modifier number of times. But it becomes a little bit more murky at levels 5+ when you roll multiple d8s for the main damage. Does each 8 you roll allow you to roll an additional d8 of new dice, or if you roll say two 8s in a roll, do you only roll one new d8? I think it makes sense that you roll a new d8 for each existing d8 you rolled that comes up as an 8, based on the text. "If you roll an 8 on a d8 for this spell" does not specify that it is only the first roll of the d8s, and because of the generic wording, I take it to mean any d8 that rolls an 8 as part of this spell allows you to roll another d8, regardless of when you roll that d8 as part of the damage.
A similar question can be asked about critical hits. If the spell attack is a crit, and we roll 2d8s (or 4d8s, or 6d8s, etc.), does each one of those extra d8s that roll an 8 count as an additional d8 we can add to the spell roll? And in turn is that d8 doubled on a crit too (per crit rules) such that we get another 2 chances at rolling another 8, which then could also double on said crit? Again, I believe this is the case, based on the wording of the spell, but I am open to others interpreting it differently.
At the end of the day, as with all stuff that is not completely clear, this may come down to asking your DM if they feel this way or not. But I think the RAW at least seems to support the idea that any d8 rolled with this spell counts as a source of potentially gaining another d8 in damage added due to the "exploding" nature of the dice.
Now let's look at the two feats Evocation and Spellfire Adept. They read as such (the relevant bit for this discussion concerning adding hit dice to a spell):
>Evocation Adept
>Fueled Evocation. Once per turn when you cast an Evocation spell and deal damage, you can roll up to two of your unexpended Hit Point Dice and add the total rolled to one of the spell’s damage rolls. Those Hit Point Dice are then expended.
>Spellfire Adept
>Fueled Spellfire. Once per turn, when a spell you cast deals Radiant damage, you can expend up to two Hit Point Dice, roll them, and add the total rolled to one damage roll of the spell.
So nearly Identical in their wording. The only big difference besides what spell triggers this option (Radiant damage ones vs Evocation ones - which need not be exclusive) is that Spellfire works for potentially every turn a spell you cast deals Radiant damage, whereas Evocation only allows adding HD once when you initially cast the spell.
But the part I want to focus on is this text: "...you can roll up to two of your unexpended Hit Point Dice and add the total rolled to one of the spell’s damage rolls." I think some people read this in plain language and think you add the damage dice of your hit dice (HD) you expend to the pool of damage for this spell. Others scrutinize the wording a little more closely and interpret it to mean the HD roll is a separate roll, and then that total is treated as a flat damage adder to the spell damage of one roll of the spell. Meaning, the HD do not get added into the damage roll itself, but rather are there only as a flat modifier increase much like a casting stat modifier or other flat bonus to damage. So which one is correct?
First, let's look at the text for rolling damage and critical hits from the PHB.
>Damage Rolls
>Each weapon, spell, and damaging monster ability specifies the damage it deals. You roll the damage dice, add any modifiers, and deal the damage to your target. If there’s a penalty to the damage, it’s possible to deal 0 damage but not negative damage.
>When attacking with a weapon, you add your ability modifier—the same modifier used for the attack roll—to the damage roll. A spell tells you which dice to roll for damage and whether to add any modifiers. Unless a rule says otherwise, you don’t add your ability modifier to a fixed damage amount that doesn’t use a roll, such as the damage of a Blowgun. See “Equipment” for weapons’ damage dice and “Spells” for spells’ damage dice.
>Critical Hits
>When you score a Critical Hit, you deal extra damage. Roll the attack’s damage dice twice, add them together, and add any relevant modifiers as normal. For example, if you score a Critical Hit with a Dagger, roll 2d4 for the damage rather than 1d4, and add your relevant ability modifier. If the attack involves other damage dice, such as from the Rogue’s Sneak Attack feature, you also roll those dice twice.
It's a bit of text, but I've highlighted the relevant bits I believe. I think the last one is particular is the most important, because it specifies that "other damage dice" get doubled as well on a crit for attacks, and gives the example of Rogue's Sneak Attack. So the question then becomes, are the Adept feats highlighted above "modifiers" or "other damage dice".
From a perspective of comparative damage conditions, such as Rogue's Sneak Attack or Hunter's Mark or Divine Smite, etc., they do seem to be extra dice. But, people will point out that language is a bit different than the Adept feats, as seen for example here:
>Sneak Attack: You know how to strike subtly and exploit a foe's distraction. Once per turn you can deal an extra 1d6 damage to one creature you hit with an attack roll if you have Advantage on the roll and the attack uses a Finesse or a Ranged weapon. The extra damage's type is the same as the weapon's type.
>Hunter's Mark: You magically mark one creature you can see within range as your quarry. Until the spell ends, you deal an extra 1d6 Force damage to the target whenever you hit it with an attack roll. You also have Advantage on any Wisdom (Perception or Survival) check you make to find it.
>Divine Smite: The target takes an extra 2d8 Radiant damage from the attack. The damage increases by 1d8 if the target is a Fiend or an Undead.
As I highlighted, people will often point to these and state the damage dice are "extra" to the attack, and thus counts as "other damage dice" that would be doubled on a crit. But the Adept feats (Evocation & Spellfire) state you "expend" the HD and add "the total rolled" to one damage roll. Thus "the total" is not the same as the dice themselves (the 2d6 or 2d10 or whatever), and therefore it's not doubled on a crit but instead a flat number. And, to be fair to them, perhaps they are correct. But I do want to highlight one small but important counter argument.
There is an ability in the game that does use this "number rolled" value and adds it to the damage, and still allows for that damage dice doubling on a crit. It is the Valor Bard's "Combat Inspiration - Offense" feature, which has the following text:
>Offense. Immediately after the creature hits a target with an attack roll, the creature can roll the Bardic Inspiration die and add the number rolled to the attack’s damage against the target.
Now, on its face we don't know for sure this counts as dice that gets doubled on a critical hit. Instead, this is stated directly in the Sage Advice Compendium
>For the College of Valor, does using Combat Inspiration’s Offense feature mean that the Bardic Inspiration die counts as a damage die for purposes of Critical Hits?
>Yes.
So based on this guidance and similar wording (i.e. rolling the dice first and then adding the number/total to the attack's damage), it appears that we would indeed double the dice on a critical hit for the Adept feats, and thus the dice would count as part of the "pool" of dice rolled for the particular spell's damage.
One last thing I want to end with before the next section. While Jeremy Crawford is no longer at WotC, he was the lead designer while 2024 was being written, and he had this to say about damage dice:
>When something in the game (Sneak Attack, Divine Smite, hex, etc.) causes your attack/spell/etc. to deal extra dice of damage, those dice are added to the damage the effect is already dealing, if any. It's one big damage roll, extra damage included.
>Q: how do you distinguish between second damage roll and extra damage?
>A: Separate damage rolls are delivered by separate attack rolls, saving throws, or other processes. Extra/bonus/additional damage is called extra/bonus/additional damage.
So while Crawford (especially his Tweets) are not considered official guidance or source material anymore, combining that with the above, current Sage Advice seems to indicate that because the Adept feats do not have a separate attack roll, saving throw, or "other process", they would be part of the same roll and the same spell effect. And thus those HD would add dice to the damage of whatever spell they are modifying.
Hopefully everyone reading this can see where I am going. HD come in sizes from d6 to d12, but only d8s in this context would be relevant. But, if the interpretation is correct (and/or your DM agrees) that those HD get added to the spell effect, rather than their total value, and Sorcerous Burst counts any d8 rolled "for this spell" as triggering extra d8s if they roll an 8, then if we use HD that are d8s from Evocation and Spellfire Adept, they would also add as potential dice to increase the number of d8s you can roll. So at say level 5 if you have one of these feats (and a way to add radiant damage if you are using Spellfire Adept) and you have a d8 HD (more on this later), you could instead of rolling 2d8 for damage roll instead 4d8. And if you critically hit, that would be 8d8 rather than 4d8. (Side note: I won't be talking about the spell Chromatic Orb in this post, but the same logic should apply there as well, but only to the first roll.)
Just for us math enthusiasts, the chances of rolling an 8 on 2d8 of dice is 1-(7/8)^2 = 23.4%, and with 4d8 it becomes 1-(7/8)^4 = 41.4%. So nearly double the chance of rolling at least one 8, and bringing it close to a 50-50 coin toss on if you roll an 8. So a significant bump in potentially triggering at least one additional d8 for the spell from just one Adept feat here. And the chance of rolling two 8s is up to ~7.9% (from 1.6%), so a little better than a chance to crit on a d20 dice.
Critical hits are when this gets pretty fun IMO. First, the main spell damage dice double (so up to potentially 8d8), and then the one-to-two Adept feat dice double (so potentially another 8d8), and then any additional dice rolled also would double, per the interpretations above. So you could roll up to your spellcasting modifier in d8s, which typically is 5, that are doubled to 10d8. In total then, at level 17+, a spellcaster using this spell could roll 26d8 from the base spell + Adept feats, even if rolling five 8s in total is somewhat rare of an occurrence probabilistically speaking. Even at level 8 when you can get these two feats, you still have a very good chance of turning one additional eight and a decent chance of adding a second d8 (about 1/6 chance).
There are I think three key factors that we want to try to exploit knowing this information.
*Note: We will discuss ways some classes/subclasses can get this spell natively.
With these in mind, I propose three build variations to try and maximize the usage of this spell. They are in order a Celestial Tomelock, a Sorcerer 2 / Valor Bard X, and a Mystic Arts Monk.
Celestial Warlock (Tomelock)
The Warlock can use their Pact of the Tome Invocation to access three cantrips from any spell list, which can include Sorcerer cantrips, and count them as Warlock spells. From there, they can add Agonizing Blast to any Warlock cantrip, which allows us to add our Charisma modifier to the damage rolls. We then can take the Celestial subclass to level 6 to get Radiant Soul, which allows us to again add our Charisma modifier if the spell we cast deals Radiant or Fire damage. Sorcerous Burst already allows us to change the damage type to Fire, so this fits perfectly.
As with all of these builds, the easiest way to add radiant damage to the spell is by being an Aasimar species. Their Celestial Revelation ability allows you to activate extra damage equal to your proficiency bonus that can be radiant damage if you choose Heavenly Wings or Inner Radiance. It only lasts a minute once per day, but it would count for the cantrip activating Spellfire Adept's requirements.
The last bit we need to do is have access to an ability or spell that causes automatic crits, which in our case will be the paralyzed condition. As a Warlock, we have three spells I think that fit. Hold Person is a classic, though it only works on Humanoids. Hold Monster works much the same way but on all creatures. And Summon Undead (Putrid) can also cause paralysis if the enemy is poisoned and is hit by the Rotting Claw attack. There are a few ways to make an enemy poisoned as a Warlock, including using their familiar (Quasit, Pseudodragon) or even just let the Summon Undead's Festering Aura cause poison to the enemy.
Once the enemy is paralyzed, we would like to make our attack rolls at advantage, since Sorcerous Burst is a ranged cantrip. So besides taking Evocation and Spellfire Adept, we will also take Spell Sniper to ensure our attack rolls are at advantage when we attack within 5 ft of the paralyzed enemy.
So, summing this all up, in combat we would spend a round or more making our enemy paralyzed. Then we would get within 5 ft of them and cast Sorcerous Burst with our Celestial Revelation active. If we hit (and this is level 12+ due to the feat requirements), we roll 6d8 (base spell crit) + 4d8 (Evocation Adept) + 4 (Celestial Revelation) + 4d8 (Spellfire Adept) + 5 (Agonizing Blast) +5 (Radiant Soul) + 2-10d8 (extra Sorcerous Burst dice that crit). With no extra dice, that is an average of 77 damage, and has the potential to roll up to 122 average damage. That's pretty great just from a cantrip.
So the final build is an Aasimar Celestial Tomelock 12+, taking the two described feats and a way to cause the paralyzed condition, and Spell Sniper for close range attacks not at disadvantage.
Is this better damage than making a supped up version of Eldritch Blast which uses the same tactics? No, probability wise it's unlikely. But it is a fun concept to explore at least, and I'm sure will feel really fun when you roll (say) three 8s an add six more d8s to your damage.
Sorcerer 2 / Valor Bard X
Similar to the Warlock, we take the Aasimar species, the two Adept feats, and Spell Sniper. What this build allows us to do is also cast this cantrip as part of the Attack action, so we can also make a weapon attack in addition to the damage we were dealing with the cantrip. We also can access the spells listed under Warlock to cause the paralyzed condition, or alternatively we can cast a few spells that cause the unconscious condition (like Sleep, Eyebite, or Symbol), which also leads to automatic crits if you are within 5 ft of the creature.
Sorcerer for two levels of course gets us the cantrip we are looking for (which works with Valor Bard's 6th level feature), but also gets us Metamagic. For this we will at the very least choose Empowered Spell for giving us more chances to roll 8s on our d8s after we've seen the result. And we could take Quickened as well I guess to cast the various spells that cause paralysis/unconscious. Or alternatively we could Quicken a second casting of Sorcerous Burst (lol), though using our HD on this second casting in one round would not be sustainable.
Assuming we hit (and crit), our damage would look something like this at level 14+ for the turn: 6d8 (base spell) + 8d8 (Evocation and Spellfire Adept) + 5 (Celestial Revelation) + 2-10d8 (extra Sorcerous Burst dice) + 2d8 (weapon attack, say Rapier) + Dex (say +3) = 80 base average damage, and up to 125 potential average damage. And remember we can reroll up to 5 of the d8s if we wish with our Empowered Spell metamagic, giving us a bit higher chance of rolling an 8 and getting to add 2d8 more in damage over the baseline number.
Mystic Arts Monk
Last and probably my favorite version of the mechanical exploit. Mystic Monks can natively get the Sorcerer cantrip from their spell list, and can use the same tactic as the Valor Bard in swapping an attack with a cantrip casting. But Mystic Monks can also attack up to four more times that round, making this just one part of their multi-prong attack. At level 17 they can even swap out two of their Flurry of Blows to cast a spell, which could be Hold Person or Sleep to force the auto-crit conditions (paralyzed or unconscious). They can force these saves to be made at disadvantage with their Stunning Strike save first, due to their level 11 Focused Strike technique. And maybe best of all, at level 20 they can have their Wisdom modified increase to a +7, meaning they could potentially roll another 4d8 on a crit.
Putting this all together, a level 11 Mystic Monk can cast Sorcerous Burst and attack that same round to do the following (total) damage on a crit: 6d8 (base spell) + 8d8 (Evocation + Spellfire Adept) + 4 (Celestial Revelation) + 2-8d8 (extra Sorcerous Burst dice from say +3 Dex / +4 Wisdom) + (2d10+3) x 4 (Flurry + other Attack action attack) = 123 base damage with the potential of 159 damage. At level 20 with a 24 in Wisdom/Dex, this number becomes 158 baseline and up to 221 damage. That is a lot of damage to do with a cantrip and a few other attacks.
I realize the probability of exploding dice does not tend to favor it dealing the upper end of the damage numbers I have listed. But, even without that, adding an extra 2-3d8, especially on a crit, could be a way to maximize this damage and push it into somewhat reliable territory for nova damage. I also recognize that not every DM will agree with this analysis or rule that the feats and spell interact in this way, and that is OK. In the end, people should play the game that is the most fun for them. I just wanted to write this post to explore one option that may be fun for people, should they decide they want to incorporate it into their games.
Have a good day to all those who have read to the end!
Hi!
I am building a mystic arts monk. rogue 1/monk x, warforged, Genie touched background gives the magic initiate for blade ward and mind sliver.
So here is where I am stuck on the horns of a dilemma. Rogue 1 is primarily for skills and story reasons. But it opens the door for dual wielding and the nick property for an extra attack without sacrificing bonus actions.
The problem: if I want to dual wield, I need warcaster, or else I cant use spells with somatic components (shield, jump, thunderwave, and mirror image spring to mind).
Warcaster at level 4 gets me advantage on concentration to keep blade ward up and I can dual wield while casting. But Magic Connoisseur (mirror image and jump) gets me 2 free castings, and more spells in a class with minimal spell choices.
Is it worth it to dual wield?
I’m hosting a level 20 one shot and one of my newer players has asked for help building a paladin. We are fighting corrupted angels and dragons. Can use 2024 or 2014 rule
Point buy
Level 20
Magic items 1 legendary, 1 very rare, 2 rare, 2 uncommon
20,000gp+ 1d10x250gp
Can buy or craft equipment
Common 100gp
Uncommon 400
Rare 4000
Very rare 40,000
The player chose half-elf because “no reason”
He isn’t attacked to any specific idea just wanted to give it a try but he liked the idea of a great sword.
Any build/ race/ item/ feat advice would be excellent
Thank you
I'm trying to create a character that affects dice rolls as much as possible or gives as much chance as possible to succeed, not only for themselves but also their team. Here's what I've got so far. Would love to know a) if this is hella dumb and b) if there are other ways (aside from Divination Wizard) to do the type of manipulations I'm describing here.
You'd think I'd be a Diviner Wizard, but I was thinking of Warlock for some more origin feats. At level 5, I'd have 5 Eldritch Invocations, which I'd assign as follows:
I feel like I'd HAVE to take Agonizing Blast. The others would allow me to give out PB Heroic Inspiration once per long rest when I roll initiative and whenever I completed a short or long rest. In addition, I would receive Heroic Inspiration PBX per short or long rest when someone else expended it.
I don't know which Warlock subclass would work best.
Anyway, after about 6 or 7 levels in Warlock, I'd probably go for Bard. Actually, I'd probably do one level in Bard 1st, then the Warlock levels, then back into Bard. I'd want a couple of 1st level spell slots for "Silvery Barbs". For the subclass, probably "Lore," especially for "Cutting Words".
For Feats, I'm thinking the following:
So here's my tally:
For Myself:
For Others Only:
For Both:
This post is a continuation of a series of build guidance in creating a "Gish" Mystic Arts Monk with various available abilities that can be added to the subclass and class. For the original post/Chapter regarding Control and the overall goal/motivation of these posts, please see the following link.
Also, as mentioned in the original post, this will focus mainly on just 2024 source material (so no 5e/2014 content, except where noted), which is reserved for the final Chapter of the series. It also does not have a TL;DR, but I try to highlight the main part of each bullet if I can to at least allow folks to skim the content and get some of the details, if they choose.
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Chapter 2 as the title indicates is all about improving the damage of the Mystic Monk's attacks through spells or spells' damage through attacks. I won't necessarily be talking the specific damage results one can get here, more just the philosophy around how to improve damage in various ways.
We again divide the section up into Single Target and Multi-Target Damage options, and as mentioned in the Preamble, we focus on synergies that combine the unique power of the Monk with the power of spellcasting. This means increasing either our chance to hit/crit, ways to deal more damage per hit or spell (or sometimes movement), or ways to deal damage to more enemies at a time. Also, I want to look beyond the obvious of adding a True Strike or other cantrip to our Attack action, as while that is a potential boost to damage, it also doesn't really combine anything unique about the Monk, as really any Gish with the cantrip attack feature (so EK, Bladesinger, and Valor Bards) can do that. Instead, we use the "Tools" and "Tech" listed in the Preamble of my first post to uniquely improve the power of this subclass and its abilities.
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How this works: I'll present categories of different forms of damage combinations that the Monk can employ, and explain where the spellcasting combined with martial abilities really enhance the play style and tactics that can be used.
* Stun + Attack Roll Spell: An obvious one, but it still should be listed for completeness. Stunning can give you advantage to all attack rolls, including spell ones. So this could be advantage on a cantrip like True Strike or Poison Spray or Sorcerous Burst (more on this later) or a leveled spell like Spellfire Flare, Chromatic Orb, or Scorching Ray. Probably best paired with Spell Sniper feat, though you can leave melee range against a stunned target without provoking, so not strictly necessary.
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* Grappler/Prone + Spell Attack: Besides of course the great control grappling generates on a target, we can also use grapples and the Grappler feat or the prone condition to gain advantage on spell attacks. Shocking Grasp, Chill Touch, and True Strike could work here for cantrips that all have useful riders, or we could use ranged attacks as straight rolls in melee or take the Spell Sniper feat to make them at advantage too. Lupin species + Grappler feat gets even better use of this, as they can attack with their first unarmed strike, deal damage, initiate a grapple save, and initiate a prone save, all before you make your second attack, which again can swap as a cantrip.
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* Spell Combos: These are specific spell combinations the Mystic Monk can utilize for more damage, be it through more damage per attack, better accuracy, weaponized movement, or more attacks. They are sub-divided into cantrips, level 1 spells, and level 2 & 3 spells. While we do get access to level 4 spells eventually, because this happens so late, I generally won't include them in the discussion unless they result in a truly potent combo.
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Cantrip Damage Combinations
-Shillelagh + True Strike: It's not much different than your normal setup, but this can give you a reason to try to be Wisdom SAD. You might end up doing slightly more damage depending on level and enemy AC (even with lower unarmed strike chances to hit and Dex damage), though your grapple DCs will be lower, so it's at least worth pointing out as an option. If your DM doesn't let you precast Shillelagh often before combat, this loses its appeal as a combo. Can potentially be combined with Alter Self, though that is spell that is only available at 7th level, so pretty late for most campaigns to make your stats around.
-Sorcerous Burst + Evocation Adept (+ Spellfire Adept): This one is an interesting addition for Mystic Monks. Grab Sorcerous Burst as a Wisdom cantrip, and grab the Evocation Adept feat. On a hit add your 2d8 extra HD to the roll and increase the chance of getting another d8 (or more) added to the roll. This works especially great on critical hits, when everything is doubled (including the extra d8s I believe), so you can in theory roll up to 18d8 from the cantrip on a crit if you roll up to five 8s (if we have a +5 Wisdom at say level 8). We also can potentially give ourselves advantage on the attack through Stunning Strike landing. If you also find a source of Radiant damage for the attack (such as being an Aasimar), you can throw Spellfire Adept on there too, for 26d8 potential damage on a crit (at level 17+). And if you are level 20 Monk with a 24 in Wisdom, this can add another 4d8, giving us an even 30d8 on a crit. Even at more reasonable levels (say 6), this combo still can do 2d8+2d8+~1-2d8 = 22.5-27 average damage, and it's a Sorcerer cantrip, so you'd still get 3 more attacks if you want. And it can blast cold damage, so it can work with Cold Caster too. Finally, Spell Sniper might be necessary, but if you combine this with Hold Person or Sleep at point blank range (5 ft), you auto-crit, making it that much more likely to roll max d8s.
If your DM rules that Evocation Adept and Spellfire Adept don't work on a crit or interact with Sorcerous Burst this way, direct them to the Sage Advice regarding Valor Bard's Combat Inspiration Offense feature, which they rule counts as doubling on a crit and uses the same language. Also, why ruin the fun?
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Level 1 Spell Combinations
-Hex / Hunter's Mark / Enlarge/Reduce (technically a 2nd level spell, but same category): Allows us to add extra damage to each attack. Hex (origin feat, species, feat) and HM (multiclass, feat) compete with our bonus action, which is already well known, but isn't a terrible trade off for say boss fights or when you know the fight will go on for a while. Enlarge/Reduce (Sorcerer spell, but also can get it from Faerie species) is useful if you don't want to lose BA attacking or other abilities after the initial casting. And because you can action cast it then BA attack, you can immediately use the benefit that round. Mystic Monks of course get to cast all of these spells more thanks to having spell slots and short rest spell slot recharge.
-Jump + Grapple + Fall Prone: Jump spell allows you to exchange 10 ft of movement for 30 ft of jump distance. If you jump straight up and then fall while maintaining the grapple, you can negate the damage via Slow Fall while the enemy takes 3d6 and is knocked prone. Note that if you don't negate all the damage, you also fall prone. Also, though this is DM dependent, you can potentially use Step of the Wind to double the jump to 60 ft (and thus do 6d6 falling damage). RAW this probably doesn't work, but it's potentially a lot of fun and uses resources, so it doesn't feel super broken (until high levels you will likely take damage and fall prone too). If allowed, Feather Fall could help fix the damage/prone issue at low levels, though you'd release the grapple doing so. Lastly, you can potentially grapple and try to pile drive two enemies you've grabbed, but DMs might limit you by carrying capacity.
-Bless + Flurry: Simple, but raise your attack bonus the same round you cast Bless. This is great if you don't have a use of your concentration, as it also buffs/supports 2+ allies. Bless can of course be obtained from Magic Initiate or Fey Touched (or other feats) or a single level dip into Cleric.
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Level 2 and 3 Spell Combinations
-Hold Person + Flurry: Hold Person causes the paralyzed condition, which will make our BA Flurry strikes all crits. Can stack damage dice riders on top as available (Goliath's various on hit damage adders, multiclass with Battle Master for Superiority Dice, or possibly the Charger feat). At level 17 we can cast this with our BA Flurry and then attack with our action, which could also be substituted for one cantrip attack. Also our Focused Strike ability at level 11 means that we can force the enemy to make the save at disadvantage every round if we first apply a Stunning Strike to them, making it that much more likely they stay paralyzed. And of course our Saving Throw Debuffs (STDs) from the Control Chapter can be used to further ensure the spell lands.
-Spike Growth + Grapple + Grappler feat: Aka the Cheese Grater. This one is a bit DM dependent in how they interpret dragging a creature works, but the idea is action cast Spike Growth (picked up via Magical Connoisseur) then BA grapple and drag the enemy around the edge of the Spike Growth, dealing 2d4 for every 5 ft of movement. Grappler feat increases this further by not limiting your movement speed while grappling (for creatures your size or smaller). Speedy feat or spells like Longstrider could increase your speed even higher. If your DM rules that the enemy is dragged/carried only directly behind you, or rules both you and the grappled creature take the damage, then we can still use Spike Growth with forced movement like shoving them back into the spikes or using Push weapon masteries (feat or multiclass) or other feats like Crusher, etc. to still force them to be moved through the growth unwillingly, even if at much lower distances than the grapple combo can do.
-Cloud of Daggers: Lots of different ways to amplify the damage of this spell. First, Stunning + auto-grapple a target while they are in the AOE (DM permitting that we don't also take the damage) means they will take the second turn of damage as well. We can also knock them back into the Cloud with shoves or weapon masteries or feats (Crusher comes to mind). We can knock them prone and reduce their speed such that they can't get up/out. Our action is also somewhat less valuable, so we can simply move the Cloud with our action and still apply the same techniques to another enemy via BA grapples/shoves/etc. And since none of this requires a save, we don't need an exceptionally high Wisdom to use this and still amplify our normal damage per round.
-Alter Self: As mentioned, Alter Self (on the Sorcerer's spell list) could be used as a way to make your Unarmed Strikes use Wisdom rather than Dexterity, to make you a Wisdom SAD Monk. However, this does have a couple of drawbacks. First is the spell requires concentration, so we can't combine it with other concentration spells. Second, it changes your unarmed strike damage to a d6 rather than it being a d8 (or higher), so this would be a downgrade in damage per unarmed strike. That being said, it lasts an hour and lets you change the damage type of the unarmed strikes, so it could work with the Slasher or Piercer feats if those options are preferred.
-Haste + 2 Cantrips: Available with third level spells, Haste is an interesting option for Monks, though maybe we should wait until level 14 to truly take advantage of it. It of course boosts our speed, AC, and Dex saves, but most importantly gives us another action, which we can use to Attack and sub out an additional cantrip attack. So with this active you could cast Sorcerous Burst (or other cantrip) twice in a turn and still have 3-4 unarmed strikes to pair with it. Of course, the downside to Haste is if you lose concentration, but with proficiency in Con saves at level 14 (Disciplined Survivor) and a reroll ability should we fail, we have a decent chance to maintain this. We can of course pair this with War Caster or Lucky to boost it further. This spell is also good at giving us more control options through Unarmed Strikes, and additionally boosts our defenses, so it could really fit in Chapters 1, 2, or 3 depending on how it is used.
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Multi-target damage is divided up a bit differently due to how certain spells and abilities interact with each other. The first section will deal with Instantaneous Damage Spells and how they can be augmented using Mystic Monk features, and the second will handle Emanation/Duration Spells that deal damage over multiple rounds. Unfortunately Monks do not normally have ways to deal multi-target damage (like most martials), so all of these are exploits of spell combinations that the Mystic Monk can amplify or gain advantage from in some way.
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Instantaneous Damage Spells
-AOE Spell + Forced Movement: This one is straight forward. You can line up spells like Burning Hands, Thunderwave, Shatter, and Fireball for hitting multiple enemies that weren't originally grouped together. This can be from grappling, shoving, or various push techniques (like a weapon mastery via a dip or feat). Taking Evocation Adept, even if you don't get access to Wall of Force, can still be used to bump the damage a bit by adding 2d8 more, which against multiple enemies is great value. We can alternatively move allies out of the way of our AOE spells before we cast them, grappling 1-3 of them as needed without provoking Opportunity Attacks as they leave the enemy's range.
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-Stun + AOE Dex (or Strength) Saves - Stunned targets automatically fail Dex/Strength saving throws, meaning if you stun someone and then hit them with a Fireball, Burning Hands, or Dragon's Breath, they will take full damage every time (unless they have resistance). This does only impact one target per spell casting, but I decided to list it on multi-target because it's generally AOE spells that have Dex saves for damage. There is one low level spell I can think of that requires a Strength based save that deals damage and that is Ensnaring Strike, which we could get with a one level dip into Ranger. It probably is better for control, as it imposes the Restrained condition on a success (which they would auto-fail if they fail the Stun), but that does grant us/allies advantage on attacks and deals 1d6 damage at the start of the enemy's turn. Not convinced it would always be worth giving up your bonus action attacks, but I could see a build using it to truly lock down an enemy.
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-Grapple + Thunderclap: Grapple 1-2 enemies, maybe drag them near enough to a 3rd or 4th such that they are all within 5 ft of you, then cast the Thunderclap cantrip. This probably isn't worth it a lot of the time over just punching/attacking, but if you get enough enemies near you it might make it OK. Still good to list as an option.
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-Evasion + Fireball: While this is not always advised, we can in theory cast a Fireball or other Dex based AOE on ourselves and then rely on Evasion to take half damage at most. If we grab a species or feat or spell with resistance to fire damage, we can also add resistance to that damage reduction. Evocation Adept also enhances this by adding an additional 2d8 to the roll.
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-BA Disengage + AOE spell: Similar to Fireball, except we move out of our own spell AOE. Works on non-Dex based spells like Shatter. You can definitely do this in place of Evasion, but isn't it cooler to just stand still and not take any damage from your own spell anyways?
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-Laeral's Silver Lance: While this may look like a worse version of Lightning Bolt, Monks benefit from this in an interesting way. Strength saves are not always the best to target, but they can be good when targeting Dex based enemies or spellcasters. 3d10 force damage is also worse than 8d6 (16.5 damage vs 28 damage on average), but the Prone condition means we get advantage on our follow up attacks. It probably is about an even trade in terms of damage when accounting for accuracy, but we could also try to grapple a couple enemies to keep them prone, giving melee allies the benefit of advantage attacks too.
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-Astral Flood: This spell does potentially double duty with control (where I have updated it) and damage. Specifically, the Radiant damage option on a failed save makes the target Blinded, which in turn would give our follow up Unarmed Strike attacks advantage. Also, because it is a Dex save, stunning an enemy in the AOE before casting would cause them to automatically fail the save.
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Emanation / Duration Damage Spells
-Emanation Spell + Movement: By level 13, while Cacophonic Shield does not deal a ton of damage nor target a particularly weak saving throw of most monsters, we can weaponize it a bit better than most because of our bonus action Step of the Wind, allowing us to Dash and Disengage for the low cost of 1 Focus Point. Disengage btw works for preventing all Opportunity Attacks (unless they have say Sentinel or other type ability), not just the first one, so you can run past multiple enemies easily. You also just have a large amount of movement at this level, able to cover potentially 100 ft or more of distance from just the base Monk. You can of course add in stuff like Longstrider or even take the Speedy feat if desired to boost your movement further.
If you like this kind of play style, you can even BA Step of the Wind and move about, then ready your action to also move on another person's turn, triggering Cacophonic Shield damage twice per round. Now, I'm personally not the biggest fan of this normally, because it feels a bit cheesy in terms of game mechanics, but it does make the damage a bit more deadly at this level, bumping it to 6d6 per round, which is almost Fireball level. It does sub out all your normal attacks though, so it might be better to use Flurry and a more limited 50 ft of movement most of the time. Also, this probably only makes sense if you can effect 3+ enemies, otherwise your regular attacks and spells and such will probably be more effective.
Alternatively, Emanation spells like Cacophonic Shield do damage again to targets if they remain in the emanation at the end of their turn. So you can in practice grapple one-two enemies and force them to break the grapple with their action or take the extra damage. If it's a non-casting turn, you can even take the dodge action or disengage with your action or BA, depending which you prefer. So sequence of events could be cast Cacophonic Shield, triggering a first round of saves, then BA grapple 1-2 enemies. Then if they stay grappled you get to hit them twice with damage. On your next turn, to hit them twice again, you can let go of the grapple, move away (either provoke an opportunity attack, or Disengage or Dodge) and move back to hit them again, then grapple them again to force them in place. (Also note, while Stunning is great, the enemy can technically move while Stunned, so we would rather have them grappled.)
Also by the way your reaction is also a grapple check potentially, so if they escape or you don't succeed on your turn, you always have a potential second turn to do it again to one enemy if they try to leave your reach (which may or may not be worth it over just attacking). Alternatively, your reaction attack can also slow them down and keep them in the emanation range, if you say combine Stun with Slasher with Frost Goliath or such. Or just grab Sentinel.
Finally, Evocation Adept should work on the turn you cast this spell and deal damage, but only to one creature and only on that first turn. Alternatively, if you grab Spellfire Adept and add radiant damage (such as through Aasimar's racial ability), you could add 2 HD to one roll every round it's active and you have spare HD. Perhaps there is a way to get it to deal Radiant damage on off turns as well, but Aasimar is only adding radiant damage on your turn.
This btw can work with any Emanation spell, which we will keep in mind when we get to the multiclass Chapter.
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-Conjure Animals: Gotten through Conjuration Adept, we can do similar forced movement options to push/move enemies within the 10 ft range of the conjuration, triggering more Dex saves. We can also hold enemies in place with grapples and slow options for more damage at the end of their turns. Stunned creatures also auto-fail Dex saves, so you could Stun them and then push or grapple them into range to trigger the damage automatically. Grappling + Stun is particularly appealing, because they will remained Stunned both on your turn and their turn, auto-triggering the damage twice in a round.
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-Moonbeam + Movement: Picked up with Magical Connoisseur or three levels of Druid. Challenge with Moonbeam is that it can hit allies as well as enemies, though it does not need to move in straight lines. But as it does use a Magic Action to move it, we can either move allies out of the path or move enemies into it with our BA grapples/shoves before moving the Beam. We can of course also potentially debuff their saving throws in the process, making it extra potent. You can also force zero movement to make it so they have to end their turn in the Beam, giving you double damage if they fail the save.
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For those of you continuing to read all my posts, I hope they are interesting reads. And thank you for sticking around for this! Next up, Chapter 3: Tanking/Buffing. Also, feel free to leave a comment on any combinations I have overlooked or missed in my analysis, and I will add them with appropriate credit.
Swords Bard is kind of in a unique place in regards to backwards comparability. To my recollection, it’s the only subclass that gets a fighting style. Since this subclass wasn’t updated, it still presents the old fighting style options, and just includes two, two weapon fighting and dueling. But since fighting styles are feats now, would that whole feature get replaced by the ability to choose any fighting style feat? Is there an official ruling on this, or would a 5.5e swords bard still only get to pick between dueling and two weapon fighting