Monk |
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Subclasses |
Way of the Open Hand |
Monk Initial Features |
Monk is a Class in Baldur's Gate 3. Monks primary ability is Dexterity & Wisdom, their saving throw proficiencies are Strength & Dexterity and they have a Hit Dice of 1d8 per monk level. They have proficiency with Simple weapons, shortswords.
Monks in DnD are inspired by the Monastic traditions of Asia and are the newest addition to the Baldur's Gate 3 roster. They were officially revealed just before the official release of the game and were not available during the Early Access of the game. Developers wanted to have different approaches, which introduced the 3 Subclasses: Way of the Open Hand, Way of Shadow, and Way of the Four Elements, which are each distinct interpretations of what a Monk means. The Monk in Baldur's Gate 3 will focus on different Monk abilities that will vary in style across the different subclasses from elemental abilities and Spells, to ninja-like combat actions.
In Baldur's Gate 3, Monks employ a unique gameplay Actions mechanic. These Actions mimic spell effects, but their distinctive feature lies in their consumption of Ki Points.
Channel your cosmic enlightenment by deftly dodging and efficiently disassembling your foes through stunning strikes and a whirlwind of martial art attacks."
BG3 Monk Class Features
- Hit Points at 1st level: 8 + Constitution modifier
- Hit Points at Higher Levels: 5 + Constitution modifier
PROFICIENCIES
- Weapons: Simple Weapons, Shortsword
- Saving Throws: Strength, Dexterity,
- Skills: Choose 2 Skills from: Acrobatics, Athletics, History, Insight, Religion, Stealth
EQUIPMENT
- Monastic Robes, Monastic Boots
- Quarterstaff,
- Health Potion x2, Scroll of Revivify
Unique Class Feature
- Flurry of Blows (Action): Using a Bonus action and a Ki Point, punch twice in quick succession. Equivalent to two normal unarmed attacks.
- Ki: To perform special abilities
- Unarmoured Defense: Your reflexes are as effective as any armour. While not wearing armour, you add your Wisdom Modifier to your Armour Class.
- Martial Arts: Dextrous Attacks: Attacks with Monk Weapons and unarmed attacks scale with your Dexterity instead of your Strength if your Dexterity is higher.
- Martial Arts: Deft Strikes: Attacks with Monk Weapons and unarmed attacks deal 1d4 Bludgeoning damage, unless their normal damage is higher.
- Martial Arts: Bonus Unarmed Strike: After making an attack with a Monk Weapon or while unarmed, you can make another unarmed attack as a bonus action.
BG3 Monk Class Progression
- Level 1
- Flurry of Blows (Action)
- Ki (Class Feature)
- Unarmoured Defence (Class Feature)
- Martial Arts: Dextrous Attacks (Class Feature)
- Martial Arts: Deft Strikes (1d4) (Class Feature)
- Martial Arts: Bonus Unarmed Strike (Class Feature)
- Level 2
- Unarmoured Movement (Class Feature)
- Patient Defence (Action)
- Step of the Wind: Dash (Action)
- Step of the Wind: Disengage (Action)
- Level 3
- Deflect Missiles (Class Feature)
- Martial Arts: Deft Strikes (1d6) (Class Feature)
- Subclass Selection (Way of the Four Elements, Way of the Open Hand, Way of Shadow, Drunken Master)
- Level 4
- Slow Fall (Class Feature)
- Choose a Feat - Choose one from the Feats list
- Level 5
- Extra Attack (Class Feature)
- Stunning Strike (Melee) (Weapon Actions)
- Stunning Strike (Unarmed) (Weapon Actions)
- Level 6
- Improved Unarmoured Movement (Class Feature)
- Ki-Empowered Strikes (Class Feature)
- Subclass Feature
- Level 7
- Evasion (Class Feature)
- Stillness of Mind (Class Feature)
- Level 8
- Choose a Feat - Choose one from the Feats list
- Level 9
- Advanced Unarmoured Movement (Class Feature)
- Martial Arts: Deft Strikes (1d8) (Class Feature)
- Subclass Feature (Four Elements / Open Hand only)
- Level 10
- Improved Unarmoured Movement (Class Feature)
- Purity of Body (Class Feature)
- Level 11
- Subclass Feature
- Level 12
Monk Subclasses Feature
Way of the Four Elements
- Harmony of Fire and Water: While not in combat, regain half of your Ki Point (rounded down).
- Select 3 subclass spells from:
Way of the Open Hand
- Flurry of Blows: Topple: Punch twice in quick succession and potentially knock the target
Prone. - Flurry of Blows: Stagger: Punch twice in quick succession and Stagger the target, making it unable to take Reactions.
- Flurry of Blows: Push: Punch twice in quick succession and potentially push your target 5m/17 ft away.
Way of Shadow
- Shadow Arts: Hide: Hide from enemies by succeeding at Stealth checks. Stick to the dark and avoid enemy sightlines. Attacking or casting a spell will reveal your location.
- Shadow Arts: Pass Without Trace: Call forth a veil of shadow and silence that gives you and nearby allies a +10 bonus to Stealth checks.
- Shadow Arts: Darkness: Create a cloud of magical darkness that Heavily Obscures and Blinds creatures within. Creatures cannot make ranged attacks into or out of it.
- Shadow Arts: Darkvision: Grant a creature the ability to see in the dark out to a range of 12 m / 40 ft.
- Shadow Arts: Silence: Create a sound-proof sphere. All within are Silenced and immune to Thunder damage.
- Minor Illusion: Create an illusion that compels nearby creatures to investigate. You can remain hidden while casting this spell. This spell can be cast while you are Silenced.
Drunken Master
- Cheeky Tipple: You are Immune to the negative effects of being Drunk. Once per day, when you drink alcohol, you regain half your Ki Points (rounded down).
- Drunken Performance: You gain Proficiency in Performance.
- Drunken Technique: Punch twice in quick succession and grant yourself an additional 3 m / 10 ft movement and the benefits of Disengage.
- Intoxicating Strike: Hit a creature with your bare fists and possibly get them Drunk.
- Leap to Your Feet: When you are Prone, standing up uses only 1.5 m / 5 ft of your Movement speed.
- Redirect Attack: When a creature misses you with a melee attack, you can spend 1 Ki Point as a reaction to make them attack a new target if possible.
- Life of the Party: Every time Intoxicating Strike hits, the monk gains Life of the Party, which increases Armour Class and Attack Rolls against Drunk targets. This effect can stack.
- Sobering Realisation: Hit a Drunk target and sober them up by dealing bonus Psychic damage. On a successful hit, the monk also loses Life of the Party.
- Drunkard's Luck: When you make an Ability Check, Attack Roll, or Saving Throw and have Disadvantage on the roll, you can spend 2 Ki Points to negate the Disadvantage for that roll.
Monk Specific Gear (In Order of Appearance)
| Corellon's Grace (Auntie Ethel - Act 1) | Gloves of Uninhibited Kushigo (Derryth Bonecloak - Act 1) | Armour of Uninhibited Kushigo (Sergeant Thrinn - Act 1) | Hat of Uninhibited Kushigo (Quartermaster Talli - Act2) |
| Gloves of Crushing (Roah Moonglow - Act 2) | Garb of the Land and Sky (Enthral Danthelon - Act 3) |
BG3 Monk Multiclass Builds
Monk Tips & Builds
- NEW SUBCLASS, Drunken Master, will be added in Patch 8.
- Monks gain 1 additional Ki Point at each level after the 1st.
- Monks have Unarmored Defense like Barbarian, but with Wisdom and Dexterity affecting their Armor Class. Focus on Dexterity to maximize your unarmored benefits while also increasing your damage potential before moving to Wisdom.
- Way of the Open Hand is a good choice for beginners due to its versatile combat options.
- Way of the Shadow becomes more potent after gaining Shadow Step at level 6.
- Hold off on multi-classing your Monk until after level 5 to access their extra attack feature, which significantly boosts your damage potential.
- Choose Way of the Open Hand for control and debuffs, or Way of Shadow for stealth and teleportation abilities, based on your preferences.
- Activate Flurry of Blows to make 2 unarmed strikes as a bonus action while retaining all extra unarmed damage effects from items and feats. (Pairs really well with the Tavern Brawler)
In Other Languages
- Español (España): Monje
AnonymousNever played DnD. Just picked monk because I did Gung fu for 15 years. Seems like it was a solid pick.
- Anonymous
I ended up opting to not play monk because it was too overpowered. If it was balanced it'd be a pretty cool class but stunlocking an enemy while doing over 400 damage per turn strips away any difficulty.
- Anonymous
monks be goku best versatile class in they dodge tanks oh yes psychic damage
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
if monk were called martial artist it would be a lot more popular
- Anonymous
Btw. Tavern brawler may combo well.
But Gwm can be used on ALL two handed melee weapons. Including staffs and spears
- Anonymous
Kinda wish we got the Kensei subclass, but monk is still all sorts of fun.
- Anonymous
How cool would it be to have a ring/amulet that regenerates 1 KI every time you use "Shove"?
Opinions?
- Anonymous
The Tavern Brawler is really op but it's not very easy to do if you're playing with friends since it relies on a lot of consumable farming. Open hand 9 / thief 3 will give you Ki resonating punch and an extra action. Resonating punch does not consume Ki, can be used as an action AND as a bonus action, you can attack 4 times without relying on any consumable, magic, or item. And you can blow people up by using one Ki at the end of your turn, this does not require action. Also this allows you to use weapons as stat sticks, since you can equip them and keep punching. Not as powerful as tavern brawler, but more fun in my opinion.
Monk becomes stupidly overpowered when paired with Cloud Giant Strength elixir and Tavern Brawler feat. No matter how you choose to build it from there, getting +16 attack and damage to your unarmed attacks will make you a powerhouse.
- Anonymous
[BUILD]
**Monk Mail Open-Hand[8]+Rogue Thief[3]+ Warrior[1]*** or
**Monk Mail Open-Hand[8]+Rogue Thief[4]***
Race: Schield Dwarf [Medium Armour Proficiency]
Monk: [Martial Arts: Bonus Unarmed Strike + Martial Arts: Dextrous Attacks]
Thief: [Sneak Attack + Fast Hands + Cunning Actions]
Optional Fighter: [if you want Two-Weapon Fighting or Shield Proficiency]
LOW Equipe example [Act 1-2]:
*Yuan-Ti Scale Mail (Mail Armor/2° ACT VendorLastInn)
*Cloak of Protection (Cloak/2° ACT VendorLastInn)
*Knife of the UnderMountain King (Shortsword/1° ACT VendorGithyanki)
*The Speedy Lightfeet (Mail Boots/1° ACT UnderMill)
*The Sparkle Hands (Mail Gloves/1° ACT SwampTreeQuest)
*Caustic Band (Ring/1° ACT VendorUnderdark)
*Crusher's Ring (Ring/1° ACT Goblin)
*Hunting Shortbow (Shortbow/1° ACT VendorDruid)
In Backpack for Switch:
*Eversight Ring (Ring/2° ACT HealingHouse)
*Gloves of Cinder and Sizzle (Gloves/1° ACT VendorMonastery)
*Gloves of the Balanced Hands (Gloves/2° ACT VendorLastInn)
*Dark Justiciar Gauntlets (Gloves/2° ACT SharTemple)
*Disintegrating Night Walkers (Boots/1° ACT Nere)
*Evasive Shoes (Boots/2° ACT VendorLastInn)
*Periapt of Wound Closure (Amulet/1° ACT VendorMonastery)
*Sentient Amulet (Amulet/1° ACT QuestMonK)
As far as I know unarmed Buddhist monks are more of an East Asian tradition, including areas like eastern China (Shaolin monks) and Japan (Sohei). The master who lives on the highest mountain in the world is more a creation of fantasy literature than reality of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition.
- Anonymous
From my experiance:
Open Hand Monk 9/Thief Rogue 3 - makes Astarion an absolute killing machine when he gets his unique buff from act 3 but is good on anyone
Open Hand Monk 5/Circle of Moon Druid 7 - might be really good for shapeshifting-oriented builds but needs testing does it stacks as it should
Monk 1/Circle of Spores Druid 11 - really good, universal build mainly for supporting but capable of dealing huge dmg and quite tanky, however full Spores Druid with certain act 3 robe might be better at supporting
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
New to this game. Will my monk build work?
Druid 2 (for symbiotic which gives extra dmg per long rest as long as my hp doesn't drop below 8 pts, and also the heals are good) berries and resistance sounds great
Cleric 1 War (For heavy armour and i heard that i can get one extra attack per short rest? this is the part im not sure if it works especially it says weapon attack and im unarmed) - healing word and blade ward sounds good here
rogue 3 - (Don't need fighter because i already have heavy armour from the cleric... but no shield bonus?) i'll get the addition attack (once per short rest?)
Monk 6 - for the ki strikes
Option 2: Way of crits?
Monk 7
fighter 3
druid 2
Does this method do more dmg if i go crit route? (probably need to be half orc for this)
- Anonymous
Take Open Hand and don't multiclass, eat ethel's hair for wisdom and once you get the gloves in ACT 1 that set your dex to 18 go and respec into str, wis and con and take tavern brawler. You'll almost never miss a hit, your fists hit like a truck, the wisdom boosts your AC and the open hand's radiant/psychic/necrotic damage and go full unarmed ham
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Just so people are aware monks are good how Larian made them, but not THAT great, the real power is from Tavern brawler. Which is just insanely OP, and the fact that you can wear armor and use a shield as a monk, if they fixed both of those monk would be decent but not OP.
- Anonymous
After the run I just did, the monk is by far the most efficient fighter in the game in my opinion. Took down most bosses in one or two turns, often without them having a chance to respond. They are just very, very OP right now.
Just grab whatever race you like (although a few have nice advantages like Duergar, Wood Elf). Go w dex and wis, way of the open hand and drink a elixir of hill/cloud giant strength. The elixir holds for a day, which is plenty when the monk gets going. That strengthboost combined w tavern brawler turns it into a beast as soon as you get the feat. Bracers of defence (AC +2) are a really great early piece of equipment until the later bracers/gauntlets.
Game changer information : You don't need to be unarmed offhand to punch so you can dual wield weapon to have effect of them.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Monk is really OP right now wiith tavern brawler feat and I absolutely love it. but their class related dialogues are boring as hell. too much pacifist for my tastes.
- Anonymous
I saw a book about way of the sun soul that was completely empty somewhere in a basement in Baldur's Gate. I think this means that the class was cut for final release and might be accesible in a future patch
- Anonymous
"Way of the Shadow becomes more potent after gaining Shadow Step at level 6."
Ah yes, the floor here is made out of floor... of course your subclass becomes more potent after getting a subclass feature, that's with EVERY SINGLE SUBCLASS. Who even wrote this...?
- Anonymous
This site sucks so much balls. Seriously? no listing for monk at levels 11 and 12? has noone picked it?
- Anonymous
can confirm tavern brawler is added to bonus unarmed attack in full version
- Anonymous
1 War Domain Cleric/11 Open Hand Monk. Use Divination Wizard to Haste (use a Haste Potion but you only got 3 turns of it) and Divine Favor before battle. Wholeness of body in any round you want. Next round, you can attack 7 times (Flurry of Blows topple and Stunning Strike). If enemy succeeds, use Portent (if you have any low rolls) to make them fail. Advantage on all attacks and completely skips their turn of combat. Bosses in Act2 and Act3 couldn't even move and huge chunks of their health bars disappeared on Tactician, lol
- Anonymous
At Lv9, your unarmed dice go from 1d6 to 1d8, should be another upgrade at Lv12 to 1d10 I assume?
- Anonymous
Eldritch initiate is a good feat if you're not putting many points in Wisdom.
Get the level 1 Hex spell from the warlock spell list and use it make enemies roll disadvantage against your abilities.
Hex also persists between fights
- Anonymous
Wood elf monk baby!
Longsword as a monk weapon
Super speed
2 bonus skills that match your attribute investment (dexterity and wisdom)
Go glass cannon tavern brawling monk (level 12 open hand, str 18 dex 14 con-12 int-8 Wis- 20 Cha-8) double that strength bonus for unarmed !**chef's kiss**
- Anonymous
Wood elf monk be like:
....nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnneeeeeeeeoooooommmmmmmmmmmm!!!
I'm fast as fk boiiiiiiii!
- Anonymous
High Dex: Higher AC = harder to be hit, while also having a good accuracy and damage.
High Str: Probably bound to open hand + tavern brawler, your accuracy and damage now rolls by Str, "with an extra dice" from tavern bralwer which is bound to Str rolls.
High Wis: Maybe you're multiclassing, gives a bit of AC(from monk passive), maybe you're boosting a little more elemental damage from way of the open hand lv6.
Please don't blame people's build being terrible advices, the game just came out, the website information is out-of-date, the rules of how things apply or not apply is not crystal clear, respec is only 100 gold away, and there's always save & load, it's not like theres no return.
I'm a Lv7 monk with Str20 Dex16 Con12 Wis14 + open hand + tavern brawler, at act 2, playing with a group of 4 players: tank bard cleric monk, my role is like an assassin which does insane damage to enemies, I'm never into battle first, mostly in last after enemies are locked into combat, then I stealth in. I have huge issues on sustaining, since my AC is only 17 with a Con12, while the rest of the team is like 20+, I'm literally glass-cannon. Since my main damage output comes from bonus action's flurry of blows, I'm thinking on ending as a Monk8 Rogue4-Thief, so I'd get another bonus action to boost my damage. Though my AC is a big worry, but as long as the team works fine, there's no trouble at the moment.
- Anonymous
I'm about to stop using fextralife for any information about this game and other games.
Half the time I'm not sure if the information is just a guess or not from 5e. Other times I find wiki information that is flat out wrong. You are better off getting information from some random journalist on a gaming website. If I ever come back to this site, hopefully I will see fextralife getting their act together.
Also, the comments are often misleading and they might as well be a reddit argument thread. Only good thing I ready on this whole page is that you can use a bonus action to unarmed strike while using wild shape.
- Anonymous
So much bad advice here... Open Hand STR monk is easily S tier in damage and mobility with infinite super jumps. Go monk until 7 then respec to cleric 1/ monk 6-11. Wear heavy armor + shield and get tavern brawler feat, only use punches and throwing.
You can do the same with Shadow Monk, but you lose an extra ~5 damage per punch, and you are punching a lot so it adds up. The teleport is fun though. Also you can get a ring that makes you immune to blindness, so you don't need to multi warlock if you want to see in magic darkness.
- Anonymous
I've found pieces of great gear for a monk, really boosting its damage potential, by adding elemental damage on unarmed attacks and adding your wisdom on damage rolls. Can it be that monk is very gear dependant and will be a powerhouse once you collect these pieces of gear? Cause compared to paladin, a class that has more utility even, the damage from monk is lackluster
- Anonymous
Warning this tip is a trap:
Hold off on multi-classing your Monk until after level 5 to access their extra attack feature, which significantly boosts your damage potential.
Why? Monk is fun but bad class. The best monk you can get is a monk that is not starting as a monk.
So real tip should be: Weaponize your Wisdom score. And you can do it by multiclassing into Cleric (Nature or Tempest) or a Druid.
One of best build i can think of is : Race pick Deep gnome(better darkvision and advantage on mental saving throws)/Wood elf/Half-orc. Ability scores(16dex+16wis+14 con) Fighter as level 1 (Dueling fighting style) so you can grab dex weapon and wear armor+shield until you become monk, then at Level 2 pick Nature Cleric (Shillelagh so your start hitting with a stick, Thorn Whip, Sacred flame) and after that go all monk (pick whatever Subclass you want). At level 4 of a monk take Polearm Master(or Warcaster) feat and you are officially golden. By having cantrips you do not lose much in terms of damage, and have much better ranged attacks than regular monk. You also have better saving throws, way to heal yourself and allies, and also some ways of battlefield control. Just by not starting as a Monk and taking a dip into 1 level Cleric(or a Druid).
- Anonymous
I wish it was possible to build an effective strength monk and also fist weapons like gauntlets or claws would've been nice.
- Anonymous
Open hand monk gains free bonus damage in the form of necrotic, physic, or radiant (only one at a time) for unarmed attacks starting at level 6. Hen you also add the ki restoration which give you an additional bonus action for 3 turns, your api and dps go up like crazy. At that level I could safely ditch using a weapon, although you might have better weapons if you picked up a specific proficiency, like pole arms with human race
- Anonymous
Does anybody know how the unarmed strike damage scales with level? From other sources (screenshots and videos posted elsewhere), I know that it goes to a d6 at level 3, remains d6 at least until level 6, and becomes a d8 by level 9. I assume it won't reach d10 before the level cap, but I am curious as to the precise level when it becomes a d8.
- Anonymous
What should be the best between Human Monk (start from 10-16-16-10-15-9 to 10-20-16-10-16-10) or Wood Elf Monk (start from 10-17-14-10-15-8 to 10-22-14-10-16-8) ?
- Anonymous
If you multi-class Druid can the monk use unarmed strike while in Wild Shape ?
- Anonymous
for the game is it a mod or is monk already in patch 9, bec i dont see it, same with the blood urge
Keen to make a 20 Dex 20 Wis Monk and not get by anything. Although, it requires bargaining with the Hag which feels very out of place.
- Anonymous
Where is the extra ki and house rules they mentioned that would be to make the class worth playing? Beacuse this seams like the same terrible class from the 5e phb
- Anonymous
Sigh...The monk is always the forgotten and neglected stepchild of the Dungeons and Dragons world.
- Anonymous
i dont understand in this stupid 5 edition monks are unarmed fighters or not? becaus in good old bg1-2 monks get increased unarmed damage by levels and fist +1-2-3-4, and I dont see anything here excemp ki-empowerd and flurry of blow, but what about unarmed scalling by level? magical fist +2-3-4?
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Slight worry that hopefully will be resolved on launch: Quarterstaff In game currently counts as a 2 handed and not versatile weapon, therefore wouldn't count as a monk weapon, since they must be single handed.
- Anonymous
When this class will be added? I bought at launching day and only 6 basic classes were available
The sub dont really matter, base monk gain stun strike and ki empowering strike.
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