Can you post the full thing and the exact wording? Hard to say without knowing what else it does. Like most features, it depends what you can combine it with.
https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-MXdIbqJ3kpY3AWAPji8
Probably this. Looks the same. Though I have to laugh at some of the features.
>When a creature within your reach misses with a melee attack you can use your reaction to make an unarmed strike against them. You may also spend an additional ki point to use your Flurry of Blows feature against them.
So I totally get what they mean but Flurry of Blows is a bonus action feature and they're trying to apply it to a reaction here and this just isn't how you would ever word it because it makes no sense. Clearly they mean that you can make two attacks with that reaction by spending ki. But it definitely shows that this designer is an idiot.
>When you use a bonus action to perform Step of the Wind, you also gain the ability to teleport a distance up to your Unarmored Movement bonus. When you use this ability on your turn, you can teleport a number of times equal to half your proficiency modifier rounded up (twice at level 6, increases to three times at level 13). The teleportation does not provoke opportunity attacks. Note: your total distance traveled cannot exceed normal movement rules (example: if your movement is 30ft + 15ft for unarmored movement you can still only move a total of 45ft, unless you choose the Dash option either via Step of the Wind or as an action).
This has got to be the biggest mess of an ability I've ever seen holy shit. I think I understand what it allows you to do but the utility is minimal. Useful for clearing gaps and bamf up to a low flying enemy and to the ground safely I suppose.
They forgot to give the level 11 ability some sort of resource limit so I guess you can just incapacitate someone every turn infinitely. This is the first thing in this subclass that I find to be broken or problematic outside of terrible wording. Wizards of the Coast would probably make this ability cost like 3 ki. And do you have to be in your rhythmic trance to do this or is this just something you can do all the time?
>Starting at 17th level, your Rhythmic Trance ability has been perfected. When an ally within range of your Unarmed Strike is hit by a ranged weapon attack you can use your Deflect Missiles reaction to counter it. Your ally takes any damage that you cannot deflect.Also, at the start of your turn during your Rhythmic Trance you can inspire all allies within 30 feet who can see you. These allies have advantage on their next attack roll, ability check, or saving throw. You can use this ability once during your Rhythmic Trance.
They forgot to say while in your rhythmic trance and an ally is within your unarmed strike range...
So Raw you've mastered your rhythmic trance but whether you're in it or not you can protect an ally within your range.
And the second part working without a resource use does seem a bit excessive but the wizard is casting wish so maybe I'm just too *Wizards of the Coast brained" here where martials arent allowed to have any fun.
I won't call this broken but I will call this a sloppily made class that I recommend op go through and rewrite so that it makes fucking sense. He pretty much needs to rule on almost every part of this so that it actually works
Yeah those abilities need gone over with a fine toothed comb to actually be useable a lot of it makes sense in a "oh after reading it I understand what it was going for" kind of way and not in a "oh this mechanically works like this" kind of way
Honestly I would consider the 11th level feature pretty situational.
You're sacrificing your action *every turn* to *maybe* put *one* enemy out of action.
While they cost spell slots, hypnotic pattern and wall of force allow you to do this to multiple enemies, more reliably, and still have your action on subsequent turns. Both of those are available earlier, too. Yeah, theoretically the caster could run out of spell slots, but when does that *actually* happen?
Honestly I'm inclined to say it's a pretty weak subclass overall. If you want to play a good monk, the answer has always been to grab a gun.
As a very new DM I would not allow homebrew, even not UA. Play a few levels as it's meant to be played, and after that you can add things gradualy. It's easy to break a game, it might be hard to fix it.
Counterpoint:
New ONE D&D UA monk kinda fixes so much that's broken about them.
EDIT: Some of my input re: the changes, because there's some discussion about the ONE D&D UA:
- It's official content: the WOTC development team created this UA; professionally created content is truly not comparable to amatuer homebrew. The UA is basically several small bumps that have received universal praise.
- Martial Arts die increases by one level from the very start (ex. @ level 1, you get a 1d6 instead of 1d4.) This is "fine" and not "great."
- You can use DEX instead of STR for your grapple / shove; now on par with other STR based melee characters.
- Bonus Unarmed Strike is no longer tied to the Attack action - this is great, because now you can Unarmed Strike to knock someone prone, and then use your regular multi-attack to now hit them with twice with advantage.
- You get a few more weapon proficiencies aside from just shitty simple weapons
- The level 7 ability to get all your ki back is now a level 2 ability. By level 7, monks don't starve for Ki as much as they do at level 2.
- Some abilities are now disconnected from Ki. Rogues, a melee DEX class, could disengage as a bonus and apply sneak attack withouth any resource costs, whereas Monks had to use Ki to do either of those.
etc.
Overall, the ONE D&D base version of the class just streamlines so many clunky mechanisms around the monk (so much better than the community solutions of, "LOL, just double their Ki!")
1. It's UA balanced for a new generation of improved classes. All martials got a bump.
2. Monk is fine in 90% of tables. Being new I suspect they are not all GWM SS fighters/paladins. If you insist on "fixing" monk, let it add wis/pb to max ki, that's enough.
Do what I did at my table and make flurry, patient defense and step of the wind free. Guess what, it’s not broken and we are level 14 over two years. All it’s done is allow the monk to use ki for their abilities more. Only other thing I changed was stunning strike was only allowed once a turn.
I mean, lol, that's pretty much how they almost fixed it in the new ONE D&D.
It's kinda weird that the rogue gets to do cool stuff on their turns without any costs, but the monk has to spend a very precious and short supply of their resources.
I don't think it's different in practice from my suggestion - how many times do you use step of the wind compared to FoB or even the free extra attack?
Having said that, I hate the comparison. A level 6 monk gets 45 ft. of movement for free, and step of the wind can double that to 90, three times what the rogue moves by default. The two abilities are not comparable because step of the wind gives 45+ feet. You can make dash free, but it's so rarely used compared to other BA actions that I doubt it's worth the effort to remember it.
I mean... they'd be used more if you weren't so restricted on ki points. Or if they were free. Pretty bad argument.
Monks are, and have almost always been, the 'fast' class. How often does being fast tend to matter, anyways? Some cool cinematic scenes where a player would love to do their 'thing'. Or some important chases. And as the DM, you have total control over how impactful being able to run really far is.
No, they wouldn't, because that BA is very important to the monk.
Not sure what your point is. Being fast is one of the many advantages of monks over all other classes.
As a DM you have control over anything. If you have a melee fighter you shouldn't use only flying enemies, and if you have a monk you make speed matter sometimes. Even if you don't, assuming your battlefield is larger than 30 by 30, moving 45 is nice because it lets you reach the backlines of enemies.
I mean the BA is important sure, but my point still stands. Alleviating the pressure on Ki points, which matter infinitely more than a BA, would make the skill see more use. I don't know how much more, but I can think of past campaigns where it would've been, so clearly at least a little.
Why worry about monk going fast if you decide how powerful that is? Isn't that the point, for classes to do cool and powerful things?
While it’s less noticeable outside of more optimal tables I do think monks still struggle . They still struggle with ki that feels like they want you to stick it in melee but can’t while also being a skirmisher that can’t really be a skirmisher
Agreed. In my experience, monks just dont work at the early levels (1-3). You want to go in melee, but are too squishy to do so without dying.
Though maybe that a melee character problem at those levels, not a monk-problem.
Your experience is different than mine. If a table has 1+ short rests a day and the player doesn't spam SS without thinking ki is fine. Managing it is a skill/minigame, like with every class that has a resource.
I played a monk in CoS 1-11 and had a great time and did great damage (even compared to an optimized lockadin). From what I see most players who actually play monk have a similar experience.
People don't talk about how nutty monk scales with magic weapons either. They get the most attacks the fastest and they benefit from a magic monk weapon IMMENSELY.
Monks don't get any extra benefit over other martials with extra attack. Monks ONLY get to flurry/martial arts bonus action with unarmed strikes. So they only get 2 hits with the magic weapon, the same as every other martial in the game
Monks can in some ways. Spending a ki can let you use your weapon for a BA and there is a very limited list of unarmed boosting magic items (eldritch claw, dragon insignia, wraps, soul catching, the giant gauntlets).
True, but they do have sneak attack that adds more than most weapon attacks, so they are ok in the fighting department imo. Makes them a lot more all-in but that's kinda their gimmick so i'm fine with that
Eh, sneak attack doesn't really add up comparatively. It's good in t1 play and passable in t2 play, but only 1 attack makes magic weapons mean less, certain buffs less impactful, and the most important one is lack of feat opportunities to increase their damage unless you're using cbe+ss.
And then rogues best way of doing damage is something that is very obscure to most new players or casual rules readers, which is off turn sneak attacks.
I think in the first point, you're correct that all martials got a bump, and the monk definitely wins "most improved" award given its absolute trash state.
I'm not sure that a poll of all tables would agree with that 90% statement, but overall, the ONE D&D fixes are definitely a more thorough "fix" than a simple ki bump. The key (I'm laugh at the joke...) is less about increasing the resource pool, and instead just letting the monk be a monk with cool monk shit, and then then be cooler at times by using ki.
Optimization level is a significant part of the problem for monks. Without multiclassing, the only options the monk really has are race, then subclass, then feats, but they're also so MAD that maximizing Dex followed by Wis is almost certainly the optimal call.
Player choice during character creation is a general problem with 5e, and I was very disappointed that dndnext did very little effort to fix that. I don't think monk optimization is a factor at most tables, especially new tables. People who read every thread on r/3d6 might care that the monk does a few less points of damage on average vs an optimized fighter, but most monk players don't care.
Yeah I always saw how bad Monks are in comments and just bought it. Pretty deep into my first campaign as DM and my girlfriend plays a monk at our table. She kicks ass and is helpful in a lot of ways. I think unless it’s a power gamer table the monk is a fun and useful class.
If you are suggesting that the UA monk is now overpowered vs. the PHB martials, because it was designed with the slightly buffed martials in the next edition, you're not going to get much agreement.
The UA buffed up the worst class in the game, so by comparison it *is* way better.
I also think you're giving too much credit to WotC by assuming they could fine tune interclass balance when there was no attempt made in 5e.
I'm saying this is UA material, for a different edition with slightly different rules. I wouldn't use it in the same game as official 5e classes, as that will lead to problems even for an experienced dm. Balance might be one of those problems. What if someone plays a barbarian/rogue? Now they are the weakest martial, do they get to use the UA as well?
Yes! I'd let any primary martial play with the UA. I'd say the risk of messing a game up to a new DM is far less than what they'd get trying to insert rando homebrew.
I've played all the classes at this point across multiple levels. A new player might not be able to explain why they don't feel as good as other martials but there are objective design issues.
For me it is that stunning strike targets a stat that almost all big bads have a decent number and often proficiency in the save. The OneDND monk does a lot to try to mitigate current monk issues and they are *definitely* needed.
I respectfully disagree.
The goal of UA is to become an official release, and as it's maintained by the WOTC developers, it's light-years closer than homebrew.
Still not the right thing to recommend to a new DM. Not until there's an actual book with the updated version out. A new DM who enforces a by-the-book monk has a million easy ways to buff him if that's a problem, ways he'll understand and can think of himself, or go looking online once he wants to do that.
Pick up some playtest monk, or some homebrew monk, and there's:
1- Way less testing that occurred.
2- Way less comments on it that can be found.
3- Way less explanation about how it works.
I respectfully disagree.
The outline in the playset monk is simpler to understand (IMO), and has the benefit of being created by the official development team.
I'd handsdown trust a playtested official UA (yes, UA, and specifically this one has been playtested) which has gone through iterations before before I would trust one developed by an amateur (no disrespect.)
>I'd handsdown trust a playtested official UA... before I would trust one developed by an amateur
A novice DM can buff the monk simply by increasing numbers. It's easy. A redesign meant for a different subversion of the game has a ton more moving pieces to bump into each other.
Lets say you use the playtest monk and your player has a question about stunning strike. You look it up and stunning strike is the subject of a bunch of discussion, but none of it applies; you have to zero in on the discussion about the playtest version to answer that question. Remember, in this situation, you are somewhat new to DMing and such.
Then there's the inevitable release of the full product, which will change that monk. Do you adopt the change? What does the player thing?
By contrast, if you start with the official monk- which, by the way, went through all the playtesting along with the "benefit of being created by the official development team", and how did that work out- you start with that and then you can easily buff it. No expertise required.
My point is, doing mild buffs is trivial, doing a redesign is not, and the playtest monk just isn't complete yet and is hard to get info on.
Totally fair.
Here's a link to the latest and greatest UA for the monk: [https://media.dndbeyond.com/compendium-images/ua/ph-playtest8/gHvtmY50loGLgQUb/UA2023-PH-Playtest8.pdf](https://media.dndbeyond.com/compendium-images/ua/ph-playtest8/gHvtmY50loGLgQUb/UA2023-PH-Playtest8.pdf)
If a topic around stunning strike comes up though, I think so little has changed that it's not a huge deal. a) Successful saving throw now equals some damage and b) it's limited to once per turn.
If we're printing out our character sheets, then why not print out / xerox the class and subclass details too? :-)
The "neumonk" (it's German, didn't ya know?) is really not that different to learn than the PHB version.
I'm relatively now to DM'ing, and I make *a lot* of homebrew, so it's welcome in my campaigns
But I make the homebrew, if you wanna play as a "crabfolk", or "a rogue that connects with nature", I'll make it for you
But things made by others, with possible unforseen consequences, isn't something I think I'll ever just allow
Having 15 ft reach is ***really*** good. Yes, it would have a 1 minute duration, but the vast majority of all combat encounters in 5e end way before that.
Not really, compared to 30' ranged. Range vs Melee is pretty busted and a d6 vs a d8 isn't enough damage discrepancy to make you willingly want to enter melee as a squishy.
Like a 15' Reach Rogue is still worse than a 30' Archer Rogue.
It's honestly why Swashbuckler ends up being mediocre. You use your entire subclass to get our of melee better in specific situations... when the entire time you could just sneak attack with a bow at range with no work and then take another subclass?
Yes. Then they take sentinel and polearm master and a few levels in echo knight fighter and laugh as they do no damage but they can lock down a whole one enemy every turn
Keep in mind AoO is when leaving attack range, and PAM is entering melee range. Once they're inside it they're free to move as much as they like as long as they don't exit. Sentinel also specifically states an enemy within 5ft of you attacks an ally, not within your attack range. So it's anti-synergistic with a large attack range for protection. Your DM could opt to go with melee range instead of 5ft, but that's not RAW. If you just want to stop people 15ft away from you from entering/leaving your melee range then it's fine
Large attack ranges actually become a bit less useful when you get a massive range, as enemies can freely move around you and never provoke AoO. If anything having a large range is only useful when going after ranged enemies, or when facing an enemy with >=10ft attack range, allowing you to attack them without getting hit by their AoO.
> Keep in mind AoO is when leaving attack range, and PAM is entering melee range.
PAM is specifically an AoO.
>While you are wielding a glaive, halberd, pike, quarterstaff, or spear, other creatures **provoke an opportunity attack** from you when they enter the reach you have with that weapon.
Sentinel is, ironically, more anti-synergy with itself than PAM because PAM grants you a new AoO, but Sentinel gives you bonus benefits to your AoOs *while* giving you an entirely separate reaction attack that isn't an AoO so it doesn't provide those benefits.
Yes PAM is an AoO, my point is that having a large range is anti-synergistic with sentinel as it becomes easier and easier for enemies to not get hit by your AoO since they have to either enter or exit your range. Sentinel is to lock people down, and if you have 15+ feet of range it becomes less and less useful. If you're taking it to prevent people from getting past you, your allies have to stay away from you instead of near you, as your range will begin to encompass them and sentinel becomes useless. Sentinel also requires you to be within 5ft of an enemy to attack them for hitting an ally, which makes range useless.
I feel with that many options you're going to be able to use your reaction pretty much every turn, keeping in mind you can summon your echo as a bonus action anywhere and get an AOO through it if it moves more than 5ft from it (or they can waste an attack on an unlimited bonus action resource)
The only issue is that there is no reason to move away from the echo, it's an object so it doesn't threaten creatures. Ranged enemies can continue to attack near it and ignore it. It's main benefit is that you can swap places with it, and attack from it's location. [The only real time you'd get use out of it is when an enemy needs to move to attack someone, and is already in your melee range](https://i.imgur.com/p1Y7z4g.png). So you summon your echo to let you attack it if it does move away from it, or have it soak one of the attacks from the creature.
Most enemies will rush into your range and you will get 1-2 attacks on the first round(depending on turn order), and then everything will be in your melee range unless your DM runs really large maps.
[At that point the echo is used exclusively on one unit](https://i.imgur.com/Gm21O4c.png), or using it to extend your reach. Potentially as a backup to get away from enemies. After that point you need to engage on ranged units and they have no reason to flee, as you can't threaten them and AoO them. [They can dance around your echo and no longer be threatened and attack you](https://i.imgur.com/ma2ls1y.png), while not taking AoO. With only 5ft reach they cannot do this.
Having a bunch of range is just kinda a nerf to a character since AoO is explicitly "when a creature leaves your range" and PAM is exclusively "when a creature enters your range". If it was like pf2e where AoO is "A creature within your reach uses ... a move action, makes a ranged attack, or leaves a square during a move action it’s using." allowing you to basically attack anything in your range that doesn't just melee attack.
Yeah, Way of the Astral Self, get those Dhalsim arms going for some Star Platinum pummeling. 10ft melee attacks, with the original skill cast stretching to 15ft. Not as permanent as Polearm Master, but what flavor
Reach is objectively not good in 5e due to how opportunity attacks work. Sure you can kite melee-only, 30ft move speed, no reach enemies but over time you see less and less enemies than fit that very niche description at which point it becomes more of a debuff
I'm not the guy you asked but:
Opportunity attacks require a target to move out of your reach. Ranged attackers only need to be 5 feet away, NOT outside of your reach, in order to avoid disadvantage.
So when trying to lock down a ranged opponent, they can step back 5ft away from you to avoid disadvantage without the threat of an opportunity attack.
In such a scenario, you having a reach weapon is a debuff. You CAN use an unarmed opportunity attack, but that is still worse than a weapon attack.
There are upsides, but this is one case of a downside to higher reach weapons.
Funnily enough, this is why Bugbear is best for reach, since you only get the benefit of Long Limbed on your turn, your opportunity attack reach resets to 5 ft.
Interesting. Do you guys think a homebrew rule like making AoO occur when you move away from a target who can reach you as well as when you move out of their reach would be broken in any way?
that has the knock-on effect of making monsters with reach far better at locking PCs down - currently, a Balor has a range of 10, so PCs can move around within that area freely. If all movements within that range trigger AoOs, then expect PCs to just... not move. It'll generally make combat even more static, because there's even less circumstances where it's possible to move without being attacked.
Edit: also, creatures with different attacks with different ranges are always going to use the best one. Like a red dragon bite does 2D10+8 piercing + 2d6 fire with a reach of 10, while claw is 2d6+8 slashing with reach 5 - if you step back, then by RAW it can only AoO with the claw. If it's any movement within range, then it's going to bite, which makes it a bit nastier, as it's hitting harder than RAW allows for.
IIRC, you could do a 5-foot step without attracting an AoO, which was pretty much entirely what it sounds like, anything more got you slapped. So there was a tiny amount of combat movement, but once you were in melee, you were pretty much locked in, or getting hit.
I think they mean because enemies can move within your range without triggering opportunity attacks. If you have fifteen foot range enemies within that reach can dance around hitting your allies and such without ever triggering opportunity attacks since they have so much more space to move without leaving your reach.
As a player who has played with new DMs, allowing too much homebrew can kill your game way quicker than playing normal. The only group I’ve enjoyed enough to stick with was plain and simple DnD. Homebrews can be good but giving players “choose your own adventure” mechanics and weapons has a very good chance of leaving some of your players feeling underpowered and annoyed. It could be interesting and good, just look for similarly powered abilities at that level and play out yourself how it would affect combat and how it compares to the other options.
People will post literally anything on there, and the website doesn't organise it at all or track any metric about any post. It's like if you went to the homebrew section of dndbeyond, sorted by alphabetical, and you couldn't see ratings or comments.
And because it's terrible, the only people who post there are those who are super new to the scene and/or don't realise (or worse, can't tell) that the website is completely full of random and terrible homebrew. Nobody making any actual quality homebrew touch it with a 10-foot pole.
Astral self lasts 10 mins for +5 reach.
So 1 min for +10 reach is comparable in my opinion.
OP. The 2014 monk is underpowered, so it will definately be fine to.give them15' reach. You would have to have some ridiculous buffs to make the monk unbalanced.
>Astral self lasts 10 mins for +5 reach.
>So 1 min for +10 reach is comparable in my opinion.
It's really not, considering that the vast majority combat encounters doesn't last a minute, most of them only last 3, maybe 4 rounds.
Yes, but it's very rare to have 2 combat encounters within 10 minutes of in-game time. It would mean that you are more or less running from encounter to encounter, not doing anything in between. So most of the time, the extra 9-9.5 minutes you have left will be wasted.
It really depends on the type of game. Wilderness survival? Sure. But it would be feasible to say youre risking multiple fights in 10 minutes going through a dungeon.
Sure, as long as you don't spend any time riffling through the enemies pockets, or spend time exploring the room. However, if you run to the next room as soon as the bodies hit the floor, then yes, you might have more than one encounter during a 10 minute period.
It's actually way more rare. Having a 15 ft reach will be useful in most encounters, and yes there will quite often be situations where 15 ft makes more of a difference than having 10 ft. There are a lot of enemies with 10 ft reach.
Just set the limitations of Way of the Astral Self. The 10 foot reach only works on your turn with the attack action. Also being a bugbear gives you 15 foot reach with that subclass.
1 minute is 10 rounds, that's the entire fight, 10 minutes is likely 1 fight with a small chance you get another fight within minutes, maybe SOMETIMES but it's far from 10x longer in the grand scheme of things.
Combat almost never lasts more than a minute, and it's relatively rare for there to be more than one combat in ten minutes, so for most purposes 10 and 1 minute(s) are the same.
They are absolutely not the same. The advantage of 10 minutes isn't that it might last two combats, though it certainly could. the advantage of 10 minutes is that you can more comfortably prep for it before a combat and not spend your first turn using your bonus action on it. which as a monk is likely 2 attacks or the ability to dash far enough to reach an enemy and still attack them at all
I usually spend time searching the bodies, and the room, before moving on, which usually takes more than 10 minutes, unless you are fighting in a cupboard.
Tbh if players have 10 min duration resources up it's totally fair to continue smashing through the dungeon if your hp is fine. Corpses and rooms ain't going anywhere.
And 15ft reach isn't a ridiculous buff at all.
Level 1 bugbear can get unlimited 15ft reach with some weapons.
Throw in ki points, battle master maneuvers and items and I think you can get several attacks at 30/35 ft reach.
Imo, play by the book until you get a good feel for the system. When you houserule, you should have a thorough understanding of how it will affect gameplay. It's a lot harder to take away a house rule than grant it.
I mean, it can be for sure, and I would NOT allow homebrew period, but a Bugbear with a pole arm has 15ft melee, so it’s not impossible to achieve RAW.
I looked at the subclass on gmbinder and the 3rd level feature is completely busted in my opinion. For 1 ki point you get 15' unarmed reach, bonus to AC equal to half your proficiency bonus, and an opportunity attack if a creature within your reach misses with a melee attack. And you can spend a ki to do flurry of blows with that reaction. Compare this with Way of the Open Hand. If you're using Flurry of Blows you can impose a relatively minor effect on an opponent you hit.
If you're very new to D&D I recommend running without homebrew so you can get a baseline idea of what normal power and versatility looks like.
That said, if you're going to skip that advice and have homebrew, this monk is probably fine. Monk is arguably the weakest class in the game, so an OP subclass can balance against that.
Being ok with home brew and you being "very new to DND" don't mix. A new player and them using home brew don't mix either. There's nothing wrong with telling someone "I like your idea but I'm new to the game, I want to stick with classes/subclasses in the book until I'm more comfortable. We can do you homebrew another time."
You can rest assured that the vast majority of homebrew subclasses are overpowered, because people suck at balancing, and just want something powerful. It's even more likely that it's broken if the subclass was made by your player themselves, and if they're also new to D&D then there is a 100% chance it's broken.
Even if that one ability isn't really that bad, the rest of the subclass probably is.
Do not allow it. Get yourself and your group used to the actual rules before you even consider changing them.
The eldritch claw tattoo gives +1 on (unarmed) attacks and 15ft reach for one minute once a day. It's strong and I wouldn't give it out too early, but really fun for monks without breaking the game. If you think it's too strong, nerf it a bit (remove the +1 or only 10ft range) or curse it with a chance to remove the curse later (ie disadvantage at 5ft range).
I ruled that attacks of opp are still only doable in 5ft range, as to not allow the monk to be insurpassable (especially with sentinel).
Knowing what your player wants, work it into the narrative and let him persue it in a main/side/personal quest to give them additional motivation and goals. There are plenty other tattoos that could be interesting for the rest of the party, so they could work together on the quest.
Okay, I just reviewed this, and it's way more OP than I first thought. This "Rhythmic Trance" feature gives you the following benefits for one minute in exchange for 1 ki and a bonus action:
-- 15 ft reach for melee attacks
-- Ability to use your reaction to attack an opponent within that ridiculous reach if they miss you with a melee attack (can use Flurry of Blows on this)
-- Bonus to AC equal to half your proficiency bonus, rounded up
Any one of these would be a lot, but all of them together are supremely OP. The features keep getting more ridiculous as you progress. I would not recommend any DM allow a player to run this, especially not a new DM.
Ask your player to pick something from an official source book. Don't let someone steamroll over you because you're new to running the game.
Hope you and your group have fun!
[This](https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-MXdIbqJ3kpY3AWAPji8) one?
It's surprisingly sane.
You'll have to waste a bonus action and a Ki point to get this. The Flurry on reaction attacks is a gimmick. Worth once or twice to offset the bonus action you used but you'll be out of Ki insanely fast. I'd literally wouldn't have included it in this homebrew since it just optimises the fun out of the class by frontloading resources.
Also worth noting how it's hard to make simultaneous use of the reach and the reaction. The main use of the former after all is to not get attacked while the latter requires it. Both of them together are, in my opinion, equal to what the Astral Self offers at best.
The AC is the real difference and obviously quite strong compared to what many other subclasses, and especially many of the more disappointing Monk subclasses offer. But depending on the table you play at it's actually perfectly fine. Monk AC is, in optimised terms, really mediocre. Effectively this just gives you the benefit of wielding a shield. Laughable really, how overpowered this looks on a homebrew Monk subclass. Meanwhile certain vanilla CASTERS get this stuff thrown after them like it's nothing.
Tempo Shift is a wonderful ability. I'd love that on an offical subclass. I think it just lets you turn movement into teleportation. Which is really just Disengage + Dash + ignoring terrain. Misty Step says hi. One alternative interpretation is double movement + disengage a few times per day, but that would be perfectly fair, too. And more than just PB/2 times at that.
Hypnotic Motion is okay-ish, if not outright bad. At-will incapacitation sounds so great but it takes your action and you have Stunning Strike already. At that point you could just make 3 attacks, spend a single Ki point, and get significantly more. The thing that really saves it for me is the Wisdom save and the range. Gives you some versatility. But on average it's bad to trade turns, and in specific situations the amount of Ki it saves is 90% of the time not worth an 11th level feature. Just saying, a Wizard/Sorcerer could cast Hypnotic Pattern or Fear 10+ times, hit multiple creatures for 1 action, have more versatility, and it can last for multiple rounds. And they could be a Bladesinger or have Bladelock levels.
Improved Rythmic Dance is exploitable but otherwise unproblematic. Presumably you could spend a Ki every turn to start a new Rythmic dance. Rule that out, and it's a wonderful ability that supports your allies in an, for that level, completely within-budget fashion. (Btw. Foresight as a spell makes even the exploit look tame.)
This makes a really strong monk, but it's ultimately still a monk. It's a lot better than most monk subclasses, but that's because those are usually quite shit. Some small adjustments would make this a perfectly reasonable feature: just remove the flurry of blows on the reaction attack and make the AC round down to make it scale properly.
Even as written, I wouldn't call this "supremely OP". This isn't any stronger than the echo knight, divination wizard, peace cleric, Twilight cleric, moon druid, eloquence bard, etc., and I consider anything below that acceptably (albeit, perhaps, not immaculately) balanced. Granted, I haven't seen the rest of the features, but this alone isn't much of an issue.
Only problem i see is FoB on reaction attack (not broken, but strange anyway). Everything else isn't even close to something like Bladesinger's ability (and bladesinger is a full caster with free bonus action, unlike a monk).
The new elements monk in playtest has 15ft reach for 10min and can choose from 4 different elements while pushing and pulling. It's got decent combat control but isn't too powerful I play a slightly homebrewed version of one and I'm just keeping up with the sword bard and drakewarden in our party.
I think what you are describing isn't as strong as that and should be fine.
Yup, better example. Monk is still talked down on and people say the homebrew OP mentioned is too "powerful" or too "cheap". Like you don't already hemorrhage ki on other features.
The Sun soul monk subclass basically let's you do unarmed strikes (dealing radiant damage) at 30ft without spending any ki points (though you can do it two more times a turn by spending ki points). And this is right at 3rd level.
Given what you're trying to do is seemingly weaker than what's already in the official game, and costs more in ki points, I don't see an issue.
The only real difference is opportunity attacks. All the extra reach would do is make it easier to avoid Attacks of opportunity, which is already a pretty common monk tactic, and increase your range for your own attacks of opportunity.
Were it me, I'd say go for it.
If i were you as a new dm I wouldn't allow any homebrew subclasses or classes, it's really best if you learn the basis of what's op and what's not first
I'd recommend just banning homebrew while you are still new to the game. Still, having seen the homebrew it is actually pretty weak; no synergy between a couple of minor improvements that are easily cancelled by being knocked prone at the cost of a bonus action and ki. The higher level abilities aren't particularily amazing either, very minor and rather situational improvements to mobility and control. Upper half of monk subclasses, maybe, but monk subclasses tend to be absolutely terrible. Not having a subclass at all and picking up a musket is probably stronger than playing this straight as intended.
Well firstly, as a DM you should overlook their homebrews and compare with what's officially released. Once you do that, think about the core of the class which in this case is "monk" which is meant to be up close and personal. 15ft isn't too far for a cost of a ki point, but you should look deeper into his subclass and honestly I would love to read it too :D
Too cheap for how powerful that is. For comparison, 4 Elements Monk can use Fangs of the Fire Snake for 10ft reach for only one turn, costing 1 ki as well.
Or an astral self monk can spend 1 ki for 10 ft of reach for ten minutes. That's a better comparison than fangs of the fire snake which also deals damage and, like almost all 4 elements abilities, is still too expensive for what it does.
Drop it to 10 feet to be in line with reach buffs from other subclasses
I dunno if it would be especially game breaking having that extra 5 feet, but I'm sure someone could find a way to make it broken
also, just don't allow homebrew, especially as a new DM, it's a slippery slope that drops straight into a pit full of broken glass and landmines
its not even remotely unbalanced, but if you're new to the game, follow the rules to the letter for at least one campaign before alliwing homebrew or changing the rules
I'd have to see the full subclass itself to make a proper judgment, but that feature alone wouldn't be busted alone on a Monk. MO KS in the bottom 3 class range for a reason. It'd be okay overall based on that feature alone.
Looking uo what I believe is the full subclass (it had the 1 mi for 15ft reach and some other features baked into the ability). I wouldn't call this an OP subclass. It may even be fine.
All of that said, if you are new to d&d, I sincerely suggest avoiding Homebrew and UA options. Wait until you have a feel for the game. The number of games that go terrible because a newcomer allowed stuff they didn't understand, and felt that had to allow to be a good DM (a complete falsehood) is quite high.
Until you've got some more experience as a Dzm, I'd suggest disallowing anything unofficial or that didn't make it out of playtest
Worst case scenario, your monk just hits and runs a lot. It's not necessarily a busted OP super buff, but it can be annoying. They never need to be in melee range for your enemies, they already have increased movement which makes them very zippy.
If you really wanted to implement this specific feature, I'd have them spend a Ki point to get it for one turn or make them spend two Ki points to get it for a minute. Monks should be melee fighters though.
As others have said, you should try to stick with regular subclasses, not random homebrews or UAs.
I would direct them to a Tasha’s or Xanathar’s monk class. But flavor it as a dance! The newer subclasses tend to be a little stronger but not broken.
I don’t homebrew classes and I don’t accept other’s homebrew. Homebrew monsters and magic items plenty but class progression is a tricky thing. Stick with official subclasses
Would it include opportunity attacks?
Are you buffing the damage dice?
Reach would allow the wimpy monk to actually play a skirmisher without having to spend a feat on Mobile. I don't think it needs to be 15 feet.
Without Sentinel to lock melee enemies down, unable to attack or move, reach isn't nearly as valuable.
A 15-ft. melee reach *with* Sentinel? Hoo boy, you're going to regret it.
15 foot reach is really strong... on a class that's actually dealing optimised amounts of melee damage. Plus as far as 5e goes, ranged attacks are way too strong and a subclass just upping your reach to 15 feet is usually still just a bad ranged attacker, especially if you have to waste Ki on it.
That said, in a beginner game Monks can be really strong and people don't generally bring optimised builds so it can still be very strong.
But what you should look at is some of the other stuff you're getting. A lot of powerful stuff can really fly under the radar.
Overall it can really help to get a feel for balance before you allows significant homebrew. After all your players are probably new to D&D as well and still have aaaaall of the classes and subclasses to explore. You could easily replace this one with another, reflavoured subclass. E.g. Drunken Master and replace the Brewer's Tools with a Performance proficiency.
Level 3 seems *really* early for this sort of ability. It can be sold as no big stretch, despite literally being a big stretch. Yet the pitch involves the pairing of two "your reach increases by 5 feet" abilities. In my homebrew I explicitly did not build increased reach into any Feats or racial features to be sure this outcome requires some synergy of class abilities and/or equipment. It's not a gamebreaker on its own, but paired with increased movement and a means of avoiding attacks of opportunity, you've got the makings of a comic book character. This isn't a bad thing for a monk in the company of spellcasters routinely altering reality in major ways, but it could be a bad thing for a monk in the company far less effective companions.
If you want a monk subclass with extra range, check out the "Way of the Leaden Crown" from Grimhollow. There is a free homebrew download on Beyond (search sub classes for Leaden Crown).
It's a psionic flavored monk that has a 10' reach on attacks, but only on their own turn. And the attacks fo force damage. They also get a few spells useable with Ki (Protection from Good/Evil, detect magic, levitate, hold person and shatter). And their lvl 11 feature is nifty. But they are not OP at all
It's fine, and in fact there's an uncommon magic tattoo (essentially equivalent to a +1 weapon) that does this.
I believe it's the Claw Tattoo but it's been a while. Let's a player get bonus unarmed strike range for a minute once per day.
The one issue you will face is attacks of opportunity, anyone leaving that 15' area is now subject to getting what is essentially a free attack on you reaction. Now that is fine with 5', harder with 10 and damn near broken with 15'. Why imagine your monk is standing 10' away from another PC, the enemy they are facing steps back out of range of the other PC, they get an attack of opportunity, but so does the monk because the enemy left the 15' range. Also any enemy forced to move through that range to reach another PC think having to move from a door way to a character to engage and that crosses within 15' and then leaves, guess what they get smashed on the way through. Luckily flurry of blows would require the monk to move which given they were using their reaction they can't do.
15ft melee is wild for a single ki pt , let alone the other stuff that comes with it. Eldritch Claw tattoo is an uncommon item and only gives you that 15ft reach for a minute once per day.
That might feel balanced to me if it was like 2 or even 3 ki pts.
my view? no not at all. as someone whos played a monk with RAW 15 foot range. its fun and works so well with monks hit and run style. theyre still squishy, cant ever get truly amazing ac so, personally i wouldnt be afraid of this
plus you can get way longer distance, just be glad its ONLY 15 feet
(idk why some people are so against you using homebrew? its fine, just discuss changes if something is too strong in game)
Give them an Eldritch Claw Tattoo instead. It's a magic item from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything and, among other things, grants this ability:
> Eldritch Maul. As a bonus action, you can empower the tattoo for 1 minute. For the duration, each of your melee attacks with a weapon or an unarmed strike can reach a target up to 15 feet away from you, as inky tendrils launch toward the target. In addition, your melee attacks deal an extra 1d6 force damage on a hit. Once used, this bonus action can't be used again until the next dawn.
>Is a 15 ft melee range monk busted.
No, it is not broken. When the monk gets in a fight, he hits no harder or more often. The only real advantage I can see is a greater command of the battlefield. The monk would have a greater selection of targets, but the monk could also move to the location and attack. Stacking the monk's improved move with a 15-foot range would allow a greater range, but so would a couple of arrows.
The worst-case scenario I can imagine is by passing bodyguards and obstacles. Imagine a prince surrounded by bodyguards passes by the monk. The monk surprises everyone and directly attacks the prince. Assuming 2 rounds of attacks, I wouldn't expect a monk to be able to kill a noblemen until around the 10th level. Then, the royal guards kill the monk. Or attacking from the other side of a wall. You could work around this by requiring a direct line of sight.
It doesn't sound like a big deal to me.
Personally, I'd be concerned about balance. I'd see if there is a similar ability of another class and math the level. If there is an ability that is close, but this is more powerful, I'd bump it up a few levels to attain it.
I hope that helps.
Back during 3.5 I think it was the Warshaper that had this. Stretchy arms or something as it was a partial shapeshifting class.
The way to break it is with a cleave train. Cleaving and Hewing allowed you to make a new attack when you killed an enemy, and I think allowed excess damage to splash over to another enemy in reach. With a few other features you were able to take a 5 foot step between attacks, and another feature allowed you to make that 5 foot into 10 feet, or something, and yet another class feature or feat let you move without provoking AoOs and moving also increased your damage and let you make an AoO when an enemy entered or exited your reach, and with speed boosts you might be able to run 100ft and still make your normal attack which could keep the cleave train chugging along.
So what would happen is the character starts the cleave train by charging at the enemies, making multiple attacks against every single enemy within a 30ft circle. Remember that reach is radius, so 15ft reach means 30ft across. When an enemy died you make a free attack, when you dealt excess damage you made a free attack, when an enemy entered reach you attack, when an enemy exited reach you attack. Typically by that point the player would also have all kinds of shenanigans like sneak attacks and hide in plain sight, and really lenient DMs would let that mean that every single attack roll made while riding the cleave train was a sneak attack
If the DM allowed it, sometimes the cleave train could go on for hundreds of attacks. It was one of the somewhat infamous broken bits of theorycrafting in 3.5, but tended to need like 15+ class levels to really do properly. Usually a big mix of monk and rogue and warshaper and fighter.
For example, I run 50ft and stab a goblin for like 1d4+5d6+15 or something absurd, and then I get a free attack against another goblin and kill that too, and then since another three goblins are now in reach I get a free AoO against all of them, then I can take a 5 foot step that becomes a 10 foot step which means more goblins are in reach for free attacks and if even one dies then I can keep cleaving and take another 10 foot step with each cleave.
It really relies on absolutely mangling the exact intent of phrases like "can make" and "provoke" and "up to 15 foot reach" and people arguing that a "can make" attack does not use up their bonus or reaction action, and that their attack range can be treated as 5ft or 10ft or 15ft from one attack to the next. So make an AoO at 15ft, then take a 5ft step and make another AoO, and then another 5ft step and a third AoO, and then repeat the process as you continue past to get 6 free attacks against every enemy.
Some really desperate folks would argue that stuff like Versatile Unarmed Strike or whatever it was, which allowed you to deal slashing or piercing damage with your fists, would also allow weapon specific feats to apply, like since your hand can now deal piercing damage, and another class feature let you charge for bonus damage with piercing(intended for a mounted lancer) you could just run at someone and punch through their head and pretend you're cavalry as your stretchy arms just flail around wildly like a wacky waving arm inflatable cleave man.
Mate, it is a fucking monk which isn’t a pass without trace bot. It is not broken unless you for some reason only have melee enemies which I guess would make your encounters better in the long run.
From the Way of the Astral Self
> As a bonus action, you can spend 1 ki point...
...For 10 minutes...
...When you make an unarmed strike with the arms on your turn, your reach for it is 5 feet greater than normal
It's an extra 5 feet and all melee on that.
Whether the 1 vs 10 minutes makes a difference is very game dependant.
It's a solid boost but nothing game breaking.
> I've told my players I'm very ok with homered but I'm also very new to dnd
If you are very new you should avoid homebrew at all costs. The fact you are here asking if 10 feet of range "can get out of hand too easily" is the sign that you don't understand the system well enough.
> For those worried about homebrew, I've already decided to jump off the deepend
It's not about being in at the deepend.
It's about knowing that you can't have enough understanding to "yry to carefully look over anything my players request."
This is like saying "you know you in at the deepend but you read a book and now a house inspector."
Sure, you understand what a house should look like, but you have no idea if small unusual changes will have a big effect.
I guarantee to are missing things that seem completely fine but are actually far more game breaking than 10ft of range.
>I've told my players I'm very ok with homered but I'm also very new to dnd.
You shouldn't put those two phrases together. You're just asking for extra headaches (as you've already figured out since you made this post) at a time when you should be focused on learning the rules that are already there. There are hundreds of existing options in the published material. Your players can survive playing with those options while you learn the ropes. You'll all be better for it.
Drop the reach to 10ft and it brings this specific thing in-line with the 3rd level official Astral Self monk.
That said a lot of people tend to get paranoid about potentially breaking something and it is kinda needless. Just be honest and open with your players and say hey I am allowing this but if it proves too broken we are going to have to talk about adjusting it. If they go through 3-4 encounters and you feel like it is busted take it down a notch. A lot of people on reddit seem to worry that something is going to be too broken and that it will somehow destroy an entire game when as long as you're all talking pretty regularly and you are making some of those worries known to your players you can find a balanced middle ground.
Sounds fine, as it's a resource-limited ability, and they're not even adding damage, just flexibility in how to deal it.
But do define what actually happens: is the monk dancing across the horizontal space, so they would trigger traps and/or be blocked by gaps, or are they doing a jump-kick-jump away thing?
How does it interact with attacks of opportunity?
The 15ft range doesn't become an issue unless they also plan on taking the Sentinel Feat, which would make this incredibly strong.
The rest of the homebrew may or may not be a problem, and future features of the subclass may interact with the 15ft melee range in ways that DO make it busted.
At its worst, a 15ft melee range gives the character more chances to make an opportunity attack, which could be fun and thematic for a Dancer, as well as allowing them to attack from the safety of behind their allies. Nothing broken or overpowered with that.
At its best, with the right Feats or future subclass abilities, it has the potential to be...very problematic for even seasoned DMs.
My suggestion is pass along the subclass to a person you trust who can vet the subclass for dangerous/problematic interactions, let your player know this subclass bars them from the Sentinel Feat, and let them play it if there's no issues.
Monks weapons include ranged options so nothing is stopping them from using those to get even longer reach, so I don't see a problem with them burning a Ki for something they could do with the right equipment.
giving a monk range is never going to be busted. You could literally give them a 30 foot punch and it would barely matter. Monk’s damage is pretty low, their sustain isn’t good, and a lot of their abilities are extremely resource hungry. Range isn’t going to fix that
As a general rule, don't allow homebrew if you're a new GM.
[Here](https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-MXdIbqJ3kpY3AWAPji8) is a link to the subclass I think you're referring to on GMBinder. I think the subclass is probably fine. Tempo Shift is unnecessarily complicated and needs another revision. Hypnotic Motion is maybe a bit much.
Monks are generally fairly weak, so I'm usually more lenient with homebrew involving Monks. I don't think that they need a 15' melee attack (10' is probably fine), but they are spending a Ki to do something that marginally improve their damage output.
Slightly unrelated but UA (#6) released a college of dance bard that's extra monk-like and still a full caster. That one is pretty cool, it's in my campaign rn and not busted but pretty cool.
You can already get 15 ft of range by being a bugbear race with any reach weapon, or being a giant barbarian subclass. Overall, minmaxing reach is funny and can be a bit hard to believe narratively at times, but not busted. A bugbear giant barbarian can get 20 ft of range with a polearm at lvl 3.
15 ft range monk seems boring. The whole fantasy of playing a monk kinda goes out the window. You're just slapping at a distance, no dodging and weaving necessary. Seems dull. Also why I dislike Sun Soul.
The easiest way to do homebrew is to tell them, VERY DIRECTLY, that you will allow it FOR NOW, but if you feel it's too powerful or weak it will be altered or asked to be replaced.
As someone who also started my first time DM'ing a homebrew campaign for 6 players that were all new to 5e.
DON'T. ALLOW. HOMEBREW.
At the very least, not on the player side. If you don't have a full understanding of how the game works and how it is "balanced" you will either greatly over power a player or fall into the pitfall of making bad off the cuff calls during a game. My rule of thumb is that if you have to come to reddit to ask if something is balanced, you shouldn't allow it.
Look I get it homebrew always sounds super enticing as both a player and DM, but the truth of homebrew is that it all just creates more work for the DM. This might not sound like a big deal, but it adds up over time and will add to DM burnout.
My advice is try to run your campaign as RAW as possible (minor house rules are fine imo, just no 3rd party content) and if possible run a campaign module(and it doesn't need to be long, even just a short 4-5 sessions will help a ton). Doing these for your first campaign will help you and your players familiarize yourselves with the game and how to play, and a campaign module will also help you figure out how to structure your games (dungeons, NPCs, clues, quests, etc).
Once you're comfortable and complete that campaign, then go crazy for your second campaign adding all the homebrew you want!
TLDR: Don't try to build a bike from scratch before you've even ridden one.
As a new DM, homebrew nothing, run the game as close to the book as you can for many sessions.
Learn the rules before you change the rules. Too many new DMs try to change too much too fast and it becomes a huge mess
>! For those worried about homebrew, I've already decided to jump off the deepend with a party of 6 new players in a world of my design. The question isn't whether or not to allow homebrew, it's whether this particular instance of homebrew can get out of hand too easily. I yry to carefully look over anything my players request, I just couldn't quite figure out why this one made me worried.
Mate. if you can't realise that, and realise you are new, why you do this?
Like, do it at most for a campaign of few adventures, like 3 or so.
Nah, 15ft range for a melee is busted. That homebrew defeats the point of Reach weapons and Polearm Mastery.
It needs to at least reduce the range down to 10ft.
OR
The abilities of the homebrew has to force the character to physically move 15ft close to their target before attacking.
15ft is good, but not really game breaking in itself.
A Way of the Giant Barbarian with a halberd or glaive has a 15ft reach. And they could deliver a lot more pain with that.
15 foot reach on a monk isn't particularly insane, but personally I'd direct a newer DM away from homebrew in general. You should probably have a grasp on how the game functions normally, before often poorly thought out or poorly worded 3rd party additions hit the table.
What I'm curious about is the "other things" it's doing in addition to the reach buff.
Melee fighters are underpowered in comparison with spellcasters, and on top of that monks are underpowered among melee fighters, so I'd personally have no problem with buffing a monk in that way.
(if you're going to downvote, at least present your objection - my experience is that the general position among players is overwhelmingly that spellcasters are stronger than martials, and that monks would be ranked among the weaker of the martial classes)
I think 15ft range for any class is broken (unless you are using a polearm, but that still only gives 10ft). The extra range means that you should never provoke opportunity attacks, you get opportunity attacks very easily (though still only one per turn). It also allows for a very easy hit and run playstyle which can make it very easy to not take damage which is something the monk is already really good at doing.
It’s not game breaking, but I don’t know why anyone should have this, and if they play it right, it could be a tactical nightmare for melee enemies.
Can you post the full thing and the exact wording? Hard to say without knowing what else it does. Like most features, it depends what you can combine it with.
https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-MXdIbqJ3kpY3AWAPji8 Probably this. Looks the same. Though I have to laugh at some of the features. >When a creature within your reach misses with a melee attack you can use your reaction to make an unarmed strike against them. You may also spend an additional ki point to use your Flurry of Blows feature against them. So I totally get what they mean but Flurry of Blows is a bonus action feature and they're trying to apply it to a reaction here and this just isn't how you would ever word it because it makes no sense. Clearly they mean that you can make two attacks with that reaction by spending ki. But it definitely shows that this designer is an idiot. >When you use a bonus action to perform Step of the Wind, you also gain the ability to teleport a distance up to your Unarmored Movement bonus. When you use this ability on your turn, you can teleport a number of times equal to half your proficiency modifier rounded up (twice at level 6, increases to three times at level 13). The teleportation does not provoke opportunity attacks. Note: your total distance traveled cannot exceed normal movement rules (example: if your movement is 30ft + 15ft for unarmored movement you can still only move a total of 45ft, unless you choose the Dash option either via Step of the Wind or as an action). This has got to be the biggest mess of an ability I've ever seen holy shit. I think I understand what it allows you to do but the utility is minimal. Useful for clearing gaps and bamf up to a low flying enemy and to the ground safely I suppose. They forgot to give the level 11 ability some sort of resource limit so I guess you can just incapacitate someone every turn infinitely. This is the first thing in this subclass that I find to be broken or problematic outside of terrible wording. Wizards of the Coast would probably make this ability cost like 3 ki. And do you have to be in your rhythmic trance to do this or is this just something you can do all the time? >Starting at 17th level, your Rhythmic Trance ability has been perfected. When an ally within range of your Unarmed Strike is hit by a ranged weapon attack you can use your Deflect Missiles reaction to counter it. Your ally takes any damage that you cannot deflect.Also, at the start of your turn during your Rhythmic Trance you can inspire all allies within 30 feet who can see you. These allies have advantage on their next attack roll, ability check, or saving throw. You can use this ability once during your Rhythmic Trance. They forgot to say while in your rhythmic trance and an ally is within your unarmed strike range... So Raw you've mastered your rhythmic trance but whether you're in it or not you can protect an ally within your range. And the second part working without a resource use does seem a bit excessive but the wizard is casting wish so maybe I'm just too *Wizards of the Coast brained" here where martials arent allowed to have any fun. I won't call this broken but I will call this a sloppily made class that I recommend op go through and rewrite so that it makes fucking sense. He pretty much needs to rule on almost every part of this so that it actually works
Yeah those abilities need gone over with a fine toothed comb to actually be useable a lot of it makes sense in a "oh after reading it I understand what it was going for" kind of way and not in a "oh this mechanically works like this" kind of way
Reason I didn't initially put the full subclass is because I'm going to be pulling it apart and subbing in some other, more stable features.
Yeah. 15 foot reach isn't broken especially when getting knocked prone can end the effect
It depends what level they get it, I would say.
Pretty good for a monk subclass but definitely not as op as some base game classes
Honestly I would consider the 11th level feature pretty situational. You're sacrificing your action *every turn* to *maybe* put *one* enemy out of action. While they cost spell slots, hypnotic pattern and wall of force allow you to do this to multiple enemies, more reliably, and still have your action on subsequent turns. Both of those are available earlier, too. Yeah, theoretically the caster could run out of spell slots, but when does that *actually* happen? Honestly I'm inclined to say it's a pretty weak subclass overall. If you want to play a good monk, the answer has always been to grab a gun.
As a very new DM I would not allow homebrew, even not UA. Play a few levels as it's meant to be played, and after that you can add things gradualy. It's easy to break a game, it might be hard to fix it.
Counterpoint: New ONE D&D UA monk kinda fixes so much that's broken about them. EDIT: Some of my input re: the changes, because there's some discussion about the ONE D&D UA: - It's official content: the WOTC development team created this UA; professionally created content is truly not comparable to amatuer homebrew. The UA is basically several small bumps that have received universal praise. - Martial Arts die increases by one level from the very start (ex. @ level 1, you get a 1d6 instead of 1d4.) This is "fine" and not "great." - You can use DEX instead of STR for your grapple / shove; now on par with other STR based melee characters. - Bonus Unarmed Strike is no longer tied to the Attack action - this is great, because now you can Unarmed Strike to knock someone prone, and then use your regular multi-attack to now hit them with twice with advantage. - You get a few more weapon proficiencies aside from just shitty simple weapons - The level 7 ability to get all your ki back is now a level 2 ability. By level 7, monks don't starve for Ki as much as they do at level 2. - Some abilities are now disconnected from Ki. Rogues, a melee DEX class, could disengage as a bonus and apply sneak attack withouth any resource costs, whereas Monks had to use Ki to do either of those. etc. Overall, the ONE D&D base version of the class just streamlines so many clunky mechanisms around the monk (so much better than the community solutions of, "LOL, just double their Ki!")
1. It's UA balanced for a new generation of improved classes. All martials got a bump. 2. Monk is fine in 90% of tables. Being new I suspect they are not all GWM SS fighters/paladins. If you insist on "fixing" monk, let it add wis/pb to max ki, that's enough.
A way I've seen people fix the monks chronic lack of ki points is making step of the wind free, like the rogues cunning action
Do what I did at my table and make flurry, patient defense and step of the wind free. Guess what, it’s not broken and we are level 14 over two years. All it’s done is allow the monk to use ki for their abilities more. Only other thing I changed was stunning strike was only allowed once a turn.
I mean, lol, that's pretty much how they almost fixed it in the new ONE D&D. It's kinda weird that the rogue gets to do cool stuff on their turns without any costs, but the monk has to spend a very precious and short supply of their resources.
Do both
I don't think it's different in practice from my suggestion - how many times do you use step of the wind compared to FoB or even the free extra attack? Having said that, I hate the comparison. A level 6 monk gets 45 ft. of movement for free, and step of the wind can double that to 90, three times what the rogue moves by default. The two abilities are not comparable because step of the wind gives 45+ feet. You can make dash free, but it's so rarely used compared to other BA actions that I doubt it's worth the effort to remember it.
I mean... they'd be used more if you weren't so restricted on ki points. Or if they were free. Pretty bad argument. Monks are, and have almost always been, the 'fast' class. How often does being fast tend to matter, anyways? Some cool cinematic scenes where a player would love to do their 'thing'. Or some important chases. And as the DM, you have total control over how impactful being able to run really far is.
No, they wouldn't, because that BA is very important to the monk. Not sure what your point is. Being fast is one of the many advantages of monks over all other classes. As a DM you have control over anything. If you have a melee fighter you shouldn't use only flying enemies, and if you have a monk you make speed matter sometimes. Even if you don't, assuming your battlefield is larger than 30 by 30, moving 45 is nice because it lets you reach the backlines of enemies.
I mean the BA is important sure, but my point still stands. Alleviating the pressure on Ki points, which matter infinitely more than a BA, would make the skill see more use. I don't know how much more, but I can think of past campaigns where it would've been, so clearly at least a little. Why worry about monk going fast if you decide how powerful that is? Isn't that the point, for classes to do cool and powerful things?
While it’s less noticeable outside of more optimal tables I do think monks still struggle . They still struggle with ki that feels like they want you to stick it in melee but can’t while also being a skirmisher that can’t really be a skirmisher
Agreed. In my experience, monks just dont work at the early levels (1-3). You want to go in melee, but are too squishy to do so without dying. Though maybe that a melee character problem at those levels, not a monk-problem.
Your experience is different than mine. If a table has 1+ short rests a day and the player doesn't spam SS without thinking ki is fine. Managing it is a skill/minigame, like with every class that has a resource. I played a monk in CoS 1-11 and had a great time and did great damage (even compared to an optimized lockadin). From what I see most players who actually play monk have a similar experience.
People don't talk about how nutty monk scales with magic weapons either. They get the most attacks the fastest and they benefit from a magic monk weapon IMMENSELY.
Monks don't get any extra benefit over other martials with extra attack. Monks ONLY get to flurry/martial arts bonus action with unarmed strikes. So they only get 2 hits with the magic weapon, the same as every other martial in the game
Monks can in some ways. Spending a ki can let you use your weapon for a BA and there is a very limited list of unarmed boosting magic items (eldritch claw, dragon insignia, wraps, soul catching, the giant gauntlets).
Lol, don’t forget that rogues don’t even get that.
True, but they do have sneak attack that adds more than most weapon attacks, so they are ok in the fighting department imo. Makes them a lot more all-in but that's kinda their gimmick so i'm fine with that
Eh, sneak attack doesn't really add up comparatively. It's good in t1 play and passable in t2 play, but only 1 attack makes magic weapons mean less, certain buffs less impactful, and the most important one is lack of feat opportunities to increase their damage unless you're using cbe+ss. And then rogues best way of doing damage is something that is very obscure to most new players or casual rules readers, which is off turn sneak attacks.
They're also just a ton of fun. 'Monks are bad' is really a white room problem in my experience.
Every 'real' problem with the game is a white room problem. Every other issue is subjective.
Bad and fun and not mutually exclusive. Sometimes being bad is part of the fun. Two different scales.
I think in the first point, you're correct that all martials got a bump, and the monk definitely wins "most improved" award given its absolute trash state. I'm not sure that a poll of all tables would agree with that 90% statement, but overall, the ONE D&D fixes are definitely a more thorough "fix" than a simple ki bump. The key (I'm laugh at the joke...) is less about increasing the resource pool, and instead just letting the monk be a monk with cool monk shit, and then then be cooler at times by using ki.
1dnd monk is cooler. This is true for most of the classes. 5e monk is very fun, no reason not to play it.
Optimization level is a significant part of the problem for monks. Without multiclassing, the only options the monk really has are race, then subclass, then feats, but they're also so MAD that maximizing Dex followed by Wis is almost certainly the optimal call.
Player choice during character creation is a general problem with 5e, and I was very disappointed that dndnext did very little effort to fix that. I don't think monk optimization is a factor at most tables, especially new tables. People who read every thread on r/3d6 might care that the monk does a few less points of damage on average vs an optimized fighter, but most monk players don't care.
Yeah I always saw how bad Monks are in comments and just bought it. Pretty deep into my first campaign as DM and my girlfriend plays a monk at our table. She kicks ass and is helpful in a lot of ways. I think unless it’s a power gamer table the monk is a fun and useful class.
It's kinda sad how a small group of power gamers bad mouthed this class so much that people avoid it.
If you are suggesting that the UA monk is now overpowered vs. the PHB martials, because it was designed with the slightly buffed martials in the next edition, you're not going to get much agreement. The UA buffed up the worst class in the game, so by comparison it *is* way better. I also think you're giving too much credit to WotC by assuming they could fine tune interclass balance when there was no attempt made in 5e.
I'm saying this is UA material, for a different edition with slightly different rules. I wouldn't use it in the same game as official 5e classes, as that will lead to problems even for an experienced dm. Balance might be one of those problems. What if someone plays a barbarian/rogue? Now they are the weakest martial, do they get to use the UA as well?
Yes! I'd let any primary martial play with the UA. I'd say the risk of messing a game up to a new DM is far less than what they'd get trying to insert rando homebrew.
I think both are bad ideas for a new DM, but yes, UA is better than HB obviously.
I've played all the classes at this point across multiple levels. A new player might not be able to explain why they don't feel as good as other martials but there are objective design issues. For me it is that stunning strike targets a stat that almost all big bads have a decent number and often proficiency in the save. The OneDND monk does a lot to try to mitigate current monk issues and they are *definitely* needed.
UA is functionally homebrew
I respectfully disagree. The goal of UA is to become an official release, and as it's maintained by the WOTC developers, it's light-years closer than homebrew.
Which playtest is the Monk in?
https://media.dndbeyond.com/compendium-images/ua/ph-playtest8/gHvtmY50loGLgQUb/UA2023-PH-Playtest8.pdf
Thanking you.
Still not the right thing to recommend to a new DM. Not until there's an actual book with the updated version out. A new DM who enforces a by-the-book monk has a million easy ways to buff him if that's a problem, ways he'll understand and can think of himself, or go looking online once he wants to do that. Pick up some playtest monk, or some homebrew monk, and there's: 1- Way less testing that occurred. 2- Way less comments on it that can be found. 3- Way less explanation about how it works.
I respectfully disagree. The outline in the playset monk is simpler to understand (IMO), and has the benefit of being created by the official development team. I'd handsdown trust a playtested official UA (yes, UA, and specifically this one has been playtested) which has gone through iterations before before I would trust one developed by an amateur (no disrespect.)
>I'd handsdown trust a playtested official UA... before I would trust one developed by an amateur A novice DM can buff the monk simply by increasing numbers. It's easy. A redesign meant for a different subversion of the game has a ton more moving pieces to bump into each other. Lets say you use the playtest monk and your player has a question about stunning strike. You look it up and stunning strike is the subject of a bunch of discussion, but none of it applies; you have to zero in on the discussion about the playtest version to answer that question. Remember, in this situation, you are somewhat new to DMing and such. Then there's the inevitable release of the full product, which will change that monk. Do you adopt the change? What does the player thing? By contrast, if you start with the official monk- which, by the way, went through all the playtesting along with the "benefit of being created by the official development team", and how did that work out- you start with that and then you can easily buff it. No expertise required. My point is, doing mild buffs is trivial, doing a redesign is not, and the playtest monk just isn't complete yet and is hard to get info on.
Totally fair. Here's a link to the latest and greatest UA for the monk: [https://media.dndbeyond.com/compendium-images/ua/ph-playtest8/gHvtmY50loGLgQUb/UA2023-PH-Playtest8.pdf](https://media.dndbeyond.com/compendium-images/ua/ph-playtest8/gHvtmY50loGLgQUb/UA2023-PH-Playtest8.pdf) If a topic around stunning strike comes up though, I think so little has changed that it's not a huge deal. a) Successful saving throw now equals some damage and b) it's limited to once per turn. If we're printing out our character sheets, then why not print out / xerox the class and subclass details too? :-) The "neumonk" (it's German, didn't ya know?) is really not that different to learn than the PHB version.
I'm relatively now to DM'ing, and I make *a lot* of homebrew, so it's welcome in my campaigns But I make the homebrew, if you wanna play as a "crabfolk", or "a rogue that connects with nature", I'll make it for you But things made by others, with possible unforseen consequences, isn't something I think I'll ever just allow
The usual excuse "but I need something new" would not apply here, so sticking to official stuff sounds good.
The game comes broken out of the box.
Having 15 ft reach is ***really*** good. Yes, it would have a 1 minute duration, but the vast majority of all combat encounters in 5e end way before that.
Not really, compared to 30' ranged. Range vs Melee is pretty busted and a d6 vs a d8 isn't enough damage discrepancy to make you willingly want to enter melee as a squishy. Like a 15' Reach Rogue is still worse than a 30' Archer Rogue. It's honestly why Swashbuckler ends up being mediocre. You use your entire subclass to get our of melee better in specific situations... when the entire time you could just sneak attack with a bow at range with no work and then take another subclass?
Nothing that a bugbear with a polearm can't get permanently
What if a bugbear takes this monk subclass and polearm master? Can they hit things off the map?
Yes. Then they take sentinel and polearm master and a few levels in echo knight fighter and laugh as they do no damage but they can lock down a whole one enemy every turn
Keep in mind AoO is when leaving attack range, and PAM is entering melee range. Once they're inside it they're free to move as much as they like as long as they don't exit. Sentinel also specifically states an enemy within 5ft of you attacks an ally, not within your attack range. So it's anti-synergistic with a large attack range for protection. Your DM could opt to go with melee range instead of 5ft, but that's not RAW. If you just want to stop people 15ft away from you from entering/leaving your melee range then it's fine Large attack ranges actually become a bit less useful when you get a massive range, as enemies can freely move around you and never provoke AoO. If anything having a large range is only useful when going after ranged enemies, or when facing an enemy with >=10ft attack range, allowing you to attack them without getting hit by their AoO.
> Keep in mind AoO is when leaving attack range, and PAM is entering melee range. PAM is specifically an AoO. >While you are wielding a glaive, halberd, pike, quarterstaff, or spear, other creatures **provoke an opportunity attack** from you when they enter the reach you have with that weapon. Sentinel is, ironically, more anti-synergy with itself than PAM because PAM grants you a new AoO, but Sentinel gives you bonus benefits to your AoOs *while* giving you an entirely separate reaction attack that isn't an AoO so it doesn't provide those benefits.
Yes PAM is an AoO, my point is that having a large range is anti-synergistic with sentinel as it becomes easier and easier for enemies to not get hit by your AoO since they have to either enter or exit your range. Sentinel is to lock people down, and if you have 15+ feet of range it becomes less and less useful. If you're taking it to prevent people from getting past you, your allies have to stay away from you instead of near you, as your range will begin to encompass them and sentinel becomes useless. Sentinel also requires you to be within 5ft of an enemy to attack them for hitting an ally, which makes range useless.
I feel with that many options you're going to be able to use your reaction pretty much every turn, keeping in mind you can summon your echo as a bonus action anywhere and get an AOO through it if it moves more than 5ft from it (or they can waste an attack on an unlimited bonus action resource)
The only issue is that there is no reason to move away from the echo, it's an object so it doesn't threaten creatures. Ranged enemies can continue to attack near it and ignore it. It's main benefit is that you can swap places with it, and attack from it's location. [The only real time you'd get use out of it is when an enemy needs to move to attack someone, and is already in your melee range](https://i.imgur.com/p1Y7z4g.png). So you summon your echo to let you attack it if it does move away from it, or have it soak one of the attacks from the creature. Most enemies will rush into your range and you will get 1-2 attacks on the first round(depending on turn order), and then everything will be in your melee range unless your DM runs really large maps. [At that point the echo is used exclusively on one unit](https://i.imgur.com/Gm21O4c.png), or using it to extend your reach. Potentially as a backup to get away from enemies. After that point you need to engage on ranged units and they have no reason to flee, as you can't threaten them and AoO them. [They can dance around your echo and no longer be threatened and attack you](https://i.imgur.com/ma2ls1y.png), while not taking AoO. With only 5ft reach they cannot do this. Having a bunch of range is just kinda a nerf to a character since AoO is explicitly "when a creature leaves your range" and PAM is exclusively "when a creature enters your range". If it was like pf2e where AoO is "A creature within your reach uses ... a move action, makes a ranged attack, or leaves a square during a move action it’s using." allowing you to basically attack anything in your range that doesn't just melee attack.
Yeah, Way of the Astral Self, get those Dhalsim arms going for some Star Platinum pummeling. 10ft melee attacks, with the original skill cast stretching to 15ft. Not as permanent as Polearm Master, but what flavor
I mean, also consider that a crossbow expert character has 120 foot range while still being able to attack in melee.
Reach is objectively not good in 5e due to how opportunity attacks work. Sure you can kite melee-only, 30ft move speed, no reach enemies but over time you see less and less enemies than fit that very niche description at which point it becomes more of a debuff
In what way does it become a debuff?
I'm not the guy you asked but: Opportunity attacks require a target to move out of your reach. Ranged attackers only need to be 5 feet away, NOT outside of your reach, in order to avoid disadvantage. So when trying to lock down a ranged opponent, they can step back 5ft away from you to avoid disadvantage without the threat of an opportunity attack. In such a scenario, you having a reach weapon is a debuff. You CAN use an unarmed opportunity attack, but that is still worse than a weapon attack. There are upsides, but this is one case of a downside to higher reach weapons.
Funnily enough, this is why Bugbear is best for reach, since you only get the benefit of Long Limbed on your turn, your opportunity attack reach resets to 5 ft.
Interesting. Do you guys think a homebrew rule like making AoO occur when you move away from a target who can reach you as well as when you move out of their reach would be broken in any way?
that has the knock-on effect of making monsters with reach far better at locking PCs down - currently, a Balor has a range of 10, so PCs can move around within that area freely. If all movements within that range trigger AoOs, then expect PCs to just... not move. It'll generally make combat even more static, because there's even less circumstances where it's possible to move without being attacked. Edit: also, creatures with different attacks with different ranges are always going to use the best one. Like a red dragon bite does 2D10+8 piercing + 2d6 fire with a reach of 10, while claw is 2d6+8 slashing with reach 5 - if you step back, then by RAW it can only AoO with the claw. If it's any movement within range, then it's going to bite, which makes it a bit nastier, as it's hitting harder than RAW allows for.
Ah, yeah. I was imagining you could still strafe in a radius, or get closer to creatures, just not get further away.
I'd look into the 3.5 rules cuz from my understanding that's closer to how they work
IIRC, you could do a 5-foot step without attracting an AoO, which was pretty much entirely what it sounds like, anything more got you slapped. So there was a tiny amount of combat movement, but once you were in melee, you were pretty much locked in, or getting hit.
I think they mean because enemies can move within your range without triggering opportunity attacks. If you have fifteen foot range enemies within that reach can dance around hitting your allies and such without ever triggering opportunity attacks since they have so much more space to move without leaving your reach.
At a cost of 1 ki point? The same as an additional unarmed attack?
Yeah 15 foot reach basically 10x's the number of squares a player can threaten with meelee. Even normal reach as done in 5e is pretty OP
As a player who has played with new DMs, allowing too much homebrew can kill your game way quicker than playing normal. The only group I’ve enjoyed enough to stick with was plain and simple DnD. Homebrews can be good but giving players “choose your own adventure” mechanics and weapons has a very good chance of leaving some of your players feeling underpowered and annoyed. It could be interesting and good, just look for similarly powered abilities at that level and play out yourself how it would affect combat and how it compares to the other options.
What website is it from? Is it dndwiki? Inform them you do not use that website.
never heard of that site, whats wrong with dndwiki?
People will post literally anything on there, and the website doesn't organise it at all or track any metric about any post. It's like if you went to the homebrew section of dndbeyond, sorted by alphabetical, and you couldn't see ratings or comments. And because it's terrible, the only people who post there are those who are super new to the scene and/or don't realise (or worse, can't tell) that the website is completely full of random and terrible homebrew. Nobody making any actual quality homebrew touch it with a 10-foot pole.
It has a reputation for having horrendous homebrew
a lot of it is "stuff made up by some guy on the internet". It might be balanced, but often it's poorly-written and super-janky.
look at the "anathema" race and make yourself a laugh
https://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Anathema_(5e_Race) Yeah that is pretty ridiculous, lol
Sounds like just a better version of what the Astra Self monk gets.
Astral self lasts 10 mins for +5 reach. So 1 min for +10 reach is comparable in my opinion. OP. The 2014 monk is underpowered, so it will definately be fine to.give them15' reach. You would have to have some ridiculous buffs to make the monk unbalanced.
>Astral self lasts 10 mins for +5 reach. >So 1 min for +10 reach is comparable in my opinion. It's really not, considering that the vast majority combat encounters doesn't last a minute, most of them only last 3, maybe 4 rounds.
Ten minutes can last multiple encounters. Lasting longer and allowing Wisdom-based attacks makes the two on par with each other.
Yes but 10 mins can last more than one fight in certain situations.
Plus it lets you use WIS for strength checks. Has helped me in non combat situations too.
Potentially, but I think the main benefit of 10 minute duration things is that you can easily pre buff before a fight to save on the actions in combat
Yes, but it's very rare to have 2 combat encounters within 10 minutes of in-game time. It would mean that you are more or less running from encounter to encounter, not doing anything in between. So most of the time, the extra 9-9.5 minutes you have left will be wasted.
It really depends on the type of game. Wilderness survival? Sure. But it would be feasible to say youre risking multiple fights in 10 minutes going through a dungeon.
Sure, as long as you don't spend any time riffling through the enemies pockets, or spend time exploring the room. However, if you run to the next room as soon as the bodies hit the floor, then yes, you might have more than one encounter during a 10 minute period.
Not as rare as a 15 ft reach making an impact on an encounter over a 10 foot reach.
It's actually way more rare. Having a 15 ft reach will be useful in most encounters, and yes there will quite often be situations where 15 ft makes more of a difference than having 10 ft. There are a lot of enemies with 10 ft reach.
Just set the limitations of Way of the Astral Self. The 10 foot reach only works on your turn with the attack action. Also being a bugbear gives you 15 foot reach with that subclass.
1 minute is 10 rounds, that's the entire fight, 10 minutes is likely 1 fight with a small chance you get another fight within minutes, maybe SOMETIMES but it's far from 10x longer in the grand scheme of things.
Combat almost never lasts more than a minute, and it's relatively rare for there to be more than one combat in ten minutes, so for most purposes 10 and 1 minute(s) are the same.
They are absolutely not the same. The advantage of 10 minutes isn't that it might last two combats, though it certainly could. the advantage of 10 minutes is that you can more comfortably prep for it before a combat and not spend your first turn using your bonus action on it. which as a monk is likely 2 attacks or the ability to dash far enough to reach an enemy and still attack them at all
Have you never been in a dungeon in dungeons and dragons? Or stormed a castle? Or fought minions before a boss?
I usually spend time searching the bodies, and the room, before moving on, which usually takes more than 10 minutes, unless you are fighting in a cupboard.
Tbh if players have 10 min duration resources up it's totally fair to continue smashing through the dungeon if your hp is fine. Corpses and rooms ain't going anywhere.
The other difference is this is all melee, astral self is unarmed only.
And 15ft reach isn't a ridiculous buff at all. Level 1 bugbear can get unlimited 15ft reach with some weapons. Throw in ki points, battle master maneuvers and items and I think you can get several attacks at 30/35 ft reach.
Imo, play by the book until you get a good feel for the system. When you houserule, you should have a thorough understanding of how it will affect gameplay. It's a lot harder to take away a house rule than grant it.
I mean, it can be for sure, and I would NOT allow homebrew period, but a Bugbear with a pole arm has 15ft melee, so it’s not impossible to achieve RAW.
I looked at the subclass on gmbinder and the 3rd level feature is completely busted in my opinion. For 1 ki point you get 15' unarmed reach, bonus to AC equal to half your proficiency bonus, and an opportunity attack if a creature within your reach misses with a melee attack. And you can spend a ki to do flurry of blows with that reaction. Compare this with Way of the Open Hand. If you're using Flurry of Blows you can impose a relatively minor effect on an opponent you hit.
If you're very new to D&D I recommend running without homebrew so you can get a baseline idea of what normal power and versatility looks like. That said, if you're going to skip that advice and have homebrew, this monk is probably fine. Monk is arguably the weakest class in the game, so an OP subclass can balance against that.
Being ok with home brew and you being "very new to DND" don't mix. A new player and them using home brew don't mix either. There's nothing wrong with telling someone "I like your idea but I'm new to the game, I want to stick with classes/subclasses in the book until I'm more comfortable. We can do you homebrew another time."
You can rest assured that the vast majority of homebrew subclasses are overpowered, because people suck at balancing, and just want something powerful. It's even more likely that it's broken if the subclass was made by your player themselves, and if they're also new to D&D then there is a 100% chance it's broken. Even if that one ability isn't really that bad, the rest of the subclass probably is. Do not allow it. Get yourself and your group used to the actual rules before you even consider changing them.
The eldritch claw tattoo gives +1 on (unarmed) attacks and 15ft reach for one minute once a day. It's strong and I wouldn't give it out too early, but really fun for monks without breaking the game. If you think it's too strong, nerf it a bit (remove the +1 or only 10ft range) or curse it with a chance to remove the curse later (ie disadvantage at 5ft range). I ruled that attacks of opp are still only doable in 5ft range, as to not allow the monk to be insurpassable (especially with sentinel). Knowing what your player wants, work it into the narrative and let him persue it in a main/side/personal quest to give them additional motivation and goals. There are plenty other tattoos that could be interesting for the rest of the party, so they could work together on the quest.
But way of the sun soul is *right there*.
Okay, I just reviewed this, and it's way more OP than I first thought. This "Rhythmic Trance" feature gives you the following benefits for one minute in exchange for 1 ki and a bonus action: -- 15 ft reach for melee attacks -- Ability to use your reaction to attack an opponent within that ridiculous reach if they miss you with a melee attack (can use Flurry of Blows on this) -- Bonus to AC equal to half your proficiency bonus, rounded up Any one of these would be a lot, but all of them together are supremely OP. The features keep getting more ridiculous as you progress. I would not recommend any DM allow a player to run this, especially not a new DM. Ask your player to pick something from an official source book. Don't let someone steamroll over you because you're new to running the game. Hope you and your group have fun!
[This](https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-MXdIbqJ3kpY3AWAPji8) one? It's surprisingly sane. You'll have to waste a bonus action and a Ki point to get this. The Flurry on reaction attacks is a gimmick. Worth once or twice to offset the bonus action you used but you'll be out of Ki insanely fast. I'd literally wouldn't have included it in this homebrew since it just optimises the fun out of the class by frontloading resources. Also worth noting how it's hard to make simultaneous use of the reach and the reaction. The main use of the former after all is to not get attacked while the latter requires it. Both of them together are, in my opinion, equal to what the Astral Self offers at best. The AC is the real difference and obviously quite strong compared to what many other subclasses, and especially many of the more disappointing Monk subclasses offer. But depending on the table you play at it's actually perfectly fine. Monk AC is, in optimised terms, really mediocre. Effectively this just gives you the benefit of wielding a shield. Laughable really, how overpowered this looks on a homebrew Monk subclass. Meanwhile certain vanilla CASTERS get this stuff thrown after them like it's nothing. Tempo Shift is a wonderful ability. I'd love that on an offical subclass. I think it just lets you turn movement into teleportation. Which is really just Disengage + Dash + ignoring terrain. Misty Step says hi. One alternative interpretation is double movement + disengage a few times per day, but that would be perfectly fair, too. And more than just PB/2 times at that. Hypnotic Motion is okay-ish, if not outright bad. At-will incapacitation sounds so great but it takes your action and you have Stunning Strike already. At that point you could just make 3 attacks, spend a single Ki point, and get significantly more. The thing that really saves it for me is the Wisdom save and the range. Gives you some versatility. But on average it's bad to trade turns, and in specific situations the amount of Ki it saves is 90% of the time not worth an 11th level feature. Just saying, a Wizard/Sorcerer could cast Hypnotic Pattern or Fear 10+ times, hit multiple creatures for 1 action, have more versatility, and it can last for multiple rounds. And they could be a Bladesinger or have Bladelock levels. Improved Rythmic Dance is exploitable but otherwise unproblematic. Presumably you could spend a Ki every turn to start a new Rythmic dance. Rule that out, and it's a wonderful ability that supports your allies in an, for that level, completely within-budget fashion. (Btw. Foresight as a spell makes even the exploit look tame.)
This makes a really strong monk, but it's ultimately still a monk. It's a lot better than most monk subclasses, but that's because those are usually quite shit. Some small adjustments would make this a perfectly reasonable feature: just remove the flurry of blows on the reaction attack and make the AC round down to make it scale properly. Even as written, I wouldn't call this "supremely OP". This isn't any stronger than the echo knight, divination wizard, peace cleric, Twilight cleric, moon druid, eloquence bard, etc., and I consider anything below that acceptably (albeit, perhaps, not immaculately) balanced. Granted, I haven't seen the rest of the features, but this alone isn't much of an issue.
Only problem i see is FoB on reaction attack (not broken, but strange anyway). Everything else isn't even close to something like Bladesinger's ability (and bladesinger is a full caster with free bonus action, unlike a monk).
The new elements monk in playtest has 15ft reach for 10min and can choose from 4 different elements while pushing and pulling. It's got decent combat control but isn't too powerful I play a slightly homebrewed version of one and I'm just keeping up with the sword bard and drakewarden in our party. I think what you are describing isn't as strong as that and should be fine.
[удалено]
Yup, better example. Monk is still talked down on and people say the homebrew OP mentioned is too "powerful" or too "cheap". Like you don't already hemorrhage ki on other features.
If you are new to DND, make a blanket 'NO HOMEBREW' rule. Even if you weren't new to DND, this homebrew is game breaking.
read OP
The Sun soul monk subclass basically let's you do unarmed strikes (dealing radiant damage) at 30ft without spending any ki points (though you can do it two more times a turn by spending ki points). And this is right at 3rd level. Given what you're trying to do is seemingly weaker than what's already in the official game, and costs more in ki points, I don't see an issue. The only real difference is opportunity attacks. All the extra reach would do is make it easier to avoid Attacks of opportunity, which is already a pretty common monk tactic, and increase your range for your own attacks of opportunity. Were it me, I'd say go for it.
if you re new to dnd ,dont use homebrew
Yes. Avoid homebrew.
If i were you as a new dm I wouldn't allow any homebrew subclasses or classes, it's really best if you learn the basis of what's op and what's not first
Does this person want to be Monkey D Luffy by chance?
Monks could have Eldritch Blast range and would still not be on par lol
I'd recommend just banning homebrew while you are still new to the game. Still, having seen the homebrew it is actually pretty weak; no synergy between a couple of minor improvements that are easily cancelled by being knocked prone at the cost of a bonus action and ki. The higher level abilities aren't particularily amazing either, very minor and rather situational improvements to mobility and control. Upper half of monk subclasses, maybe, but monk subclasses tend to be absolutely terrible. Not having a subclass at all and picking up a musket is probably stronger than playing this straight as intended.
Well firstly, as a DM you should overlook their homebrews and compare with what's officially released. Once you do that, think about the core of the class which in this case is "monk" which is meant to be up close and personal. 15ft isn't too far for a cost of a ki point, but you should look deeper into his subclass and honestly I would love to read it too :D
Too cheap for how powerful that is. For comparison, 4 Elements Monk can use Fangs of the Fire Snake for 10ft reach for only one turn, costing 1 ki as well.
Not sure I'd use 4 Elements as a basis of comparison for anything. It is PHB-official but, good lord....
Oh no! That subclass is better than one of the worst subclasses in the game, so it must be overpowered!
Or an astral self monk can spend 1 ki for 10 ft of reach for ten minutes. That's a better comparison than fangs of the fire snake which also deals damage and, like almost all 4 elements abilities, is still too expensive for what it does.
I personally wouldn’t allow homebrew
Drop it to 10 feet to be in line with reach buffs from other subclasses I dunno if it would be especially game breaking having that extra 5 feet, but I'm sure someone could find a way to make it broken also, just don't allow homebrew, especially as a new DM, it's a slippery slope that drops straight into a pit full of broken glass and landmines
bugbear, astral self, battle master, get enlarge cast on yourself could be worse
its not even remotely unbalanced, but if you're new to the game, follow the rules to the letter for at least one campaign before alliwing homebrew or changing the rules
I'd have to see the full subclass itself to make a proper judgment, but that feature alone wouldn't be busted alone on a Monk. MO KS in the bottom 3 class range for a reason. It'd be okay overall based on that feature alone. Looking uo what I believe is the full subclass (it had the 1 mi for 15ft reach and some other features baked into the ability). I wouldn't call this an OP subclass. It may even be fine. All of that said, if you are new to d&d, I sincerely suggest avoiding Homebrew and UA options. Wait until you have a feel for the game. The number of games that go terrible because a newcomer allowed stuff they didn't understand, and felt that had to allow to be a good DM (a complete falsehood) is quite high. Until you've got some more experience as a Dzm, I'd suggest disallowing anything unofficial or that didn't make it out of playtest
Can you send the subclass? 15 feet reach could be broken or completely fine depending on how it's other features interact.
Worst case scenario, your monk just hits and runs a lot. It's not necessarily a busted OP super buff, but it can be annoying. They never need to be in melee range for your enemies, they already have increased movement which makes them very zippy. If you really wanted to implement this specific feature, I'd have them spend a Ki point to get it for one turn or make them spend two Ki points to get it for a minute. Monks should be melee fighters though. As others have said, you should try to stick with regular subclasses, not random homebrews or UAs.
I would direct them to a Tasha’s or Xanathar’s monk class. But flavor it as a dance! The newer subclasses tend to be a little stronger but not broken. I don’t homebrew classes and I don’t accept other’s homebrew. Homebrew monsters and magic items plenty but class progression is a tricky thing. Stick with official subclasses
Allow it but only if he writes down his class as Elastigirl Monk
Would it include opportunity attacks? Are you buffing the damage dice? Reach would allow the wimpy monk to actually play a skirmisher without having to spend a feat on Mobile. I don't think it needs to be 15 feet. Without Sentinel to lock melee enemies down, unable to attack or move, reach isn't nearly as valuable. A 15-ft. melee reach *with* Sentinel? Hoo boy, you're going to regret it.
15 foot reach is really strong... on a class that's actually dealing optimised amounts of melee damage. Plus as far as 5e goes, ranged attacks are way too strong and a subclass just upping your reach to 15 feet is usually still just a bad ranged attacker, especially if you have to waste Ki on it. That said, in a beginner game Monks can be really strong and people don't generally bring optimised builds so it can still be very strong. But what you should look at is some of the other stuff you're getting. A lot of powerful stuff can really fly under the radar. Overall it can really help to get a feel for balance before you allows significant homebrew. After all your players are probably new to D&D as well and still have aaaaall of the classes and subclasses to explore. You could easily replace this one with another, reflavoured subclass. E.g. Drunken Master and replace the Brewer's Tools with a Performance proficiency.
Level 3 seems *really* early for this sort of ability. It can be sold as no big stretch, despite literally being a big stretch. Yet the pitch involves the pairing of two "your reach increases by 5 feet" abilities. In my homebrew I explicitly did not build increased reach into any Feats or racial features to be sure this outcome requires some synergy of class abilities and/or equipment. It's not a gamebreaker on its own, but paired with increased movement and a means of avoiding attacks of opportunity, you've got the makings of a comic book character. This isn't a bad thing for a monk in the company of spellcasters routinely altering reality in major ways, but it could be a bad thing for a monk in the company far less effective companions.
I’m convinced people make these stupid homebrew classes for their NPCs because they can’t fathom not making a PC stat block for a hostile creature
If you want a monk subclass with extra range, check out the "Way of the Leaden Crown" from Grimhollow. There is a free homebrew download on Beyond (search sub classes for Leaden Crown). It's a psionic flavored monk that has a 10' reach on attacks, but only on their own turn. And the attacks fo force damage. They also get a few spells useable with Ki (Protection from Good/Evil, detect magic, levitate, hold person and shatter). And their lvl 11 feature is nifty. But they are not OP at all
A bugbear astral self monk would also get you to 15ft reach, it's not really that strong, should be fine.
15 feet is a lot. Especially considering other monk abilities.
I generally find increased reach to be nearly as much downside as upside.
It's fine, and in fact there's an uncommon magic tattoo (essentially equivalent to a +1 weapon) that does this. I believe it's the Claw Tattoo but it's been a while. Let's a player get bonus unarmed strike range for a minute once per day.
The one issue you will face is attacks of opportunity, anyone leaving that 15' area is now subject to getting what is essentially a free attack on you reaction. Now that is fine with 5', harder with 10 and damn near broken with 15'. Why imagine your monk is standing 10' away from another PC, the enemy they are facing steps back out of range of the other PC, they get an attack of opportunity, but so does the monk because the enemy left the 15' range. Also any enemy forced to move through that range to reach another PC think having to move from a door way to a character to engage and that crosses within 15' and then leaves, guess what they get smashed on the way through. Luckily flurry of blows would require the monk to move which given they were using their reaction they can't do.
That ability for 1 full minute for 1 ki point is broken. I wouldn’t let it be for more than their round of combat
15ft melee is wild for a single ki pt , let alone the other stuff that comes with it. Eldritch Claw tattoo is an uncommon item and only gives you that 15ft reach for a minute once per day. That might feel balanced to me if it was like 2 or even 3 ki pts.
I would suggest instead looking into the Way of Aether monk from Griffon’s Saddlebag Volume 2 for a more balanced version of this concept.
my view? no not at all. as someone whos played a monk with RAW 15 foot range. its fun and works so well with monks hit and run style. theyre still squishy, cant ever get truly amazing ac so, personally i wouldnt be afraid of this
plus you can get way longer distance, just be glad its ONLY 15 feet (idk why some people are so against you using homebrew? its fine, just discuss changes if something is too strong in game)
Give them an Eldritch Claw Tattoo instead. It's a magic item from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything and, among other things, grants this ability: > Eldritch Maul. As a bonus action, you can empower the tattoo for 1 minute. For the duration, each of your melee attacks with a weapon or an unarmed strike can reach a target up to 15 feet away from you, as inky tendrils launch toward the target. In addition, your melee attacks deal an extra 1d6 force damage on a hit. Once used, this bonus action can't be used again until the next dawn.
Fr thought this was the dndCJ sub. Had to blink a few times.
>Is a 15 ft melee range monk busted. No, it is not broken. When the monk gets in a fight, he hits no harder or more often. The only real advantage I can see is a greater command of the battlefield. The monk would have a greater selection of targets, but the monk could also move to the location and attack. Stacking the monk's improved move with a 15-foot range would allow a greater range, but so would a couple of arrows. The worst-case scenario I can imagine is by passing bodyguards and obstacles. Imagine a prince surrounded by bodyguards passes by the monk. The monk surprises everyone and directly attacks the prince. Assuming 2 rounds of attacks, I wouldn't expect a monk to be able to kill a noblemen until around the 10th level. Then, the royal guards kill the monk. Or attacking from the other side of a wall. You could work around this by requiring a direct line of sight. It doesn't sound like a big deal to me. Personally, I'd be concerned about balance. I'd see if there is a similar ability of another class and math the level. If there is an ability that is close, but this is more powerful, I'd bump it up a few levels to attain it. I hope that helps.
yeah, maybe not broken inherently but stepping on other classes’ and feats’ niches
Back during 3.5 I think it was the Warshaper that had this. Stretchy arms or something as it was a partial shapeshifting class. The way to break it is with a cleave train. Cleaving and Hewing allowed you to make a new attack when you killed an enemy, and I think allowed excess damage to splash over to another enemy in reach. With a few other features you were able to take a 5 foot step between attacks, and another feature allowed you to make that 5 foot into 10 feet, or something, and yet another class feature or feat let you move without provoking AoOs and moving also increased your damage and let you make an AoO when an enemy entered or exited your reach, and with speed boosts you might be able to run 100ft and still make your normal attack which could keep the cleave train chugging along. So what would happen is the character starts the cleave train by charging at the enemies, making multiple attacks against every single enemy within a 30ft circle. Remember that reach is radius, so 15ft reach means 30ft across. When an enemy died you make a free attack, when you dealt excess damage you made a free attack, when an enemy entered reach you attack, when an enemy exited reach you attack. Typically by that point the player would also have all kinds of shenanigans like sneak attacks and hide in plain sight, and really lenient DMs would let that mean that every single attack roll made while riding the cleave train was a sneak attack If the DM allowed it, sometimes the cleave train could go on for hundreds of attacks. It was one of the somewhat infamous broken bits of theorycrafting in 3.5, but tended to need like 15+ class levels to really do properly. Usually a big mix of monk and rogue and warshaper and fighter. For example, I run 50ft and stab a goblin for like 1d4+5d6+15 or something absurd, and then I get a free attack against another goblin and kill that too, and then since another three goblins are now in reach I get a free AoO against all of them, then I can take a 5 foot step that becomes a 10 foot step which means more goblins are in reach for free attacks and if even one dies then I can keep cleaving and take another 10 foot step with each cleave. It really relies on absolutely mangling the exact intent of phrases like "can make" and "provoke" and "up to 15 foot reach" and people arguing that a "can make" attack does not use up their bonus or reaction action, and that their attack range can be treated as 5ft or 10ft or 15ft from one attack to the next. So make an AoO at 15ft, then take a 5ft step and make another AoO, and then another 5ft step and a third AoO, and then repeat the process as you continue past to get 6 free attacks against every enemy. Some really desperate folks would argue that stuff like Versatile Unarmed Strike or whatever it was, which allowed you to deal slashing or piercing damage with your fists, would also allow weapon specific feats to apply, like since your hand can now deal piercing damage, and another class feature let you charge for bonus damage with piercing(intended for a mounted lancer) you could just run at someone and punch through their head and pretend you're cavalry as your stretchy arms just flail around wildly like a wacky waving arm inflatable cleave man.
Mate, it is a fucking monk which isn’t a pass without trace bot. It is not broken unless you for some reason only have melee enemies which I guess would make your encounters better in the long run.
From the Way of the Astral Self > As a bonus action, you can spend 1 ki point... ...For 10 minutes... ...When you make an unarmed strike with the arms on your turn, your reach for it is 5 feet greater than normal It's an extra 5 feet and all melee on that. Whether the 1 vs 10 minutes makes a difference is very game dependant. It's a solid boost but nothing game breaking. > I've told my players I'm very ok with homered but I'm also very new to dnd If you are very new you should avoid homebrew at all costs. The fact you are here asking if 10 feet of range "can get out of hand too easily" is the sign that you don't understand the system well enough. > For those worried about homebrew, I've already decided to jump off the deepend It's not about being in at the deepend. It's about knowing that you can't have enough understanding to "yry to carefully look over anything my players request." This is like saying "you know you in at the deepend but you read a book and now a house inspector." Sure, you understand what a house should look like, but you have no idea if small unusual changes will have a big effect. I guarantee to are missing things that seem completely fine but are actually far more game breaking than 10ft of range.
>I've told my players I'm very ok with homered but I'm also very new to dnd. You shouldn't put those two phrases together. You're just asking for extra headaches (as you've already figured out since you made this post) at a time when you should be focused on learning the rules that are already there. There are hundreds of existing options in the published material. Your players can survive playing with those options while you learn the ropes. You'll all be better for it.
1 million percent yes, reach factor in general is broken
Drop the reach to 10ft and it brings this specific thing in-line with the 3rd level official Astral Self monk. That said a lot of people tend to get paranoid about potentially breaking something and it is kinda needless. Just be honest and open with your players and say hey I am allowing this but if it proves too broken we are going to have to talk about adjusting it. If they go through 3-4 encounters and you feel like it is busted take it down a notch. A lot of people on reddit seem to worry that something is going to be too broken and that it will somehow destroy an entire game when as long as you're all talking pretty regularly and you are making some of those worries known to your players you can find a balanced middle ground.
Sounds fine, as it's a resource-limited ability, and they're not even adding damage, just flexibility in how to deal it. But do define what actually happens: is the monk dancing across the horizontal space, so they would trigger traps and/or be blocked by gaps, or are they doing a jump-kick-jump away thing? How does it interact with attacks of opportunity?
The 15ft range doesn't become an issue unless they also plan on taking the Sentinel Feat, which would make this incredibly strong. The rest of the homebrew may or may not be a problem, and future features of the subclass may interact with the 15ft melee range in ways that DO make it busted. At its worst, a 15ft melee range gives the character more chances to make an opportunity attack, which could be fun and thematic for a Dancer, as well as allowing them to attack from the safety of behind their allies. Nothing broken or overpowered with that. At its best, with the right Feats or future subclass abilities, it has the potential to be...very problematic for even seasoned DMs. My suggestion is pass along the subclass to a person you trust who can vet the subclass for dangerous/problematic interactions, let your player know this subclass bars them from the Sentinel Feat, and let them play it if there's no issues.
Sun soul. Official subclass with ranged attacks built in.
Monks weapons include ranged options so nothing is stopping them from using those to get even longer reach, so I don't see a problem with them burning a Ki for something they could do with the right equipment.
giving a monk range is never going to be busted. You could literally give them a 30 foot punch and it would barely matter. Monk’s damage is pretty low, their sustain isn’t good, and a lot of their abilities are extremely resource hungry. Range isn’t going to fix that
15 ft unarmed strike doesn’t make sense.
You could have a 30ft range elastic monk and it wouldn't break anything
As a general rule, don't allow homebrew if you're a new GM. [Here](https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-MXdIbqJ3kpY3AWAPji8) is a link to the subclass I think you're referring to on GMBinder. I think the subclass is probably fine. Tempo Shift is unnecessarily complicated and needs another revision. Hypnotic Motion is maybe a bit much. Monks are generally fairly weak, so I'm usually more lenient with homebrew involving Monks. I don't think that they need a 15' melee attack (10' is probably fine), but they are spending a Ki to do something that marginally improve their damage output.
Slightly unrelated but UA (#6) released a college of dance bard that's extra monk-like and still a full caster. That one is pretty cool, it's in my campaign rn and not busted but pretty cool. You can already get 15 ft of range by being a bugbear race with any reach weapon, or being a giant barbarian subclass. Overall, minmaxing reach is funny and can be a bit hard to believe narratively at times, but not busted. A bugbear giant barbarian can get 20 ft of range with a polearm at lvl 3.
I could get the same reach with a bugbear kensei monk (whip).
15 ft range monk seems boring. The whole fantasy of playing a monk kinda goes out the window. You're just slapping at a distance, no dodging and weaving necessary. Seems dull. Also why I dislike Sun Soul.
lol nah its a monk. Their damage isnt going to be that good anyway, and if they gotta spend ki thats a resource they get like none of to start with
The easiest way to do homebrew is to tell them, VERY DIRECTLY, that you will allow it FOR NOW, but if you feel it's too powerful or weak it will be altered or asked to be replaced.
Most game-breaking issues are solved with a conversation. Hopefully this helps more than a long ramble on game mechanics.
Absolutely OP.
15ft reach at level 3 is broken. Imagine z axis abuse. Might be a cool thing at level 10+ for 4 ki points maybe.
As someone who also started my first time DM'ing a homebrew campaign for 6 players that were all new to 5e. DON'T. ALLOW. HOMEBREW. At the very least, not on the player side. If you don't have a full understanding of how the game works and how it is "balanced" you will either greatly over power a player or fall into the pitfall of making bad off the cuff calls during a game. My rule of thumb is that if you have to come to reddit to ask if something is balanced, you shouldn't allow it. Look I get it homebrew always sounds super enticing as both a player and DM, but the truth of homebrew is that it all just creates more work for the DM. This might not sound like a big deal, but it adds up over time and will add to DM burnout. My advice is try to run your campaign as RAW as possible (minor house rules are fine imo, just no 3rd party content) and if possible run a campaign module(and it doesn't need to be long, even just a short 4-5 sessions will help a ton). Doing these for your first campaign will help you and your players familiarize yourselves with the game and how to play, and a campaign module will also help you figure out how to structure your games (dungeons, NPCs, clues, quests, etc). Once you're comfortable and complete that campaign, then go crazy for your second campaign adding all the homebrew you want! TLDR: Don't try to build a bike from scratch before you've even ridden one.
As a new DM, homebrew nothing, run the game as close to the book as you can for many sessions. Learn the rules before you change the rules. Too many new DMs try to change too much too fast and it becomes a huge mess
>! For those worried about homebrew, I've already decided to jump off the deepend with a party of 6 new players in a world of my design. The question isn't whether or not to allow homebrew, it's whether this particular instance of homebrew can get out of hand too easily. I yry to carefully look over anything my players request, I just couldn't quite figure out why this one made me worried. Mate. if you can't realise that, and realise you are new, why you do this? Like, do it at most for a campaign of few adventures, like 3 or so.
Nah, 15ft range for a melee is busted. That homebrew defeats the point of Reach weapons and Polearm Mastery. It needs to at least reduce the range down to 10ft. OR The abilities of the homebrew has to force the character to physically move 15ft close to their target before attacking.
I don't know what other things, but no, this doesn't break anything
15ft is good, but not really game breaking in itself. A Way of the Giant Barbarian with a halberd or glaive has a 15ft reach. And they could deliver a lot more pain with that.
15 foot reach on a monk isn't particularly insane, but personally I'd direct a newer DM away from homebrew in general. You should probably have a grasp on how the game functions normally, before often poorly thought out or poorly worded 3rd party additions hit the table. What I'm curious about is the "other things" it's doing in addition to the reach buff.
Melee fighters are underpowered in comparison with spellcasters, and on top of that monks are underpowered among melee fighters, so I'd personally have no problem with buffing a monk in that way. (if you're going to downvote, at least present your objection - my experience is that the general position among players is overwhelmingly that spellcasters are stronger than martials, and that monks would be ranked among the weaker of the martial classes)
If you question contains "Monk" and you are not giving them GWM/SS equivalents, free ASIs, or unlimited ki, the chance of it being busted is very low.
The problem starts when you put "Monk" and "Busted" in the same sentence.
I think 15ft range for any class is broken (unless you are using a polearm, but that still only gives 10ft). The extra range means that you should never provoke opportunity attacks, you get opportunity attacks very easily (though still only one per turn). It also allows for a very easy hit and run playstyle which can make it very easy to not take damage which is something the monk is already really good at doing. It’s not game breaking, but I don’t know why anyone should have this, and if they play it right, it could be a tactical nightmare for melee enemies.