Alternate Monk v2.0.0 - Public Release! (Patreon)

If you aren’t familiar with the Alternate Monk, it is my attempt to fix a few of the issues with the monk as presented in the *Player’s Handbook*:

MADness. One of the main drawbacks of the Monk is that you need high Dexterity, Wisdom, AND Constitution. One of the things I’ve tried to do is allow monks to only focus on Dexterity and Wisdom. (1) You have a d10 hit die so you can afford to ignore your Constitution as much as any other class. (2) Granting additional Ki Points equal to your Wisdom modifier. (3) Spirit of Tranquility replacing Evasion and Diamond Soul as a bonus to your saving throws akin to the Paladin that keys off your Wisdom modifier.

Early Reliance on Weapons. I’ve always thought it was weird that in order to play optimally you need to use a quarterstaff at low levels. Now you don’t need to do that with the adjustments to Martial Arts and Flurry of Blows.

Extremely Narrow Flavor. A lot of the PHB monk’s abilities are really cool, but they box you into a pretty small thematic area for characters. By moving abilities like Slow Fall, Deflect Movement, Tongue of Sun & Moon, and Empty Body into Techniques, you can now customize your Monk to be (almost) whatever style of unarmed warrior you want!

Change Log

Misc // Art & Formatting updates

Flurry of Blows // Can only be used when you take the attack action and make unarmed strikes. 11th level improvement changed.

Monastic Traditions // added Signature Techniques for each Tradition

Slow Fall & Deflect Missiles // Now Techniques

Enlightened Fist // Now only unarmed strikes are magical (make way for the Wuxia)!

Stillness of Mind // Merged with Spirit of Tranquility

Way of the Drunken Fist // NEW Tradition based on the Way of the Drunken Master.

Open Hand // 3rd level features completely reworked. Ebb and Flow’s speed reduction given a duration. Empowered Strike renamed to Open Hand Strike

Radiance // Spirit of Light has been removed. Luminous Burst now explicitly lets you cast radiant fireball. Grand Master grants immunity to radiant damage and blinding.

Reaper // Armor of the Grave costs 1 additional Ki each time you use it

Shadow Arts // Cloak of Shadow allows you to remain invisible if opportunity attacks miss. Grand Master of Shadows buffs all subclass features.

Way of the Wuxia // NEW Tradition based on the Way of the Kensei

Techniques // All Strike Techniques can only be used with melee attacks. Empowered Strike can knock back UP TO 5x your WIS mod feet. Patient Defense can be used for free at 11th level. Deflect Missiles can spend Ki to deflect spells at 11th level. Armor of the Ascetic happens at the end of every rest

Alternate Monk: Expanded document!

Make sure to check out the Alternate Monk: Expanded for 14 additional Techniques, 2 Feats, and eight Monastic Traditions! Ways of the Boulder, Brawler, Ferocity, Flowing River, Hurricane, Sacred Ink, Vigilante, and the Void!