Monk/Thief multiclass

[Vensalir]

Hi all,

I was thinking of multiclassing my Open Hand Monk into Rogue 3/Thief. Thief gives you an extra bonus action, which ideally would mean that I can strike four times in a single turn: two main attacks and two bonus unarmed attacks.

The only thing stopping me is that I don't know whether it is possible to actually perform two unarmed bonus attacks in one turn or if it's restricted to one. Same reasoning applies to ki-fueled attacks: they're bonus actions, can I do two in a turn, or a combo of one ki attack an one bonus unarmed attack?

Can anyone please confirm ?

[yuzhonglu]

As Thief/Berserker I can use 2 bonus actions to throw two objects AND attack twice with my weapon.

[BrutalGlory]

Can't say i've tried it - but respec at Withers only costs 100g and you can do it as much as you want. So i'd say try it and find out.

[Zerostalgia]

Originally posted by Vensalir:

Hi all,

I was thinking of multiclassing my Open Hand Monk into Rogue 3/Thief. Thief gives you an extra bonus action, which ideally would mean that I can strike four times in a single turn: two main attacks and two bonus unarmed attacks.

The only thing stopping me is that I don't know whether it is possible to actually perform two unarmed bonus attacks in one turn or if it's restricted to one. Same reasoning applies to ki-fueled attacks: they're bonus actions, can I do two in a turn, or a combo of one ki attack an one bonus unarmed attack?

Can anyone please confirm ?

Honestly it's doable - but the reality is that 3 levels in rogue is a lot that could be going to making your monk worthwhile, so only do it if you want the fun of a sub-optimal build that is a bit weird.
Maybe certain rare items equipped can make it work... But I haven't gone through a lot of content with a monk character.
The main thing to consider that while yes you get the extra bonus action and that's however monk at 12th level is behind the other classes in terms of efficiency. Maybe you think having a thief that only had some levels in monk so you get some ki powers to bolster your rogue? Well in that case you're crippling your sneak attack damage potential.
Go for it and enjoy but don't expect it to be the most efficient.

[Vensalir]

Originally posted by Zerostalgia:

Originally posted by Vensalir:

Hi all,

I was thinking of multiclassing my Open Hand Monk into Rogue 3/Thief. Thief gives you an extra bonus action, which ideally would mean that I can strike four times in a single turn: two main attacks and two bonus unarmed attacks.

The only thing stopping me is that I don't know whether it is possible to actually perform two unarmed bonus attacks in one turn or if it's restricted to one. Same reasoning applies to ki-fueled attacks: they're bonus actions, can I do two in a turn, or a combo of one ki attack an one bonus unarmed attack?

Can anyone please confirm ?

Honestly it's doable - but the reality is that 3 levels in rogue is a lot that could be going to making your monk worthwhile, so only do it if you want the fun of a sub-optimal build that is a bit weird.
Maybe certain rare items equipped can make it work... But I haven't gone through a lot of content with a monk character.
The main thing to consider that while yes you get the extra bonus action and that's however monk at 12th level is behind the other classes in terms of efficiency. Maybe you think having a thief that only had some levels in monk so you get some ki powers to bolster your rogue? Well in that case you're crippling your sneak attack damage potential.
Go for it and enjoy but don't expect it to be the most efficient.

Thanks for the answer!

Honestly, I'm not looking for max efficiency. This is my second run (sort of) and I'm playing on medium difficulty, so minmaxing isn't a proprity.

I was thinking of branching out from monk because the higher level abilities seem a bit underwhelming. Monk is still the base class, thief would be secondary and mostly for the skills/extra bonus action. Which would, ideally, be an extra attack, but an extra rogue action or even just an extra potion use or jump would be super versatile.

I'm not sure about monk-specific items; my previous char was a warlock/paladin (oodles of fun), so I didn't really know how powerful monk-specific items are. I do remember there seem to be quite numerous, though.

[Vensalir]

Originally posted by BrutalGlory:

Can't say i've tried it - but respec at Withers only costs 100g and you can do it as much as you want. So i'd say try it and find out.

Good point, thanks!

[Zaris]

Multiclassing monk sounds like a bad idea depending on your build. I tried out the combat focused monk with flurry attacks and you get 2 flurry unarmed attacks with one bonus action which costs 1 KI point and with lvl12 you will have 13 KI pts. Which means you can attack 2 times + 2 hasted + 2 flurry attacks = 6 attacks 13 rounds in a row.

On top of that monk get a passive with D4+Wis bonus dmg on unarmed attacks and his unarmed damage levels with your monk levels from D4 to D8 besides other nice passive feats.

Dmg is around: D8 unarmed + 5 dex + D4 elemental + 5 wis = 17 * 6 attacks = ~100 dmg as long as you have KI pts. (ingame you can get a D10 unarmed dmg bonus item which pushes the dmg to 130).

Rogue in general is trash for anything dmg related. His best sneak attack is 5D6 with 11 lvls in rogue which means just rapier D8 + 5 dex + 2 magic + 5d6 = ~30 dmg and you can only do ONE sneak attack a round.

Keep in mind you meet enemies with up to 666 hp, so single target damage is at least important on ONE hero, better 2.

[Vensalir]

Originally posted by Zaris:

Multiclassing monk sounds like a bad idea depending on your build. I tried out the combat focused monk with flurry attacks and you get 2 flurry unarmed attacks with one bonus action which costs 1 KI point and with lvl12 you will have 13 KI pts. Which means you can attack 2 times + 2 hasted + 2 flurry attacks = 6 attacks 13 rounds in a row.

On top of that monk get a passive with D4+Wis bonus dmg on unarmed attacks and his unarmed damage levels with your monk levels from D4 to D8 besides other nice passive feats.

Dmg is around: D8 unarmed + 5 dex + D4 elemental + 5 wis = 17 * 6 attacks = ~100 dmg as long as you have KI pts. (ingame you can get a D10 unarmed dmg bonus item which pushes the dmg to 130).

Rogue in general is trash for anything dmg related. His best sneak attack is 5D6 with 11 lvls in rogue which means just rapier D8 + 5 dex + 2 magic + 5d6 = ~30 dmg and you can only do ONE sneak attack a round.

Keep in mind you meet enemies with up to 666 hp, so single target damage is at least important on ONE hero, better 2.

That's... very in-depth, thanks!