Can a monk be a tank?

[craig234]

I'd like to try some new classes, but it's limiting with only four characters and how I like three to be a rogue, a mage, and a healer.

That leaves the fourth spot for a nearly required tank. I can't tell from the description if a monk can be a tank, or is melee dps, or what.

I'd like to try other classes like Warlock, which I have to learn about to compare to mage or sorcerer, and bard, not sure where that fits in, we'll see.

[DiceWrangler]

Yes, monks can tank and, if you find yourself being hit too often (due to lower AC), use a Ki point (and Bonus Action) to Dodge.

[Azure]

Anyone with a sufficiently High AC and HP buffer can be.

[Aimee]

A monk can reach up to 20 AC if you max out your dexterity and wisdom.
Also at 3th level you gain deflect missiles that allow you to negate a large chunk of damage, and often even all of it from a single ranged weapon attack.

Normaly 20AC is decent enough for a tank, and the ability to reduce damage every round from ranged attacks realy helps keep your monk alive.

It wont stand up to the realy tanky classes, because of magic armor and shields. But it certainly is good enough in most cases.

[Farino76]

the Survival monk is a tank.
+2 base AC
healing when hit
use a Ki point to make all damage reduced 50%

That as tanking as D&D gets.

[⚛Doomsday🐲⚛]

Originally posted by Farino76:

the Survival monk is a tank.
+2 base AC
healing when hit
use a Ki point to make all damage reduced 50%

That as tanking as D&D gets.

Paladin in +1 Plate armor, and +2 shield has like +24AC, and that is without counting possible Defender Fighting style (+1AC), and Armor expert perk (+1AC), Also paladin (Oath of Judgment) can self-cast Haste spell for aditional +2AC, for a total of possible +28AC, and pal can heal himself with lay hands, and has a ton of useful auras. Like Aura of Protection that gives bonus to all saves, to all allies, equal to your Cha modifier. This alone is insanely good.

And paladins are proficient in Wis/Cha saves, that is arguably more useful than Dex/Str saves of monk.

Imo, paladin is much better tank than anything you can make out of Monk.

[Soteria]

Originally posted by ⚛Doomsday🐲⚛:

Originally posted by Farino76:

the Survival monk is a tank.
+2 base AC
healing when hit
use a Ki point to make all damage reduced 50%

That as tanking as D&D gets.

Paladin in +1 Plate armor, and +2 shield has like +24AC, and that is without counting possible Defender Fighting style (+1AC), and Armor expert perk (+1AC), Also paladin (Oath of Judgment) can self-cast Haste spell for aditional +2AC, for a total of possible +28AC, and pal can heal himself with lay hands, and has a ton of useful auras. Like Aura of Protection that gives bonus to all saves, to all allies, equal to your Cha modifier. This alone is insanely good.

And paladins are proficient in Wis/Cha saves, that is arguably more useful than Dex/Str saves of monk.

Imo, paladin is much better tank than anything you can make out of Monk.

The question is not "are monks the best tanks," but "Can a monk be a tank?" And the answer is yes.

[Aimee]

Originally posted by Soteria:

Originally posted by ⚛Doomsday🐲⚛:

snip

The question is not "are monks the best tanks," but "Can a monk be a tank?" And the answer is yes.

They were responding to a post claiming that monk is the tankiest tank in the game.
The answer clearly is that they are not, but for OP sake yes they can be used as a tank quite well.

[Soteria]

Originally posted by Aimee:

Originally posted by Soteria:

The question is not "are monks the best tanks," but "Can a monk be a tank?" And the answer is yes.

They were responding to a post claiming that monk is the tankiest tank in the game.
The answer clearly is that they are not, but for OP sake yes they can be used as a tank quite well.

Please show me where the post says "they're the tankiest tank in the game" or "the best tank." The post I read said they are "a tank."

[Frostfeather]

Originally posted by Soteria:

Please show me where the post says "they're the tankiest tank in the game" or "the best tank." The post I read said they are "a tank."

That's how I understood it, too.

And the obsession with creating the "tankiest character" is inherently flawed anyway. You don't necessarily need a tank at all - what you *need* is to be able to kill things. Once you're past a certain level of tankiness, the rest is wasted offensive potential. Not to mention that many enemies can't be tanked at all in Solasta.

[BigRockWall]

Originally posted by Soteria:

Please show me where the post says "they're the tankiest tank in the game" or "the best tank." The post I read said they are "a tank."

Originally posted by Farino76:

the Survival monk is a tank.
+2 base AC
healing when hit
use a Ki point to make all damage reduced 50%

That as tanking as D&D gets.

This is the post that says they are the tankiest tank in the game. Its also debatable as barb can get 50% damage taken at all times while raging plus regen (temp HP but still counts while tanking) and can get the highest AC with a max Dex + Con + shield + empress garb + haste from an ally (i probably missed stuff like bound items etc but you get the idea)

OP did not ask this question, however. Just can a monk tank. And yes, yes it can.

[GBR Warrior]

Originally posted by craig234:

I'd like to try some new classes, but it's limiting with only four characters and how I like three to be a rogue, a mage, and a healer.

That leaves the fourth spot for a nearly required tank. I can't tell from the description if a monk can be a tank, or is melee dps, or what.

I'd like to try other classes like Warlock, which I have to learn about to compare to mage or sorcerer, and bard, not sure where that fits in, we'll see.

Absolutely yes, I just finished a game in Lost Valley where my monk had 24 AC, permanent disadvantage to enemies attacking her and she could attack 5 times (Includes flurry of blows) Mega OP and tonnes of fun. Would recommend for sure

[Aimee]

Originally posted by Soteria:

Originally posted by Aimee:

They were responding to a post claiming that monk is the tankiest tank in the game.
The answer clearly is that they are not, but for OP sake yes they can be used as a tank quite well.

Please show me where the post says "they're the tankiest tank in the game" or "the best tank." The post I read said they are "a tank."

Sure since you have trouble reading, here you go;

Originally posted by Farino76:

That as tanking as D&D gets.

[Aimee]

Originally posted by night4:

And the obsession with creating the "tankiest character" is inherently flawed anyway. You don't necessarily need a tank at all - what you *need* is to be able to kill things. Once you're past a certain level of tankiness, the rest is wasted offensive potential. Not to mention that many enemies can't be tanked at all in Solasta.

I agree that making the ''Tankiest tank'' is pointless in solasta, also in DnD 5e btw.
However you do need atleast 1 character that can survive and be in melee, maybe even 2.
For that AC helps, and HP is a must have.

A lot of enemies have far more mobility than the players and the majority are melee, so you cant exactly run and shoot in this game. Having 1-2 ''tanks'' that can hold up the enemies while your damage dealers deal with them, helps a lot.

[Frostfeather]

Originally posted by Aimee:

I agree that making the ''Tankiest tank'' is pointless in solasta, also in DnD 5e btw.
However you do need atleast 1 character that can survive and be in melee, maybe even 2.
For that AC helps, and HP is a must have.

A lot of enemies have far more mobility than the players and the majority are melee, so you cant exactly run and shoot in this game. Having 1-2 ''tanks'' that can hold up the enemies while your damage dealers deal with them, helps a lot.

Eh, I've done several groups with no melee characters at all, even on Cataclysm.

Stealth is obviously the best tool, especially if the whole group has it. Enemies won't know where the group is so they usually won't move towards unstealthed or discovered party members and see others. Pass Without Trace pretty much breaks the game for that reason, even after its nerf.

Then you can rely on other tools for when you can't Stealth, like burst spell damage or Entangle or some other means of control (or both). You don't need to run and shoot, you just either have an option for being temporarily stuck in melee like Burning Hands or let another party member kill the thing for you. Or eat a single AoO after Entangling them.

Then once you have higher level tools like summons, (twinned) Greater Invisibility, Wall of Fire (outer), Mind Twist, Hold Monster, etc you can just use those as needed.

[Soteria]

Originally posted by Aimee:

Originally posted by Soteria:

Please show me where the post says "they're the tankiest tank in the game" or "the best tank." The post I read said they are "a tank."

Sure since you have trouble reading, here you go;

Originally posted by Farino76:

That as tanking as D&D gets.

Not sure what your point is, since the quoted line is incoherent. Thank you for demonstrating that the post didn't say what you said it did, though.