Current Events > Going to roll up a Monk in D&D 5e. Question

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How important is the Tavern Brawler Feat for Proficiency in Unarmed? I want to use a Half-Elf for RP reasons, but I don't mind using a Variant Human to pick this up at Level 1
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all characters have proficiency with unarmed attacks. that bullet of the feat is meaningless, although gaining proficiency with improvised weapons has the potential to add value for a non-monk.

for monks tavern brawler is completely unnecessary.
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Darkman124 posted...

all characters have proficiency with unarmed attacks.

for monks tavern brawler is completely unnecessary.

The why does the PHB single that out?

Anyways, thanks
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Bad_Mojo posted...

The why does the PHB single that out?

bad writing.

unarmed strikes are classified as simple weapons. so potentially by the book, wizards and sorcerers might not be proficient with them, although errata has decided they are (again, meaningless).

but everyone else--incl monks--is proficient with simple weapons, and unarmed strikes are simple weapons.
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I don't think it's bad writing, it seems the rules changed at some point to give characters proficiency with unarmed attacks.
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pegusus123456 posted...

I don't think it's bad writing, it seems the rules changed at some point to give characters proficiency with unarmed attacks.

unarmed attacks have always been simple weapons as far as i know
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I'm just going by some shit I found on Google. A reddit post mentioned the errata making this feat more useless because it changed the rule about unarmed strikes.
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pegusus123456 posted...

I don't think it's bad writing, it seems the rules changed at some point to give characters proficiency with unarmed attacks.

From the PHB: On a hit, an Unarmed Strike deals bludgeoning damage equal to 1 + your Strength modifier. You are proficient with your unarmed strikes.

Seems to be an error in the feat description, and like Darkman said Tavern Brawler is useless to monks.
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Were_Wyrm posted...

From the PHB: On a hit, an Unarmed Strike deals bludgeoning damage equal to 1 + your Strength modifier. You are proficient with your unarmed strikes.

in pegasus' defense, that's an updated version of the PHB text.

original version you have to piece it together: all but 2 classes have proficiency with simple weapons, and unarmed strikes are a simple weapon in chapter 5: equipment.
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I don't see anything about unarmed strikes being simple weapons in equipment, but the text I posted can be found in combat on page 195.
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Were_Wyrm posted...

I don't see anything about unarmed strikes being simple weapons in equipment, but the text I posted can be found in combat on page 195.

it's listed as such in my older copy of the PHB.

https://imgur.com/wt4Q0lH
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What is your alignment and who is your deity?
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Monks are just badass at hand to hand combat on their own no additional feats required
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SSJKirby posted...

Monks are just badass at hand to hand combat on their own no additional feats required

mobile helps
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Darkman124 posted...

SSJKirby posted...

Monks are just badass at hand to hand combat on their own no additional feats required

mobile helps

As does Alert. Assuming you have a 20 for Dex that gives a total of +10 to initiative, comes in real handy to stun a heavy hitter first thing.
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Were_Wyrm posted...

As does Alert. Assuming you have a 20 for Dex that gives a total of +10 to initiative, comes in real handy to stun a heavy hitter first thing.

tbh alert is more something you want on the guy who can cast fireball
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Do monks get the proficiency with improvised weapons as well out the gate or do I need Tavern Brawler for that?

Look, I'm making a pro wrestler type guy. A Dex wrestler, not a strength one. Hitting someone with a chair or something would be an Improvised Weapon, right?

So I'm going to take at least 3 Levels in Monk to get my Subclass (Still trying to figure out if I want Open Hand or Way Of The Shadow) and I think that depends on what I want to Multiclass into - Rouge (Sneak Attack, Expertise, all that evasion) or Fighter (I think the Battle Master Maneuvers would work), and that will depend on who's in the party, I guess.

And I guess I could just go strength and go into Barbarian for all those Strength Check boosts, but like I said, I kind of want a Dex guy for this unit.
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you'd need tavern brawler for proficiency with improvised weapons, but those would not qualify as monk weapons, so you'd not be able to use dex to attack with them.

fwiw, most 'pro-wrestler' type action calls for an athletics check, and that is pretty much a barbarian+rogue combination.

in fact, the goliath barbarian 5/rogue 2 is one of the more popular characters. it can put an adult dragon in a headlock (grappled+prone) and reliably keep in there, which is pretty huge considering what makes dragons deadly is their ability to fly away.

unfortunately 5e does not do a great job handling improvised weapons--mostly makes them 1d4 attacks. so some of the creativity requires a DM who is on board with inventing special rolls for your ideas. most DMs will accomodate since what you're doing is flavorful and often funny.

at one table we had a guy grapple two enemies, and use them as improvised weapons against one another while shouting "stop hitting yourself!"

we all enjoyed this
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Thanks for the tips, but I'm trying to role play here, not mid/max, lol

Kota Ibushi is a half elf monk in real life, so he's going to be a half-elf Monk in this game. And I don't need the improvised weapons, just curious. I need to flesh it out a bit
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hey man, i'm just telling you how the mechanics work and letting you know what conversations you may want to have as part of "session zero".

my wife plays a paladin with high intelligence. our DM goes out of his way to make it useful to her, and i went out of my way not to take religion as a skill on my wizard, so her character concept wasn't just a shittier version of mine when using that skill.

you might have conversations with your DM about improvised weapons that he'd qualify as monk weapons, or ways to use acrobatics instead of athletics for judo-type improvised actions and so forth.
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Darkman124 posted...

hey man, i'm just telling you how the mechanics work and letting you know what conversations you may want to have as part of "session zero".

my wife plays a paladin with high intelligence. our DM goes out of his way to make it useful to her, and i went out of my way not to take religion as a skill on my wizard, so her character concept wasn't just a shittier version of mine when using that skill.

Oh, no, I Know that. Thanks for the advice
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one other fairly straightforward way of roleplaying wrestling moves as a monk is the open hand monk's level 3 ability

using flurry of blows you can knock enemies prone by forcing a dex save

just flavor the unarmed strikes as judo throws when the enemy fails them
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Darkman124 posted...

one other fairly straightforward way of roleplaying wrestling moves as a monk is the open hand monk's level 3 ability

using flurry of blows you can knock enemies prone by forcing a dex save

just flavor the unarmed strikes as judo throws when the enemy fails them

Alright, thanks

I don't know if I want that or to be able to run up walls, lol

Ohh, I thought that was a Way Of Shadow skill, but all Monks get the ability to run on water and stuff
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