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The monks ofDungeons & Dragonscan be a powerful class for melee-oriented players, but they generally suffer when their enemies are out of arms' reach. Enter the Way of the Sun Soul, a subclass that can summon their ki to fire powerful energy blasts at whatever they can’t reach with a fist or foot.
Followers of the Way of the Sun Soul aren’t exactly Goku, but they do bring an arsenal of ranged attacks that are far simpler than what you’d get out of followers of the Way of the Four Elements. If you’re looking for slightly more versatility with your monk, read on to embark on the Way of the Sun Soul.
Way Of The Sun Soul Monk Features
Followers of the Way of the Sun Soul learn to channel their essence into hurling bolts of energy at their foes. At level three, theRadiant Sun Boltfeature lets you make a special ranged attack. This ranged attack is much like your unarmed melee attack, but it is radiant damage and can reach out to a range of 30 feet. The damage increases as your Martial Arts die increases.
You may alsospend one ki point to make a second ranged attack using your bonus action, and you gain even more attacks as you get the Extra Attack feature.
Searing Arc Strikeat level six lets you spend two ki points to cast the Burning Hands spell as a bonus action following one of your attacks. You may cast Burning Hands at a higher level by spending more ki points with a maximum equal to half your monk level.
Searing Sunburstat level 11 lets you conjure an orb of light that you can hurl up to 150 feet. All creatures within 20 feet of the impact must make a Constitution saving throw or take 2d6 radiant damage. You may spend up to three ki points to increase the Sunburst’s damage by 2d6 per each ki point spent.
Finally,Sun Shieldat level 17 wreaths you in bright light that shines in a 30-foot radius and dim light for another 30 feet. You may summon or extinguish this light as a bonus action. You may also spend your reaction to deal radiant damage equal to five plus your Wisdom modifier to any creature that hits you with a melee attack while Sun Shield is active.
Best Species For A Way Of The Sun Soul Monk
Followers of the Way of the Sun Soul are similar to most other monks, so any species that works as a monk will do great here. Below area few species that make excellent monks.
Bugbear
Even though you’ve got a decent ranged attack, you’re still going to deal more damage using Flurry of Blows as a melee attack, sofive extra feet of reach is still helpful. High Dexterity means you’re more likely to go earlier in the turn order, makingSurprise Attackmore effective.Stealth proficiency,charm resistance, andDarkvisionare all great perks.
Duergar
The poison resistance isn’t too useful since monks eventually gain immunity, butadvantage against being charmed and stunnedis still good.Enlarge/Reduceis a great spell for a monk to know as it can increase your damage, andInvisibilityprovides interesting sneaking options.
Goblin
Fury of the Smallcan really help your damage output.Darkvision,charm resistance, andhiding as a bonus actionare also nice to have, although your bonus action will typically be used up spending ki points.
Goliath
Monks don’t get nearly as many hit points as their melee-focused combat requires.Stone’s Endurancehelps with that.Cold resistanceandAthleticsproficiency are also good perks.
Hadozee
Dextrous Feetaren’t likely to be terribly useful since your bonus action is spoken for, but being able toGlidemeans raining death from above in certain situations. However, the real draw here isHadozee Dodge, which lets you use your reaction to reduce the damage you take.
Half-Orc
Monks make a lot of attacks, and that means they’re making critical hits more often than most classes.Savage Attacksmake those crits deal more damage, whileRelentless Endurancekeeps a monk fighting when their hit points hit zero.Darkvisionis also nice too.
Half-Elf
Monks in general want a lot of stats to be effective. Half-elves getthree stat boosts,Darkvision, and evenmore skillsto add to your burgeoning repertoire.
Human
If it’s stats you want, humans got it. You can alsogo variant human to get a featoff the jump.
Owlin
Monks struggle against flying things.Owlin can fly, making it easy to hit other flying things. Neither monks nor owlin like wearing armor, which also works in this species' favor.Darkvisionand stealth proficiency are nice to have.
Plasmoid
UsingAmorphousis hard to do while wearing armor or wielding weapons, but monks don’t like either of those, making them the perfect plasmoid class.Darkvision,resistance to acid and poison damage, andadvantage on grapple checksare also great pairings for any monk subclass.
Shifter
Shifters help with a monk’s poor HP pool by providinga bunch of temporary hitpointswhenever they shift.Extra armor,movement speed,askill proficiency,andDarkvisionare all good to have.
Tabaxi
Monks don’t use claws, butFeline Agilitymeans you never have to worry about being too far away to get into combat.Climbing speedhelps with those pesky flying critters a bit, andDarkvisionis always a boon.
Best Ability Scores For A Way Of The Sun Soul Monk
Like other monks, followers of the Way of the Sun Soul wantDexterity,Wisdom, andConstitutionto be effective. Dexterity empowers your strikes, Wisdom helps with your armor class and your saves for Searing Arc Strike and Searing Sunburst, and Constitution provides all-important hit points.
Strength,Intelligence, andCharisma can be entirely ignored. You’re going to want your core three attributes boosted as high as you can, and these just don’t provide much benefit.
If you’re using D&D’s point buy system,a good starting ability score spreadmight look something like this:
8(-1)
17(+3)
15(+2)
16(+3)
Best Starting Equipment For A Way Of The Sun Soul Monk
A monk’s body is their weapon, which means you’re not likely to require much in terms of equipment. You can choose either a shortsword or another simple weapon, but most of your abilities require unarmed strikes to use, sodon’t expect to use either weapon much.
Yourunarmed attacks and Radiant Sun Bolts will eventually surpass a short sword’s damagestarting at level 11.
Adungeoneer’s packis a little more useful than an explorer’s pack, and10 dartscan help you engage flying targets.
Since your armor class is based on both your Dexterity and Wisdom modifiers while you’re not wearing armor,you don’t get any armor to start, and you’re not likely to ever need it.
Best Feats For A Way Of The Sun Soul Monk
Most monkswant to maximize both their Dexterity and Wisdom before reaching level 20. This doesn’t leave much room for taking feats, so you’re not likely to need this section at all.
That said, if you somehow stumble across a free feat over the course of your campaign,here are a few good ones to consider.
Alert
Never get ambushed again. Alertprevents you from being surprised,can’t gain advantage against you if they attack while hidden, and youget an additional five to your initiative score. If you can combine this with the bugbear’s Surprise Attack, you’ve got a potent combo.
Athlete
Climbing speedequal to your movement speed can be very helpful if you don’t already fly or are a tabaxi.Getting up from pronewithout using half your movement can also be good too. Take theDexterity score increasehere.
Healer
If you want to lean even further into your role as a healer, the Healer feat gives youanother option to heal your friends. It’s generally not as good as your Hand of Healing ability, but more healing is certainly useful for longer dungeon dives.
Lucky
Nobody likes to fail their rolls.Lucky provides you with extra d20sto spend on your most important moments. you’re able to also use Lucky d20s to prevent damage to your squishy monk.
Mobile
Mobility matters for melee classes. Anextra 10 feet of movementhelps get you into combat faster, whiledash actions that ignore difficult terrainkeep you free of crowd control effects.Avoiding attacks of opportunityis also nice.
Skill Expert
Complement your skillsby having more of them. You can alsogain expertisein a skill you already have.
Tough
Monks are squishy. Tough makes things less squishy by giving themtwo extra hitpoints per level.
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