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The monk is one ofBaldur’s Gate 3’s more interesting classes. It’s all about serenity and peace… and channelling that serenity into martial arts and feats of violence. Monks are often overlooked in tabletop games, and indeed, they were only added to BG3 upon the game’s full launch, not during Early Access like all the other classes.
The monk should not be ignored, however. There are some fantastic features to be found hiding within this class, and it’s one of the more versatile picks. While it shines more in the early portions of the game, the monk is deserving of attention.
Monk Overview
Channel your cosmic enlightenment by deftly dodging and efficiently disassembling your foes through stunning strikes and a whirlwind of martial art attacks.
The monk is a surprisingly versatile combatant that relies on Ki abilities rather than fancy magic items to keep it on par with the rest of its party members. Notably, your choice of subclass will altar your playstyle with this class in possibly the greatest way when compared to all other classes.
Some monks are fierce spellcasters who can flip to melee in an instant, while others are bruisers who can inflict tremendous damage with only their fists.
Skills, Proficiencies, And Starting Equipment
As you’d expect, the monk is mixed when it comes to skills - there’s a mix of the physical and the spiritual to explore.
They also have quite a high starting health pool, with eight base health, and gain five plus the monk’s Constitution modifier every time they level up.
While it may look like monks are just equipment-less Fighters who have the same focus on Strength and Dexterity, Wisdom is also an important stat for monks. It fuels their Ki, which is associated with their special attacks - the bread and butter of the monk class, essentially.
Feats
This is where the monk distinguishes itself from the other martial classes. From the very first level, it is clear that the monk is a rather unique beast, receivingstrategy-altering modificationsto the normal ruleset from the word ‘go’.
Many monk features mention ‘Monk Weapons’. Essentially, these are simply every weapon that the monk is proficient with. To begin with, this includes Simple Weapons, Shortswords, and any proficiencies gained from your race or background. You can gain more through level-up choices, such as multiclassing.
While monks are mostly distinguished by their subclass choices, there are somefeats that all monks gain.
1
Unarmored Defence
When not wearing armour, your AC is increased by your WIS modifier in addition to your DEX modifier.
Martial Arts: Dextrous Attacks
Attacks with monk Weapons scale with Dexterity instead of Strength, but only if your Strength is higher.
Martial Arts: Deft Strikes
Unarmed attacks and those made with monk Weapons will deal 1-4 Bludgeoning damage as a minimum. If they’d normally deal more damage, ignore this.
Martial Arts: Bonus Unarmed Strike
After making an unarmed attack or one with a monk Weapon, you can make a separate unarmed attack as a bonus action.
Ki Pool
You begin with 2 Ki Points that you may use with your special attacks. This number increases by 1 with every new monk level attained.
2
Unarmored Movement
Your movement speed increased by 3m while unarmored. This increases to 4.5m at Level 6, and 6m at Level 10.
3
Deflect Missiles
You may use your reaction to reduce the damage dealt by a ranged attack made against you. If you reduce the damage to 0, you may spend a Ki point to fire a projectile back at the attacker.
4
Slow Fall
you may use a reaction to gain resistance to falling damage.
5
6
Ki-Empowered Strikes
Unarmed attacks count as magical for the purposes of overcoming Resistance and Immunity to non-magical damage.
7
Evasion
Upon a successful Dexterity Saving Throw against a damaging spell that usually would halve your damage, take no damage at all. Upon an unsuccessful Saving Throw, still take only half damage.
When Charmed or Frightened, automatically remove the condition.
9
Advanced Unarmored Movement
As long as you’re not wearing armour, Difficult Terrain doesn’t slow you down and you may Jump an additional 6m.
10
Purity of Body
You gain immunity to Poison damage and disease.
In addition to these features, all monks gain access to the following Ki abilities.
Flurry of Blows
1 Ki Point
Makes two unarmed strikes in quick succession. Uses a bonus action instead of a normal action.
Patient Defence
For one turn, Attack Rolls made against you have Disadvantage and you gain Advantage on Dexterity-based Saving Throws. Uses a bonus action instead of a normal action.
Step of the Wind: Dash
Consumes your bonus action to double your movement speed for one turn, and also allows you to Jump for free.
Step of the Wind: Disengage
Consumes your bonus action to allow you to Disengage from an enemy, and also allows you to Jump for free.
Stunning Strike
Using either a melee weapon or your bare fists, make a melee attack that may Stun the enemy on a failed CON save.
Subclass: Way Of The Four Elements
The way of the four elements subclass grants you access to a whole host of newKi actions that more resemble magic spellsthan martial arts.
As with other spellcasters, you’llpick these abilities from a selection, and you even get the chance to swap spells upon new level-ups in the class.
The spells you can pick from are listed in the table below.At Levels 6 and 9, you gain more options, as well as more spells in general.
Blade of Rime
2 Ki Points
Throw a shard of ice that deals 1d10 Piercing damage and 2d6 Cold damage, leaving behind a patch of ice for two turns.
Chill of the Mountain
A long-range attack that deals 1d10 Cold damage and reduces the target movement speed by 3m.
Fangs of the Fire Snake
A short-range attack that deals 1d6 + your attack modifier Bludgeoning damage and 1d10 Fire damage. This will also cause your next melee attack to deal an extra 1d4 Fire damage.
Fist of Four Thunders
Release a wave of force that knocks enemies away, dealing 2d8 Thunder damage. Similar toThunderwave.
Fist of Unbroken Air
Mid-range attack that deals 3d10 Bludgeoning damage and may shove an enemy 6m away, knocking it Prone in the process.
Rush of the Gale Spirits
Clears all clouds and pushes creatures back 5m within a 12m radius.
Shaping of the Ice
Sweeping Cinder Strike
Shoots a burst of flames in front of you, dealing 3d6 Fire damage and setting things on fire.
Touch of the Storm
A melee-range spell that shocks the target, dealing 1d10 Lightning damage. Has Advantage on targets wearing metal and prevents them from using reactions.
Water Whip
A long-range attack that deals 3d10 Bludgeoning damage. Comes in two varieties, one that knocks enemies Prone and one that hurls them towards you.
Gong of the Summit
3 Ki Points
Damages all creatures in earshot, dealing 3d8 Thunder damage. Targets made of inorganic material have Disadvantage on their Saving Throw.
Embrace of the Inferno
Fire off 3 rays of fire damage at long range, choosing each target individually. Each ray deals 2d6 Fire damage.
11
Ride the Wind
4 Ki Points
Gain the ability to Fly until you take a Long Rest.
Flames of the Phoenix
Shoots an explosive fireball that deals 8d6 Fire damage to everything in a large area. Functionally identical toFireball.
AtLevel 3, you’ll also gain theHarmony of Fire and Waterability. As an action and while not in combat, you may use this ability to regain half of your total Ki pool (rounded down). This can be used once per Long Rest.
AtLevel 9, a disciple of the elements monk will gain theImproved Elemental Castingfeature. This will significantly improve theClench of the North WindandEmbrace of the Infernospells, allowing them extra targets, making them better versions of the spells they are based on.
Subclass: Way Of The Open Hand
This subclass is focused on unarmed combat, eschewing weapons entirely.
The subclass-specific features and abilities that open hand monks receive are listed in the table below.
Flurry of Blows: Topple
Identical to Flurry of Blows but can knock the target Prone.
Identical to Flurry of Blows but can Stagger the target.
Flurry of Blows: Push
Identical to Flurry of Blows but can push the target 5m away. If pushed off a ledge, this will deal falling damage to the target.
Wholeness of Body
Action
Heals some hit points, recovers half your total Ki Points, and puts you in a three-turn Wholeness state, in which your Ki Points recover passively.
Ki Resonation: Punch
An unarmed attack that makes the target ‘Resonate’ with you for ten turns. This Resonation can be activated by Ki Resonation: Blast.
Bonus Action
As above, but uses a bonus action rather than a full action.
Detonates any Resonation, dealing 3d6 Force damage to the creature and any other creatures within 5m.
Tranquillity
Passive
Long Rests grant Sanctuary, making the monk unable to be targeted by attacks until they make an attack of their own.
The three passive abilities gained at Level 6, theManifestations, must betoggled individually on the Passive tab. This means you can customise your monk’s elemental damage (or turn it off entirely), but you cannot stack them.
Subclass: Way Of Shadow
The three monk subclasses cover the three classic RPG character archetypes - the way of the four elements is the wizard, the way of the open hand is the fighter, and now we come to the way of shadow. The thief.
This subclass grants a number of Shadow Arts, which allow the monk to perform stealthy, sneaky actions.
Attempts to Hide, but only costs a bonus action.
Shadow Arts: Pass Without Trace
Grants a flat +10 bonus to Stealth checks to you and all nearby companions until Concentration is broken. Functionally identical toPass Without Trace.
Shadow Arts: Darkness
Creates a shroud that obscures and Blinds creatures within it. Functionally identical toDarkness.
Shadow Arts: Darkvision
Grants a creature 12m of Darkvision until they take a Long Rest. Functionally identical toDarkvision.
Shadow Step
Allows you to teleport from one shadow to another within 18m.
Shadow Strike
Teleport to a foe from a hidden position and deal with 3d8 Psychic damage in addition to either your weapon damage or your unarmed damage.
In addition to the subclass-specific features above, you will alsogainMinor Illusionas a free cantrip.
Since so many of this subclass’s features are front-loaded (in other words, appear within the first few levels), athree to five-level dip into monkis a surprisingly effective method to obtaining some very handy stealth-focused skills.
