U72 Early Look: Dragon Disciple Monk Archetype

[Eme]

this should be called:

The Leech Disciple Monk

as you've just leeched stuff away from monks to have something to put in this

 

[Matuse]

Why does the capstone have critical threat range locked behind a 20 second buff with a 2 minute cooldown?

Because it's an untyped buff that will stack with a competence increase.

 

[Lyrin]

Please forgive the shameless TR junkie question, but has the decision been made yet as to what PL Dragon Disciple will grant?

 

[J1NG]

Please forgive the shameless TR junkie question, but has the decision been made yet as to what PL Dragon Disciple will grant?

My Educated Wish:

+2 Spell Power (First), +1 Ki On Hit (Second), +1 Ki Regen (Third)

J1NG

 

[PsychoBlonde]

I worry about the utility of the core concept - a Monk who uses Spellpower and has true SLAs, but no actual spells - when there are only 3 such SLAs . . .

4, 2 bursts and 2 breaths. The bursts are very short cooldowns for SLA's, also, but I worry that they won't do enough damage to be useful at end game. They shouldn't have any MCL at all, IMO.

 

[Lotoc]

Peace in Destruction: While Centered, you gain +1 Competence Bonus to Critical Multiplier. Passive: You gain a +25% Competence bonus to maximum hit points.

Is missing competence crit range intended for this tree? It isn't exactly standard to have it missing from a melee tree (except warchanter and cleric/paladin) unless the competence multi is +2.

I was hoping for a mixed magic effect in DrDi and overall I feel the archetype may fall a bit short of delivering on 3.5 dragon disciple prestige class.

 

[l_remmie]

• Innate Arcana: Your studies have increased your maximium Spell Points by 30/60/90.

Can you please streamline all the spellpoint enhancements to 30/60/100. It's just silly that they are different and they are already really weak.

 

[Urklore]

Question, if this is a monk archetype, do all these SLAs disrupt melee attacks? So is the monk atack animation of punching and kicking disrupted by using one of the SLAs?

 

[FuzzyDuck81]

This seems amazing!
Although it is weird to me how it uses metamagics, but none of the SLAs note that they cost SP.
While also the tier 2 innate something granting you SP feels weird because of that exact reason.
Are the SLAs gonna be SP-free? Even with metamagics?

If they work like the Ki-based spells sacred fist pallies get, it'll have ki cost for them then SP costs added for applying metamagics, which is where getting some SP included factors in. As SLAs though, presumably it won't & instead the SPs will be more about helping with multiclassing & with epic levels to power destiny abilities.

I'd like to see something that grants temp SP, maybe under Power Begets Power, have it as a multi selector that gives either +2 ki per hit or a % chance to gain temp SP, maybe even a combination of both.

I also hope there'll be a new epic feat added in the vein of the Master of X feats to boost the max caster level of those SLAs to help them stay relevant in epic & legendary content.

 

[woq]

Unless the draconic SLAs are nigh instant and weave seamlessly into meleeing down monsters, I don't see myself ever playing this archetype AT CAP other than as splash fun?

Where's the scaling? What's unique enough to make me want to go deep into this tree (or class)? These SLAs do not look powerful enough to compensate losing the utility that spellbooks provide. They need more unique utility. Big slow every 25 seconds is not enough.

I was over the moon looking at the monk revamp thread, but this one left me a bit thoughtful. I was really excited to center those weapons, but I don't see other than fun that I get for doing so in heroics, and then instant TR to something else. This looks a bit like it'll fall into the category of "doesn't scale enough to endgame, relegated to maybe used as a splash class for centering and spell crits, if even that".

 

[pame12]

Abundant Step (lv. 12) is replaced with a Feat version of Flight of Kings: Memories of flight lie within you. You are able to leap through the air to bring the fight to your enemies or traverse chasms that make normal adventure balk. Cooldown: 15 seconds. When you use Flight of Kings, you have a +20% Action Boost bonus to movement speed for 6 seconds.

Abundant step is literally the main reason why I play monk.
Can you please add in a feat or some AP keystone to put the cooldown to 3 secs? The +20% movement speed for 6 secs is a pretty annoying waste, literally when you enter lvl 20 you can get perma +15% from that flower epic stance.

 

[Melkizadek]

• Why have this tree replace Henshin Mystic instead of Shintao or Ninja Spy?
  • The revamped Henshin Mystic fills a similar role on core Monk, but has less powerful spells and primarily relies on your weapon attacks. It would be relatively redundant to have both. That said, if they aren't different enough to make Dragon Disciple feel like its own thing, that's something we can look at.

I feel like Henshin could actually add to the value of Dragon Disciple. Obviously there are changes happening to Henshin Mystic too, but it feels like the synergy of a staff tree for a caster/monk just makes sense.

 

[Dielzen]

This whole thing confuses me, what niche does it occupy? I can't see someone doing 210 lives and playing this, it has no endgame viability.

 

[Lencrennis]

this should be called:

The Leech Disciple Monk

as you've just leeched stuff away from monks to have something to put in this

Behold, we made monk boring and then locked the interesting stuff up with what Henshin Mystic should have been a decade ago!

Oh, and there's not enough SLAs to make a caster rotation, and the monk ED runs off of melee power. Good luck. lul!

 

[Epicsoul]

• Innate Arcana: Your studies have increased your maximium Spell Points by 30/60/90.

With everything being ki related, I'm unsure why you'd want this enhancement. Would you consider a lesser version of Inner Focus with appropriate values for the enhancement level? If not, could you elaborate on why you're giving a class that doesn't use spell points this enhancement?

Core 20: Draconic Apotheosis: Active: For 20 seconds...+1 Critical Threat Range with all weapons

Please no. Please consider adding a passive +1 critical threat range with the while centered, or at minimum, the Tranquility of Strife weapon list.

Shining Scales: You gain +30 MRR cap.

This is too high compared to other similar enhancements. T5 ED is only 15.

• Clear Your Mind: Battle Trance: While Centered, you gain an Insight bonus to Attack, Damage and the DC of Tactical feats equal to 1/2 of your Wisdom modifier for 30/60/120 seconds. Cooldown: 20 seconds. Activation Cost: 30 Ki. The effects of this Trance are dispelled if you are no longer Centered. Antirequisite: This ability can not be trained if you have any other Battle Trance ability (e.g. Know the Angles).

Would be cool to see something a little different here. Like:
- You gain 5 + your wisdom mod to universal spellpower

 

[saekee]

I do not know what to make of this. I have been playing a ki bolt monk using high spell power and melee power. It uses heavily ninja, vistani and henshin. I need to see if the current coding on ki bolt gets messed up to make any decisions as it has been very fun. I might be made sad.

I feel like this should be charisma based, not wisdom, and that light maces should be in there somewhere.

 

[Monkey_Archer]

I hope this update finally removes the unnecessary r7+ spell damage nerf (or better yet, applies it to physical damage as well). Otherwise while this tree seems interesting and has some potential at lower levels its definitely in the running for worst possible endgame r7+ build.

 

[woq]

This whole thing confuses me, what niche does it occupy? I can't see someone doing 210 lives and playing this, it has no endgame viability.

Yeah, it seems like a fantasy fulfillment but.. but why? What is its' purpose?

Straight up doesn't do anything in endgame.

 

[Felsyn]

So it is kinda like we get a kobold but instead of the cool stuff it is just not very useful and is a dragon person fantasy. Ya this fits 2025

 

[droid327]

4, 2 bursts and 2 breaths. The bursts are very short cooldowns for SLA's, also, but I worry that they won't do enough damage to be useful at end game. They shouldn't have any MCL at all, IMO.

Oh fair enough, but still - 1d6+1 and 1d6+3 quickly reach a point where they're not even worth casting over something else in your rotation, or in this case just making a melee attack likely

I dont know why they abandoned the "scaling die with cores" concept from Stormsinger. That was a great way to implement core class mechanics that leveled with the player

I still think they need other SLAs deeper in their cores. First off, I dislike the idea of having multiple versions of the same kind of attack - ie two buttons for breath attacks. Rather just have one that upgrades with more investment, on a shorter CD. Second, it makes the class a lot more boring when you just have two things it does.

You dont even have to reinvent the wheel - there are other existing mechanics you could insert. An area dot like Arcane Tempest. A strong individual dot like BDB or Rend, or a stacking DOT-on-hit like Magma. A massive single-target burst like Iceberg. A damage/cc effect like Tsunami. Having more varied spell mechanics would make the class feel more properly caster-y.

Or you could get more creative if you wanted, too - maybe a short-term buff that releases elemental chain strikes on melee hits, or the ability to call a short-term Drake summon, or a spell that uses up all your Ki and grants you short-term offense and defense depending how much Ki was used.