![]() This does present a bit of a problem for the DM when they’re designing an encounter. The best part about this is that the monk doesn’t have to sacrifice their action economy to use Stunning Strike. You can simply choose to use it as part of any melee weapon attack! How Does Stunning Strike Impact Encounter Design?Įssentially, if a target fails their Constitution save, they’re effectively taken out of the fight for an entire round of combat. Thankfully, ki points recharge on a short or long rest so it doesn’t take long to replenish your ki and get back to stunning creatures ad nauseam. The only limit that Stunning Strike has is your ki pool. Not to mention the fact that you take away that creature’s turn and give your allies advantage on their attacks on the target as well. Plus if you stun the creature on1st or 2nd hit you can get at least one or two additional attacks in at advantage during the initial turn. This is awesome because it allows you to take full advantage of your stun. It’s particularly great because if a creature fails the save and is stunned then they are stunned until the end of your next turn. It allows you to spend a ki point to potentially stun the target of one of your melee weapon attacks. Stunning Strike is, in my opinion, the monk’s signature ability in 5e. The target must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or be Stunned until the end of your next turn. When you hit another creature with a melee weapon Attack, you can spend 1 ki point to attempt a stunning strike. Starting at 5th Level, you can interfere with the flow of ki in an opponent’s body. If you can manage that then Stunning Strike will continue to be fun and effective for the monk to use, but not frustrating for you as the DM! What is Stunning Strike? You just need to keep a few things in mind when you design your encounters. However, it’s not impossible, or even difficult to keep it in check as a DM. I’ve learned how to ensure that Stunning Strike doesn’t completely counter my encounters. I swear I have had at least one in every 5e campaign I’ve run. Plus, Stunning Strike isn’t powerful enough to warrant that kind of treatment.ĭespite my lack of interest in playing a monk (save for becoming the Kung Fu Panda) all of my friends seem to be enamored with the class. ![]() Even if that feature effectively removes a creature from combat for a round. However, to counter a single class’ signature feature seems ridiculous to me. What surprised me was that there was an indication that many DMs fudge rolls to “counter” Stunning Strike. I’m against fudging rolls in general. There was a lot of great discussion about the ability as well as how a DM can play around an ability that can straight-up take a creature out of the fight for an entire round. Rather that's the sort of highly contradictory design that would usually require very careful justification for designers to include.DMDavid started a discussion on Stunning Strike last week. I'm not saying these sorts of inconsistencies don't happen. There is more general discussion on this subject in this question.Īs an aside: it would be somewhat incongruous to simultaneously encourage unarmed combat and include features that simply don't work when unarmed. (NOTE: The purpose of the distinction is to prevent, for example: attempting to use an ability to enchant a weapon on a body part.) You are proficient with your unarmed strikes.” On a hit, an unarmed strike deals bludgeoning damage equal to 1 + your Strength modifier. “Instead of using a weapon to make a melee weapon attack, you can use an unarmed strike: a punch, kick, head-butt, or similar forceful blow (none of which count as weapons). The rule on unarmed strikes should read as follows: ![]() Unarmed strike doesn’t belong on the Weapons table.Īnother change explicitly classifies an unarmed strike as a melee weapon attack in spite of not really being weapons. ![]() This was true in the original PHB and is still true when considering errata published in 2015.Īlthough unarmed strikes are no longer listed as melee weapons on the weapons table. Yes, Stunning Strike can be used with Martial Arts. ![]()
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