Introducing D&D's Monk: Way of the Drunken Master In Xanathar's Guide To Everything

[@Troommate]

I like the Idea of all the developers in a room watching a load of old kung-fu films and people walking past like what???

[@Nerdarchy]

Troommate sup dude! Nerdarchist Dave

[@Troommate]

Hey Nerdarchist Dave Keeping up to date :D

[@pranakhan]

I just wanted to say, as a martial artist, I appreciate your description and understanding of the Drunken Master BETTER than any practitioners explanation I've heard. You nailed it right on the head, well done.

[@mega17]

That's probably because they're catering to fantasy and accessibility. For real martial arts application, it'll always be more complicated.

[@Shaso1000]

Drunken boxing isn't a real martial arts it's more of a dance / meditation thing. Even kung fu looked down on it and that's another style that'll get your ass kicked against anyone who knows how too fight.

[@GarrettKingdom]

@@Shaso1000 Kung Fu is a branch of martial arts, with multiple styles within it. There are styles of Kung Fu that are far from useless in a fight (although yes, a lot of them are relatively useless).

[@Nerdarchy]

Oh yea hill dwarf drunken master! Nerdarchist Dave

[@Xorgrim]

I am doing one. I imagine, his unarmed strikes can come in as a hit with the beer belly. Beer belly bounce of doom.

[@AsheandCinders]

Me: I am so Making a Tabaxi Drunken Master Mike: I'm sure someone will make a Tabaxi Drunken Master, just to like maximize the chaos they can bring to a game. Say what you will about Mike, he knows his playerbase

[@mfcRogue]

Yup as soon as I saw the leaked documents and Drunken Master I instantly wanted to play it with Tabaxi

[@13krg]

I thought I was original lmao

[@heinwilliamrich]

Made a high-elf drunken master who uses his mage hand cantrip to steal liquor. XD

[@finnianquail8881]

william heinrich Look over there! *STEALS IDEA*

[@floopthevolcano2330]

Well that's interesting...hmm well I mean that's, LOOK MISDIRECTION! *STEALS IDEA

[@alineoliveirasilva54]

william heinrich im a wood elf with a background of making wine KD

[@Crouza]

4:53 "Someones throwing their big attack at you and you just redirect it back at them." Mada Mada.

[@manchld]

But according to the rules you can't redirect an attack back on the attacker themselves. If they had allowed that I would have considered playing this subclass.

[@fiendishmia506]

“We’re gonna give you what you want because it’s your game”. Blizzard take notes

[@DungeonDad]

Yes! Such a fun archetype. Fun fact, drunken boxing is actually a real style. Check it out. There are some crazy clips out there.

[@jsizzlesaurusrex]

Dungeon Dad if only it was a good martial art

[@huntermcintosh8173]

Bo Rai Cho for the win

[@Nerdarchy]

jsizzlesaurusrex good is relative. When it's someone who's trained a long time style ceases to matter. My buddy teaches wing chung and has been told by many mma fighters that doesn't work. After a short demonstration they generally end up asking if he's taken new students. Nerdarchist Dave

[@renoblevg5375]

@@NPS69 most styles of defense end up not working in sport fighting because, get this, there are rules

[@renoblevg5375]

@@NPS69 I'm in the military, our martial training is not that impressive. I wish we learned Krav Maga and BJJ. Yes, a lot of martial arts and self defense practitioners don't do well in fights, especially in sport fighting, but this is because there's a lack of sparring (since the techniques are for defense, not sport) and because of the RULES when the do try to use it sport fighting or try to spar. It's difficult to spar with these types of fighting styles especially when they're dangerous, it's not like in the old days where if you spar, and die it's an oh well situation, if it happens then you gotta do legal work to not be in trouble

[@karlniarb]

"Someone's gonna play a Tabaxi (Drunken Master Monk)" *Slowly raises hand* I play a Tabaxi Drunken Master Monk who has a pirate background. Basically Jack Sparrow.

[@zachukens1307]

Today is the day you almost caught captain Cat Sparrow

[@thelast749]

Dood SAME, except it's a human

[@asdrubalvect6328]

You're /mad./

I play a Tabaxi Drunken Monk with a background as an actor! While he was training he had a Theater Troupe with his colleagues and other friends. A drunken Kung Fu former actor kitty.

[@animepuffinmaster5467]

Ayyyyy, there it is! This is gonna be awesome to play

[@rayclawicefire2503]

get the dwarves ready boys

[@msanta1984]

Dwarf drunken master monk with dwarven fortitude feat. With patient defence you can dodge and heal yourself and you should roleplay it like dwarf sips some booze while dodging attacks. Hilarious consepts IMHO :D

[@asdrubalvect6328]

@@msanta1984 Not just that, you're getting Drunk on Dwarven Beer, which has the same proof as Vodka.

[@JakeB7734]

Jar Jar Binks is a drunken master

[@DarthMeesa]

I'm running a drunken master monk who is a hafling with the lucky feat. Let the the chaos begin

[@crazedl3mmings]

Sad to see the Tranquility Monk get no love.

[@Crouza]

To be fair, it had the ability to get an almost broken level of AC.

[@huntermcintosh8173]

that was redemption pally, with the 15 base ac plus dex and you get shield, Tranquility monk has the free sanctuary spell every minute the better-than-pally lay on hands, advantage on persuasion checks to council peace, the ability to stop a person from fighting, and a bonus to damage as the capstone

[@darkblade190]

Glad to see the designers looking to the playerbase for inspiration. I know this is a bit late, but I would love to see a more pugilistic monk tradition, with less mystic trappings and fisticuffs. I have an AL Barb/Open Hand Monk, with lots of reflavoring that scratches this concept (Stunning strike is a haymaker, Open Hand's prone ability is sweeping the legs, etc) but I'd like to see an official take on the concept. And, I would love to see some mechanical support for a strength-based monk that doesn't rely on the barbarian class and belts of giant strength to be viable.

[@msanta1984]

Dwarf drunken master monk with dwarven fortitude feat. With patient defence you can dodge and heal yourself and you should roleplay it like dwarf sips some booze while dodging attacks. Hilarious consepts IMHO :D

[@robbiehussey4723]

Yes! Now I'll be able to play a Tortle Monk with the Way of the Drunken Master. Chaos with a tough shell.

[@talongreenlee7704]

Strength based Tortle monks are really cool. Being able to reflect damage as well gives me this mental image of a spikey shell like Bowser.

[@Telleryn]

The iron fist series had a great drunken master monk in one episode (regardless of how you feel about the series overall). Also the idea of using other ppls attacks against them would work really well multiclassed with an oath of redemption paladin perhaps (though yuo'd have to be rather high level to make it work)

[@SirMethos]

It would be cool to see a Bardic type of monk. The "performance" skill allows for physical types of performance, such as dancing or acting, so it would be easy to imagine a dancing performer, that turns it into something usable for combat(such as the capoeira martial arts style). It could either be a sub-class to either bard or monk, or something like a prestige class applicable to either of the two classes(I've sorta home-brewed a character along those lines by multi-classing monk and bard)..

[@lordilluminati5836]

yeah, capoeira monk/bard sounds awesome

[@johnsonwhitman1687]

DM's worst nightmare. Tabaxi Multiclassed as Drunken Master and Bard.

[@redoryx1872]

Finally a monk subclass video!! :D

[@UndeadGary]

As someone who has never watched old martial art movies I didn't really appreciate the way they went with the drunken master subclass since I was wanting something more akin to an old drunken master prestige class in 3.5 that had it's abilities fueled by intoxication with like a fire burp if I remember correctly. Pretty much you were playing Bacchus. This video has opened my eyes to this more traditional drunken master fighting style and the niche it fulfills so I'm looking forward to giving it a shot now and will go back and re look over the unearthed arcana and see what I can come up with. Love these insider videos keep them up! Still going to homebrew a subclass powered by alcohol but I think I'll either make it a cleric domain so I can direcrly worship Bacchus or make it a barbarian path of drunken recklessness, say the alcohol numbs my pain while raging as a more thematic explanation of rage resistances and undying rage.

[@timothyferguson8333]

HELL YEAH!!!! THANK YOU!!

[@danerd101]

Kinda sad there STILL isn't a rework of Way of the Four Elements....

[@salmffron2003]

Mike is awesome

[@TatoTheButcher]

I used previous UA to make a drunken master between the college of satire bard and open palm monk, works surprisingly well

[@ericw7463]

Great analogy with the knuckle ball

[@Speverban]

Eric Woltemate Way of the Knuckleball

[@smokybros1267]

Me: Looking up ways to build a Tabaxi fist-fighting drunken master. Come across this video. Mike: I'm sure someone will make a Tabaxi Drunken Master, just to like maximize the chaos they can bring to a game. Me: Purr-fect.

[@bobsyouryouknowthething6751]

I want a better version of the pugilist in 5e. I like the flavor of someone that can be a dwarf that fights with fists and doubles people over or knocks someone out with a sound punch.

[@bardssinisterstories2607]

I made a Tabaxi Drunken Master named Garfield. He hates monday's and is on a quest to save his friends Jon and Odie from the Dark Lord Nermal.

[@potemadunne1350]

Ha ha, my very first D&D character was an alcoholic Monk. Maybe taking the Drunken Master style a bit too literal but this would have been perfect for them

[@marcusblacknell-andrews1783]

Me: I made a Harengon Drunken Master as Pirate Captain in the Land of Theros!

[@MyJC19]

lol so I made a natural born werewolf monk in a homebrew game awhile back so now imagining a drunk werewolf just messing with people

[@abouttime837]

every discussion that goes into a Yogg Story is a good discussion

[@nintendonerd1293]

My level 2 drunken monk wild magic sorcerer is very happy.

[@PoppaRocks87]

Dude we're playing DnD, the baseball reference is literally going over our heads...

[@charlieb8735]

Is this a baseball pun?

[@Hades8103]

Playing as a Drunken Master Dragonborn in a saltmarsh campaign

[@TVMAN1997]

drunken boxing is a real form of fighting and it’s awesome!

[@elliottbolton78]

QROW BRANWEN

[@BoaConstuctor]

THANK YOU SO MUCH!

[@kazoosc]

second to Jackie Chan for me is the section in _Heroes of the East_ where the husband tries to learn Drunken God fist .. the master won't take new pupils, so friends of the husband pick a fight with the master

[@squeakyraccoon]

i'm going to be playing a Harengon drunken master, that's a pirate chick too XD all the chaos that's gonna be in this session

[@negljbreakergaming]

I sure hope way of the kensei is gonna be in Xanathar's as well

[@Chunkerstein]

Drunken Master Monk is like a drunk paladin.

[@mikelsmith6803]

I want the tranquility monk, I want it soooo bad.

[@UnforgivenVagabond]

Should've given us Way of Zen Mastery, a load of abjurer/conjurer abilities based on ki. That would've been awesome.

[@UnforgivenVagabond]

Or maybe it would be Abjuration/Divination... either way, still feels like Drunken Master is just another typical archetype.

[@stephdrain9730]

I love this man.

[@vikashv1]

Raven Queen Warlock please :D

[@wolvesleather]

Dwarves with tankard chucks.

[@ethanwhite2210]

As excited for this class as I am, I am a little disappointed that they didn't include a feature to the class that the Pathfinder Drunken Master archetype had: namely, being able to spew a cone of fire and deal a huge blast of fire damage.

[@NecromancyForKids]

Ethan White That originated in 3.5, not Pathfinder. But I agree, it will be missed.

[@Rathkryn]

Then play a Gold or Red Dragonborn drunken monk. You'll get your cone of fire breath.

[@ZenodudeMC]

Ethan White improvise!

[@karpmageddon4155]

That's an easy fix. Grab Magic Initiate, pick druid for the produce flame cantrip and you have your fire attack. Then just choose the other cantrip and first level spell that works for your character concept and you are good to go.

[@DAMitAlI]

I'm currently playing a drunken master tabaxi. No one can keep me in one spot for too long!

[@laoxep]

Even in taverns?

[@killcat1971]

Be nice if they just fixed the 4 Elements Monk.

[@2buildornot2build]

Fixed 4 Elements Monk and fixed Beast Master Ranger would've been nice :(

[@DarkonFullPower]

Did the UA Ranger not fix it for you?

[@2buildornot2build]

I mean, UA is fine, but if we're taking that train of thought, why bother introducing these new subclasses in Xanathar's at all when you can just keep them in UA? (Other than making money, but you could just sell them on dmsguild) The problem I have with it is the lack of official release. Does this mean that the designers don't think it's balanced? Will this keep people from using it since it won't be in an official book? Maybe I'm asking too much, I dunno, I just think that if it's supposed to be a fix then it should be official.

[@morphias1008]

2buildornot2build the ranger will be rereleased in XGE from my understanding

[@2buildornot2build]

I thought I'd heard differently, but I sure hope you're correct! If that's the case then I have no problems with it at all!

[@weshverified]

My WoW Monk is gonna be reincarnated in D&D, no doubt.

[@firetarrasque4667]

More true to life without drinking.

[@17joren]

It’s not just that drunken boxing is unpredictable, you’re also fluid in combat. If you watch actual d. boxers like on KZbin, they are flexible and roll around punches. The redirect attack feature is nice, but I think it should have been available at an earlier level.

[@SkylordMorgana]

im makeing a druken master Tabaxi monk That ill grab the mobility Feat And the alert feat its gona be funn

[@lysandriah8290]

...Kind-of Yoda-ish, no? Still wise and powerful, but let's face it: mischievous as all getout.

[@kyleellis9177]

one of m players really likes the ganja sow e reskinned it as a stoned Monk

[@mooxim]

OH SHIT YAAAAAY!

[@treedude4246]

YESSSS

[@ryanstoyan8980]

I'd love to play a tabaxi drunken master Mike! Not allowed in adventures league though :/

[@FFICupcake]

I found the biggest issue with this class is that once you reach a certain level of monk, you become immune to poison; including alcohol poisoning. Therefore you can't get drunk as a monk at a certain point, which makes playing this class feel incomplete.

[@Rathkryn]

Your monk was doing all that drinking in order to train his body into becoming immune to poisoning. And once (s)he becomes immune the monk is able to drink even more than (s)he could ever drink before!!!

[@castlebroknhed8065]

My only issue with this is that if you're going to make classes that people are asking for, why is there not a Jester class yet? They are a classic, and fill a huge void in the Bard sub-classes.

[@trunglerfevr]

Yay!

[@josukex42]

i am that guy who made a Drunken master Tabaxi

[@timothyferguson8333]

So.. seems like it will be unchanged from the Unearthed Arcana version.

[@armogohma2]

Timothy Ferguson Not entirely. Sounds like Tipsy Sway costs ki now. (Which is nice, because the 1/sr mechanic was my biggest complaint.)

[@MumboJ]

Mike Mearls has the best job! So jealous. :)

[@ghostoftanelorn9928]

Where's the DBZ monk?! I wanna shoot laserbeams and punch holes through mountains! But then again the leveling will take ages.

[@cowjuicy]

Check out sun soul monk - it's pretty close with firing ki blasts about and gets some other abilities that could easily be refluffed as DBZ powers.

[@woahquill1334]

Lowkey wanna make rock lee

[@matthewmaurer6100]

Is the Artificer going to be in the book too?

[@cheeseburgerdave2463]

NINJA CLASS PLEASE

[@crowofrevelry]

So no Kensei. Damn.

[@SZRLM]

But like redirected attacks feels like something all higher level Monk's should have

[@Jeffk1]

I like that most classes have a primal, or an "oopsy" archetype now. Like they got their power not from being well-trained and instead are really primal combined with experience.

[@TravistheGREAT03]

Please have reworked the Ultimate, Please have reworked the Ultimate, Please have reworked the Ultimate, Please have reworked the Ultimate.

[@Freudig85]

Is it April 1st already?

[@DanateDMC]

I think his 17the level abily isn't as cool as quivering palm tho :/

[@Pit_Wizard]

DON'T PLAY KOI 🐠

[@BossTripp1]

This tradition is so bad lol. Seen two different monk only players play it and they said they felt useless.

[@Shaso1000]

I'm sad the drunken master doesn't have the drink too get stronger abilty

[@Shaso1000]

Yeah drunken master sucks

[@DummyUrD]

Meh

[@Shaso1000]

Drunken Master seems mediocre at best it is by far the weakest of the traditions by far.