Way of the Open Hand Monk 5e

Review by Sam West, Twitter:@CrierKobold

If you’re coming to Monk and want to do all of what Monk says it does, but better, Way of the Open Hand is the Player’s Handbook option you’ll probably default to. It does a fine enough job at enhancing the core monk play pattern, but I think clearly showcases where monks struggle in the way their features sort of fail to meaningfully define their role in and out of fights.

3rd Level: Open Hand Technique

Out the gate you’re getting a substantial enhancement to monk’s core ability, Flurry of Blows: Open Hand Technique. It gives you three nifty options to enhance both hits you dish out when spending ki on extra attacks. You force it to save or fall prone, save or be shoved 15 feet, or deny its reactions until the end of your next turn (no save).

The most outwardly powerful of these options is the save or prone. You can take the Attack action, make one of your two attacks post 5th level with Extra Attack, spend the ki on Flurry of Blows, make two attacks that each can drop a creature prone, and then subsequently have advantage on any of your remaining melee attacks against the now prone creature. The first attack can’t benefit, but you can weave in your Flurry of Blows between attacks for maximum value.

This lines you up to be a melee support style character who thrives at enhancing allied attacks. You can drop something prone, disable its reactions, then safely duck out after your attacks. This can act as a free disengage to skirmish with against anything you hit by taking away its reactions which adds a layer of safety to engaging. A 15 ft. shove will open up some wild moments where creatures are thrown from buildings or into pits. Altogether, this gives you a ton of decisions to make from fight to fight. I’m a big fan.

6th Level: Wholeness of Body

Where Open Hand Technique provides you with a suite of meaningful and interesting decisions, Wholeness of Body gives you a once per long rest chunky heal. It's a lot less exciting. Healing 18 hit points as a subclass feature when paladins have Lay on Hands, a 5 hit point per level healing pool they can use to heal themself and others doesn’t look great. It doesn’t play great, either, as when you typically most want the hit points you can’t even use them because you’re at 0 bleeding out.

11th Level: Tranquility

Tranquility’s defensive capabilities are as bad if not a bit worse than Wholeness of Body. Sanctuary is a 1st level spell that ends if you attack, cast a spell, or deal damage to an enemy. It basically means the first things to try to attack you between rests make a save or have to attack a nearby ally instead. If you want the defense to stay up, you literally can’t fight. The moment you start fighting, this stops being a feature. The best element of Sanctuary is its efficiency and cost- a bonus action and 1st level spell slot make it a tool to throw out in a fight you’re clearly losing to get a threatened creature a better shot at survival. There will be many encounters where you’re looking to get the drop on enemies, and if that’s ever the case, this has no text. None. You can’t benefit from it if you ever want the strategic advantage of first strike. It's horrendous.

17th Level: Quivering Palm

Quivering Palm book ends this subclass with another unique feature at least. You can spend 3 ki when you hit with an unarmed strike to start weird vibrations in their body. Then, as an action later, you can end the vibrations to force them to save or die. Literally. They make a save, and if they fail, they die. Even if they pass, they take 10d10 necrotic damage which is an excellent failsafe. As far as 17th-level monk features go, Quivering Palm gives you a tool to massacre high hit point creatures over two actions, which is really interesting and crazy powerful. It definitely satisfies the fantasy it is selling in a way that can compete somewhat with top-tier power wizard spells.

All Together

Way of the Open Hand starts and ends strong, but the mid features are terrible. Newer monks can get by for a while on Stunning Strike and Flurry of Blows, especially given how they interact with Open Hand Technique, but needing to forgo meaningful features at 6th and 11th level for the opportunity to potentially get high enough level for Quivering Palm isn’t where I want to be.

I like this option a lot for new players that don’t necessarily want to get a lot of new, complex tools as the game progresses. It gives you a lot of depth to learn and play with early, and should you get to the top-end fantasy, gives you a super satisfying touch of death. It also lends itself pretty well to multiclassing (at least, as well as monks can multiclass) with barbarian or on-hit buff classes like Warlock.

If you want a basic monk experience, this offers you a small expansion on the core monk with upgrades to keep fights interesting and offer you plenty of choices to make in the early game. If you want a character that shines brightly past 5th level, but before 17th level, you’re not going to find that here.

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