Best Races for Monk 5e
by Prince Phantom
Oh poor Monk. So far behind in damage, durability and utility compared to all other classes that even optimizers struggle to meet even baseline expectations. You’d think that to make up for this (and as is the case with most martials) we’d be scrambling to grab a feat at level 1 to make up the power gap. The problem is, hardly any feats actually benefit the Monk. This means that we are actually encouraged to play a different race, which is a small upside in a sea of downsides. As always, I exclude flying races from these articles as they are frequently banned at many tables, but if they are allowed I’d definitely be giving the Aarokocra a look with their flight and talons. I’ll split these up into damage, defense, and utility.
Best Races for Damage
Bugbear: Thanks to the large number of attacks a Monk can make and their usually high initiative bonus, the Monk is actually very well suited to take advantage of Surprise Attack. We also get the extended reach, allowing us to attack and move away without provoking opportunity attacks. This means that this race is boosting both our offense and defense, making this my personal favorite pick for a Monk.
Grung: First off, we don’t have a way to solve the water dependency issue, so make sure someone in your party can help you with that. Assuming you have an answer for that, this is a standout option. All of our unarmed strikes now have a chance to poison our target, and we have the choice of instead dealing poison damage if we attack with a weapon that deals piercing damage. There is the sad point that our poison immunity becomes redundant eventually, but you should have probably multiclassed out of Monk by that point anyway. This part is mostly flavor, but combining this race with Step of the Wind lets us jump massive distances, so that’s cool.
Honorable Mention: All races that grant a d6 unarmed strike: There are a large number of races that give you an upgraded unarmed strike through natural weapons. Monk starts at a d4, meaning a d6 would be about 1 extra damage per hit. The Monk die catches up very quickly though, so this will really only be applicable for extremely low level play. Only consider this a major upside if you know you’ll never make it out of low levels, or are playing a low level one shot.
Best Races for Defense
Tortle: The Tortle is basically the only way to make a strength based Monk viable, as it lets us ignore our dexterity and always have a decent 17 AC. Not being able to use a shield hurts still, as it does for all Monks, but 17 AC is honestly better than what most Monks will have, at least at low levels. We also get a d6 claw attack for our unarmed strike, the ability to hold our breath for a bit, and the ability to hide in our shell to take cover from ranged attacks.
Earth Genasi: So let’s talk about the difference between dodging as a bonus action with Patient Defense and casting Blade Ward as a bonus action a few times per day. Both of these cost a different resource, meaning they don’t compete with each other very much, so when should you use them? Patient Defense requires a Ki point, as do most Monk features, so if you’re trying to be conservative with those then having another option is great. Dodging forces disadvantage while Blade Ward gives resistance to damage, so all other factors aside, which is better? Dodging is typically better at lower levels, and resistance will be better at high levels. This is because when a monster has +19 to hit your 18 AC, disadvantage isn’t really helping you anymore. In that instance you’d rather have resistance. All this to say, this is a good defensive option that, when paired with Pass Without Trace and immunity to most difficult terrain, makes this a really good option.
Dhampir: There’s arguably no better class to take advantage of the Dhampir Bite than the Monk. It counts as a Monk weapon for us, meaning at level 6 it deals magical damage and scales with our martial arts die. This bite has a ton of benefits, including having advantage on all attacks when you’re below half HP, being able to heal us or buff a skill check, and allowing us to focus heavily on Constitution, as that’s the stat this bite uses to attack. Notably, we can’t attack with this bite using dexterity, as Monk only lets us change Monk weapons from strength to dexterity, but that’s not a huge deal when we can dump a ton into our constitution and just put enough into wisdom and dexterity. Our AC will potentially be lower for this, but we could take a level dip into barbarian to pick up their version of unarmored defense that works off of dexterity and constitution. With a focus on Constitution you’ll have much more HP than the average Monk, along with the ability to heal when we need to.
Shadar-Kai: We’re mostly here for the bonus action teleport that grants resistance to all damage until our next turn. This is very comparable to the Earth Genasi, and I think both are equally as strong.
Best Races for Utility
Plasmoid: Monks really don’t need any equipment to function, allowing us to use our amorphous body to squeeze through the tightest spaces and still be an effective character on the other side. Resistance to poison damage will become redundant if we don’t multiclass and acid damage is rare, so we’re really just here for amorphous.
Tabaxi: If you want to make the meme build that can run at the speed of sound, then you’ll need this race. The claws are nice I suppose, but you’re either here for Feline Agility, or you’re not here at all.
Hadozee: The Monk’s kit happens to work well with gliding, but exactly how much you can get out of that is unclear. If you’ve got a plan for how to use that glide, maybe consider this, otherwise you’ve got no reason to pick this.
Monks really struggle, especially past level 5, so I’d recommend you think long and hard about your race selection. You need to wring every drop of power possible out of a Monk to make it compete with other martials, and picking a synergistic race is a good place to start. Personally, I think the damage options are the ones I’d look at first, but anything on this list will at least make the Monk stronger than it would be normally.
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