Introduction
Way of Shadow offers some magical capabilities which allow the monk to do stuff far more impressive than just punching things really fast. While the flavor is a lot of fun, and some of the mechanics are flashy and exciting, the Monk lacks built-in capabilities to capitalize on stealth and surprise, so you may often feel like you are emerging from the shadows to gently tickle an opponent where a Rogue would be emerging to deal a massive pile of Sneak Attack damage.
While it’s mechanically exciting, Ki-efficient, and objectively very cool, Way of Shadow has very little that helps you defeat enemies or overcome other challenges like traps or locked doors. It’s also dependent on you being able to see in the dark, which either requires a race with Darkvision, that you spend Ki Points to cast the spell Darkvision, or look for another solution. Even then, you can’t see through your own magical darkness.
If possible, get Fighting Style (Blindfighting) or the Devil’s Sight invocation so that you can use magical darkness to get easy Advantage in combat.
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Disclaimer
- Way of Shadow Monk Features
- Way of Shadow Monk Ability Scores
- Way of Shadow Monk Races
- Way of Shadow Monk Feats
- Way of Shadow Monk Weapons
- Way of Shadow Monk Armor
- Way of Shadow Monk Multiclassing
- Example Way of Shadow Monk Build – Shadow Boxer
Disclaimer
RPGBOT uses the color coding scheme which has become common among Pathfinder build handbooks, which is simple to understand and easy to read at a glance.
- : Bad, useless options, or options which are extremely situational. Nearly never useful.
- : OK options, or useful options that only apply in rare circumstances. Useful sometimes.
- : Good options. Useful often.
- : Fantastic options, often essential to the function of your character. Useful very frequently.
We will not include 3rd-party content, including content from DMs Guild, in handbooks for official content because we can’t assume that your game will allow 3rd-party content or homebrew. We also won’t cover Unearthed Arcana content because it’s not finalized, and we can’t guarantee that it will be available to you in your games.
The advice offered below is based on the current State of the 2014 DnD 5e Character Optimization Meta as of when the article was last updated. Keep in mind that the state of the meta periodically changes as new source materials are released, and the article will be updated accordingly as time allows.
Way of Shadow Monk Features
- : Minor Illusion is great for
distractions. Shadow Arts is Way of Shadow’s only Ki-consuming ability,
which is exciting because you can do so much by spending so little.
- : Darkvision doesn’t allow
you to see inside Darkness, so be cautious about using this during
combat. However, it can be nice to escape, to confuse your enemies, and
to teleport into when you need to escape.
If you want to abuse magical darkness, strongly consider taking the Fighting Initiate feat to get Fighting Style (Blindfighting). This will allow you to fight normally in melee when you can’t see, but most of your enemies will make attacks at Disadvantage and won’t be able to target you with many spells and special abilities.
- : With an 8-hour duration, you can afford to have this running all the time. If you don’t have Darkvision from your race, this is absolutely essential.
- : If you’re sneaking, there is no reason to skip casting this. The bonus is just too good.
- : While Silence isn’t mobile like Darkness, it’s still very useful. Most spells include Verbal Components, so disallowing sound can often cripple a spellcaster. It also helps when you need to silently kill a foe. Drop Silence, Shadow Step to them, grapple them, and punch them until they fall over. Repeat as necessary until the local population is sufficiently reduced.
- : Darkvision doesn’t allow
you to see inside Darkness, so be cautious about using this during
combat. However, it can be nice to escape, to confuse your enemies, and
to teleport into when you need to escape.
- : Teleportation is great, and Advantage is great, but Monks get by on a large number of low-damage attacks, so Advantage on one attack isn’t particularly useful. Giving up your Bonus Action also means less attacks that round. Advantage on one attack helps a bit, but it doesn’t make up the damage output lost by a third attack, so you want to avoid using this if regular movement would suffice.
- : Invisibility is great, especially considering this costs nothing to use. Spend as much time as possible invisible..
- : Free attacks are always nice. Be sure to encourage your allies to attack the same targets that you’re fighting in order to capitalize on this.
Way of Shadow Monk Ability Scores
No different from a typical Monk.
Way of Shadow Monk Races
No different from a typical Monk.
Way of Shadow Monk Feats
No different from a typical Monk.
- TCoE: Basically required to play the subclass effectively.
- TCoE: A passable substitute for Devil’s Sight. The 10-foot range is very limiting, but it also works in rare situations where vision is blocked by things like smoke or fog.
Way of Shadow Monk Weapons
No different from a typical Monk.
Way of Shadow Monk Armor
No different from a typical Monk.
Way of Shadow Monk Multiclassing
No different from a typical Monk.
Example Way of Shadow Monk Build – Shadow Boxer
Ability Scores
We get two +1 increases, so we’ll put them in Dexterity and Wisdom.
| Base | Increased | |
|---|---|---|
| Str | 8 | 8 |
| Dex | 15 | 16 |
| Con | 15 | 15 |
| Int | 8 | 8 |
| Wis | 15 | 16 |
| Cha | 8 | 8 |
Race
Variant Human. We really want the feat at level 1 so that we can get Eldritch Adept. We also get an extra skill, which is nice.
Background
Urchin. We get excellent skills and Thieves’ Tools, allowing us to easily replace a Rogue in the party.
Skills and Tools
We’ll select Insight and Stealth with our class skills. Urchin gets us Sleight of Hand and Stealth, and we’ll replace the redundant Stealth with Perception. We’ll use our additional skill from Variant Human to take Investigation. We also get Thieves’ Tools and a gaming set from Urchin. That gives us everything that we need to serve as our party’s Scout.
Feats
At level 1 we take Eldrich Adept to get Devil’s Sight. Darkvision is great, but the ability to see in magical darkness is absolutely critical for Way of Shadow.
At level 4 we take Sentinel.
The rest of the time it’s all ability score increases.
Levels
| Level | Feat(s) and Features | Notes and Tactics |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Unarmored Defense Martial Arts | At this level, we’re a very typical monk. Grab a spear and/or quarterstaff and attack with it two-handed for the bigger damage die. |
| 2 | Ki Unarmored Movement | Still pretty typical Monk stuff at this level. |
| 3 | Subclass: Way of Shadow Shadow Arts Deflect Missiles | This level is defining for us: we gain the ability to cast spells using Ki. Pass Without Trace will make our whole party sneaky. Silence can cause problems for enemy spellcasters. Minor Illusion lets us do all kinds of shenanigans. But we’re here for Darkness. At 2 points per use, it will monopolize our Ki for a few levels, but it’s worth it. Our ball of “only we get to have fun” gives us Advantage on our attacks and gives enemies Disadvantage to attack us, providing consistent and reliable protection for our whole career. With rare exception, enemies simply won’t be able to face us effectively in melee. This does inconvenience our allies, of course. But remember that you can cast Darkness on an object, then cover the object to suppress the effect. |
| 4 | Feat: Sentinel Slow Fall | The one flaw in our darkness ball strategy is that enemies can still walk out of it to go bother our allies. Sentinel gives us a way to prevent that. This does put us behind the Fundamental Math, We also now have enough Ki to cast Darkness twice per Short Rest. With 10 minutes per casting, that’s often enough to get by, so we can now consider using Ki for other stuff. |
| 5 | Extra Attack Stunning Strike | More attacks! More damage! Also we can stun stuff! |
| 6 | Ki-Empowered Strikes Shadow Step | Ki-Empowered Strikes is boring but crucial. We can now teleport in shadows. We’ll mostly use it outside of combat since we’re already very fast and nicely |
| 7 | Evasion Stillness of Mind | We can’t be effectively attacked, we can’t be easily targeted since most things can’t see us, we have Evasion to mitigate most types of area damage, and Stillness of Mind protects us from two of the most common debuff conditions. We’re very hard to kill. |
| 8 | Ability Score Increase: Dexterity 16 -> 18 | Not very exciting, but we do still want to max our Dexterity. |
| 9 | Unarmored Movement Improvement | |
| 10 | Purity of Body | |
| 11 | Cloak of Shadows | |
| 12 | Ability Score Increase: Dexterity 18 -> 20 | Still not very exciting, but the extra damage is nice. |
| 13 | Tongue of the Sun and Moon | |
| 14 | Diamond Soul | |
| 15 | Timeless Body | |
| 16 | Feat: Crusher (Con 15 -> 16) | Crusher is really nice if you’re relying on bludgeoning damage, and the +1 to Constitution lets us get to a +3 Con modifier. |
| 17 | Opportunist | If enemies inside your ball of darkness are hit by one of your allies, you can hit them as a Reaction. Watch the initiative order and make sure that your Reaction is available during your enemies’ turns so that you can hold them in place with Sentinel. |
| 18 | Empty Body | We might never use Empty Body. We already get essentially the same benefits provided by invisibility, and we probably don’t need resistance to damage since it’s so hard to hurt us. |
| 19 | Ability Score Increase: Wisdom 16 -> 18 | More saves, higher DC on Stunning Strike. |
| 20 | Perfect Self | Always helpful. You’ll go into every fight with enough Ki to cast Darkness twice. |
