Introduction
Way of the Ascendant Dragon Monk is phenomenally cool, and does a lot of things very well. It makes the Monk a bit of a blaster, allowing the Monk to handle crowds, which few other Monk subclasses do especially well (Four Elements and Sun Soul both also make attempts here). You eventually get additional capabilities like extremely limited flight and a version of Frightful Presence which can let you keep foes Frightened for an entire encounter.
Ascendant Dragon answers the issue of multiple foes very nicely, and the limited access to flight and crowd control offer some very helpful tools that most monks can’t match. Even so, it’s not phenomenally powerful due to the low damage on Breath of the Dragon and the intentional limitations on Wings Unfurled and Frightful Presence. I think this is an immensely satisfying subclass to play, and it’s very well designed, but it’s not going to produce a stunningly powerful monk or upset the balance of your game.
Because the subclass’s effectiveness depends heavily on your ability to successfully hit multiple foes with Breath of the Dragon, position is extremely important. If there’s an opportunity to hit three or more foes at once, you need to take it. Use that monk speed (and potentially Step of the Wind) to get yourself into position and hit as many foes as possible.
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Disclaimer
- Way of the Ascendant Dragon Monk Features
- Way of the Ascendant Dragon Monk Ability Scores
- Way of the Ascendant Dragon Monk Races
- Way of the Ascendant Dragon Monk Feats
- Way of the Ascendant Dragon Monk Weapons
- Way of the Ascendant Dragon Monk Armor
- Way of the Ascendant Dragon Monk Multiclassing
- Example Way of the Ascendant Dragon Monk Build – Double Dragon
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 the Ascendant Dragon Monk Features
- :
- : Monks rarely make Charisma checks. This might help compensate for dumped Charisma, but it doesn’t make the Monk a Face.
- : This allows you to easily get around resistance to bludgeoning damage and resistance to non-magic weapon damage types several levels before you get Ki-Empowered Strikes at level 6. You can also use it capitalize on damage vulnerabilities on those rare creatures that have them.
- : Makes a lot of sense thematically, but not particularly useful on a class that dumps Charisma.
- : The damage starts
low, but the ability to damage groups of
enemies becomes very powerful as your Martial Arts die improves. You get a pool of uses per day equal to your
Proficiency Bonus before you can instead spend Ki, which is a generous pool of
resources, but doesn’t allow you to use Ki right before a Short Rest to save
the free daily uses.
When spending Ki to use Breath of the Dragon, consider the opportunity cost presented by that decision. Could you have more impact with those two Ki Points by using Flurry of Blows or Stunning Fist than if you use those points for a breath weapon? In my opinion, the breath weapon is always worth the Ki cost if you can hit three targets. Once you hit level 11 and add a third damage die, two targets is sufficient. Otherwise, punching is probably best.
- : Step of the Wind is
activated as a Bonus Action (it’s the one that lets you Dash as a Bonus
Action), so your movement for the turn (assuming that you don’t Dash with
your Action) is double your walking speed. That’s a whole lot of flight,
and it should be enough to get wherever you need to go. If you’re fighting
flying enemies, try to ground them somehow, such as by hitting them with Stunning Strike.
Unfortunately you can’t remain in the air since the wings disappear at the end of your turn, but that might mean that Slow Fall is finally consistently useful.
If you know a bit of geometry, you might remember that the bottom of a cone is a circle, so by combining Wings Unfurled and Breath of the Dragon you can take to the air, drop a circle of breath onto foes below, and potentially hit more enemies than you could with a cone-shaped AOE from the ground.
- : this consumes your Bonus Action so
you’re not spending it using Martial Arts, Flurry of Blows, or Wings Unfurled.
- : You can only make one target Frightened per turn as a Bonus Action, but Frightened is a great debuff that can benefit your whole party. Targets that pass the save don’t get immunity to the effect, so you’re free to re-frighten them later. In single-enemy encounters, or even in encounters with one big enemy and a bunch of smaller ones, targeting powerful foes will dramatically tip the odds in your favor. Resistance and immunity to fear are common, but not ubiquitous, so this will work in most encounters in most games.
- : Generally only spellcasters can change their energy damage type, so against many monsters that rely on the affected damage types (dragons are a great example) this is a great defense. Unfortunately, the 10-foot radius on the aura won’t protect your whole party unless you’re in tight quarters.
- :
- : You don’t want to use this every time you use your breath weapon, but this is absolutely worth the additional Ki if the added range can hit one additional target.
- : Blindsight is great. By this level there are numerous options available for blocking sight, such as spells like Fog Cloud or items like an Eversmoking Bottle, putting you at a massive tactical advantage in combat. You do still need to find your enemies to get within 10 feet, but you can still hear through fog, smoke, and magical darkness so that shouldn’t be hard. Of course, this is also available as a Fighting Style at level 1, so it’s not amazing as a 17th-level feature.
- : This adds to Aspect of the Wyrm, so in addition to choosing either Frightful Presence or Resistance, you also get the initial burst of damage so that you’re no longer giving up the damage output which you might get from Martial Arts or Flurry of Blows. This isn’t a huge amount of damage, and the 10-foot range is still tiny, but you get to pick the type and it doesn’t have any additional cost. I recommend jumping into a group of enemies to activate this, then get to punching.
Way of the Ascendant Dragon Monk Ability Scores
No different from a typical Monk.
Way of the Ascendant Dragon Monk Races
No different from a typical Monk.
Way of the Ascendant Dragon Monk Feats
No different from a typical Monk.
Way of the Ascendant Dragon Monk Weapons
No different from a typical Monk.
Way of the Ascendant Dragon Monk Armor
No different from a typical Monk.
Way of the Ascendant Dragon Monk Multiclassing
No different from a typical Monk.
Example Way of the Ascendant Dragon Monk Build – Double Dragon
We’ve done a Dungeons and Several Dragons Sorcerer. I can’t come up with a way to fit “enter the dragon” into a sentence, so… dragon Monk! With dragon stuff!
We’ll include the Focused Aim Optional Class Feature, but this build doesn’t depend on any Optional Class Features, so you’re free to use as many or as few as your table likes.
Ability Scores
We’ll put +2 into Dexterity and +1 into Wisdom. We’re planning to take some feats, so we need Dexterity as high as we can manage at level 1.
| Base | Increased | |
|---|---|---|
| Str | 8 | 8 |
| Dex | 15 | 16 |
| Con | 14 | 14 |
| Int | 8 | 8 |
| Wis | 15 | 16 |
| Cha | 10 | 10 |
Race
Fizban’s Dragonborn. Variety doesn’t matter much. We’ll get a breath weapon, draconic flight, and a damage resistance. I recommend one of the elements that Ascendant Dragon can’t give you resistance to.
Background
Far Traveler. Insight and Perception are great skills for us, and traveling the world (possibly to meet various dragons) is a cool backstory.
Skills and Tools
We’ll take History and Stealth from our Monk class skills, then we get Insight and Perception from our Background.
Feats
At level 4 we increase Dexterity to 19.
At level 8 we increase Dexterity to 20 and Wisdom to 17.
At level 12 we take Gift of the Gem Dragon and increase Wisdom to 18.
At level 16 we take Gift of the Metallic Dragon.
At level 19 we increase Wisdom to 20.
I could not find a way to make Gift of the Chromatic Dragon useful in this build.
Levels
| Level | Feat(s) and Features | Notes and Tactics |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Unarmored Defense Martial Arts | Pretty typical monk stuff at this level. Grab a spear. If you run into multiple, remember your Dragonborn breath weapon. The damage isn’t amazing, but it’s worthwhile if you can hit multiple enemies, and it replaces an attack during the Attack action, so you’re still able to use Martial Arts or a Ki ability once you get them. |
| 2 | Ki Unarmored Movement | Still pretty normal Monk stuff. |
| 3 | Subclass: Way of the Ascendant Dragon Dragon Disciple Breath of the Dragon Deflect Missiles | MORE. DRAGON. Draconic Disciple is three situationally useful features in a trench coat. We’re here for Breath of the Dragon. The damage is better than our Dragonborn breath weapon and scales better, so use the free uses first, then switch to your Dragonborn breath weapon. If you manage to go through 4 breath weapons in a day and hit multiple enemies in each of them before you even get Extra Attack, you deserve a price. The odds that you’ll need to use Ki to refuel your breath weapon is pretty tiny. |
| 4 | Ability Score Increase: Dexterity 17 -> 19 Slow Fall | Not super exciting, but it sets us up for the future. |
| 5 | Extra Attack Focused Aim Stunning Strike | Our PB increases to +3, which means that we get an additional use of each of our breath weapons. What’s even more exciting is that we now have Extra Attack, so we can use both in the same turn! If you get two or three enemies in position to hit them with with the AOE, hit them with both breath weapons. It’ll feel amazing, and the damage is decent. Not Fireball decent, but you can do it 3 times per day and then still Flurry of Blows the survivors. |
| 6 | Ki-Empowered Strikes Wings Unfurled | Ki-Empowered Strikes makes Draconic Strike irrelevant, which honestly feels awful. But it’s hard to argue with the results. Wings Unfurled is the fun part. We need use Step of the Wind to activate it, which gives us a ton of movement to work with. Fly above groups of enemies, aim your breath weapons down as a cone, and drop what is effectivey a circular AOE on them. |
| 7 | Evasion Stillness of Mind | Good defenses. |
| 8 | Ability Score Increase: – Dexterity 19 -> 20 – Wisdom 16 -> 17 | The weird split will be worth it if you survive to level 12. |
| 9 | Unarmored Movement Improvement | Running up walls is neat, but it feels much less interesting when you can fly. |
| 10 | Purity of Body | Nice defenses. |
| 11 | Aspect of the Wyrm | The 10-foot aura isn’t huge, but it’s enough to work with. Move to get an enemy into range, then spend your Bonus Action to Frighten them, then retreat to protect your allies with the damage resistance. The biggest problem is competition for your Bonus Action, which is a classic Monk problem. You can’t use Aspect of the Wyrm and Wings Unfurled in the same turn, and Martial Arts and Flurry of Blows are both out of the question. You’ll need to make conscious choices about how to spend your Bonus Action every turn rather than having a go-to option. |
| 12 | Feat: Gift of the Gem Dragon (Wis 17 -> 18) | That’s right, even more dragon! Telekinetic Reprisal gives us a retaliatory option if enemies hit us, letting us get a bit of damage outside of our own turn. |
| 13 | Tongue of the Sun and Moon | We can already talk to dragons. |
| 14 | Diamond Soul | Even more powerful defenses. |
| 15 | Timeless Body | Rarely matters. |
| 16 | Feat: Gift of the Metallic Dragon | EVEN MORE DRAGON! We’re here for Protective Wings. It’s +5 to AC (+6 at level 17), which means that 5 of the numbers on the d20 that would hit us can be turned into a miss. The rest of the time we have Telekinetic Reprisal. We can also cast Cure Wounds as a 1st-level spell once per day. Don’t. |
| 17 | Ascendant Aspect | Augment Breath lets us expand the AOE of our subclass breath weapon. Hitting even one more target is worth the Ki to use this. Unfortunately, it won’t affect our Dragonborn breath weapon Permanent Blindsight is great even if the range is small. Explosive Fury gives us a little bit of damage when we activate Aspect of the Wyrm. We’re already accustomed to running into position to get an enemy within 10 feet of us, so our tactics don’t need to change except to get more enemies into the 10-foot radius. |
| 18 | Empty Body | Use Empty Body against single enemies and use breath weapons against crowds. |
| 19 | Ability Score Increase: Wisdom 18 -> 20 | Not super exciting, but max AC and max Save DC. |
| 20 | Perfect Self | Enough Ki for Augment Breath 4 times. |
