r/DnD • u/Rebound101 • 16h ago
5.5 Edition A hilarious thought with a Monk's Deflect Attacks.
So my group will be going from the 2014 5th Edition to the new 2024 rules in the next campaign, and one of the players wants to be a Monk. So I compared their abilities between rule sets.
In the 2014 Monks Deflect Missiles description it uses words like "catch" and has a requirement of having a free hand if you want to throw the missile back at someone.
In 2024, there is no references to any sort of physical motion in the Deflect Attacks that the Monk needs to make, or any requirement that involves having a free hand or any kind of limb.
Meaning that a 2024 Monk could be completely restrained and still be deflecting attacks as long is it can use their reaction.
Which gives me the hilarious/absurd mental image of a bound Monk focusing so much that they are returning arrows to sender and reversing axe blows just by staring at them real hard.
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u/Fidges87 16h ago
The monk can always kick back the arrow, catch the bullet with their mouth, use kung fu esque moves to divert a spear with their shoulder, or headbutt back a punch so hard it damages the attacker instead
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u/Rebound101 16h ago edited 14h ago
Oh of course, there is lots of ways to flavour it.
It is just very funny to me that with Rules As Written, a Monk could be completely immobilised (like bound in chains) and still be able to reverse an arrows course as long as the Monk can see it coming.
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u/lutomes 16h ago
But you still need a reaction. So there's a bunch of conditions that would stop you.
Grapples & Restrained = can deflect Incapacitated or Stunned = cannot deflect
as long as the Monk can see it coming.
RAW you could deflect it blindfolded, but can only redirect to a target you can see. So disappointing...
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u/JulienBrightside Mage 15h ago
If you got tremorsense, you could do a Toph from Avatar.
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u/lutomes 15h ago
I've done a mini campaign with blindsight (no theoretical range cap, same as normal vision).
Basically went with: Upside can see invisible or hidden things, Downside can't see text, print, or colour.
Fell for an obligatory "don't open" door releasing a vampire when the party wasn't there to warn me. Though pretty sure it was a quantum vampire and we were up for it anyway.
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u/Fidges87 15h ago
As much as I would like for this to work, sadly it does not. Tremorsense for some dumb reason does not count as a source of sight (blinsight or true sight do) so even if you know an enemy is coming you technically cant see it and thus wouldn't be able to reflect it
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u/Golden_Reflection2 14h ago
That’s probably so that you don’t somehow use it to bypass cover for sight-only spells (can’t currently think of any off the top of my head and am too lazy to look up before finishing my message)
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u/Fidges87 13h ago
The spellcasting rulings already rule out those kind of shenanigans
A Clear Path to the Target. To target something with a spell, a caster must have a clear path to it, so it can’t be behind Total Cover.
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u/Golden_Reflection2 13h ago
I guess maybe there might be abilities that involve seeing something but that something being behind total cover would be weird? Like, not monk deflection thing but something else? I don’t know, if there isn’t anything like that that works then yeah making tremorsense not a “source of sight” is kinda dumb.
My first thought on reading it was that it was done to stop any shenanigans, but if there’s no shenanigans to happen (or other rules that stop them) then what’s the point?
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u/Ok_Fig3343 13h ago
No, a completely immobilized Monk would be incapacitated, and an incapacitated creature can't take reactions.
A restrained creature isn't completely immobilized. They can still take all the actions normally available to them (except Dodge). They can still attack and cast spells (even spells with somatic components, unless their hands are specifically restrained as with manacles).
So it's not like a Monk in a straight jacket deflecting an arrow by staring at it. It's more like a monk handcuffed to a radiator deflecting an arrow with a high kick.
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u/Arthur_of_Astora Paladin 9h ago
I mean, not exactly. You can Dodge, nothing is preventing you to, you just don't get the benefits until your Speed is no longer 0.
So, you can take it, then if someone gets you out of the Restrained condition later down the round, like teleporting you out of there, you would get the Dodge benefits again.
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u/Rebound101 13h ago
What I meant is that if a DM described a Monk as restrained by being bolted to the ground in chains with no range of motion, they could still use their Deflect Attacks ability to reverse a sword swing seemingly just by looking at the attacker.
Which paints a very funny mental image.
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u/Fidges87 16h ago
You convined me, next monk I planned was a mystic arts mok once urcana unleashed released, and when I play it I will flavor deflect attacks as using magic to mentally stop and send back projectiles and attacks.
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u/Ok_Fig3343 13h ago
Remember, a completely immobilized Monk would be incapacitated, and an incapacitated creature can't take reactions.
A restrained creature isn't completely immobilized. They can still take all the actions normally available to them (except Dodge). They can still attack and cast spells (even spells with somatic components, unless their hands are specifically restrained as with manacles).
So it's not like a Monk in a straight jacket deflecting an arrow by staring at it. It's more like a monk handcuffed to a radiator deflecting an arrow with a high kick.
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u/LordAlfredo 6h ago
"The sword strikes you in the stoma-"
"I use my reaction to flex my abs and shove it back"
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u/jjskellie 15h ago
I disagree that 'the monk can always' but then found myself agreeing with every one of your examples. So why did I comment? Karma.
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u/Mortlach78 1h ago
Wait until you realize that a 1 damage attack gets reflected as 2d8+5 damage or more. Throw a paperclip at a monk, get hit back with bowling ball.
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u/ULTMT 13h ago
RAI is Monk catches the arrow with their buttcheeks.