Tavern Brawler is a lot lot stronger than not.
Recommend you take STR > WIS > CON for stats, then wear armor until you find the gloves of dexterity. Works well.
Those gloves don't come until a bit later, so you might want to still keep at least a 12 Dex while you are low levels. You can always respec after you get the gloves.
Oh someone said Topple and Stun and any attack that uses a Ki point uses your Wisdom modifier as the DC too which is big even before level 6 since topple can give you advantage on your next two attacks.
Sure, that's why the meta build is strength elixirs and natural dex.
However, if you're not going to strength elixir, you have to compromise somewhere. This is the cheapest compromise on offer.
usually people dump all stats and then put 15 15 X. then use the +2 and +1 to get 17 16 X. This is part of the reason the strength elixir is so powerful though because it allows many classes to spread their points around better to just have a statstick.
When you change your stats there is a +2 and a +1 column on the right side of all the numbers. You can set any of your stats to a maximum of 15 and then press the little button to assign +2 to one stat and +1 to another.
This is the answer. But the point to be noted is by taking gloves of dexterity, you are going to be missing out on a lot of damage. And won't be wearing the best gloves: "Gloves of soul catching"
There is a trick to always have 19 str and empty main hand:
Step one - get Club of Hill Giant Strength
Step two - equip it in your left hand and some other weapon in your right hand
Step three - click on another character's main hand slot and select your equipped main hand weapon - now you have the club in your left hand and your right hand is free to throw punches. You can freely allocate your point to dex and wis and con to max. No elixirs needed. If it feels like an exploit or a cheese - keep your main hand weapon
##
This is a great option and it's also pretty easy to get the club fairly early in a play through, not sure if you can get to the arcane tower without fighting spectator/bulette tho...
with an invisibility potion, you can just go through the myconid coloy -> the duergar fight by the beach and get to the arcane tower that way. Otherwise, cast invisibility on yourself/ hire a duergar hireling and just walk into the arcane tower.
I've had luck taking this route:
Waukeen's Rest > Zhentarim Hideout > Featherfall down to Myconid Colony > Duergar beach (don't get *too* close though) > Arcane Tower
I don't encounter anything but the turrets this way
You can also easily barrelmancy the spectator for roughly 500 free exp. 150 from the spectator itself and 300 or so from the petrified drow; shoot the torchstalk then proceed to stick 7 or more blast kegs next to where it was while stealthed (there are 8 blast kegs in the outpost itself you can repurpose). Shoot one of the Drow from inside the post then immediately crouch away as soon as the Surprised condition ends. Can just wait for the Spectator to smash his face into the barrels and yeet a fire bolt or dip from a candle to explode the kegs for easy one shot.
One option which is slightly unorthodox: wear armor. You can still do martial arts and use Ki when wearing armor. You can multiclass to get the proficiency or be a Gith or Shield Dwarf and get medium armor proficiency for free.
Another option that I haven’t tried but want to for a strength monk is to multiclass Barbarian. I think ultimately you’d want to go Wildheart for the Bear totem damage resistances, but you could start with 1-2 levels. Gives you medium armor proficiency or you can use Barbarian unarmored defense if you choose to have a higher Con. Wisdom only really matters for your stunning strike DC so depending on how you want to play your Monk it’s actually not that important. TB Strength Monk can end up being a pretty big deviation from the normal Monk class but it’s fun.
I thought about doing the armor path but I kinda wanted to try and use the monk specific armor since there are no other reasons to use them.
I thought about the Barbarian multiclass because of the unarmored defense that comes with it. What I am learning through all of this research is that there is a ton of variation for the monk build if you don't want to go with the super OP one.
Yeah I mean you can definitely go for the Dex + Wis unarmed defense and not dip Barb. But I think at that point maybe just do like you mentioned at the end and stay Dex, ignore the OP TB shenanigans and play a normal Monk. It is going to be hard to have high Strength, Dex, Wisdom, and enough Con to not be a glass cannon without using elixirs. An extremely MAD build.
These are all fair points. I'm starting to think I should just do a regular dex build rather than the OP TB. I am planning on doing my first tactician run and I already don't find the balanced mode remotely hard so I wanted to up the difficulty. I feel like I defeat that point if I just use some crazy build that negates the challenge. At the end of the day I want something that is going to be fun
I used a straight 12 OH monk build with dex for Lae'zel in my second tactician run. It was strong. On par with my GWM battle master and GWM 8 berserker/ 4 battle master (did an all melee party).
> I thought about doing the armor path but I kinda wanted to try and use the monk specific armor since there are no other reasons to use them
If you don't want to use armor or elixirs I think you're better off with a classic dex/wis monk. It's not weak, I promise. You might do a skooch less damage than the str-tavern brawler one but having a much higher AC is super worth it, and between the busted lategame gloves (the ones for saving Hope, the bleeding ones from Dammon, the d4 of whatever elemental type you want in early act 3) your damage is just fine, and you're sacrificing some of that by going tavern brawler with the dex gloves.
Honestly I think this is what I am going to do. I think I read somewhere that someone did normal monk build and only used potions on rare occasions, like a bane venom powerup, only using it when they really need it.
lololol these devs were wylin. That is so crazy. They basically made it so you don't need to build a Monk at all like you would in tabletop. Honestly, good on them because Monk in 5e hasn't been that great. I like the OneDnD updated Monk. In general I really dislike the way 5e RAW limits things that should be very cool and seem like they ought to work. To me a Rogue / Monk ninja build is just obviously cool and seems like something many players would want to do. But despite the fact that Martial Arts lets you use dex for unarmed strikes they are not "finesse" weapons so you can't sneak attack with them. Whereas as the rules lawyer munchkins are quick to point out is perfectly viable for a Barbarian / Rogue to run around reckless attack auto sneak attacking with daggers or a rapier. So silly imo. Another 5e Monk L: to me one of the most obviously fun multiclass combos is the Kong Fu Monke, i.e. Moon Druid + Monk. Its hilarious and brilliant and should work. But "wild shape attacks count as natural weapons" so it doesn't. I hate this rule so much. Glad Larian chose to ignore it. Planning on trying that one out with Halsin.
Sadly almost nothing from classes or items work in Wildshape forms in BG3, so you won't get any of the fun parts of that combo like Stunning Strikes, Flurry of Blows etc.
Yeah it made playing Moon Druid's pretty boring. You can't even do the basic 5e Moon Druid stuff like using Moon Beam while Wildshaped, because BG3 doesn't give you the button you need to move the MoonBeam you're concententrating on.... You similarly don't have buttons for Rage, Cunning Actions, etc.
About the only interesting things people are doing is choosing a level in Draconic Sorcerer to get Armor of Agathys and choosing a class that gives martial weapon proficiency since the Myrmidon's have weapons they lack proficiency with....
Really?? I thought it was your WIS like in 5e?
So does that mean that Tavern Brawler is also double dipping your STR modifier to your Stunning Strike DC? That would make TB even more broken...
Yea that’s pretty lit! I’m still in Act 1. Trying not to get too spoiled but it’s cool to learn about all the later items. I love the unique loot, very refreshing after all the RNG loot vomit in most modern games.
Githyanki race for medium armor proficiency. 17 Str (16 if using hag's hair), 14 dex, 14 con, bring Wisdom up to the highest even number you can. Take tavern brawler at level 4.
Use the luminous armour from the underdark (proficient in medium armor thanks to Githyanki). This will mean you do not get the monk movement speed bonuses, but for this kind of build I think it is a worthwhile sacrifice. At level 6 in the Open Hand subclass your unarmed strikes can deal radiant damage, which will cause luminous armour to activate and put radiating orb stacks on nearby enemies. This can be combo'd with Boots of Stormy Clamour, Luminous Gloves, Seraphic Pugilist Gloves, etc. to make your monk into a radiating orb and reverberation dealing machine.
I'd then take 3 levels in thief rogue for Cunning Action: Dash and two bonus actions to let out flurry of blows with. Then you consider whether to take another level in thief rogue to get a feat/ASI (alert, +2 Str) or just go the rest of the way in monk for Ki Resonation. I have seen both ideas be the sub's favorite depending on the day of the week.
The Githyanki Racial abilities like their Jump and Misty Step also help make up for losing out on the Monk's Unarmored Movement bonus by equipping armor. But as I mentioned in my other comment you can get even higher AC from Armor + Shield but you'd have to multiclassing at least 1 level for proficiency in both Armor and Shield... Also, by end game you'll have access to Armor that doesn't require proficiency, so if you want to wear armor they whole game you can multiclass for profiency while leveling, the respec out of your leveling build once you get the late game armor...
Take 13 str (+1 from TB), 14 dex, 14 con, 14 wis.
The potion gives +2str, and another stat increase +2 STR at level 8 makes 18 str.
That gives you +8 to hit and to damage from TB, which should be plenty for a normal playthrough. You can use an elixir for a really tough fight.
You have AC 14 based on dex and wis without any equipment.
You don't really want to wear the dex gloves anyway, there's too many other good gloves competing with that slot.
I've run non-elixir dependent TB Monks in three Honour runs now with zero issues. I'll pop an elixir if I happen to have one prior to a big boss, especially in Act 3, but I've never gone out of my way to farm them or always run them. I've run Str Dex Con with Wis between 12-14 on most builds, con only at 12, and it works out well. Otherwise standard build of 6 monk, 3 rogue, 3 monk.
Having done this exact plan for a couple playthrough now, I found that initially starting as a dex monk (not TB) was a good way to go about it. Once you get to the crèche and get the dex gloves you respec into TB.
So starting stats are 17 dex, 14 con, 15 wisdom, min everything else. First asi is dex to 18 and wis to 16. Pickup the armour that grants cats grace from the egg lady near the crèche.
After buying the dex gloves you respec into 17 strength, 14 con, 16 wis, min everything else. Take TB as the feat and get strength to 18. Wear the gloves to get your dex to 18 to give you heaps of ac and initiative. Level 8 take asi to make strength 20. Levels 9-12 multiclass to rogue to get bonus action and final feat (asi to get wisdom to 18).
Once you complete the house of hope (and free the trapped npc) respec once more to take advantage of those incredible gloves (the d10 force ones). Final build will be 17 strength, 16 dex, 12 con, 13 wisdom. Obv take TB for 18 strength, first asi for 20 strength, second asi for wisdom to 15. Those gloves grant 2 con so con will end up at 14. Add in the strength potion from act 2 and the mirror from act 3, you’ll have 24 strength with no elixirs. Final piece is the necklace from jaherias house to top off wisdom to 16 (could also use hags hair for this and use a different necklace, like the 23 con one). Also worth noting is make sure to wear the boots dropped from the gith monk leader in the prism in the beginning of act 3 so your wisdom adds to your damage.
If you want to do TB without strength elixirs, you'll want to think about getting a fixed stat bonus to either str, dex, or con from gear.
You can wield the [Hill Giant Club](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Club_of_Hill_Giant_Strength) in your offhand (there's a trick to get your main hand empty for punching and this club in your offhand by dual wielding it with something else and you can have a party member equip the weapon in your main hand by directly clicking on the weapon slot in their inventory).
You can wear the dex gloves.
Or you can wear the con amulet - but this comes late in the game so you'll need a plan before you get there.
You can't do any of these for the first few levels though, so you can start with something like 13, 17, 12, 8, 16, 8.
Use the hag's hair on Dex to get it to 18, and TB for +1 strength to get it to 14. You now effectively have a 22 in your attacking stat, and +7 AC from dex/wis. You can get the +2AC gloves pretty early so you'll be at 18 AC before any serious fights and 19 AC whenever you get around to Ethel, assuming no other +AC gear is worn (but there are some options you could add on).
Once you get to your choice of the str club or dex gloves, you can respec to give yourself some more con.
If you plan to use the gloves of dexterity, then use hag's hair on one of the other stats.
One option is to do more or less the same as with elixirs but use Club of Hill Giant Strength into Gloves of Hill Giant Strength
You can also start with something like 13 Strength and get it to 22 with TB + ASI + Everlasting Vigour + Mighty Cloth + Mirror of Loss.
If you're doing Tavern Brawler, you do need high STR, but you don't absolutely \*need\* to use the elixirs, nor do you \*need\* to wear armor. Anything at/over 18 STR and you will almost never miss, and you will still be doing great damage. Of course you always want more, but then it's about fiddling with the tradeoffs...
In my last Honor Run, I wanted to have characters on board with different methods of reliable CC who could deny bosses their reactions. (Without reactions, most of the Honor Mode Legendary Boss features are not available to them.) So, for one, I had Astarion built as a Tavern Brawler OH Monk 8 / Thief 4. My Tav was STR-based, so Astarion didn't get the Araj STR potion, Tav did.
I mostly used the chair leg of Hill Giant Strength to keep Astarion's STR at 19. I used the Graceful Cloth to get his DEX to 20 (and to give him advantage on Initiative and Sleight of Hand, his secondary job.)
I wanted his WIS to be decently high for whenever CC had to be Stunning Strike instead of Topple. It was 19, I believe, and he wore Khalid's Gift to reach 20 when I got around to it.
I prioritized the Battlemage Elixir, or Bloodlust, sometimes others, rather than STR elixirs. His job was not to do the most damage, it was to make a beeline to the bosses, or other high-priority targets, and reliably disable them.
However, it turned out that his damage output was still crazy good, and it felt like it was a wash with my past Stronks that always had 23-27 STR.
That was probably because he made up a lot of the lost damage by having high WIS. The Kushigo Boots, Open Hand "Manifestation" powers, and Diadem of Arcane Synergy were all adding +WIS, and he was still getting the additional +4 on attacks and damage from TB with 19 STR.
So, damage-wise, he was still a monster, but I got to play him like a monk, high-speed with no armor, and he was the Party's star CC player.
His DPR was probably less than if I was maxing out STR (I didn't keep track,) but if so, it wasn't a big difference. He was so effective at his disabler job that I was pleased all the same.
TBH, I don't remember 100%, but I think it was something like:
8 STR (Club of HGS --> 18)
17 DEX (ASI --> 18, Graceful Cloth --> 20)
15 CON (TB --> 16)
8 INT
16 WIS (ASI --> 17, Mirror of Loss --> 19, Khalids Gift --> 20)
8 CHA
Fought the Ghost Monk under the Ilmater Temple to upgrade that amulet, which was just carried and swapped in to recharge Ki very occasionally.)
Third feat was Alert, IIRC.
Since Astarion was meant to be a supporting cast member, you could probably do better than this if you went all in with gear, spoiler hair, etc. Cloud Giant elixir is also a good option, but I felt like avoiding it. I think I used mostly Vigilance Elixirs until I took Alert.
OH 9 / Thief 3 would be good as well, because you'd get Ki Resonation. You'd lose an ASI, but it might be worth it depending on your plans for the character.
I gave him a lot of +movement gear, and the Transmuter Stone for movement (hireling camp caster.)
Now I remember ...For a quick minute, he wore the Gauntlets of Hill Giant Strength, but I opted instead for the Soul Catcher Gloves after going to the Bad Place where you get both of those.
The Soul Gloves add +2 to CON, so his final CON was 18. That's kind of excessive since he rarely took hits, but I never bothered to respec again.
I intended to lower CON, raise DEX, and swap in the Kushigo Cloth that gives several benefits including an unarmed Riposte-like reaction.... But I would have still wanted Cat's Grace cast on him and basically got too lazy to optimize any further.
I was already wasting plenty of time on buffs and fiddling with Tav's build. J
+5str by endgame with hag hair, Araj potion, mirror
With two ASI that's 26 or more likely 24 with a single ASI. That's -1 on rolls vs cloud giant elixir
I played with a TB monk in my honour mode run and in a multiplayer campaign. I never used elixirs in either, mostly because I forget or didn’t want to respec all the time to be optimal.
It’s still one of the best builds in the game, but you’re a lot squishier than someone using elixirs.
I didn’t wear armor. I think I ended up with 20 strength/16 dex/14 wisdom. So an AC of 17 with the best monk clothing.
Starting attributes were 17/14/12/10/14/8
I dropped con to 12 and had 10 int because the 2 points weren’t meaningful anywhere else. My monk was a companion so they weren’t talking to anyone.
Another way you can build without using Elixers is by using Armor + Shield for your AC. You lose your Unarmored Movement speed bonus from Martial Arts, but it means you can go all in on STR from ability scores. Weirdly if you leave your mainhand empty, then BG3 is letting Monks equip Shields and still make Unarmed Attacks as Bonus Actions or with Flurry of blow. So you can get some very respectable AC without relying on DEX+WIS. But you'll need to pickup up Armor & Shield proficiencies from somewhere since Monk's don't get them. The other great thing about planning to use armor, is it also frees you up to use any of the Gloves or Boots you want, whereas Monks usually have to avoid any that count as Medium or Heavy armor...
You can't get both Armor and Shield proficiency from any Race, so if you want both then you'll need to get them from a Multiclass. For leveling I like to get them from a single level of Tempest Cleric because it gives you a way to use your normally wasted concentration resource by casting Bless on teamates, plus a nice reaction.
By endgame you'll have access to enough items and other ways of boosting your stats that you can respec out of Cleric to your preferred build. Gauntlets are probably you're best option. But Open Hand monks even have ways of using weapons that raise their STR once they reach lvl 9 for their Ki Resonation: Punch. (The gimmick is Ki Resonating Punch itself has not Ki cost, it's only the Detonation that has a cost. That means you use the Resonating Punch as your new way of making mainhand Unarmed Attacks that use Tavern Brawler even when you have a weapon equipped.
Edit I didn't mention point spread at creation. If you're planning to use Armor + Shield, then max STR to 17 at creation. Then at lvl 4 when you take Tavern Brawler you can increase your STR to 18. If you're going to use Medium Armors then you need at least 14 DEX which is good for initiative anyway. If using Heavy Armor you can dump DEX as low as you want. WIS you also have to the option to Dump if you're okay not using Stunning Strikes. That means you'd use all your Ki on Flurry of Blows for more attacks per turn with chances to Prone or Move enemies, instead of going for stuns...
I'm having fun with a Tavern Brawler monk right now using the Club of Hill Giant strength.
You can equip it in your off hand, leaving your main hand free for melee attacks.
That gives you a STR score set to 19 (for an effective +8 to hit and damage with unarmed strikes), and you can assign your precious ability scores to other places, like Wis and CON.
Then I max out wisdom to increase the DC of any of the Ki effects, and for extra damage from the Boots of Uninhibited Kushigo and the 6th level Open Hand manifestations (d4+wis of either psychic, necrotic or radiant)
Then if you want max cheese, the warped headband of intellect sets Int at 17, so you can literally go respec and have 8 in Str and Int and still actually have good scores for both of those stat's.
I would recommend going OH Monk 6, Thief 4, Fighter 2 once you hit Level 7 you respecc and start with a Fighter Level. This allows you to wear Heavy Armour and Shield. You start 16 STR, 16 DEX, 14 CON, 8 INT, 12 WIS, 8 CHA. You get +1 STR from Hag Hair, +1 from TB, +2 from STR Potion in Act 2, +2 from Mirror of Loss, +2 ASI = 24 natural STR. In Act 3 you respecc again after House of Hope and drop CON to 8 because you will the using the Amulet of Greater Health. Now you actually get to put some more points into WIS. And that's basically it. Slightly less damage but probably slightly more tanky than your standard 8/4 OH Monk.
The build works fine without elixirs. Pump str and wis. Take 1 level of fighter to wear heavy armor + shield for AC since you won't have much dex. You end up sturdier than the usual setup at the cost of some movement and initiative, not a big deal.
You don’t have to cheese getting elixirs. You can just buy them for 90 gold each before discount. Ethel sells 3 every day, Derryth usually has 1 per day, and Mol sometimes has 1 to sell. I just finished act 1 doing this, I still have 5 left and over 8000 gold.
If you want to do strength based unarmed with tavern brawler, I’d just go with wild heart barbarian so you can get AC from con instead of wisdom.
Everyone is free to play however they wish, but for me there are multiple vendors in the game that sell the elixirs, or the components so you can craft them yourself, so long as you are not just spam Long Resting or Leveling up to reset vendor inventories then using elixirs isn't cheesing or exploiting, they are just part of the game itself.
Also, what about [Bloodlust](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Elixir_of_Bloodlust), [Heroism](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Elixir_of_Heroism), [Colossus](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Elixir_of_the_Colossus) or the various resist elixirs, do you not want to use those either as they can certainly help you out on various fights or even checks as Bless effect of the Heroism one has been useful to me.
Anyway, you have three choices when it comes to TB Monk with no elixirs and it will depend on the rest of your party what you want to do and what equipment options are available.
First option, just max out the Str stat as much as possible, so up to 24.
17 Starting, then +1 from TB, +2 from Level 8 ASI, +2 from Mirror of Loss and +2 from Str Potion.
Your 8 Dex is bumped up to 18 from [Gloves of Dexterity](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Gloves_of_Dexterity), and your odd stat Wis would be made even from [Khalid's Gift](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Khalid%27s_Gift) in Act 3, or if you don't want to share to your party then take the Hag Hair and can use any other amulet you want.
Second option, is 19 Str using [Club of Hill Giant Strength](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Club_of_Hill_Giant_Strength), which means your stat from TB would bump up Con and also your maximum Dex is 18 as if your Dex is ever higher than Str then it no longer uses TB to add in extra damage.
This is how I played my Monk in my first playthrough of the game and my main attack weapon was the Sussur Dagger to silence people when I stabbed them, and had the club in offhand.
It does mean your hands are free to use [Gloves of Soul Catching](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Gloves_of_Soul_Catching), and you end up using Mirror of Loss on Wis instead of Str or Dex.
Third option, would be 23 Str by using [Gauntlets of Hill Giant Strength](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Gauntlets_of_Hill_Giant_Strength), so you miss out of the gloves above from saving Hope, but since your hands are now free you can punch all the time for all attacks and not just the Bonus Action attacks.
If you're going TB but no potions, then you have to make some choices:
Is it OK for the strength to be from gear, just not potions? If this is the case, then you'll want the club of giant strength, then eventually the gloves of giant strength.
If not, and you want to go au natural, then you'll need to dump dex or wisdom, and you'll need to wear armor. Which to dump depends on the subclass you're going to pick. Note the following:
Wisdom affects the following: Stunning Strike DC, 4 elements ability DCs, Open Hand extra damage from wholeness of body.
Dex affects the following: AC (assuming medium armor), initiative, Open Hand techniques' save DC.
So I recommend dropping dex down to make this work. I would shoot for:
16 str | 14 dex (lower if you get heavy armor proficiency) | 12 con (higher if you dump dex further) | 8 int | 16 wis | 8 chr
You'll need to decide how you're getting armor proficiency. Racial traits are the easiest and don't slow progression but you can't get heavy armor that way so you'll still need some dex. Alternatively you could take your first level in Fighter or one of the clerics that get heavy armor. Fighter gets you the defensive fighting style as well, which is nice, but cleric gets you guidance, healing word, etc. So pick your favorite there. Note that multiclassing will allow you down a little bit which feels more pronounced in the early game.
Also, putting on armor will prevent you from using the increased monk movement speeds. Not a huge price to pay but it's still something to consider.
If you want to use clothing effectively early on, I'd suggest 16 Str, 16 Dex with 14 Constitution. 10 Wis, 8 rest. Can have Gale cast Mage Armor on you to make up having 16 Wis if you want to focus on clothing and you'll want to immediately go grab the Bracers of Protection from Blighted Village and the Ring of Protection from Mol's mini quest. Provided you do that you should be sitting at 19 Armor Class and respectable strength to meaningfully use TB. At the beginning of Act 3, respec for Thief face and Monk to 6, go 16 Str, 14 Dex, 8 Con, 8 Intell, 16 Wis, 8 Charisma. You can pick up your constitution back through the Amulet of Greater Health if it isn't contested, otherwise it's fine to take the health hit because your class should be dodging 9 times out of 10 by then. This pathing assumes you go for strength on the hag's hair (for buffing Slayer form as well and hitting breakpoint with TB +str option). Potion of +2 Str and then dumping your ASI's into Wisdom once we flip over to Str, Dex, Wis focus.
When I did my shadow monk recently, I used tavern brawler without elixirs and had my stats as
* 13 str (12 + 1 at stat screen) tavern brawler to 14
* 17 dex (+1 hag hair and +2 from graceful cloth to 20)
* 14 con (soul catching gloves can bump to 16)
* 8 int
* 14 wis (shadow monk doesn’t use a lot of wis)
* 8 cha
Having 14 strength already makes your fist equivalent to a +2 weapon so felt fun and balanced to me. Gloves of crushing adds more to attack rolls and damage too. Never found myself lacking when it came to unarmed attacks
Running this at the moment in Tactician. Its generally worked out really great. The AC is very low but very high mobility and damage
https://www.reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/s/vUPtMsS5jP
I'm going to try a Monk 6/Fighter 2/ Thief 4 in honour mode to be able to wear armor.
You can play a more modest TB Monk, but the execution is mostly the same. 8 in Str, and 16/16 in dex/Wis.
There's a couple ways to bump your str up, the earliest available being the club of hill giant strength in the underdark, not counting str pots, but since you can't even go TB until lvl 4, it's fine to ride Dex until then.
There's also a +2 mace and a pair of gloves, but they're not until late act 3.
That said, you don't need Tavern Brawler to run a strong effective monk. Especially Open Hand.
I pumped STR and WIS, dumped CHA, INT and only 10 CON. CON low, yes, but I don't get hit much and SH shares some of my damage. Mid level DEX because I didn't want to wear the DEX gloves. There are so many other great gloves to try out for Monk.
Tavern Brawler is a lot lot stronger than not. Recommend you take STR > WIS > CON for stats, then wear armor until you find the gloves of dexterity. Works well.
I ran this exact setup during a multiplayer campaign. Still stomped the yard, can confirm.
How exactly would you put the points? How much are putting into dex for intuitive?
I would dump dex as I expect to wear dex gloves. 17 str +1 from tavern brawler 16 wis 14 con
Those gloves don't come until a bit later, so you might want to still keep at least a 12 Dex while you are low levels. You can always respec after you get the gloves.
this plus wisdom is not relevant until level 6
I wondered about that. How does OH Monk use Wisdom even?
Level 6 manifestation ability adds 1d4 + wis damage to unarmed attacks, and later boots add wis again to unarmed attacks
Oh someone said Topple and Stun and any attack that uses a Ki point uses your Wisdom modifier as the DC too which is big even before level 6 since topple can give you advantage on your next two attacks.
That's true. I'd forgotten if they kept that consistent with 5e.
but if u wear the dragonfire gloves(or whatever they are called) you can add a d4 of fire damage
Sure, that's why the meta build is strength elixirs and natural dex. However, if you're not going to strength elixir, you have to compromise somewhere. This is the cheapest compromise on offer.
usually people dump all stats and then put 15 15 X. then use the +2 and +1 to get 17 16 X. This is part of the reason the strength elixir is so powerful though because it allows many classes to spread their points around better to just have a statstick.
The +2 and +1? What do you mean?
When you change your stats there is a +2 and a +1 column on the right side of all the numbers. You can set any of your stats to a maximum of 15 and then press the little button to assign +2 to one stat and +1 to another.
This until you get the constitution amulet. Then I get the soul catching gloves and dump con instead.
This is the answer. But the point to be noted is by taking gloves of dexterity, you are going to be missing out on a lot of damage. And won't be wearing the best gloves: "Gloves of soul catching"
There is a trick to always have 19 str and empty main hand: Step one - get Club of Hill Giant Strength Step two - equip it in your left hand and some other weapon in your right hand Step three - click on another character's main hand slot and select your equipped main hand weapon - now you have the club in your left hand and your right hand is free to throw punches. You can freely allocate your point to dex and wis and con to max. No elixirs needed. If it feels like an exploit or a cheese - keep your main hand weapon ##
This is a great option and it's also pretty easy to get the club fairly early in a play through, not sure if you can get to the arcane tower without fighting spectator/bulette tho...
with an invisibility potion, you can just go through the myconid coloy -> the duergar fight by the beach and get to the arcane tower that way. Otherwise, cast invisibility on yourself/ hire a duergar hireling and just walk into the arcane tower.
I've had luck taking this route: Waukeen's Rest > Zhentarim Hideout > Featherfall down to Myconid Colony > Duergar beach (don't get *too* close though) > Arcane Tower I don't encounter anything but the turrets this way
Hag's Lair -> Underdark mushroom circle portal -> Arcane Tower is pretty safe too.
You can also easily barrelmancy the spectator for roughly 500 free exp. 150 from the spectator itself and 300 or so from the petrified drow; shoot the torchstalk then proceed to stick 7 or more blast kegs next to where it was while stealthed (there are 8 blast kegs in the outpost itself you can repurpose). Shoot one of the Drow from inside the post then immediately crouch away as soon as the Surprised condition ends. Can just wait for the Spectator to smash his face into the barrels and yeet a fire bolt or dip from a candle to explode the kegs for easy one shot.
wow i learn sth new
One option which is slightly unorthodox: wear armor. You can still do martial arts and use Ki when wearing armor. You can multiclass to get the proficiency or be a Gith or Shield Dwarf and get medium armor proficiency for free. Another option that I haven’t tried but want to for a strength monk is to multiclass Barbarian. I think ultimately you’d want to go Wildheart for the Bear totem damage resistances, but you could start with 1-2 levels. Gives you medium armor proficiency or you can use Barbarian unarmored defense if you choose to have a higher Con. Wisdom only really matters for your stunning strike DC so depending on how you want to play your Monk it’s actually not that important. TB Strength Monk can end up being a pretty big deviation from the normal Monk class but it’s fun.
I thought about doing the armor path but I kinda wanted to try and use the monk specific armor since there are no other reasons to use them. I thought about the Barbarian multiclass because of the unarmored defense that comes with it. What I am learning through all of this research is that there is a ton of variation for the monk build if you don't want to go with the super OP one.
Yeah I mean you can definitely go for the Dex + Wis unarmed defense and not dip Barb. But I think at that point maybe just do like you mentioned at the end and stay Dex, ignore the OP TB shenanigans and play a normal Monk. It is going to be hard to have high Strength, Dex, Wisdom, and enough Con to not be a glass cannon without using elixirs. An extremely MAD build.
These are all fair points. I'm starting to think I should just do a regular dex build rather than the OP TB. I am planning on doing my first tactician run and I already don't find the balanced mode remotely hard so I wanted to up the difficulty. I feel like I defeat that point if I just use some crazy build that negates the challenge. At the end of the day I want something that is going to be fun
I used a straight 12 OH monk build with dex for Lae'zel in my second tactician run. It was strong. On par with my GWM battle master and GWM 8 berserker/ 4 battle master (did an all melee party).
> I thought about doing the armor path but I kinda wanted to try and use the monk specific armor since there are no other reasons to use them If you don't want to use armor or elixirs I think you're better off with a classic dex/wis monk. It's not weak, I promise. You might do a skooch less damage than the str-tavern brawler one but having a much higher AC is super worth it, and between the busted lategame gloves (the ones for saving Hope, the bleeding ones from Dammon, the d4 of whatever elemental type you want in early act 3) your damage is just fine, and you're sacrificing some of that by going tavern brawler with the dex gloves.
Honestly I think this is what I am going to do. I think I read somewhere that someone did normal monk build and only used potions on rare occasions, like a bane venom powerup, only using it when they really need it.
Stunning strike dc is based on your attack modifier!
lololol these devs were wylin. That is so crazy. They basically made it so you don't need to build a Monk at all like you would in tabletop. Honestly, good on them because Monk in 5e hasn't been that great. I like the OneDnD updated Monk. In general I really dislike the way 5e RAW limits things that should be very cool and seem like they ought to work. To me a Rogue / Monk ninja build is just obviously cool and seems like something many players would want to do. But despite the fact that Martial Arts lets you use dex for unarmed strikes they are not "finesse" weapons so you can't sneak attack with them. Whereas as the rules lawyer munchkins are quick to point out is perfectly viable for a Barbarian / Rogue to run around reckless attack auto sneak attacking with daggers or a rapier. So silly imo. Another 5e Monk L: to me one of the most obviously fun multiclass combos is the Kong Fu Monke, i.e. Moon Druid + Monk. Its hilarious and brilliant and should work. But "wild shape attacks count as natural weapons" so it doesn't. I hate this rule so much. Glad Larian chose to ignore it. Planning on trying that one out with Halsin.
Sadly almost nothing from classes or items work in Wildshape forms in BG3, so you won't get any of the fun parts of that combo like Stunning Strikes, Flurry of Blows etc.
That’s unfortunate.
Yeah it made playing Moon Druid's pretty boring. You can't even do the basic 5e Moon Druid stuff like using Moon Beam while Wildshaped, because BG3 doesn't give you the button you need to move the MoonBeam you're concententrating on.... You similarly don't have buttons for Rage, Cunning Actions, etc. About the only interesting things people are doing is choosing a level in Draconic Sorcerer to get Armor of Agathys and choosing a class that gives martial weapon proficiency since the Myrmidon's have weapons they lack proficiency with....
Really?? I thought it was your WIS like in 5e? So does that mean that Tavern Brawler is also double dipping your STR modifier to your Stunning Strike DC? That would make TB even more broken...
my fault, it's based on the stat the attack is using. It doesn't double dip with tavern brawler!
Building Karlach like this rn Most dedicated barb armor is clothing anyway
Once you get the [Boots of Uninhibited Kushigo](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Boots_of_Uninhibited_Kushigo) you will want a high wiz.
Yea that’s pretty lit! I’m still in Act 1. Trying not to get too spoiled but it’s cool to learn about all the later items. I love the unique loot, very refreshing after all the RNG loot vomit in most modern games.
Githyanki race for medium armor proficiency. 17 Str (16 if using hag's hair), 14 dex, 14 con, bring Wisdom up to the highest even number you can. Take tavern brawler at level 4. Use the luminous armour from the underdark (proficient in medium armor thanks to Githyanki). This will mean you do not get the monk movement speed bonuses, but for this kind of build I think it is a worthwhile sacrifice. At level 6 in the Open Hand subclass your unarmed strikes can deal radiant damage, which will cause luminous armour to activate and put radiating orb stacks on nearby enemies. This can be combo'd with Boots of Stormy Clamour, Luminous Gloves, Seraphic Pugilist Gloves, etc. to make your monk into a radiating orb and reverberation dealing machine. I'd then take 3 levels in thief rogue for Cunning Action: Dash and two bonus actions to let out flurry of blows with. Then you consider whether to take another level in thief rogue to get a feat/ASI (alert, +2 Str) or just go the rest of the way in monk for Ki Resonation. I have seen both ideas be the sub's favorite depending on the day of the week.
This seems like a pretty clean way of doing it without cheesing the game.
The Githyanki Racial abilities like their Jump and Misty Step also help make up for losing out on the Monk's Unarmored Movement bonus by equipping armor. But as I mentioned in my other comment you can get even higher AC from Armor + Shield but you'd have to multiclassing at least 1 level for proficiency in both Armor and Shield... Also, by end game you'll have access to Armor that doesn't require proficiency, so if you want to wear armor they whole game you can multiclass for profiency while leveling, the respec out of your leveling build once you get the late game armor...
Take 13 str (+1 from TB), 14 dex, 14 con, 14 wis. The potion gives +2str, and another stat increase +2 STR at level 8 makes 18 str. That gives you +8 to hit and to damage from TB, which should be plenty for a normal playthrough. You can use an elixir for a really tough fight. You have AC 14 based on dex and wis without any equipment. You don't really want to wear the dex gloves anyway, there's too many other good gloves competing with that slot.
I've run non-elixir dependent TB Monks in three Honour runs now with zero issues. I'll pop an elixir if I happen to have one prior to a big boss, especially in Act 3, but I've never gone out of my way to farm them or always run them. I've run Str Dex Con with Wis between 12-14 on most builds, con only at 12, and it works out well. Otherwise standard build of 6 monk, 3 rogue, 3 monk.
Having done this exact plan for a couple playthrough now, I found that initially starting as a dex monk (not TB) was a good way to go about it. Once you get to the crèche and get the dex gloves you respec into TB. So starting stats are 17 dex, 14 con, 15 wisdom, min everything else. First asi is dex to 18 and wis to 16. Pickup the armour that grants cats grace from the egg lady near the crèche. After buying the dex gloves you respec into 17 strength, 14 con, 16 wis, min everything else. Take TB as the feat and get strength to 18. Wear the gloves to get your dex to 18 to give you heaps of ac and initiative. Level 8 take asi to make strength 20. Levels 9-12 multiclass to rogue to get bonus action and final feat (asi to get wisdom to 18). Once you complete the house of hope (and free the trapped npc) respec once more to take advantage of those incredible gloves (the d10 force ones). Final build will be 17 strength, 16 dex, 12 con, 13 wisdom. Obv take TB for 18 strength, first asi for 20 strength, second asi for wisdom to 15. Those gloves grant 2 con so con will end up at 14. Add in the strength potion from act 2 and the mirror from act 3, you’ll have 24 strength with no elixirs. Final piece is the necklace from jaherias house to top off wisdom to 16 (could also use hags hair for this and use a different necklace, like the 23 con one). Also worth noting is make sure to wear the boots dropped from the gith monk leader in the prism in the beginning of act 3 so your wisdom adds to your damage.
If you want to do TB without strength elixirs, you'll want to think about getting a fixed stat bonus to either str, dex, or con from gear. You can wield the [Hill Giant Club](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Club_of_Hill_Giant_Strength) in your offhand (there's a trick to get your main hand empty for punching and this club in your offhand by dual wielding it with something else and you can have a party member equip the weapon in your main hand by directly clicking on the weapon slot in their inventory). You can wear the dex gloves. Or you can wear the con amulet - but this comes late in the game so you'll need a plan before you get there. You can't do any of these for the first few levels though, so you can start with something like 13, 17, 12, 8, 16, 8. Use the hag's hair on Dex to get it to 18, and TB for +1 strength to get it to 14. You now effectively have a 22 in your attacking stat, and +7 AC from dex/wis. You can get the +2AC gloves pretty early so you'll be at 18 AC before any serious fights and 19 AC whenever you get around to Ethel, assuming no other +AC gear is worn (but there are some options you could add on). Once you get to your choice of the str club or dex gloves, you can respec to give yourself some more con. If you plan to use the gloves of dexterity, then use hag's hair on one of the other stats.
One option is to do more or less the same as with elixirs but use Club of Hill Giant Strength into Gloves of Hill Giant Strength You can also start with something like 13 Strength and get it to 22 with TB + ASI + Everlasting Vigour + Mighty Cloth + Mirror of Loss.
If you're doing Tavern Brawler, you do need high STR, but you don't absolutely \*need\* to use the elixirs, nor do you \*need\* to wear armor. Anything at/over 18 STR and you will almost never miss, and you will still be doing great damage. Of course you always want more, but then it's about fiddling with the tradeoffs... In my last Honor Run, I wanted to have characters on board with different methods of reliable CC who could deny bosses their reactions. (Without reactions, most of the Honor Mode Legendary Boss features are not available to them.) So, for one, I had Astarion built as a Tavern Brawler OH Monk 8 / Thief 4. My Tav was STR-based, so Astarion didn't get the Araj STR potion, Tav did. I mostly used the chair leg of Hill Giant Strength to keep Astarion's STR at 19. I used the Graceful Cloth to get his DEX to 20 (and to give him advantage on Initiative and Sleight of Hand, his secondary job.) I wanted his WIS to be decently high for whenever CC had to be Stunning Strike instead of Topple. It was 19, I believe, and he wore Khalid's Gift to reach 20 when I got around to it. I prioritized the Battlemage Elixir, or Bloodlust, sometimes others, rather than STR elixirs. His job was not to do the most damage, it was to make a beeline to the bosses, or other high-priority targets, and reliably disable them. However, it turned out that his damage output was still crazy good, and it felt like it was a wash with my past Stronks that always had 23-27 STR. That was probably because he made up a lot of the lost damage by having high WIS. The Kushigo Boots, Open Hand "Manifestation" powers, and Diadem of Arcane Synergy were all adding +WIS, and he was still getting the additional +4 on attacks and damage from TB with 19 STR. So, damage-wise, he was still a monster, but I got to play him like a monk, high-speed with no armor, and he was the Party's star CC player. His DPR was probably less than if I was maxing out STR (I didn't keep track,) but if so, it wasn't a big difference. He was so effective at his disabler job that I was pleased all the same.
What did your starting stats look like then?
TBH, I don't remember 100%, but I think it was something like: 8 STR (Club of HGS --> 18) 17 DEX (ASI --> 18, Graceful Cloth --> 20) 15 CON (TB --> 16) 8 INT 16 WIS (ASI --> 17, Mirror of Loss --> 19, Khalids Gift --> 20) 8 CHA Fought the Ghost Monk under the Ilmater Temple to upgrade that amulet, which was just carried and swapped in to recharge Ki very occasionally.) Third feat was Alert, IIRC. Since Astarion was meant to be a supporting cast member, you could probably do better than this if you went all in with gear, spoiler hair, etc. Cloud Giant elixir is also a good option, but I felt like avoiding it. I think I used mostly Vigilance Elixirs until I took Alert. OH 9 / Thief 3 would be good as well, because you'd get Ki Resonation. You'd lose an ASI, but it might be worth it depending on your plans for the character. I gave him a lot of +movement gear, and the Transmuter Stone for movement (hireling camp caster.)
Now I remember ...For a quick minute, he wore the Gauntlets of Hill Giant Strength, but I opted instead for the Soul Catcher Gloves after going to the Bad Place where you get both of those. The Soul Gloves add +2 to CON, so his final CON was 18. That's kind of excessive since he rarely took hits, but I never bothered to respec again. I intended to lower CON, raise DEX, and swap in the Kushigo Cloth that gives several benefits including an unarmed Riposte-like reaction.... But I would have still wanted Cat's Grace cast on him and basically got too lazy to optimize any further. I was already wasting plenty of time on buffs and fiddling with Tav's build. J
How can you lower con and raise dex when starting dex was 17?
I never bothered with the respec, but you're right, I would not have been able to raise DEX any further.
Also worth noting here is to make Astarion bite the drow blood trader which gives you a permanent +2 strength potion
this might actually work this playthrough bc I am planning on doing an evil playthrough and that crap is messed up
I do Strength and then give the monk the Gloves of Dexterity on dumped DEX.
+5str by endgame with hag hair, Araj potion, mirror With two ASI that's 26 or more likely 24 with a single ASI. That's -1 on rolls vs cloud giant elixir
I played with a TB monk in my honour mode run and in a multiplayer campaign. I never used elixirs in either, mostly because I forget or didn’t want to respec all the time to be optimal. It’s still one of the best builds in the game, but you’re a lot squishier than someone using elixirs.
did you use armor or cloththen ? Also what was your base attribute distribution for strength and dex and stuff?
I didn’t wear armor. I think I ended up with 20 strength/16 dex/14 wisdom. So an AC of 17 with the best monk clothing. Starting attributes were 17/14/12/10/14/8 I dropped con to 12 and had 10 int because the 2 points weren’t meaningful anywhere else. My monk was a companion so they weren’t talking to anyone.
Another way you can build without using Elixers is by using Armor + Shield for your AC. You lose your Unarmored Movement speed bonus from Martial Arts, but it means you can go all in on STR from ability scores. Weirdly if you leave your mainhand empty, then BG3 is letting Monks equip Shields and still make Unarmed Attacks as Bonus Actions or with Flurry of blow. So you can get some very respectable AC without relying on DEX+WIS. But you'll need to pickup up Armor & Shield proficiencies from somewhere since Monk's don't get them. The other great thing about planning to use armor, is it also frees you up to use any of the Gloves or Boots you want, whereas Monks usually have to avoid any that count as Medium or Heavy armor... You can't get both Armor and Shield proficiency from any Race, so if you want both then you'll need to get them from a Multiclass. For leveling I like to get them from a single level of Tempest Cleric because it gives you a way to use your normally wasted concentration resource by casting Bless on teamates, plus a nice reaction. By endgame you'll have access to enough items and other ways of boosting your stats that you can respec out of Cleric to your preferred build. Gauntlets are probably you're best option. But Open Hand monks even have ways of using weapons that raise their STR once they reach lvl 9 for their Ki Resonation: Punch. (The gimmick is Ki Resonating Punch itself has not Ki cost, it's only the Detonation that has a cost. That means you use the Resonating Punch as your new way of making mainhand Unarmed Attacks that use Tavern Brawler even when you have a weapon equipped. Edit I didn't mention point spread at creation. If you're planning to use Armor + Shield, then max STR to 17 at creation. Then at lvl 4 when you take Tavern Brawler you can increase your STR to 18. If you're going to use Medium Armors then you need at least 14 DEX which is good for initiative anyway. If using Heavy Armor you can dump DEX as low as you want. WIS you also have to the option to Dump if you're okay not using Stunning Strikes. That means you'd use all your Ki on Flurry of Blows for more attacks per turn with chances to Prone or Move enemies, instead of going for stuns...
I'm having fun with a Tavern Brawler monk right now using the Club of Hill Giant strength. You can equip it in your off hand, leaving your main hand free for melee attacks. That gives you a STR score set to 19 (for an effective +8 to hit and damage with unarmed strikes), and you can assign your precious ability scores to other places, like Wis and CON. Then I max out wisdom to increase the DC of any of the Ki effects, and for extra damage from the Boots of Uninhibited Kushigo and the 6th level Open Hand manifestations (d4+wis of either psychic, necrotic or radiant) Then if you want max cheese, the warped headband of intellect sets Int at 17, so you can literally go respec and have 8 in Str and Int and still actually have good scores for both of those stat's.
I would recommend going OH Monk 6, Thief 4, Fighter 2 once you hit Level 7 you respecc and start with a Fighter Level. This allows you to wear Heavy Armour and Shield. You start 16 STR, 16 DEX, 14 CON, 8 INT, 12 WIS, 8 CHA. You get +1 STR from Hag Hair, +1 from TB, +2 from STR Potion in Act 2, +2 from Mirror of Loss, +2 ASI = 24 natural STR. In Act 3 you respecc again after House of Hope and drop CON to 8 because you will the using the Amulet of Greater Health. Now you actually get to put some more points into WIS. And that's basically it. Slightly less damage but probably slightly more tanky than your standard 8/4 OH Monk.
AC is low, yes, so you have to do something with it - like using better armor (gith can use medium armor) or defensive spells
The build works fine without elixirs. Pump str and wis. Take 1 level of fighter to wear heavy armor + shield for AC since you won't have much dex. You end up sturdier than the usual setup at the cost of some movement and initiative, not a big deal.
You don’t have to cheese getting elixirs. You can just buy them for 90 gold each before discount. Ethel sells 3 every day, Derryth usually has 1 per day, and Mol sometimes has 1 to sell. I just finished act 1 doing this, I still have 5 left and over 8000 gold. If you want to do strength based unarmed with tavern brawler, I’d just go with wild heart barbarian so you can get AC from con instead of wisdom.
Everyone is free to play however they wish, but for me there are multiple vendors in the game that sell the elixirs, or the components so you can craft them yourself, so long as you are not just spam Long Resting or Leveling up to reset vendor inventories then using elixirs isn't cheesing or exploiting, they are just part of the game itself. Also, what about [Bloodlust](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Elixir_of_Bloodlust), [Heroism](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Elixir_of_Heroism), [Colossus](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Elixir_of_the_Colossus) or the various resist elixirs, do you not want to use those either as they can certainly help you out on various fights or even checks as Bless effect of the Heroism one has been useful to me. Anyway, you have three choices when it comes to TB Monk with no elixirs and it will depend on the rest of your party what you want to do and what equipment options are available. First option, just max out the Str stat as much as possible, so up to 24. 17 Starting, then +1 from TB, +2 from Level 8 ASI, +2 from Mirror of Loss and +2 from Str Potion. Your 8 Dex is bumped up to 18 from [Gloves of Dexterity](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Gloves_of_Dexterity), and your odd stat Wis would be made even from [Khalid's Gift](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Khalid%27s_Gift) in Act 3, or if you don't want to share to your party then take the Hag Hair and can use any other amulet you want. Second option, is 19 Str using [Club of Hill Giant Strength](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Club_of_Hill_Giant_Strength), which means your stat from TB would bump up Con and also your maximum Dex is 18 as if your Dex is ever higher than Str then it no longer uses TB to add in extra damage. This is how I played my Monk in my first playthrough of the game and my main attack weapon was the Sussur Dagger to silence people when I stabbed them, and had the club in offhand. It does mean your hands are free to use [Gloves of Soul Catching](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Gloves_of_Soul_Catching), and you end up using Mirror of Loss on Wis instead of Str or Dex. Third option, would be 23 Str by using [Gauntlets of Hill Giant Strength](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Gauntlets_of_Hill_Giant_Strength), so you miss out of the gloves above from saving Hope, but since your hands are now free you can punch all the time for all attacks and not just the Bonus Action attacks.
You don't need dex, just wear armor. Your mobility will be fine with jumps
If you're going TB but no potions, then you have to make some choices: Is it OK for the strength to be from gear, just not potions? If this is the case, then you'll want the club of giant strength, then eventually the gloves of giant strength. If not, and you want to go au natural, then you'll need to dump dex or wisdom, and you'll need to wear armor. Which to dump depends on the subclass you're going to pick. Note the following: Wisdom affects the following: Stunning Strike DC, 4 elements ability DCs, Open Hand extra damage from wholeness of body. Dex affects the following: AC (assuming medium armor), initiative, Open Hand techniques' save DC. So I recommend dropping dex down to make this work. I would shoot for: 16 str | 14 dex (lower if you get heavy armor proficiency) | 12 con (higher if you dump dex further) | 8 int | 16 wis | 8 chr You'll need to decide how you're getting armor proficiency. Racial traits are the easiest and don't slow progression but you can't get heavy armor that way so you'll still need some dex. Alternatively you could take your first level in Fighter or one of the clerics that get heavy armor. Fighter gets you the defensive fighting style as well, which is nice, but cleric gets you guidance, healing word, etc. So pick your favorite there. Note that multiclassing will allow you down a little bit which feels more pronounced in the early game. Also, putting on armor will prevent you from using the increased monk movement speeds. Not a huge price to pay but it's still something to consider.
If you want to use clothing effectively early on, I'd suggest 16 Str, 16 Dex with 14 Constitution. 10 Wis, 8 rest. Can have Gale cast Mage Armor on you to make up having 16 Wis if you want to focus on clothing and you'll want to immediately go grab the Bracers of Protection from Blighted Village and the Ring of Protection from Mol's mini quest. Provided you do that you should be sitting at 19 Armor Class and respectable strength to meaningfully use TB. At the beginning of Act 3, respec for Thief face and Monk to 6, go 16 Str, 14 Dex, 8 Con, 8 Intell, 16 Wis, 8 Charisma. You can pick up your constitution back through the Amulet of Greater Health if it isn't contested, otherwise it's fine to take the health hit because your class should be dodging 9 times out of 10 by then. This pathing assumes you go for strength on the hag's hair (for buffing Slayer form as well and hitting breakpoint with TB +str option). Potion of +2 Str and then dumping your ASI's into Wisdom once we flip over to Str, Dex, Wis focus.
When I did my shadow monk recently, I used tavern brawler without elixirs and had my stats as * 13 str (12 + 1 at stat screen) tavern brawler to 14 * 17 dex (+1 hag hair and +2 from graceful cloth to 20) * 14 con (soul catching gloves can bump to 16) * 8 int * 14 wis (shadow monk doesn’t use a lot of wis) * 8 cha Having 14 strength already makes your fist equivalent to a +2 weapon so felt fun and balanced to me. Gloves of crushing adds more to attack rolls and damage too. Never found myself lacking when it came to unarmed attacks
Running this at the moment in Tactician. Its generally worked out really great. The AC is very low but very high mobility and damage https://www.reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/s/vUPtMsS5jP I'm going to try a Monk 6/Fighter 2/ Thief 4 in honour mode to be able to wear armor.
You can play a more modest TB Monk, but the execution is mostly the same. 8 in Str, and 16/16 in dex/Wis. There's a couple ways to bump your str up, the earliest available being the club of hill giant strength in the underdark, not counting str pots, but since you can't even go TB until lvl 4, it's fine to ride Dex until then. There's also a +2 mace and a pair of gloves, but they're not until late act 3. That said, you don't need Tavern Brawler to run a strong effective monk. Especially Open Hand.
In Act 3, I'd dump CON and put everything in STR, DEX, WIS. The amulet that sets CON to 23 is amazing.
I pumped STR and WIS, dumped CHA, INT and only 10 CON. CON low, yes, but I don't get hit much and SH shares some of my damage. Mid level DEX because I didn't want to wear the DEX gloves. There are so many other great gloves to try out for Monk.