Has 5e fixed the balance problems of the monk at all?

Question

Many people believe that the monk has balance issues (and is underpowered) in 3.5e and Pathfinder. The goal of this question is not to debate that point but to see what changes the Monk has undergone relative to other classes in 5e.

Has 5th edition fixed the major perceived problems of the Monk to the point of being on an even keel with other fighter-type classes?

For example, the ability to add Dex to damage would slightly reduce the MAD issues the Monk previously suffered.

(In case context is required: One of my players wants to play a Monk, but the PHB doesn't release (as far as I'm concerned) till the 19th. So I can't tell if it's a good idea or not.)

Answer 1

In short, yes.

There are a few things that make monk on par with the other melee fighting classes. I'll list a few of them here:

Dex to attack and damage

Monks can apply dex to attacks and damage automatically at level one.

Extra attacks

Monks are the only class that gets 2 attacks per round at level 1, and they keep up with Fighter attacks per round all the way to 20.

Class features apply to monk weapons

What counts as a monk weapon has been expanded a lot, and most of the monk class features (including increased damage) apply to monk weapons and unarmed strikes equally. In addition, the slew of exotic weapons that monks used to get have been condensed into reflavours of simple weapons. For example, nunchaku are now mechanically clubs, rather than a separate weapon type.

Less MAD

Monks in 5e have much less of a Multiple Attribute Dependency problem. Since monks get Dex to attack and damage for free, Strength is largely unnecessary. Int and Cha are as useful as they were in 3e. There are a few things that Int and Cha are useful for in both systems, but they're hardly essential.

Wisdom affects the same sort of stuff in 5e as it did in 3e, but it's less important due to other mechanical changes. Since "flat-footed" doesn't cause you to lose Dex Ac anymore, using Dex to increase AC is just as good as increasing Wis. You can probably end up with similar AC as a fighter by then end game.

Monks need to care about 3 stats, but they have basically the same number of dependencies as a fighter or barbarian. The fighter and barb both need Str and Con, with a secondary focus on Dex, and a monk needs Dex and Wis, with a secondary focus on Con. Since the stat cap is 20, it's actually not difficult to have a 20 and a couple 16-18s, as well as a 12 or two.

Better class features

The monk class features in 5e are similar to the ones in 3e, but they're a bit better, and a bit more reliable than they were before. I haven't done any real analysis on this, this is really just based on a first glance.

Interesting paths

There are three monk paths in the PHB, all of which do cool things. There's one for a classic monk that's similar to the one in 3e, but the other two add some really interesting things to the class that broaden the kind of situations that the monk can handle, which is a problem that mundane classes have had since the dawn of time. :)

Overview

Broadly speaking, the monk does less damage than the Barbarian, and has less tanking ability than the Fighter, but is a very strong and versatile mobile melee fighter. A better character optimizer might have a different opinion, but as a player who doesn't make broken characters, the monk looks like it's on par with the Barbarian and Fighter.

Answer 2

Mostly yes

Monks are still among the weakest classes, but the difference between the strongest and the weakest is much smaller than in 3.5.

Most of the problems are dealt with

You can dump your Str now, focusing only on Dex, Wis and Con.

You can use quite common weapons, so finding a magical one is about as difficult for you as for a Rogue.

You can use Stunning Strike more often. In 3.5 it was once per level per long rest, in 5e it is once per level per short rest. Even more important, now you spend it after the attack, when you know you hit.

From level 6 you can damage any creature now.

Remaining issues

If for roleplay reasons you want to use only your fists your DPR still suffers. On the low levels you deal d4 instead of d8, on the high levels it is hard to use magic items to improve your attack and damage.
This is especially a problem for your bonus action attacks (Flurry of Blows or Martial Arts), because you cannot use a weapon with those. This is one of the reasons Monks are behind Fighters on DPR.

Feat support is bad, the best DPR increasing feats in 5e are Polearm Master, Great Weapon Master, Sharpshooter and Crossbow expert. None of these really help a Monk.

Your AC is still ability dependent, so on level 16 you will finally achieve the AC of a 7th level Fighter who uses a shield.¹

Despite your low AC and HP, you are still limited to melee attacks if you want to be effective².

You are either mobile, or have a decent damage output. You can use Flurry of Blows as a bonus action, or Disengage, but not both.

Monks are great fifth character

To mix in one more edition (4th), Monks are not tanky enough to be a viable main Defender, or have a high enough damage output to be a main Striker. For Leaders and Controllers, they are even worse, but they quite viable:

• All the resistances and defenses make for a decent secondary Defender
• The DPR is good enough for a secondary Striker
• Stunning Strike targets a save that is very rarely weak, but very few monsters are immune to it, so it does some Controlling and Buffing

Of course Paladins do the first two so much better that few care about the third. And they can heal.
Monks still really only shine in Antimagic Fields.

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1) Assuming point-buy
2) Some subclasses mitigate this, like Way of the Sun or Kensei

Answer 3

The important thing to remember about a monk is that while some classes go for Massive damage, a monk is primarily a controller. They are a mobile plink cannon. I used mine a few (5e) campaigns ago to great effect in 2 major ways that I think a lot of people don't think about.

First, they are great herders. You can block out, interrupt, and slow baddies that are coming to help or you can pick off baddies that try to run.

Second, if you have one round left to get to the baddie that is 90 feet away protected by a couple of tanks and summoning "The horrible fallen god", or trying to activate "The Device", or realizing that he is lost, and is going to try and take everyone with him to protect "The Cause", a Monk is great at ruining the DM's plans with a Step of the Wind (which I never see anyone talk about in Monk discussions), Punch, Punch, Stunning Strike. Not a lot of damage, but very effective at disrupting.

Answer 4

The monk does, in general, have the same advantages and drawbacks as in the old editions

We can see that monks still can't fill in for a rogue, cleric or wizard, so it is a fighter class. Rangers strongest point is their strong ranged options so they are not comparable to monks. So we are left with Paladins, Fighters and Barbarians.

Now, what do the monk get? Well, he get 2 attacks per level at level 5 and as a bonus action he can use an extra unarmed attack. For 1 ki point he can use a bonus action for two unarmed attacks, totaling 4 attacks. This is the peak of monk performance in terms of damage, from level 5 to 20 all the monk gets is more ki points and 2 damage per strike. But they get the best mobility, can catch ranged weapon attacks and can ignore almost everything allowing saving throws.

Battle master fighters have a similar amount of attacks at level 5, but gets two more attacks on the way to level 20. Battle masters superiority dice have similar uses to monks ki points and can even grant extra attacks similar to flurry of blows. On top of that second wind is just imbalanced, and they even recharge on short rests. They are worse in general at tanking though.

Spirit barbarians are very similar to monks on mobility and damage, but they take half damage from weapon attacks and have 2 more hp per level making them a ton tougher.

Paladins have a lot more damage and combat options as long as they can smite and they have as many smites as the monk have ki points, but smites only recharge on long rests. But at level 11 paladins gets free d8 radiant damage on every strike, from there on even resource less paladins outclass resource less monks. On top of that paladins have good saves and provide a lot of support to teammates through auras and healing, which is better than what the monk has in every situation where you don't solo.

The design problems of the monk

We know the strengths and weaknesses of monks. They are weak to melee attacks and strong against ranged attacks and spells. However, their only viable attack options are melee attacks! So the only way for a monk to do any good in combat is to run straight into the fray while being as squishy as a sorcerer and in general having less damage than the other fighter classes. A monk can run from every fight and is more or less impossible to catch, but that don't help your teammates at all. Their only saving grace is in situations where you for some reason don't have your normal gear.