In this guide, we’ll go over all of your options, actions, and abilities as a monk and walk you through, step by step, the process to create your very own Monk in the 2024 edition of DnD 5e. 

Creating a Monk in 2024

Character creation in the 2024 version of 5e will feel similar than the 2014 version, but the folks at Wizards of the Coast have streamlined the flow a little bit to make things feel a little easier. That said, the first step of Character creation in the new world is choosing your class, so let’s have a look at what you’re getting with a Monk in the new DnD. If you’re already very familiar with the 2014 version of 5e and are looking for the major changes in the new edition, check out this article that covers the DnD 2024 Monk Changes.

The Basics (Core Traits)

When you choose the Monk class in DnD, you’re choosing a path that focuses on the monks own natural abilities and Ki to fight; often times, you won’t have any armor and you won’t be wielding any weapons. If you have a vision of plate metal and giant weapons, check out the Paladin, Cleric, or Fighter. You’ll be dodging in and out of combat (unless you really pump your Armor Class in order to increase your ability to withstand blows). As a monk, you are the weapon.

Monk Traits to Remember:

Your most important stats are:

Dexterity. It’s likely that you’ll be making your melee attacks with your Dexterity score (unless you’re building your monk as a tavern brawler, so it’s really important to prioritize Dexterity wherever possible. 

Wisdom. Your Wisdom modifier is used in conjunction with Dexterity to find your Armor Class (which is 10 + Dex Modifier + Wis Modifier), so the higher, the better. 

Throughout your campaign, if you don’t want to look up our leveling guide for the 5e Monk or aren’t terribly concerned about min-maxing your character, adding points to your Dex and Wisdom is never going to be a bad call. 

Your Saving Throw Proficiencies are: 

Strength. 

Dexterity.

Your Skill Proficiencies at Level 1 are: 

Choose 2 between: 

Acrobatics. Some people think this is useless - I disagree. Depends on your GM, but I think it's fun to have and try to execute some high-physicality shenanigans.

Athletics. A rule of thumb for Acrobatics vs. Athletics I’ve learned is athletics is for going up, acrobatics is for coming down. Which are you going to be doing more? I generally go for Acrobatics in this instance, but Athletics is equally good. 

History. 

Insight.

Religion.

Stealth.

These are really up to you and are more about the personality and style of your monk. Any and all of the above are great choices. 

Your Weapon Proficiencies are: 

Simple weapons.

Martial Weapons that have the Light Property.

Quite a few options for you here between these two sets of items, but the spear is going to be what's recommended and it's a good choice. See all of your options by filtering down this list here.

Notably, you’re also going to have your Martial arts dice in place of the standard d4 for unarmored strikes. At first, your spear or quarterstaff will likely be more powerful, but it’s likely only temporarily the case. 

Monks Tools: 

You can use any one type of Artisan’s tools or Musical Instruments.

Now that we’ve got the basics of the Monk class understood, let’s step back and look at the rest of your new character! Don’t worry, we’ll be back to Monk information and details, but this guide can’t exist without considering all facets of your character. 

Best Origins for the 2024 Monk

Your origin consists of your background and your species, which both give you a couple of extra things that will benefit your character. Let’s have a look at the backgrounds. 

Backgrounds

We’ll go through each of the backgrounds here, but it’s worth remembering that Dungeons and Dragons isn’t about min-maxing. I’ll be focusing on what these backgrounds gives your Monk, but the reality is that any and all of these could be fun and viable backgrounds with great roleplaying functionality. Generally speaking, I prefer to build my characters for flavor, but you’re probably reading this guide because you want yours to be super effective; that is how I’ll focus my attention here. 

Acolyte. While you do get a boost to Wisdom, one of our key attributes, the cleric spell list isn’t really additive to what the monk is doing. This is probably a skip if you’re looking to be super effective (which is kind of a shame, flavor-wise). 

Artisan. Meh. You do get Strength and Dex bumps, but the crafter feat doesn’t really do much for a character who wants to be unarmored and weaponless. Skip it. 

Charlatan. Dex bump, and Sleight of Hand has some flavor for the Warrior of the Shadow subclass, but that’s about it. Skilled is fun for flavor, but it’s unlikely to be specifically useful. Skip. 

Criminal. Dex bump, stealth proficiency is great for Shadow Monks - you can grab yourself a few extra daggers and the Alert feat is a great all around feat. I could see you taking this background if you’re going to choose the Warrior of Shadow, Elements, or Open Hand subclass. A good possible choice. 

Entertainer. Skip. Dex and Strength bump, but no real need for the rest. 

Farmer. You do get both Widsom and Constitution here, and Tough is a great feat, but it’ll be more impactful later. Skip.

Guard. Skip. You do get a bump to Wisdom, but that’s about it. 

Guide. Finally, our first background adding to both of our main stats, Wisdom and Dexterity. You also get proficiency in Stealth and the Magic Initiate Feet (Druid) is useful - I could see taking Guidance and Mending here. Strong option! 

Hermit. You get a bump to Wis and Constitution, but other than that, there isn’t a ton for a Monk here. Skip it. 

Merchant. No useful stats for you, really, and nothing that makes up for that. Skip it. 

Noble. A noble Monk, other than an interesting flavor profile for a Monk, probably isn’t worth looking into. Skip. 

Sage. Wis bump, and Con is always good, but unless you just really want Mage hand to make another unarmed strike, skip it. 

Sailor. Here we go – an ability score trifecta! Bumps to Strength, Dex, and Wisdom AND you get Tavern Brawler which is among the best feats for a monk. This is a really great choice. One of the best. 

Scribe. Another solid choice. Dex and Wis ability score bumps, Skilled can be useful in adventuring. Good possibility if you need a utility player out on your adventures. 

Soldier. Dex and Strength bonuses, but you’re probably going to be unarmed for most of your campaign past the very start, so the Savage Attacker feat does nothing for you. Skip this one. 

Wayfarer. Another decent choice, boosting Dex and Wis. You get Stealth proficiency and proficiency with Thieves’ tools, so if you don’t have a rogue in the party, this is a good choice. 

Tl;dr for Monk Backgrounds

Pick Sailor if you want to min-max, Wayfarer if you want to steal some stuff, and Criminal for good flavor. 

Species (Races)

Instead of going through every one, I’ll highlight the ones I think are probably the best choices and why, below. That said, again, be whoever you want to be. 

Dragonborn. Breath Weapon and  Draconic Resistance is cool, especially if you’re out of Force Points, but Darkvision and Draconic Flight are the winners here. You’re going to have a ton of movement by level five, so why not be able to fly for that distance?

Dwarf. Dwarven Resilience gives you resistance to Poison damage, which you’ll undoubtedly hit quite a bit, and extra hit points though Dwarven Toughness is always useful in a martial class like the Monk. I don’t think you’ll use Stonecunning very often, but maybe your GM will be hiding some baddies from you. 

Wood Elf. Meditation-as-a-rest in Trance, Darkvision, and getting extra movement is super useful. I’d probably pick this one above all others – especially given that you’ll get Longstrider and Pass without trace later in the game. 

Goliath. More speed, like the wood elf, and being able to choose one of the benefits (I’d pick Frost’s Chill or Hill’s Tumble) is pretty great. This is pick 3 to me, below Wood Elf and Halfling.

Halfling. Having Halfling Nimbleness is huge for a class all about darting around. Hiding helps, and the Brave trait helps you stay in the fight. 

Human. Because we humans are the all-around good pick. My least favorite on this list, but useful, to be sure. 

Tl;dr for Monk Species

Pick the Wood Elf or the Halfling. Or don’t - I’m not your dad. 

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Monk Starting Equipment

You can either have: 

• Spear
• 5 Daggers
• Artisan’s Tools or Musical Instrument (check them out above)
• An Explorer’s pack
• 11 GP

OR

• 50 GP

If you’re just getting started with DnD, go with the standard starting equipment unless you just really want to go shopping to deck your character out exactly how you want. 

Ability Scores for the Monk

No matter what way your party and DM decide to use as your score generation, put your stats, from high to low, in this order: 

1. Dexterity
2. Wisdom
3. Constitution
4. Strength
5. Intelligence (or Charisma)
6. Charisma (or Intelligence)

Your Monk at Level 1

Awesome, so we’ve chosen your Class (Monk), we understand your core traits, your background, your species, what starting equipment you’ll have, and what your ability scores are. But what can you do!? We’ll round up this guide with an overview of what a Level 1 Monk is adept at before moving on to the next part of our 2024 DnD Monk Deep Dive - the Leveling Guide. 

Martial Arts

Your monk is a master of  hand to hand combat, so you’re going to get the following functionality right away. 

Bonus Unarmed Strike. You get an extra Unarmed Strike as a Bonus Action, making you able to hit with an extra 1d6 at level 1. 

Martial Arts Die. You know how I just said 1d6 instead of 1d4? That’s because of Martial Arts Die. Monks get a harder hitting unarmed strike than the rest. 

Dexterous Attacks. You make your strikes with your Dexterity modifier instead of Strength, if you want to. This also applies to the Grapple and Shove actions - you can use your Dex modifier instead of Strength for the save DC. 

Unarmored Defense

As long as you don’t have any armor on and you’re not rocking a shield, your Armor Class is going to be 10 plus your Dex AND Wis modifiers. That’s pretty rough at first, so maybe go with the halfling species at to get started, but it all ends up being pretty bad ass over time. 

Alright, you’re ready to adventure! The key things to highlight are: 

1. You have a main strike AND an extra unarmed strike every turn. 
2. You use a 1d6 for your unarmed strike instead of 1d4.

5e Monk Level 2

At level 2, your Monk is really starting to come into their own. Your proficiency bonus stays at +2 and your Martial Arts Die is still a d6, but you get Focus Points, Unarmored Movement, and more. Let’s round out this guide with what’s new for Monk’s at level 2: 

Monk’s Focus

This is the absolute bread and butter of the Monk - it’s core value proposition, and the thing that makes playing a Monk in 5e DnD so damn satisfying. Focus Points. 

You get 2 at level 2, and an additional 1 for every level you advance from here on out. That means, to start, use your FP wisely. That part is hard, because they’re so fun to use. Here’s what you can do with your Focus Points at level 2: 

1. Flurry of Blows. Instead of making one unarmed strike with your Bonus Action, you can expend 1 FP and make two unarmed strikes. 
2. Patient Defense. If you need to get the hell out of danger, use your Bonus Action to disengage. You can also spend 1 FP to take Disengage and Dodge as a Bonus Action, together. This is really important in those early level encounters where everything feels so much more lethal than it should because everyone, everywhere, is whiffing all at once. 
3. Step of the Wind. Dash as a bonus action and Disengage + Dash for 1 FP is absolutely fantastic for a “stick and move” Monk. You’ll use this for the entirety of the game while the tanks in your party are getting thwacked. 

Unarmored Movement

You’re getting an extra 10 feet of movement on top of the movement you’ve already got. That goes up over time, but make sure you’re changing your speed on your character sheet +10 if you’re going the unarmored route. 

Uncanny Metabolism

Once per long rest, you can regain your previously used Focus Points and fill your tank up to 100%. Right now, that’s only…. 2 FP, but you’ll gain an extra FP every single level from here on out, so the value really adds up over time. 

Standard Leveling Procedure

Don’t forget to add your Hit Dice! You get (and will most certainly need) more health. The Monk’s Hit Die is a d8, so roll 1d8 and add that number + your Constitution Modifier to your Hit Point Maximum. Or, if you’re not a risk taker, Monks get 5 + Con Modifier as a fixed hit point level. 

But this is a game about rolling dice, so….

Next Steps

The next step in building our Monk is – well, it’s playing the game – but once we’ve done that enough to make it to level 3, we’ve got some pretty awesome and exciting decisions to make. That series of decisions deserves it’s own space and breathing room, so stay tuned for breakdown of the 2024 5e DnD Monk Subclasses and the Leveling Guide for each of them. 

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