Monks are one of the most unique classes inBaldur’s Gate 3, operating differently from the usual weapon wielders or magic users found throughout Faerûn. Using skills akin to real-world martial arts and specializing in unarmed combat, monks are fun to play and offer a different experience. These differences can be enhanced further with the right choice of feats to make every flurry of blows count.
Monk gains three feats at levels four, eight, and 12, just like other classes, such as barbarians andwarlocks inBaldur’s Gate 3. Each monk subclass offers a distinctive experience, so knowing which feats are the right choice can sometimes be difficult. With that in mind, these feats offerthe best overall benefit for any monk, with a mix of utility, combat, and survivabilityfor any playthrough.
10Lucky - Gain Advantage & Force Enemy Rerolls
Spend Luck Points To Bend Fortune In The Party’s Favor
Lucky is a great overall feat and useful both in and out of combat. With Lucky, the monk will gain three Luck Points, which can be spent in combat togive themselves an advantage on attack rolls or saving throws. However, Luck Points can also be used to force enemies to reroll their attack rolls and are perfect ways to negate enemy critical hits.
Lucky
Gain three Luck Points that recharge on a long rest and can be used to gain advantage on attack rolls, ability checks, or saving throws. Can also make enemies reroll their attack rolls.
But Lucky doesn’t stop there, offering out-of-combat utility by spending Luck Points to give an advantage on ability checks.Lucky is a powerful feat for player characters to take, as Tav, the Dark Urge, or a chosenBG3Origin characterwill often be the ones speaking with NPCs and interacting with the environment. The Luck Points recharge on a long rest and work well with any playstyle or subclass.
Lucky is a great choice of feat for any player character that doesn’t have high Charisma, as there are many persuasion/deception checks throughout the game.
9Tough - Increased Hit Points
Better Endurance For Tough Hits
Monks can often be found in the thick of the fighting when combat occurs, dealing swiftly with enemies and protecting their party members. Due to this, they will inevitably be the target of many hits, and this is where Tough comes in. The Tough featincreases the monk’s hit point maximum by two for each level, which doesn’t sound like much but quickly adds up at higher levels.
Tough
Hit point maximum is increased by two for each level.
The best part of Tough is that the hit points are applied retroactively. For example, taking the feat at level five immediately grants 10 hit points. This means that over the course of 12 levels,the monk will gain 24 extra hit points, which is a great choice for a late-game feat. Those extra hit points can be crucial for a class used to being in melee with enemies.
8Sentinel - Better Opportunity Attacks
Keep Enemies In Place With Attacks Of Opportunity
Sentinel gives the monk new ways to control the battlefield and protect other party members. With Sentinel: Vengeance, when an enemy within melee range attacks an ally, the monk canuse their reaction to make a weapon attack against them. This is great for those using amulticlass monk buildor prefer to use weapons, as this reaction doesn’t work with unarmed strikes.
Sentinel
Vengeance:When an ally is attacked by an enemy within melee range, use a reaction to make a weapon attack against the enemy.Snare:Targets hit by opportunity attacks cannot move for the rest of their turn.Opportunity Advantage:Gain advantage on opportunity attacks.
The Sentinel: Snare feature makes it so that anycreatures hit by the monk’s attacks of opportunity can’t move for the rest of their turn. This is a brilliant way of keeping enemies in place and preventing them from getting too close to squishier party members. Best of all, Sentinel: Opportunity Advantage will give the monk an advantage over attacks of opportunity to further increase the odds of success.
7Martial Adept - More Combat Options
Learn Two Battle Master Manoeuvres
Monks have a fantastic number of abilities and features at their fingertips when it comes to taking down the Absolute to save the world. However, in a game as complex asBG3, it’s always a good idea to have more tricks up your sleeve, and the Martial Adept feat provides that perfectly. With this feat, the monk will be able tolearn two maneuvers from thefighter Battle Master subclassand gain one Superiority Die to fuel those abilities.
Martial Adept
Learn two maneuvers from the Battle Master fighter subclass and gain 1 Superiority Die, which recharges on short and long rests.
There are 14 manoeuvres to choose from which can offer some great options in battle. It is essential tocheck the wording of each maneuver as some specifically say weapon attack, which won’t work for unarmed strikes. Rally, Precision Attack, and Riposte are great choices for monks overall and work well with different play styles and subclasses.
6Athlete - Skill Improvement & Jump Distance
Easier To Stand From Prone & Improved Jumping
Athlete is a fantastic feat for monks, as it helps them make the most out of their increased movement. Being able to properly maneuver in fights is key for monks, who rely on being able to get in melee range with enemies for their unarmed attacks. Athlete helps with this by letting the monkonly use 1.5 meters/five feet of their movement when standing up from prone.
Athlete
Strength or Dexterity ability score increases by 1, to a maximum of 20. Standing up from prone uses significantly less movement. Jump distance increases by 50%.
Athletes also let the monk increase either their Strength or Dexterity ability score by one, with Dexterity being the best option for the class. Finally, the featincreases the monk’s jump distance by 50%, aiding exploration and prepositioning on the battlefield. While Strength dictates how far a character can jump inBG3, Athlete is a great way to boost a monk’s jump distance.
5Mage Slayer - Combat Options To Deal With Enemy Casters
Break Concentration & Reaction To Spell Cast Within Melee
Monks have a lot of tools to help combat enemy spells, such as Stillness of Mind, to counter control effects. And with monks typically sticking close to their enemies in combat, Mage Slayer is a great feat to pick up to help deal with pesky enemy spellcasters. Firstly, the featgives an advantage on saving throws against spells made against the monk while the caster is in melee rangeof them.
Mage Slayer
Saving Throw Advantage:Have an advantage on saving throws when a creature casts a spell within melee range.Attack Caster:Use a reaction to attack a caster if they cast a spell within 1.5m / 5ft.Break Concentration:Enemies hit have a disadvantage on concentration checks.
Mage Slayer also allows the monk to use their reaction to attack an enemy caster if they can spell within 1.5 meters/five feet of them. Finally,any enemy spellcasters hit by the monk will have disadvantage on Constitution saving throwsto maintain concentration. This can devastate enemy casters and allow the monk to quickly and efficiently counter them in combat.
4Durable - Better Short Rests
Heal Up Fully On Short Rests
Durable is one of my favorite feats for frontline characters who often get beaten up after combat. The feat allows the character toincrease their Constitution ability score by oneto a maximum of 20. This is great for extra hit points and is best used to change an odd score at character creation to an even for an increase to the Constitution modifier.
Durable
Increase Constitution score by one, to a max of 20. Regain full hit points on a short rest.
However, Durable’s best feature is its usefulness in making short rests. With Durable, the monk willregain their full hit points with a short restinstead of just half. This is a great feat to take with classes that regain class features or spell slots on a short rest, like monk, fighter, or warlock. Being able to fully refresh a character’s capabilities twice in between long rests is incredibly useful, especially in areas where leaving for a long rest isn’t an option.
3Mobile - Increased Speed & Movement Options
Add Even More Movement To Speedy Monks
Just like Athlete, Mobile is a fantastic feat to choose to help monks make the best of theirmobility skills inBG3. At level two, monks get a speed increase of three meters/10 feet, then at level six, an increase of four and a half meters/15 feet, before a final increase at level 10 of six meters/20 feet. Mobile will furtherincrease the monk’s movement speed by three meters/10 feet, for a whopping 16.5 meters/55 feet more movement than any other party member.
Mobile
Increase movement speed by three meters/10 feet. Difficult terrain doesn’t slow when using dash. Moving after a melee attack doesn’t provoke an opportunity attack from that target.
Mobile also prevents difficult terrain from reducing the monk to half speed after they take the dash action, something monks will usually have to wait until level nine to get. Finally, after making a melee attack, the monk willbe able to move without provoking an attack of opportunity, letting them zip around the battlefield with ease.
Unarmoured Movement and its improvements increase the monk’s speed only while they are not wearing armor or using a shield. Luckily there are some greatitems for monks inBG3.
2Alert - Immune To Surprise & Better Initiative
Make Sure The Monk Never Misses A Turn
Alert is a fantastic all-around feat that works well for multiple classes. The featprevents the monk from being surprisedby unnoticed enemies, which would stop them from taking actions or reactions on their turn. This allows the monk to take control of the battlefield, using their turn to protect other party members who may miss their turn entirely.
Alert
Plus five to initiative and can’t be surprised.
However,the best aspect of Alert is its excellent plus five bonus to initiative. Combined with a high Dexterity character, this bonus guarantees that the monk will be first, neutralizing any advantage the enemy may have had with a surprise attack. Combining Alert with items such as theElixir of Vigilancecan further boost the monk’s initiative bonus, ensuring that enemies will never gain the upper hand against the party.
Initiate works differently inBG3than inDungeons & Dragons, as instead of a d20 plus Dexterity modifier,BG3uses a d4.
1Tavern Brawler - Increased Unarmed Attack Damage
Add Strength Modifier For Extra Damage
Lastly, the Tavern Brawler feat is perhaps the most well-known feat for a monk, and for good reason. The entire building is centered around this powerful feat because it works well with the core aspects of playing a monk. With Tavern Brawler,when the monk makes an unarmed attack, uses an improvised weapon, or throws something, their Strength modifier is added to the damage, and attack rolls twice.
Tavern Brawler
When making an unarmed attack, throwing something, or using an improvised weapon, the Strength modifier is added twice to the damage and attack rolls.
This can obviously lead to some ridiculous damage with Strength based monks inBaldur’s Gate 3. However, it also works well for Dexterity based as well, as if Dexterity is the higher ability score and used for the monk’s attacks thanks to Dextrous Attacks, they will still receive the extra bonus damage from the feat. Instead of applying the Strength modifier twice, the bonus would be Dexterity modifier plus Strength modifier. Finally, Tavern Brawler also givesa plus one bonus to either Strength or Constitution.
