Quote Originally Posted by Sherlockpwns View Post
It’s probably true that elementals are better than what I am about to write but… you already have the CR3 form, and it’s not unthinkable that two giant scorpion shape changes are better than one elemental. So why not consider Monk 6?

I think there are 3 standout possibilities. Open palm, shadow, and drunk.

Obviously with most of the plans above you are already considering the benefits of 5 levels so all that really matters here is what do you get for that level 6?

Well they all get 1 more ki (always nice) and 5 movement speed (who would say no?).

And of course the subclass benefit.

Open palm has arguably the better level 3 ability. A small heal at 6 is icing on that cake. It’s been talked about plenty, you get it.

Shadow and drunk however is kind of the opposite. You really only get to the true power of this combo at level 15.

Shadow will let you teleport in dim light. When shaped you’ll have plenty of bonus actions available and being able to teleport a giant scorpion anytime it’s dim is huge both in RP flavor and power. Plus the crappy to hit of your sting attack will benefit greatly from the advantage it gives. Teleporting scorpion is a 10/10 assassin nobody sees coming.

Drunk on the other hand is a significantly more dangerous brawler than the others; at least when facing multiple opponents. Spending your ki to flurry is fine and all, but you are doing like 1d6+5 twice at best. Being able to redirect up to 6 attacks per rest instead is potentially significantly more dangerous. Now the downside is the AC of your form is going to be pretty bad, but thanks to bounded accuracy you’re still quite likely to see plenty of misses. That final level will really make you a threat for groups of heavy hitters.

Anyway my point is as cool as elements are, I think it’s worth considering the alternative. If it came online sooner the hands down choice for me would be teleporting scorpion. But ymmv
That is such an interesting point! Definitely worth considering the fact of honing in on monk- druid duality and capitalising on the benefits of the extra levels of monk to enhance the wildshapes which is certainly the direction I want to focus on.

It feels like the difference between burst and sustained damage/survivability. Elementals burn two slots of wildshape and will arguably be stronger within the wildshape window until downed or expired. Outside of that, in longer adventuring days without short rests, the dependency on monk/spellcasting would be emphasised and I really want to shore up on glaring problems that could arise.
Comparing that to your solution of skipping elemental and capitalising on monk fir an extra two levels to add more ki, the level 6 subclass feature, and the current usefulness of using two slots for two separate wildshapes that coincide with those abilities. Not to mention still benefiting from an ASI boost which going full on monk could justify rounding off dex at 20.

My current thoughts is that I'm pretty sold on a single cleric level of peace to be a better support and get access to 3 extra cantrips and a bless to add to the emboldened bond. Add into this my thoughts on 4 levels of monk for astral and an ASI, which to Me provides a fair amount of benefit that furthers out of wildshape utility such as wisdom based grapples through spike growth for just 1 ki and then a cool feat like lucky.

My impression is even 6 ki would be limited even if using the ki sparingly across an adventuring day. To me 2 or 3 uses in a single fight is only 2-3 fights maximum and without a short rest, the more ki hungry monk features would leave you dry. Astral would at least guarantee 4 individual fights where that tactic could be used.

Very much appreciated your contributions!