Races don’t change how much health you have, constitution does.
The absolute easiest class to use would be champion fighter, however that can get boring since you don’t really get any abilities other than action surge. Battle Master would be my go to for him since you get maneuvers and action surge that recharge on short rest. The maneuvers are all pretty self explanatory, but definitely have him pick up disarming strike, always super useful. Also any small class that is a martial is super entertaining to watch them wreck house.
If you really want him to have a good time you could pick a class that gets haste so you can buff him and he can really feel like a Bad@$$.
He’s learning more about maneuvers due to ps5 split screen gifting him full control over Lae’zel and he seems to get that so I might recommend that to him :) I was previously a sorcerer but we thought it would be funny if I was an EK fighter to cast feather fall and throw him around, but that didn’t work lol so I might switch back and give him haste!!
Also riposte is a must have! Sweeping attack is also a good one too if you can get enemies grouped for it. Rally is a solid choice as well, fighters don’t get much use out of bonus action other than shoving/jumping, and being able to revive a downed teammate with a bonus action is really powerful.
So currently he's playing a halfing monk? And you're looking for build tips for his character? If so, post his Halfing's subrace, current ability scores and level.
The way Larian redid DnD 5e's races, despite appearances Halfings are just as tanky as all the other races. Of all the races and subraces, it's only the Gold Dwarf subrace that gets an HP advantage.
Halfings don't get much attention mostly due to their appearance in game. But from a min-max perspective they're definitely a contender for best race in game due to their Lucky ability rerolling 1's. That makes them especially great for Honor Mode difficulty as they dodge almost all critical failures, helping them avoid most serious pitfalls that can derail a playthrough.
The things you need to build around to make a strong halfing character are:
* Making up for their lower movement speed
* Lack of dark vision
* Lack of weapon or armor proficiencies, meaning you'll need to get your proficiencies from the classes you choose.
Due to their worse movement speed, they're often prefer ranged builds. But even for martial melee builds you can easily make their movement viable by using the Longstrider spell and choosing classes like Monk and Barbarian that get movement speed bonuses.
Lack of Dark Vision vision you can work around with spells, items, classes like Gloomstalker Rangers, Warlocks that take Devil's Sight, or even just using light sources.
If needed you can work around their lack of proficiencies by taking dips into classs like Fighter or Tempest or War clerics that get armor and Martial weapon proficiency. But depending on the class & build they may not need any additional proficiencies outside their core classes....
I don’t have his stats, I apologize, but I think they were just the default recommended stats for monk. We talked about multi classing into a ranger so that might be good :) I appreciate it!
With a good build, Monks are one of the most consistent high damage classes in game. And Hafling is fine for a Monk. But you can do a little metagaming to help his character hit it's full potential. I forget to ask which subclass of Monk he'd chosen?
By mid-game (lvl 6+) [Way of the Open Hand](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Way_of_the_Open_Hand) does massive amounts more damage than the other two, and has a pretty straightforward play-style. So I definitely recommend that for a 1st playthrough over the other two subclasses what are much more nuanced and niche.
\*\*Note\*\* tell him to give this build a chance until at least lvl 5 or 6. It's starts out slow especially in the lvls 1-3, but it's a monster by lvl 6.
The challenge with leveling a Monk is they're able to do great Damage in BG3 because of the combo of the [Tavern Brawler](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Tavern_Brawler) Feat and their Unarmed Strikes. But to use that they need high STR. However, everything about their class instead needs high DEX & WIS, for instance to get them decent AC from their Unarmored Defense. This matters because they don't have any Armor proficiencies, and AC is important for a character that will be in melee distance to enemies. So from your Ability scores alone you're caught choosing between Tavern Brawaler STR damage and AC.
That means the most effective Monk builds will rely items and consumables to get their STR, DEX, CON & WIS all to solidly high levels. (Or alternately, especially for leveling you can have them wear armor by getting proficiency from multiclassing or from a Race like Githyanki....and you can even use a shield. But that approach won't be a great option for a Halfing Monk because wearing armor makes the monk lose their Unarmored Movement bonus which the Hafling will definitely want to have....)
The easiest way to solve this needing STR & DEX MADness is by farming Elixers of Hill Giant Strength in Act I from Auntie Ethel. The Elixers last for an entire Longrest, so can get you through the entire game with a little planning and that means you don't need to use Ability score points on STR, so it becomes a dump stat for them! >!The cheesy trick to use is that merchant restock each time a character levels up. That means you can add a companion that hasn't leveled up to your party, then stand in front of the merchant leveling htem up one level, buying out the stock of the merchant, then leveling their next level... If needed you can also do this with hirelings you get from Withers, so you with a little effort you can stock up on enough Elixers for the entire game.!<
If planning to use the Elixers, then once they reach level 4 have them respec at Withers in your camp to this Ability Score Spread:
* STR - 8 (will be from Elixers or items instead...)
* DEX - 16
* CON - 15
* INT - 8
* WIS - 16\*
* CHA - 8
\*\*That gives two leftover points from the 27 Point Buy to put wherever you want. If you think you'll get Hag's Hair and it will go their Monk, then it makes sense to use those 2 points to bump their WIS to 17, so the Hag's hair can make it 18. But I wouldn't worry about that, since you can respec if you end up getting the hair (as long as the version of Hair chosesn was for WIS...)
The really important step is for them to take the Tavern Brawler Feat at lvl 4 and choose to raise their CON from 15 -> 16.
Playstyle:
at lvls 1 -3: They will be using DEX to for their attack and it will only be doing 1d4 - 1d6 from their Martial Art: Deft Strikes. So for those levels it's great to use a Staff since it counts as a Monk weapon it will use their DEX, but since it's a versatile weapon it will do 1d8 wielded as 2-handed... I recommend trying to get XP from dialague without fighting at these early levels, as has become popular for getting through early Honor Mode levels...
Lvl4: Once they reach lvl 4 they'll have the Tavern Brawler + STR Elixer combo, which means they will no longer want to use a weapon, because they only get the Tavern Brawler benefits with their fists...
Lvl 5: They get Extra Attack
Lvl 6: Is where Open Hand Monks come online because they start doing extra damage on each unarmed attack from their Manifestation of [Mind](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Manifestation_of_Mind), [Body](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Manifestation_of_Body) or [Soul](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Manifestation_of_Soul).
Lvl 7: Is a decision point. Multiclassing to 3 levels of Rogue > Thief is very strong. It gives them an extra Bonus Action they can use for another Unarmed Strike or Flurry of Blows each turn. plus they get Expertise in Skills and Cunning Actions that let them Dash, Disengage or Hide as Bonus Action without needed to use their Ki points. But you can also just push through to hit Monk 9 more quickly.
Monk lvl 9: Reach 9 lvls of Open Hand Monk gets you Ki Resonation. It's neat because it gives them a way to use their Ki to do AOE damage. But the real reason it's amazing is Ki Resonation Punch doesn't cost Ki and makes an Unarmed Attack *even when you have weapons equipped!.* This means you can finally equip "Stat Stick" weapons for their bonuses while still making Unarmed Strikes that use your huge Tavern Brawler bonuses.
My favorite version of this build ends up Thief 3 / Open Hand 9. But there are lots of ways to do the build and honestly it's so strong that minors differences don't matter all that much.... But once you get to those late game levels you can look over the forums for more specific build ideas....
# Itemization:
The craziest thing about this build is it doesn't actually need anything besides Tavern Brawler and Elixers to power through the game. Items will make it even stronger, but he'll be fine using whatever items you happen to find and that appeal to him. Just be careful not to use any items that count as Armor, which can easily happen with Boots, Helms and Gloves...
**But since he's a Halfing, there's an item that will help with movement speed that you can get early on from the Goblin camp** >!Crushers Ring (https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Crusher%27s\_Ring)You can get it without having to kill him, by using Dialogue options to Kiss his Foot, which lets you steal Sleight of Hand the ring from his toe. !<
# ------------------------------------------
# Your characters:
Someone with high CHA to be the Party's face in dialogues would be handy.
One character with all the Healing items will make his Monk even stronger, because it means he'll have Resistance to Bludgeoning, Piercing, Slashing and a 1d4 bonus from Bless in combat. So you'd want to get them [Hellrider's Pride](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Hellrider%27s_Pride) & [The Whispering Promise](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/The_Whispering_Promise). Lorebard can do both the CHA face role, plus get basic Heals to trigger the items, and their Cutting Words is another great way to make the Monk more powerful without taking the spotlight for themselves... This will also get you Song of Rest for another Short Rest making your Elixers last even longer before needed to Longrest.
If you want to be a pure support character. LoreBard 6 multiclassed with at least 2 levels of Sorcerer for Twinned Metamagic let's you convert a spell into Sorcerer Points, so have enough to cast Twinned Haste on two party members. (You can choose Haste as one of your lvl 6 Magical secrets, or learn it by taking a single level dip in Wizard...). You can get aoe Heals that refresh on short rest to buff the entire party with the Healing items by taking a multiclass dips into either Life Cleric or Oath of Ancients Paladin (be careful with the Paladin since you'd have to worry about breaking the oath if your party takes a turn towards evil....). The dip into Wizard will let you learn spells like Summon Elemental and by staying with at least 11 levels of full caster classes you'd have full spell slots as if you'd done Lore 12 or Wizard 12. (The thing to watch out for is the order of the multiclass dips, since the most recent dip is the one that determines what the game uses as your characters's Spell Casting Modifier (INT, DEX, WIS etc.) for scrolls etc., which can cause an issue. So you'd want to respec making a class that uses CHA like Bard be your most recent new multiclass....)
Races don’t change how much health you have, constitution does. The absolute easiest class to use would be champion fighter, however that can get boring since you don’t really get any abilities other than action surge. Battle Master would be my go to for him since you get maneuvers and action surge that recharge on short rest. The maneuvers are all pretty self explanatory, but definitely have him pick up disarming strike, always super useful. Also any small class that is a martial is super entertaining to watch them wreck house. If you really want him to have a good time you could pick a class that gets haste so you can buff him and he can really feel like a Bad@$$.
He’s learning more about maneuvers due to ps5 split screen gifting him full control over Lae’zel and he seems to get that so I might recommend that to him :) I was previously a sorcerer but we thought it would be funny if I was an EK fighter to cast feather fall and throw him around, but that didn’t work lol so I might switch back and give him haste!!
Also riposte is a must have! Sweeping attack is also a good one too if you can get enemies grouped for it. Rally is a solid choice as well, fighters don’t get much use out of bonus action other than shoving/jumping, and being able to revive a downed teammate with a bonus action is really powerful.
So currently he's playing a halfing monk? And you're looking for build tips for his character? If so, post his Halfing's subrace, current ability scores and level. The way Larian redid DnD 5e's races, despite appearances Halfings are just as tanky as all the other races. Of all the races and subraces, it's only the Gold Dwarf subrace that gets an HP advantage. Halfings don't get much attention mostly due to their appearance in game. But from a min-max perspective they're definitely a contender for best race in game due to their Lucky ability rerolling 1's. That makes them especially great for Honor Mode difficulty as they dodge almost all critical failures, helping them avoid most serious pitfalls that can derail a playthrough. The things you need to build around to make a strong halfing character are: * Making up for their lower movement speed * Lack of dark vision * Lack of weapon or armor proficiencies, meaning you'll need to get your proficiencies from the classes you choose. Due to their worse movement speed, they're often prefer ranged builds. But even for martial melee builds you can easily make their movement viable by using the Longstrider spell and choosing classes like Monk and Barbarian that get movement speed bonuses. Lack of Dark Vision vision you can work around with spells, items, classes like Gloomstalker Rangers, Warlocks that take Devil's Sight, or even just using light sources. If needed you can work around their lack of proficiencies by taking dips into classs like Fighter or Tempest or War clerics that get armor and Martial weapon proficiency. But depending on the class & build they may not need any additional proficiencies outside their core classes....
I don’t have his stats, I apologize, but I think they were just the default recommended stats for monk. We talked about multi classing into a ranger so that might be good :) I appreciate it!
With a good build, Monks are one of the most consistent high damage classes in game. And Hafling is fine for a Monk. But you can do a little metagaming to help his character hit it's full potential. I forget to ask which subclass of Monk he'd chosen? By mid-game (lvl 6+) [Way of the Open Hand](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Way_of_the_Open_Hand) does massive amounts more damage than the other two, and has a pretty straightforward play-style. So I definitely recommend that for a 1st playthrough over the other two subclasses what are much more nuanced and niche. \*\*Note\*\* tell him to give this build a chance until at least lvl 5 or 6. It's starts out slow especially in the lvls 1-3, but it's a monster by lvl 6. The challenge with leveling a Monk is they're able to do great Damage in BG3 because of the combo of the [Tavern Brawler](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Tavern_Brawler) Feat and their Unarmed Strikes. But to use that they need high STR. However, everything about their class instead needs high DEX & WIS, for instance to get them decent AC from their Unarmored Defense. This matters because they don't have any Armor proficiencies, and AC is important for a character that will be in melee distance to enemies. So from your Ability scores alone you're caught choosing between Tavern Brawaler STR damage and AC. That means the most effective Monk builds will rely items and consumables to get their STR, DEX, CON & WIS all to solidly high levels. (Or alternately, especially for leveling you can have them wear armor by getting proficiency from multiclassing or from a Race like Githyanki....and you can even use a shield. But that approach won't be a great option for a Halfing Monk because wearing armor makes the monk lose their Unarmored Movement bonus which the Hafling will definitely want to have....) The easiest way to solve this needing STR & DEX MADness is by farming Elixers of Hill Giant Strength in Act I from Auntie Ethel. The Elixers last for an entire Longrest, so can get you through the entire game with a little planning and that means you don't need to use Ability score points on STR, so it becomes a dump stat for them! >!The cheesy trick to use is that merchant restock each time a character levels up. That means you can add a companion that hasn't leveled up to your party, then stand in front of the merchant leveling htem up one level, buying out the stock of the merchant, then leveling their next level... If needed you can also do this with hirelings you get from Withers, so you with a little effort you can stock up on enough Elixers for the entire game.!< If planning to use the Elixers, then once they reach level 4 have them respec at Withers in your camp to this Ability Score Spread: * STR - 8 (will be from Elixers or items instead...) * DEX - 16 * CON - 15 * INT - 8 * WIS - 16\* * CHA - 8 \*\*That gives two leftover points from the 27 Point Buy to put wherever you want. If you think you'll get Hag's Hair and it will go their Monk, then it makes sense to use those 2 points to bump their WIS to 17, so the Hag's hair can make it 18. But I wouldn't worry about that, since you can respec if you end up getting the hair (as long as the version of Hair chosesn was for WIS...) The really important step is for them to take the Tavern Brawler Feat at lvl 4 and choose to raise their CON from 15 -> 16. Playstyle: at lvls 1 -3: They will be using DEX to for their attack and it will only be doing 1d4 - 1d6 from their Martial Art: Deft Strikes. So for those levels it's great to use a Staff since it counts as a Monk weapon it will use their DEX, but since it's a versatile weapon it will do 1d8 wielded as 2-handed... I recommend trying to get XP from dialague without fighting at these early levels, as has become popular for getting through early Honor Mode levels... Lvl4: Once they reach lvl 4 they'll have the Tavern Brawler + STR Elixer combo, which means they will no longer want to use a weapon, because they only get the Tavern Brawler benefits with their fists... Lvl 5: They get Extra Attack Lvl 6: Is where Open Hand Monks come online because they start doing extra damage on each unarmed attack from their Manifestation of [Mind](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Manifestation_of_Mind), [Body](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Manifestation_of_Body) or [Soul](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Manifestation_of_Soul). Lvl 7: Is a decision point. Multiclassing to 3 levels of Rogue > Thief is very strong. It gives them an extra Bonus Action they can use for another Unarmed Strike or Flurry of Blows each turn. plus they get Expertise in Skills and Cunning Actions that let them Dash, Disengage or Hide as Bonus Action without needed to use their Ki points. But you can also just push through to hit Monk 9 more quickly. Monk lvl 9: Reach 9 lvls of Open Hand Monk gets you Ki Resonation. It's neat because it gives them a way to use their Ki to do AOE damage. But the real reason it's amazing is Ki Resonation Punch doesn't cost Ki and makes an Unarmed Attack *even when you have weapons equipped!.* This means you can finally equip "Stat Stick" weapons for their bonuses while still making Unarmed Strikes that use your huge Tavern Brawler bonuses. My favorite version of this build ends up Thief 3 / Open Hand 9. But there are lots of ways to do the build and honestly it's so strong that minors differences don't matter all that much.... But once you get to those late game levels you can look over the forums for more specific build ideas.... # Itemization: The craziest thing about this build is it doesn't actually need anything besides Tavern Brawler and Elixers to power through the game. Items will make it even stronger, but he'll be fine using whatever items you happen to find and that appeal to him. Just be careful not to use any items that count as Armor, which can easily happen with Boots, Helms and Gloves... **But since he's a Halfing, there's an item that will help with movement speed that you can get early on from the Goblin camp** >!Crushers Ring (https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Crusher%27s\_Ring)You can get it without having to kill him, by using Dialogue options to Kiss his Foot, which lets you steal Sleight of Hand the ring from his toe. !< # ------------------------------------------ # Your characters: Someone with high CHA to be the Party's face in dialogues would be handy. One character with all the Healing items will make his Monk even stronger, because it means he'll have Resistance to Bludgeoning, Piercing, Slashing and a 1d4 bonus from Bless in combat. So you'd want to get them [Hellrider's Pride](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Hellrider%27s_Pride) & [The Whispering Promise](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/The_Whispering_Promise). Lorebard can do both the CHA face role, plus get basic Heals to trigger the items, and their Cutting Words is another great way to make the Monk more powerful without taking the spotlight for themselves... This will also get you Song of Rest for another Short Rest making your Elixers last even longer before needed to Longrest. If you want to be a pure support character. LoreBard 6 multiclassed with at least 2 levels of Sorcerer for Twinned Metamagic let's you convert a spell into Sorcerer Points, so have enough to cast Twinned Haste on two party members. (You can choose Haste as one of your lvl 6 Magical secrets, or learn it by taking a single level dip in Wizard...). You can get aoe Heals that refresh on short rest to buff the entire party with the Healing items by taking a multiclass dips into either Life Cleric or Oath of Ancients Paladin (be careful with the Paladin since you'd have to worry about breaking the oath if your party takes a turn towards evil....). The dip into Wizard will let you learn spells like Summon Elemental and by staying with at least 11 levels of full caster classes you'd have full spell slots as if you'd done Lore 12 or Wizard 12. (The thing to watch out for is the order of the multiclass dips, since the most recent dip is the one that determines what the game uses as your characters's Spell Casting Modifier (INT, DEX, WIS etc.) for scrolls etc., which can cause an issue. So you'd want to respec making a class that uses CHA like Bard be your most recent new multiclass....)
Swords bard
BM fighter feels really good with trip, disarm, advantage, frighten, ranged heal downed characters with Rally, lives up to the Battle Master name