>>46064437
High Dex, high Wisdom.

For the early levels, use a quarterstaff in addition to your unarmed attacks- it's a monk weapon, so you can do flurry of blows after making a quarterstaff attack.

Way of 4 Elements is shit and everything costs too much ki in it. The other ways are fine.

the players handbook should have a quick build for you.

you mostly just fight things one on one but you gain cool supernatural abilities to enhance your physical prowess. have you already rolled for your stats? dexterity and wisdom should be your highest. forget intelligence. use your ki points wisely.

>>46064437
One thing worth noting beforehand is that DnD generally has monks do things worse than any other class. While 5e is certainly the kindest edition to monks so far, it's still worth noting that a lot of what a monk achieves with careful thought and planning can be done just as well by any fighter with half a brain. Aside from that though you're certainly correct about them being cool: if there's one satisfaction you can take from playing a monk it's being able to punch things in the face or beat them with a stick while you loop and dodge around trained swordsmen like it's nothing. You also end up with a greater selection and quality of skills compared to other martials, and the fact that you scale off dex, wisdom and con before strength means you can actually roleplay a character that isn't just a bucket of protein powder in disguise. So long as you make good use of abilities and position yourself correctly in fights you can make yourself as beefy as any brick barbarian or turn fights like a caster. (That doesn't mean you should take the elements path though. It's kinda like buying more guns when you don't have enough ammo for the first one.)

TL;DR monks aren't the best at anything but they look cool while doing it.

>>46067833
>While 5e is certainly the kindest edition to monks so far

4e monks are pretty good and fun to play from what I hear. I don't know much about 5e. What makes 5e kinder to monks than 4e?

>>46068088
To be honest I'm not too familiar with 4e myself, but 5e has a big focus on making classes balanced and keeping it simple, since it's designed for easy entry and wider appeal. Of all the versions of monk I've seen it's probably the easiest to get your head around. By making their damage and to hit scale with dex it means they don't have to juggle an extra stat compared to other martials and won't get stunted because you had to sacrifice strength for durability. By giving more of a focus on multiple hits it also gives you a different angle for combat, and it keeps a lot of the classic skills such as deflect missiles and increased movement. Essentially 5e monks are the best way to make a monk that feels like a proper monk without stinting your growth or just generally feeling like you picked something that does nothing right.

>>46067833
>One thing worth noting beforehand is that DnD generally has monks do things worse than any other class.

Paladin's waving at you with a tired, weary smile.

>>46064437
I played monk in my first d&d campaign. I kept getting stuck in one-on-one duels while the paladin aggregated 50 gobelins and the magic users killed them by the thousands.

Then mid-campaign I started going down a lot and having to run from fights.

Obviously I didn't know to play him and I wasn't having much fun, until the DM took pity on me and gave me elemental powers, Avatar style. Then it was great. But I'm not sure how she made it work rules-wise.

>>46071237
Avatar monk in 5e is a class feature option, like specializing in a school of magic for wizards.

>>46071282
Uh, I didn't know that. So she just gave me a specialization early then. I'm less grateful to her now. I thought she had made up a whole type of magic just for good old me.

>>46064437
maneuver master, spend all combat zipping around opponents and tripping them so they're easy targets for the real martials.