In Baldur’s Gate 3 (BG3), the Monk class offers a versatile and powerful option for players who favor agility, speed, and deadly hand-to-hand combat. By incorporating the Tavern Brawler feat, the Monk gains even greater power, particularly when focusing on unarmed strikes. This guide will provide a comprehensive look into crafting the best possible Tavern Brawler Monk build for your BG3 journey.
What is the Tavern Brawler Feat?
The Tavern Brawler feat significantly boosts your Monk’s melee combat abilities by enhancing unarmed strikes and improvised weapons. This feat allows your character to:
- Increase Strength or Constitution by 1.
- Gain proficiency with Improvised Weapons.
- Deal more damage with unarmed strikes and improvised weapon attacks.
- Automatically grapple enemies when landing a hit with an unarmed strike or improvised weapon.
Given that Monks excel in unarmed combat, adding the Tavern Brawler feat to their toolkit transforms them into even more formidable foes. This build focuses on maximizing the Monk’s strengths and capitalizing on the damage potential from Tavern Brawler.
Best Races for a Tavern Brawler Monk Build
When choosing the race for your Monk Tavern Brawler, it’s important to focus on traits that enhance Dexterity, Strength, or Constitution. Here are some of the top races to consider:
Half-Orc
- Savage Attacks ability enhances critical hits.
- Relentless Endurance keeps you in the fight even after a lethal blow.
- Natural bonuses to Strength and Constitution, which are key for this build.
Githyanki
- High natural mobility and teleportation abilities.
- Proficiency in light and medium armor, giving added protection.
- Useful for a Monk that might want to balance Dexterity with Strength.
Dwarves (Gold Dwarf)
- High Constitution boost, ensuring more hit points for survival.
- Dwarven Resilience grants resistance to poison, a common threat in BG3.
Best Monk Subclass for Tavern Brawler
The Monk class offers several subclasses, but for the Tavern Brawler build, the Way of the Open Hand is the top choice. Here’s why:
Way of the Open Hand
- Focuses on unarmed strikes, which pairs perfectly with Tavern Brawler.
- Offers Flurry of Blows, allowing you to hit multiple times with additional effects like knocking enemies prone, pushing them away, or stunning them.
- Improves your Monk’s ability to manipulate the battlefield and control engagements.
The combination of Way of the Open Hand with the Tavern Brawler feat makes this Monk highly adaptable, enabling crowd control and increased damage output.
Attribute Allocation for a Tavern Brawler Monk
To maximize your Monk’s effectiveness with the Tavern Brawler feat, you’ll need to allocate your attributes carefully. Below is the optimal allocation:
Strength (Primary Stat)
Since Tavern Brawler enhances unarmed damage based on your Strength modifier, you’ll want to make Strength your primary stat. The more Strength you have, the harder you hit. Aim to get this as high as possible through ability score increases and gear.
Dexterity (Secondary Stat)
Monks rely heavily on Dexterity for armor class (AC), initiative, and attack rolls. A balance between Strength and Dexterity ensures you can avoid incoming damage while dishing out heavy hits.
Constitution (Tertiary Stat)
Boosting Constitution provides more hit points, ensuring your Monk can take hits in prolonged battles. The Tavern Brawler feat also allows you to increase Constitution, which synergizes well with this build.
Wisdom
While Wisdom affects Monk abilities such as saving throws and spellcasting, for this specific build, it can be considered a lower priority. However, it’s still beneficial for certain Monk abilities, so don’t neglect it entirely.
Key Skills for a Tavern Brawler Monk
In BG3, skills are crucial for both combat and role-playing aspects. The Tavern Brawler Monk benefits from the following skills:
Athletics
- Essential for grappling, shoving, and climbing.
- Increases your ability to control enemies and maneuver around the battlefield.
Acrobatics
- Helps avoid grappling from enemies and improves mobility.
- Useful in situations where you need to reposition quickly or dodge traps.
Stealth
- Although this build focuses on up-close combat, Stealth is handy for surprising enemies and gaining the upper hand in encounters.
Best Gear for a Tavern Brawler Monk Build
To further enhance your Tavern Brawler Monk, it’s important to select the right equipment. Here are the top gear choices:
Gloves of Soul Catching
These gloves grant unarmed attack bonuses and allow you to regain hit points with every successful unarmed strike. They synergize perfectly with the Tavern Brawler feat, boosting damage while keeping your Monk in the fight.
Amulet of Greater Health
Provides a substantial boost to Constitution, increasing your hit points and improving survivability.
Boots of Speed
Boost your movement, allowing your Monk to reposition quickly and close gaps between enemies.
Ring of Protection
Adds a bonus to your armor class and saving throws, giving you additional durability in combat.
Combat Strategies for Tavern Brawler Monk Build
Close Combat Specialist
The Tavern Brawler Monk excels in close-range combat. Your goal should be to get in the enemy’s face and use your unarmed strikes and Flurry of Blows to take them down quickly. Thanks to the Tavern Brawler feat, each strike has the potential to knock the enemy back or grapple them, giving you superior control over the fight.
Grapple and Control
With the Tavern Brawler feat, every unarmed strike has the potential to initiate a grapple, locking down an enemy. This is invaluable when dealing with casters or ranged attackers, as you can immobilize them while dealing heavy damage.
Using the Environment
As a Tavern Brawler, you can pick up and use improvised weapons in the environment to your advantage. Look for objects around the battlefield that can be used to bludgeon enemies while still maintaining your Monk’s agility.
Multi-Attack Combos
The Flurry of Blows ability allows you to make multiple attacks in one turn. This can be devastating when combined with the Tavern Brawler’s grapple or shove effects. Chain these attacks together to control multiple enemies or focus on high-value targets.
Recommended Party Composition for Tavern Brawler Monk
A Tavern Brawler Monk works best with a party that complements their melee-focused combat style. Here are some suggested companions:
Tank/Frontline Fighter
Having a Paladin or Fighter in your party helps draw enemy fire away from your Monk, giving you the opportunity to deal damage without taking too many hits yourself.
Healer
Keeping a Cleric or Druid in your party ensures your Monk stays healed during longer encounters. The Tavern Brawler Monk is often at the front lines, so constant healing support can keep you from falling.
Spellcaster
A Wizard or Sorcerer with crowd control spells can synergize well with your Monk’s ability to focus down high-value targets. Lock down the battlefield with spells like Hold Person or Grease while your Monk takes out enemies one by one.
Conclusion
Building a Tavern Brawler Monk in BG3 allows you to create a formidable character capable of dealing heavy damage through unarmed strikes while controlling the battlefield through grappling and shoving mechanics. By carefully selecting the right race, subclass, skills, and gear, you can create a Monk that is not only fun to play but also one that can dominate in both solo and party-based combat.
