How much is a ki point worth? an in depth look - Lemmy.World
# Introduction When homebrewing, it is important to understand the values of the
game resources both, for creating new ways to use them such as new spells, and
for creating new resources as part of; subclasses, magic items, or new classes.
If you don’t care to read this whole discussion, the value of 1 ki is equal to
one spell level in 9 out of 10 cases as shown by comparing ki abilities with
spells. But that’s not all we will be discussing here, in addition we will look
at how ki progression compares to spell progression of half and full casters.
side note: I have looked at the value of a ki point before and came to the same
conclusion. But I thought I would do more comparisons to casters this time since
I often hear a monk compared to a half caster and this comparison has been used
to create full caster psionic classes. # base class comparisons
1) Flurry of blows
Value: 1st level spell slot ::: spoiler comparison notes At level one we can
expect this ability to be dealing around 2d4+6 damage. without calculating for
accuracy that’s an average of 12 damage, compared to the DMGs spell creation
guide a first level spell should be dealing 2d10 damage (average 12). While this
ability does require the use of your bonus action which would be a value
increase it is offset slightly by the requirement that it is used on the same
turn as the attack action. ::: *** 2) Patient defense
Value: <1st level spell slot ::: spoiler comparison notes While this is a
powerful ability, when compared to the defensive capability one can get with a
1st level spell slot this pales. For this we are comparing it to the shield
spell. Patient defense is used as a bonus action and not a reaction making it
less valuable, additionally we can calculate the average roll adjustment by
disadvantage as about 3.4 (this article does a good job of explaining
[https://www.r-bloggers.com/2020/06/dungeons-and-dragons-advantage/#:~:text=When%20we%20have%20advantage%2C%20roll,D20%20and%20pick%20the%20min.&text=Below%20is%20the%20simulated%20advantage,3.4%20or%20about%20%2B%2F%2D%2017%25.]).
Of course 3 is less than 5 making this ability absolutely not worth a 1st level
spell slot ::: *** 3) Step of the wind
Value: 1st level spell slot ::: spoiler comparison notes Escaping from a melee
is highly valuable to characters with low health, it’s one reason misty step is
a common ‘must have’ spell. While this ability can’t get you as far and has less
overall functionality, that should be expected since misty step is a 2nd level
spell. If you have allies you can position yourself around so pursuers provoke
opportunity attacks then this is definitely worth it. ::: *** 4) Quickened
healing
Value: 1st level spell slot ::: spoiler comparison notes Since this is a simple
healing spell we can compare it directly to cure wounds. At 4th level this heals
1d4+2 (average 5) versus cure wounds that we can expect to heal 1d8+2 or +3
(average 8 or 9). With the lower healing and the inability to target allies, why
would I place this as a value of 1st level spell slot? Because it scales to
1d6+3 the very next level to an average of 7 and continues to scale after that.
::: *** 5) Focused aim
Value: 1 ki to 1 spell level ::: spoiler comparison notes This ones a little
tough. Increasing your attack roll by 2 is statistically going to increase your
damage for the attack by 10% by increasing your accuracy. For comparison spells
that increase your accuracy are… true strike… Well, we will compare it anyway.
This ability is made less valuable by comparison because true strike increases
your attack roll by 3.4 (I’ll direct you to this article again
[https://www.r-bloggers.com/2020/06/dungeons-and-dragons-advantage/#:~:text=When%20we%20have%20advantage%2C%20roll,D20%20and%20pick%20the%20min.&text=Below%20is%20the%20simulated%20advantage,3.4%20or%20about%20%2B%2F%2D%2017%25.])
and also this ability requires resources. However this ability is made more
valuable by; not requiring an action, by being usable after you know the result
of your attack, and not needing to use it the turn before you intend to attack.
Overall I’d say the positives outweigh the negatives enough for this to be worth
it. I’d say that in a vacuum this is in my opinion slightly less valuable than
divine smite. ::: *** 6) Diamond soul
Value: 1st level spell slot ::: spoiler comparison notes For the comparison we
will use silvery barbs. This ability is made less powerful than silvery barbs
by; only affecting saving throws, and not also having a second effect. It is
made significantly more powerful by not requiring a reaction. ::: *** 7) Empty
body effect one
Value: indeterminate. I would feel very good using a 4th level spell slot on
this however, it is powerful. *** 8) Empty body effect two
Value: depends ::: spoiler comparison notes It is still the full effect of the
9th level spell, just with seven less targets. It is only really useful if the
DM allows it to be useful and is prepared to handle the spell, which is harder
to do when only one member of the party is astral projecting. ::: *** # Subclass
comparisons
To not cause these comparisons to overstay their welcome I’m only going to point
out monk subclasses with casting 1) Way of shadow
The way of shadow subclass can cast four different 2nd level spells from 3rd
level, on a 1 ki to 1 spell level rate. This casting is actually a faster
progression than half casters have and as fast as a full caster. However the
progression is flat as those are the only spells they can cast and they cannot
upcast them.
*** 2) Sun soul
The sun soul has, at 6th level the ability to cast burning hands, a 1st level
spell for a 1 + 1 ki per spell level cost. The fact that it is being cast as a
bonus action is likely the cause for this 1 ki tax. You might note that with 1
ki placed at one 1st level spell slot of value it is worth 2 sorcery points,
enough to use quickened spell metamagic. The only other observation I will make
is that it’s a bit late to be getting a 1st level spell.
*** 3) Four elements
For some reason the monk of four elements is really bad at doing the one thing
it’s supposed to do, with the redeeming feature of having spell progression of a
half caster as a subclass. Every spell has a 1 ki point tax applied. *** # Spell
slot growth comparisons
These numbers will be presented in both charts and graphs. When looking at these
numbers it is important to note that spell slots, with some exceptions, recover
at long rests and not short rests like ki points.
Below is a chart and graph comparing the growth of the number of spell slots
between half casters, full casters, and the growth of ki points for the monk
[https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/5013c934-6e28-4118-811f-ddd0016f5beb.jpeg]
[https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/e3e31e95-fb4d-44b8-b66c-f33857a833db.jpeg]
*** and below is a chart and graph comparing the growth of combined spell
levels. that is the level of each spell slot added together.
[https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/c1805fff-7e10-435e-a65b-dd9a7b39b175.jpeg]
[https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/e0e3c069-40f4-4b06-aa74-f4a3e068ce95.jpeg]
*** If you read this far. let me know if you want to join me in making a half
caster, ki caster. I have some ideas laid out already for an elemental focused
class in this fashion, but I would need some help because I am currently working
on an update to a previous class I made.
