So I've just started watching the Avatar: The Last Airbender animated series (it's quite a few years old now, but I've never watched it before), and immediately I am reminded of the Way of the Four Elements monk archetype, which is clearly based on air-bending, water-bending, etc. The flavour of this archetype is really cool.
However, in practice, this is a really lackluster archetype. I believe it is popularly considered to be the weakest monk archetype, but even if that's presumptuous on my part, I at least think it's weak; I remember playing one a couple of years back, and I ended up having to multiclass them into Sorcerer just to get the feel I was after.
So, since watching some Avatar and getting more of a feel for what I think this archetype should be, I propose the following (based somewhat on comparing them to an Eldritch Knight):
- Whenever the archetype says you learn a new elemental discipline (i.e. 3rd, 6th, 11th, 17th), you instead learn two (this is excluding the the Elemental Attunement "cantrip" discipline).
- You can learn from a subset* of cantrips, and have the same number as an Eldritch Knight does (since Four Elements monks roughly seem equivalent to 1/3 casters to me; so that's 2 cantrips initially, and a 3rd one at level 10); these cantrips would use Wisdom as your spellcasting ability.
This would make them seem like they have more control over the elements, give them more versatility, but without giving them loads of spells. They still only have a grand total of 8 disciplines by level 17, as opposed to the Sorcerer's 15 known spells (other full casters have more), the 10 of a ranger (14 if it's a Xanathar's ranger archetype; this will become 11 or 15 by level 19), or the 11 of an Eldritch Knight/Arcane Trickster (who would know 13 by level 20).
Would this make them significantly stronger in combat than other monk archetypes, or other casters (such as a Sorcerer or an Eldritch Knight)? Do these suggestions need to be dialed back a bit, or is my assessment of the RAW archetype's weakness way off?
*This subset is: control flames, frostbite, gust, mold earth, produce flame, ray of frost, shape water – I left out fire bolt because I felt that produce flame was good enough and they really don't need that d10 damage.
Best Answer
It does not help much
One girl and the DM in one of the groups I played in were also big fans of Avatar the Last Airbender, so they tried everything and its opposite to make Wot4E appealing, with much difficulty.
They implemented something very similar to your proposal:
Besides the usual prorgression, she gained a new discipline every odd level. We played on level 12 when she tried this, so this gave her 7 instead of your 6 disciplines.
They were still seriously underwhelmed.
They even tried giving her all the disciplines, still she was the weakest in the group1
The problems of the Wot4E Monk
As she put it, "if I wanted to cast spells instead of Monking, I would have brought a Sorcerer".
With the sole exception of Fangs of the Fire Snake, the disciplines do not complement, but replace your signature monk combat abilities (Martial Arts and Flurry of Blows).
Even that they do badly:
How we fixed it
Spells
With every spell3 you can spend 1 Ki point to use Martial Arts, 2 to use Flurry of Blows before or after the casting. While this is way behind what a Sorcadin can do, you will feel at least monkish when you use Ride the Wind to hit a Djinn twice.
This might be too strong on low levels, when your casting abilities are not too far behind a full caster.
On level 4 you can use Fist of Four Thunders to prone (and mildly damage) some enemies, followed up by Flurry of Blows, with advantage. This is probably better than anyone could do on this level, but now you just spent all your resources, and cannot do anything special until a short rest. Next level you are again outshined by most classes4. But if you will, you can limit this ability to 5th level and above.
The player of the Monk did propose to make this all 1 Ki point cheaper, so 1 for Flurry of Blows, 0 for Martial Arts. The DM shut it down, arguing that in this case it would be as good as what a Valor Bard gets on level 14 or an Eldritch Knight on 18. I would have allowed it, for two reasons:
In this case however, I would definitely limit it to level 5 and above.
Control disciplines
Basically Fist of Unbroken Air and Water Whip.
They became bonus actions, using d4s instead of d10s for damage. So pouring Ki into them is a bad idea, they are just for control.
2 Ki points for 3d4 damage might seem weak, and the damage is indeed pitiful. However, you pay these Ki points for the best positional control in the game: pulling 25 feet is great5. The damage is just gravy.
How many you know
After all these changes this is really a minor issue, but I think your suggestion is fine, double the number.
Cantrips
Cantrips are weak, so it does not matter much if you get any.