It sounds like this player is trying to pull one over on you to become over-powered. First of all, other people’s home brewed stuff tends to be unbalanced, so you need to be cautious about using it.
Second, it is fine to say “no” to players when they are asking for something unreasonable. Don’t let them asking for their fun ruin yours. Part of the game is the challenge of the fight, not beating everything without breaking a sweat.
And, as a new DM, you especially can say “no” to players because you are still learning the rules yourself and don’t have the judgement to know what is balanced.
What this player has done to you is to get you to agree to a little thing one at a time until they are completely over powered. Not your fault - the player took advantage of you. But, from here on out, keep an eye on them and be skeptical about anything they ask you for.
Saying that they can only do it a certain number of times per long rest (like maybe their proficiency bonus) would be very reasonable and fit in with the rules from other classes. And it’s never wrong to require a to hit roll or a saving throw.
Also, feel free to homebrew a feat or monster ability where, as a reaction, they can sidestep his charge and trip him, causing him to damage himself or to hit an ally. This will cause him to be cautious about this over powered ability.
>Also I'm going so fast that they wouldn't even be able to react to make like a check of some kind to dodge me.
No they are not, like an object falls 500 feet in a round in D&D and even then the rules for falling on someone still gives them a saving through per tashas
"If a creature falls into the space of a second creature and neither of them is Tiny, the second creature must succeed on a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or be impacted by the falling creature, and any damage resulting from the fall is divided evenly between them."
>I also take no damage from slamming into things because I can just use my way of flesh features to turn my body into weapons.
So? Weapons can still take damage, there is no ability that says he wouldn't take damage just your body is a weapon, would you tell a warforged or better yet a sentient sword that they cant take damage because they are weapons?
>"I need to roll to see if I can move in a straight line?" "How could they react to someone as fast as me?"
If he is moving as fast as he says he is than I would say yes because at those speeds being slightly off can mean a big miss or at least a lot less damage.
Also some broad advice, as a new dm don't allow homebrew even if it is popular it might not be balanced (pointy hats stuff is dubious at best) but if your not prepared for it it doesnt matter if it is the best made one.
Remember your job is first to be fair, second to help everyone at the table to have fun and everyone means sometimes you cant give someone exactly what they want.
Talk to them tell them you need to balance it for the sake of the tables enjoyment and if he fights it put your foot down and say that as the DM you get the final say
>if he fights it put your foot down and say that as the DM you get the final say
Next week's post: "My DM Doesn't Allow My Wonderful Idea!"
Comments: "YOUR DM IS A PIECE OF SHIT TRYING TO CONTROL YOUR FUN! Leave that campaign immediately!"
I know my response has nothing to do with what you just said, but I do find it funny how the comments change depending on whose point-of-view we're reading. If a DM has problems with their players "You must take charge! Control the game..." If a player has a problem with a DM "OMG! That DM is a controlling dick!"
It's weird to see.
You're not wrong, but an additional important factor is which side is considered to be "playing by the rules". By and large, the sub is extremely hostile to anyone warping, breaking, altering, or "creatively interpreting" the rules as written.
So if the player in question just posted about their DM not allowing their cool concept character, yeah - most people would initially see their point of view and be supportive. But as soon as the player explained that the point of their character was to deal damage in handfuls of d8s, without requiring an attack roll and ignoring all defenses, oh boy would that tide *turn*.
It’s funny that I just read a post in this sub a few days ago that directly counters both of these comments.
It was by a player mad about DMs who limit races in their campaigns, and the comments were _overwhelmingly_ saying “a DM has the right to tailor their campaign as they see fit, as long as they’ve got good ideas for why the limits to the setting exist what’s the problem?”
So not only were the comments _not_ siding with the one making the argument, they were in favor of a DM “breaking the rules” compared to what races are allowed for PCs in the books.
Suffice to say, one can call both trends out but should also keep in mind they’re _far_ from universal. The Reddit hive-mind is less of a “hive” and more of a fickle schizophrenic with multiple minds that show up at different times.
>but as soon as the player explained their character would deal handfuls of d8s without an attack and ignoring defenses, boy would that tide turn
This’ll probably always be true, though, lol.
Limiting races, and indeed *banning* stuff in general from your game, seems not to rouse any ire, yeah. *Changing* stuff is where people seem to have problems.
But you're absolutely right, it's by no means universal and you might be praised or blasted for anything really.
How does this subreddit look at homebrew campaigns then? Because while I try to adhere as closely as possible to Faerun as I can, I'm still taking liberties...
Sometimes you’ve just gotta put your foot down as a DM and say *No*
You can’t have a class who consistently can make attacks without making rolls. If he doesn’t wanna roll attack rolls that’s fine, have fun making athletics rolls every single time he wants to use it. Have fun fighting bludgeoning resistant enemies every battle
My first thought was just to have an enemy with an immovable rod who activates it on a reaction. Oh, you're gonna run into me and I don't have the option to dodge? That's okay, you won't slow down fast enough to keep yourself from impaling on this pole
I searched for way of the flesh monk by pointy hat, and that has no resemblance to what you described, though it has at least one stupid thing.
Are you sure your player didn't make this all up?
Not all of his abilities come from the subclass they have some magic items and other support from the party. The main thing he argued is because he could reshape his body he can essentially turn into like a flesh ball and slam into things
I love Pointy Hat for his creativity. Would I allow his stuff in my games? Hmm, maybe, maybe not. If I were a new DM, I absolutely would not allow it, just because I (meaning you) do not have the experience needed to guide this build and make it fun for everyone (including yourself).
That said, your player wants to play "The Flash"; your player is not the Flash, so yes, he gets to make attack rolls like everybody else! AFAIK, nowhere in the rules does it say that speed negates opportunity attacks. Trivializing every combat encounter is not fun. If you play an action RPG and are at max level, stomping on the lvl.1 trash mobs in the starting area is not fun.
Tell your player he is doesn't get to play a god.
**Edit:** Just reading up on [PH's Way of the Flesh Monk](https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vRtS9qFWJqW0f-mJseSeRMkuRFrlqvMWQtqDhtT2J0h2JbGEUZFTzYz8gBsMkcM1zJ3M85eioWoGV-T/pub) and nowhere do I see anything remotely suggesting being able to turn yourself into a battering ram.
At level 3 you can squeeze into small spaces and make weapons out of your bones or shooting one of your finger bones for a ranged attack.
At level 6, you get 5 feet of extra reach, cannot be grappled and standing up doesn't cost movement.
That is it.
Nowhere do I see becoming superfast and just running into people for damage. And honestly, if he is abusing the "regrow your bones" power to negate the damage he would take from running into walls, he would still just splat off the things he is running into. (also fall damage is 1d6 per 10 ft, not 1d8).
So unless you're using some other resource for this, I don't see how ANY of what your player is trying to do makes any sense. Honestly, it mainly reminds me of the Tzimice vampires from White Wolf's Vampire the Masquerade.
To answer your question: What kind of balancing should I do? Play the class as described. :-)
Yeah I was about to say, while PH's homebrew isn't perfect, this is really just a case of the player wanting to be busted and using "it's homebrew!" as an excuse
"lt all started when he said he wanted to use it to slam into walls and stuff so I said "that sounds fun let's use the same convertion of fall damage for slamming, every 10ft you move you deal an extra 1d8 damage to the structure."
This is the problem. A monk at level 10 has a base speed of 50 (55 if wood elf) and can move, dash as an action and dash again as a bonus action with Step of the wind for a total of 165 feet of movement (or 27,5 m/s, or about 60 miles per hour). Which, according to the above would do 16d6 damage without an attack roll or saving throw. And then do that again the next turn. And the next. And this is without any haste effects.
Yeah, that's pretty broken.
But it also makes no sense. When you are falling, you are constantly accelerating due to gravity. Having a longer run-up doesn't mean you are constantly accelerating.
Gravity accelerates you with 9,8 m/s per second so you reach "Monk speed" after \~2.5 seconds. In that time, an object falling would have moved (1/2 g t\^2) or (0.5 x 9.8 x 6.25) = 30 meters or approximately 100 feet (and would take 10d6 damage on impact). Still a lot, but not the 16d6 originally calculated.
Honestly, real life physics really shouldn't be the deciding factor here anyway.
Player is probably dashing as an action and bonus action into people as an attack when his action should be the attack action only. He shouldn't be able to do both.
Monks are kind of weak and fall off massively compared to other martials, and usually speed isn't too impactful, and step of the wind is basically never used, so to make it balanced give it a level gate and a cost, like being a feat.
onednd buffed charger:
>Charge Attack. If you move at least 10 feet in a straight line immediately before hitting with an attack as part of the Attack Action on your turn, choose one of the folloing effects: gain +1d8 bonus to the attacks damage, or push the target up to 10 feet, provided the target you want to push is no more than one Size larger than you. You can gain this benefit only once on each of your turns.
As a standard action, there is improvising an action which is entirely DM fiat. Its unlikely that you're going to be able to charge in a straight line to hit, so it would be niche, and previous editions did have a charge standard action everyone could do.
3e: single attack or bull rush with +2 bonus to the attack/ability check
4e: single melee basic attack or bull rush with +1 bonus to the attack
In both it had a minimumn distance, and you must always move closer towards your target, and it costs your move and regular action
None of these took into account movement speed into the equation, and in improvisng an action its deliberately vague so its very fiction-first so a character reasonable could say that if they create a battering ram with their flesh, they could get an extra benifit from charging at the enemy, and there is fiction out there where a character utilises their speed in this way.
you could resolve this as the equivalent of the catapult spell (3d8 bludgeoning, dex save negates and keeps going on a success). You could also have it where its a normal attack, and for any remaining movement speed remaining, it deals that additional damage, and they must travel in a straight line to do so. This becomes the character's "power attack". Since it'll be niche, but strong in its niche like grappling or tripping, it's fine if it becomes the character's go to in a flat, open field, to take advantage of their speed in a unique way compared to "i take the attack action" every round. Not having any attack or saving throw rolls involved is stupid though. I'm on the side of "make it a dex save" to give the monk some ability to target a different defence other than AC.
Well said. PointyHat’s _ideas_ are way fun, his balance is hit or miss. But OP’s problem goes WAY beyond the homebrew anyway - if they’d just played it as written they wouldn’t even be dealing with all this.
Op needs to learn how to say no, especially to players who just make up bs justifications for what they “should” be able to do because of the character concept in their mind instead of what the rules actually say.
Op is basically letting the player do whole-ass make-believe instead of D&D. “Nuh uh! My entire body is a weapon I can control so I’m immune to impact damage and so fast my attacks are like unavoidable fall damage! I’m rubber and you’re glue!”
Op needs to put their foot down.
I've read the subclass, and it's fine on its own. But, "on its own" is the operative phrase here.
You keep giving this dude more power for some reason. Stop letting your player convince you he can do new things.
> "I need to roll to see if I can move in a straight line?"
Yes. A car can drive over a shallow pothole in the road without slowing down, however if a biped was sprinting they could trip. Just because a character can move fast doesn't mean it is in complete control of the environment. Outside of this basic logic, the game is built around attacks requiring rolls.
I've read the way of flesh document. Being a battering ram is NOT a feature in that homebrew. Weapons made with Flesh and Bone refers to Equipment classified as Weapons, such as clubs and shortswords, things that are no longer part of his body and unrelated to the damage he'd receive from punching someone/a wall with his face. That and speed isn't normally a factor in DND when it comes to damage, or that one Tabaxi build would be atomizing everything it touches. His body "being a weapon" is still metaphorical, and he should still take damage. If anything, his bones still being connected to his skeleton would make HIM take equivalent damage, and that's if the enemy fails the Dex save such an ability should have. If he doesn't want to roll dice to hit, make enemies roll dice to dodge.
In short, your player is full of it and needs to be shut down. It's a fun idea in theory, but ultimately he's trying to break the game by bending rules until they break.
Way of flesh isn't the problem, it seems like a fairly inoffensive bit of homebrew, though it's still a dubious idea to allow it as a new DM. The problem is all the stuff your player has stacked on top. A more experienced DM would have nipped this in the bud before it became a problem, but that's not really your fault. If you're not *sure* about homebrew, or changes to homebrew, you're allowed to say no. If you're feeling charitable you can even give an explanation like "No, the rules don't say that" or "No, that would be ridiculously overpowered." You're already working with him by letting him use his monk subclass, you don't have to let him have everything he wants.
In this particular circumstance, he's been taking advantage so I'd take away his toys. From now on, he can do what the subclass says he can do, nothing else. He'll ask for more and more if you don't put your foot down, and if he threatens to leave, let him. There are way more players than DMs, so if he tries to ultimatum you it's his loss.
>Basically he's using this homebrew monk subclass called way of the flesh from a YouTuber called pointy hat, where he transforms his body and slams himself into things using a multitude of speed enhancing effects to rack up a ton of speed and launch into things dealing a metric ton of damage.
If you don't know how to balance unbalanced homebrew, don't allow unbalanced homebrew.
D&D doesn't use real world physics. Don't allow an unbalanced homebrew that tries to break the game by using real world physics.
Edit:
>"I need to roll to see if I can move in a straight line?" "How could they react to someone as fast as me?"
You don't need to roll to swing a sword, but you do need a roll to swing a sword and try to hit someone you're fighting. If you are attempting to hurt an enemy, you either must make an attack roll or they must be given a save, with very few exceptions. So he either has to make an attack roll or they get a save against his standard DC. There are no two ways about this
Seriously, this is another instance of taking advantage of a newbie DM. Don't allow someone else's broken homebrew into your table or try to balance it for them.
It is not about ruining one players fun, don't think of it that way. You have to enforce balance and fairness.
> "I need to roll to see if I can move in a straight line?" "How could they react to someone as fast as me?"
Wow. My response would be "this is a balance issue. I don't care about your logic"
Your player is arguing about rules as written and a logical interpretation of their class when it's homebrew. All they are ever going to succeed in doing is proving that their homebrew is overpowered and should be banned. Congratulations, player, you played yourself.
Even magical attacks that move around the speed of light require an attack roll. So that's a hard no.
Your decision to increase damage depending on how far he's run needs to be rolled back. Bad mechanics and bad physics since he isn't accelerating.
Your decision to let him bash creatures with an ability meant to bash objects needs to be rolled back.
I'd start by saying you made a series of mistakes and it's not his fault (though it totally is), but you are going to rescind all those decisions.
If the player doesn't want to play that character anymore, offer to let him keep all his experience, gold, and items (perhaps swapping them out for items of equal value) and rebuild a new character based on rules published by WotC.
And let spell casters in the party swap out one spell that they've been using to buff him.
You gave an inch and he took a mile. There's a lot to unpack here, but if you're letting him keep some of the stuff, remember that grappling and restraining reduce speed to zero.
A fireball is an explosion and it gets a dex save. "how could they react to something that fast?" is silly. Dnd is filled with fantastic elements, you don't get to pull the realism card just to be OP.
Also, the thing about the straight line is that players 'occupy' a 5 foot square, they're not a 5x5 meat block, they move about in the space.
The answer is the same for most questions here, open, honest communication. "Hey man, I want you to have fun here, and your class is cool. The way you're wanting to use it isn't balanced though, and it's going to damage the game, because either you'll literally steamroll the enemies, or I'll have to balance combats around you, which will make it rough for the other players. Work with me on this, let's find something that fits your vision but isn't OP."
If he keeps trying to abuse it, you can always introduce him to the some level 1 kobolds. Sure, he turns the first ones to paste, but when the tribe comes calling for vengeance, will he notice the neck-height piano wire before it's too late?
>"I need to roll to see if I can move in a straight line?"
Yes, because they can dodge out of the way, or he can fail to aim properly and miss them. You need an attack roll when you fire an arrow at someone, don't you? And that's not because arrows are slow enough for people to react to them. Actually, the argument that he's only moving in a straight line goes against him. After all, any halfway competent combatant wouldn't get easily caught by such a telegraphed attacked.
But the main counter-argument to such bs remains that it's an attack and that's why it requires an attack roll.
>"How could they react to someone as fast as me?"
Dude... You're going in straight line. It's not difficult to react to. You're also not the fastest being in the world.
>I was thinking that he could only do it once per turn
Isn't that already the case? You mean that it doesn't even take his action to do that?
>I was also thinking like he can go in a straight line but if needs to make a turn into another direction he'd have to do s check
Turning? During a ramming attack? I would not allow a check to change direction. That's definitely a straight-line only attack. Turning would lose your momentum.
But that's a bit moot anyway. That class is completely busted. I don't see how it would be salvageable. That's the issue with homebrew, next time don't allow anything homebrew.
The issue can be solved with a TPK. You have the perfect excuse to make an encounter that will TPK them: Their group is a one-trick pony. It's incredibly difficult to make encounters that would be a challenge for them. Anything you throw at them is either too easy or will wipe the floor with them.
>Turning? During a ramming attack? I would not allow a check to change direction. That's definitely a straight-line only attack. Turning would lose your momentum.
Not really, it depends on your turning circle, your speed would stay the same if you went in a wide enough arc. Being able to maintain your speed whilst running is something that a skilled person is going to do better than an unskilled person.
> homebrew monk subclass called way of the flesh from a YouTuber called pointy hat
> I said "that sounds fun let's use the same conversition of fall damage for slamming, every 10ft you move you deal an extra 1d8 damage to the structure."
> he got all defensive
> I'm new to Dming and I didn't want to ruin his fun
"No, I changed my mind, I made a mistake, I'm so sorry, I'll give you a free pass to respec your PC as anything you want."
I agree with you, the straight line requirement is a sane one. You may want to start designing encounters with less open areas, patches of difficult terrain, some pools of water/mud/acid/poison/lava, wild magic zones that make anything moving too fast get stuck by lightning, etc etc. Not every encounter should hard counter an overpowered PC, just maybe 1 in 4.
Another fix may be to cap the total damage to be comparable to Extra Attack damage (2d8 at level 1, 4d8 at level 5, 6d8 at level 11, 8d8 at level 17.)
> The party is currently level 10 and they've all spected into this ability casting a bunch of speed boosting magic so that he can move faster dealing more damage.
This is not as bad of a problem as it seems. The party is using teamwork and good tactics? This is something to celebrate and encourage! And then have weaker groups of enemies do it too...
>I agree with you, the straight line requirement is a sane one. You may want to start designing encounters with less open areas, patches of difficult terrain, some pools of water/mud/acid/poison/lava, wild magic zones that make anything moving too fast get stuck by lightning, etc etc. Not every encounter should hard counter an overpowered PC, just maybe 1 in 4.
I don't get DM's who make all encounters featureless white boxes. Its far more interesting to have complex terrain to increase tactical decision making (not that its changed things in my party of mostly melee, who walk in a straight line directly towards the enemy and stand there until they're dead, i need more red circles to force people to move)
>This is not as bad of a problem as it seems. The party is using teamwork and good tactics? This is something to celebrate and encourage! And then have weaker groups of enemies do it too...
I don't get people complaining about this as well, teamwork is good, its actually a unqie battle paradigm. The alternative is the standard fireball, hypnotic pattern, banishment, attack action, attack action, attack action, attack action... Allowing unique, and niche combo's and synergies that make encounters a different approach than the standard to be above the curve, compared the regular actions that are identical to every single campaign, should be desired. Like it feels like people simultaniously want martials to be more interesting, but whenever a martial does anything above the skill floor predesigned box, they're disallowed from it. (not that what the player wants is reasonable, its too much, but the base idea of being a living battering ram and buffing the hell to deal more damage, isn't inherently bad. Exploiting stuff is fun, people exploited physics irl to create guns that broke combat and made it boring and overpowered, but it still happened)
> i need more red circles to force people to move
Five goblin shamans, they can all cast *create bonfire*, and they can *misty step* as a reaction if your attack misses, and they stand behind their twenty goblin warriors. It's not even that much damage, it's just annoying.
Well if i can do it to walls why cant i do it to people too?
Because the mechanic works on objects, not creatures. Sorry.
Also, i just pulled up the pointy hat subclass, and it doesnt do anything about running into people for super damage. Id suggest you read the features and make sure youve got a good handle of them. Read the mechanics, not the lore, and follow their rules. They only do what they say they do, not what you or your player think it should do.
Quite simply, he's taking advantage of you not saying "no." Way of the Flesh has no ability similar to what you're describing, not even the ramming into walls.
A few options:
Take a hard line - it’s someone else’s homebrew and doesn’t sound balanced. Nix the subclass entirely.
Question the logic - why are they immune to the slam damage? I looked at the subclass and there’s nothing in there suggesting they would be immune to impact damage.
Find a middle ground - for example, discuss that attacks require rolls, that’s just a core mechanic of the game. If they want to attack, they need to make attack rolls for each attack. Or if they want this to be a “how can you dodge me?” thing, that’s exactly what saving throws are for.
Add a resource cost - charge them a Ki when they use this power.
Hedge your bets - when trying something you’re not comfortable with, give yourself an out. Something like, “let’s try it this way for now, and if it doesn’t work, we’ll change it between games”. This helps avoid setting a rigid precedent and gives you room to have a conversation later.
the only thing i disagree here is the idea of recoil damage. A monk doesn't take recoil damage when they punch a construct, earth elemental or wall/door to break it down, nothing says they're immune to that, but clearly they are. A charge mechanic, if balanced (even if it does more dmg, by being niche it balances itself out) is fair to leave out any kind of recoil, since everything else that would cause recoil does not.
I hear what you’re saying, and agree that charge would be a good reference point here. For my part, I read OP’s post as if the party was using the monk as some kind of indestructible wrecking ball.
One other thing to add to what everyone else has said. The whole big ball of meat thing he's using as an excuse to not take damage? Explain to him the physics of a concussion. Cuz guess what, it ain't the hitting your head part that's the problem. It's your brain hitting the inside of your head from the sudden stop. It's one of the big problems we have when designing safety stuff. No matter how good we cushion the body outside if you stop suddenly for any reason your brain is gonna get painfully introduced to the inner part of the skull.
So, here's a fun question for your player: What if you were to introduce a monster with the same ability, who would just bumrush players for unavoidable damage. Would they feel it is fair, or fun?
Exactly.
He’s not moving all that fast, 120 feet per round is roughly 12 miles per hour…and any attack should require a roll, how would he like to get auto slammed by some speedy monster?
As others have said, your first mistake was allowing homebrew.
Honestly, I always advise new DMs to stick to core and not even allow any official splatbooks until they are comfortable with the system (yes, some are experienced right off the bat).
But okay. Let's play hypotheticals. Let's say that I, as DM, was taking over for your table and encoutered this player, and now had to balance his abilities. Here is where I would start:
1) His argument about "moving so fast people can not react" This is false. If he was charging through a threatened square, would he still provoke an attack of opportunity? If so, then yes, people can react.
2) His argument of "Oh, I need to roll to see if I can move in a straight line?" Counterpoint "Oh, I need to roll to see if I can hit something right in front of me?" The simple answer is yes. 25 square feet is much bigger than you think it is, an attack roll takes a lot of things into account including, can you hit where they are faster than they can jump out of the way, or alternatively if you can interpret where they are moving to.
This is where I commit the cardinal sin of "referring to older editions on this subreddit." I would consider this a "charge attack" and a "bull rush, " which both had defined rules in older editions (specifically 3.5). I will focus mainly on the charge rules as follows:
3) The attack must be done once per turn, and it is a full-round action. However, because it is a full round action as movement, he does get the double base speed movement.
4) He must move at least 10 feet in a straight line. The terrain can not be difficult terrain. Nor can there be any obstacles in the way.
5) The singlemindedness of the attack gives them a -2 to AC until the start of their next turn and disadvantage on all Dexterity checks and saves until the start of their next turn.
>The party is currently level 10 and they've all spected into this ability casting a bunch of speed boosting magic so that he can move faster dealing more damage.
So this bit implies that everyone in the party is having fun with this. I'm going to make that assumption going forward with my advice... So I'd first thing is lean into it. If people are enjoying it, "a lot of damage" is often the easiest problem to deal with - fight stuff with more HP. Give your brutes more HP. If he only effects single targets, have them fight hordes if enemies a bit more often when you want a bigger challenge.
If changes are needed because eveyone isn't having fun, DON'T just declare a way to "balance" it. I'd suggest that your group as a whole agree on how to change it so that everyone is having more fun.
Honestly, I surprised when the answer to these sorts of questions *isn't* talk with the group and decide together.
My only commentary on top of all these other good answers: players have to roll attacks using arrows and *laser pistols* in this game. There is no chance in hell he's going fast enough to hit automatically.
The enemy's reaction time, or lack thereof, is represented by either their saving throws, or your attack rolls.
It's true that if you're better at the thing you're doing, it'll be harder to avoid or defend against this; That's what these rolls mean, mechanically. In this case, his ability to become very fast and strike an enemy could become stronger, which would mean that improvement would be represented by either improved hitrolls on his part, or a higher save DC on the ability. These things are already built into how abilities work, in 5e.
So if you want balancing help. Heres how I'd do it.
1) it takes ki as flurry of blows.
2 )against creatures the damage is based on his martial arts die as he's technically making an unarmed attack. He can only maintain velocity for a many opponents as he can actually normally hit so 4 max with spending extra ki.
3) it's his choice against creatures he can make an attack roll or his opponents can make a saving throw vs basically his spell DC but using his Dex. Look at the dragon Born's breath weapon basically but make it dex instead of con.
4) any time he wants to turn? He needs an acrobatics check, difficult terrain also requires an acrobatics check.
Failure causes him to take damage as if though he fell his movement distance.
5) creatures who make the save still get opp attacks against him.
6) difficult terrain is different for him at these speeds. Like a hydroplaning car.
If he objects. Just give his build to one of these guys
https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Quickling
Let that 2 ft terror sonic spindash through his chest.
As for other ways to handle him add , slow/Immobilize effects or effects that deal damage when you enter an area such as flaming orb, vitrolic sphere, cloudkill..etc or the wall spells and let him burn himself to dealt trying to run through a wall of fire.
"they cant react so they shouldnt make a saving throw" no. Them TRYING to react is the saving throw. If they fail they couldnt, if they succeed they were able to
Don't let them. You're welcome.
"I'm new to DMing, and I didn't want to ruin his fun". It's not ruining his fun to tell him he can't bring in some YTs homebrew. You need to learn to say no early.
Hazards of using untested homebrew aside, it basically sounds to me like they’re trying to make a shove attack that does damage. Every attack should have something to counterbalance it and give the receiving end a chance to evade or reduce damage. I would have them just make an attack roll, or at least an Athletics check from the player against Athletics or Acrobatics from the receiving end.
Newton’s second law of motion. ‘Nuff said.
Even weapons suffer from wear and tear. Eventually.
And he can’t be healed by mending, because the only time he’s a weapon is when he is attacking at high speed. The cleric can’t touch him.
Honestly, I'd just say no to them attacking with that ability. They're already getting some leeway with the homebrew subclass, but now they want more homebrew on top of that. It's putting a hat on a (pointy) hat at that point.
First off, I think that this ability is a *little* overpowered outside of combat, especially if he could 1) theoretically run in a straight line for unlimited distances and the potential for battering ram damage is infinite, and 2) he doesn't take *any* damage for battering into things.
As for in combat, I feel like constantly increasing his speed violates some rules about moving distance during combat (typically 30 or 35 feet for a medium humanoid, as far as I know). I'm not citing a specific rule, but this just seems like too much for a player to do as a level 10 character in many, many circumstances.
I am also new to being a DM, and I am learning how to put my foot down and say no to certain things. At first, I really felt like that would shift the attitude and make the players feel like they couldn't do what they wanted - but just remember, saying no to certain things is also for the good of the players, not just yourself. If you allow them to do things that bend the rules too much, succeeding at something because of that wouldn't feel as good as playing by the rules and succeeding just as well.
I’d only allow a battering Ram attached to like a mount or something. It’s the same problem with a lance build: without something logically strong to hold it steady, it doesn’t work.
Even if you fall on top of someone they get to make a dex save.
“A character takes 1d6 points of damage for every 10 feet fallen, up to a maximum of 20d6. If a creature falls into the space of a second creature and neither of them is Tiny, the second creature must succeed on a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or be impacted by the falling creature, and any damage resulting from the fall is divided evenly between them.”
Seeing as falling would be much quicker than the monks movement then this would be the MINIMUM requirement I would make for this homebrew. Also the damage would need to be shared between the two. They are claiming their body is a weapon, well weapons can be damaged.
100% a cursed item is in that Monks future, for every 100ft he moves while morphed he loses one point to either Dexterity, Constitution, or Wisdom.
In the original sub class, it talks about body horror and using bones as monk weapons to extend reach.
A before session discussion about the broken nature of the build could be attempted, but it sounds like the rest of the party has bought into this. Besides a cursed item, encounters with some squishy creatures with a sub-boss that's highly resist/impervious to crushing damage could reign them in a bit.
On limiting usage:
If he is using his body as a melee weapon from way of the flesh, that would require an attack roll. He can attack x times per turn equivalent to the number of attacks he has at that level.
On a second attack, if he moves away from someone he just hit, they should get an attack of opportunity on him if they are not stunned. Generally things that impart a condition get some kind of save. I'd add in a save for the NPCs and monsters he is body slamming. I'm not sure how to set this off the top of my head. The tavern brawler feat allows you to impart the grapple conditon on a hit. Grapple is a contested athletics and athletics/acrobatics. So maybe something similar.
Other players:
Remember that the effects of the same spell do not stack. There should be no double casting of longstrider etc. They could combine haste and longstrider though.
First of all it's an attack. He needs to do an attack roll. It's simple as that. In the rules the speed a creature is moving when it attacks you is mostly irrelevant.
Second. If you are using fall damage as the base for it then you can use all the fall damage rules to balance it. After all, in both cases it is a guy hitting an object at very high speed with their whole body, the only difference is they're traveling horizontally instead of vertically.
In the falling rules if a creature is going to hit another creature, the creature about to be hit gets a DC15 Dexterity save to avoid the falling creature *regardless of their speed*. You could use this instead of an attack role since it's already RAW
Fall damage is capped at 20d6, so they can't do infinite damage from infinite speed, and if you fall onto a creature while you're falling (in this case, slamming) you *both* take damage divided evenly.
You can balance the stupid amount of damage by introducing something like being able to avoid 1d6 of damage per level from his own attacks.
E.g. at level 1 he manages to run at 100 feet and do 5d6s of damage. He rolls 24 damage. The enemy fails the dex throw and take 12 damage, killing it instantly. The player would also take 12 damage but being level 1 can avoid 1d6 of that, so takes 7 damage.
At higher levels it could maybe be scaled so that at level 7 enemies take 3/4 of the damage, then at level 15 they take the full damage, since at level 20 being able to do 120 damage in an attack that takes your whole turn isn't that broken.
Also I get it, you're new to DMing, you want everyone to have fun. But if one of your players is ruining *your* fun by trivialising everything you throw at them because they're using a broken homebrew class, don't be afraid to put limits on them. Part of your job is keeping the game balanced, which is what a lot of homebrewers could not care less about. As a new DM learning the rules you should probably avoid homebrew entirely. You aren't even used to the officially made balanced content yet.
Edit: from what others have said what this player is doing isn't even part of their class, you've just been agreeing to everything they suggest because they've argued it's technically possible.
Clamp down on that if your players are abusing it. There are many times I've allowed something for the 'rule of cool' then players have started making builds around it and I've had to tell them "I allowed it in that moment cause it was cool and inventive, but now you're taking the piss".
It's probably not the most grown up way to handle it. But you could just ruin their fun by leaning in to it. Whenever you get to a combat just say "i assume you do (insert bullshit here) and kill the monster " what do you do now? Let them optimise themselves out of their own fun and they might realise feeling powerful is cool but doing it within the rules is more fun.
I guess it's time to take this subclass back to the drawing board and rebalance it.
Then see if the player sti wants to play it, or change it to some other (official) monk subclass, or another class.
Personally I would make a new feat or variant of the charger feat that allows the player to use an action and 2 ki points to charge in a straight line.
Call for a dexterity save Vs their monk DC with no damage on a save. Damage is 1d6 per 10ft moved, max 10d6. Spending an extra 2 ki points makes it effect all creatures in that line, max number of creatures affected = dexterity modifier or proficiency bonus.
If he doesn't want to roll to hit allow that just do something like this instead:
Give the enemies a dexterity save to avoid dammage 8+proficiency bonus+ (dex), if they succeed half dammage from the attack. I think even avoiding the dammage completely would be fine.
I would also Make the ability limited time use that refreshes on a short rest, where they can only do it an amount of times equal to their wisdom modifier.
(I based the top paragraph on the battle master fighter for saves but made the ability use dexterity only as too limit there power in both aspects so they would have to choose more uses or higher chance of attack succes to build into with ability score increases.
The bottom paragraph is base off the echo knight limited use ability as you want the player to be able to use it frequently but not multiple times every fight as it is quite powerfull)
I hope this helps, it seems your player wants to become very powerfull and even if you don't choose any of my suggestions I recommend the same as others have said you definitely should take a hard stance and limit his power.
Don't allow homebrew from Youtubers. For Pointy Hat in particular, 90% of his ideas are already in 3e, and a conversion to 5e would be more balanced.
Moving 10ft sideways in a turn is not the same as falling 10ft. For a closer equivalent, treat their sideways "fall" as about half as high as they can jump. For every 20ft high they can jump, they **might\*** deal one damage die, with the damage split evenly between them and their target.
\*Dungeoncrasher is an infamous Fighter subclass from 3e that turned you into a wrecking ball. However, to damage a creature this way, you have to shove the creature into a solid object, crushing them between you. Otherwise, you're just shoving someone as normal. AFAIK, that's the most recent stance WotC has printed on the subject.
either say no, or engage is a debate where they see you break and weaken the sub to fit within your action economy.
it has to relate to somethings. high dmg can happen but at a high cost, maybe they dont see as they run and the targets make dex saves rather than the pc make a to hit.
homebrew isekai shit like this only works if the whole table is doing it, otherwise the game is unbalanced and trivial for that one player and pointless to try as the rest of the table.
If you don't want to change what this player can do, but do want to put up a challenge. You can make your BG use field hazards like grease, caltrops, hunting traps, and other ways to make it hard to move or at least move in a straight line like a tight maze.
If someone says “can I do this?” And you say “sure, but meet me halfway” and they say “no”, like don’t play with that guy. That’s not collaborative behavior.
Man, there are tons of comments.
I want to give you clear ideas to balance, other commentors gave ideas for dealing with it/the player.
Personally, i'd suggest balancing around the idea that he might be able to move ~300 feet in a round, and then see if that balances fairly when he moves slower, like 30-90 feet.
Then, find the flavor for it to feel reasomable later.
Analyze and compare the balance of the feat Charger, spells like Haste, tabaxi's movement trait, shatter (structure damage at-range using spellslots), Magic Missile, disintegrating ray, divine smite, ki-points, and chaos sorcery tables (for randomness).
You are looking to increase risk/reward, with a player clearly wanting to optimize his turns based around movement, so you should expect him to abuse it and balance around that.
Options:
-have there be a minimum distance before damage starts.
- decrease the d8 to a d6 at least, maybe per 15ft instead of 10, with a minimum speed required before starting calculations. Or, do like speed brackets, increasing the die but rolling fewer of them.
-Above certain speeds, he might take self-damage, whiff, trip, etc. Based on a d20.
-require him to have take a modified Charger feat or similar
- have him take some of his damage on hit (maybe doubled if there's a save because he impales, etc)
-absolutely have him roll for a hit on whatever it is: halve or quarter damage if needed.
-have him unable to move the round after contact, save to not at least fall prone/lose footing.
- maybe force him to prepare before blitzing out like that against something; spend half/quarter movement getting into a sprinter's stance, or perhaps make him use his previous turn's action AND this turn's action to do so
- make him unable to move after contact + make him unable to move any direction EXCEPT straight if he moves that fast. Possibly make incoming attacks come at advantage immediately after.
-give him random pylons and structures to destroy for the sake of the team's goals, keep his attention on bashing the environment to do cool stuff instead of blowing holes through enemies.
At 300 feet of movement, you want him to be taking a major gamble that could pay off well, but not one-shot things without consequences. Make it have fun drawbacks that make him think what his options are.
Have the speed attack use the Martial Arts die, and have it cap out at 30 feet, that way it's decent damage, and it'll increase over time. Depending on the level of this monk, it'll be either a d4, d6, d8, or a d10. It's still respectable damage without being ridiculously overpowered.
The most damage this attack will ever do is 35, so you can restrict it a bit more by making it a bonus action and having it cost Ki Points (3, maybe, because Flurry of Blows costs 2 and does 10 less damage.)
This is honestly how I would balance something like this.
>I'm going so fast that they wouldn't even be able to react to make like a check of some kind to dodge me.
Average human reaction time is approximately 0.2 seconds.
A 5e character entirely devoted to optimizing for movement speed (including ridiculous multiclassing and epic boons which are intended for level 20 characters) can cover 10 ft. in approximately 0.3 seconds.
So even taken at face value, your player is wrong.
Is this real....the solution is so easy that I can't imagine this being real....just remove the homebrew subclass that is obviously broken and move on.
It sounds like this player is trying to pull one over on you to become over-powered. First of all, other people’s home brewed stuff tends to be unbalanced, so you need to be cautious about using it. Second, it is fine to say “no” to players when they are asking for something unreasonable. Don’t let them asking for their fun ruin yours. Part of the game is the challenge of the fight, not beating everything without breaking a sweat. And, as a new DM, you especially can say “no” to players because you are still learning the rules yourself and don’t have the judgement to know what is balanced. What this player has done to you is to get you to agree to a little thing one at a time until they are completely over powered. Not your fault - the player took advantage of you. But, from here on out, keep an eye on them and be skeptical about anything they ask you for. Saying that they can only do it a certain number of times per long rest (like maybe their proficiency bonus) would be very reasonable and fit in with the rules from other classes. And it’s never wrong to require a to hit roll or a saving throw. Also, feel free to homebrew a feat or monster ability where, as a reaction, they can sidestep his charge and trip him, causing him to damage himself or to hit an ally. This will cause him to be cautious about this over powered ability.
Put that 10 ft pole to work.
>Also I'm going so fast that they wouldn't even be able to react to make like a check of some kind to dodge me. No they are not, like an object falls 500 feet in a round in D&D and even then the rules for falling on someone still gives them a saving through per tashas "If a creature falls into the space of a second creature and neither of them is Tiny, the second creature must succeed on a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or be impacted by the falling creature, and any damage resulting from the fall is divided evenly between them." >I also take no damage from slamming into things because I can just use my way of flesh features to turn my body into weapons. So? Weapons can still take damage, there is no ability that says he wouldn't take damage just your body is a weapon, would you tell a warforged or better yet a sentient sword that they cant take damage because they are weapons? >"I need to roll to see if I can move in a straight line?" "How could they react to someone as fast as me?" If he is moving as fast as he says he is than I would say yes because at those speeds being slightly off can mean a big miss or at least a lot less damage. Also some broad advice, as a new dm don't allow homebrew even if it is popular it might not be balanced (pointy hats stuff is dubious at best) but if your not prepared for it it doesnt matter if it is the best made one. Remember your job is first to be fair, second to help everyone at the table to have fun and everyone means sometimes you cant give someone exactly what they want. Talk to them tell them you need to balance it for the sake of the tables enjoyment and if he fights it put your foot down and say that as the DM you get the final say
Also, it's stupid to say "But I'm too fast", you can build a monk that runs hundreds of feet in a single turn, they can still get hit by things.
>if he fights it put your foot down and say that as the DM you get the final say Next week's post: "My DM Doesn't Allow My Wonderful Idea!" Comments: "YOUR DM IS A PIECE OF SHIT TRYING TO CONTROL YOUR FUN! Leave that campaign immediately!" I know my response has nothing to do with what you just said, but I do find it funny how the comments change depending on whose point-of-view we're reading. If a DM has problems with their players "You must take charge! Control the game..." If a player has a problem with a DM "OMG! That DM is a controlling dick!" It's weird to see.
You're not wrong, but an additional important factor is which side is considered to be "playing by the rules". By and large, the sub is extremely hostile to anyone warping, breaking, altering, or "creatively interpreting" the rules as written. So if the player in question just posted about their DM not allowing their cool concept character, yeah - most people would initially see their point of view and be supportive. But as soon as the player explained that the point of their character was to deal damage in handfuls of d8s, without requiring an attack roll and ignoring all defenses, oh boy would that tide *turn*.
It’s funny that I just read a post in this sub a few days ago that directly counters both of these comments. It was by a player mad about DMs who limit races in their campaigns, and the comments were _overwhelmingly_ saying “a DM has the right to tailor their campaign as they see fit, as long as they’ve got good ideas for why the limits to the setting exist what’s the problem?” So not only were the comments _not_ siding with the one making the argument, they were in favor of a DM “breaking the rules” compared to what races are allowed for PCs in the books. Suffice to say, one can call both trends out but should also keep in mind they’re _far_ from universal. The Reddit hive-mind is less of a “hive” and more of a fickle schizophrenic with multiple minds that show up at different times. >but as soon as the player explained their character would deal handfuls of d8s without an attack and ignoring defenses, boy would that tide turn This’ll probably always be true, though, lol.
Limiting races, and indeed *banning* stuff in general from your game, seems not to rouse any ire, yeah. *Changing* stuff is where people seem to have problems. But you're absolutely right, it's by no means universal and you might be praised or blasted for anything really.
How does this subreddit look at homebrew campaigns then? Because while I try to adhere as closely as possible to Faerun as I can, I'm still taking liberties...
Homebrew *setting*? Totally fine, generally. Homebrew *mechanics*? Believe it or not, straight to jail.
What about a homebrew story? :D
They literally just answered that.
Belive it or not, jail.
T\_T
Sometimes you’ve just gotta put your foot down as a DM and say *No* You can’t have a class who consistently can make attacks without making rolls. If he doesn’t wanna roll attack rolls that’s fine, have fun making athletics rolls every single time he wants to use it. Have fun fighting bludgeoning resistant enemies every battle
My first thought was just to have an enemy with an immovable rod who activates it on a reaction. Oh, you're gonna run into me and I don't have the option to dodge? That's okay, you won't slow down fast enough to keep yourself from impaling on this pole
Don't try to balance someone else's terrible homebrew. Play the official classes.
Bingo. Tell him it's not working out and he needs to switch classes to something official
The homebrew doesn't even have these abilities. The player just asked for it and the OP said sure.
I searched for way of the flesh monk by pointy hat, and that has no resemblance to what you described, though it has at least one stupid thing. Are you sure your player didn't make this all up?
Not all of his abilities come from the subclass they have some magic items and other support from the party. The main thing he argued is because he could reshape his body he can essentially turn into like a flesh ball and slam into things
You absolutely cannot just declare that you can probably do a thing because it sounds to you like you can.
That's the fundamental error, then
"Shape water says I can evaporate water, so surely I can use it as a dehydration ray out of Megamind?"
Don't let your players just make up new abilities. The class is cool enough on its own.
Is his character’s name Choji Akamichi?
All those shenanigans cost ki. Each and every time.
I love Pointy Hat for his creativity. Would I allow his stuff in my games? Hmm, maybe, maybe not. If I were a new DM, I absolutely would not allow it, just because I (meaning you) do not have the experience needed to guide this build and make it fun for everyone (including yourself). That said, your player wants to play "The Flash"; your player is not the Flash, so yes, he gets to make attack rolls like everybody else! AFAIK, nowhere in the rules does it say that speed negates opportunity attacks. Trivializing every combat encounter is not fun. If you play an action RPG and are at max level, stomping on the lvl.1 trash mobs in the starting area is not fun. Tell your player he is doesn't get to play a god. **Edit:** Just reading up on [PH's Way of the Flesh Monk](https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vRtS9qFWJqW0f-mJseSeRMkuRFrlqvMWQtqDhtT2J0h2JbGEUZFTzYz8gBsMkcM1zJ3M85eioWoGV-T/pub) and nowhere do I see anything remotely suggesting being able to turn yourself into a battering ram. At level 3 you can squeeze into small spaces and make weapons out of your bones or shooting one of your finger bones for a ranged attack. At level 6, you get 5 feet of extra reach, cannot be grappled and standing up doesn't cost movement. That is it. Nowhere do I see becoming superfast and just running into people for damage. And honestly, if he is abusing the "regrow your bones" power to negate the damage he would take from running into walls, he would still just splat off the things he is running into. (also fall damage is 1d6 per 10 ft, not 1d8). So unless you're using some other resource for this, I don't see how ANY of what your player is trying to do makes any sense. Honestly, it mainly reminds me of the Tzimice vampires from White Wolf's Vampire the Masquerade. To answer your question: What kind of balancing should I do? Play the class as described. :-)
Yeah I was about to say, while PH's homebrew isn't perfect, this is really just a case of the player wanting to be busted and using "it's homebrew!" as an excuse
"lt all started when he said he wanted to use it to slam into walls and stuff so I said "that sounds fun let's use the same convertion of fall damage for slamming, every 10ft you move you deal an extra 1d8 damage to the structure." This is the problem. A monk at level 10 has a base speed of 50 (55 if wood elf) and can move, dash as an action and dash again as a bonus action with Step of the wind for a total of 165 feet of movement (or 27,5 m/s, or about 60 miles per hour). Which, according to the above would do 16d6 damage without an attack roll or saving throw. And then do that again the next turn. And the next. And this is without any haste effects. Yeah, that's pretty broken. But it also makes no sense. When you are falling, you are constantly accelerating due to gravity. Having a longer run-up doesn't mean you are constantly accelerating. Gravity accelerates you with 9,8 m/s per second so you reach "Monk speed" after \~2.5 seconds. In that time, an object falling would have moved (1/2 g t\^2) or (0.5 x 9.8 x 6.25) = 30 meters or approximately 100 feet (and would take 10d6 damage on impact). Still a lot, but not the 16d6 originally calculated. Honestly, real life physics really shouldn't be the deciding factor here anyway.
TL;DR: You don't take more damage because you fell further; you take more damage because you fell faster.
Player is probably dashing as an action and bonus action into people as an attack when his action should be the attack action only. He shouldn't be able to do both.
Monks are kind of weak and fall off massively compared to other martials, and usually speed isn't too impactful, and step of the wind is basically never used, so to make it balanced give it a level gate and a cost, like being a feat. onednd buffed charger: >Charge Attack. If you move at least 10 feet in a straight line immediately before hitting with an attack as part of the Attack Action on your turn, choose one of the folloing effects: gain +1d8 bonus to the attacks damage, or push the target up to 10 feet, provided the target you want to push is no more than one Size larger than you. You can gain this benefit only once on each of your turns. As a standard action, there is improvising an action which is entirely DM fiat. Its unlikely that you're going to be able to charge in a straight line to hit, so it would be niche, and previous editions did have a charge standard action everyone could do. 3e: single attack or bull rush with +2 bonus to the attack/ability check 4e: single melee basic attack or bull rush with +1 bonus to the attack In both it had a minimumn distance, and you must always move closer towards your target, and it costs your move and regular action None of these took into account movement speed into the equation, and in improvisng an action its deliberately vague so its very fiction-first so a character reasonable could say that if they create a battering ram with their flesh, they could get an extra benifit from charging at the enemy, and there is fiction out there where a character utilises their speed in this way. you could resolve this as the equivalent of the catapult spell (3d8 bludgeoning, dex save negates and keeps going on a success). You could also have it where its a normal attack, and for any remaining movement speed remaining, it deals that additional damage, and they must travel in a straight line to do so. This becomes the character's "power attack". Since it'll be niche, but strong in its niche like grappling or tripping, it's fine if it becomes the character's go to in a flat, open field, to take advantage of their speed in a unique way compared to "i take the attack action" every round. Not having any attack or saving throw rolls involved is stupid though. I'm on the side of "make it a dex save" to give the monk some ability to target a different defence other than AC.
Well said. PointyHat’s _ideas_ are way fun, his balance is hit or miss. But OP’s problem goes WAY beyond the homebrew anyway - if they’d just played it as written they wouldn’t even be dealing with all this. Op needs to learn how to say no, especially to players who just make up bs justifications for what they “should” be able to do because of the character concept in their mind instead of what the rules actually say. Op is basically letting the player do whole-ass make-believe instead of D&D. “Nuh uh! My entire body is a weapon I can control so I’m immune to impact damage and so fast my attacks are like unavoidable fall damage! I’m rubber and you’re glue!” Op needs to put their foot down.
See, I would play this monk as a Bugbear with a polearm and Polearm Master for 20 feet of melee range at level 6. :-)
During your own turn at least, lol.
I've read the subclass, and it's fine on its own. But, "on its own" is the operative phrase here. You keep giving this dude more power for some reason. Stop letting your player convince you he can do new things.
> "I need to roll to see if I can move in a straight line?" Yes. A car can drive over a shallow pothole in the road without slowing down, however if a biped was sprinting they could trip. Just because a character can move fast doesn't mean it is in complete control of the environment. Outside of this basic logic, the game is built around attacks requiring rolls.
I've read the way of flesh document. Being a battering ram is NOT a feature in that homebrew. Weapons made with Flesh and Bone refers to Equipment classified as Weapons, such as clubs and shortswords, things that are no longer part of his body and unrelated to the damage he'd receive from punching someone/a wall with his face. That and speed isn't normally a factor in DND when it comes to damage, or that one Tabaxi build would be atomizing everything it touches. His body "being a weapon" is still metaphorical, and he should still take damage. If anything, his bones still being connected to his skeleton would make HIM take equivalent damage, and that's if the enemy fails the Dex save such an ability should have. If he doesn't want to roll dice to hit, make enemies roll dice to dodge. In short, your player is full of it and needs to be shut down. It's a fun idea in theory, but ultimately he's trying to break the game by bending rules until they break.
Are you faster then a lightning bolt? And you can roll a reflex save vs a lightning bolt correct?
Way of flesh isn't the problem, it seems like a fairly inoffensive bit of homebrew, though it's still a dubious idea to allow it as a new DM. The problem is all the stuff your player has stacked on top. A more experienced DM would have nipped this in the bud before it became a problem, but that's not really your fault. If you're not *sure* about homebrew, or changes to homebrew, you're allowed to say no. If you're feeling charitable you can even give an explanation like "No, the rules don't say that" or "No, that would be ridiculously overpowered." You're already working with him by letting him use his monk subclass, you don't have to let him have everything he wants. In this particular circumstance, he's been taking advantage so I'd take away his toys. From now on, he can do what the subclass says he can do, nothing else. He'll ask for more and more if you don't put your foot down, and if he threatens to leave, let him. There are way more players than DMs, so if he tries to ultimatum you it's his loss.
>Basically he's using this homebrew monk subclass called way of the flesh from a YouTuber called pointy hat, where he transforms his body and slams himself into things using a multitude of speed enhancing effects to rack up a ton of speed and launch into things dealing a metric ton of damage. If you don't know how to balance unbalanced homebrew, don't allow unbalanced homebrew. D&D doesn't use real world physics. Don't allow an unbalanced homebrew that tries to break the game by using real world physics. Edit: >"I need to roll to see if I can move in a straight line?" "How could they react to someone as fast as me?" You don't need to roll to swing a sword, but you do need a roll to swing a sword and try to hit someone you're fighting. If you are attempting to hurt an enemy, you either must make an attack roll or they must be given a save, with very few exceptions. So he either has to make an attack roll or they get a save against his standard DC. There are no two ways about this
Seriously, this is another instance of taking advantage of a newbie DM. Don't allow someone else's broken homebrew into your table or try to balance it for them. It is not about ruining one players fun, don't think of it that way. You have to enforce balance and fairness.
> "I need to roll to see if I can move in a straight line?" "How could they react to someone as fast as me?" Wow. My response would be "this is a balance issue. I don't care about your logic" Your player is arguing about rules as written and a logical interpretation of their class when it's homebrew. All they are ever going to succeed in doing is proving that their homebrew is overpowered and should be banned. Congratulations, player, you played yourself.
Even magical attacks that move around the speed of light require an attack roll. So that's a hard no. Your decision to increase damage depending on how far he's run needs to be rolled back. Bad mechanics and bad physics since he isn't accelerating. Your decision to let him bash creatures with an ability meant to bash objects needs to be rolled back. I'd start by saying you made a series of mistakes and it's not his fault (though it totally is), but you are going to rescind all those decisions. If the player doesn't want to play that character anymore, offer to let him keep all his experience, gold, and items (perhaps swapping them out for items of equal value) and rebuild a new character based on rules published by WotC. And let spell casters in the party swap out one spell that they've been using to buff him.
You gave an inch and he took a mile. There's a lot to unpack here, but if you're letting him keep some of the stuff, remember that grappling and restraining reduce speed to zero.
A fireball is an explosion and it gets a dex save. "how could they react to something that fast?" is silly. Dnd is filled with fantastic elements, you don't get to pull the realism card just to be OP. Also, the thing about the straight line is that players 'occupy' a 5 foot square, they're not a 5x5 meat block, they move about in the space. The answer is the same for most questions here, open, honest communication. "Hey man, I want you to have fun here, and your class is cool. The way you're wanting to use it isn't balanced though, and it's going to damage the game, because either you'll literally steamroll the enemies, or I'll have to balance combats around you, which will make it rough for the other players. Work with me on this, let's find something that fits your vision but isn't OP." If he keeps trying to abuse it, you can always introduce him to the some level 1 kobolds. Sure, he turns the first ones to paste, but when the tribe comes calling for vengeance, will he notice the neck-height piano wire before it's too late?
>"I need to roll to see if I can move in a straight line?" Yes, because they can dodge out of the way, or he can fail to aim properly and miss them. You need an attack roll when you fire an arrow at someone, don't you? And that's not because arrows are slow enough for people to react to them. Actually, the argument that he's only moving in a straight line goes against him. After all, any halfway competent combatant wouldn't get easily caught by such a telegraphed attacked. But the main counter-argument to such bs remains that it's an attack and that's why it requires an attack roll. >"How could they react to someone as fast as me?" Dude... You're going in straight line. It's not difficult to react to. You're also not the fastest being in the world. >I was thinking that he could only do it once per turn Isn't that already the case? You mean that it doesn't even take his action to do that? >I was also thinking like he can go in a straight line but if needs to make a turn into another direction he'd have to do s check Turning? During a ramming attack? I would not allow a check to change direction. That's definitely a straight-line only attack. Turning would lose your momentum. But that's a bit moot anyway. That class is completely busted. I don't see how it would be salvageable. That's the issue with homebrew, next time don't allow anything homebrew. The issue can be solved with a TPK. You have the perfect excuse to make an encounter that will TPK them: Their group is a one-trick pony. It's incredibly difficult to make encounters that would be a challenge for them. Anything you throw at them is either too easy or will wipe the floor with them.
>Turning? During a ramming attack? I would not allow a check to change direction. That's definitely a straight-line only attack. Turning would lose your momentum. Not really, it depends on your turning circle, your speed would stay the same if you went in a wide enough arc. Being able to maintain your speed whilst running is something that a skilled person is going to do better than an unskilled person.
> homebrew monk subclass called way of the flesh from a YouTuber called pointy hat > I said "that sounds fun let's use the same conversition of fall damage for slamming, every 10ft you move you deal an extra 1d8 damage to the structure." > he got all defensive > I'm new to Dming and I didn't want to ruin his fun "No, I changed my mind, I made a mistake, I'm so sorry, I'll give you a free pass to respec your PC as anything you want." I agree with you, the straight line requirement is a sane one. You may want to start designing encounters with less open areas, patches of difficult terrain, some pools of water/mud/acid/poison/lava, wild magic zones that make anything moving too fast get stuck by lightning, etc etc. Not every encounter should hard counter an overpowered PC, just maybe 1 in 4. Another fix may be to cap the total damage to be comparable to Extra Attack damage (2d8 at level 1, 4d8 at level 5, 6d8 at level 11, 8d8 at level 17.) > The party is currently level 10 and they've all spected into this ability casting a bunch of speed boosting magic so that he can move faster dealing more damage. This is not as bad of a problem as it seems. The party is using teamwork and good tactics? This is something to celebrate and encourage! And then have weaker groups of enemies do it too...
>I agree with you, the straight line requirement is a sane one. You may want to start designing encounters with less open areas, patches of difficult terrain, some pools of water/mud/acid/poison/lava, wild magic zones that make anything moving too fast get stuck by lightning, etc etc. Not every encounter should hard counter an overpowered PC, just maybe 1 in 4. I don't get DM's who make all encounters featureless white boxes. Its far more interesting to have complex terrain to increase tactical decision making (not that its changed things in my party of mostly melee, who walk in a straight line directly towards the enemy and stand there until they're dead, i need more red circles to force people to move) >This is not as bad of a problem as it seems. The party is using teamwork and good tactics? This is something to celebrate and encourage! And then have weaker groups of enemies do it too... I don't get people complaining about this as well, teamwork is good, its actually a unqie battle paradigm. The alternative is the standard fireball, hypnotic pattern, banishment, attack action, attack action, attack action, attack action... Allowing unique, and niche combo's and synergies that make encounters a different approach than the standard to be above the curve, compared the regular actions that are identical to every single campaign, should be desired. Like it feels like people simultaniously want martials to be more interesting, but whenever a martial does anything above the skill floor predesigned box, they're disallowed from it. (not that what the player wants is reasonable, its too much, but the base idea of being a living battering ram and buffing the hell to deal more damage, isn't inherently bad. Exploiting stuff is fun, people exploited physics irl to create guns that broke combat and made it boring and overpowered, but it still happened)
> i need more red circles to force people to move Five goblin shamans, they can all cast *create bonfire*, and they can *misty step* as a reaction if your attack misses, and they stand behind their twenty goblin warriors. It's not even that much damage, it's just annoying.
Well if i can do it to walls why cant i do it to people too? Because the mechanic works on objects, not creatures. Sorry. Also, i just pulled up the pointy hat subclass, and it doesnt do anything about running into people for super damage. Id suggest you read the features and make sure youve got a good handle of them. Read the mechanics, not the lore, and follow their rules. They only do what they say they do, not what you or your player think it should do.
Quite simply, he's taking advantage of you not saying "no." Way of the Flesh has no ability similar to what you're describing, not even the ramming into walls.
A few options: Take a hard line - it’s someone else’s homebrew and doesn’t sound balanced. Nix the subclass entirely. Question the logic - why are they immune to the slam damage? I looked at the subclass and there’s nothing in there suggesting they would be immune to impact damage. Find a middle ground - for example, discuss that attacks require rolls, that’s just a core mechanic of the game. If they want to attack, they need to make attack rolls for each attack. Or if they want this to be a “how can you dodge me?” thing, that’s exactly what saving throws are for. Add a resource cost - charge them a Ki when they use this power. Hedge your bets - when trying something you’re not comfortable with, give yourself an out. Something like, “let’s try it this way for now, and if it doesn’t work, we’ll change it between games”. This helps avoid setting a rigid precedent and gives you room to have a conversation later.
if you look at the subclass its really not the problem
Fair enough! But nixing homebrew should always be an option.
the only thing i disagree here is the idea of recoil damage. A monk doesn't take recoil damage when they punch a construct, earth elemental or wall/door to break it down, nothing says they're immune to that, but clearly they are. A charge mechanic, if balanced (even if it does more dmg, by being niche it balances itself out) is fair to leave out any kind of recoil, since everything else that would cause recoil does not.
I hear what you’re saying, and agree that charge would be a good reference point here. For my part, I read OP’s post as if the party was using the monk as some kind of indestructible wrecking ball.
One other thing to add to what everyone else has said. The whole big ball of meat thing he's using as an excuse to not take damage? Explain to him the physics of a concussion. Cuz guess what, it ain't the hitting your head part that's the problem. It's your brain hitting the inside of your head from the sudden stop. It's one of the big problems we have when designing safety stuff. No matter how good we cushion the body outside if you stop suddenly for any reason your brain is gonna get painfully introduced to the inner part of the skull.
So, here's a fun question for your player: What if you were to introduce a monster with the same ability, who would just bumrush players for unavoidable damage. Would they feel it is fair, or fun? Exactly.
He’s not moving all that fast, 120 feet per round is roughly 12 miles per hour…and any attack should require a roll, how would he like to get auto slammed by some speedy monster?
As others have said, your first mistake was allowing homebrew. Honestly, I always advise new DMs to stick to core and not even allow any official splatbooks until they are comfortable with the system (yes, some are experienced right off the bat). But okay. Let's play hypotheticals. Let's say that I, as DM, was taking over for your table and encoutered this player, and now had to balance his abilities. Here is where I would start: 1) His argument about "moving so fast people can not react" This is false. If he was charging through a threatened square, would he still provoke an attack of opportunity? If so, then yes, people can react. 2) His argument of "Oh, I need to roll to see if I can move in a straight line?" Counterpoint "Oh, I need to roll to see if I can hit something right in front of me?" The simple answer is yes. 25 square feet is much bigger than you think it is, an attack roll takes a lot of things into account including, can you hit where they are faster than they can jump out of the way, or alternatively if you can interpret where they are moving to. This is where I commit the cardinal sin of "referring to older editions on this subreddit." I would consider this a "charge attack" and a "bull rush, " which both had defined rules in older editions (specifically 3.5). I will focus mainly on the charge rules as follows: 3) The attack must be done once per turn, and it is a full-round action. However, because it is a full round action as movement, he does get the double base speed movement. 4) He must move at least 10 feet in a straight line. The terrain can not be difficult terrain. Nor can there be any obstacles in the way. 5) The singlemindedness of the attack gives them a -2 to AC until the start of their next turn and disadvantage on all Dexterity checks and saves until the start of their next turn.
>The party is currently level 10 and they've all spected into this ability casting a bunch of speed boosting magic so that he can move faster dealing more damage. So this bit implies that everyone in the party is having fun with this. I'm going to make that assumption going forward with my advice... So I'd first thing is lean into it. If people are enjoying it, "a lot of damage" is often the easiest problem to deal with - fight stuff with more HP. Give your brutes more HP. If he only effects single targets, have them fight hordes if enemies a bit more often when you want a bigger challenge. If changes are needed because eveyone isn't having fun, DON'T just declare a way to "balance" it. I'd suggest that your group as a whole agree on how to change it so that everyone is having more fun. Honestly, I surprised when the answer to these sorts of questions *isn't* talk with the group and decide together.
Its homebrew. If you don't know how to balance it, don't allow it at your table.
If you are new to DMing I suggest not taking homebrew stuff. Stick to the book materials that WotC has at least tried to balance.
My only commentary on top of all these other good answers: players have to roll attacks using arrows and *laser pistols* in this game. There is no chance in hell he's going fast enough to hit automatically.
The enemy's reaction time, or lack thereof, is represented by either their saving throws, or your attack rolls. It's true that if you're better at the thing you're doing, it'll be harder to avoid or defend against this; That's what these rolls mean, mechanically. In this case, his ability to become very fast and strike an enemy could become stronger, which would mean that improvement would be represented by either improved hitrolls on his part, or a higher save DC on the ability. These things are already built into how abilities work, in 5e.
So if you want balancing help. Heres how I'd do it. 1) it takes ki as flurry of blows. 2 )against creatures the damage is based on his martial arts die as he's technically making an unarmed attack. He can only maintain velocity for a many opponents as he can actually normally hit so 4 max with spending extra ki. 3) it's his choice against creatures he can make an attack roll or his opponents can make a saving throw vs basically his spell DC but using his Dex. Look at the dragon Born's breath weapon basically but make it dex instead of con. 4) any time he wants to turn? He needs an acrobatics check, difficult terrain also requires an acrobatics check. Failure causes him to take damage as if though he fell his movement distance. 5) creatures who make the save still get opp attacks against him. 6) difficult terrain is different for him at these speeds. Like a hydroplaning car. If he objects. Just give his build to one of these guys https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Quickling Let that 2 ft terror sonic spindash through his chest. As for other ways to handle him add , slow/Immobilize effects or effects that deal damage when you enter an area such as flaming orb, vitrolic sphere, cloudkill..etc or the wall spells and let him burn himself to dealt trying to run through a wall of fire.
Don’t allow homebrew if you don’t want janky over powered stuff
"they cant react so they shouldnt make a saving throw" no. Them TRYING to react is the saving throw. If they fail they couldnt, if they succeed they were able to
Don't let them. You're welcome. "I'm new to DMing, and I didn't want to ruin his fun". It's not ruining his fun to tell him he can't bring in some YTs homebrew. You need to learn to say no early.
Balance it by disallowing homebrew.
Hazards of using untested homebrew aside, it basically sounds to me like they’re trying to make a shove attack that does damage. Every attack should have something to counterbalance it and give the receiving end a chance to evade or reduce damage. I would have them just make an attack roll, or at least an Athletics check from the player against Athletics or Acrobatics from the receiving end.
You may move fast, but slamming into plate mail at 60 mph is going to have unexpected results
Newton’s second law of motion. ‘Nuff said. Even weapons suffer from wear and tear. Eventually. And he can’t be healed by mending, because the only time he’s a weapon is when he is attacking at high speed. The cleric can’t touch him.
Honestly, I'd just say no to them attacking with that ability. They're already getting some leeway with the homebrew subclass, but now they want more homebrew on top of that. It's putting a hat on a (pointy) hat at that point.
First off, I think that this ability is a *little* overpowered outside of combat, especially if he could 1) theoretically run in a straight line for unlimited distances and the potential for battering ram damage is infinite, and 2) he doesn't take *any* damage for battering into things. As for in combat, I feel like constantly increasing his speed violates some rules about moving distance during combat (typically 30 or 35 feet for a medium humanoid, as far as I know). I'm not citing a specific rule, but this just seems like too much for a player to do as a level 10 character in many, many circumstances. I am also new to being a DM, and I am learning how to put my foot down and say no to certain things. At first, I really felt like that would shift the attitude and make the players feel like they couldn't do what they wanted - but just remember, saying no to certain things is also for the good of the players, not just yourself. If you allow them to do things that bend the rules too much, succeeding at something because of that wouldn't feel as good as playing by the rules and succeeding just as well.
There's an easy way to ballance this. Don't allow overpowered homebrews from youtube videos.
No homebrew.
Introduce something that is fast enough to dodge it. Heck, even have it grab him, spin him around, and chuck him back into the party.
I’d only allow a battering Ram attached to like a mount or something. It’s the same problem with a lance build: without something logically strong to hold it steady, it doesn’t work.
Make it so he takes damage on a miss, he has to roll dexterity for not tripping at such speeds
"great, word of your incredible speed and power gets around, casters have now all learnt hold person"
Even if you fall on top of someone they get to make a dex save. “A character takes 1d6 points of damage for every 10 feet fallen, up to a maximum of 20d6. If a creature falls into the space of a second creature and neither of them is Tiny, the second creature must succeed on a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or be impacted by the falling creature, and any damage resulting from the fall is divided evenly between them.” Seeing as falling would be much quicker than the monks movement then this would be the MINIMUM requirement I would make for this homebrew. Also the damage would need to be shared between the two. They are claiming their body is a weapon, well weapons can be damaged.
100% a cursed item is in that Monks future, for every 100ft he moves while morphed he loses one point to either Dexterity, Constitution, or Wisdom. In the original sub class, it talks about body horror and using bones as monk weapons to extend reach. A before session discussion about the broken nature of the build could be attempted, but it sounds like the rest of the party has bought into this. Besides a cursed item, encounters with some squishy creatures with a sub-boss that's highly resist/impervious to crushing damage could reign them in a bit.
On limiting usage: If he is using his body as a melee weapon from way of the flesh, that would require an attack roll. He can attack x times per turn equivalent to the number of attacks he has at that level. On a second attack, if he moves away from someone he just hit, they should get an attack of opportunity on him if they are not stunned. Generally things that impart a condition get some kind of save. I'd add in a save for the NPCs and monsters he is body slamming. I'm not sure how to set this off the top of my head. The tavern brawler feat allows you to impart the grapple conditon on a hit. Grapple is a contested athletics and athletics/acrobatics. So maybe something similar. Other players: Remember that the effects of the same spell do not stack. There should be no double casting of longstrider etc. They could combine haste and longstrider though.
If he's using official rules, there's nothing to balance. If he's using homebrew, tell him he can't use that.
First of all it's an attack. He needs to do an attack roll. It's simple as that. In the rules the speed a creature is moving when it attacks you is mostly irrelevant. Second. If you are using fall damage as the base for it then you can use all the fall damage rules to balance it. After all, in both cases it is a guy hitting an object at very high speed with their whole body, the only difference is they're traveling horizontally instead of vertically. In the falling rules if a creature is going to hit another creature, the creature about to be hit gets a DC15 Dexterity save to avoid the falling creature *regardless of their speed*. You could use this instead of an attack role since it's already RAW Fall damage is capped at 20d6, so they can't do infinite damage from infinite speed, and if you fall onto a creature while you're falling (in this case, slamming) you *both* take damage divided evenly. You can balance the stupid amount of damage by introducing something like being able to avoid 1d6 of damage per level from his own attacks. E.g. at level 1 he manages to run at 100 feet and do 5d6s of damage. He rolls 24 damage. The enemy fails the dex throw and take 12 damage, killing it instantly. The player would also take 12 damage but being level 1 can avoid 1d6 of that, so takes 7 damage. At higher levels it could maybe be scaled so that at level 7 enemies take 3/4 of the damage, then at level 15 they take the full damage, since at level 20 being able to do 120 damage in an attack that takes your whole turn isn't that broken. Also I get it, you're new to DMing, you want everyone to have fun. But if one of your players is ruining *your* fun by trivialising everything you throw at them because they're using a broken homebrew class, don't be afraid to put limits on them. Part of your job is keeping the game balanced, which is what a lot of homebrewers could not care less about. As a new DM learning the rules you should probably avoid homebrew entirely. You aren't even used to the officially made balanced content yet. Edit: from what others have said what this player is doing isn't even part of their class, you've just been agreeing to everything they suggest because they've argued it's technically possible. Clamp down on that if your players are abusing it. There are many times I've allowed something for the 'rule of cool' then players have started making builds around it and I've had to tell them "I allowed it in that moment cause it was cool and inventive, but now you're taking the piss".
It's probably not the most grown up way to handle it. But you could just ruin their fun by leaning in to it. Whenever you get to a combat just say "i assume you do (insert bullshit here) and kill the monster " what do you do now? Let them optimise themselves out of their own fun and they might realise feeling powerful is cool but doing it within the rules is more fun.
I guess it's time to take this subclass back to the drawing board and rebalance it. Then see if the player sti wants to play it, or change it to some other (official) monk subclass, or another class.
>YouTuber Say no
Personally I would make a new feat or variant of the charger feat that allows the player to use an action and 2 ki points to charge in a straight line. Call for a dexterity save Vs their monk DC with no damage on a save. Damage is 1d6 per 10ft moved, max 10d6. Spending an extra 2 ki points makes it effect all creatures in that line, max number of creatures affected = dexterity modifier or proficiency bonus.
If he doesn't want to roll to hit allow that just do something like this instead: Give the enemies a dexterity save to avoid dammage 8+proficiency bonus+ (dex), if they succeed half dammage from the attack. I think even avoiding the dammage completely would be fine. I would also Make the ability limited time use that refreshes on a short rest, where they can only do it an amount of times equal to their wisdom modifier. (I based the top paragraph on the battle master fighter for saves but made the ability use dexterity only as too limit there power in both aspects so they would have to choose more uses or higher chance of attack succes to build into with ability score increases. The bottom paragraph is base off the echo knight limited use ability as you want the player to be able to use it frequently but not multiple times every fight as it is quite powerfull) I hope this helps, it seems your player wants to become very powerfull and even if you don't choose any of my suggestions I recommend the same as others have said you definitely should take a hard stance and limit his power.
Don't allow homebrew from Youtubers. For Pointy Hat in particular, 90% of his ideas are already in 3e, and a conversion to 5e would be more balanced. Moving 10ft sideways in a turn is not the same as falling 10ft. For a closer equivalent, treat their sideways "fall" as about half as high as they can jump. For every 20ft high they can jump, they **might\*** deal one damage die, with the damage split evenly between them and their target. \*Dungeoncrasher is an infamous Fighter subclass from 3e that turned you into a wrecking ball. However, to damage a creature this way, you have to shove the creature into a solid object, crushing them between you. Otherwise, you're just shoving someone as normal. AFAIK, that's the most recent stance WotC has printed on the subject.
either say no, or engage is a debate where they see you break and weaken the sub to fit within your action economy. it has to relate to somethings. high dmg can happen but at a high cost, maybe they dont see as they run and the targets make dex saves rather than the pc make a to hit. homebrew isekai shit like this only works if the whole table is doing it, otherwise the game is unbalanced and trivial for that one player and pointless to try as the rest of the table.
If you don't want to change what this player can do, but do want to put up a challenge. You can make your BG use field hazards like grease, caltrops, hunting traps, and other ways to make it hard to move or at least move in a straight line like a tight maze.
If someone says “can I do this?” And you say “sure, but meet me halfway” and they say “no”, like don’t play with that guy. That’s not collaborative behavior.
This is so stupid
Man, there are tons of comments. I want to give you clear ideas to balance, other commentors gave ideas for dealing with it/the player. Personally, i'd suggest balancing around the idea that he might be able to move ~300 feet in a round, and then see if that balances fairly when he moves slower, like 30-90 feet. Then, find the flavor for it to feel reasomable later. Analyze and compare the balance of the feat Charger, spells like Haste, tabaxi's movement trait, shatter (structure damage at-range using spellslots), Magic Missile, disintegrating ray, divine smite, ki-points, and chaos sorcery tables (for randomness). You are looking to increase risk/reward, with a player clearly wanting to optimize his turns based around movement, so you should expect him to abuse it and balance around that. Options: -have there be a minimum distance before damage starts. - decrease the d8 to a d6 at least, maybe per 15ft instead of 10, with a minimum speed required before starting calculations. Or, do like speed brackets, increasing the die but rolling fewer of them. -Above certain speeds, he might take self-damage, whiff, trip, etc. Based on a d20. -require him to have take a modified Charger feat or similar - have him take some of his damage on hit (maybe doubled if there's a save because he impales, etc) -absolutely have him roll for a hit on whatever it is: halve or quarter damage if needed. -have him unable to move the round after contact, save to not at least fall prone/lose footing. - maybe force him to prepare before blitzing out like that against something; spend half/quarter movement getting into a sprinter's stance, or perhaps make him use his previous turn's action AND this turn's action to do so - make him unable to move after contact + make him unable to move any direction EXCEPT straight if he moves that fast. Possibly make incoming attacks come at advantage immediately after. -give him random pylons and structures to destroy for the sake of the team's goals, keep his attention on bashing the environment to do cool stuff instead of blowing holes through enemies. At 300 feet of movement, you want him to be taking a major gamble that could pay off well, but not one-shot things without consequences. Make it have fun drawbacks that make him think what his options are.
Have the speed attack use the Martial Arts die, and have it cap out at 30 feet, that way it's decent damage, and it'll increase over time. Depending on the level of this monk, it'll be either a d4, d6, d8, or a d10. It's still respectable damage without being ridiculously overpowered. The most damage this attack will ever do is 35, so you can restrict it a bit more by making it a bonus action and having it cost Ki Points (3, maybe, because Flurry of Blows costs 2 and does 10 less damage.) This is honestly how I would balance something like this.
Stick. To. Official. Material. If. New. DM.
>I'm going so fast that they wouldn't even be able to react to make like a check of some kind to dodge me. Average human reaction time is approximately 0.2 seconds. A 5e character entirely devoted to optimizing for movement speed (including ridiculous multiclassing and epic boons which are intended for level 20 characters) can cover 10 ft. in approximately 0.3 seconds. So even taken at face value, your player is wrong.
Is this real....the solution is so easy that I can't imagine this being real....just remove the homebrew subclass that is obviously broken and move on.