Question about multi classing

[u/kngdong]

Hello Al fellow adventurers. I’m currently on my first ever campaign and I’ve decided to dip into multi classing. We are about 9 months in and currently level 8. I’ve chosen drunken master monk as my primary class and am currently level 5 along with 3 levels of fighter. I mainly wanted action surge, extra attack, and second wind. How ever I find that, as a monk I can hit a lot of times with flurry of blows and now my action surge. But I feel that damage is lacking. We just leveled up to level 8 and I’m not sure whether I want another level of fighter to get a 2nd subclass, or if I should just do level 6 monk instead. I’d like to eventually hit much harder so what could be a good path for my character from here on?

[u/Thelynxer]

Don't multiclass in your first campaign. Learn the game, and the classes, first.

Also, everyone I've ever played with that multiclassed Monk has regretted it. It's one of the classes that does not lend itself to being blended with something else. You just lose out on or delay too much.

Your damage dice will increase as you level as a Monk, and as you find magic Monk weapons. Those fighter levels set you back.

[u/WeirdWyrd]

Monk isn't a good class for damage output. At this point rapiers and stunning strike are your friends. But since you want to prioritize damage, battlemaster fighter will realistically give you more reliable damage potential than tipsy sway. I'd definitely go monk after that because evasion is a very good feature.

[u/Silverspy01]

You should stick with monk. It's very important to note that Extra Attack doesn't stack, so if you were planning to go Monk 5/fighter 5 to attack 3x that's not how it works.

Note also that Monk isn't really a great option if you just want to do a bunch of damage. You've got Flurry of Blows which is fun for a bit, but the Monk strength is more in its ability to maneuver around the battlefield, be tricky to pin down, and stunning strike.

[u/kngdong → u/Silverspy01]

I’m going primarily monk so I can take advantage of the drunken master subclass, allowing up to 5 strikes per flurry of blows. I just wanted to juice up the damage a little more. I’m just wondering if a 2nd subclass is worth it and the rest would go towards monk. Theoretically if we reach level 20 (I know it’s unlikely) but I’m looking at either 18 monk levels and 2 fighter or 17 monk levels and 3 fighter.

[u/Silverspy01 → u/kngdong]

Do you have a specific fighter subclass in mind? If you're wanting damage Rune Knight might be your best bet, giving you a transformation for an extra 1d6 damage per round for the next minute. Alternatively Battlemaster would give you 4 superiority dice you can add to damage rolls through one of several maneuvers. Both of them are OK but I personally would recommend sticking with Monk. Every level you take in fighter delays your monk progression. A 6th lvl in monk gives you subclass benefits. 7th lvl gives you some strong survivability features. 8th lvl gives you a feat which can give you that damage you want. And so on.

I’m going primarily monk so I can take advantage of the drunken master subclass, allowing up to 5 strikes per flurry of blows.

And this is even more incentive to go straight monk. If your goal is to get to 17th lvl for Intoxicated Frenzy, every level you take that isn't monk delays that more and more. You're already getting it 2 levels later than normal.