PRAISE THE SUN MONK (Monk/Cleric) Build for Baldur's Gate 3

This set up has been fun so far! Im still leveling up the monk part (got to level 4) For rp purposes, i went with Bahamut since im playing as a gold dragonborn

Seems solid and fun. and now I can MC this and make Shadowheart Mortyismal Gaming's Tempest of Tiamat Build.

I can finally play Jesus!

Can you do war cleric for the armor??

Ahhh. I remember Guild Wars.

This was good. Ty bro!! Very well done thematically

Very nice multiclass 👍🏾 I'm totally doing this with Shadowheart. Shout out to Blood of Lethander mace as it auto provides illumination & gives you a radient attacks spell.

BROTHER MHENLO IN THUMBNAIL RAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH. Main character from GW1.

Yo I feel like I thought of the craziest build but idk if it would work but could you use monk jump and that warhammar from the inn that does damage when you jump to just go theif and cunning dash use a ki for dash and free jumps then dash as ur main action and use haste and you can jump an insane amount of times

Sun monk is baldur from god of war

Turn Laezel into a light cleric for her queen. 😂

instead of scabby pugilist circlet, diadem of arcane synergy is better. inflict condition is easy and you deal wis modifier

Clerics are very good in the tabletop version too.

SUNLIGHT YELLOW OVERDRIVE‼️‼️‼️

I’m planning to do this with a slight deviation, 6 in Light Cleric, 6 in Monk

Random question but what would be a good party comp to compliment this build which is awesome btw and so wanna use it +1 sub :)

I am going to try this/respec my L12 Open Hand Monk as this build. Another set of gloves you didn't mention, but need to try that go with this build is Gloves of Belligerent Skies. 2 turns of reverberation on foes damaged by radiant/thunder/lightning.

I had to give you a like just because you used Mhenlo as your thumbnail!

This seems like a great build for Shadowheart. To make her more interesting. Also if she's not reliant on armour... she can fight her battles naked 😂😂😂

"Problem" with Monk is that it would, ideally, need three high ability scores to really become OP. DEX and WIS and STR should be as high as possible ... plus you'll need at least CON 14 for HP and saving throws and all that. Easy way around this are STR elixirs, which my Open Hand monk has been chugging daily since he left the Nautiloid.
He just made level 12 yesterday (9 Monk, 3 Rogue/Thief) and I think he's sitting at DEX 18, CON 16, WIS 18 now with INT and STR as dump-stats and CHA at 12 for story/dialogue purposes and because I couldn't put the last two points anywhere else. That's with Tavern Brawler (CON+1) and Auntie's Hair for +1 WIS. I'm still holding on to the +2 STR potion, but I think I'll give it to Karlach. I had planned to rebuild Tav around STR, but even with that +2 STR buff, I just can't find a build that would improve his damage and general utility over my current "only works with Hill/Cloud Giant Elixirs"-configuration.
Thing is that those elixirs are way easier to come by reliably than I had realized (never used them heavily on any of my other play-throughs), so there's no reason not to rely on them. Cloud Giant ones are insanely expensive in Honour-Mode and without discounts/high CHA, so the only real drawback I have is that I have to swap Wyll into my party almost every day to go shopping for the party. That's practically all he does these days: Put on that silly +2 CHA hat and run around the city to sell off loot and to grab elixirs and alchemy ingredients.. :D

Is there a way to have a build be this effective but with the tempest cleric ?

Did you test that half orc savage attacks did not work with unarmed strikes. In dnd unarmed attacks are melee weapon attacks, and i think that carried iver into the game. Just want to know if you tested or just read the description

Love this, so much fun!

You say that there is an ability that lets you add your wisdom modifier to you AC bonus, Does this bypass the Dex limitations of medium and heavy armour?

Love the gw1 thumbnail. This build fits perfectly for a character I just made too. Will play through with it eventually

I built this before seeing this. But I used the war God cleric devotion. It definitely was the most fun I have had in this game...

So, how did you do two actions in your display of how the build works? I use this build im 7 monk and 4 cleric atm but I only have 1 action, so if I use radiance of dawn I cannot then follow up with a monk unarmed attack?

Made this an insane tank aoe just by changing this gear. holy lance helm(misses add orb) , thunderskin cloak (dazed with reverb), luminous armour {radiant shockwave), luminous gloves (orb), boots of stormy clamour (condition causes reverb), spineshudder amulet(range spell reverb).

You will be throwing radiant dmg like crazy with all the unarmed atks, which in turn triggers all the stacks of radiant orb AND Reverberation. throw the shield of faith or spirit guardians and watch enemies just go crazy with reverb and orbs. they go dazed and prone. haha.

str monk / tavern brawler does so much dmg

Not having a Sun Soul Monk available as a subclass is honestly very gay by Larian. Almost as bad as having Tieflings but not Aasimar available as a race choice, or not sorting Drow appropriately as an elven subrace.

In my second playthrough my Shadowheart spent Acts 1/2 as a Shadow Monk, mostly because I wanted to take advantage of the cool Monk gear sprinkled throughout the game. That one's a fun subclass, but after her big turning point (even on replays I just can't make her do the evil thing, lol) she kinda fell off. I wasn't sure what to do with her class flavor, compared to my first playthrough where I reclassed her to Light Cleric at that same point in the story.

This build looks awesome. It's exactly what I needed, I'm so excited to use it for the rest of Act 3. Found this video because I heard about the Sun Soul Monk subclass, and I wanted to see if anyone has recreated that flavor in bg3. Thank you for making this!

could this be valid for honour mode?

I think I'm going to try a 9 Monk/3 Cleric setup for this, so I can do the lvl 9 open hand aoe blast attack and hit everyone with radiant damage that way.

so basically most powerful Monk builds require act 3?

in Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition they added Rasaad the sun soul monk as a companion. He was part of a whole monastic order that followed Selune. This is technically a really good set up for Shadowheart if you go good route with her. With Shadowmonk/trickster cleric as a good bad route for her

You put a monk of Guild Wars 1? XD

I'm surprised you didn't try The Gloves of Belligerent Skies for this build. To quote the item: Effect: Affected entity has a -1 penalty to Strength, Dexterity, and CON Saves per turn remaining.
When the entity has 4+ turns of Reverberation, it takes 1-4 Thunder damage and possibly falls prone. The condition is removed afterward.
Creatures Immune to Thunder damage can't receive Reverberation." So if you are tossing around a lot of AOE radiant damage, like with your Light domain spells, AND also every time you are punching someone with radiant fists, you can end up knocking a LOT of enemies down onto the ground. It's great for crowd control. And you can get the gloves fairly early if you go dip over into the githyanki creche.

I think it’s different for ps5

Also for the ring you're the one who has to be illuminated by a light

There's one that allows you to cast crusaders mantel . Great for the build with radiant damage

Great weapons even if you are proficient with them will still use your strength modifier and not Dex like all other monk weapons do. So unfortunately even if you play a Githyanki, being great weapon proficient really isn't going to been an advantage to monk unless you were going for a strength based monk in which case you'd just go with unarmed tavern brawler for better damage anyway.

What would be the level up distribution if you went into rogue/thief as well?

f-fire is one of the strongest spells, dismissing it so quickly seems strange to me.

healing word is a Must have, can revive ppl from a long distance

start with dex 17, add the hag gift.

6/6 is better than either. Manifestations of Soul, Wholeness of Body, Improved Warding Flare. It's a no brainer.

Tagnar Oathhammer;

A stalwart and gregarious gold dwarf orphaned near the Castle Of Faith in Nashkel deep in the Western Heartlands. Growing up under the tutelage of a multi-racial cadre of well educated, kind minded, and deeply religious peoples Tagnar likewise eschews the typical gruffness and at times xenophobic attitudes of his would be fellow kin. Instead replacing said mindsets with a warm open heart, strong sense of loyalty and duty tp chosen companions, and a strong disdain for undead and fiend alike. Like many who either journeyed to, or came up in the Castle Of Faith, Tagnar found a calling to a religious practice early on, following his witnessing of one of the elder clerics fending off a band of roving marauders. Pledging body, mind, and soul to Lathander's service, then young Tagnar studied both monastic and clerical duties in equal measure. His devotion to his duties, and natural robustness from his ancestry afforded a sturdy constitution that led to long hours of waking worship and study in the Castle's libraries on history, and the religions worshipped themselves. While on an errand bound for Baldur's Gate, Tagnar found himself swept into a harrowing trial all his own. Alongside a motley group of potential, if at times fractious allies, he sets out to uncover a cure for the vile creature now occupying his mind, as well set right the wrongs now appearing before him.


Thanks a ton for giving a perfect build to use a character I've long had, and used in a few campaigns, both online and not for BG 3. Still learning the ins and outs of the game, having spent most of time just trawling around Act 1 in EA, stuff like this that covers full game builds is greatly appreciated. Given how you really urged people to make up backstories, figured I'd share the one I plan to use for this build.

If anyone likes this, and wants to use it, feel free. Following ItalianSpartacus's guide here, and keeping to Tagnar's story, keep the Charisma at start, and for the optional feat, take Tough or Resilient: Constitution if you want a thematic choice that's more helpful. Background-wise, Acolyte, and Gold Dwarf obviously, alongside Lathander as suggested. Hope you don't mind the length comment and my own build addendums for the RP flair IS. Cheers all, love this community.

I'm going to start a monk and multiclass into a druid. I'm super excited

I would've figured you'd go 6 into monk, as that is when it comes into it's own. Anything more is "nice to have" but the extra damage and everything counting as magic is SUPER nice for your unarmed attacks.