Introduction

When homebrewing, it is important to understand the values of the game resources both, for creating new ways to use them such as new spells, and for creating new resources as part of; subclasses, magic items, or new classes.

If you don’t care to read this whole discussion, the value of 1 ki is equal to one spell level in 9 out of 10 cases as shown by comparing ki abilities with spells. But that’s not all we will be discussing here, in addition we will look at how ki progression compares to spell progression of half and full casters.

side note: I have looked at the value of a ki point before and came to the same conclusion. But I thought I would do more comparisons to casters this time since I often hear a monk compared to a half caster and this comparison has been used to create full caster psionic classes.

base class comparisons

1. Flurry of blows
   Value: 1st level spell slot
   comparison notes

   At level one we can expect this ability to be dealing around 2d4+6 damage. without calculating for accuracy that’s an average of 12 damage, compared to the DMGs spell creation guide a first level spell should be dealing 2d10 damage (average 12). While this ability does require the use of your bonus action which would be a value increase it is offset slightly by the requirement that it is used on the same turn as the attack action.

2. Patient defense
   Value: <1st level spell slot
   comparison notes

   While this is a powerful ability, when compared to the defensive capability one can get with a 1st level spell slot this pales. For this we are comparing it to the shield spell. Patient defense is used as a bonus action and not a reaction making it less valuable, additionally we can calculate the average roll adjustment by disadvantage as about 3.4 (this article does a good job of explaining). Of course 3 is less than 5 making this ability absolutely not worth a 1st level spell slot

3. Step of the wind
   Value: 1st level spell slot
   comparison notes

   Escaping from a melee is highly valuable to characters with low health, it’s one reason misty step is a common ‘must have’ spell. While this ability can’t get you as far and has less overall functionality, that should be expected since misty step is a 2nd level spell. If you have allies you can position yourself around so pursuers provoke opportunity attacks then this is definitely worth it.

4. Quickened healing
   Value: 1st level spell slot
   comparison notes

   Since this is a simple healing spell we can compare it directly to cure wounds. At 4th level this heals 1d4+2 (average 5) versus cure wounds that we can expect to heal 1d8+2 or +3 (average 8 or 9). With the lower healing and the inability to target allies, why would I place this as a value of 1st level spell slot? Because it scales to 1d6+3 the very next level to an average of 7 and continues to scale after that.

5. Focused aim
   Value: 1 ki to 1 spell level
   comparison notes

   This ones a little tough. Increasing your attack roll by 2 is statistically going to increase your damage for the attack by 10% by increasing your accuracy. For comparison spells that increase your accuracy are… true strike… Well, we will compare it anyway. This ability is made less valuable by comparison because true strike increases your attack roll by 3.4 (I’ll direct you to this article again) and also this ability requires resources. However this ability is made more valuable by; not requiring an action, by being usable after you know the result of your attack, and not needing to use it the turn before you intend to attack. Overall I’d say the positives outweigh the negatives enough for this to be worth it. I’d say that in a vacuum this is in my opinion slightly less valuable than divine smite.

6. Diamond soul
   Value: 1st level spell slot
   comparison notes

   For the comparison we will use silvery barbs. This ability is made less powerful than silvery barbs by; only affecting saving throws, and not also having a second effect. It is made significantly more powerful by not requiring a reaction.

7. Empty body effect one
   Value: indeterminate. I would feel very good using a 4th level spell slot on this however, it is powerful.

8. Empty body effect two
   Value: depends
   comparison notes

   It is still the full effect of the 9th level spell, just with seven less targets. It is only really useful if the DM allows it to be useful and is prepared to handle the spell, which is harder to do when only one member of the party is astral projecting.

Subclass comparisons

To not cause these comparisons to overstay their welcome I’m only going to point out monk subclasses with casting

1. Way of shadow
   The way of shadow subclass can cast four different 2nd level spells from 3rd level, on a 1 ki to 1 spell level rate. This casting is actually a faster progression than half casters have and as fast as a full caster. However the progression is flat as those are the only spells they can cast and they cannot upcast them.

2. Sun soul
   The sun soul has, at 6th level the ability to cast burning hands, a 1st level spell for a 1 + 1 ki per spell level cost. The fact that it is being cast as a bonus action is likely the cause for this 1 ki tax. You might note that with 1 ki placed at one 1st level spell slot of value it is worth 2 sorcery points, enough to use quickened spell metamagic. The only other observation I will make is that it’s a bit late to be getting a 1st level spell.

3. Four elements
   For some reason the monk of four elements is really bad at doing the one thing it’s supposed to do, with the redeeming feature of having spell progression of a half caster as a subclass. Every spell has a 1 ki point tax applied.

Spell slot growth comparisons

These numbers will be presented in both charts and graphs. When looking at these numbers it is important to note that spell slots, with some exceptions, recover at long rests and not short rests like ki points.

Below is a chart and graph comparing the growth of the number of spell slots between half casters, full casters, and the growth of ki points for the monk

and below is a chart and graph comparing the growth of combined spell levels. that is the level of each spell slot added together.

If you read this far. let me know if you want to join me in making a half caster, ki caster. I have some ideas laid out already for an elemental focused class in this fashion, but I would need some help because I am currently working on an update to a previous class I made.