Talk:Way of the Broken Thief (5e Subclass)

Balance

There's... at least a few balance issues, I think, mainly in Outlaw Training:

• Dirty Eyes. Starting from 3rd level, a monk of this archetype can make a creature blinded—or even make several creatures blinded per turn. It doesn't specify a saving throw or attack roll (which it should), but even assuming this requires an attack roll it emulates the most powerful aspect of a 2nd level spell at will, several times per turn. Even that spell doesn't force an ancient red dragon to use its tremendously powerful action to get rid of it, either.
• Below the Belt. Again, this can potentially inflict a powerful condition incapacitated several times per turn, from only 3rd level. It says "until they make a saving throw," but doesn't specify it's at the start or the end of the turn (which needless to say is quite important when it can rob a creature of practically its entire turn).

These two capabilities seem much more potent that the third, which is otherwise balanced on its own. Blinded and incapacitated, again, are very powerful conditions (especially compared to the third option, prone). I think these two features should be better clarified—ideally requiring both a successful attack roll and a saving throw, and require at least 1 ki point to use. This would in my opinion still make them much stronger than the Open Hand Technique gained at the same level from the Way of the Open Hand archetype, but at least they would have a cost to offset their use. - Guy (talk) 12:25, 7 May 2017 (UTC)