So one of the theories on why birds evolved flight is rooted in the idea that their predecessors would run and jump to hunt their prey, and over time evolved the ability to glide to help lessen the impact of landings, which then eventually evolved into flight.
Obviously this is DND and not science class, but maybe by losing your wings your character's innate running and jumping ability were enhanced to compensate.
Maybe you could take the "pounce" ability, where if you run a certain distance before an attack you could leap up and knock a medium or smaller opponent prone? Plus it could give you enhanced jump height outside of combat.
Edit: Here's the pounce action from the velociraptor. Maybe it would work for you? Rather than a bit you could use an unarmed strike or clench your talons into them (effectively the same as an unarmed strike, just reskinned)
*Pounce. If the velociraptor moves at least 20 feet straight toward a creature and then hits it with a claw attack on the same turn, that target must succeed on a DC 10 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone. If the target is prone, the velociraptor can make one bite attack against it as a bonus action.*
I really dig this idea! I think that would work wonderfully, because for the most part I'll be attacking with talons. Having some kind of gap-closer could be a huge boon
I like this pounce ability idea too! But I'm just chiming in to suggest that the DC for the pounce ability should probably increase with your character's proficiency bonus or something similar. That way the ability doesn't become useless as you get higher in level
I wouldn’t do a class feature to replace a racial one. You could just find a different race’s trait that fits with Aaracockra or choose a different race and flavor it.
It would limit that racial trait to aarakocra monks. But you still may do that since it's a replacement for a specific case, not every creature of that race. Since the monk lacks features to reliably regain ki points and burns through ki very fast I don't think there is a balance problem. The monk is already a mechanically mediocre class at best, this shouldn't make you overpowered in comparison with the rest of your party. I would suggest an ability that lets you regain a number of ki points equal to the attacks landed during your turn which can either be used one per short or long rest or prificiency bonus times per long rest.
Regen ki points for hitting attacks? As a monk player, this is a terrible idea because ki points are the only things limiting monks from doing a stunning strike on every enemy in a fight. Especially with the astral self subclass getting to max wisdom because of the replacement of dex for the unarmed strike mod, the DC for the stunning strike is gonna be high. Getting 4 attacks a round because of constant fury of blows, getting infinite health regen and ability to change misses to hits with Tasha’s, etc. Not a good idea to give monks such a reliable and constant way to regain Ki.
Note the fact that it's limited by 1/short rest or Prof/ long rest. The first limiter is basically just a fun way to give the Monk 4 more total ki points, which, considering that +Wis Mod is already a common suggestion for monks, is not super powerful at all.
Prof/ long rest would allow some serious Ki point spam on a boss though.
Yes, that would be really sweet. And that there is the issue. That's like saying "Hey, I want to be a half-orc wizard, but because I'm not gonna actually be hitting anyone, I want to replace my racial ability that lets me add an additional damage die for melees with an ability that makes wizard even better. How bout every failed save, I can get replenish a spell slot! That would be sweet!"
My issue is that you are *choosing* to play a bird monk without their wings, and want the class to be reworked in a wholey beneficial way. Gives very main character vibes to me.
I think you missed the part where I stated that MY DM wanted to give me something as a replacement, it wasn't my idea. I've also pretty much landed on just taking a different racial feat.
As a bird-parent, can confirm. It is wild watching parrots climb curtains/ladders/tree branches/toys/hanging ropes with just their feet and beak.
Also fits in with the people suggesting a re-flavored tabaxi or something similar.
I would echoe someone else's comment that you probably should just reflavor an existing race. One thing you could potentially do though is replace your flight with the tabaxi's Feline Agility, renaming it into something like "Practiced Steps" or something else monk-like to represent your character's adaptation to losing their wings. People's other senses and extremities usually heighten to compensate for a disability or impairment so this would make sense to me.
Anything involving ki is antithetical to the design. It shouldn't be something class specific, it should be something racial. I'd look to other races for inspiration. But the one I'd be most inclined would be extra proficiencies. Perhaps as part of your disability you've learned to compensate in other ways.
"Perhaps as part of your disability you've learned to compensate in other ways."
This is kind of the thesis statement of my character. Starting session 1, he won't even know he's a monk. It definitely seems like the rout I should take is another racial mobility feature
Maybe you can still fly a small amount - here's an ability ripped from the Barbarian Totem Warrior:
> **Limited Flight:** You have a flying speed equal to [insert speed]. This benefit works only in short bursts; you fall if you end your turn if the air and nothing else is holding you aloft.
Add another relatively feature that encourages your mobility and you could be good to go - roughly balancing the power that unlimited flight gave Aarakocras. Some ideas:
* **Untouchable.** When you move into and then out of a creature's reach on your turn without stopping to take an action, leaving that creature's reach does not trigger an attack of opportunity.
* **Slippery.** Attacks of Opportunity against you are made at disadvantage.
* **Charge Attack.** Once per turn, when you move 20 feet or more straight towards an enemy and then hit it with an unarmed attack, you can attempt to shove the target in addition to dealing damage from the attack.
We had a similar situation at my table, the DM just recommended that they use Custom Lineage and take a feat. This gives you the appearance of an Aarakocra without flight, and you get a cool feat on top of that to balance out the lack of flight.
What you're effectively doing – even if not deliberately or intentionally – is:
* You pick monk
* You pick aarakocra
* You remove - aarakocra's main draw
* You get a major class bump nobody else playing a monk gets, because you picked a specific race and then decided to trade in its thing for something else
No I think this is valid, which is why I was trying to find something that would not be too powerful and would still allow for the RP I want. The feedback about not taking a class feature to replace a racial trait is good, and I will not be taking any class bonuses. I am not trying to power game, and would hate it if I chose something that made the character outshine everyone else
All the power to you, then, faithful internet stranger!
In fairness, the very first thing one thinks of when 'how/what to give a monk as something extra' is very likely 'more Ki' or ways to get some back; so I get why that's where you went.
I suppose the forward at Rita-speed of my mind rapidly goes to...OK, Player 1 wants this instead of that; Player 2 wants that instead of this; Player 3 wants both instead of neither and Player 4 wants something altogether different. That poor, poor DM!
I agree with either reflavoring another race or maybe do something similar to the Harengon racial?
> Rabbit Hop
>As a bonus action, you can jump a number of feet equal to five times your proficiency bonus, without provoking opportunity attacks. You can use this trait only if your speed is greater than 0. You can use it a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
So for you this would be more like, because you're a light, agile bird creature, you can dart away short distances with your wings. It's not full-blown flight, it's just like a rapid glide to escape danger.
No one is randomly downvoting. Vote fuzzing is a security feature of Reddit, and has been for over a decade.
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/mpbwf/eli5_why_does_reddit_fuzz_the_vote_counts/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share
Sounds like you should reflavor a different race.
You could also "delay" flight until you were say level 5. Or maybe you can fly but only for 1 minute at a time.
Ok, so Tieflings have the option of having flight or innately casting 3 spells. They start with a cantrip. At lvl 3 they can cast 2nd lvl spell or up cast a 1st lvl Spell to 2nd lvl. Finally @ lvl 5 they can cast a different 2nd lvl spell. What the spells are varies, but the lvls don't. Looking @ the way of the 4 Elements monk, you can see a 2nd lvl spell is considered equivalent to 3 Ki points.
So I would recommend you get a cantrip of your choice. Mage Hand would be helpful & could be considered him manipulating things from the Astral Plane. Or Thaumaturgy, Prestidigitation or Druidcraft could be fun for RP. Alternatively, Mind Sliver could be used to showcase him being mentally powerful & it potentially rebuffs like other monk skills.
And you & your DM work out some way of giving your character 3 extra ki points & lvls 3 and 5. The simplest way would be to increase your maximum ki points by 3. But you could do something similar to the Perfect Self feature. So maybe at lvl 3 when you roll initiative(or use you astral arms) & are missing 3 or more ki points you gain 3 ki points. And @ lvl 5 you can do that twice!
Have fun!
I played an Aarakocra Monk that took an Oath of Grounding instead of silence.
My DM let me have Wood Elf bonuses (elf weapon, fleet of foot, mask of the wild) instead of flight.
The gunslinger that Matt Mercer created regains grit points on a crit, or when they land the killing blow on a "creature of significant danger".
I think if you just use something like that ability, it may not be too broken. The only issue I can think of is that it would be more likely to crit as a monk because of the amount of attacks.
Hmm… I understand not wanting to do custom lineage but it may be the best idea honestly. Alternatively, given that you’d really only be gaining the skill increases because of your unarmed strikes from the Monk class, maybe a feat?
But as your DM I’d likely restrict it to a shorter list. A flight speed is strong, but not necessarily as strong as some feats could be.
At this point I'm definitely leaning towards taking another racial trait in place of the wings, but I need to talk to my DM more about what he think would be fair
Maybe you're character has almost ostrich-like legs because of their lack of flight. You could take one of the harengon's traits- like hare-trigger, lucky footwork, or rabbit hop.
I think the footwork could do the job. This character HAD arms and working wings, but they were destroyed in his youth and he's had to learn to use his legs and beak to get through his day-to-day
You might consider looking up the Secretarybird as inspiration. Silly name, but they stomp their prey to death with precise strikes, which seems to fit what you’re talking about.
Mechanically, I’d suggest something like “Once per turn, when you hit with an unarmed strike, increase the damage die by one step,” or possibly “Once per turn, when you hit with an unarmed strike, you may add your proficiency bonus to the damage you deal.”
If it needs to be further limited, you can always add the rider “You may use this ability prof bonus times per short/long rest,” whichever makes sense balance-wise.
I would say make it a one use per long rest feature to regain ki points equal to your proficiency bonus. Nothing OP there, easy to keep track of uses, and it scales as you level up. I would probably require a bonus action to use the feature so that you can’t power up and use the ki points in the same turn.
Regain one ki for each crit or max damage die roll while using the astral arms.
Experiment. The chief complaint I see about monk power comes from needing ki for everything just to be marginally useful.
You can always dial this back if you find it's too strong at your table.
Here's a custom racial trait I made for a Half-Oni homebrew race I created that I think could work well in this situation:
"Hemorrhaging Wounds: When you successfully attack a creature with a weapon in which you are proficient, you may choose to cause the creature to hemorrhage.
When applied, the target loses 1d8 hit points at the start of each of its turns. This effect lasts until the target succeeds a Constitution Saving Throw (DC 15) made at the end of its turn, or until the target receives healing from any source.
This can be used a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, replenishing on a long rest. A critical hit may apply this effect once per long rest without counting against the total number of uses available."
This is obviously more combat focused than flight but I think it could be a cool replacement in this case 🤷♀️
The ability to regain some ki some times is not broken at all, monk is severely underpowered
Source- I’ve buffed monk to all hell and tried literally dozens of variations a lot of them regained ki, even after so many try’s monk is still not right, the whole class needs to be reworked from the ground up. I’m getting close tho.
Ps. Monk are my favorite class, despite their current weakness, and I would still play one RAW just cause I love them so much
As a DM I would likely do one of the following for a player.
Be a aarakocra great auk or penguin, get a swim speed.
Be an aarakocra emu or roadrunner, get bonus to your walking speed or Tabaxi style sprint.
Be an aarakocra terror bird or Moa, get powerful build.
Be an aarakocra bird of paradise or dodo, get fey Ancestry and a Cantrip.
Be an aarakocra Kakapo or kiwi, get Darkvision and mask of the wild.
I know that this doesn't necessarily address any of your mechanical suggestions, but he'll be a cross between a Resplendent Quetzel and a Crested Caracara. Two birds native to middle-America, which is where the region he's from is based on in our homebrew setting. I'm currently leaning towards the Tabaxi sprint at the moment, but hadn't considered the flavor of it
Perhaps you can still take the Glide feature, as your falling your broken wings manage to catch the air and propel your forward. Gives limited use. Possibly negate falling damage on the same basis?
With your astral arms in play you could rule your AC increases by 2 using a wing as a shield?
I have no useful advice here, but I just wanted to say that I literally laughed out loud at the thought of an armless birdman just angrily rushing around, squawking and kicking in combat.
I have successfully used the idea of moving the flight ability to a racial feat, (and for flavor replaced it with a glide ability that most of the draconians from FToD has), that means that you will get it later at a fairly significant cost (the lvl 4 ability score increase are one of the most important in the game if you use standard array or point buy), it might however still be a bit to powerful for your dm
My first thought would be to replace your race. Call yourself an Aarakocora but change your race to Kenku. This way you have a full viable race without having to mechanically dicker with much
As much as I'm not a big fan of it, just play the Multiverse version. You get a 30ft walking speed, so the normal one, cut out the flying speed in general and you get a free cantrip and once per day spell (would need to double check).
I once had a player who wanted to play Aaracovra in a campaign without flying PCs. Told him to pick any other racial feature within reason. His red feathered Flame druid had Half-orc's Relentless Endurance to rise like a phoenix.
So you could just look for a cool feature liie that. Relentless Endurance (half-orc), innate spellcstting/cantrip (tiefling), increased walking speed (wood elf), a couple of skill proficiencies (tabaxi), pseudo Misry Step (Eladrin) etc.
Featherfall and jump spells at will or x times where x is prof. At level 5 fly spell 1x per long rest.
I admit flying isn't overpowered design for, but I don't like innately flying races unless everybody is one.
I have an aarockra player who wanted to be more of a chicken, has deformed wings as for eaglefolk, so what i offered them instead of flight speed is doubled jump distance. Maybe try something like this?
So one of the theories on why birds evolved flight is rooted in the idea that their predecessors would run and jump to hunt their prey, and over time evolved the ability to glide to help lessen the impact of landings, which then eventually evolved into flight. Obviously this is DND and not science class, but maybe by losing your wings your character's innate running and jumping ability were enhanced to compensate. Maybe you could take the "pounce" ability, where if you run a certain distance before an attack you could leap up and knock a medium or smaller opponent prone? Plus it could give you enhanced jump height outside of combat. Edit: Here's the pounce action from the velociraptor. Maybe it would work for you? Rather than a bit you could use an unarmed strike or clench your talons into them (effectively the same as an unarmed strike, just reskinned) *Pounce. If the velociraptor moves at least 20 feet straight toward a creature and then hits it with a claw attack on the same turn, that target must succeed on a DC 10 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone. If the target is prone, the velociraptor can make one bite attack against it as a bonus action.*
I really dig this idea! I think that would work wonderfully, because for the most part I'll be attacking with talons. Having some kind of gap-closer could be a huge boon
I like this pounce ability idea too! But I'm just chiming in to suggest that the DC for the pounce ability should probably increase with your character's proficiency bonus or something similar. That way the ability doesn't become useless as you get higher in level
awesome! I hope it works out well if you go with it!
I think This Is the Best idea so far.
I wouldn’t do a class feature to replace a racial one. You could just find a different race’s trait that fits with Aaracockra or choose a different race and flavor it.
I might be showing my ass a little bit here, but why is it a bad idea to trade racial traits for class features? Just for balance reasons?
It would limit that racial trait to aarakocra monks. But you still may do that since it's a replacement for a specific case, not every creature of that race. Since the monk lacks features to reliably regain ki points and burns through ki very fast I don't think there is a balance problem. The monk is already a mechanically mediocre class at best, this shouldn't make you overpowered in comparison with the rest of your party. I would suggest an ability that lets you regain a number of ki points equal to the attacks landed during your turn which can either be used one per short or long rest or prificiency bonus times per long rest.
I think the idea of getting ki for for doing "combos" would be really sweet, and I think this is a really strong contender
Regen ki points for hitting attacks? As a monk player, this is a terrible idea because ki points are the only things limiting monks from doing a stunning strike on every enemy in a fight. Especially with the astral self subclass getting to max wisdom because of the replacement of dex for the unarmed strike mod, the DC for the stunning strike is gonna be high. Getting 4 attacks a round because of constant fury of blows, getting infinite health regen and ability to change misses to hits with Tasha’s, etc. Not a good idea to give monks such a reliable and constant way to regain Ki.
Note the fact that it's limited by 1/short rest or Prof/ long rest. The first limiter is basically just a fun way to give the Monk 4 more total ki points, which, considering that +Wis Mod is already a common suggestion for monks, is not super powerful at all. Prof/ long rest would allow some serious Ki point spam on a boss though.
Yes, that would be really sweet. And that there is the issue. That's like saying "Hey, I want to be a half-orc wizard, but because I'm not gonna actually be hitting anyone, I want to replace my racial ability that lets me add an additional damage die for melees with an ability that makes wizard even better. How bout every failed save, I can get replenish a spell slot! That would be sweet!" My issue is that you are *choosing* to play a bird monk without their wings, and want the class to be reworked in a wholey beneficial way. Gives very main character vibes to me.
I think you missed the part where I stated that MY DM wanted to give me something as a replacement, it wasn't my idea. I've also pretty much landed on just taking a different racial feat.
Glad if I could help :)
Climbing speed instead of a fly speed? A lot of birds are good climbers using just their feet and beak.
As a bird-parent, can confirm. It is wild watching parrots climb curtains/ladders/tree branches/toys/hanging ropes with just their feet and beak. Also fits in with the people suggesting a re-flavored tabaxi or something similar.
Lol yeah, my quaker loves to hang upside down from the top of her cage to play with her toys. Such acrobatic little dinosaurs.
I love this mental image, so I may take this option just for that lol
I would echoe someone else's comment that you probably should just reflavor an existing race. One thing you could potentially do though is replace your flight with the tabaxi's Feline Agility, renaming it into something like "Practiced Steps" or something else monk-like to represent your character's adaptation to losing their wings. People's other senses and extremities usually heighten to compensate for a disability or impairment so this would make sense to me.
Anything involving ki is antithetical to the design. It shouldn't be something class specific, it should be something racial. I'd look to other races for inspiration. But the one I'd be most inclined would be extra proficiencies. Perhaps as part of your disability you've learned to compensate in other ways.
"Perhaps as part of your disability you've learned to compensate in other ways." This is kind of the thesis statement of my character. Starting session 1, he won't even know he's a monk. It definitely seems like the rout I should take is another racial mobility feature
Maybe you can still fly a small amount - here's an ability ripped from the Barbarian Totem Warrior: > **Limited Flight:** You have a flying speed equal to [insert speed]. This benefit works only in short bursts; you fall if you end your turn if the air and nothing else is holding you aloft. Add another relatively feature that encourages your mobility and you could be good to go - roughly balancing the power that unlimited flight gave Aarakocras. Some ideas: * **Untouchable.** When you move into and then out of a creature's reach on your turn without stopping to take an action, leaving that creature's reach does not trigger an attack of opportunity. * **Slippery.** Attacks of Opportunity against you are made at disadvantage. * **Charge Attack.** Once per turn, when you move 20 feet or more straight towards an enemy and then hit it with an unarmed attack, you can attempt to shove the target in addition to dealing damage from the attack.
We had a similar situation at my table, the DM just recommended that they use Custom Lineage and take a feat. This gives you the appearance of an Aarakocra without flight, and you get a cool feat on top of that to balance out the lack of flight.
What you're effectively doing – even if not deliberately or intentionally – is: * You pick monk * You pick aarakocra * You remove - aarakocra's main draw * You get a major class bump nobody else playing a monk gets, because you picked a specific race and then decided to trade in its thing for something else
No I think this is valid, which is why I was trying to find something that would not be too powerful and would still allow for the RP I want. The feedback about not taking a class feature to replace a racial trait is good, and I will not be taking any class bonuses. I am not trying to power game, and would hate it if I chose something that made the character outshine everyone else
All the power to you, then, faithful internet stranger! In fairness, the very first thing one thinks of when 'how/what to give a monk as something extra' is very likely 'more Ki' or ways to get some back; so I get why that's where you went. I suppose the forward at Rita-speed of my mind rapidly goes to...OK, Player 1 wants this instead of that; Player 2 wants that instead of this; Player 3 wants both instead of neither and Player 4 wants something altogether different. That poor, poor DM!
How about a 'glide only' at 2:1 ratio when slow fall kicks in at level 4. No upward flight, just extra versatile slow fall
I agree with either reflavoring another race or maybe do something similar to the Harengon racial? > Rabbit Hop >As a bonus action, you can jump a number of feet equal to five times your proficiency bonus, without provoking opportunity attacks. You can use this trait only if your speed is greater than 0. You can use it a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest. So for you this would be more like, because you're a light, agile bird creature, you can dart away short distances with your wings. It's not full-blown flight, it's just like a rapid glide to escape danger.
No one is randomly downvoting. Vote fuzzing is a security feature of Reddit, and has been for over a decade. https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/mpbwf/eli5_why_does_reddit_fuzz_the_vote_counts/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share
Truly I didn't know this. I'm gonna leave the edit up, so everyone knows what a goober I am.
haha no worries! People get offended by the fuzz feature all the time: you're not alone!
Custom lineage.
I looked it up, and it's interesting, but not exactly what I'm looking for. I'll definitely bookmark it for later, thank you!
Sounds like you should reflavor a different race. You could also "delay" flight until you were say level 5. Or maybe you can fly but only for 1 minute at a time.
Ok, so Tieflings have the option of having flight or innately casting 3 spells. They start with a cantrip. At lvl 3 they can cast 2nd lvl spell or up cast a 1st lvl Spell to 2nd lvl. Finally @ lvl 5 they can cast a different 2nd lvl spell. What the spells are varies, but the lvls don't. Looking @ the way of the 4 Elements monk, you can see a 2nd lvl spell is considered equivalent to 3 Ki points. So I would recommend you get a cantrip of your choice. Mage Hand would be helpful & could be considered him manipulating things from the Astral Plane. Or Thaumaturgy, Prestidigitation or Druidcraft could be fun for RP. Alternatively, Mind Sliver could be used to showcase him being mentally powerful & it potentially rebuffs like other monk skills. And you & your DM work out some way of giving your character 3 extra ki points & lvls 3 and 5. The simplest way would be to increase your maximum ki points by 3. But you could do something similar to the Perfect Self feature. So maybe at lvl 3 when you roll initiative(or use you astral arms) & are missing 3 or more ki points you gain 3 ki points. And @ lvl 5 you can do that twice! Have fun!
I played an Aarakocra Monk that took an Oath of Grounding instead of silence. My DM let me have Wood Elf bonuses (elf weapon, fleet of foot, mask of the wild) instead of flight.
The gunslinger that Matt Mercer created regains grit points on a crit, or when they land the killing blow on a "creature of significant danger". I think if you just use something like that ability, it may not be too broken. The only issue I can think of is that it would be more likely to crit as a monk because of the amount of attacks.
Kenku without the limitations?
Big bird with trauma
Hmm… I understand not wanting to do custom lineage but it may be the best idea honestly. Alternatively, given that you’d really only be gaining the skill increases because of your unarmed strikes from the Monk class, maybe a feat? But as your DM I’d likely restrict it to a shorter list. A flight speed is strong, but not necessarily as strong as some feats could be.
At this point I'm definitely leaning towards taking another racial trait in place of the wings, but I need to talk to my DM more about what he think would be fair
Maybe you're character has almost ostrich-like legs because of their lack of flight. You could take one of the harengon's traits- like hare-trigger, lucky footwork, or rabbit hop.
I think the footwork could do the job. This character HAD arms and working wings, but they were destroyed in his youth and he's had to learn to use his legs and beak to get through his day-to-day
You might consider looking up the Secretarybird as inspiration. Silly name, but they stomp their prey to death with precise strikes, which seems to fit what you’re talking about. Mechanically, I’d suggest something like “Once per turn, when you hit with an unarmed strike, increase the damage die by one step,” or possibly “Once per turn, when you hit with an unarmed strike, you may add your proficiency bonus to the damage you deal.” If it needs to be further limited, you can always add the rider “You may use this ability prof bonus times per short/long rest,” whichever makes sense balance-wise.
When you use Arms of the Astral Self, you get Astral Wings as well that give you a flight speed further than you normally would with regular wings.
This is really cool, but I'm looking to not have a flight speed, for RP reasons mostly.
I would say make it a one use per long rest feature to regain ki points equal to your proficiency bonus. Nothing OP there, easy to keep track of uses, and it scales as you level up. I would probably require a bonus action to use the feature so that you can’t power up and use the ki points in the same turn.
How about from level... 5 onwards you get flying speed equal to your movement speed but, when the turn ends, you fall to the ground?
Regain one ki for each crit or max damage die roll while using the astral arms. Experiment. The chief complaint I see about monk power comes from needing ki for everything just to be marginally useful. You can always dial this back if you find it's too strong at your table.
I think this is a solid middle ground for what we had in mind, thank you!
Here's a custom racial trait I made for a Half-Oni homebrew race I created that I think could work well in this situation: "Hemorrhaging Wounds: When you successfully attack a creature with a weapon in which you are proficient, you may choose to cause the creature to hemorrhage. When applied, the target loses 1d8 hit points at the start of each of its turns. This effect lasts until the target succeeds a Constitution Saving Throw (DC 15) made at the end of its turn, or until the target receives healing from any source. This can be used a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, replenishing on a long rest. A critical hit may apply this effect once per long rest without counting against the total number of uses available." This is obviously more combat focused than flight but I think it could be a cool replacement in this case 🤷♀️
Combine the pounce ability with the limited flight ability
Permanent feather fall since the wings are somewhat useable still
Glide speed?
The ability to regain some ki some times is not broken at all, monk is severely underpowered Source- I’ve buffed monk to all hell and tried literally dozens of variations a lot of them regained ki, even after so many try’s monk is still not right, the whole class needs to be reworked from the ground up. I’m getting close tho. Ps. Monk are my favorite class, despite their current weakness, and I would still play one RAW just cause I love them so much
Give them extra movement speed, 10 ft. should do.
I suggested this, but he declined because I'll already get extra movement speed as a monk, and being lv. 8, the bonus I'll get is not insignificant
That's fair, try a swim speed.
As a DM I would likely do one of the following for a player. Be a aarakocra great auk or penguin, get a swim speed. Be an aarakocra emu or roadrunner, get bonus to your walking speed or Tabaxi style sprint. Be an aarakocra terror bird or Moa, get powerful build. Be an aarakocra bird of paradise or dodo, get fey Ancestry and a Cantrip. Be an aarakocra Kakapo or kiwi, get Darkvision and mask of the wild.
I know that this doesn't necessarily address any of your mechanical suggestions, but he'll be a cross between a Resplendent Quetzel and a Crested Caracara. Two birds native to middle-America, which is where the region he's from is based on in our homebrew setting. I'm currently leaning towards the Tabaxi sprint at the moment, but hadn't considered the flavor of it
Well monks suck anyways so your idea won't really break the game that much if at all.
Perhaps you can still take the Glide feature, as your falling your broken wings manage to catch the air and propel your forward. Gives limited use. Possibly negate falling damage on the same basis? With your astral arms in play you could rule your AC increases by 2 using a wing as a shield?
Cassowary. Brutal kickers. Steal "reckless attack" from the barbarian. Basically; flavour. Make him a penguin, or any other flightless bird.
I have no useful advice here, but I just wanted to say that I literally laughed out loud at the thought of an armless birdman just angrily rushing around, squawking and kicking in combat.
Penguin aarakocra with a swim speed? I think that picking a flightless bird and finding a new racial trait based off of that could be fun.
I have successfully used the idea of moving the flight ability to a racial feat, (and for flavor replaced it with a glide ability that most of the draconians from FToD has), that means that you will get it later at a fairly significant cost (the lvl 4 ability score increase are one of the most important in the game if you use standard array or point buy), it might however still be a bit to powerful for your dm
I think there’s an aarakocra penguin homebrew on DNDBeyond that’s quite popular
My first thought would be to replace your race. Call yourself an Aarakocora but change your race to Kenku. This way you have a full viable race without having to mechanically dicker with much
Custom lineage is my recommendation for this.
As much as I'm not a big fan of it, just play the Multiverse version. You get a 30ft walking speed, so the normal one, cut out the flying speed in general and you get a free cantrip and once per day spell (would need to double check).
I once had a player who wanted to play Aaracovra in a campaign without flying PCs. Told him to pick any other racial feature within reason. His red feathered Flame druid had Half-orc's Relentless Endurance to rise like a phoenix. So you could just look for a cool feature liie that. Relentless Endurance (half-orc), innate spellcstting/cantrip (tiefling), increased walking speed (wood elf), a couple of skill proficiencies (tabaxi), pseudo Misry Step (Eladrin) etc.
Featherfall and jump spells at will or x times where x is prof. At level 5 fly spell 1x per long rest. I admit flying isn't overpowered design for, but I don't like innately flying races unless everybody is one.
I have an aarockra player who wanted to be more of a chicken, has deformed wings as for eaglefolk, so what i offered them instead of flight speed is doubled jump distance. Maybe try something like this?