Monk Preview

[Dice4Hire]

Mighty Monk Merge (since there were 4 threads about it at once)

Have you got the power description for that?

 

[mach1.9pants]

Mighty Monk Merge

Thanks, the name of my first monk character +++YOINK+++

 

[Baumi]

Halfing Monks rule now (Dex-Bonus, same damage, bonus vs. Opportunity Attacks,..)!

I also like that they don't need armor (besides Cloth) and the Full Techniques look interesting (Combo Maneuvers).

But I do think that they lack in damage, especially for a striker. If compared to a sorcerer (Bonus damage also from a secondary attribute) he lacks the increasing damage per tier (Sorcerer also damages multible enemies). Also his powers itself have low damage and the [W] doesn't seem to be higher than d8. It might be migrated by the advantage that he need only to hit one enemy and all flurry attacks hit automatically, but I would have to try it to be sure about that.

Toughness is also a problem for them. The AC should be ok (like a Rogue), but they don't have more then average Striker HP which is a problem because they perform best when surrounded by enemies.

 

[AllisterH]

Didn't the old Wizardry series classify monks as explicitly psionic or am I misremembering it in my old age

I can see why WOTC got rid of "ki". In 3.5, ki was a powersource that allowed the designers to grant supernatural effects but now?

I'm not sure what the difference would exist that would make "ki" unique from BOTH the "Martial" and "Psionic" powersource

 

[Keefe the Thief]

Yes and no - monks could use psionic magic in Wizardry, but it was "wizardly" magic, as in slinging spells around. A little Rolemaster-y, adding spell-lists to martial classes, really.

But yeah, i keep getting a Wiz 7 vibe from 4e, what with Draconians, Monks and stuff. Keep it coming.

 

[armorclass10]

Very interesting indeed. I have a player who is using GG's version of the Monk. We will sit down and decide what he wants to do. Switch to the playtest or keep the GG version, my guess is the GG version. IMO it's an older school feeling monk (we are old school guys), but then again I haven't read the whole playtest just yet....

But in all honesty I like the GG version better so far, just the old schooler in me...it harks back to the early days.

I can also see the look in my player's eyes when I mention the words psionic and Monk in same sentence.....it's just a word but we are grognards, and I just know they won't like the word psionic next to a monk LOL.

I have to admit I have been waiting forever for this.

 

[webrunner]

I'm not so sure. Which came first, the idea for the warden or the idea for a separate primal power source? If they hadn't decided to make primal its own power source, is there an impetus to come up with the warden at all?

I know they say they aren't trying to fill the grid, but I think each new power source forces them to at least think about the grid, and I think that can generate good ideas that might not have come about otherwise. I was excited to see what cool ideas ki was going to generate, and I'm somewhat disillusioned to find that the answer was apparently "None."

It almost seems to me that they're trying heavily not to fill the grid, which is really just as bad: they're still letting the grid define what classes they make. We might have a Martial Controller (trapper?) if they weren't.


Edit: Anyone think it's odd they gave us four at-wills? The Centered Breath monk is dancing cobras and five storms.. but the other two seem to also be at home with the same concepts, so I wonder what the other monk build will be like.

And do you think you'll be able to take "weapon proficiency: monk unarmed strike" with say, two-blade ranger or tempest fighter?

 

[Plane Sailing]

Broadly speaking, what do the monk at-wills do?

 

[Blizzardb]

Monk at-wills are "packages" of attack and movement actions, called Full Disciplines (some Encounter Powers also are Full Disciplines). You can combine only the attack or movement with another action, but you can't combine two Full Disciplines without spending an AP.

Monk at-will attacks offer knockback, push, burst 1 attack and extra damage. Their movement components offer mobility, jump, shifting and swapping places with others.

 

[Shroomy]

I noticed that none of the at-will powers do double damage at 21st level, I wonder if this was intentional or an oversight.

I think it may be intentional. At 21st level, a monk's flurry of blows effectively becomes a close burst 1 that deals auto-damage, and by that point, the auto-damage is probably equivalent or better than the extra average damage of an additional d6 or d8. I do think that there is an oversight in the power though, since it has the Implement keyword but doesn't deal Wis Modifier + Implement damage.