Monks Underpowered?

[Thanee]

Actually (not to quibble, just making sure I remember correctly), the bracers are bonus squared x 1000, so +8 is 64k. The armor and shield are both also bonus squared x 1000 and at +5 each equal 100k. they beat the bracers in price, but not by much!

5² = 25

But, yes it was a good find. One of those things where we fought something nasty and got a "reward"; one roll on the major magic item table. The monk, in his first battle with the party, got very lucky...

Oh yes, those rolls can turn out quite nicely... in one campaign we got five major item rolls (could also choose from which book and which table) at the end of a HUGE campaign...

I got some nifty stuff for my arcane trickster... manual of gainful exercise +5, tome of clear thought +3, pearl of power (two spells), ring of shooting stars (for the familiar), and a greater vestment of power [MoF]

I think the others still hate me...

Bye
Thanee

 

[Armadon63]

A mage slaying monk is pretty uber but you wont have all the feats till level 9. Also you are a one trick poney but at that level wizards are a major threat.

 

[pbd]

5² = 25

Bye
Thanee

So it does; not to quibble, but appearently I can't do simple math anymore (long week).

 

[Jeb McDonald]

I've played a half-orc monk from 1st level up through 16th level and have found the monk a very playable character. As folks mentioned earlier, it is important to have the right niche into which the monk can fit. By no means should the monk be the party's number one fighter. However, the monk makes a great support character. Pretty good AC, an OK attack bonus, flurry of blows, TONS of movement, and pretty tough to kill (improved evasion, dimension door, many immunities, spell resistance). Granted, you need to have 4 pretty good stats (of which I had only 2 ), but you can still be pretty decent with some magical aid.
My monk has AC 27 and attacks at +18/+18/+18/+13/+8 for 3d8+5 damage (took improved natural weapon feat). During combat, he waits a round or two for the fighters to engage and then runs around the opposite side of the baddies (using his 90' movement) to set up flanking attacks. Uses tumble, dodge, and mobility a great deal as well.
Underpowered if you want a front-line fighter, but not underpowered for the monk class.

 

[Klaus]

Is there any reason why a monk couldn't wear +1 gauntlets? Gauntlets are listed in the weapons table along with Unarmed Strikes. Their description says that apart from dealing lethal damage (as opposed to nonlethal), they're considered unarmed strikes. So, the way I see it, a monk could just as easily get himself a pair of +1 adamantine gauntlets or whatnot, making up for the non-full BAB progression.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Is there any reason why a monk couldn't wear +1 gauntlets?

Gauntlets are not monk weapons.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Is there any reason why a monk couldn't wear +1 gauntlets? Gauntlets are listed in the weapons table along with Unarmed Strikes. Their description says that apart from dealing lethal damage (as opposed to nonlethal), they're considered unarmed strikes. So, the way I see it, a monk could just as easily get himself a pair of +1 adamantine gauntlets or whatnot, making up for the non-full BAB progression.

It also doesn't apply to your whole body, and monks don't have to be pugilists.

 

[ARandomGod]

Gauntlets are not monk weapons.

Unless you're a warfoged, then they are. Even better, really, they're "battlefists" and grant you the "Improved unarmed" feat on top of being enchanted as +1


That being said, Patryn is right, gauntlets aren't listed as monk weapons and therefore are not. However there are many who say you can do it anyhow.

 

[darthkilmor]

Gauntlets are not monk weapons.

But a monk with a lvl in anything else that is profiecent could do that.
So then the question becomes, what dmg does a monk do with gauntlets on? If its considered an unarmed strike then wouldnt it be his monk dmg ? certainly sounds like an easy way to bypass some DR.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

.
So then the question becomes, what dmg does a monk do with gauntlets on?

He's attacking with gauntlets, which are a weapon in their own right. He therefore does the same unarmed strike damage that anyone else would do when using gauntlets - 1d3 + Str lethal for a Medium character.