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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Agback" data-source="post: 2896645" data-attributes="member: 5328">Is it worth looking at a strong monk fighting a dextrous monk? Let's try the Level 6 NPC specimens out of the DMG.Dextrous monk:  hp 36, AC 16, AB +8/+5, damage d6+3 (kama)Strong monk:     hp 36, AC 15, AB +9/+6, damage d6+4 (kama)Dextrous monk hits on a 7 and a 10, a total of 25 times in 20 turns, for 6.5 hp/hit: average damage output = 8.13 hp/turn.Strong monk hits on a 7 and a 10, a total of 25 times in 20 turns, for 7.5 hp/hit: average damage output = 9.38 hp/turn.The fight goes to the strong monk in 3.84 turns, with 4.8 hp to spare.Let's put each of these 6th-level monks against a troglodyte {hp 13, AC 15, AB +1, damage d8 (longspear)}.Dextrous Monk hits on a 7 and a 10, a total of 25 times in 20 turns, for 6.5 hp/hit: average damage output = 8.13 hp/turn. Trog hits Dextrous Monk on a 15 (6 times in 20 turns) for 4.5 hp/hit: 1.35 hp/turn. Trog goes down in 1.6 turns on average, dishing out an expectation of 2.16 hit points of damage.Strong monk hits on a 6 and a 9, a total of 27 times in 20 turns, for 7.5 hp/hit: average damage output = 10.13 hp/turn. Trog goes down in 1.28 turns on average. But in that interval the trog hits on a 14! Seven times in twenty turns for 4.5 per hit, an average of 1.58 hp/turn. Expected damage delivered in 1.28 turns: 2.01 hp. Strong Monk still outclasses Dextrous Monk, even with five challenge levels of easybeat.We might have to go to 9th level monks against CR 1 esaybeats to show what DEXy monks are better at than strong monks: winning against vastly inferior mêlée combatants.The basic principle is this: +1 to AC makes a big difference to the outcome of a fight when the opponent's chance to hit is small, ie. in an easy fight. The +1 to AB makes a big difference when the monk's chance to hit is low, ie. in a hard fight. The +1 to damage makes a big difference when damage is low, ie. at low levels. So DEX is better than STR for high-level monks fighting low-CR opponents. STR is better than DEX for low-level monks and for any monk who fights challenging opponents.</blockquote>

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