Ability scores for Monk (28 point buy)

[Elder-Basilisk]

That depends upon what you're looking for.

For a half-orc, it's the only practical monk multiclass since it doesn't inflict experience penalties.

Vis a vis fighter, it gets 2 more hit points, more skill points, a better skill list, and fast movement at the cost of one feat (rage is lost when the character becomes an ex-barbarian).

Vis a vis ranger, it gets 4 more hit points, and fast movement at the cost of Track, favored enemy, a second good save, and 2 skill points (with a better skill list).

Vis a vis paladin, it gets 2 more hit points, fast movement, and more skill points at the cost of smite and detect evil.

The only real synergy it has with monk are in the hit points (most significant at low levels) and fast movement. But that's not necessarily a bad thing because it doesn't have a lot of drawbacks either. Monk abilities get pushed one level down the road but that's not too bad. And that's about it. Ranger/monk might be better for characters with ranger or any as their favored class but that obviously doesn't apply to half-orcs.

Bbn/Mnk seems somewhat contraproductive.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Shard O'Glase]

I'd use these stats but vary between human. dwarf,, 1/2 orc.

Human 1/2 orc Dwarf

Str 16 Str 18 Str 16
Dex 14 Dex 14 Dex 14
Con 12 Con 12 Con 14
Int 12 Int 10 Int 12
Wis 14 Wis 14 Wis 14
Cha 8 Cha 6 Cha 6

The con is lower than most builds but its only 20 hp over 20 levels, I like the solid Str with a decent int good dex and wis. The 1/2 orc is the real mellee masher, the human is a bit more versatile, and the dwarf is great because his biggest weakness is the slow movement which gets cancelled by being a monk and he's still medium unlike the other slowpokes, the extra hp are gravy on top of all the other abilities a dwarf gets, darkvision +2 vs spells/poison on top of already great saves etc.

 

[Thanee]

Yeah, dwarves - who one might see as the least monk-like race of all the medium-sized ones - seem to be the most favorable race for a monk.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Darklone]

Ex-barbarian monk... yeah, they are not that bad. Good to hit, good movement and good hitpoints and reach weapon proficiency. Perhaps the one level fighter is more effective, but I'm not so sure...

 

[ARandomGod]

For a monk with only 28 points to spare ... I say bite the bullet and take a level adjustment. For some mean monk action, go Githzerai and get +4 inertial armor bonus, a +6 to your dex and a +2 to your wis. Sweet. +2 ECL.

I agree with the go for a level adjustment race... but +2 is too much IMO. I say Half Ogre's on the other hand are 1)large 2) very very strong (I think it's +6) 3) don't they also get a con bonus? all for only a +1. Definitely the way to go.

ALthough that Githzerai does look nice... I'd still go cat person to lower it to only +1, still a good number of ability boosts, AND an additional 10 to base speed... always nice.

I agree with the other posters though that dwarf is probably the best standard race to go with.

 

[Legildur]

Yeah, dwarves - who one might see as the least monk-like race of all the medium-sized ones - seem to be the most favorable race for a monk.

Yeah, I have a dwarven monk 6 in a game. Slower movement is more than counteracted by darkvision, better saves and better hit points.

I took Stunning Fist as bonus feat and Improved Grapple, Combat Reflexes, Weapon Focus (unarmed strike), Improved Trip and Weakening Touch (CW).

Use Improved Trip if facing multiple humanoids, Weakening Touch to soften the brutes (but currently can't use due to Wis ability drain from a chaos beast), and grapple individual foes (particularly spellcasters).

Sure, not as effective overall as our half-orc barbarian (who hits like an sledge hammer), but fun and useful in the right situation.

Still, I'd probably go human next time for the bonus feat... really wanted to get Defensive Throw, but decided not to wait until 9th level and so took Weakening Touch to use over the next 3 levels (plenty of giant types in our campaign).

 

[Shin Okada]

How about Wood Elf as a race? That has ECL of +0 and +2 Str and +2 Dex. -2 Con maybe a problem for a melee combatant but a Monk cannot expect to have high HP anyway. And low Int may reduce the skill points but Monk is not as skill defendant as Bard, Ranger, Rogue and such.

 

[Al'Kelhar]

Naw, go the ogre mage monk (LA +7, for an ECL of +12) and then use a 28 point buy on top of the racial bonuses.

Oh, sorry, maybe you're playing in a campaign that just uses the core races from the PHB (and even then, dwarves and elves are really not ECL +0 races), and 28 point buy is, as the DMG advocates, for hard campaigns. Or maybe you're not some munchkin powergamer who needs at least a 40 point buy to get a playable character.

28 points will buy you quite an effective monk, if your role is to make life difficult for your opponents by running interference, not by damaging them. That is, high Strength is not necessary for a monk. A monk whose repertoire consists of trips and disarms, and grappling the opposing spellcasters, is a useful team member even if his direct damage output is not great. If you're prepared to go down this path, you can have Strength 12 or less, thus base scores at 1st level something like Str 12, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 8. Make him an elf, and that's an 18 Dex along with proficiency in longbow for those times when you can't close with the enemy (you could also consider dropping Dex to 17, freeing up 2 points for any of your other scores), or a human for the bonus feat and skill points.

Cheers Al'Kelhar

 

[Some call me Tim]

Naw, go the ogre mage monk (LA +7, for an ECL of +12) and then use a 28 point buy on top of the racial bonuses.

Oh, sorry, maybe you're playing in a campaign that just uses the core races from the PHB (and even then, dwarves and elves are really not ECL +0 races), and 28 point buy is, as the DMG advocates, for hard campaigns. Or maybe you're not some munchkin powergamer who needs at least a 40 point buy to get a playable character.

28 points will buy you quite an effective monk, if your role is to make life difficult for your opponents by running interference, not by damaging them. That is, high Strength is not necessary for a monk. A monk whose repertoire consists of trips and disarms, and grappling the opposing spellcasters, is a useful team member even if his direct damage output is not great. If you're prepared to go down this path, you can have Strength 12 or less, thus base scores at 1st level something like Str 12, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 8. Make him an elf, and that's an 18 Dex along with proficiency in longbow for those times when you can't close with the enemy (you could also consider dropping Dex to 17, freeing up 2 points for any of your other scores), or a human for the bonus feat and skill points.

Cheers Al'Kelhar

Wow. Thanks for all of the responses. Everyone has given me a lot of options to consider.

You are right in that we are limited to the core races in the PHB. Our last group of characters was purely power gaming. This time, we are going much leaner--with a lower point buy, much more limited usage of splat books and other outside materials. It will certainly be tougher this time out, but I doubt if it will be any less fun.

 

[Thanee]

Well, I think Str is quite important, if you go the trip/grapple route.

Bye
Thanee