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Message: <blockquote data-quote="two" data-source="post: 2114907" data-attributes="member: 9002">foggy memoriesI have very foggy memories of age-old threads discussing actually effective MELEE monk builds.  Note I'm talking melee here.I think there was one common denominator: the high dex, low strength monk never is going to work, period.The two builds that I remember best (not saying alot):1)  Grappler monk.  Specializes in grappling.  All grappling feats.  Glove of Mighty Grips (something like that, gives a bonus to grappling).  Feat:  Jotumbrand (something like that), allows you to be counted as one size bigger than you are for purposes of grappling.  Get an item of perma-enlarge, or 100 potions of enlarge.  "Low" dex, "low" wisdom, high strength, high movement, high Con.  Schtick:  run in and immediately grapple the crap out of any enemy, biggest first.  Use flurry of blows in increase grapple chances, etc.  This guy can be very effective, and a bit of a GM headache.  The idea is, since you lose Dex when grappling, and you are always gonna be grappling, don't worry about having a high dex.  Get hitpoints instead.2)  The "death by a million cuts" build.  Something like flurry of blows, two-weapon fighting (monk weapons, one in each hand), strength=18 or higher.  The idea is that each attack won't do as much as the barbarian build, but you get like, 2 more attacks a round than he does.  This depends a lot on equipment, initial stats, and the GM allowing flurry of blows + attacks with weapons in both hands to stack.  Somebody had a build that seemed OK.Anyway, they are very specialized and personally I'd find grappling every battle more than a little boring.  But everyone's different.There is also the high stun DC monk, but that guy... he just stinks.  Stun DC just ain't ever that good, you have to declare, then hit, then have the guy fail a fort save.  Melee monsters always have good fort saves.  Things that don't, you are better off grappling (wizards, rogues, bards, etc.).OFF TOPIC:In my games, Monks get full BAB progression (in other words, like a fighter).  Even with this added benefit (which is pretty large), you are hard pressed to find a monk that comes anywhere close to a no-brainer greatsword barbarian build.  Most people don't like to play monks.  They are very tricky.  Even with full BAB ... they resist the temptation.</blockquote>

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