Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Gizzard" data-source="post: 830975" data-attributes="member: 527">The Monk as-is stinks.&nbsp; I say this and I'll spell out my assumptions:1) You are not playing with lots of extra feats from other books - you are a Monk as described in the PHB.&nbsp; If you are playing with lots of other feats, well, your not exactly a &quot;Monk&quot; anymore.&nbsp; Thats fine, and thats probably fun.&nbsp; But a PHB Monk as written is poopy.&nbsp; See the 3.5 revision if you doubt.2) You are not starting at level 16.&nbsp; High level Monks are supposedly kinda cool.&nbsp; They have certain things they are very good at, things that are important to the party like running fast and grappling spellcasters.&nbsp; If you start at level 1, you are not cool.&nbsp; You cannot fight like a Fighter and you dont have the flexibility of a Rogue or even (sadly) a Bard.&nbsp; Around level 6 you start to pull even with the other classes, but thats a lot of play where you generally suck.3) You are a standard humanoid race.&nbsp; You are not a Beholder or a half Black-Dragon.&nbsp; Self explanatory. ;-)4) You find most of your treasure, you dont get to buy Boots of Striding and Springing from the corner Magic Shop.&nbsp; Monks are very dependent on certain magic items to make them competetive.&nbsp; This is doable in some styles of campaign, but its a huge restriction in a low-magic world.5) You are not way above average in stats.&nbsp; If your DM will let you be all 18s (or all 20's!) then you will find that a Monk is powerful.&nbsp; Frankly though, an Aristocrat is powerful with these sorts of stats.&nbsp; The higher the point-buy or the higher the rolls, the better your Monk is.&nbsp;&nbsp; You need to get a decent STR (for damage), CON (for HPs) and INT (for the skills) and a good DEX and WIS for class abilities.&nbsp; &nbsp;This is the best plan IMHO for Monks - to be a tougher but less flexible Rogue.&nbsp; If you are going to be underground though, Darkvision is a must.&nbsp; Otherwise you can't sneak very well.&nbsp; Again this depends on your campaign, but its something to think about.&nbsp; As a Human Monk I almost never get to use my sneaking skills due to the torchlight problem.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Gizzard, post: 830975, member: 527"] The Monk as-is stinks. I say this and I'll spell out my assumptions: 1) You are not playing with lots of extra feats from other books - you are a Monk as described in the PHB. If you are playing with lots of other feats, well, your not exactly a "Monk" anymore. Thats fine, and thats probably fun. But a PHB Monk as written is poopy. See the 3.5 revision if you doubt. 2) You are not starting at level 16. High level Monks are supposedly kinda cool. They have certain things they are very good at, things that are important to the party like running fast and grappling spellcasters. If you start at level 1, you are not cool. You cannot fight like a Fighter and you dont have the flexibility of a Rogue or even (sadly) a Bard. Around level 6 you start to pull even with the other classes, but thats a lot of play where you generally suck. 3) You are a standard humanoid race. You are not a Beholder or a half Black-Dragon. Self explanatory. ;-) 4) You find most of your treasure, you dont get to buy Boots of Striding and Springing from the corner Magic Shop. Monks are very dependent on certain magic items to make them competetive. This is doable in some styles of campaign, but its a huge restriction in a low-magic world. 5) You are not way above average in stats. If your DM will let you be all 18s (or all 20's!) then you will find that a Monk is powerful. Frankly though, an Aristocrat is powerful with these sorts of stats. The higher the point-buy or the higher the rolls, the better your Monk is. You need to get a decent STR (for damage), CON (for HPs) and INT (for the skills) and a good DEX and WIS for class abilities. This is the best plan IMHO for Monks - to be a tougher but less flexible Rogue. If you are going to be underground though, Darkvision is a must. Otherwise you can't sneak very well. Again this depends on your campaign, but its something to think about. As a Human Monk I almost never get to use my sneaking skills due to the torchlight problem. [/QUOTE]

Verification