Flurry of Blows

[Darklone]

It depends. A monk can have really good AC, but at the expense of having a pathetic damage output. It all depends on where you put your good stats and what buffups you get.

Right, hong, but a real good AC for the monk is usually not much higher than the AC for the fighter at the same level and the monk has less hitpoints... Just take a monk with Dex 18, Wis 16 (IMHO already uberstats), give him Mage armour (not barkskin, cuz the fighter could get that too), and he will prolly have a bad con with AC ~22. Fighter: fullplate, large shield, dex =21. Dodge perhaps and they are equal with less effort for the fighter.

 

[hong]

Right, hong, but a real good AC for the monk is usually not much higher than the AC for the fighter at the same level and the monk has less hitpoints... Just take a monk with Dex 18, Wis 16 (IMHO already uberstats), give him Mage armour (not barkskin, cuz the fighter could get that too), and he will prolly have a bad con with AC ~22. Fighter: fullplate, large shield, dex =21. Dodge perhaps and they are equal with less effort for the fighter.

Yeah. I was actually crunching some numbers at work today (work? what's that?), to compare monks, fighters and my m*rtial art*st. The poor monk! If he wants AC about the same as a fighter, he's going to have to suck up an attack bonus ~10 points lower, and do about 10 points less damage per hit. That's at 20th level, with a 2d10 unarmed strike. It's really quite embarrassing.

 

[Crass]

Right, hong, but a real good AC for the monk is usually not much higher than the AC for the fighter at the same level and the monk has less hitpoints... Just take a monk with Dex 18, Wis 16 (IMHO already uberstats), give him Mage armour (not barkskin, cuz the fighter could get that too), and he will prolly have a bad con with AC ~22. Fighter: fullplate, large shield, dex =21. Dodge perhaps and they are equal with less effort for the fighter.

But regardless of having the same/similar AC, who is more likely to get hit? By weapons? By spells? If it came down to a fight between these two, I'd bet the monk'd be able to determine the range of the encounter, or avoid it entirely if he chose to.

BTW, I believe the TWF works with monk weapons but not monk unarmed attacks, so he could get TWF and then TWD... but like Ranger REG, I doubt he needs it. Who'd choose to target him if he had a party of companions around?

(To answer my own rhetorical question, I would... a class whose stated purpose is the pursuit of personal perfection doesn't belong in a filthy, scabby dungeon)

 

[Darklone]

But regardless of having the same/similar AC, who is more likely to get hit? By weapons? By spells?

D&D rule number one: Take out the easy kills first. Rule number two: Fighters are no easy kill.

If it came down to a fight between these two, I'd bet the monk'd be able to determine the range of the encounter, or avoid it entirely if he chose to.

I'd say he would go better with the second tactic!