How is a Monk viable?

[spectre72]

A side thought. The monks skill set is a really good one.

Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Hide (Dex), Jump (Str), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), and Tumble (Dex).

Reckon that's the best skillset outside of the Rogues and Bards - IMO, can make quite a difference inside or outside of combat?

Hide + Move Silently + NO Armor has made my monk one of the best scouts in the party.

Our rogues have been loud and clanky in comparison to the monk, and this has caused some friction between the two (of course the rogue died after a short time )...

Pure fighters will do more damage most of the time, but I personally prefer not being hit while dishing out my damage

And lets not forget that a stunning blow at a critical moment can do more good for the party than uber damage would, like keeping an enemy spellcaster from getting off a spell while the party is outnumbered and severly wounded.

Add to this that a monk stays up and can give potions to cure that tank when it is down and a monk is a good class.

In our current game I have had 2 characters, and the monk has been my character for many moons (after my paladin died early in the campaign)

Most other people have gone through at least 4+ characters.

My monk also survived a recent session that would have been a TPK except for her quick thinking and evasion (she ran away from the 15 giants and hid )

Doen't these say something about comparing a fighter and a monk...

I think it reads "Tank fighters do alot of damage, but die easily..."

Of course all bets are on the fighter in a campaign where mid level fighters are running around in +3 Full plate armor of some cool power with a +4 Vorpal great sword of sharpness and a missile launcher of wounding.

 

[RFisher]

My monk's goal is to make everyone else in the party more effective.

She'll scout with the rogue. Her high Hide/Move Silently skills won't make her a liability. Her lack of other rogue skills won't overshadow the Rogue. But she'll provide back up when things go wrong.

In combat she'll flank, make stunning attacks, draw AoOs, trip, & disarm. Things that the other PCs can take advantage of.

I think she may also have the highest Climb bonus in the party, which might come in handy.

 

[spectre72]

My monk's goal is to make everyone else in the party more effective.

She'll scout with the rogue. Her high Hide/Move Silently skills won't make her a liability. Her lack of other rogue skills won't overshadow the Rogue. But she'll provide back up when things go wrong.

In combat she'll flank, make stunning attacks, draw AoOs, trip, & disarm. Things that the other PCs can take advantage of.

I think she may also have the highest Climb bonus in the party, which might come in handy.

Due to my characters background she had skill in opening locks and picking pockets, but not finding traps. It was always interesting when she would pick a lock without looking for traps and the rest of the party, including the rogue, would watch and hold their breath..

There were many times that A) she opened locks that the rogue failed on and B) she was thankfull for those good saves, especially reflex

 

[Particle_Man]

I am playing a Monk with Vow of Poverty (from Book of Exalted Deeds) and he seems to do fine. With the Nimbus of Light feat, he even shines.

There are people who think monks are weak. There are people who think vow of poverty is too strong. If any of those people are the same people, then I wonder what they would think of my character?

 

[Thanee]

Everyone keeps talking about how good monks are buffed up. But what if I used those same buffs on a fighter or anyother class?

Yeah, but if there is a monk in your party, it's a good idea to boost that one to make him or her more capable. It's not like a party is like modern day pop groups, which are casted together.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Thanee]

With the Nimbus of Light feat, he even shines.

There are people who think monks are weak. There are people who think vow of poverty is too strong. If any of those people are the same people, then I wonder what they would think of my character?

I think he is probably about as good as a regular monk. VoP and monk does have some serious synergy going between them.

Normally, I think a VoP character is weaker than a regular character with magic items (standard wealth level, of course).

Bye
Thanee

 

[Thanee]

"Tank fighters do alot of damage, but die easily..."

A tank is named tank for a reason... that's because he or she (or it) isn't going down easily.

Bye
Thanee

 

[tauton_ikhnos]

Human Monk, point buy 28
STR 13, DEX 14, CON 10, INT 12, WIS 15, CHA 7
1st level feats: Dodge, Mobility
1st level monk: Unarmed Strike, Stunning Blow
AC 14, 18 v movement AOOs, +1 v one opponent
Attack +1 or -1/-1

Most fighters will have an attack of +5 and an AC of 14-16. Against a fighter standing between the monk and an enemy wizard, the monk has a good chance of moving past the fighter, around behind the wizard, and then cacking the wizard with one punch (1d6+1 v 4-5 hp). Since a wizard's AC on point buy isn't going to be better than an 11 at best, the monk can afford to attack defensively, too, to help survive the fighter's charge back when he realizes what the monk has done.

As the monk goes up in level, this only gets better. Spring Attack, Combat Expertise, Weapon Finesse, and don't forget that a monk gets AC benefits from DEX items and WIS items. And as his movement rate increases, he may be able to move past the fighter, stun the wizard, and move again... out of charge reach. Rinse, wash, repeat.

There's other stuff monks can do, of course. A half-orc grappler monk is pretty ace, for example. But the above is the major thing we expect a monk to do for us (in our campaign) at low level.

Low level monks are teh bomb.

 

[Numion]

A metagame note to add here: You are correct in that experienced intelligent opponents would realize the bluff that a monk represents in that instance, but not all opponents faced at intelligent or experienced. If every opponent or even most opponents faced are played as tacticians who ignore obvious minor threats for subtle major ones, then the IMO the DM is doing his players a disservice.

Anyone remember the move the Seven Samurai? Or even Hitler and Stalingrad, for that matter? The ones who tick you off and rub it in your face are (quite irrationally) more likely to receive your attentions than the more subtle but deadlier threats. That's a real-life common behavior, especially of someone not well-versed in combat.

Then again most intelligent or semi-intelligent opponents likely dismiss the monk as a serious threat on the count he's not armed and is not casting spells. Or why would you attack the gandhi-lookalike instead of the plated fighter with a big-ass sword or the spellslinger?

That can also work to the monks advantage, BTW.

 

[Chimera]

Point buy really does screw with Monks, who only have two dump attributes at best. The higher the point buy or attribute set, the more reasonable it is to play a Monk.

My monk's goal is to make everyone else in the party more effective.

She'll scout with the rogue. Her high Hide/Move Silently skills won't make her a liability. Her lack of other rogue skills won't overshadow the Rogue. But she'll provide back up when things go wrong.

In combat she'll flank, make stunning attacks, draw AoOs, trip, & disarm. Things that the other PCs can take advantage of.

I think she may also have the highest Climb bonus in the party, which might come in handy.

Darn tootin'!


I'm playing a Monk 4 / Wizard 1.

With Mage Armor I have the highest AC in the group. With a high Tumble and Mobility, I move through the enemy with impunity, putting myself in position to flank key opponents or take out enemy spellcasters. Hey, that flanking benefits my attacks too!

Need a prisoner to question? I'm your man. I captured a Goblin on one of our earlier adventures. Turned him over to the Psion...muahaha.

Need someone to cross the battlefield in a huge hurry and take out that caster? That's me too. In our second group combat (an ambush), I ran from one side of the field to the other to engage the archers there after we had taken out the archers on the other side. Would have taken the "tank" several rounds to cross the field and get to them, being peppered the entire way.

With a higher INT, I've got skills out the wazoo. Almost as good of a scout as the Ranger, actually have a better spot skill than him with my high WIS. I can also out-climb, out-jump everyone in the group, sense motive as good as anyone in the party, swim reasonably well, and do all sorts of other things better than anyone but the rogue.

Survivability? Ok, sure you call it selfish. But hey, I like not dying. If you think it's generous of you to fall in battle, then go for it! Die all you like!

No, I'm not a tank. I'm a fast and mobile surgical strike unit with a lot of skills and special abilities.

That's what a Monk is.