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How to deal with a Monk's AC?

ElMogwai

First Post
hey guys, im going to be DMing a high level campaign for the first time pretty soon, and one of my players loves to min/max and hes going to use a lvl 16 monk with an AC of 48 or something ridiculous like that.

what can i use to get around that? how can i knock him down so that my characters can even stand a chance of hitting him? as it is now lvl 20 villain can only hit him on a natural 20.
 

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Can you give specifics on how he accomplishes this exact number? There may be weaknesses in his defense. Or maybe even misunderstandings of the rules.
 

I can tell you straight off that if he is using a monk, he does not understand what it truly means to min/max., and if your level 20 villain can't hit AC 48 easily, you are doing something very wrong.

Give me details of the villain and the monk so that I may assist you.
 

bracers of armor +8
Amulet of natural armor +5
Monk levels +4 (because of monk belt)
Ring of protection +5
Dex +7
Wis +5

so his total is 44.
 

And I bet he has great saves too, and Spell Resistance.

Here's a little secret about monks; being hard to hit or affect with spells doesn't mean much when a Wall of Force cuts you off from the battle and forces you to wait on the sidelines while the enemy mops up the rest of the team.
 

without items his base stats are:
str 12
Dex 24 (not gonna lie, clearly i fudged this stat just to make him more formidable. everything else was rolled though)
con 13
Int 17
Wis 11
Cha 19

well the villain is Rouge 12/Master thrower 5/ Shadow Dancer 3
Throwing Axes 29/17 1d6+6 19-20
Thin blade +2 26/16, 1D8+5, 15-20x2 Wounding, Shocking Burst

AC 40

Feats:
Sneaky Shot
Palm Throw
Double Toss
Quick Draw
Evasion
Snatch Arrows
Hide in plain sight
Dark vision
Uncanny Dogde
Improved Uncanny Dodge
Shadow Illusion
Summon Shadow
Point Blank Shot
Precise Shot
Combat Reflexes
Dodge
Mobility
Improved Crit
 

but can a wall of force stop him from teleporting? Im pretty sure he took some boots of teleporting too. I was considering having the villain bring minions with him to occupy the monk.
 

yep, my suggestion was to put something into the fight that can grapple. Ought to be a few large or huge size monsters of that caliber that could hold him still so the villian can whale on him.

Entangle-like spells, tanglefoot bags, ray of clumsiness, curse (targeted to reduce his dex), blindness, surprise - anything that can negate or lower his Dex bonus would probably help.
 

Well, the game has flaws at high levels.

I bet the rest of the party is similarly powerful. If they're not, tell the powergaming player to start lending his aid to the other players. Then either start a new campaign or switch to another game that doesn't have those particular issues (maybe playtest D&D Next). Other games just have different issues, though.

I suggest you avoid adversarial GMing. The player clearly wants a character who is hard to kill, so great! Don't try to kill him. Focus on the other PCs, and maybe occasionally throw in a rogue 12/sorcerer 4 who uses casts invisibility (but still moves silently and hides while invisible, just in case someone has true seeing), then casts silent True Strike and sneak attacks the monk with a +4 spell-storing short sword that immediately casts vampiric touch (which his 20th level necromancer buddy put in the weapon for him). So you've got an attack bonus of +11 base, +6 Finesse, +4 magic weapon, +1 weapon focus, +20 true strike = +42, so he only misses on a 1 even if somehow the monk knows he's there. Then he hits for 1d6+4 plus 6d6 sneak attack plus 10d6, average of 61 damage.

Then turn invisible, retreat, and try again later.

But generally, it's a losing proposition to try and kill an overpowered PC, because the rest of the party ends up as collateral damage.

Oh, and ghost dragons work pretty well, with incorporeal touch attacks.
 


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