Is the Monk overpowered?

[Rechan]

Player tactical ability plays a greater factor in how often rogue sneak damage gets applied.

Power choice also. There are SO MANY options that give targets CA.

 

[Saagael]

I recently got a monk to join my campaign at level 12, so I can't say how heroic tier works, but for the 3 or 4 combats he's been in so far I'll say that the monk, when built with some forethought is pretty dang beefy. Maybe not the best damage output, but he's got the highest AC in the group. Most of this stems from a series of feats he grabbed to make hitting him nearly impossible in certain situations. He's got the following, if I'm remembering it all correctly:

Deadly Draw: When you slide/pull an enemy adjacent, gain CA against that foe.
Unarmored Agility: +2 to AC
Defensive Mobility: +2 to AC vs OAs
Defensive Advantage: +2 to AC against enemies he has CA against.
Opportunistic Withdrawal: Doesn't provoke OAs for moving from enemies he has CA against.
Eyes in the Back of Your Head: Doesn't grant CA when flanked.
He also has Boots of the Fencing Master, which is another +1 to AC and Reflex nearly every turn.

The first turn he moves up to one baddie and hits it, slides it with FoB next to him, which gives him CA due to deadly draw. At this point he's at +2 AC (+3 if he shifted from the power), and can get out of there without worrying about OAs since he has CA.

Not only that, but enemies can mob up on him, and he not only doesn't grant CA for flanking, but he most likely has +3 AC from having combat advnatage and having shifted, and can just saunter away without taking any opportunity attacks (maybe 1 or 2, but he still has +2 AC vs those).

Needless to say, he's about as hard to hit as a paladin, even if his damage output is mediocre (not to mention all the shifting he does to enemies).

 

[Otterscrubber]

They seemed overpowered when I read them, auto hit , auto amount of damage, spread out the damage if you want, plus sweet movement options and controlling ability. But in play they seemed just fine.

 

[DracoSuave]

They seemed overpowered when I read them, auto hit , auto amount of damage, spread out the damage if you want, plus sweet movement options and controlling ability. But in play they seemed just fine.

Monks are no more autohit than Rangers or Rogues or Warlocks.

 

[Tarrl]

What do you all think about the assassin multiclass feat, Assassin's Shroud in comparsion to the other multiclass feats a monk can take, like the rogue or ranger one for extra dam an encounter?

 

[hvg3akaek]

We have a mini-game going currently, with a rotating DM and a bunch of strikers. This round, we had a rogue and a monk as the party, and I don't think there was a single round where the rogue couldn't get his sneak attack off. Partly, being a drow helped (with darkfire / globe of darkness), but even then he had a handfull of other ways to get CA. The monk paled in comparison with raw damge out-put, but greatly excells in mobility and minion-cleansing. Both seem quite fun to play, but the monk is definitely not overpowered

 

[Argyle King]

I wouldn't call the Monk overpowered, but I would say the monk is far better than many people (many claiming it's underpowered) seem to think. While the monk doesn't do as much single target damage as some of the other strikers, having some control ability is very nice. It's also possible for the monk to have really good defenses. Don't underestimate the movement abilities either; the monk in the game I'm currently playing is constantly zipping around all over the battlefield and raining down the hurt on enemies.


Monk is very good, but, much like the 3E monk, you have to play the monk like a monk instead of trying to play it like a different class.


I might argue that the PHB3 in general is somewhat overpowered compared to the previous 4E books though. There are a few options which seem to obviously make older options obsolete.

 

[Budalic]

This is true.

Player tactical ability plays a greater factor in how often rogue sneak damage gets applied. I know one guy that's fairly clueless and he gets one sneak attack per encounter at most.

If the rogue player doesn't get the CA 90% of time, he shouldn't play a rogue.

And there are always leader and controller to help him/her with the remaining 10%

 

[Droogie128]

I wouldn't call the Monk overpowered, but I would say the monk is far better than many people (many claiming it's underpowered) seem to think. While the monk doesn't do as much single target damage as some of the other strikers, having some control ability is very nice. It's also possible for the monk to have really good defenses. Don't underestimate the movement abilities either; the monk in the game I'm currently playing is constantly zipping around all over the battlefield and raining down the hurt on enemies.


Monk is very good, but, much like the 3E monk, you have to play the monk like a monk instead of trying to play it like a different class.


I might argue that the PHB3 in general is somewhat overpowered compared to the previous 4E books though. There are a few options which seem to obviously make older options obsolete.

Such as?

 

[Black Knight Irios]

Such as?

Things like Versatile Expertise I guess. But then again that's perfectly ok at my table.