Monk To Hit- I don't get it, weak?

[Goonalan]

1. That's not a problem with the thread. That's a campaign issue.
2. It seems to be working great for all the other PCs. I don't see how, but I'll take the OP's word for it.
3. This post was in no way helpful.



To the OP:
What are the attack bonuses for the rest of the PCs? Because they should be between +17 and +19 for an optimized party.
5 (level) + 6 (ability) + 3 (enhancement) + 2/3 (proficiency) + 1 (expertise) + 1 (class feature: optional) = 17 to 19.
The Dagger Rogue would have been on the +19 side, making him one of the most accurate; assuming AC 28-32, he needs 9 to 13 to hit (60% - 40% hit rate). The Fighter should be at the same bonus, with the rest a point or two behind. Since your player's Monk doesn't have Expertise, he's 1 away from his maximum attack bonus of +15 (+18 when he gets his "weapon bonus"); this would make him a hair behind the Rogue (crazy class feature) for hitting consistency.

With typical FRW of 25-28, your Monk (+14 hit) needs to roll 11 to 14 to hit (50% - 35% hit rates). That's tough but not as bad as you're describing. So something is off with what you've shared.

Spot on, very useful- I've directed the player to this thread.

Thanks a bunch.

We'll get through this, me and the Monk- I so want the player to get his PC to work for him, totaly sucks when a wheel falls off.

I promise I've shared everything, only how the encounters played out...

 

[Flipguarder]

Sorry about the aggressiveness, I've had a player come to me several times because he keep rolling badly and wants me to do something about it...

 

[Goonalan]

Since this is an online game, do you have logs of the dice rolls? If so, you could look through them to see if this is the case. A triple-check on the dice macros and token stats wouldn't hurt either--I've seen very subtle typos that could hamstring a character if not detected.

I've just been back and checked the macros- one is bust, his basic melee attack- fixed now but the others are a-ok.

I don't alas save the logs, or rather I used to and then we started gaming through to 2 AM (on a school night as well) and I started to forget to save them- damn.

 

[Goonalan]

Sorry about the aggressiveness, I've had a player come to me several times because he keep rolling badly and wants me to do something about it...

Not a problem, thanks for the apology and the offering, no offence taken I assure you.

As I say I'm just trying to see what's up.

I'm a little older than my players so I get a bit concerned (paternal) when one is having a bad day, when it turns into four bad days then Houston we have a problem.

Just trying to get some other views on it as I can't see the problem.

See below for my conclusion.

 

[Goonalan]

There are several things that could be happening, possibly in combination, and it's not (completely) clear from what the poster has written which one(s) it is:

1. The creatures being fought all have very high FRW scores such that the benefit of attacking a non-AC defense disappears, and the creatures are all so high level that the monk needs (I'm guessing) a 19 or 20 to hit and the other characters only a 15 or so.

See previous post for some details.

2. The character is seriously unoptimized relative to the other characters, e.g. by race, ability score, weapon choice or feat choice.

None of the players are super optimized, see details previous.

3. The monk's player has been consistently rolling much lower than all of the other players.

Possibly, in combination with...

4. The monk is attacking different enemies than the other characters.

At times this may be the case, certainly he's not getting as much CA as the Rogue did because he had Feats and Powers that more or less meant he alwasy had CA (75% of the time anyway).

5. The monk is never getting situational bonuses such as CA or power bonuses such as that from Righteous Brand, but the other characters are.

See above, last session the Cleric kept giving him Righteous Brand, or at least on three occassions I can recall, he hit one out of three- the other ones were rolls of something like 3 and 5. It made all of the players but one giggle.

6. Someone is screwing up the mechanics and computing things incorrectly.

Maptools is working, the stats are good, macros checked...

7. The description of the situation is exaggerated, presumably due to selective memory of what happened.

Maybe so but it's enough that in four weeks all of the players have noticed and have commented on it.

I make no judgments, either technical or moral, on the poster, the players, or any commenters. I just don't see any way to make sense of what we have been told that doesn't involve one or more of those options.

I don't mind judgements-- technical or moral; I love the idea of you making moral judgements based on my postings by the way, LOL.

I think it does involve one or more of the options described above, and in combination at times- perhaps it is a rut, the laws of chance have conspired etc.

My obvious concern was that it was in fact something I had over-looked, or done wrong, or... and perhaps others had exoperienced the same problems and had a fix/solution.

We will play on, which was never in doubt, I'm going to get the Monks To Hit up a little, not too much, maybe to +15 to +16, either a House Rule or some item/power/skill I can make part of the narrative- which is the important to me.

We'll see where it goes from there.

Thanks again for all of your suggestions et al, I've never been at the centre of a thread before, certainly not with this much activity, it feels weird, like I have to respond to everything- frustrating at times also, but ultimately- very worthwhile.

Thanks

Paul

 

[Fanaelialae]

Keep in mind that since the PH3 and Psionic Power are still unreleased, the monk has no options specifically tailored toward optimization (Slaying Action can be devastating in the hands of a rogue, but monk doesn't have anything even remotely equivalent yet). That shouldn't significantly affect the monk's attack bonus, but it could make him otherwise seem particularly ineffective compared to an optimized rogue who is using Martial Power.

My guess would be that the monk player is having a long string of poor luck / the other players are having unusually good luck. Based on the numbers, the mage ought to be missing almost as often as the monk.

A house rule (not mine, though I don't recall whose) that you could consider to help mitigate bad luck is:
If a player misses all his attack roll(s) for a given power, he gets a cumulative +1 to hit until he lands a successful hit (at which point the bonus resets to zero). So if the monk attacks 3 enemies with Five Storms and misses all 3 enemies, he gets a +1 to his next attack roll. The same thing happens in the next round, and the bonus increases to +2. If he hits any target in the following round, the bonus immediately resets to +0.

 

[Prestidigitalis]

I don't mind judgements-- technical or moral; I love the idea of you making moral judgements based on my postings by the way, LOL.

That was my purposely vague shorthand for saying "I'm not suggesting that anyone is lying" in light of my point #7.

 

[Goonalan]

Keep in mind that since the PH3 and Psionic Power are still unreleased, the monk has no options specifically tailored toward optimization (Slaying Action can be devastating in the hands of a rogue, but monk doesn't have anything even remotely equivalent yet). That shouldn't significantly affect the monk's attack bonus, but it could make him otherwise seem particularly ineffective compared to an optimized rogue who is using Martial Power.

My guess would be that the monk player is having a long string of poor luck / the other players are having unusually good luck. Based on the numbers, the mage ought to be missing almost as often as the monk.

A house rule (not mine, though I don't recall whose) that you could consider to help mitigate bad luck is:
If a player misses all his attack roll(s) for a given power, he gets a cumulative +1 to hit until he lands a successful hit (at which point the bonus resets to zero). So if the monk attacks 3 enemies with Five Storms and misses all 3 enemies, he gets a +1 to his next attack roll. The same thing happens in the next round, and the bonus increases to +2. If he hits any target in the following round, the bonus immediately resets to +0.

That's a good one- we're trying that.

I'll even give it a name and make it a free power available to Paragon levels, the players are all on the edge of going up.

Or else have some divine agent bestow it upon them...

Oh yes, narrative- there's a story to that House Rule/Power.

Thanks muchly.

 

[Goonalan]

That was my purposely vague shorthand for saying "I'm not suggesting that anyone is lying" in light of my point #7.

I got that. LOL some more though.

Cheers again.

 

[CovertOps]

I seriously advise against giving the player bonuses to hit. Compared to the other players he doesn't need them as he is spot on. What you should consider is:

1) Lower the level of your creatures AND
a) use more of them OR
b) use Elites/Solos if you don't want more monsters
2) Make sure the PC is using the right attack vs. the right monster (my previous post - creature type vs. defenses)