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Monks and AC
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<blockquote data-quote="eamon" data-source="post: 4027292" data-attributes="member: 51942"><p>And you're not getting the +4 bonus for having a two handed weapon, but instead getting the -4 penalty for having a light weapon (unarmed strike). You could use a quarterstaff, but then weapon finesse won't apply. A sai is poor compensation, since it's still a light weapon, and since it means you need to share your magic item budget and feat budget between the unarmed strike and the sai.</p><p></p><p>I keep on ripping on the monk, and that's not really my intent - I think it's a fun class, I just think it's underpowered and needs good optimization to compete with the other classes.</p><p></p><p>So, to end on a positive note:</p><p></p><p>I think a dex-based monk is best off maximizing the damage dice using a monk's belt, superior unarmed strike, improved natural attack, and weapon focus, and concentrating on stunning fist (to make the DC's high such as via the PHB2 alternate feature, and perhaps even ability focus). You could consider 4 levels of fighter, which costs you some monk abilities but nets a +3 attack bonus because of the higher bab, and the availability of melee weapon mastery, but it's probably not a good idea (you hardly gain damage since you lose unarmed strike progression, it costs almost 1 AC, and it costs 2DC on your stunning fist). </p><p></p><p>Of course, you can consider a variety of PrC's, and it's very useful to tweak your design depending on the rest of the party, since any long-term buffs like mage armor (and it's greater variant), stat buffs, greater magic fang, etc etc. are all extremely useful to you, and vice-versa your mobility can be useful to others.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="eamon, post: 4027292, member: 51942"] And you're not getting the +4 bonus for having a two handed weapon, but instead getting the -4 penalty for having a light weapon (unarmed strike). You could use a quarterstaff, but then weapon finesse won't apply. A sai is poor compensation, since it's still a light weapon, and since it means you need to share your magic item budget and feat budget between the unarmed strike and the sai. I keep on ripping on the monk, and that's not really my intent - I think it's a fun class, I just think it's underpowered and needs good optimization to compete with the other classes. So, to end on a positive note: I think a dex-based monk is best off maximizing the damage dice using a monk's belt, superior unarmed strike, improved natural attack, and weapon focus, and concentrating on stunning fist (to make the DC's high such as via the PHB2 alternate feature, and perhaps even ability focus). You could consider 4 levels of fighter, which costs you some monk abilities but nets a +3 attack bonus because of the higher bab, and the availability of melee weapon mastery, but it's probably not a good idea (you hardly gain damage since you lose unarmed strike progression, it costs almost 1 AC, and it costs 2DC on your stunning fist). Of course, you can consider a variety of PrC's, and it's very useful to tweak your design depending on the rest of the party, since any long-term buffs like mage armor (and it's greater variant), stat buffs, greater magic fang, etc etc. are all extremely useful to you, and vice-versa your mobility can be useful to others. [/QUOTE]
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