D&D 3E/3.5 Why be a 3.5 monk?

[Summer-Knight925]

Honestly, this class has never seemed that great to me, and the topic of the fighter turned into a blood war, so lets see what the masses have to say about monks...

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

As with any other class, because you want to for RP reasons.

Because they are one of very few classes whose Unarmed Strike increases in power as level rises (see also the 3.5 update of the OA Shaman in Dragon #317 by James Wyatt).

Because they are the only class whose US is treated as a natural or manufactured weapon for a variety of game mechanics.

FoB evokes Bruce Lee-ness.

 

[Dandu]

Because you want to be a great, powerful and wise kung fu master who can trip, grapple, stun, and disarm his way around the battlefield, moving faster than anyone else and kill casters so they don't threaten your teammates.

You won't actually get to do it, but that's a separate issue.

 

[Sorry_Charry]

Priceless! Odd bit of humor from Dandu, but priceless nonetheless.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

You won't actually get to do it, but that's a separate issue.

YMMV. Mine has.

 

[Dandu]

I've yet to see a monk that adequately deals with MAD or which functions as a "caster killer".

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

My builds generally distribute stats as Dex/Wis/Con, leaving Str to be compensated for via gear or buffs (there are more boosters for Str in a given game than any other melée stat). Oh yeah, my monks favor polearms when I have access to the right sourcebooks.

Result: more AoOs (useful with a polearm), better Ref saves, more initiative victories, better AC, better in ranged combat, better at hit & run tactics.

 

[Dandu]

Two questions:
1) How's the damage?
2) How many levels of monk?

 

[ProfessorCirno]

Because you want to play D&D on hardmode

Because psionics and ToB are both banned and you want to prove a point

Because you honestly just don't know any better

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Two questions:
1) How's the damage?
2) How many levels of monk?

Depends on the exact build.

Assuming I'm not using a variant Monk base class with relaxed multiclassing rules- WotC's published quite a few- for most of them, it's predominantly Monk with Monk-friendly PrCls, like Kensai, Shiba Protector or Shou Disciple. Occasionally, I'd start with 2 levels of Ftr or PsyWar for feats before going into Monk & Monk PrCls for the duration.

As for damage, with the last 2 polearm Monks I played, the githzerai monk was matching the party's 3rd lvl Brb (sans Rage) while not being hit; the Monk/Kensai with a Greatspear did the bulk of the melée damage to a pair of Green Dragons at an ENWorld Gameday. The poor reptiles kept triggering AoOs, and my +4 from Deft Opportunist made sure I hit often, and when they were out of range, I harried them with javelins to supplement the caster's attacks.

Discounting the Dex monk's advantage on initiative, without burning feats for the polearm build, the melee DPR is lower than for a Str build monk. But even so, it does nearly as much damage over the first 5 rounds of combat due to increased probability of doing decent damage with a crossbow- a weapon for which there is no Str bonus in it's use- at range, and will have, on average, more HP due to being missed a bit more often.