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

[ProfessorCirno]

the player (we played in ebberon) was dragon marked, dragon marked heir, monk AND fighter

wth was he?

Funny enough? A character with a far deeper and mroe interesting tie to the setting then anyone else, most likely.

like, usually, to me atleast, the class has a bit of character to it, a monk is reserved, it makes sense to have them cloisterd, organized, ect. ect.

not this guy, he just took what he wanted to make him better

Yes, the adventurer went down a path to make him a better adventurer. How...terrible?

he was the only person to get out of a dungeon, he left us all there as we died and he ran away, from that time on, I hate monks

So he avoided a TPK. How...terrible?

you never leave youre party behind, even if youre who exsistance is to not help anyone ever, seriously, the character did 1 thing the whole time and that was run ahead of the party and find traps, wouldnt disable them or anything, just set them off...its not like the 2 rogues, the artificer or the scout could have done the same without setting them off and saying "hey monsters! look at me!"

So your problem with the monk is that it's a weak class. Um.

I just...if I played a monk, hed be straight monk (all 20 levels) and actually care about his past, where he came from, ect. ect.

If I played a <character>, he'd be <whatever character it is with whatever mix of levels>, and actually care about his past, where he came from, etc, etc.

And I'd probably be better at it then you, to boot.

 

[Andras]

I had a pretty decent monk build running from 1st-14th level in a campaign. He was the primary damage dealer for the group.

LG Changling Monk6, Warshaper 4, Pious Templar 4 (and planning to take it to 10th)

True Believer, Imp Grapple
Combat Ref
ACF- Prayerful Meditation
Vexing Flanker
ACF- Holy Strike, Wall Walker
Imp Natural Attack
W-Focus- Unarmed
Extra Smite
bf- Wpn Specialization
bf- Adaptable Flanker

Planning to take Practiced Spellcaster @ 15th,
Defensive Sweep and Law Domain @ 18th

Also a Follower of the Good Domain Affiliation for +1 on attacks and saves vs Evil
(Stats including magic items)
Str 26
Dx 18
Con 22
Int 14
Wis 18
Cha 12

164HP, DR, no crits or stuns, Mettle and Evasion, 24/16/19 save mods; +3 vs Evil, +2 vs Chaos; Immune to poison and Disease

Unarmed Attk +20/3d8+10 +1d6 if evil
Scorpion Kama +23/3d8+13 w GMW, Mighty Smiting and Shattermantle
+4 if flanking, +1vs evil, +6 if smiting, +2 if AoO; 10' reach

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

If were going for a character that mixes armed and unarmed combat, the question of why to use a Monk still exists, as there are at least two classes (Totemist and Swordsage) which are in competition with the Monk class...

Totemist isn't usually allowed in the campaigns I run PCs- only when I'm DMing does MoI come into play in our group- and I hate ToB, so you'll never see me running any class out of there. As yet, nobody has asked me for permission to run a ToB PC, so I haven't had to decide whether I'd let one come in...or limit ToB elements to things like Feats.

 

[Dandu]

I had a pretty decent monk build running from 1st-14th level in a campaign. He was the primary damage dealer for the group.

LG Changling Monk6, Warshaper 4, Pious Templar 4 (and planning to take it to 10th)

As noted, Monk 6 is still decent.

Warshaper's a pretty good prestige class since it gives you stats to make up for MAD. I think Pious Templar is too, though I can't remember much of it off the top of my head.

 

[Nifft]

As noted, Monk 6 is still decent.

IMHO the good exit levels are 2 - 4 - 6 - 8.

The highest I'd go in Monk ever is probably 12.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Dandu]

What do you get at 8th level?

12th gets Dimension Door 1/day, but honestly I'd rather take 6 levels of something else and get DD via an item or from the other class.

 

[Nifft]

What do you get at 8th level?

12th gets Dimension Door 1/day, but honestly I'd rather take 6 levels of something else and get DD via an item or from the other class.

8th level grants +6 BAB, +6 to all saves, and 1d10 unarmed damage.

12th grants 2d6 unarmed damage, +40 ft. bonus to speed, and it's another level where you get a nice bump to BAB and saves (before 13th which grants no save or BAB increase).

 

[Dandu]

8th level grants +6 BAB, +6 to all saves, and 1d10 unarmed damage.

Grants +1 BAB, +1 to average unarmed damage, and +1 to saves over level 6. A little underwhelming. I'd rather take levels in Fighter.

 

[Nifft]

Grants +1 BAB, +1 to average unarmed damage, and +1 to saves over level 6. A little underwhelming. I'd rather take levels in Fighter.

Are you genuinely misunderstanding me, or trying to pick a fight?

Look, I didn't say "LEVEL 12 IS AWESOME, YOU SHOULD TOTALLY TAKE IT". No, I said I'd never, ever, ever take levels 13 or beyond.

See the difference?

 

[Dandu]

Hey, you can be polymorphed into an Outsider if you go for all 20 levels...