Is the monk a good starter class?

[Necromancer911]

I am a total noob and wondered if the Monk class was a good starter build and if I should multiclass it wich other class should I use

[Fljotsdale]

Any class be a good starter, depending on how you play.

But if you want a Monk, DO NOT multiclass; a Monk is one of the few classes that are better kept pure.
Also, since you are a noob, go for Human as the Race. You get some nice extras and no disadvantages and it's easy to multiclass without XP penelty if you want to.

Since a Monk is basically a Fighter, not a spellcaster, I suggest you make a couple of STARTER characters and play through the Tutorial with each of them: one a Monk, one a Fighter, before deciding which way to go.

[Galadine]

The manual and the in-game notes mention which charactersare good for noobs; human, dwarfs, halflings and half-orcs are mentioned as favorable for beginners. Personally, I wouldn't have appreciated a monk as much if I started off playing one. After a few rounds of fighters, rangers and rogues, a monk proved to be an enjoyable alternative.

[Magrus]

I am a total noob and wondered if the Monk class was a good starter build and if I should multiclass it wich other class should I use

Monks aren't easy to play if you don't know their strengths. There are a number of ways to build a monk that are good builds. However, they tend to be a mix between a rogue/fighter/cleric all in one, but without the special abilities. By that I mean, if you build them right, they can have the ability to sneak around and be mobile like a rogue. They can dish out damage like a fighter, and they have special spell-like abilites and the high wisdom of a cleric.

With good saves, and no true need for a weapon, fast movement, eventually gaining immunity to disease, poison, near immunity to spells, and an ability to heal themself, a monk is the closest thing to a self-sufficient warrior you will get all in one class. However, I feel obliged to mention is it hard to balance the attributes, feats, skills and equipment of a monk to work well. You can do a half-orc monk and drop the skills and personality based aspects of your character for a big brute with low AC, high Str and Con to deal damage and take it as well. You can go for an elf and do a Dex based monk instead with high Dex and Wis for high AC, and weapon finesse to have a high attack as well, but low damage.

You can do a lot with the class, but it ranks right up there with the Paladin in the terms of difficulty in making a good monk. Contrary to what others say, you can multiclass a monk and get good results. Especially with the multiclassing rules bent the way they are for monks and paladins in this game. However, you will be melding the abilities of the monk with another class, not supplimenting the monk abilities with something else. A dwarf Monk/Dwarven Defender can be an incredible tank, even unarmed and unarmored. A Monk/Rogue can be sneaky and deal sneak attack damage with no penalties to skills and no equipment necessary.

A 13th level Monk/ 7th level Fighter will have great saves, spell resistance, immunity to disease, poisons, the ability for minor healing, fast movement +40, and +2 to AC plus Dex and Wis bonuses. Mixed with Weapon Focus, Weapon Specialization, Improved Critical and Power Critical for unarmed damage and a base unarmed damage of 2d6, and 6 attacks per round with greater flurry by level 20, you can brutalize the enemy if you have some equipment to bring your attack up a bit to guarantee that you will hit. With the cleave tree of feats, you don't need whirlwind, you can hammer on foes until they drop and keep swinging while they attempt to keep up as you end up surrounded.

The problem with this is you will need great equipment to keep your AC up. If you only have 14 in Dex and Wisdom and have 13 monk levels, you have a 16 AC, plus equipment bonuses. Monks aren't good against enemies with a high AC. They fight face-to-face like a fighter, but operate like a rogue or assassin. They need to kill quickly, or be dropped due to their lack of armor and low AC.

[Snipercon]

A nice tip to help a monk with AC is to craft these items.
Peripaf of Wisdom +8
Belt of Agility +8
Bracers of Armor +8
That'll give you an additional +16 AC (compared to 13 for a +5 full plate). It's sometimes overlooked that while monks dont benefit from armor they get AC bonuses from items that other classes dont.

On multiclassing monks I'll go ahead and plug my Monk(5)/Wizard(5)/Pale Master(6)/Duelist(4) *pattent pending*. This is an intricately ballanced design that uses equally complicated strategies, so beginers beware. Personally, I appreciate the variety of ways this build can deal with encounters (summon skeletons, buffing, hand to hand, necro spells, room for creativity).

[Fljotsdale]

Necromancer911 is a noob to the game. Should you guys really be blinding him with science? :speech: :laugh:

For his first trial run, simple is better! He can go complicated later! :laugh:

[Magrus]

Necromancer911 is a noob to the game. Should you guys really be blinding him with science? :speech: :laugh:

For his first trial run, simple is better! He can go complicated later! :laugh:

He got a rundown on the monk class from people who know how to work with it. In essence, monks and paladins aren't good choices for a beginner though. However, this would be the place to put information for future reference on the class, as the board owner doesn't allow multiple threads. So, people looking up information on the class later will be directed to this thread if they start a new one, hence it isn't a bad idea to toss it all out there right off. If he doesn't want the info, he can say "oh damnit, thats way over my head right now" and know it's not good for him to start. Or, he can read through it, use it and see how he likes the results. His choice, I don't like holding back knowledge from people on the assumption they are too stupid or lazy to absorb it. People can't learn new things unless they try.

[Necromancer911]

Thanks for all the good answers and recomandations, it will be of good use.