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I was thinking of starting a new solo game with a monk, however I read in some posts that he was unable to touch Melissan in the final battle. Why is this? I mean, with the Gloves of crushing his fists would be +8 weapons and I should think that its enough to hit anything. Can anyone confirm whether this is so?

Also I plan on playing with all the improved baddies, tactics mod etc. Will my monk be strong enough to overcome them solo?

I dunno about the 8+...
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In the fights with Melissan she casts Stoneskin like there's no tomorrow... Your monk won't be able to penetrate that defense even with the gloves you mentioned.
A monk is a good soloing choice because he's so very versatile, but going up against all of those improved bad guys would be a tad difficult - at least I would imagine so, 'cause I've never tried it myself.

First, you're fists arent +8 weapons,
the gaunlets only give a taco and damage bonus (I belive that a monk with the gaunlets can't hit kangaxx untill his fists count as +4)
Also, with a monk you're gonna have VERY MUCH trouble going trough irenicus his dungeon, even if you don't solo......

My solo monk did manage to beat Mel in the final battle. I did not manage to succeed with Ascension.

Since you post this thread in the ToB forum, I assume you are starting a monk in ToB from scratch.

I have succeeded in playing a fresh monk in ToB with the improved battles, up to and excluding Draconis/ Abazigal. The trick is leveling as quickly as you can without getting hurt. You can get quite a fair bit of xp in Saradush and Watcher's Keep. My advice is to try completing at least the first two levels in WK to gain some xp and then go back again when you are lvl 16 and above.

Do a search on "monk" in the SoA and ToB forums and you will unearth a goldmine of information.

Good luck!

I know that some people say that nothing is impossible but a solo monk against the ascension baddies... eh no way I says.
Solo original game is doable...melissan was indeed very tough but in the end beatable...
In my opinion the Monk is the best solo fighter against your everyday opponents but the inflexible weaponselection makes the bosses tougher. IMO ToB is kensai-land.

Originally posted by Bruce Lee
I know that some people say that nothing is impossible but a solo monk against the ascension baddies... eh no way I says.
Solo original game is doable...melissan was indeed very tough but in the end beatable...
In my opinion the Monk is the best solo fighter against your everyday opponents but the inflexible weaponselection makes the bosses tougher. IMO ToB is kensai-land.

To be honest, I have not come across anyone who has successfully solo-ed Ascension - if there is, would be glad if someone could point the way or the link.

IIRC, Littiz said something about the Sorc and Monk being the only 2 classes that can do it; have not done it myself though.

I managed to take a sorceror up till melissan with the Ascension but could not beat her. Frankly a monk would not stand a chance.
Many would struggle already against Illasera... a monk would do better there I guess.

Originally posted by Baldursgate Fan
To be honest, I have not come across anyone who has successfully solo-ed Ascension - if there is, would be glad if someone could point the way or the link.

IIRC, Littiz said something about the Sorc and Monk being the only 2 classes that can do it; have not done it myself though.

Unlikely, I never played a Monk!

To my knowing, there's only a report of a succesfull solo win through Ascension,
it was Kovi who managed to do it. Do a search for his posts

It has to be said though, that he was playing a Wild Mage, the class with the highest cheese
potential without any doubt, and he was using it, IIRC.
Also he mentioned to have studied in depth with NearInfinity all the immunities and scripts
of the enemies, to know with what, and mostly WHEN, he could hope to inflict damage to them.
Maybe a sorc could do something similar...

While his remains an incredible deed, I think this also proves that the battle has to
be considered beatable almost exclusively by a full party.
And these are good news to me

i figured it out...the biggest disadvantage for monks is the lack of breach, right????

wands of spell striking at watchers keep!!!!

those wands can target impr invisible and are not stopped by almost anything...

so yeah, monks probably can solo ascention, especially with sanchu and celestial fury +5

try it with smarter mages....and spell 50....

sendai, i finally figured out, was using spell immunity abby to stop my remove magic volleys...

and almost everyone except yaga was using stacked prot from energy, made them immune to my sequenced sunfires of doom....

balthazar and his shadowless kick kept knocking people around...

and sendai with timestops didnt do much, but got annoying...

and spike traps, which i relied on to hurt some of them, didnt do much...sigh...


either telly field or mass planetar summons is the only way to win, i thinks...

There is just one flaw in your theory User...Monks can't use those wands... only bards and mages can, and thieves with UAI.

oh crap...

what about the rod of reversal????

you get that at amkethran, and doesnt it have a breach ability???

will have to check...i have been exploiting use any item too long...always potion swap and scrolls do work, tho...

Ruby's ray of reversal wont get rid of stoneskin or prot from magic weapons, I don't think. Potion swapping works but if you are going to use scrolls then why not just play a fighter/mage or someone who can...the point is: can a monk handle the ascension... I say they cannot, no solo fighter can.

Yup, I did a check on this and other forum sites and it seems that no one has ever done a successful solo in Ascension.
User, you are probably the greatest cheese exploiter of all here, care to share your solo exploits (if you have)?

I am reviving my solo monk and barb again. Maybe solo Bun Bun too. Wish me luck!

@BF: hei, you didn't read my answer at all!!!!!

Check here, how Kovi won with a solo Wild Mage.

I myself did it with a three men party, with my masterpiece of strategy , I suspect that could be adapted to a duo party, but to solo, I think Kovi's is the only way.

EDIT: well Kovi did it with a single item too...
This guy has to be praised

Originally posted by Littiz
@BF: hei, you didn't read my answer at all!!!!!

Check here, how Kovi won with a solo Wild Mage.

I myself did it with a three men party, with my masterpiece of strategy , I suspect that could be adapted to a duo party, but to solo, I think Kovi's is the only way.

EDIT: well Kovi did it with a single item too...
This guy has to be praised

Hehe, thanks for the link, Littiz. All credit to Kovi! There must be hope yet for the fighter solo. Still trying...

Hey absolute! I hope I didn't discourage you from trying the solo monk. Are you doing it? If so please let us know how you fare. Everything is possible...it is just going to be damn hard.
I think a multi fighter/thief or fighter/mage/thief could do it.

like i said, try with improved mages....

will take another crack real soon, i think i have a solution...my goal is to get it with no summons at all...

other times i have won require exploiting summon cheese...

BAH. This post contains few slight spoilers. Approach with extreme caution.

Heh, I played through SOA with a solo monk. When I got all the way to Suldannesselar my monk was level 40 with magic resistance over 100%. Irenicus tried to curse me off but he couldnt bypass the magic resistance so I beat him to death. In ToB I started soloing and for some time it was really easy. The bosses (especially the fighter ones) were moderately tough but it was still ok. I think when the enemy mages started using lower resistance the game got tough (or possibly spells that automatically bypass magic resistance).

Monks are very challenging in the beginning, if you solo. What I did was I would recruit party members, make them fight to the death, and if they actually die, I would kick them out of my party. Don't bother healing them, either. There are about a dozen NPCs at your disposal and by the time they're all dead, you're about level 15 (at least). As for me, I soloed all the way except recruiting few spell slingers to kill firkraag via cheese (tis impossible). Draw upon holy might is your friend, so be good! tis a MUST, IMO. When my monk was low level I ran away from battles a lot and once (when i couldnt run away) got killed by the mad cleric at docks (got held then destroyed by his walking stick... so much for 'power'gaming).

Monk is much like an unarmed cleric without spells in the beginning. Be extra careful and good luck!

@Commoner
So just to get this straight, playing a GOOD Monk you recruited party members to fight for you, didn't heal them, and let them die. That sounds more like Lawful Evil to me!