GameBanshee Forums

I'm no absolute newbie anymore but still could use some help.
I wanted to create a Monk and was thinking about something like this:

str: 10
dex: 16
con: 12
int: 12
wis: 16
cha: 8

Most people suggest taking at least str. 14 for a monk but I thought weapon finesse cold handle this. And afaik, I'll loose only one point of dmg, not that much. But I haven't found anything about a monk with only 10 strength (this forum/whole internet). Anything I missed?
Do you think this Char might kick asses or not? (if not: why?)

i've never played a "trully" monk, but have discussed about the class, so u might want to think my points of view over.

my thought is that, a monk, like a fighter-style-rogue, should aim for high AC and not to have good HP. with 1d8 per level, he will fall short of fighters by level 5. as he levels up, a monk gains immunity to poison, diesease etc, plus he gets the best saves in all fort, rflx, will available. so i would have saved the 2 points from CON and leave it at 10. u can have only 10 HP, but with 40 AC, everyone will be hard-pressed to even take 1 off.

i'm not sure about INT. the only one i can think of right now that will be interesting will be Tumble, and maybe Discipline to avoid Knockdowns. I might've missed a skill or two...

as u said so yourself, the leck of STR will compromise your dmg. a monk, with his fists does gain a larger dmg die every now and then, but a larger die does not guarentee anything. bonus to dmg as a fixed number r what makes fighters deal those high dmg, from my POV. do some simple math. a monk hits more often than any class with up to 7 (or 9?) attacks by level 20, vs only 4 of fighters. this means that a STR of 14(+2) on an average of a 50% hit probability will have added 6 dmg per round. and there are STR buffing items to account for.

know that most of your item slots will be used to improve AC, and your "hands" will likely be used for gloves that will add elemental dmg...

i would, like most have already done, suggest a balance be struck between STR, DEX and WIS, sacrificing INT and CHA, while keeping CON about 10. something like:

str: 14(16)
dex: 14(16)
con: 10
int: 10
wis: 14(16)
cha: 8
i think the () values can be achived with Elves as your race. u wouldn't bother about multiclassing anyway so unless u want the feats, or the extra skill point per level...

check [url=http://]www.forums.bioware.com[/url] i think there r a few things there about monks.

Cool, thx for your answer
Well, you wouldn'g stick with weapon finesse, IC.
Initial human stats are higher than these you said, I could start with

str:14
dex:14
con:14
int:10
wis:16
cha:8
Do you think the 4 con-points would be spent more usefull for 16 dex or str? afaik, this toughness-feat also makes up for 2 con-points (concidering hp) or do you think, I don't even need that one (stick with con 10 hps w/o any modifiers).

Furthermore I was thinking, spending 2 rouge-levels before taking monk-levels (sneak-attack is neat and some search and other thief-skills never hurt).
I just don't like to be in chapter 2 and realize that my pc sucks big times as I did with my first nwn-char, played w/o any knowledge how the game works (not to mention d&d rules)

i wouldn't advice taking any other class. stick solely to monk, since, while the sneak attack may be enticing, it is a two edged sword. u will find yourself lacking the power monnk abilities of being immune to a whole bunch of stuff, greater bare handed attacks (which the rogue levels will not add to) etc.

as to whether to allocate the CON to others, it is really up to u. (or u could take an elf, and take 2 points off CON to start with Dex 16?)

take a rogue hench if u're worried about traps, but generally, u need not because all traps have a reflex save, which i donot think u need to worry about as a monk. hide, move silent and tumble are probably important, along with discipline. but i would place greater importance on the last 2 skills.

Guess you are right about not taking the rouge levels, looking at the monk progression chart. Though this will make the beginning quite a bit harder, lack of trap related stuff and no sneak attack, and I didn't plan to take Tony with me, cause I'll need some tank-capabilities, lol-lvl monks aren't good at that (at least the one I created ) and that's where the Red Tiger comes into play (at least he should be able to crack most of the doors/chests).

About the elve-thing: On the one hand elves have nice bonus stats and the +dex thing is really cool but then, I think monks do not have to worry that much about extra saving-throws and the extra feat at lvl 1 rocks.

Beside that, are there any elven monks in faerun? Ok, that's not really important but as my first serious char, I don't want to draw to much attention on me by playing a ronin, fighting all the stereotypes against non human monks

Feel free to comment, criticise, bash (well, maybe except the latter)

there is not "right" in any case. its up to u to decide what u want. it is just that some builds are merely for Role Playing purposes, while others work in NWN (and, if u want PvP).

the problem with monks is that they are what i would call generalists.

a fighter/barbarian is a specialist as there he concentrates on bringing more dmg per hit, and improving HP and AC. raw dmg potential, and the best ability to hit overall.

a wizard/sorceror is a specialist as he concentrates on casting more and better spells.

the other classes are generalist. clerics/druids/paladins/rangers/bards all aim to be a combat-casters, with different emphasis to one end or the other. druids to caster end, rangers/paladin to combat end, and the cleric nicely sits in between. these classes are still easier in themselves, as they can use spells to buff their combat part. either that, or they gravitate to one side subtantially that they can be a specialist, sorta. eg. paladins actually sit between here and a specialist(combat) along with fighter/barbarian.

the monk is also a generalist. yes, he does focus solely on combat, but note that he sacrifices pure combat abilities of fighters/barbarian for resistance and better overall protection. a little bit of this and that.. Jack of all trades...

specialists r easier to allocate for since u can push what u r good at/supposed to do, and leave your weakness exposed to be covered by someone from the opposing polarity of abilities. generalist tend to try to be too much, n many gravitate or become simply mediocre and require another generalist who hopefully can build upon/help each other.

a monk would need a rogue/spellcaster as he is a pretty decent cambatant, and would (from my opinion) be well to have a bard along. a druid or other generalist classes would do, but the AI in NWN is lacking in the smarts department to actually prepare/use complementary spells.

again, i note that these are theory and have not been "fully" tried in practice before. if these prove to be true, tell me. ok?

note: i think i covered all the classes in my long bull above, leaving out the rogue. simply because she is a class that is made to be a specialist at being a generalist. multiclassed properly with some fighter/sorceror levels she can still hold her own very well while doing more than other classes. but then i've always had a bias to rogue (or the halfling cleric-thief from ADND 2e) characters.. oh, an RP-thing