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How would a monk fare in BGI? I know the beginning would probably be pretty tough, but I could see them getting pretty decent after a while. Heck, with some luck, they'd probably even be a pretty good solo class: stealth, trap detection, they can use wands, and the Dagger of Venom is an awesome weapon.

Plus, with a 19 STR in BGII, they're a lot better than they would have been otherwise.

How would you optimally equip a BGI monk?

I haven't played it myself, but the answers in the thread "kits question" seem to imply that at the start a monk is very weak.
However, surely it doesn't matter if he is weak at first. It might even make the game a challenge again for you.

I've tried playing a monk, in a party, not solo. It wasn't a very interesting experience and IIRC I quit right after the Nashkel mines.
The biggest drawback was his AC. I also remember him duking it out with a hobgoblin, with both my monk and the hobgoblin swinging at each other with no one scoring a hit for about two minutes. By that time I was gnawing at my keyboard The hobgoblin won, by the way.

I just tried it solo and i think the trick is to do as follows:

- Have 15/16 CON and 18 DEX.
- Put proficiency points in longsword and single weapon style.
- Get a sling and whoop all the bears' asses (slow/175 XP each).
- Get Xzar and kill/get rid of Montaron.
- Go to Friendly Arm Inn, use Xzar's Drain and Wand of Magic Missiles to kill the assassin.
- Learn all spells from the 5-ish scrolls you now got.
- Dump Xzar.

The trick mainly seems to be to reach Level 3. Plus 1 AC, +1 missile AC, 0-2 extra damage, +1/2 attack. With 1,5 Attacks doing 1-8 damage and a AC of 4 (2 vs missiles, you equip the longsword for the AC against those) you should be able to handle wolves and gibberlings. You can freely use up Potions of Speed as you will be immune to them by Level 5 (right?). Once you get to Level 6, you're set.

I get your strategy, but I'd be soloing, which for me means never picking up anybody else.

I did well to a point using proficiencies in Dagger and Single Weapon Style.

Dagger gives you both a melee and missile weapon, and the Dagger of Venom is a sweet melee option.

If it is getting the first bit of experience that is difficult, you could do the relatively non-violent quests first. The archaeologist, Brage, rescuing dogs and cats etc avoiding all unneceassary conflict.

The problem is that you're hugely vulnerable at first and need to level fast. That's why you need Xzar for a short while, after that you can solo freely. Otherwise, the first bandit/kobold/wolf you run into will slaughter you.

Although you could go over to Bergost, get a certain cloak and pay a visit to some Sirens to the west.

That should get you to level five or so.

anarchistica wrote:The problem is that you're hugely vulnerable at first and need to level fast. That's why you need Xzar for a short while, after that you can solo freely. Otherwise, the first bandit/kobold/wolf you run into will slaughter you.

But then it's not a solo game. Get it?

I'd say that it still is a solo game if you charm enemies as they are not part of your party. That however depends on how you interpret the word solo.

According to Aramis, who created the Lost Items mod, monks are certifiable kitty cats. (That's not really what he said, but it's close.) Here is the quote that explains what the monk component does:

"Component 'Monk +3 AC and +1 THAC0 Bonus'
3) Monks are missing the WIS bonus to AC (Thanks Bioware!) and are certifiable pussies. Even in Baldur's Gate II monks are generally considered weak until around level 12. In Baldur's Gate they are pathetic, bruised, bleeding, simpering fools. At the beginning of Baldur''s Gate monks that have greater than 15 WIS will receive a permanent +3 AC and +1 - it makes them playable but by no means overpowered. At level 5 my monk had about the same kill/xp record as Imoen just using a short bow. If carried over to Baldur's Gate 2 I doubt that the bonus would ever overpower them, since by the time AC gets really high it really isn't an issue anymore, and it is in the AD&D rules after all. Well, the AC bonus at least - the THAC0 bonus is to make up for the readily available +1 weapons in Baldur's Gate."

Quote:According to Aramis, who created the Lost Items mod, monks are certifiable kitty cats.
Surely for those of us who have contributed to this thread, having a certifiable pussy cat is actually beneficial, as I would have thought that all of us now find BG1 a little on the easy side.

Klorox wrote:But then it's not a solo game. Get it?

I'd Rather Really You Didn't #2.

Coot wrote:I've tried playing a monk, in a party, not solo. It wasn't a very interesting experience and IIRC I quit right after the Nashkel mines.
The biggest drawback was his AC. I also remember him duking it out with a hobgoblin, with both my monk and the hobgoblin swinging at each other with no one scoring a hit for about two minutes...

That sounds like a typical melee battle in BG1.

A +1 THAC0 bonus would change everything.

wise grimwald wrote:I'd say that it still is a solo game if you charm enemies as they are not part of your party. That however depends on how you interpret the word solo.

Yeah, but that's not adding another NPC to your party, that's charming an enemy.

If there's more than 1 portrait on the right sided column at any time, you're not soloing.

EDIT: Where can I find this mod, and when did it become okay to say that p-word in the context it's quoted in?

Rules of the board changed. I've asked Buck to put up an announcement of this, but noooooo...

Anybody have a copy of Vedran's mod that can shoot Klorox a copy? I trashed mine a couple of years ago on a bad drive.

Here's a link to it via SHS fable. Note the European link is broken, but the American link works fine.

Vedran's Lost Items (for TuTu) - Spellhold Studios

Klorox wrote:Where can I find this mod, and when did it become okay to say that p-word in the context it's quoted in?

You can use the link that galraen posted. I got it from a page at Spellhold that has a consolidated list of mods:

BGT-WeiDU Mod List - Spellhold Studios

I didn't know it was okay to use the "p-word". I expected it to be *****-out.

By the way, I use Google to find things like that. It's very easy, and it works very well. But of course, it's nice to have the links posted here.

Sorry if my use of the p word offended anyone. It was completely innocent.
I was going to defend my useage by saying what I meant by it, but then relised that my explanation would be deliberately misconstrued by readers with a certain type of mind.

Guys and girls, I've deleted several posts in this thread discussing vulgar words - this thread is about monks, not which words can be used on GameBanshee or which words people find offensive. Please can we keep it on topic

Thanks.