A monk is supposed to be powerful at higher levels, right? I'm 339 points from level 13 and he's only got 60 hit points (even Anomen's already at 100) and I was getting pounded by a minotaur. A MINOTAUR, for Bhaal's sake, what's the problem? :mad:

STR 18
DEX 18
CON 18
INT 13
WIS 18
CHA 18 (w/ring)
Lawful Good

Gauntlets of Weapon Skill, Ring of Prot +1, Belt of Inertial Barrier, Cloak of the Sewers.
AC: -3
Thac0: 5

Even if I get the Quivering Palm at lvl 13 and the 42% MR at lvl 14, how useful is it if I can't even hit anything? I have NEVER seen so many Critical Misses before (actually had 3 Crit Misses, 2 consecutive, in the final 2 rounds in that last fight with the minotaur - typical of the whole game so far). I have YET to land a Stunning Blow in the entire game. I seem actually more useful just throwing the Boomerang Dagger while hiding behind Anomen's back.

I know there's a lot I can learn even though I've already played SoA a bunch of times, but I'm not a complete idiot - we actually killed the mindflayers without cheese for the first time. But this time I don't have the slightest idea what I'm forgetting to do. Do I have to resort to Call Upon Holy Might EVERY BATTLE?

Most likely I should just drink some chamomile and valerian, stop freaking out, and be patient until level 15 or so, right? :rolleyes:

Nice stronghold though.

A Minotaur? lol, well, 13 isnt a very high level, but that is low hp, mabye you should equip items that increase hp.

They get more powerful at HIGHER levels say 17+ probably more.

Oh wait, I know you have experience with the game and all, but you didn't do anything foolish like equip him with a weapon did you?

[ 06-07-2003, 12:50 AM: Message edited by: Firestormalpha ]

Well I can't wear the <font color = 44341d> helm of balduran </font> to raise my hp, is there something else? Sorry, I forget...

--Ah, good point, but no, I am indeed using fists. Only equipping a the boomerang dagger when I want to attack from range. Which seems to be a lot of the time.

OK, so we're talking HIGHER levels here, I guess? I guess that's fair enough, Anomen's turn-undead doesn't explode liches till about 19-20. But I didn't think I would be in this much difficulty at level 12, IIRC my solo blade was WAY easier at level 12-13. Suppose I'll start making the tea then...

[ps - omg, NALIA has more hp than I do! (63 hp)]

[ 06-07-2003, 01:21 AM: Message edited by: Mahlennacht ]

Hate to break it to you, but... 18 CON is wasted on a Monk. Monks only get HP bonuses up to 16 CON. Anything after that is gravy and for regeneration purposes.

At level 12... your Monk's HP should range from 31 to 94. So your HP is perfectly normal.

Monks quiver in fear more or less in the beginning. It's only when you start getting your high-level abilities that your Monk starts kicking butt. Just hang in there until you reach the magical level 14.

ADD] Oh, and consider giving your Monk the Girdle of Hill Giant Strength.

[ 06-07-2003, 01:36 AM: Message edited by: Dundee Slaytern ]

re CON: Oh wow, no kidding? I coulda used a couple more INT points for mindflayers I suppose.

re HP: Hmm, all right, looks like I just had a mediocre run of rolls, just expected to be up near 80 at least.

Grr, I let Nalia try on the Girdle for a bit while she soloed the liches, I better get it back. I suppose even one more point of STR makes a difference? I'll try it.

-- My apologies, looks like I was impatient. Think I'll do the Umar Hills - lvl 14 here I come

18 STR: -1 THACO, +2 Damage
19 STR: -3 THACO, +7 Damage

Not to mention that your Monk will be able to carry an additional 300 BG Weight Units for a total of 500( 18 STR grants you 200 WUs only).

Ooh, right. *ahem* Yes, well, that'll certainly help. :D Heh.
(Forgot all the strength increments between 18/01 and 18/00)
[sound of flipping manual pages...]

eheh, the best thing amout the monk is the strength increasers :D

Your almost level 13? That means your level is *beyond* low. Monks are powerful at high levels. Anything lower than 20 is low level, at least in TOB heh. Infact, monks become nigh invincible, with nearly full magic resistence(with equipment), tons of immunities, one hit kills, and all that good insane stuff.

BTW I never use ToB anymore - so I don't use any of the high-level abilities. I have the XP uncapped, but I find I hardly ever exceed the cap by much anyway, unless I'm soloing, and I might try playing with the cap ON from now on, which will mean I'll max out a monk at lvl 21 if I even get there...

Anyway, yeah, so I guess I'm too low-level to be whining yet, but JEEZ a monk seems to be a split personality; weak for a long time, then [supposedly] he'll suddenly turn godlike - just wasn't used to that, every other class I played seemed more consistent for the whole game - and he is a LOT better ever since
he got the girdle of hill giant strength, actually does 10+ damage now for once.

...and I just got Quivering Palm - only got it to work against a sahuagin so far [img]graemlins/dontknowaboutyou.gif[/img] - I'm looking forward to trying that on a dragon (after lowering his rolls), but the way things are going, I am fully expecting to reload 50 times before I get off a successful quivering palm on a dragon. [Check that, I'm giving up after 3 reloads and killing the dragons the regular way - less frustrating]

Just be patient with the monk. Yes it seenms that they are pathetic at the begining, but just wait t'il lvl 14. Much damage and ill can be stoped by only 40+ magic resistance. Later you can become 100% magic resistant. "Mage?, what mage?" keep uping your strength, it will help you hit and deal more damage, your THAC0 will also drop as you level up.

About quivering palm, consider casting greater malision on the target first. This will help you imensly, same goes for stunning blow.

Later in the game your monk will be invincible, if you equip him well. Just remember that he is NOT a tank, use anomen for that and you can kick but from behind or beside him while he distracts the enemies.
wierd my monks were able of dealing out an average of about 17 damage by the time they got quivering palm.
Overall don't fret, you will have a weapond of mass destruction when your monk hits the higher levels. Hope you enjoy your game.