My favourite character class in 'old skool' AD&D was always the monk. Started off really bad - no AC dexterity bonus, no armour etc, etc. I was really glad to see it brought back in BGII.

However I seem to be in a minority of one. I've scanned loads of posts but none seem to rate Monks as one of the best classes. My question is are they worth having as a main character? I have just started a new game (nearly finished Chapter 2), and I want to know whether its going to be worth carrying on.

Although its been pretty tough so far, it looks like Monks get really tough later on (high MR, low AC, loads of attacks etc). There must be a reason why no-one talks about them much.

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Supreme executive power comes from a mandate from the masses, not some farcical aquatic ceremony

IMO Monks rock and im sure iv seen people at these forums who agree. Yes monks are tough in the begining but they soon become powerful. Monks get the Quivering palm attack at lvl 14 that can kill dragons in one hit if your lucky. Their ac gets better as they lvl up. So all in all i would stick with the monk as they are one of the better classes.

IMHO there is not such thing as "the best class" as each class has their good points and bad points. Agreed some classes do appear to suck (beast master)but if u stuck with him he might not be so bad and u had other characters in your party that make up for his lack of skill in some areas. The key to a successful game is a "balanced party".

You have one fan here, I always loved playing the monk. That that the thief... well only the thief if you had a DM with a good imagination.

In any case ya the quivering palm attack can be really powerful. You just have to be careful when using the monk in the earlier stages as they can die fairly easily. Later on though.... http://www.ironworksforum.com/ubb/no...iles/smile.gif

monk is like a superman or power freak or control addicts

if you like the absolute power with no realistic whatsoever, then monk is your best choice!

he is one of a kind!

Yeah, prety much the same as the otherguys have said, they are quite crap at the beginning and die an anoying ammount of times, but if you save often its not too bad, and they do get very good towards the end.....

i dont believe how you guys can literally murder your monks in the beginning stage, I mean, when I was a solo assasin, I past lvl 14 without a problem, and monk should be much easier

Jackie Chan's class is Monk. Monk is awesome with his abilities even in 3rd edition. (at 20th level non-magic weapons can't hurt him and he absorbs 20 damage so if you want to kill a 20th level monk (and monk got 100 hp) you have to hit him 120 damage in one time. If you hit him 21 damage each round. You have to make 100 succesful hit! Is it possible??

But the matter is roleplaying not powerplaying in my opinion. You can choose Monk if you're enjoying, if you like it. But I like to wield different swords (FÝghter, Paladin) want to wear armors (Not Kensai!) so a knight who fights for justice, honour (or for his own ehehe) sounds good to me. And also a wizard is very enjoyable to roleplay. And I like to try bard because the stronghold of bard is unbelieveable enjoying as I Heard

Thanks for all the replies. I'm glad to see that there are others out there who like the Monk, for whatever reason. I would probably have carried on anyway. I've always had a soft spot for monks ever since watching Kung Fu with David Carradine on TV. Yes I am that old. (Been playing AD&D on and off for twenty years now, man and boy.)

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Supreme executive power comes from a mandate from the masses, not some farcical aquatic ceremony

Yeah I don't think there is any doubt at all by most anyone on these boards that monks are VERY powerful. I think most look down on them with disdain because of a rollplaying issue and the stigma that they are a powergamers choice (lack of rollplaying combined with huge power potential). I played a monk as my first character and started over because of the rollplaying issue andthe fact that I wanted to use all the cool eq i was finding. Now after I have finished the game a few times I wanted to try them out again and have now played with a monk. Very cool indeed but hard to really role play a monk in this environment.