I haven't touched a monk until now, in any wizardry game, but I'm intensely curious about creating one, or picking up RFS to see what I'm missing! Its the one character class I have yet to try.. (aside from the pure casters ^_^)

Bishop! Bishop!

Anyway, the subject is fairly self explanatory. What should a monk wield? And are his psionics really worth building up?

[ 04-30-2002, 08:31 PM: Message edited by: Charmy ]

Ever since i first found Zato in W-7, i've played with a monk in most of my parties. Msotly to melee from the second row, but i'm finding them fun now, too. A party i just finished with had 4 char's:
Rawulf Samurai, Fairy Alch to L.18 then Ninja, Hobbit Bish to L.18 then Valk, Gnome Bish to L. 18 then Monk. Because i train everything i can, i arranged their stats so they could all be Rogues for a level at the start to max Stealth, L&T, and Shield. Having all spells increases the mana capacity really well. I woulda made the Fairy a Bish, too, now that i've compared that. She only got 2 levels ahead, so the XP difference does not outweigh the mana difference.
The magic is lovely. You can cast some nice nukes, and at lest Psi and Mental can be driven up to max right at the beginning; if you use all the training techniques i've read here (and some i've posted) you can build magic easily. You can open doors and chests with psionics, too.
Like Ninjas, their speed and critting makes Martial Arts good. Zato is better, though, and if you build Strength once Speed, Dex, and Int are maxed, by the time you get Zato your rate of fire should be high enough that the special effects tip the scales with a thump. I built up Staff and Martial Arts (and Dual, and Crit) all together by putting a Shillie in the off hand, leaving the primary empty.