A question or three about the Monk

[Helix]

Getting reasonably close to my 2nd run through the game, I'm thinking
about my next party. I want to play some new (for me) classes. The Monk
looks interesting. Just the idea of unarmed fighting ....
Anyhoo, I've read what I can find on this class, and not surprisingly,
I've found conflicting information. What I really want to know is,
what stat or skill modifies damage? Some say strength, some say martial arts,
some say both. I would like to skimp on strength if possible, putting
those points in something else. I set up a test Monk just to check
controlling attributes. Nowhere is strength shown as a controlling attribute,
except staff and wand, which kinda defeats the purpose of a Monk ...
Oh and I don't want to hire the magicless robot. Plus I want to build
this bad girl from scratch.

[Gimli]

I would say the answer is both. For melee in general, Strength has these effects:

Strength 2.5 cc, .7 stamina
Melee: .1 to Hit, .1 Attack Rating, 2%/1% damage above/below 50
Ranged: 1%/.5% damage above/below 50
Note: Strength increase weapon damage for all but Modern Weapons

Martial arts does this:

Martial Arts .1 Attack Rating, .085 damage

(this is from Avenstar's site, www.geocities.com/shau185/attributes.html).

I've had weak and strong Monks and the strong ones were better with MA (and the staff). I would suggest if MA is going to be the focus of the character building up Str and Dex. You can use the haste spell to bump speed way up without putting points into it (a natural speed of about 50 will become 125 with the haste spell up at level 7). The monk can even be the character who casts haste for you as it's a psionic spell.

[Helix]

Woot! Thanks, Gimli. I totally overlooked Haste, having never
played a character who could cast it.
I'll check out that site too.
Thanks again. Gotta love this board.

Helix

[Gimli]

Good luck with the Monk [img]smile.gif[/img] Also if you haven't used Haste before, well it kicks butt - it will effect *every* member of your party, so it can make speed a stat that can be skimped on. Although take a look at the Haste thread here (http://www.ironworksforum.com/ubb/cg...;f=15;t=003044) that talks about the value of developing speed in characters who can put up soul shield and element shield.