Monk - Weapon Master?

[Legolas]

The Epic monk can also improve his Spell Resistance, Ki Strike and Stunning Fist through feats, but yes, that's about it.

Monk and SD do share some bonus feats, just as the Rogue/Shadowdancer does. Still, those two and the Bard are the logical choices for the Shadowdancer prestige class since they have Tumble, Hide and Move Silently as class skills and those are required to unlock the PrC.

[uss]

Actually.. I think I'll take SD. I have 16 in Dex and am planning to increase Dex with every lvl up(since I don't use any armor and I have Weapon Finesse), so I'm interested in what kind of a dodging monster AC character I could have.


Still, I have an important question: With 10 Strength, do I miss out on important feats? It seemed like a good idea at the time, to pump on Dex and forget about Strength completely(1 AC is better than 1 Dam, in my opinion), but was that a mistake?


Thanks.

[Legolas]

It's mostly Cleave you'll be missing out on.

Regarding the +1 AC, you'd have gotten the same from pumping your Wisdom in the case of a monk, which would have some added bonusses. But perhaps from here it's best to continue on with Dex and eventually aim for the epic dodge feat or similar.

[ScottG]

A monks effectiveness really depends on the level of the character.

At lower levels high ac makes a BIG difference. This is because at character levels under 20 various opponents will not have really good attack numbers.

Conversly, at high levels high damage makes a BIG difference. This is because opponents will often have damage resistance.. and sometimes HIGH damage resistance.

Also remember that criticals are nothing more than a bonus to attacks because they work against only a few creatures. Quite a few opponents are immune to criticals (and as a result sneak attacks as well).

As far as combinations with prestige classes are concerned:

SD: For the monk the hide in plain site feature can be a valuable defensive measure if the characters hide and move silently is HIGH. Essentially it allows you to make an attack and then move away and hide without the opponent being able to hit you. Otherwise the SD: is somewhat ineffective in that its best feat is Improved Evasion, and thats something a monk receives anyway. The summon is nice at lower levels, but at higher levels its fairly ineffective. The damage reduction doesn't last long enough to be of real worth AND it isn't high enough in weapon rating (only +3).. i.e. something better covered by equipment bonuses.

WM: this class take a TON of feats just to get the class.. criticals should only be seen as a bonus.. finally, this class really becomes effective with very low critical weapons AND NONE of the monks primary weapons (unarmed and kama) are low critical weapons (in fact they are the highest at 20). One last thing, the feat devistating critical really complements this class BUT you need a str. of 25 to be able to get this, so for all practical purposes you won't reach this with the monk and WM untill quite high in level if totally optimized.

RDD: this class does require at least one level as a sorcerer or bard (so it "aces-out" your additional class choice). On the other hand it pumps up strength dramatically. Consider that with this class you can reach a 25 str. within a reasonable time with this class mix. This will not only allows devistating critical (which achieves a less often chance for a critical, BUT the critical is completely effective on opponents capable of being criticaled), but it also pumps up your damage potential substantially so that with unarmed attack (with 16 levels as monk and 10 as RDD) you have the chance to damage most opponents with damage reduction (especially with str. enhancing items). In my opinion this is the best of the 3 combinations by FAR. Additionally if your leveling up to charater level 40 you can always fill in with some levels as a sorceror to gain better protection than a SD, or additional fire power or damage (via fire shield or melstith's acid sheath).

[uss]

Ah, Legolas, I automatically have Clave already(reqs 13+ Strength, hehe). Too bad I'll be missing out on Great Cleave, though.


Thanks for the long post, ScottG! It seems I'll be becoming a Dragon Disciple after all. Not that I have any problem with it. Nice to have cool dragon wings.


Hoping anybody might share some insight about stat requiring feats, I'll post my stats:

Str 10
Dex 16
Con 10
Int 14
Wis 14
Cha 14

I didn't put any more than 10 into Con - as the Elf has a penalty to Con, I though it would be more logical. I put 14 into Int because of the skill bonuses and 14 to Cha because I *always* roleplay characters with an above average Charisma. Sigh, it is a weakness I have, but since I'm going to multi-class with the Sorcerer and then RDD, this'll be good.

[ 07-13-2004, 06:40 PM: Message edited by: uss ]