THE BEST IN MELEE

[Gustave]

Even in the table top game, monks were too powerful. They should have been left out of this game. I would choose a fighter anyday of the week just because of my bias towards the monk class.

I am personally a fan of the flail of the ages and heard it got a nice upgrade in TOB. I wouldn't dump all my points into the flail profiency just for that though. A few other awesome weapons are the Warblade(twohanded sword 1d12+4), Celestial Fury(Katana 1d10+3 with a couple of abilities), Frost Reaver, Azure Edge and Stonefire(All axes and nice for killing undead and trolls), Daystar(Sunray against undead? *drools*), Impaler(Spear, 1d8+3, +10 piercing dmg) or even the Hammer of Thunderbolts(no need to waste the girdle and gauntlets, 2d4+3..5-11 plus strength(14-20 with the big girdle I believe)..is still a nice chunk of damage. Heck, even some of the short swords and daggers are awesome too, not to mention the staves if you choose to be a fighter/mage.

[vitocorleone]

Monks are indeed perhaps too powerful. But still fun to play! I'm currently playing a level 20 monk equipped with 3 critical items: Girdle of Fire (Frost? forget which one...) Giant Str, Cloak of Mirroring, and Ring of Free Action. Since the hands do 1-20 dmg per hit and she attacks 7/2, in the first round I typically average (and almost never miss) 80 - 100 damage. Get a few critical hits in and it's 120+. My monk would happily take on a berserk fighter any day, though a good backstab would probably take her out. 2 - 3 rounds and the monk can tear through high level Stoneskin no problem - it's the pesky immunity to magical weapons that renders her temporarily useless.

As an example of what the monk equipped above can do: took out a lair of beholders (underdark) all by herself with maybe 2 healing potions and no reloads. And while a fighter with that cloak kicks arse as well, the monk's natural resistances and additional attacks per round put the monk over the top.

[Cavern Sniffer]

MONKS


The monk can make one unarmed attack per round; he gains one-half
additional attack every 3 levels.

As the monk increases in levels, the damage his fists inflict does as
well:
- Level 1-2: 1-6
- Level 3-5: 1-8
- Level 6-8: 1-10
- Level 9-14: 1-12
- Level 15+: 1-20
- A monk's natural armor class gets better as he goes up in levels. His
armor class starts off at 9, and then decreases by 1 for every 2 levels.
- Stunning blow, once per day for every 4 levels. All attacks in the next 6
seconds force the victim to save or be stunned. Note: This special
ability automatically modifies a monk's normal attack, no targeting needs
to be done.
- Monks have the Deflect Missiles ability. This gives them a -1 to their AC
vs missiles for every 3 levels.
- The monk gains a +2 to save vs. spells.
- A monk starts off moving at +2 move, then +1 move every 5 levels.
- 5th level: Immunity to all diseases, and cannot be Slowed or Hasted.
- 7th level: Lay on Hands to heal 2 hit points per level.
- 8th level: -1 to speed factor.
- 9th level: +1 to all saves. Immune to charm. The monk's fist is
considered a +1 weapon (+2 at 12th, +3 at 15th).
- 11th level: Immune to poison.
- 12th level: Another -1 to speed factor.
- 13th level: Quivering Palm spell once per day. This spell gives them one
hand attack. If they hit an opponent, the opponent must save or die.
- 14th level: The monk gains 3% magic resistance per level (ie. 42% at 14th
level).
- 20th level: Immune to non-magical weapons.


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It's bleedin dark down here, slippery too.
Man, that's a pisser.

[IntrospectiveIdeals]

Ok guys I will update you, the half orc fighter is made, and there are some slight statistic adjustments.

str - 19
dex - 18
const- 19
wisd - 5
intel - 8
char - 18

I think thats pretty good, now I played up to chapter 3 with a monk, and I have to say it was boring, lets just say you cannot experiment as much with a monk.

I think the fighter has the edge because the problem with the monk is, you get resistance to his weapons and hes screwed. At the moment my fighter is level 10, roughly 100 hp, he's screwing up anyone in his way, and he has great saves. Get this no archer can touch him, he has -14!!! against missile weapons.

He's got the Namara sword which is a +2 long sword he's pushing around 20-30 damage and 40 on criticals. He also hits very consistently.

As for my proficiencies I got maximum for sword and shield style, and grand mastery in long sword, are there some really good long swords I could get? Don't tell me where they are, NO SPOILERS PLZ!

[Seid]

I don't think you need such a high charisma. You can just use the ring of human influence. My favourite longswords are the Equalizer and the sword of Balduran. The best is Blackrazor, but you only get it at the end of the game.

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You cannot escape the inevitable.

[Cavern Sniffer]

The worlds most likeable Half-Orc no doubt.......if not one of the worlds dumbest.

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It's bleedin dark down here, slippery too.
Man, that's a pisser.