Building a Monk

[Muckluck]

Hi there.

So. Monks. How would you guys go about building one? The information I can find online is ALL over the place, with some saying max dex, others max strength, yet others max wis.

I'd like a monk that punches fast and hard with decent AC. Damage is more important than AC, I think... though of course, I'd like to avoid being squished.

Should I go pure monk, or dip into a prestige class? Suggestions? Tips? Most of all, full builds?

Regards,
M

[chad878262]

You can do any of the stuff you suggest. DEX Monk is best served as M25/SD5 for Epic Dodge. WIS Monk is good either going M30 or M20/F4/DC6 or M20/DC10. You have Intuitive Attack for AB coming from WIS, Fiery Fists or Blazing Aura for damage spikes. F4 allows you to get Weapon Specialization and MM-unarmed which will make up for some of the damage lost in Monk levels and/or DC 6 can give you 2 extra bonus epic feats (or DC10 without F4 can give you 4 bonus epic feats.)

STR Monk is actually the weakest option IMO. Yes you can get decent damage, but PA/IPA doesn't work with flurry of blows and you lose out too much on AC. Top end damage IMO is a WIS Monk as I listed above, mixed in with some Fighter and divine champion. However, Monk 30 is a definite option thanks to spell resistance and increased fist dice.

[Muckluck]

You can do any of the stuff you suggest. DEX Monk is best served as M25/SD5 for Epic Dodge. WIS Monk is good either going M30 or M20/F4/DC6 or M20/DC10. You have Intuitive Attack for AB coming from WIS, Fiery Fists or Blazing Aura for damage spikes. F4 allows you to get Weapon Specialization and MM-unarmed which will make up for some of the damage lost in Monk levels and/or DC 6 can give you 2 extra bonus epic feats (or DC10 without F4 can give you 4 bonus epic feats.)

STR Monk is actually the weakest option IMO. Yes you can get decent damage, but PA/IPA doesn't work with flurry of blows and you lose out too much on AC. Top end damage IMO is a WIS Monk as I listed above, mixed in with some Fighter and divine champion. However, Monk 30 is a definite option thanks to spell resistance and increased fist dice.

Discarding STR-based monk as an option, could you provide me with a link to a build you think would fit the two above ideas? I need something to build upon, since I'm still pretty ignorant when it comes to NWN2 mechanics (and D&D in general).

[chad878262]

I can't access NWN2DB from work (firewall...)

If you do a search for Minimum Monk level 25, minimum SD level 5 I imagine you will get a significant number of builds to search from as a baseline.

Same thing with WIS Monk, use "must have feat" blazing aura, minimum Monk Level ~16 or 20 and then look at the various combinations that come up. I can't think of any with benefit outside Fighter or Divine Champion, but I suppose a Monk/WoD or Monk/AK might have some benefits...maybe. Search function in the DB is pretty easy to use, just avoid builds that have less than 3 levels in a class and make sure to double check any feats that may not exist on our server and you'll be fine.

[Muckluck]

I can't access NWN2DB from work (firewall...)

If you do a search for Minimum Monk level 25, minimum SD level 5 I imagine you will get a significant number of builds to search from as a baseline.

Same thing with WIS Monk, use "must have feat" blazing aura, minimum Monk Level ~16 or 20 and then look at the various combinations that come up. I can't think of any with benefit outside Fighter or Divine Champion, but I suppose a Monk/WoD or Monk/AK might have some benefits...maybe. Search function in the DB is pretty easy to use, just avoid builds that have less than 3 levels in a class and make sure to double check any feats that may not exist on our server and you'll be fine.

Cheers!

[Muckluck]

I can't access NWN2DB from work (firewall...)

If you do a search for Minimum Monk level 25, minimum SD level 5 I imagine you will get a significant number of builds to search from as a baseline.

Same thing with WIS Monk, use "must have feat" blazing aura, minimum Monk Level ~16 or 20 and then look at the various combinations that come up. I can't think of any with benefit outside Fighter or Divine Champion, but I suppose a Monk/WoD or Monk/AK might have some benefits...maybe. Search function in the DB is pretty easy to use, just avoid builds that have less than 3 levels in a class and make sure to double check any feats that may not exist on our server and you'll be fine.

So I did a search, and the past 8 builds (top rated) ALL had a wisdom of max 14. This seems... funky to me. Can you help clear this up? Anyone?

[chad878262]

If you are going max DEX then you don't want to (ie can't afford) to be spending 2 points per increase.... Same thing for max WIS monk, you will stop DEX at ~13-15.

[chad878262]

Also....almost forgot you could also go M20/C3/SF7 for a bit of spell casting. Is solid all day, but can become an absolutely devastating PC when fully buffed with Divine Power and Blazing Aura.

[Muckluck]

Also....almost forgot you could also go M20/C3/SF7 for a bit of spell casting. Is solid all day, but can become an absolutely devastating PC when fully buffed with Divine Power and Blazing Aura.

What do you think of the potential of going M20/SD5/IB5? Prestige classes don't have to fulfill the 3b20 rule, right?

I found this build http://nwn2db.com/build/?128586 for that, and I figured I'd just remake it into a human or elf (not a fan of pint-sized races). Thoughts (when you can)?

[Muckluck]

Still very much interested in feedback from others too, of course

[Theodore01]

viewtopic.php?f=64&t=61426&hilit=monk+build&start=15

[chad878262]

3b20 applies to ALL classes, including prestige.

IB has very little synergy with Monk. You can't flurry with daggers or kukri's and you already need high WIS/DEX/STR and some CON....Can't really afford much INT. You could go M11/R10/A9 for 10d6 sneak dice w/ epic precision dual wielding kama's for 15 APR (5 in first flurry, 6 when hasted). However, this is less a monk and more a Rogue build IMO (and not the best one, at that). If I wanted INT to AC on a monk I'd say Duelist offers more than Invisible Blade and at a cheaper cost.

[Muckluck]

3b20 applies to ALL classes, including prestige.

Bummer.

You could go M11/R10/A9

No, you can't. Minimum 20 monk levels on a level 30 in BGTSCC.

[Muckluck]

viewtopic.php?f=64&t=61426&hilit=monk+build&start=15

After reading this, I am even more confused than before. Seems to be a billion ways of building a monk, and no one can decide which is better.

What scares me most is that so many of these builds seem to be "oh, you took one wrong feat or one wrong attribute point, now the entire character is (do-me) and useless".

[chad878262]

No, you can't. Minimum 20 monk levels on a level 30 in BGTSCC.

Only if you are going for Intuitive Attack... M11/R10/A9 would be going for DEX 25+ and PTWF Kama's... M20 is the minimum monk levels only if you are building a Max WIS / Intuitive Attack / Blazing Aura Monk.

After reading this, I am even more confused than before. Seems to be a billion ways of building a monk, and no one can decide which is better.

What scares me most is that so many of these builds seem to be "oh, you took one wrong feat or one wrong attribute point, now the entire character is (do-me) and useless".

I think I determined in that thread for a mix of decent offense and defense that M26/F4 was the best split. Also, realize that in these threads most posts are basically concerned with MAX POWER so they are going to be very feat/skill restrictive. Missing out on a given feat doesn't make a PC useless, though it may make the build less optimized. You said yourself there are so many ways to build a monk and that is a testament to the diversity of the class. It's well balanced in that anything you pick up to improve AB, Damage, AC or whatever else has a cost elsewhere.

End of the day, if you're still confused I would paraphrase Arn and say that you can't go wrong with a pure Monk 30 with max WIS.