Building a Monk

[Sun Wukong]

You re right and wrong.

Their final save may not be that good with just a middle CON. It depends on the final fort. save value.

Monk 20/Divine Champion 10, has fortitude save of "12 (Monk) + 7 (Divine Champion) + 5 (Sacred Defense) = 24" before any items or a constitution modifier.

Honestly, wisdom based Monk 20/Divine Champion 10 is one of the best non-magical monks you can have.

[Steve]

Monks are very powerful on this Server. They may be at the lowest spot in the hierarchy of damage output for top tier classes/builds, but they have great survivability...and they are just easy as anything to play—role-play may be a bit harder, depending on whether you give a shit or not.

My two favorite aspects of the Monk is it's lack of need to buff, beyond maybe 1-2 potions to make PvE faster/easier. And the literal Speed...so convenient for getting around.

There is also just the great variety to ultilixing the Monk as Base Class, for dips or full on 30.

Really, one cannot go wrong with a Monk, and as I write this, I realize how much I miss RPing such a Character and the Sheet that goes with it!

[Arn]

Pure monk's Fort saves are not good enough to protect you from epic level save-or-die spells. However, if you stock up on Fort save gear, then Steadfast Determination becomes useful.

Greater Cloak of the Healer (it has +2 Fort Saves, IIRC), Amulet of Second Chances (+3 Nat AC, +3 Universal Saves), Ring of Resistance, etc.

[chad878262]

Pure Monk also has base SR 40 alongside a Fortitude Save of ~20 (assuming 14 CON and LoH). That can be brought up to ~29-30 relatively easily, but even that isn't always enough to make Steadfast 'worth it' However, in at least some cases it does have value. Personally I don't think in this case it would be. Even adding F4 doesn't make it worthwhile. However for M20/DC10 yes, it is worth it.

Honestly all things being equal a Northlander Hewing M30 is most likely the best overall pick. SR40, AC ~50, AB ~39 (but with Expose Weakness) and damage ~30 with blazing aura up and 7 APR, damage of ~45.5 with Northlander Hewing and Blazing Aura (5 APR). While Fighter 4 is still a solid pick, you lose 4 Spell Resistance and 1-3 points of AC (can pick Aasimar without XP penalty) to gain effectively 1-2 points of AB and 1 point of damage when not using Northlander Hewing.

This is, of course all power building talk and should not be considered the only way. Just calling out that with NH there is one clear winner, and that is pure M30.

[Sun Wukong]

But if you go Northlander Hewing monk, remember that you will not want to land those unarmed critical hits. The critical hit damage is not maximised, so that 3d10 could just be 6 damage on that critical hit, while a non-critical hit should be stock 30...

[chad878262]

But if you go Northlander Hewing monk, remember that you will not want to land those unarmed critical hits. The critical hit damage is not maximised, so that 3d10 could just be 6 damage on that critical hit, while a non-critical hit should be stock 30...

So long as you don't take Improved Crit, Unarmed you aren't landing a whole lot of crits. However, this is accurate, NLH on a fist monk is fantastic, but crits become about as good as rolling a 1.

[Hendrak]

Dwarfen Monks get +2 against spells to their saves -> they need Steadfeast, all others not so sure.

We need to get MotLD to work. It s bugged since month. Just one key signature seems wrong so the levels are count negativly. So many nice builds for MotLD.

Monk26/Fig4 Tanarukk MotLD !!!

[Theodore01]

Re Wisdom monk. Monk 30. Can't go too wrong, fairly easy build, easy to use, fun to be had on the server and you'll be fairly comfortable, exploring and learning the server.
STATS:At creation. Max WIS.
Str 10-12 (12 good if you can manage for carrying, if not get a STR+ item).
Dex 10
CON 12-14 (used up with spare points)
Int (12-14, 14 pref as it'll get you handy skill points)
CHA 10 (or 8, you're not looking to impress anyone. But if you're doing diplomat/intimidate etc, it can affect it, but with INT bonus you'll have points into those skills anyway.)
On level up, sink stat increase into WIS.
Feats:
LoH, Toughness for level 1. Depends if race gives bonus feat. Pick toughness regardless for Steadfast later on. Not much being a powerhouse stalwart monk if you fail on a 1.
Level 3: Intuitive Attack. (Use wis mod for AB)
Other pre-epic feats: WeapFoc Unarmed., Steadfast, can't remember many others. Don't pick circle kick, it disturbs attack rounds when jumping between enemies.
Can look at Ki abilities for some interesting uses for stunning fists. Ki Dodge and Ki Step are handy.

Steadfast is a bad choice on a Wis monk as it decreases you will saves a lot.
Starting with such low Dex is wasting AC. Also some monk feats (like Ki step) have a Dex requirement.
Circlekick is nice, but available on boots.

There is no Ki-Dodge implemented in BGTSCC.

It is ingame, even a greater version of it. But not worth 2 feats at all.

NLH on a fist monk is fantastic

Not worth the reduced attacks at all. Mayhap on a Str monk.

[Steve]

Steadfast Determination does not reduce Will Saves, if the WIS modifier is greater than Constitution. Go test it in JEGs!

[Theodore01]

Steadfast Determination does not reduce Will Saves, if the WIS modifier is greater than Constitution. Go test it in JEGs!

Oh good point, i blame nwn2db.com

[chad878262]

Not worth the reduced attacks at all. Mayhap on a Str monk.

Against enemies with DR while Blazing Aura is on cooldown you do no damage with a WIS monk... (~24.5) Northlander Hewing addresses this since (other than crit) your damage goes up to ~40 per hit. Against an enemy with DR 20/-, you can either have 7 APR doing 4.5 damage per hit or 4 APR doing 20 damage per hit. On top of this, the last 3 attacks are the ones lost which are lowest AB. The difference against that 20 dr enemy is doing an average of about 32 damage per round (if all 7 attacks hit) vs. 80 damage per round with NH. It's definitely worth it.

[electric mayhem]

Quite possible to get 1-2dc away from saves on vamp feast by lichking for example. That was without using Uni Saves wand buff. For other spells, SR will be high enough to protect. That's with the uni saves gear on as Arn mentioned too, helps alot.

Steadfast allows a monk to grind xp in a VERY underutilised area where Fort save vs Petrify occurs. About lvl18 with some gear you can safely hammer away at the basilisks.
It has its uses that pop up around the server in various places too.

For the OP and anyone coming here to learn about monks. Learn from many ideas from those who have played many successful builds. Don't take absolute opinions here or anywhere for that matter. No one opinion here should discount others. Do your own research and enjoy the experience

[Ewe]

Hey gents, I am somewhat confused on NLH. It was since changed by the devs since you discussed NLH monks? Does it still maximize weapon damage? Does it still reduces APR?

[Theodore01]

No and yes.

[Ewe]

So that would mean the low strength, high wisdom monk with NLH (for non-crit maximization of 3d10) isn't really viable anymore?