Deep Gnome monk

[Meldor]

I realize that monk deep gnome are gimped now that we lost slippery defense.

Here are my concerns:

-2 STR on creation so basically you are forced to go dex.
small stature make you do less damage unarmed.
Knockdown rarely work at higher lvl due to the small stature.
Stunning fist is about the same.

I did the ud / surface passage yesterday with my pure monk lvl 25 and I couldn't hit anything and I was getting soo much damage. By chance we had a good group so I could be healed and rezed.

I went to the driders this morning to search for the necromancer corpses and ouch, 1 hit and I was down to 130hp and after a second attack I died.

I'm not really asking for a rebuild or anything but I feel my character is useless in the new setting. I'm just curious what the staff think about it ?

[Luna]

-4? You mean -2?

[Meldor]

oups sorry -2 yes.

[Zkenic]

I realize that monk deep gnome are gimped now that we lost slippery defense.

Here are my concerns:

-2 STR on creation so basically you are forced to go dex.
small stature make you do less damage unarmed.
Knockdown rarely work at higher lvl due to the small stature.
Stunning fist is about the same.

I did the ud / surface passage yesterday with my pure monk lvl 25 and I couldn't hit anything and I was getting soo much damage. By chance we had a good group so I could be healed and rezed.

I went to the driders this morning to search for the necromancer corpses and ouch, 1 hit and I was down to 130hp and after a second attack I died.

I'm not really asking for a rebuild or anything but I feel my character is useless in the new setting. I'm just curious what the staff think about it ?

If someone is going a monk that is not a sacred fist (actually sacred fists are pretty much a different category than normal monks, seeing how good they can be and the combo with divine casting) you normally pick dex or strength. Dex gives you AC, good expose weakness ticks, helps you out if you are going SD or assassin, and with WF lets your AB stay at an ok range. Strength monks do pretty good damage in trade of all those other things.

Going a small race, you should probably pick the dex if you want the best synergy. It does pitiful damage, I know my main PC is a monk, but it lets you keep good AC and helps out with hide/ms. Seeing as deep gnomes also get +2 wisdom, and SR so that you dont need a full 30 levels of monk to get good spell protection, I wouldnt say the race doesnt has anything wrong with it overall. The monk class is simply not that amazing, and takes a good amount of thought and work to make it functional. HiPS makes monks much much better, but if you dont want to go that route, the +2dex +2wisdom allows you to much more easily get imp stunning epic feats, which can net you up to 45ish DC stunning fists. Quite nice against things that can get stunned. Pumping SR feats lets you ge 50ish SR, which is also fun. Just have to think ahead, and acknowledge that a monk wont be as good as a WM/FB or a FS or cleric in soloing and most group play.