Monk Feats... not feets

[Sue_Dark]

So, I honestly have not really enjoyed the builds I have come up with for monks. I think this is partially because I am not certain on a few things.

Perhaps the players can assist?

Is unarmed combat bludgeoning? Can it benefit from IC:Bludg?
Is unarmed combat considered a finesse "weapon"?
-If yes, can I use 2WF feats to boost it?
-If no, how do Dex builds usually do damage? (ie- special attack click fest or something I'm not seeing)


Thats about it, for now. If anyone knows the answers to these questions, please help out.
<yeah, I'm a noob when it comes to monks>

Thanks bunches.

[feynman]

So, I honestly have not really enjoyed the builds I have come up with for monks. I think this is partially because I am not certain on a few things.

Perhaps the players can assist?

Is unarmed combat bludgeoning? Can it benefit from IC:Bludg?

Yes.

Is unarmed combat considered a finesse "weapon"?

Yes.

-If yes, can I use 2WF feats to boost it?

No.

-If no, how do Dex builds usually do damage? (ie- special attack click fest or something I'm not seeing)

They use weapons like rapiers and kukris that have large critical threat ranges.

Thats about it, for now. If anyone knows the answers to these questions, please help out.
<yeah, I'm a noob when it comes to monks>

Thanks bunches.

Don't sweat it: I rolled 10 monks before settling on one that I liked, which was a strength build with power attack, incidentally.

[Angelus_dead]

Is unarmed combat considered a finesse "weapon"?
-If yes, can I use 2WF feats to boost it?
-If no, how do Dex builds usually do damage? (ie- special attack click fest or something I'm not seeing)

Dex monk builds do damage by TWF with kamas. Fists and kicking cannot keep up with the raw DPS from twin kamas.

[feynman]

Dex monk builds do [strike]damage[/strike] annoying little stings by TWF with kamas. Fists and kicking cannot keep up with the raw [strike]DPS[/strike] gimpiness from twin kamas.

There, fixed it for ya.

[Drow16]

A Dex/wisdom build monk seems to be working well for me. I may not lead in kills on quests far above my level, but on level appropriate quests I usually lead or am close for # of kills. I rarely use kamas or qtrstaffs, but seem to be doing just fine. I will admit that I build my characters to be fun to play first, not to be pure dps machines. There are plenty of posts for those already. I do believe that once handwraps are fixed and some other effect items come out for monks similar to other classes, it could be very difficult to compete w/ a well built/played monk.

[Sue_Dark]

Thanks for the input guys. Perhaps I'll give the monk another try... once I cap my str/tempest...almost there

[valczir]

As the others have said, the average monk these days is dual wielding kamas, due to some fairly convincing proof that handwraps don't deal damage well. For instance, the fact that you can't currently bypass DR with handwraps, because handwraps are broken.

That said, I still fight with my fists whenever I can. It's much more fun. When I start seeing yellow numbers, though, I swap to my transmuting quarterstaff, and when I see "ethereal" start to pop up, I swap to my ghosttouch quarterstaff. Once handwraps are fixed, I won't ever stop using my fists, but I'm carrying around some quarterstaves for now.

If you'll take my advice, try making a monk with relatively even stats - get str, dex, wis, and con all in the 14-16 range, then use fire stance to help you grab tons of extra Ki. Use that Ki for Stunning Fist and elemental attacks.

If you have Cleave or Whirlwind Attack, use those right at the beginning of any decently large fights to build up Ki - you'll get 2 Ki for each red number that pops up on your screen, and with a medium sized crowd, you'll probably gain around 20 Ki from that one attack. Then use that Ki to spam your elemental attacks. Stunning Fist is a good idea, too, but it's not guaranteed to work like your elemental attacks are. When it does work, it's incredibly satisfying, but I tend to prefer setting myself up for finishers due to their drastically higher DC.

Make use of your finishers. They're not useless, anymore - the DC is high enough that the enemy won't save very often. My personal favorite is earth/dark/earth, which nauseates your target, making it unable to attack temporarily. Water/dark/water is a nice one (paralyzing), too, but only works on humanoids (good for turning kobolds into statues - every time I pull it off, I get a powerful longing to set up my new statue in my non-existent player housing). Make sure you don't waste your finisher on someone who's immune to it, though - there's nothing more annoying than seeing that white "immune" pop up over your enemy's head right after you spent all that valuable time and Ki building up to that strike. Very anti-climactic.

[CSFurious]

i think tempest rangers, rogues, & barbarians would like to have a dps competition with twin kamas

anyway, the only effective monks that i have encountered still fight with their fists not kamas (this is past level 8, i met one once in 3BC slayer zone who was an effective little halfling monk)

Dex monk builds do damage by TWF with kamas. Fists and kicking cannot keep up with the raw DPS from twin kamas.

[feynman]

TWF kamas cannot come anywhere close to the DPS a strength build q-staff monk can deliver, especially against DR mobs. It is slightly preferable if you have dual tier 3 kamas, but you can always respec at that point.

Note that you shouldn't dismiss TWF; you need it for vorpaling. Other than that, grab a +5 q-staff, turn on power attack, and go to town.

[Aesop]

Sue

I have two monks currently and I enjoy both greatly

the first one, Sevas Susej, is a Strength focused monk that started with balanced stats but is dedicating level ups to str. She was originally intended for Long Sword but since they haven't implemented the feat Whuirling Steel Strike for now she is a Stick Swinger. She has 3 levels of Paladin for utility and a Very high Concentration Skill. With her Focus on FIre Stance and possibly going Way of the Crane when I respec my Enhancements her saves are pretty top notch and damage is acceptable. She is currently Way of the Tortoise and as such has decent to high HP. I won't be able to tell you much about end game but she has been a lot of fun to play. Originally I went with Elf but rerolled her into a Human which has made a few things a little easier... If the Feat Whirling Steel Strike does make it into game I may return to my original plan. Focus on attaining high Str and Con with this build AC will not be as high as I'd like but the damage output won't be bad. Considering Stunning Blow (not Fist) for this build and investing in Weighted Q-Staffs.

My second little darling is Acai who is a Water/Crane Finesse based Monk with a single level of Rogue taken at level 1 to maximize her Skill potential. She has Maxed out Open Locks and UMD in addition to a decent (max skill ranks but no where near Sevas's level) Concentration. Her Sneak attacks currently range from 6-11 extra damage on a swing and is now ra,ping up her concentration skill. Her saves are excellant and AC comparable to a like leveled S&B fighter... though with proper gear she will exceed that by a wide margin. Honestly I equip +5 Handwraps for here because its a better bet to hit often in an areana that doesn't have DR heavy Mobs. This build is loosely based around Rameses Build and uses almost exclusively Stunning Fist and FoL.

I haven't made a TWF build outta monk. One thing I have considered is creating a Monk/Rogue Q-Staff Build with Way of the AThief Acrobat and a Tempest Monk Build... but I don't have the character slots for it.