Just to be different... a Quarterstaff Monk!

[rexservorum]

I already have a DEX/WIS Halfling Monk, and he's my favorite character to play by far. I've been thinking about making another Monk to play on the side among my numerous other alts, only Strength-based and focused on Quarterstaves. I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions on how such a Monk should be built and played. I realize this won't measure up to my main Monk; this is purely a "for fun" character.

One big question: are staves governed by TWF or THF? I've seen conflicting reports on this. Numbers seem to pop up as though I were wielding two weapons, and I've never seen glancing blows while using a staff, so my guess is TWF... but the weapon is obviously held in two hands, and other staff builds I've seen take the THF feats, so I'm confused.

Thanks in advance! ^_^

[DagazUlf]

I have a lvl20 STR-based Warforged Monk named Bjarkenmann who specializes in quarterstaff. It's the THF line you want. Bjarkenmann is a blast to play, but be warned that if you are at all used to putting out the types of damage numbers from THF Barbarian or a STR-based Ranger that this is a completely different path.

That said, this is one of my favorite DDO characters to date. Fast, powerful, highly survivable, healer-friendly, and very capable in a huge variety of quests/situations.

Have fun.

[Elyanna]

I'm currently leveling a 2 Monk/18 Rogue Halfling that will use Staves and have the thief acrobat PrE. So far he's level 8 and is fun to play. I was wondering which weapon style to use so thanks for the info that it's THF. He is totally different than my reincarnated Dex/Wis Halfling Monk which is definitely a blast to play also. But I think the monk levels will help the Thief Acrobat line.

[LAWPRE]

you cannot vorpal and such with staves. Also, the bonuses on staves are not necessarily geared towards the monk - rather casters. So, you may want to pick up 3 levels of a caster (most of the buffs are 2nd Level spells) in order to take advantage of these weapons

[ric0]

you cannot vorpal and such with staves. Also, the bonuses on staves are not necessarily geared towards the monk - rather casters. So, you may want to pick up 3 levels of a caster (most of the buffs are 2nd Level spells) in order to take advantage of these weapons

Huh?

[WizardsofZen]

seen 1 so far in 3 months of playing so good luck, but they are out there, something of parrying would be nice

[rexservorum]

I can definitely see the benefit of multiclassing a Q-staff Monk, but I'm still hesitant to do so. Monk 20 gets a lot of neat stuff in the form of unique feats. Although I'm not terribly interested in Rogue skills since I already have a Rogue, Thief-Acrobat would give me a speed boost with staves (anyone have the numbers on how much faster it is?), and Kensai would give me a variety of offensive bonuses as well as additional Ki and combat feats. Do y'all think either of these is worth the tradeoff from pure Monkitude?

[LAWPRE]

ric0 - even though quarterstaves (staves or staff from here on) are Monk weapons, most of the staves are geared towards spellcasters - specifically Wizards and Sorcerors.

So, you may come across a +6 Superior Potency Staff quite often. However, the question becomes do you take a staff that has some value (+6) but part that you will never use (Superior Potency). One way to solve this is to take 3 levels of spellcaster. You take 3 because at 3rd level spellcaster, you get 2nd level spells and the stat buffs (Cat's Grace, Eagle's Splendor) are 2nd level.

rex - even 4th ed PnP goes to 29th level. So, at some point, I see a level cap increase. As such, there would have to be even cooler capstones but one could multi-class and still get the basic capstone (hopefully).

[wiglin]

I can definitely see the benefit of multiclassing a Q-staff Monk, but I'm still hesitant to do so. Monk 20 gets a lot of neat stuff in the form of unique feats. Although I'm not terribly interested in Rogue skills since I already have a Rogue, Thief-Acrobat would give me a speed boost with staves (anyone have the numbers on how much faster it is?), and Kensai would give me a variety of offensive bonuses as well as additional Ki and combat feats. Do y'all think either of these is worth the tradeoff from pure Monkitude?

Monk Ki Strikes, Stunning Fist, and Quivering Palm do not work with a quarterstaff, and if you are not using them, you are not playing a monk well.

Its hard to beat this build for a quarterstaff user.

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=158960

I think it is the only quarterstaff build I would play. The synergy between the 18R/2M acrobat is huge, and you get to make up alot of the dps loss with sneak attack. Not to mention a maxed umd score and full trap capability.

Remember in this game you can play something just for fun regardless of its effectiveness, but if you are spending alot of your time in a pick up group, you have to make a good impression if you want to get accepted and or invited by the same players twice.

[wiglin]

ric0 - even though quarterstaves (staves or staff from here on) are Monk weapons, most of the staves are geared towards spellcasters - specifically Wizards and Sorcerors.

So, you may come across a +6 Superior Potency Staff quite often. However, the question becomes do you take a staff that has some value (+6) but part that you will never use (Superior Potency). One way to solve this is to take 3 levels of spellcaster. You take 3 because at 3rd level spellcaster, you get 2nd level spells and the stat buffs (Cat's Grace, Eagle's Splendor) are 2nd level.

rex - even 4th ed PnP goes to 29th level. So, at some point, I see a level cap increase. As such, there would have to be even cooler capstones but one could multi-class and still get the basic capstone (hopefully).

This is bad advice, never splash 3 levels of spellcaster to be able to cast a spell that a cheap potion will grant and at level 13 becomes useless.

I am not saying that splashing 3 levels of wizard is useless, but for the above reason it is.

The best quarterstaff's are either named loot, or crafted greensteel. The random suffixes do not matter. Plenty of non mage suffixes appear on quarterstaff's anyway. I just purchased a +5 Greater Contruct Bane off the ah pretty cheap. Plenty of melee oriented staffs on the ghallanda ah.

[Mobeius]

Monk Ki Strikes, Stunning Fist, and Quivering Palm do not work with a quarterstaff, and if you are not using them, you are not playing a monk well.

next time your beating on a portal with your stave (or something big) try hitting your Fists of Light Ki Strike and see what happens...

Ki strikes do work with staves... stunning fist and QP, no they dont...

Best stave for a monk if you are making a 1/4 user, In would suggest Halfling for it maybe, but its out of Abbot, it uses DEX mod for to hit AND damage...

[wiglin]

next time your beating on a portal with your stave (or something big) try hitting your Fists of Light Ki Strike and see what happens...

Ki strikes do work with staves... stunning fist and QP, no they dont...

Best stave for a monk if you are making a 1/4 user, In would suggest Halfling for it maybe, but its out of Abbot, it uses DEX mod for to hit AND damage...

Good to know. I will.

[hydra_ex]

you cannot vorpal and such with staves. Also, the bonuses on staves are not necessarily geared towards the monk - rather casters. So, you may want to pick up 3 levels of a caster (most of the buffs are 2nd Level spells) in order to take advantage of these weapons

So... you're saying you can gimp yourself... only to do nothing? Last time I checked, people crafted GS quarterstaves. Also, last time I checked, caster effects come on Dwarven Axes too, but I don't see a dwarven caster taking fighter level so that "they can use more dwarven axes".

Really, I'm finding this argument hard to phrase, since there are too many alarm bells going off in my head right now.

[rexservorum]

Thanks for the advice, everybody. I think I will go with the Big F'in Stick build that Wiglin posted, although I'm going WF because of the extra CON/toughness/PA.

I certainly agree that even a "for fun" build needs to be effective in order to avoid damaging one's in-game reputation.

[Dartwick]

Monk Ki Strikes, Stunning Fist, and Quivering Palm do not work with a quarterstaff, and if you are not using them, you are not playing a monk well.

Its hard to beat this build for a quarterstaff user.

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=158960

I think it is the only quarterstaff build I would play. The synergy between the 18R/2M acrobat is huge, and you get to make up alot of the dps loss with sneak attack. Not to mention a maxed umd score and full trap capability.

Remember in this game you can play something just for fun regardless of its effectiveness, but if you are spending alot of your time in a pick up group, you have to make a good impression if you want to get accepted and or invited by the same players twice.

Stop with the lie about how good BFS build is already. Its a place holder build hoping that acrobat 3 will be cool.

[wiglin]

Stop with the lie about how good BFS build is already. Its a place holder build hoping that acrobat 3 will be cool.

Its a fun build that swings a fast quarterstaff. The OP said he wanted to use a quarterstaff, so I pointed him to it. Notice the OP said "this is purely a "for fun" character."

[Dartwick]

You said "its hard to beat."

13 Rogue 7 monks beats it handily. And swings faster. You might even improve on that with 6 monk 1 fighter.

[wiglin]

You said "its hard to beat."

13 Rogue 7 monks beats it handily. And swings faster. You might even improve on that with 6 monk 1 fighter.

I think its worth holding out for acrobat III unless the OP really wants to TR the build.

[Dartwick]

So In other words I was completely right and you shouldnt have disagreed with me calling you out.

BFS is a place holder build hoping for unknown future improvements its not at all "best."

[wiglin]

So In other words I was completely right and you shouldnt have disagreed with me calling you out.

BFS is a place holder build hoping for unknown future improvements its not at all "best."

Calling me out...lol what is this the old west.

Best is a relative term, and does not always have to mean the most dps.

The build is a fun build great for what the op wants. He wanted a fun build and the one I pointed out is exactly that. It is an easy build to play. and is very simple to level with only 1 multi-class. For what the OP wanted to play, it is what I recommended. It is also a build that has been talked about widely, all of its pro's and con's have been discussed in the thread, so for a newer player, who does not know all the ins and outs of this game they can see the facts and opinions for that type of build in one thread read through. For me personally it is my favorite quarterstaff build. I like it the most, and that is my opinion. Placeholder or not, unless the op wants to tr or reroll, I think it is the best quarterstaff build, and waiting for acro III is worth it, especially if it brings an increase to attack speed.

I pointed the OP to the my opinion of the best qs build.

Feel free to point him to one you like better. or build him one if it is not posted anywhere.