Monks and Races

[Strype.McClaine]

I have meditated upon monks for a while, and like meditating by a pond, I wait to see the reflections of others on this.


Human - +1 Skill Per Level, +1 Feat, +1 to 2 abilities (enhancement), more Healing Amp.


The benefit of human in this instance is to further increasing the power of his healing amplification, with both enhancement paths he can get more healing for less AP, and over all moderately fair stat distribution. The skill per level can give you an edge by under developing the int stat. This is also the only race that can give...some bonus to wisdom in action points, so this could be best with a mystic style monk.


Dwarf - +2 con -2 cha, +2 vs spells , +4 AC against giants (a large population in leveling)


Much like human, your not getting any grand bonuses, but sadly, you gain nothing from, Action Points. But A solid choice for a strenght monk, it would make the mid levels stellar, against giants in giant hold, trolls, ect ect ect.


Half-ling - -2 Str, +2 Dex, +1 AC, +jump, Sneak attack actions


The str penalty gives you something of a much minor starting block (a 12, being the point equivalent of a 14) the sneak attack bonuses make up of it. This is by far the premiere monk race, and it is truly hard to justify doing anything other than it.


Warforged +2 con, -2 wis, -2 cha, + Immunities, +Docets


Warforged is a interesting case for monks. A bit of healers friend, a bit of healing amp and you become much easier to deal with as a party member. Light side seems very interesting for sufficiency, dark side seems like giant fists of doom.
Hasted power sun stance is just about the power of wind stance, but with a bit more ki, specially if you could couple it with a docent of quickening. Here's the downside, your wis is low, thus you wont be able to insta-kill fist much, or anything that is massively save dependent. The monk's overlap of immunities does seem weak, but you still have, yet the other awesome immunities, and with proper docet-ing you can have the same amounts of AC.


Elf/Drow +2 Dex, -2 Con


I love elves, but I can honestly say, I find no benefit to the more pointy eared races, as apposed to the halflings.
The Cost of the con almost makes even the most moderate builds loose a few more points in distribution.
Stealth enhancements seem better, but then is it necessary.
Drow could take advantage of a shruken action points, but why.

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Is there any possible reason to make an elf monk? As A fan of the Ebberon Universe, the elves of Phiarlan and Thuranni are well versed in the arts of stealth and over all sneaky ness, and often employ ninjas in their ranks (ninjas and rogues), and the DDO equivalent of ninja, will be the ninja spy PrE of monk (does not exist yet, but the new monk paths are pritty large hints of what they will require).
How does one approach this flavor with moderate success with out nerfing themselves to failure.

[Aerendil]

Is there any possible reason to make an elf monk? As A fan of the Ebberon Universe, the elves of phiarlin and thurani are well versed in the arts of stealth and over all sneaky ness, and often employ ninjas in their ranks (ninjas and rogues), and the DDO equivlent of ninja, will be the ninja spy PrE of monk (does not exist yet, but the new monk paths are pritty large hints of what they will require).
How does one approach this flavor with moderate sucess with out nerfing themselves to failure.

As you had pretty much already outlined, the main Monks right now are either Human, Warforged, or Halfling.
I'm a big fan of Humans simply due to human versatility and the ability to customize your stat points / racial enhancements better. But to each their own. I think if I had a TR'ed Rogue-turned-Monk, Halfling would be looking mighty tempting for all that SA damage.

Drow may become viable if/when the Scorpion Wraith racial PrE comes into play. That may push Drow monks into a very good light, but at this point who knows... it's all conjecture. At this point, they're considered inferior to the 3 races listed above.

As for Elf, they may become a niche monk race if/when the proposed Weapon Ki: Longswords feat ever makes it into game (i.e. a feat allowing a longsword to be considered centering), but at this point they're essentially the same as Drow (perhaps a slight bit better).

[Strype.McClaine]

As you had pretty much already outlined, the main Monks right now are either Human, Warforged, or Halfling.
I'm a big fan of Humans simply due to human versatility and the ability to customize your stat points / racial enhancements better. But to each their own. I think if I had a TR'ed Rogue-turned-Monk, Halfling would be looking mighty tempting for all that SA damage.

Drow may become viable if/when the Scorpion Wraith racial PrE comes into play. That may push Drow monks into a very good light, but at this point who knows... it's all conjecture. At this point, they're considered inferior to the 3 races listed above.

As for Elf, they may become a niche monk race if/when the proposed Weapon Ki: Longswords feat ever makes it into game (i.e. a feat allowing a longsword to be considered centering), but at this point they're essentially the same as Drow (perhaps a slight bit better).

The feat in which you speak is whirling steel strike, and I had not yet concdered that might be the salvation for a elf monk, (+2 hit,+2 damage) but then you suffer the cost of a feat, and worse, turn a dex based race into something that needs a higher STR. I really hate to do the "this race has no reason to play x class" i mean, lack of restrictions is why I play ddo (other than the fact, its ebberon).

The only thing that comes to mind as a huge no-no is still Wiz/Sorc dwarves, as I could almost make an argument for any race/class combo....Possibly the best charicter I ever played is a capped warforged cleric, geared to the teeth....

Perhaps I am still missing something.

[Aerendil]

The feat in which you speak is whirling steel strike, and I had not yet concdered that might be the salvation for a elf monk, (+2 hit,+2 damage) but then you suffer the cost of a feat, and worse, turn a dex based race into something that needs a higher STR. I really hate to do the "this race has no reason to play x class" i mean, lack of restrictions is why I play ddo (other than the fact, its ebberon).

The only thing that comes to mind as a huge no-no is still Wiz/Sorc dwarves, as I could almost make an argument for any race/class combo....Possibly the best charicter I ever played is a capped warforged cleric, geared to the teeth....

Perhaps I am still missing something.

Yep, that's the feat name - or at least in the handbooks, anyways. In DDO, the dev team went with "weapon ki". But it was first proposed well over a year ago, and doesn't look to be coming any time soon, so I won't hold my breath.

And, tbh, if it ever did come into play I think it would strengthen the monk splashes more than the pure monks, but we'll see.

[twoton]

My monk is a TRed capped human dark path str build monk. He is great and fun to play but since I am going to TR him again after I get all his GS made and cleansed first. I would say that WF are by far the best race for monks. with the extra immunites and the extra PA dmg and not to mention the higher starting con stat WF make outstanding monks. That is if your building a monk for the purpose of dps at end game which means you dont have to invest much into wisdom at all. You just need str, dex, and con.

[Strype.McClaine]

My monk is a TRed capped human dark path str build monk. He is great and fun to play but since I am going to TR him again after I get all his GS made and cleansed first. I would say that WF are by far the best race for monks. with the extra immunites and the extra PA dmg and not to mention the higher starting con stat WF make outstanding monks. That is if your building a monk for the purpose of dps at end game which means you dont have to invest much into wisdom at all. You just need str, dex, and con.

I took a wf monk from 1 to 10 last year, and it was very satisfying and tons of fun, and was deleted due to some mistakes (which i still regret, but that was for a character slot, when we had no reincarnation) . However I'm jut trying to figure out if elf is 'do-able' in the end game against the loss of stats and bonuses.

I can say monks, like my true first love rogues, have had since their birth, a strange relationship in quest groups, parties, and raids.

Currently, I have to make a stand against the super race of dwarfs (from a content perspective, they should almost be a +1 adjusted race) and support the mal-aligned elves and warforged (powerful in hands of pro, biggest suck of all in the hands of the noob).

I can say, the monk was the second best thing that happened to the half-ling in terms of this game's life (Now they make stelller rangers, wonderfull monks, and epic wizards ((yea, half-ling dragon marked wizard, its 733t)) )

The more I try to think it out, there seems like there is no good way to incorporate elf and monk, when drastically over shadowed by the 3 other main races (elf and drow may as well be the same race)

[Eurytos]

There really is no *benefit* to an elf monk. However, yes an elf monk can be good. It's up to the player though.

With the same person behind the keyboard, pretty much every other race will be better than an elf with the exception of drow until their racial PrE comes out.

[rimble]

The more I try to think it out, there seems like there is no good way to incorporate elf and monk, when drastically over shadowed by the 3 other main races (elf and drow may as well be the same race)

Half-Orcs will push Elves farther into Monk obscurity without something else to make the combination more appealing (possibly such as Whirling Steel Strike).

[Strype.McClaine]

There really is no *benefit* to an elf monk. However, yes an elf monk can be good. It's up to the player though.

With the same person behind the keyboard, pretty much every other race will be better than an elf with the exception of drow until their racial PrE comes out.

Drow Scorp Wraith monk will be very interesting, and unlikely able to go all ninja/scorp but makes the monistary of the scorpion a whole lot more interesting.

Playing the game itself, is as important as the pregame of planning, thinking, and building.

Half-Orcs will push Elves farther into Monk obscurity without something else to make the combination more appealing (possibly such as Whirling Steel Strike).

Oh half dorks, how I look to their arrival with a shudder. I'm still hoping they release them with a finding d.mark (see also half elf detection and storm).

But a half dork Monk seems very disturbing in terms of how it will effect the game itself.