Which Race would be best for a Monk?

[barklydog]

I'm going to make a monk and i was just wondering which race would be best thanks

[zebidos]

It really depends on what type of monk you want to make and what you will have fun playing with. I myself chose dwarfs for extra resistances and strength.

Other popular choices are halflings for dex based monks, humans or even warforged.

My dwarf monk is level 15 now and has been allot of fun to play, when I get to 20 will reincarnate as a halfling monk

[Bacab]

general consensus is...

For Dark-Path Hate-Tank Monk with max DPS...STR Based Warforged Monk.

For Light Path finesse monk with great solo ability...Dex Based Halfling Monk.

For a healing amp build for nice soloing...Human

Drow is generally never a good choice.

Elf is generally never a good choice.

Dwarf can be fine...but many people think they are middle-of-the-road. As in good at everything...excel at nothing.

All races can be good with skill+gear. Just think about what you want to accomplish...and let that guide ya.

[Angellica]

Halfling!


Even if its Str based, SO DARN SEXY!

[Clay]

This is one of the greatest attributes to DDO. There are multiple ways to build any class. And multi class. And reincarnate...

Agree that elves have few great strengths, but... if you want to make it... make it! make what you want, play it, test it and have fun with it. Don't let anyone tell you you MUST create a monk with X race and Y stats and Z feats.

Read up on monks on DDOWiki, read the compendium.

A few generalizations: Wis, dex, str and con are all important. Wis drives the DC of your monk attacks, and helps your AC. Dex is your AC as well as your to-hit if you are a finesse build. Str is your damage and your to-hit if you are strength build. Con is your hit points and your concentration. The fun part is finding the balance that YOU enjoy. I have a str and a wis based monk. I like both. The most survivable one is my halfling, wis/dex finesse monk. But try out different variations. You can always make a new one, lesser reincarnate or True Reincarnate into a different type of build.

[Jasam01]

I generaly recomend 3 races.

Halfling - Best DPS under Sneak Conditions(Any time you can stun, or don't have hate).
Warforged - Best DPS under non-sneak, PA conditions. High (Dark Monk) tanking capabilities (Possably best in the game)
Human - Easyest stat distrabution, Healing amp combos with fists of light, +1 toughness. (May also get use out of +1 skill)

The others don't seem to quite bring as much to the table, but are all viable choices(lack a benifit, or take a small penility due to stat distro at worst).

It might be easyer to pick a race when you've made a decision on Light vs Dark (or the very popular Light to level 9, feat swap to dark)

And which stat focus/stance to go for (STR, DEX, or even possably WIS).

[Ollathir]

There is no worse Race, just depends on the player.

There are several posibilities and benefits with whatever class you choose. Some of which are:
Elf/ Drow- Dex bonuses and if you want shortsword and longsword bonuses avail.
Halfling- Dex bonuses, Guile and cunning for sneak dmg, +1 ac, +1 to-hit bonuses
Human- two stat points wherever you want, 23 additional skill points by lvl 20, human versatility, heal amp
WF- Con bonuses, Power attack bonuses, natural immunities
Dwarf- Con bonuses, situationaly better ac vs giants

Generally people build STR based, Dex or Wis based.

[Delacroix21]

From someone who has not one, but THREE capped monks, et me chime in here.


My monk Races=
Human (Dex based Dark, was light, overall fun, but only Pro is 30% more from heal pots
Halfling (Dex based Dark, Great AC/DPS, fun)
Drow (my 1st monk, weakest untill they add the Drow PrE, then maybe the strongest!)


Race I WISH they were=
Warforged


Reason=
1. Getting level drained just plain stinks
2. Waves of exhaustion/fatigue stinks
3. No waterbreathing item needed (this is SO minor)
4. Good stunning fist DC (YES! even with -2 wis!)
5. Best enhancement for hate tanking (monks CAN tank, especially WF)
6. Great AC (from DT docent and epics)
7. Healed from 2 sources
8. Best Epic Raid armor in DDO (Docent of Defiance owns vs. Demon Queen etc.)
9. 25% fortification (good or nothing depending on trinket use, Head of good fortune means full 100% fort and frees up shroud hp item to 20% blur instead of 5 prot heavy fort)
10. Tons of Hitpoints
11. WF fort save enhancement offsets loss from Way of Crane (awesome for stunning)



Warforged.... the TRUE master race of DDO. I am honestly suprised we dont see more all WF guilds.

[Jasam01]

Warforged tatics applys to stunning fist, so though you lose 1DC from the lower WIS, Tatics cancels it out for a single AP.

Even Dex halfling based monks are stealing hate from the hate geared traditional tanks, warforged enhancements added onto this leaves you with increadable ability. And the stacking displacement that works aganst bossses

My Monk will definatly be a WF in it's next life.



Halfling/Human/Warforged definatly have the better synergy with the monk class then the other 3. Each one working well with diffrent build aim combos. Thankfully the other races are still viable, but do suffer from poor stat distro in some cases.

[Hydro]

As much as I love WF I alwasy reccomend halfling for a newer player wanting to make a monk. Halflings are less gear dependent then WF and have the same if not better DPS under Sneak Attack situations. If you want to tank and have lots of HP definitly go WF, but if you are just looking for a fun new Monk to play with that doesnt require tons of gear to help increase your to hit halfling is the way to go.

1: Halfling
2: Human or Warforged

[YakoSpiritFist]

I'm really enjoying my Drow Elf "custom built" Ninja Spy. Regardless of what people say he is working out for me great. Your attributes get streched a bit, but it's nothing serious.

[Asketes]

a halfling str based monk will have, 5 pts of damage less per hit than a warforged on basic attacks where they have aggro

-2 strength ------- 1
wf power atk ---- 3
forgot last point -- 1

The wf may have to take off power attack in epics.


The halfling, when played right, will still have an exorbitant amount of DPS and also not hold aggro, allowing for an extra +4 atk bonus (cunning IV) and an extra +12 damage from sneak attack over the wf).



They are both pretty viable, I run warforged almost 100% of the time. For monks, I prefer the str/hp based halfling monks.

[Jamma]

Warforged tatics applys to stunning fist, so though you lose 1DC from the lower WIS, Tatics cancels it out for a single AP.

The WF tactics line is 2/4/6, so you cancel out the -1 starting DC with 2 AP.

[Jasam01]

Dammit. 2 ap. Single point of DC loss for 2 ap. Thanks for the correction there.

Take note, on the WF example, (what extra +1?) that SA also applys with stunned mobs. Which with stunning fist, will be a lot of mobs. So most of the actual game time, the Halfling pulls ahead a bit on DPS. (But falls short on tanking regardless due to WF enhancements). No need to worry about not being able to do damage.

WF are a bit harder to get said extra damage on though, extra -tohit from PA needs to be accounted for.

Hmm.

Honestly, at this point it's a little garbleing out info untill we have something to work with.

[Bobthesponge]

Monkee, of course.

[Uska]

Warforged my human monk will become one in her next incarnation she was a drow and I cap'd her as a monk and she is cap'd again soon as I get her rings she is going WF

[Halock]

Wf monk will kick every ass put in front of it I'm partial to wf though, just so much bonuses and neg's are easily covered ( especially by monks )

That said halfling and human are good as well, though halfling IMO is falling further down the list due to the Pre's and the guile lines Ap costs and the ease with which WF's get earth strike 4, making it harder to justify them , again, imo.

Dwarfs are pretty decent too, but you're a dwarf :S

[Delacroix21]

I keep hanging on to my 1 Drow monk as I HOPE their racial PrE adds 5d6 sneak attack at tier 3, and Ninja Spy has 5d6 sneak attack at tier 3, for a total of 10d6! Not to mention Con damage on crits from the PrE (if implemented). Lets ALSO hope that Scorpion Wraith adds 10% movement speed when stelathed (per tier, for +60% total), as it would be awesome if a Pure 20 monk Ninja Spy 3/Scorpion Wraith 3 moved 10% faster sneaking then running. hehe


If and when this happens I think Drow Dark monks will truly own!


Until then go WF!

[D'rin]

Dwarves are overlooked a lot with monks. They do get some nice benefits that others do not.

Aside from humans TR'd dwarves have the best chance of grandmastery in multiple stances or at least master for void strike 4.
A save bonus on spells of 2-5. While monks get good saves anyway but with the bonus they can get as good or better reflex save as a dex monk.
Tactics: with no wisdom penalty dwarves can have the highest dc's for stunning fist. So they can go str based and still have a dc as good as a wisdom monk or go wisdom for the best dc a monk can get.

The big downside to dwarves is level drain and no power attack enhancements.

[Fafnir]

I'm a halfling but envy the hps, immunities (level drain particularly) and devil tanking capabilities of WF.