Drow SR+Monk= Magic Killer??

[silvertrit]

Am just curious on folks thoughts on the combo off the two is a worthy effort in creating a character?

[Phoenix-daBard]

Seems to work pretty well for me. Only to level 9 so far but it has leveled faster than any other combination I have rolled.

[Calebro]

There is little to no synergy between that drow race and the monk class.
A monk has 2 dump stats and 4 important stats, and the drow offers a boost to both of a monk's dump stats.
They have little in the way of racial enhancements to help a monk as well.
Drow is a pretty poor choice for a monk. A 28 point halfling or human is better than a drow.

[Dandonk]

Monks get SR, too, and though I haven't tried a drow monk, I doubt they would stack.

[RATRACE931]

the SR do not stack.

[Calebro]

Unless you're making an Arcane caster or a Pally, ignore drow. They don't exist.

Wizards, Sorcerers, and Paladins are the only three classes that I would ever even consider making a drow. Every other class has many many better racial options. Heck, even those three classes have better options, but at least you'd have an actual *reason* to play a drow with those three.

[AzraelDB]

Drow SR and Monk SR do not stack.

That being said, I DO have a successful Drow LS Monk. She holds her own fairly well. That being said, my monk is probably more of the exception rather than the rule. Remember, Drow Monks are going to be very Tome Heavy when planning a 1st life Drow Monk. I wouldn't recommend one to someone who has never built (and capped/run epics) with a monk before. The initial recommended investment of 14 Con will be very costly at character creation. Try a character planner before you go ahead and build a Drow Monk (if you are still planning on it).

Any class can be filled by any race, there are some that are just better at certain classes than others.

[vVAnjilaVv]

Honestly I wouldn't make a Spellsinger anything other than a Drow.......the 20 base CHA is very nice considering bards are already behind in spell DC's.

Drow Palemasters are also very viable. In general player skill is going to determine success, not which race you chose.

[Sirslapemsack]

Drow Palemasters are also very viable. In general player skill is going to determine success, not which race you chose.[/COLOR][/QUOTE]

That's the most intelligent thing anyone has ever said on these forums.....

[Kinerd]

It's is very easy for a build to be viable and still be inferior for no real reason. Drow do have the freakishly hourglass female body type, but other than that as previously stated they don't have a lot going for them in the monk department. How about a nice dwarf?

[Lil'man]

An extreemely poor choice made, here's some comparisons:
Halfling: Better choice for +1 Size bonus to AC, Dex bonus, Dragonmark of healing
Best for: Dex based monk
Dwarf: Better choice for more hp, bonus to balance.
Best for: Any monk build, very versatile
Warforged: Better choice for more immunities (though some are granted through monk class like poison), infinite breath, extra strength, extra DR
Best for: Strength build
Human: Better choice for extra feat, extremely versatile race, human versatility could come in handy.
Best for: Any monk build, very versatile.
Elf: Better choice for extra dexterity, dragonmark of shadow's displacement could help in some situations
Best for: Dex based monk, though not recommended.
Hork: Better choice for extra str, not that familiar with them or helf though I know hork is great for str based.
Best for: Str based.
Drow: No real advantage except the SR in the beginning of the person's adventure until it gets monk SR, terrible choice really.
I beleive I covered them all, if any crucial details were missed pls reply

[Calebro]

An extreemely poor choice made, here's some comparisons:
Halfling: Better choice for +1 Size bonus to AC, Dex bonus, Dragonmark of healing
Best for: Dex based monk

I beleive I covered them all, if any crucial details were missed pls reply

You missed the single best reason to play a halfling: Cunning & Guile AP lines.

[Therigar]

As is typical the advice given thus far reflects personal preferences and more than a little bit of prejudice and ignorance.

The first thing is to address your specific question concerning spell resistance. The two postings on this state that the two do not stack. I don't know if they do or do not as there is nothing in the wiki and I haven't run a drow monk to level to see.

However, the entire spell resistance piece seems to work based on the highest level available -- implying that the two do not stack. I have not tested this enough to state it categorically. But, most posts I've seen concerning drow spell resistance suggests that it is not worth taking as an enhancement.

So, my educated but unverified guess is that the two posters are correct.

The second thing to address is the question of drow as a racial choice. It certainly makes as good a choice as any other race. It will have negatives in some areas but it will have positives in others.

For example, the higher INT means more skill points. This may be important to your build and it may outweigh other considerations. Drow aptitude with short swords may work into your plans for a dark path monk. The choice of race should be dictated by what you want to achieve with the character. And, it could easily be the case that higher DEX, INT and CHA fit into that build plan.

What is true is that other people will have reasons why other races are better for them. Halfling certainly has something to contribute. I, personally, chose warforged because the innate immunities and ability to swim underwater without fear of drowning outweighed thoughts of sneak attack bonuses or flanking damage modifiers.

That he has run arcaneless Shrouds and led the kills means he isn't a total waste. To the contrary, he is everything I'd hoped for and likely to TR into another warforged monk.

So, racial choice should be governed by what you want from the character.

It won't be an ultra high SR. So that would be a poor reason to choose Drow. If it is your only reason for considering Drow then you should probably look at a different race.

[Kinerd]

But, most posts I've seen concerning drow spell resistance suggests that it is not worth taking as an enhancement.

It's not an enhancement anymore. Drow automatically get SR = level + 10, identical to the Diamond Soul feat.

It certainly makes as good a choice as any other race. It will have negatives in some areas but it will have positives in others.

These two statements directly contradict each other. If a race has more negatives and less positives relating to a specific profession, they are not as good a choice. If you wanted more skill points, for instance, you could instead be a human and not waste build points on Charisma, Intelligence, and on higher Constitution cost. Build point use is more crucial for monks than most classes, as their enhancements have hard limits on abilities. Going from Drow Con-14 to human Con-14 would get you the same skill points and 6 more build points to play with at the cost of -1 to UMD, or 4 more build points at the cost of -1 to Search, Repair, and DD.

Drow monks are fairly unique in that everything they have going for them can be done better with another race.

[Therigar]

It's not an enhancement anymore. Drow automatically get SR = level + 10, identical to the Diamond Soul feat.

These two statements directly contradict each other. If a race has more negatives and less positives relating to a specific profession, they are not as good a choice. If you wanted more skill points, for instance, you could instead be a human and not waste build points on Charisma, Intelligence, and on higher Constitution cost. Build point use is more crucial for monks than most classes, as their enhancements have hard limits on abilities. Going from Drow Con-14 to human Con-14 would get you the same skill points and 6 more build points to play with at the cost of -1 to UMD, or 4 more build points at the cost of -1 to Search, Repair, and DD.

Drow monks are fairly unique in that everything they have going for them can be done better with another race.

You are correct. I'd forgotten about the change. TY.

No, the two are not contradictory statements. It is up to the player to determine if there are more negatives than positives. Inasmuch as we don't know much about what the poster is looking for it isn't possible to assess beyond that.

I can certainly see situations where drow would be a better choice for a monk. This would especially be true if a player were considering a dark path monk dual-wielding short swords.

At issue isn't whether this is an optimal build. At issue is what the player is thinking and wanting to create. Drow would be superior to a 28 point elf in this situation and also superior to a 28 point halfling.

Drow would also be superior to either 28 point build if the player intends to solo much of the time because the halfling guile/cunning lines would not be useable much of the time. Having what is effectively a 32+ point build creates several advantages.

Drow is also a better choice if the player is thinking high AC/evasion DEX based build as the higher starting INT means fewer build points to qualify for CE. Halfling only becomes a better option at 32 points -- something the player may not have available.

So, it is absolutely the case that the pros and cons have to be weighed in light of what the player wants to achieve. And, in that respect, no race is better than any other -- because no race is always going to have the pros in its favor.

[GentlemanAndAScholar]

In general player skill is going to determine success, not which race you chose.

Even though player skills can overcome an unfavorable race-class combo (for flavor, I suppose), that toon will never be able to perform at par with their peers were the same player be playing a different race-class combo. A drow-Barb (same player, same gear) will never be able to rub elbows with a Orc-Barb/WF-Barb.

[silvertrit]

I see no reason why not a WF...Barbarian has more then enough hp and a twf crit heavy barb could do worse then Drow racial weapons.

[GentlemanAndAScholar]

I see no reason why not a WF...Barbarian has more then enough hp and a twf crit heavy barb could do worse then Drow racial weapons.

+2 CON to start with + possible +2 CON racial enhancements. Power Attack enhancements. Bladesworn enhancements. Immune to Rage fatigue. Can be healed by both arcanes and healers.

[vVAnjilaVv]

Even though player skills can overcome an unfavorable race-class combo (for flavor, I suppose), that toon will never be able to perform at par with their peers were the same player be playing a different race-class combo. A drow-Barb (same player, same gear) will never be able to rub elbows with a Orc-Barb/WF-Barb.

I really feel this is a slight over-exaggeration.....if you focus on the synergies and STR's of the race it's not THAT big of a difference.....certainly not to a point that an opinionated less popular choice for a race will render a build weak.

Most of the STR of a character comes from class abilities, build point distribution, tomes, and gear. Really unless your talking about something like a WF'ed Sorc or Bard compared to a DROW as far as max DC's go...the differences are not that large when it comes to other classes.

Sorry....I really find the penny-pincher play mentality to be quite annoying here sometimes.

A Drow now has a very big advantage over a WF/Half Orc barb now as well...sorry even in high level content 30 SR is nothing to sneeze at.

Plus this is a monk forum....I agree Drow is not that great for monk for the fact of redundancy of SR. I still made a Drow light monk back in the day...before EU started...mostly because I was way off from 32 point builds yet, I wanted CE....and I got two extra points in INT.

My drow light monk adds a lot more to parties than just flavor.....and I mean in a beneficial way, not a comical way.

Simply put a good player is a good player...what an individual can think of in strategy, capability on there keyboard skills...etc.....can not be compared by just race/class combos.

When I play my character "I" am playing it.....and I know a lot more about my capabilities than the general consensus about which race is best for a class on the forums.

[Calebro]

All that.

No one is saying that every drow monk is a gimp. What we're saying is that the drow race brings zero to the monk class.
Yes, the player is more important than the build, but why start off with zero synergy? That's right. I said zero synergy. Zero.
I'm not saying he's a gimp. I'm saying he'll be more gimp than any other race. ANY other race.

I'll repeat, a 28 pt halfling or human would be superior to a drow.