Its true-The Monk class is the most gimped in early BG 1
DKnight
Member Posts: 307
I'm not going to lie that I was hoping to try out the new monk npc in this 3rd play through. I couldn't have been more wrong. While the character has a great story, he is the most weak and frail character in the game until at least lvl 5-7. Im serious, his stats aren't the problem, its just that monks aren't meant for the 1st game in the series. I thought I might be wrong, but I am indeed right. You might be able to get them to a reasonable lvl, but not without keeping them away from archers/heavy hitters/the fighting altogether. Its not that they are weak but moreso that their armor class is so high and in early game 1-2 hits is it. I can't even begin to imagine how bad a monk is in nashkel mines.
Im probably going to have to exp farm until he is at least lvl 4.
Another problem is that even thieves and bards are better tanks early game than a monk. My thief can hold his own against 2-3 enemies at once with sword and shield. The problem is monks are a late game character that can do crazy stuff in late game. I know this because I played one in BG 2. I soloed the game and it was awesome.
What to learn from this-The game will likely add rasaad to bg2, I don't doubt. He will be good in that game, but in the future remake of bg2, they should add a regular class thief or one of the kits. Im sorry but the only thief in game in the 2nd is Yoshimo and he's basically it. Thieves are much more needed in game than a monk. This was a good idea, but it failed which is still ok cause he will be playable in the expansion.
A thief will likely be very needed in bg2 if they add anymore. Other than that, I would say the wild mage character is probably 5 times less useless than this guy. Ugh, how the heck am I going to get to lvl 4?
Im probably going to have to exp farm until he is at least lvl 4.
Another problem is that even thieves and bards are better tanks early game than a monk. My thief can hold his own against 2-3 enemies at once with sword and shield. The problem is monks are a late game character that can do crazy stuff in late game. I know this because I played one in BG 2. I soloed the game and it was awesome.
What to learn from this-The game will likely add rasaad to bg2, I don't doubt. He will be good in that game, but in the future remake of bg2, they should add a regular class thief or one of the kits. Im sorry but the only thief in game in the 2nd is Yoshimo and he's basically it. Thieves are much more needed in game than a monk. This was a good idea, but it failed which is still ok cause he will be playable in the expansion.
A thief will likely be very needed in bg2 if they add anymore. Other than that, I would say the wild mage character is probably 5 times less useless than this guy. Ugh, how the heck am I going to get to lvl 4?
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Equip Rasaad with a ranged weapon (I think he's proficient with slings?) and keep him to the back of the group until he's level 4 or so, and then you should be okay to bring him to the front lines.
Dart of wounding are very useful on him, specially against caster.
Neera had a 1 percent kill rate for my group in my first run on BGEE. Dorn had a 60% kill rate among all six characters.
Some hard fights but nothing I couldn't handle. The Naschkel mines where really fun since I had to sneak through them, hide in shadows and attack from the darkness. I really liked that. Gave more realism than a band of hack'n'slashers that bash their way down to an unexpecting boss.
It's kind of tedious to hear people rant about classes they think suck. If you can't play the class - don't do it. But if you play it right with strategy and some thinking you can play the game with "weak" classes as well. It's not so much of a hack'n'slash playthrough. Instead it's more strategy and RPG. That equals more fun if you ask me.
and btw - The monks rule supreme!
Monks are lackluster pre-level 6 and my own monk (18/17/16/10/15/17 - got a good roll) was running around with the bracers of archery and darts, kiting mobs. On hitting level 6, he was able to actually normally hit things in combat and stand his own, so I started punching things into the face.
Rasaad, when you give him all his items (boots, belt, gauntlets) does quite pack a punch. THAC0 at max level is around 8, 5 with Drizzt's scimitar Twinkle.(also with -3 AC for the weapon and fighting style).
Sad thing is that, the devs had to put 3 items into the game to make one lousy NPC at least viable. All are usable only by LG monk (My LE monk smirks upon seeing them). Of course, if LG Rasaad can stomach killing Drizzt and wielding his Scimitar.
Rasaad's quest is quite good, but upon slaughtering lots and lots of evil monks, mostly without getting hit, you pretty much get the idea anyway.
BTW - I once finished BG1Tutu with a monk and a thief (Imoen I think)... pretty hard, but doable.
How come you can use darts with him without actually having a THAC0 of 25? He should be getting another proficiency point at level 4 to get darts/sling/single weapon style.
One thing I don't see discussed very much is the lack of a helmet for monks, creating a permanent weakness to critical hits. I don't think any character who can't wear a helmet has any business in melee.
I fought all of Rasaad's brother's monk friends and cleaned out the monastery ridiculously easily with a level 5 party. Dorn could one-shot most of them by then. I never had much trouble with Balthazzar in ToB, either. With apologies to fans of the class, I just don't find it very impressive at any level, not compared to the traditional fighter/rogue/cleric/mage quartet of classes.
That would add a tremendous utility to the class. Nowadays, you don't even spend points into detecting traps as the majority of traps I have seen are not avoidable anyway. And 10points per level...
If you play through a single class wizard through something like the entire Nashkal Mines scenario (from hitting town through Mulahay) without any cheesy resting in dungeons, you might find that Raasad isn't any less useless on the whole than that wizard. In fact, probably they are quite a bit more useful as they have actual abilites other than combat to draw upon. A 2nd/3rd level wizard has only a very limited number of spells that he must use very tactically. Sure that makes all the difference in the world in one single combat, but in the long haul not so much.
And.... Not everything is about raw power.
Especially after lvl 13, when they get magic resistance. Which can make all the difference in ToB. (max base 86% magic resist)
never played with Imoen as a thief in BG2 and never wanted to have Nalia so I can't speak to them as thieves, but.... Yeah, Yoshi is great. No question. He is by far not the only thief though.
I never said I would give up. Heck no, these games are too good to give up
All I am saying is that out of the characters we all choose for a tank, next time think twice on choosing rasaad over other choices, especially if your new to game. My previous play through included dorn and that pretty much speaks for itself. Dorn is my favorite character in the bg series and favorite evil character. Also he packs the most punch out of any fighter Ive seen in a crpg, except Sarevok.
I don't know, maybe its just me and its not too hard.
He has great thieving skills early on due to his special items. He can also detect invisibility quickly with his illusion skill cause of his goggles. This is really useful, especially with SCS2 installed if you are fighting shadow thieves.
He is great as a ranged character. He has high dex, proficiency in crossbows and his ability to create paralyzing and swarming bolts is just awesome against spellcasters.
He is also a good mage. Cause of his specialization he will have extra spells compared to a normal dual or multi class, his intelligence is pretty good with 16 and when you want to memorize additional spell you just drink a potion of genius first.
To finish it all up, he actually also has high constitution! With shorty saves! And he has a great armor with+5 AC vs missiles, 25% protection against physical damage. Combine that with his protective mage spells and he is a defensive powerhouse. With some simple strength and combat enhancing spells he is actually a decent melee fighter when necessary as well. At some point that even makes him a great backstabber.
As for him being vulnerable to critical hits, there are at least two ioun stones in the game that he can wear. One of them is sold in High Hedge for a few hundred gold, so it's available pretty early on. All it does is grant infravision, but since it's worn in the head slot it counts as a helmet and blocks critical hits (confirmed on the current version by me, just now, having my archer shoot Rasaad a bunch of times).