Playing a Monk

Merald

Playing around I fluked in to decent stats for a human monk. I didn't intend to play a monk, just wanted to check the class out, but with her stats I'm curious about the monk (Sun soul) class and have a few questions.

Her stats: Str 18, Dex 18, Con 18, Int 10, Wis 17, Char 10

Are they decent fighters (can they tank)?
Are there any items available for the monk?
Fists or weapons? If weapons, what weapons?
Are they worth having in your party (I normally play a party size of 3 to 5)?

Thanks for any feedback,

Dev6

I've never played a monk so I'll be following this thread...

Redrake

This is IWD1. EE added Monks but the original game was not designed or balanced for them. Beamdog did nothing in that regard.

Now after this cheerful introduction, my first party I made for IWD1 EE included the monk as I wanted to playtest it.

What you need to consider:

1) Monks at first levels are minor tanks at best. A cleric or a druid are better tanks than them.
2) This is IWD1 in Baldurized version. As such, Wisdom is useless on a Monk, there's no extra AC from high Wis as it is in 3E (NWNs and IWD2)
3) Keep in mind that starting with Vale of Shadows you'll encounter enemies who require magic weapons to hit. At low levels Monk is completely unable to do anything with her fists.
4) Keeping in mind the above number 3, you need to prepare you monk to also use a weapon and add a proficiency point in Single Weapon Fighting. I would suggest something a monk can use and for which you can find good enchanted weapons early on. Dagger proficiency nets you in first level of Dragon's Eye Spinesheath a very good magic dagger with an insante +5 THAC0. This is to compensate the fact that only with fists can monks gain extra APRs or have nice enough THAC0.
5) Monks can be wonderful scouts, but never ever let them become surrounded, they'll be killed faster than you can swallow a healing potion. Always have 2 additional tanks in your party.
6) Beamdog added some gauntlets that add magic weapons to a Monk's fists. Unfortunately, you can only find the first of such items in Level 4 of Dragon's Eye and before that you need to get past the hordes of Cold Wights in Level 3, which all require magic weapons to hit.
7) Finally, starting with level 9 Monks begin to earn their keep with fists and due to their natural haste. Fortunately, assuming a normal game difficulty this happens around Wyrm's Tooth Glacier where the enemies are less than dangerous and you monk can properly shine. Even so, is best to take care in investing on items that grant elemental resistance, as they do not have armor and they are going to get hit constantly and at the very least elemental resistance can help them absorb the ill effects.

Good luck!

Merald

@Redrake Thanks for posting your experience on the IWDEE monk class, good insight on that class.

I would gather that to have an effective monk one would need to go with no more than 3 or 4 party members and rest in spawning areas to help level him up quicker. Although not appealing to do so, it might make that class fun to play early on (maybe). I'm not sure it's worth starting a new game just to try the monk class though.

Redrake

It's a bit of a trade-off. You can either go with monk in a party of 6 which increases her chances of survival. Or go with a smaller party, which is risky for any character but especially for monk. You'll still be stuck to fighting high-damage enemies with effectively a minor tank and no magic fists. In a party of 3-4 you should be able to have +1 magic fists around Dragon's Eye, but I am not sure if before or after Level 3 (which is the most problematic).

Like I said, Beamdog simply dropped IWD1 into BG2 engine without any regard to balance. As such, monk is pretty much a let-down in IWD1EE.

Wesboi

Monks are fine considering you can solo the game with a monk it's just the early level is rubbish for monks that's it.

wsnavigator

One more vote for being a bit difficult during monk's first few levels. It is easier if the monk is in a party, so that one can choose how to use him/her appropriately in each situation. This way, the monk could fight on the front line with fists against weak enemies, and could shoot with a sling when fighting more difficult enemies.

Here is an example, my 7th level monk with 70HP was in a party with 3 other characters on the first level of Dragon's Eye. When fighting lizardmen it was easy to use fists. When trying to fight with the Lizard King with fists, the monk died in 2-3 rounds. After switching to ranged weapon for the monk he was out of danger, and it was easy for the rest of the party to eliminate the Lizard King.

Harpagornis

I played a Dark Moon Monk through the main campaign and expansion on HoF-mode once. The first levels are painful but once you get Quivering Palm and Weapon Immunity the real fun starts. Just take a look:

https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/38935/on-the-dark-side-of-the-moon-solo-monk-guide-hof