Monk
From HGWiki
- Monk information on NWNWiki.
Monks are versatile warriors that utilize speed and their huge number of attacks each round to do damage.
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HG Customization
- Legendary BAB: +15
- Forum Class Ability Board
- Bonus Damage: When unarmed, Legendary Monks inflict 1 point of bonus damage per 3 Monk levels (including LL), to a maximum of 20 points at Monk 60. This is implemented as a temporary bonus on any gloves they wear. The damage type will be changed to reflect the nature of the gloves (spiked, bladed or regular impact).
- Monks also receive bonus physical damage equal to their WIS mod. This damage type also changes to reflect the nature of gloves (spiked, bladed or regular impact).
- At Monk 40, characters will automatically receive the Keen property on any gloves they wear.
- Monk weapons: Goad and nunchaku are considered monk weapons (like kama) for purposes of receiving unarmed attack progression and Flurry of Blows. At Monk 21, this expands to include quarterstaff and shuriken as well. Flurry of Blows does not currently work for these weapons.
- Stunning Fist: A character with monk as control class who uses the Stunning Fist ability will force the target to make a Will save or be knocked down for 1d3 + 1 rounds. The DC of the Will save is equal to 10 + (monk level including LLs / 2) + Wisdom modifier + (Improved Stunning Fist feats * 3), capped at DC 70. It will appear you only have one use of Stunning Fist, but the ability will recharge after it is used.
- Diamond Soul: For legendary Monks, spell resistance increases at an accelerated rate. The increased progression is (10 + 7/6 x Monk level). Improved Spell Resistance feats still add two to this total per feat.
- Empty Body: Grants +1% concealment per Monk level above 20, to a maximum of 70% at level 40. For legendary Monks, Empty Body gives an additional +1% concealment per 2 legendary levels (to a maximum of 80% at 60 Monk), and duration increases by one round per legendary level.
- Wholeness of Body: Wholeness of Body now has a number of uses equal to Monk level (including LL). Each use heals 2 hp + 1 hp per two Monk class levels over 12, to a maximum of 16 hp per use at Monk level 40. When used, sufficient uses will be expended to heal the character fully, but unneeded uses will be conserved.
- When used by a legendary Monk with at least 40 base Strength, Wholeness of Body will provide critical hit immunity for 1 round per use. The Monk can use Wholeness of Body again at any time to disable the critical hit immunity and cease the expenditure of uses.
Monk Types
- Dexterity: Flying Fists, Gimped Dim Make Acolyte. Open Subrace: TinyMonk, The Stunning Svirfneblin
Dex Monks trade damage output for defense by focusing on high AC. Dex monks lose added Str Mod to damage, but can still obtain medium damage output through sheer number of attacks. Due to higher AC Dex monks are often more stable than their Str counterparts and will be much easier for new players to keep alive and find gear for.
Str Monks add their Str Modifier to each attack, boosting damage output considerably. They do this at the cost of AC, and can sometimes be quite fragile without the correct gear or when using UR races pre-demi.
Play Guide
Defenses
Staying alive with a monk is very dependent on the build you use and the defenses it relies on. Dex Monks with high AC (134+) can survive in the Hells quite reliably without need for intricate gear setups or extra concealment, although Empty Body or Self Concealment feats can make Dex builds very very good at dodging attacks. Str Monks often have lower AC and hence are much more reliant on Concealment and Wholeness of Body to stay alive. Unfortunately Str Monks can rarely fit the Self Concealment feats in and you will only ever have two limited duration uses of Empty Body, so maintaining high concealment is very difficult. For these reasons building a Str Monk is considered much more difficult and is very reliant on excellent gear setups. Often they will need to rely on other Casters for displacement or Mass Camo. Str Monks do receive Crit Immunity through Wholeness of Body, although it too only has a limited number of uses.
It is hard to make a true uni-tank Monk, so there will nearly always be some risk of failing stat checks in the end game parts of the mod, such as Malebranche KD for Str Monks and Pit Fiend KD for Dexers. KD and check failures can be minimized by either sticking close to the Bard UUU epic or trying to avoid enemies you know are dangerous and focusing on those you can make checks against. An excellent part of being a monk is that you receive complete immunity to most mind effects in the game, including Confusion.
Damage Output
To increase damage output Monks can use flurry to give themselves an extra attack each round, although this can possibly be counterproductive if your AB is low (when you have 1xDemi pens) since each attack is made at -2 AB. You can also use a Torch of the Unwary which add +6d6 sneak attack damage against flatfooted enemies, although it adds nothing against sneak immune enemies.
Unarmed monks also need to remember that on HG Monk gloves come in three different physical types; spiked (piercing), bladed (slashing) and normal (bludgeoning). Having a range of these gloves enables you to switch damage types in runs to maximize damage output against certain enemies that are vulnerable to a specific damage type.
Other Warnings
Something to be careful of when playing monks is that they are quite fast. You need to be extremely careful not to accidentally run too far ahead or lose control of your character, as doing so can quickly spawn more enemies than your party can handle. Like your feet, your fists are also very fast and monks can easily achieve up to 10 attacks per round. This means when hitting kickback enemies you will produce ungodly kickback. You can hit personal kickback monsters at your own risk when equipped with the right rings, but you must never hit area-wide kickback creatures as you will subject your party to untold amounts of kickback and can send party members to their deaths within a matter of rounds.
