Comments on: Player’s Handbook 3 Class Reviews: Monk

By: Gavin O'Brien

Gavin O'Brien — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 14:23:52 +0000

Hybrid Monk|Sorcerer could be a lot of fun, I agree. But, then again, I’m of the opinion that ANYTHING combined with Sorcerer could be a lot of fun.

Dex-based sorcerers are rarely the type used for melee and blast combat, but with daggers serving as both ki focus and a sorcerer implement, I could see the class not only being full of flavor but also pretty powerful as well. Any Charisma/Dex race would work best: Drow, for instance, or maybe Githzerai. Though it pains me to say it, Halfling, with its “Lost in the Crowd” feat could be a defensively powerful choice as well. Sorcerous Blade Channeling would be a good feat to take at first level, but, since I don’t really know the Monk hybrid rules, you might need to take the Unarmored +2 AC feat in order to survive your first few levels.

Hmm… once the character build gets updated with the new PHB3 rule set, I’ll have to play around with this concept.

D&D is fun!

By: Nephelim

Nephelim — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 13:59:00 +0000

A hybrid MonkSorcerer could be fun, or a hybrid MonkPsion, to get the more Eastern Mystic feel…

Regardless, Monks look to have gotten as much, if not more, of a “Oh my god that’s actually COOL” makeover as the Bard did. One of my players is running a Dragonborn Monk who will be (now that the book is out) of the Stone Fist tradition… the leapy-smashy-dragonbreath goodness is sure to be epic, even at low levels.

(WRT Pathfinder, the PF Monk also got some much-needed overhauls, too, but that’s probably a topic for a different post! )

By: ggodo

ggodo — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 22:21:57 +0000

My up coming Pathfinder campaign will probably see at least one monk. Now if only I could get the rest of the team to put some effort into it.

By: Gavin O'Brien

Gavin O'Brien — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 18:16:33 +0000

I started looking at the monk again earlier this week. Lacking the PHB3, my sources were limited to the Character Builder and the various guides available on the Wizards forums.

I’ve come to like it A LOT more. Maybe even love. It definitely seems like a thinking-mans striker. I don’t think you’ll deal Sorcerer or Ranger damage numbers, but you can really mess with your enemies, some powers allowing you to shift around and hit nearly every enemy on the battlefield.

The unarmed strike is interesting in that there are no Monk “weapon” powers. Every monk attack power (that I’ve seen) has the “Implement” keyword, so you don’t use that +3 proficiency or 1d8 damage. You’ll only ever use it during melee basic attacks (charging, opportunity attacks, etc.). For a Stone Fist monk (the brawler build), that’s fine. However, a Centered Breath monk requires the Melee Training (Dexterity) feat tax in order to have an effective basic attack. Not a big deal. Just seems a bit sad for a class primed to deal out opportunity and charge attacks.