Help making a Monkish char

[Tami]

I'm trying to make a Monkish like char. I understand that a Monk isn't IG and many benefits arnt as well but im doing it for the RP. Any advice ideas or willingness to help make this Char? I'm a Dwarf warrior with improved brawling. I planned on going Ranger. Any ideas?

[Harroghty]

The real limitation of fighting unarmed is that brawling is limited to one attack per round (and you can only use kick or punch once in a round currently). My recommendation would be to use a brawling type weapon (e.g. a cestus) to overcome this limitation and use multiple attacks per round.

I believe that you would be best served by choosing the fighter class over range because of the larger number of feats offered. You could use well-chosen feats (expertise, lightning reflexes, etc.) to help out.

[Tami]

Ok, so Fighter, I got some brass knuckles so I can make use of disarm, two weapon fighting etc. I was thinking medium armour so I have both dex and armor.

[Alitar]

Additionally, you might do well to take advantage of monk weapons. Kama have become not uncommon in the Realms.

[hasryn]

Hmm. There's also jo staffs and aren't Siangham's a monk weapon although ..shaolin? To bad there isn't baghnaka's in game!

[Tami]

Well I'm gonna go Fighter, use just my fists until im adept or better then use a cistus. But I'm thinking medium or heavy armour, which does the genral population think would be better? I have just 10 as Dex but 18 str and con

[Kinni]

Heavy armour does not strike me as monk-like, but I understand you must compensate for some of the absence of code-support. My monk-stylized character, personally, wears cloth for the moment. She's low level and I'm hoping to eventually compensate with some enchanted items. I might go as far as leather for her, if need be. It's all personal preference when you are designing a character like this. Without code support, your character is truly designed for background/RP purposes. I wouldn't expect her to be super-strong if you are going to stay in line with the monkish ideals.

[Nylo]

With 10 dex, you will not be able to take advantage of dual wielding like you mentioned earlier. You need 19 in dex to maximise the potential of that line, in which case studded leather would likely be your best bet. Heavy armor is best codewise with 10 dex, but as Kinni mentions, it's not very monk-like.

[Tami]

As I was telling Kinni He really isn't a Monkish character more like a bar fighting brawler.

[hasryn]

You don't need 19 dex to take advantage of dual wield. Just to get full advantage of said feats.

[Tami]

Im reopening this since im a bit more educated on the game. I know Ranger would not work but what aboit Fighter compared to a Thief, and think less Monk and more dirty Pit Fighter... brass knuckles, studded leather armour. Thief looks to have more skills useful to that play style but Fighter has more feat points, health points, and AB. What do yall think?

[Areia]

What do yall think?

My two cents are these:

I don't think any class, feat, stat point, or anything else should be chosen because it may or may not be more powerful than another. My fighter has 15 CHA because he was braught up in part to be a proper servant and herald for his slavers, even though 15 CHA does crap for him in a fight. He also has subpar CON because of the horrible conditions he was left in that weakened his toughness, even though that too kills him in combat. My wizard wasted a feat point on greatsword prof and can wield them better than most fighters, and she can take a fairly large amount of punishment, in part because her father was a fighter and she used to play swords with him when she was little, despite that I'd have been far better served to take that second point in spell penetration or heighten spell. My thief is a thief not because thieves get backstab, but because she grew up on the streets, as it were, thugging around to make her living after her prostitute of a mother left her to fend for herself, despite that I often wish she could have more hit points or could maybe not miss her attacks quite so much. I also have a PC who is a monk, or rather monk asperant really, and she wears cloth--not even magical cloth--because... that's what monks wear, even though it makes her a laughable opponent one on one. Etc., etc.

Pick a class that best suits the RP. Find the sort of gear that best suits what the character would desire/be required to use. Yes, survivability is very nice, but one doesn't have to have the best of all things to have an enjoyable character. It's all about the RP.