Author Topic: Drammor has a lot of questions. You can find some of them here.  (Read 6615 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Drammor

  • Barbary Macaque at the Rock of Gibraltar
  • ***
  • Posts: 171
    • Email
Re: Drammor has a lot of questions. You can find some of them here.
« Reply #40 on: September 29, 2011, 06:43:32 PM »
Can I use a skin of proteus to become a mind flayer long enough to take levels in illithid savant?

Sir Giacomo

  • That monkey with the orange ass cheeks
  • ****
  • Posts: 259
Re: Drammor has a lot of questions. You can find some of them here.
« Reply #41 on: October 01, 2011, 07:56:56 AM »
Hi Drammor,

Just to avoid that the answers provided on monk disadvantages will leave you with a wrong impression on the monk class, here are some corrections from my side.
Note: you can still of course believe the monk is a crap class, but at least you should not do it for the wrong reasons! :)

Part of the problem is that the abilities don't synergize well. An average BaB doesn't mix with the attack penalties that come with flurrying.
Quote
Flurrying takes a full-round action, which doesn't mesh with the speed increase that's supposed to make the monk a mobile combatant.

It meshes perfecty with the speed, because the game (and the monk class itself) offers plenty of options to use the fast movement AND then do full round attacks.
For instance with just core rules: Charge with your full movement bonus in the surprise round (the monk is a stealthy class) against an opponent and trip/grapple/stun him. Then, once opponent is frozen in place, proceed to use flurry.
For instance, with splatbooks get ways for an additional move action per round: travel devotion feat, sudden jump maneuver, belt of battle or similar items etc.

Quote
Monks don't typically get to wear armor, but they instead add their Wisdom bonus to their AC, which is another potential stat dump.

It is, for many other classes. For the monk, though, WIS as high stat is just fine since it helps so many class abilities, anyhow. You can outside core even get a SAD monk by using intuitive attack feat (use WIS instead of STR for melee attack bonus).

Quote
Then there are the class abilities which are kind of on the right track but don't go far enough, like the 1/day dimension door, 1/week quivering palm, quasi-feather fall ability as long as you can reach a wall, spell resistance that makes it more difficult to receive buffs but doesn't do a ton to hinder enemy spellcasters...

All of these abilities coming on top are useful- not a weakness of the monk class. Every class could shine more with more abilities, so that is somewhat of a non-issue.
And most buffs can either come from items the monk uses himself (potion of enlarge) and thus bypass SR, or they do not need SR at all (e.g. polymorph). So, of course, spell resistance is a big advantage for the monk class, not a weakness.

It takes 15 levels for a monk's unarmed damage to be similar to a nonmagical greatsword,
Quote
and without splatbooks,it costs 2-3x as much to enchant.

Wrong. Either use unarmed attack gauntlets for normal enchantment. Or get temporary solutions via wands or buffs.

Quote
And can't get special abilities.

Wrong. See above.

Quote
They need str (hit, damage), dex (ac), con (hitpoints.. d8 hitdice and they're apparently frontliners), int (skillpoints.. big skill list, needs lots of movement etc, hide, not many skillpoints), wis (class abilities, ac)... only thing they can dump is cha.

Which is true for about every class I know of (except for classes that need CHA like bards and sorcerers). Also, there are various methods also for the monk to focus on just a few stats (weapon finesse, intuitive attack, carmendine monk etc.)

Quote
Worse, they need AT LEAST 14 str, dex, con, AND wis or they have less AC than a rogue, and less chance to hit than the wizard.  So they need decently high stats in like 3-4 things at least to be competent.

Wrong. The monk needs no stat above 8 for all his class abilities to function. With a STR below 14, they do not have less of a chance to hit than the wizard (or said wizard has higher STR).
And to be competent, the monk, like every class, would be glad for decently high stats.

Quote
Most of their abilities (slow fall) are replicated by low level spells or you just don't care about them since they don't come up ever.  The few good ones (quivering palm, abundant step) are limited in use to absolutely ridiculous extents (1/week?  Seriously?  It's a SoD that takes X rounds to go off.. at a level the wizard got phantasmal killer 10 levels ago...) or far weaker than what like, a bard can do.  Or any other limited spellcaster.
Quote
The only thing it can claim to be is a melee fighter,

They also make excellent scouts (check out their movement modes, their ACFs and their class skills as to why).

Quote
and it will have trouble hitting ANYTHING AT ALL with it's low BAB

they have medium BAB, not low BAB (and quite a few bonus feats to do touch-attack-based combat tactics).

Quote
and need for so many stats, has NO survivability (crappy AC, again, need for many stats means it can't afford 16 or 18 con, and it has a d8 HD)... the only thing it has going for it is decent saving throws... most good attack spells don't care about SR or will usually roll higher than the pitiful amount a monk gets.. all the amount the monk gets means is that the party spellcaster will hesitate to buff him or heal him because on a 1-5 roll on the SR penetration roll it's a wasted spell.

Drammor

  • Barbary Macaque at the Rock of Gibraltar
  • ***
  • Posts: 171
    • Email
Re: Drammor has a lot of questions. You can find some of them here.
« Reply #42 on: October 03, 2011, 08:49:50 AM »
If I use the power of the illithid savant to gain a demilich's ability to "wear" objects near its phylactery by eating its brain and then make a phylactery for myself... how many items would I be able to wear?

Agita

  • Organ Grinder
  • *****
  • Posts: 5465
  • SFT is mai waifu.
Re: Drammor has a lot of questions. You can find some of them here.
« Reply #43 on: October 03, 2011, 10:43:10 AM »
Demiliches have brains?
It's all about vision and making reality conform to your vision. By dropping a fucking house on it.

Agita's Awesome Poster Compilation
Lycanthromancer's Awesome Poster Compilation

Drammor

  • Barbary Macaque at the Rock of Gibraltar
  • ***
  • Posts: 171
    • Email
Re: Drammor has a lot of questions. You can find some of them here.
« Reply #44 on: October 03, 2011, 05:07:46 PM »
They have spells. I'm sure there are some form-altering spells that could give a demilich a brain.

Edit: ...Ettins. The illithid Twix bars? Small tasty snacks that aren't especially good for you, but come two at a time in mass-produced packaging?
« Last Edit: October 03, 2011, 05:09:35 PM by Drammor »