Mad Monk

[Man on Fire]

I was wondering about few things regarding Monk's usual troubles and few questions came to my mind

1) Does Monk really needs Dexterity? He needs Strength for damage and tying his unarmed strike to Dexterity costs a feat anyway. He gets AC bonus from Wisdom so it sounds like a better idea to boost that. He loses both when he is denied AC bonus anyway.

This lead to me thinking that Dragon Magazine's Half-Minotaur, in all it's brokeness, could be a good template for Monk. I mean, +12 STR +6 CON +2 WIS, Large, reach, natural attack, -2 Dex and 2 LA seems like more than a fair price. And Monk is so weak class it could come out as pretty balanced.
2) What spells is good for Monk to have on him be it by Permamency or Magic Items? I know Greater Magic Fang and Freedom of Movement, but how would Divine Might on custom magic item (how much would such thing cost by the way?) work? What other buffs could be good?

[weckar]

The Wis to AC is intended to replace an armor progression (monks, usually on the front line, cannot wear armor). Losing Dex makes that bonus double taxed, and thereby overstretched. I'd advise against it. If you were to gain an item granting mage armor, howver, it may be viable.

[John Longarrow]

For the Monk, Wisdom is more of a dump stat than Dex. If you are willing to take the Armor Check Penalty for unskilled, you can wear Leather/Studded Leather without much issue at low level. This does cause you to loose your Wisdom bonus to AC, but doens't affect Dex.

Likewise Wisdom doesn't help with ranged attacks, something a smart monk will try to use prior to getting close. Both Wisdom and Dex play into saving throws, so that is rather a push for the class. Dex adds to being quiet/hiding while Wisdom plays into spotting others, so that also tends to be a push (Stealth VS Lookout, something I don't think needs to be debated again. Based mostly on play style and game).

Net effect, at lower levels Dex tends to be more important. With a little creativity Dex can replace Str, so neither Dex nor Wis tend to be as much of a dump stat.

NOTE: If you do have access to Tome of Batte, 4 levels of Sword Sage give Wisdom to AC AND Damage, plus you will probably have Shadow Hand to give you Dex to AC AND Damage. Doing this does really turn STR into a less important stat for monks.

[Adverb]

At low levels, strength is pretty much the best stat. The higher you get, though, the less important it becomes, and the more it becomes supplanted by pretty much every other stat.

Unless you're a Hulking Hurler.

[ericgrau]

1) He needs strength and con like any other melee. A little wis and dex are nice for AC, but are mostly a lost cause. Mostly you want to debuff foes by spamming special attacks so you get hit less often that way. Grapple, trip, and in some campaigns stun or disarm. Or any combination thereof.

Ya any melee template works as well as any other melee, though strength and reach are even nicer for trip spamming.

2) Mage armor gives the most bang for the buck. If the party can't cast it then grab potions. And every hour/level buff you can get really so you can keep them up all day. Anything that costs a standard action is usually worse than hitting a foe round 1 instead. If your party has a single caster or half caster then they have some kind of buff that works on monk.

Gonna duck out before thread falls apart, so I might not be back.