Monk Discussion

Share an idea or post some constructive criticism for the server.
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Ataraxia
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Re: Monk Discussion

Postby Ataraxia » Mon May 29, 2017 9:56 pm

Holy saints! Thanks a lot for coming up with that, Loreweaver. The redesign looks really interesting and seems a lot more in line with the Monk's intended adaptability than their current progression.

I have some questions regarding the various new feats and how they interact together, just to make sure I understand them correctly.

Greater Meditation: "gains Purity of Body, Deflect Arrow or Ritual Magic respectively." Does this part mean that upon attaining this feat, the Monk can choose between Great Fortitude paired with Purity of Body, Lightning Reflexes paired with Deflect Arrow and Ritual Magic paired with Iron wil?

Heightened Focus: "The Ki Focus powers are upgraded"
Does this mean that ontop of the original effect, the upgrade is stacked except for, I assume, the elemental DR option? I.E. SF Balance and GSF Balance come in one package, Mobility is stacked upon Uncanny Dodge, Elemental DR overwrites the lesser version.

Monastic Art: Does the Monk have access to the feats even if they do not meet the normal requirements for it? As for the improved version, are they bundled in a package so Disarm/Imp Disarm, KD/Imp KD, Expertise/Imp Expertise are selected together?

Conduit of Faith: What kind of Damage Types are going to be available? Will it be possible to add extra damage types so fists could do bludgeon/slashing, bludgeon/piercing? What about elemental damage types?

Empty Body: As for avoiding attacks of opportunity, is Spring Attack necessary or can a character with high enough Balance succeed in that?

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Re: Monk Discussion

Postby Loreweaver » Tue May 30, 2017 5:42 am

Greater Meditation would work like that, yes, so your four options are Luck of Heroes + Resistance power at will, Great Fortitude + Purity of Body, Lightning Reflexes + Deflect Arrows and Iron Will + Ritual Magic. As Ritual Magic is a use/day ability, it's worth adding that uses are not reset by swapping back and forth.

Heightened Focus upgrades from 2 temporary HP to 1+WIS temporary HP (unless WIS is lower than 1), the elemental absorption is upgraded from 10/- absorbing 40 points/day to 15/- absorbing 90 points/day, Uncanny Dodge III (essentially +2 saves vs traps) remains and Mobility is added, whereas the Balance bonus increases from 3 to 8.

Monastic Art does not enforce prerequisites. However, if a monk wishes to have both Expertise and Power Attack they will have to take one as a general feat and prerequisites apply there. Even though the monk is capable of the maneuver as part of one martial arts style, it's not a given that they can fold it into a different style of fighting.

Conduit of Faith would be open to any damage type except positive damage, which is reserved as predictable and irresistable damage for TER systems. One would expect a monk of Auril to choose cold damage, whereas magical damage is more suited to a monk of Azuth. Lathander's monks might lean towards Fire or Divine, depending on their focus, but choosing Bludgeoning damage for a STR based monk is not wrong either. It's up to the player to determine what fits best.

Empty Body follows the standard rules for AoOs. That means the two ways to avoid movement AoOs are walking rather than running and taking the Spring Attack feat. Raising AC (such as through Mobility and Balance/Tumble) won't stop the AoOs but reduces the likelyhood of a hit (as would the Concealment granted by Empty Body), and otherwise throwing up some temporary HP can soften a blow.

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Ataraxia
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Re: Monk Discussion

Postby Ataraxia » Tue May 30, 2017 8:49 am

That makes sense, so characters are able to combine Foci, Arts and Meditations to create different playstyles and fill different roles. I'm personally all for the suggested changes since they seem to make the class more playable and more versatile, and I think that the cooldown between rests is long enough to limit the possibility of monks changing "roles" too quickly.

One thing to keep in mind would be finding a way to prevent exploiting, such as using Ki Focus to gain a feat only to take the improved version upon reaching next level or to bypass Prestige Class requirements.

I.E.: Gaining Mobility through Heightened Focus, then taking a level in Shadowdancer.

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Ataraxia
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Re: Monk Discussion

Postby Ataraxia » Tue Aug 22, 2017 8:59 pm

Just a little bump to know if these changes are still being considered!
And see if others are interested in them as well

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Dawnbreak
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Re: Monk Discussion

Postby Dawnbreak » Fri Aug 25, 2017 10:16 am

I think Monks probably deserve the most love at this point, out of all the classes. I would like to know more of this, too.

Spoiler:
But I'm still holding out for a Stealth revamp.
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Loreweaver
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Re: Monk Discussion

Postby Loreweaver » Fri Aug 25, 2017 4:27 pm

They are still on the agenda, yes.

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Ataraxia
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Re: Monk Discussion

Postby Ataraxia » Mon Jan 29, 2018 7:25 pm

It's been a while so I'm checking in to see if there's any news on this

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Re: Monk Discussion

Postby Loreweaver » Tue Jan 30, 2018 5:12 pm

Most of the work is done, but there are a couple of bugs to fix before it can be implemented. The main one is a 'too many feats' error when trying to take levels in the class.


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