So I'm back in GS4 after more than a decade away, and I've been playing a ton of different character/race combos through the early levels just to get a feel for which one feels most interesting to me personally. Since my old character was a high level wizard, I've been focusing on semis and squares--paladin, ranger, rogue, warrior, and monk. And at least through lvl 10, my open mstriking halfling monk feels like the most fun.

The UAC attack style is fast-paced (I hate 6 and 7 second hard RTs for anything), and its at least a little bit interactive with choices about when and how to tier up. The attack power feels totally adequate or better--there's tons of knock downs and stuns inherent in UAC to keep the critters off me til I get in a killing blow. And although my monk doesn't get quite as many one-strike kills as my ambushing UAC rogue, the mstrike capabilities are fantastic. Even at level 10, I can take out a small swarm in 10-15 seconds. Also, the attack style feels very consistent with the character from an RP perspective--short sharp blows that keep the critters stunned pretty much all the time.

The mediation ability and martial stances also seem like they are off to a good start and add more monk-ish flavor to the class.

I'm still unsure about the minor mental spell list, but at lvl 10 I haven't gotten to try most of the spells yet.

So I guess this is all just to say thanks to the development team for this new(-ish) profession in Gemstone; it seems like a big success to me.

Wish list for future development work:

1. A hip throw or other disabling maneuver that functions the way cman hamstring does for rogues. Gotta get the critters down to get my first jab in sometimes. (As a Halfling, I'd be totally in favor of a toe stub maneuver that I could use on the bigger races as well.)

2. More utility abilities that allow us to help fellow adventurers in AND OUT of combat. Any good monk should be able to make his/her own wine and spirits, for instance. Some orders of monks are also renowned for their jams, so there really could be a lot of options in this regard. Or how about something that parallels the armor specializations of other classes (but obviously not armor itself because monks don't waste time with layers of clothing). Maybe we could impart wisdom to our fellow travelers that allows them to access just a tiny bit of our monkish dodging ability for a few hours? I dunno, seems like there are a lot of possibilities in this area that would allow for more and better interactions than just asking empaths for healing all the time : )

3. A monastic order (monk guild) some day.

Keep up the good work!

Tartfurious

I have seen that Force Projection/1207 is very good at knocking things down...
...though I have been a lot less impressed with its benefits to UCS. Doesn't seem like there's much (if any) change to the UDF or MM.

So very much a case of, "Great! It's knocked down! ... Helps the weapon swingers in the group, doesn't do diddly for me."

.

That said, if the creature happens to be a spell-caster, they will frequently spend their next action standing up, rather than casting the spell they have prepped.

.

Thought Lash/1210 is an excellent spell... we just typically have only a poor chance to hit with it, due to that whole "not very many spells" issue.

So would the eminent Rathboner and Krakii recommend that I put more time into my UAC ambushing rogue instead? You both seem decidedly Luke-warm about the prospects for monks in 2018. My monk is only lvl 10 (and rogue lvl 6), so i really could go either way.

No no; not at all!

I'm lukewarm about Force Projection/1207, is all. :)

.

Actually, I've been quite enjoying my little monk, since I read Flimbo's guide on the GSWiki in the middle of last year. He's up to... I want to say 26th level now?
(Mind you: since I've got a stack of 30+ level characters on the other account, I'm able to hit him up with all of the Minor & Major spirit [from Krakii], Strength & Disk & MassBlur & Thurfel's Ward [from Jr. Enchanter #2], ElemDef1/2/3 & 10 minutes of BardSongs [from the Bard], Mobility & Mass Hues & Resist Elements [from the Ranger], and pick all his boxes [with the Thief], so he wanders around with reasonable immunity to, well, everything.
But he's still fun--even with 'little danger'--because the UCS is new mechanics and new messaging and new spells and so on.
Probably time for me to get him some Arcane Symbols, go through the runestone up in Misty Chamber and start annoying the hooded figs, now that I think on it....)

ROFLMAO!!! So Krakii's advice is definitely play the monk, but have a high-level wizard, bard, ranger, and empath as well. Now that's commitment! : )

I'm closing in on that range, and I'll be honest: I stopped training cman points because I wanted:
a) enough ranks to get a double-tap MStrike on a single creature [30 ranks?],
b) enough ranks to hit <the next creature, I think it's 4> because there was only a five-rank difference [35 ranks?], and
c) to get me some Monk spells. (I wanted Premonition/1220, and I want Provoke/1235.)

Sadly, Monk spells are PRICEY. (Pronounced, in dialect, "frickin' expensive.") I've looked at my training, and it seems like I'm getting in my 2 Brawling + 1 Spell Research... and that's about IT. For an entire level.

That having been said, it turns out that I don't need to worry about Provoke until thirty-fifth level (as opposed to the '30' that I was thinking in terms of)...
...but at my current schedule, when I get there, I will still be five spells short. (20th level spell learned at 25th level.)
Because see above under "PRICEY."

.

I'm not sure why he said that Surge of Strength and Burst of Swiftness aren't all that great: you've got three ranks in each [so, +6 to your unarmed attack], which means they have precisely non-overlapping cooldowns. Start one when you see your first creature. When it drops, start the other one. (== You never lose that +6 UAC.) When it drops, start the other...

I agree that Perfect Self is awesome; +10 To All Of Me is incredible.

But I disagree that it's absolutely essential to get it in preference to all else.

Early on (say early/mid 10s, down in hill trolls and such), I was using Flurry as my MStance because of fire-flaring handwraps. Free jab against neighbor creature, that happens to be vulnerable to fire? Thanks much, can I have another?

Now, I'm using <the one whose name I do not recall> because it reduces the Stamina cost of all CMans. (And I think it works for "everyone in the group", but mostly I hunt solo.) Why not spread some love around like that? Monks were looking for a service they provide, and "letting the rest of my group use more cmans more often [because we all spend 20% less stamina]" is right up there.
Imagine a Monk with that running and a Bard with PowerSong running, both in the same group...

.

I guess what I'm saying is, see what your hunting looks like. Always with a group? Lots of Rogues & Warriors around throwing CMans? Use that MStance to help them out. Less so? Sure, go with Perfect Self.

.

.

.

.

And, HEY, I never said nothin' 'bout an Empath! (Though, yeah, I've got one on that account, and yeah, he does transfer whatever minor wounds I come back with.)
Krakii's a CLERIC, fer cryin' out loud! :)

Sadly, the Cleric list spells no longer have duration when the Cleric is not in the group, so less passing around of those.

I think Perfect Self is pretty nice, but the first ranks definitely give more bang for the point, so you might want to get it but not in a way that makes you miss out on other things like a Martial Stance.

_ _ _
Myasara says, "Raining rocks down on my city was not the best course of action."

Meureii (at level 97), your current skill bonuses and ranks (including all modifiers) are:
Skill Name | Current Current
| Bonus Ranks
Two Weapon Combat..................| 5 1
Combat Maneuvers...................| 243 143
Brawling...........................| 298 198
Multi Opponent Combat..............| 199 99
Physical Fitness...................| 380 280
Dodging............................| 397 297
Arcane Symbols.....................| 66 14
Magic Item Use.....................| 90 20
Harness Power......................| 124 32
Spirit Mana Control................| 35 7
Mental Lore - Transformation.......| 145 45
Survival...........................| 70 15
Perception.........................| 160 60
Climbing...........................| 90 20
Swimming...........................| 140 40

Spell Lists
Minor Spiritual....................| 20

Spell Lists
Minor Mental.......................| 35


Only at level 90 did I start training AS, MIU.

Lean and mean is how I like to play the Monk.

Meureii, your Combat Maneuver training is as follows:

Skill name Mnemonic Ranks
Feint feint 5
Combat Mobility mobility 1
Surge of Strength surge 3
Evade Mastery emastery 2
Cunning Defense cdefense 5
Burst of Swiftness burst 3
Perfect Self perfectself 5
Kick Mastery kmastery 1
Flurry of Blows flurry 3

Running flurry you don't need to worry about tiering up. 1213 (Mind over Body) reduces stamina costs, and essentially you can mstrike jab every attack on a room full of creatures until they are all excellent and just punch head or kick ab until they are all down. Lone targets a couple mstrike jabs and they are down. CMAN FEINT is a lifesaver against casters. Need 5 ranks for open handed feinting.

You don't need the mastery per say as a monk because you should be fighting open handed. The Tiering happens and the MM is insane as it is. I 3x dodge so stopped at rank 2 of evade mastery. I love perfect self because of the boosts it gives. I mean, why would you not max it out quick and just move on to the next? I highly suggest it.

1207 works very well against like level critters and can help keep stuff on the ground for easy head punching. I also suggest getting to 120 and 1220 as quick as possible. Max out those defensive self cast spells. 1219 really started working well in the upper levels right around the time I got 1235.

This build is by far the most fun I've had going from berserking warrior to the ranged monk and then on to UAC when mstrikes came out. It gives you insane defense so that you can effectively up hunt easily, control crowds, handle casters quickly, and all around destroy things. Not to mention the 1213 boost to the entire group goes above and beyond the 1216 (which is amazing and gives you extra DS in the early levels as needed. Used to run a Krynch build with 1216).

Feel free to look me up in game any time if you'd like to chat

Meureii

UAC is super easy to aim. You can do it with just 2x CMAN really well eventually.

Perception counts for aiming ranged attacks only. Melee from hiding is ambush, melee in the open is the average of ambush and CM. Roughly 40 ranks CM and 10 ranks ambush was where I found it to be becoming effective, so you'd need 90 ranks CM to get the same effect with no ambush training.

I reckon its actually slightly harder to aim UAC than one handed weaponry, other things being equal, but since UAC tends to hand out lots of status effects, and is lethal in easy to hit locations, other things aren't equal and it does work out as pretty easy to aim.