Just starting to play around with a monk. Apparently, monks are supposed to wear very light armor, and preferably robes? I am probably going to get 7X robes for her
(not a problem, my capped wizard will do it). Would wearing a heavier armor like a wizard does ... full leather perhaps ... have any adverse effects? Would she need any armor training for this? As far as the robes go, when enchanted, would it be worth while to get them padded, or are robes too flimsy to even bother with this? And if it is worth while, which padding
would be better, crit or damage?

"So, what does that green line on the graph represent?"
"Oh, that's the projection of a hypothetical offspring from a union between Sauron and Cruella de Ville;
we use that as a baseline for determining character alignment."

I was under the impression that light leather had no effect on anything, not spell failure nor attack RT. Seems to be no reason not to wear this, or am I missing something?
What lores affect Ironskin?

"So, what does that green line on the graph represent?"
"Oh, that's the projection of a hypothetical offspring from a union between Sauron and Cruella de Ville;
we use that as a baseline for determining character alignment."

Unless I'm remembering wrong: Whatever CvA robes give you, that is what you will always have, regardless of whatever AsG ironskin allows your robes to mimic.

Both Ironskin and robes fail to support some of the benefits that armor provides. e.g. accessories don't work properly with Ironskin, and you can't put fittings on robes as well as the more often quoted CvA and lightening benefits.

You are almost certainly better off in robes and Ironskin to start with, but if you pick up a nice helm, or start to feel the warding pinch, or cant get enough slash resistance for Plane 4 from meditate, this may eventually change.

About that Lack of TD: I believe that the flimbo guide focused too much on it. Of course, every monk to be reads it and might think it's an absolute truth. It's not. Mostly, everyone is looking for armors for wrong reasons. If you choose your hunting ground carefully, you don't need so much TD.

It all depends on what you want to do with your monk. I choosed a very physical path .. So did a few other capped monks..

I've been wearring plain 4x robes until my 30/40's , then a friend of mine TOLD me that I HAD to buy a 5x somewhat crit padded set (3 millions, not cheap, but fair). I never had any regret! In my 50/60 a friend of mine pushed it to +33, in my 90's I traded a tattoo for a T3 ensorcellement. Frankly, the +33 is not that usefull compared to +25 (of course it depends on your training path)
I capped with that set of robes and 4x hand wrappers (T3) and 4x foot wrappers .. the T3 handwrappers are fun, but not necessary.

In your late sixties you really want to have 120 and 1220 for TD/DS, after that, depending on your training, you may stop learning spells (better redux)

I focused on defense, instead of attack power: triple in dodging (your DS becomes more and more awsome along the path to cap) , and almost triple in Physical Fitness (doubled until my 40's, then 4x /level).

in your early 80, you will really lack TD, so I got 70 armors ranks .. that's a pusdown to -1 cva (16 better than the robe CvA)

Right now I put my focus in transformation lore to get the plate armor damage factor. that's 105 ranks, 101 + 4 ascension ranks (you get up to 9 'free' ascension ranks all along youryour way to cap), after that I'll spread the xp betwenn swimm and climb (so cheap), Muti Opponent combat, and perception.

My redux is 29.27%, not that bad.

If ever the new PSM system comes out, I'll drop all my armor ranks

I choosed a very physical path .. So did a few other capped monks. (nice echo)

Experience: 8,446,984 (something like 'level 107')

| Bonus Ranks
Two Weapon Combat..................| 5 1
Armor Use..........................| 170 70
Combat Maneuvers...................| 302 202
Brawling...........................| 302 202
Ambush.............................| 120 30
Multi Opponent Combat..............| 130 35
Physical Fitness...................| 403 303
Dodging............................| 403 303
Harness Power......................| 74 16
Mental Lore - Telepathy............| 50 10
Mental Lore - Transformation.......| 192 92
Perception.........................| 203 103
Climbing...........................| 156 56
Swimming...........................| 160 60

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

Spell Lists
Minor Mental.......................| 20

Skill name Mnemonic Ranks

---

Combat Focus focus 4
Feint feint 1
Combat Mobility mobility 2
Surge of Strength surge 3
Cunning Defense cdefense 5
Burst of Swiftness burst 3
Perfect Self perfectself 5
Punch Mastery punchmastery 3
Kick Mastery kmastery 3
Ki Focus kifocus 3
Inner Harmony iharmony 3

Available Combat Maneuver Points: 1


And to come back to the initial post: don't use anything else than robes (even if I know at least One monk that wears heavy armors. He was level 99 the last time I saw him), get 30 transformation ranks by your seventies.
Don't use weapons past your 10's
and of course join the great order of Voln !

Last Info: as I'm hunting mainly in European daylight time, so I'm hunting alone most of the time. If ever you group hunt, you'll see that the older you get, the safer you are in a group. I mean: I used to sometime (ok a lot.. maybe 2 hours a day) in a group until my 50's. Most of the time I was the only one without a wound at the end.