Monk Help

[The Metro Gnome]

Ok, so I want to start to start a monk, just a few questions

1. Month, race, and starting talents

2. Play style

3. Anything I should know

Thanks ahead of time!

Edit: Oh yeah, and what quest to take (druid or elder)

[Doorsfan]

Druid q for herbalism ; Monk start out with healing. If you want class traits just go in on Manual, undocumented change is lev 13 you can kick down walls. Race is dependant on what prefrences you have ; you also passivly gain 1 speed every second level, so 2,4,6,8 etc you get 1 speed extra, me thinks, above what you usually have, so you stack up speed easily.

You also get Movement energy reduction at certain levels (12, 800 18, 600). You get no penalty for close to anything ; except for burden levels.

I suggest rolling a Gnome/Drake/Hurtling (for stones) - candle or raven monk. Good luck. Oh and your unarmed damage scales like Beastfighter - just that the bonus is removed if burdened. (At lev 1 you start out with 1d9+n) (n is dependant on your str)

[MrNiceguy]

Playing an unarmed monk is fun, but you will be much more effective with a weapon. Using a weapon, you won't suffer the penalties for being burdened that you will playing unarmed.

Kicking, including the circular kick, counts as unarmed fighting, so if you are burdened, the circular kick will be less effective.

[nathrakh]

1. Month, race, and starting talents
Month:
Candle is the obvious best choice (for nearly every R/C). Raven is a clear 2nd best choice (yet again)! Some people don't like Raven for monks because they get huge speed boosts with levels anyway. I disagree, you can never have enough speed and levels aren't that important in ADOM. Doesn't matter much if you are level 24 or 25. Also, the trident is amazing for monks imho. IIRC you can keep DV bonuses even while wielding the trident. This means that you don't get so huge penalties for not using a shield as other classes do.

Race:
Pretty much anything goes... But I'd advise to stay away from the trolls. Trolls combined with ridicilous speed means veeeery slow leveling. Gnome is a race that I like to play my monks with. They get gemology and that means endless source of gems at level 13 (undocumented wall kicking ability monks get). You can raise Learning to 25+ with blessed crystals of knowledge meaning you can learn many useful spells, including invisibility, teleport and so on.

Talents:
If you choose Candle-born gnomish monk you get minimum of three starting talents. This means that you can take Alert (for Treasure Hunter) if you want and still take Hardy+Tough skin too for an example. Monks tend to start with very little to none PV so PV-tree is my usual choice in the start. Then I usually proceed taking the missile talents. If you play unarmed your damage output is determined by your level mostly and Good Learner talent is bugged. It seems to increase your experience gains by roughly ~40%. It is considered cheating by some people but I don't care.


2. Play style
I have won with both unarmed and weapon using monk and I have to admit that monk is much better when using weapons. After all, you don't really get ANY penalties, you just lose those nifty bonuses. My lvl 48 gnome monk who used unarmed fighting and won the game had +133 bonus to hit, 1d56+44 damage and DV/PV:125/42 when exiting the Chain (normal tactics setting). So it is viable choice too.


3. Anything I should know
Nothing special springs to my mind. Monks have amazing skill set and class powers and I rank them to top 4 classes.

Oh.. one important thing: If you get a writing set and some blank scrolls into your hands, remember that monks don't get any penalties for writing scrolls.

[JellySlayer]

Ok, so I want to start to start a monk, just a few questions

1. Month, race, and starting talents

2. Play style

3. Anything I should know

Thanks ahead of time!

Edit: Oh yeah, and what quest to take (druid or elder)

Nathrakh has covered this all pretty well, but I'll put in my 2c anyway...

Month: Candle or Raven are natural choices, but monks have a lot of options. If you take one of the book-reading related talents, for example, you will be able to learn spells much more quickly. Sword is okay too. Really though, Candle is so far superior to all other starsigns, it's hardly worth considering.

Race: Again, plenty of choices. Hurthling and troll offer the best available skills--food preservation specifically, as well as archery for hurthlings and gemology* for trolls. I don't mind troll monks that much myself, since you have less food issues. Slow levelling doesn't matter that much if you are using weapons. Drakelings are a very sexy choice, probably the best IMHO. Food preservation is nice to start. Acid spit acts as an early-game ranged attack (more manageable thanks to low food consumption), and in the midgame makes it much easier to manage your satiation levels--it's very easy to get bloated eating corpses and things as a monk, for example, it and takes a long time to drop down to satiated unless you have spit. Most other choices are decent though. If you want to be more of a caster-type, play a gnome (better than elves in this case).

Talents: Same as always. PV talents and archery talents are good. Porter line is nice if you plan on using unarmed since you're very weight sensitive. Choice of treasure hunter is playstyle dependent.

Playstyle: Anything you want. If you want to wear heavy armor and use a spear/shield, go ahead. If you want to use light armor and unarmed, that works too. Spellcaster? Well, maybe not to start, but give it a few levels. Archer? Sure... you effectively have 7lbs by level 18. Monks are probably the single best class to use two-handed weapons with, so don't be afraid to try out staves, eternium two handers, or the axe of the minotaur emperor.

Miscellaneous:

*Monks kick down walls at level 13. This provides an unlimited source of rocks and ore, and gems if you have gemology. Note that this means that a level 13 troll or gnome can with relative ease get up to 25 learning through scumming for crystals of knowledge.
*Monks can write any scroll in the game with a writing set without penalty (including SoCR)
*Be sure you understand how the penalties for burden/armor work if you plan on playing unarmed.
*Never use circle kick unless you are taking advantage of the incredibly cheesy circle kick bug. It isn't worth using otherwise.
*You gain one speed every 2 levels and 1 DV every 3 levels if memory serves.
*I think it is worth training unarmed combat regardless of whethery you plan on using it. I seem to remember that the DV bonuses for unarmed sometimes count with weapons or something, but I don't remember the details.
*Level 25 makes certain endgame areas ridiculously easy.

[spectre]

*I think it is worth training unarmed combat regardless of whethery you plan on using it. I seem to remember that the DV bonuses for unarmed sometimes count with weapons or something, but I don't remember the details.

I am always lazy to check this one out myself. Is it just for monks, or does it apply to all classes?

[Irinka]

*Never use circle kick unless you are taking advantage of the incredibly cheesy circle kick bug. It isn't worth using otherwise.

umm... what bug? I don't remember reading about any.

[Theym]

*Never use circle kick unless you are taking advantage of the incredibly cheesy circle kick bug. It isn't worth using otherwise.
. . . .
*Level 25 makes certain endgame areas ridiculously easy.

circle kick bug? and what skill do you get at lvl 25?

[nathrakh]

If you have a pet/companion and use circular kick, the game asks if you really want to do it. If you answer No, no game turn is used, but you still do the dmg to the enemy. This means, if your kick does even 1 damage to a mob, you can kill any monster in the game without using a turn.

[Theym]

that does seem like a verry cheaty way to play tho lol