Help with my monk

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I finally started a game of SoU. I got it when it came out in Europe and I finally got a chance to play it (after what, 2 years?!).

I made a dwarven monk. I'm level 4 now and trying to reach the dragon master of the kobolds. There is only one problem: I'm getting my ass handed to me by kobolds

Can anyone give me some advice about how to play the monk so that I can play the game without reloading 3 times every time I see a kobold.

Furthermore I was thinking about giving him cleric levels. Is that a wise thing to do?

 

Level 4 is about the hardest level in SoU. I found it to be tough for every class I have played, with the exception of a pure fighter or barbarian. I recommend liberal use of potions and ranged weapons at that level.

 

That's some sound advice, but I'm using more potions than I can buy at this point. Now, I'm at the High Forrest and being owned by the orcs in the cave. That Orc Hero is one mean bastard.

 

That Orc Hero was tough for all my characters. I usually get all available buffs before going in there. My level 4 druid got beaten up big time by him. Which henchman do you have? They're all a bit useless at that level as well, actually. Maybe you just need to turn the difficulty down at that point in the game.

 

I don't use henchman. I find them more a nuicance than a help. And they are always in my way. But, maybe I should pick one up for these Orcs.

I have reloaded about 5 times tonight. I still haven't beaten this Orc, so I think I will try at a lower difficulty tomorrow.

How about the cleric levels. When I level, is this a choice I won't regret?

 

What do you want the cleric levels for? I personally don't see much point, unless you are planning to get lots of cleric levels, as you get next to no benefit from a few cleric levels, and you have already seen how weak a low level monk is at melee.

There are some handy low level cleric buffing spells, but most can be replicated with potions.

If you want to do it for roleplaying reasons, then go ahead.

 

Personally when I play a monk I prefer the warrior monk image. Combined with the dwarf race if you add warrior styled levels it would probably help a lot. You cant take barbarian levels since you are lawful. Paladin is probably out since you are a monk and a dwarf and thus have very low cha. This leaves us fighter and ranger. I think the fighter has the most to give you in this case. It will improve your toughness (more HP), give you more ranged weapon choices (bows), and give you more feats whcih is always good.

After that I would pick a warrior prestige class such as the weapon master (better for kamas), divine champion, or Dwarven Defender.

If you go warrior monk then you get insane number of attacks especially if you get bab-16 with monk weapons. The only real loss is your unarmed damage will suffer a little and a little loss in ac at the end (though not much).

 

I wanted the cleric levels for roleplaying reasons, but if it doesn't make my journey easier I must rethink that.

Thanks for the tips Yoshimo's Heart, I will consider taking some fighter levels.

EDIT:

I played a little more and defeated the Orc hero. I leveled along the way to the gnoll cave and took a fighter level. Ater that I cleared the gnoll cave, fought every elemental beneath it and am now facing a very difficult challenge: J'nah. Jikes, she is strong.

I got owned twice already.

[ December 24, 2006, 08:03: Message edited by: Drugar ]

 

have you visited the dragon and gotten the potion that weaken her? secondly, if its your first run through, take a henchman or at least play on normal/easy in the beginning or vs bosses.

I agree with you that the henchman system aint exactly great, but first off it adds some dept to game (more in Hotu, where it gets near bg like) secondly if you said them to "dont attack untill you do" and have pause/follow/stand your ground, they get less annoying and suicidal.

As for monk, i really dont have any experience with them, so cant give you much advice there.

 

Thanks for your advice Equester.

I played some more yesterday and defeated J'nah and Tymofarrar the white dragon. Furthermore I played through the stinger cave and defeated the manticore. I also did the whole Kul-Garras thing. I expected a huge problem with him, but he was pathetically weak! So I kicked his arse and now am at the Ao Campment.

I'm a monk 4/fighter 3 now and still have difficulty in some areas, but I like the character to much to give up.

I got NWN2 today, so I will devide my time between it and my NWN1 monk.

 

It also helps to install that Improved Henchmen mod. My henchmen have been awesome since then. Deekin rules.

Henchmen are especially good at carrying your excess treasure.

 

That would be the only thing for which I would use a henchman, as a mule. Maybe I will in my next runthrough.

 

I urge you to use henchmen in Hotu, In Sou they of cause makes the game slightly easier and more frustrating at times (no deekin, just becayse you ran out of arrows, there is no reason to plow through 30mobs, to get to the boss, only to run back to me). But in Hotu, you will miss out some lovely banter if you dont have henchmen with you, plus they can carry all the items that only sells for 10.000 in chapter two, on to chapter 3, where you can get up to 50.000 for them (much needed gold, for upgrades).

 

The henchmen banter in HotU is indeed often hilarious. Deekin is just a must-have.

 

Strange, I'm playing SoU too and my character at the Ao camp is level 9 (fighter 7 blackguard 2) of course being CE he killed almost everyone everywhere so that could explain the difference but I didn't think it could amount to that much.

Oh and I never took a henchman that could explain a lot.

 

@Caradhras: that's weird indeed. Have I mist so many quests? I will check it and report back, maybe I got my levels wrong

EDIT: I checked my levels, I'm a monk 4 / fighter 4 and are 1539 XP away from another level. My bad

 

im prety sure hencmen dont lower the exp you get. first time i went through sou i ended at lvl 13, where i soloed.

second time i went through i used henchmen and ended lvl 13. so if they take exp its not much.

The same seems true in hotu, im in chapter 3 and have used two hencmen for the majority of the game, yet im lvl 25 and still got all the chapter left, which should land me around lvl 27, which im prety sure is where i ended when i soloed.

 

I'm planning on taking a henchman on my second run through. At this point in the game it doesn't "feel" right to suddenly take a henchman with me.

 

Taking a henchmen or not doesn't affect your XP that much. In my opinion it's a bit silly and power-gamey to avoid henchmen simply to squeeze out every last bit of XP as it won't have much affect in the long run.

The henchmen also add some to the story and have some reasonably entertaining dialog, especially in HOTU, so why not take them? By all means download Tony K's AI mod from nwvault.com and they will actually be fairly useful, so Bioware's poor AI is no excuse to not take them. The AI mod also improves enemy AI, making the game more challenging. It's a must-have mod IMO.

 

Well, I'm chasing Heurodis now.

My monk is getting his ass kicked bigtime. If it's me or my build I don't know, but even on Easy difficulty I'm getting owned...

I'm monk 5 /fighter 4 / Dwarven Defender 1 now and trying to beat the Matron and her pet Demon in the Great Library. Reloaded 4 times already ;(

EDIT: Finished it! After hitting the Matron's maidens with a couple of fireballs I defeated her and her pet Demon. The demon was a breeze. I thought he would be more difficult.

Now I had all 3 Winds and went after Heurodis. I prepared for a tough battle but guess what: it was disappointingly easy. I saved against ALL her spells and just had a few blows from her and Bigby's Hand. A rather disapointing ending...

I finished it as monk 5 /fighter 4 / Dwarven Defender 2.

RP wise I like my dwarven monk a lot. Gaming wise I'm not sure if he failed because he was to weak or because I played him "wrong".

I'm not sure if I will take my dwarven friend to HotU.

[ December 30, 2006, 22:20: Message edited by: Drugar ]