Hey all! I figured I would de-lurk as I needed a bit of advice on something, and this seemed like the best place to get it.

Basically what I want to know is how bad a non-standard monk race is actually going to be? Something like Taurian or Orclach specifically, with their high-strength but only mid-tier dex.

I get the impression that they would be fine for bashing due to their strength, but would they have any chance of becoming a decent combatant outside of that? Or should I just stick with the tried and true and a little overdone?

See

http://forums.lusternia.com/index.php?s=&a...st&p=723071

and

http://forums.lusternia.com/index.php?s=&a...st&p=741982

for my appraisal of possible monk races. No need to go tried and true at all... though any race with under 14 starting dex and/or negative bonuses to balance will be severely inhibited.

So, basically, an Orclach or Taurian monk would be a bad idea. Gotcha.

Thul is playing a Tae'dae monk, and Tae'dae have a level 3 balance malus. Orclach have a level 1 eq malus, which doesn't affect monks nearly so much; they even have a natural level 2 health regen, which is very useful for bashing. So yes, even though you have lower DEX than an Illithoid, Loboshigaru, or Aslaran, it may still be possible to play an Orclach monk even if it's not considered "ideal."

But Thul is a demigod, and even he says that he's mostly just a utility-monkey in the tae'dae monk thread. He states his 14 dex is a big drawback, which is what I'd be at non-Demi, so, that's one of the reasons I asked.

I'd just rather not totally gimp myself before I even know how to play one, you know?

He's a utility monkey because the level 3 balance penalty makes it difficult to pull off grapples. He even says so, specifically:



Orclach also have 13 DEX naturally, Tae'dae have 8. In other words, you'd start with one point fewer dex at level 1 than Thul has as a Demigod.

I think you could do well enough as a psymet "bashing" monk, though you might struggle with combat. Loboshi has the health of an Orlach or Taurien, plus a tremendous boost to health regeneration.

On a side note, two of my favourite IC monks came from non-standard races. Thul the bear and Seraku the lizard. Though, my appreciation stems from what they put into and what I get out out of their characters.

So, I ended up going Lobo. I figure I can always switch.

But wow, Shofangi advancement stuff does not mess around. Even the novice advancement stuff is pretty hefty.