chickenhed

Boeroer, would you mind showing what order you would pick the skills and talents? or at least what you consider a priority? I love the idea of this build, but I'm hoping to get the most of it as early as possible.

I've seen you mention this build a few times, Boeroer, so I'm thrilled to see you expand it out and explain the details in one post. Looks like a blast.

I'll chime in For me, Monk is by far the best squishy hunter. Boeroer mentioned this earlier, but the monk is incredibly mobile and even if he wasn't, the class is built around wounds. So getting a bunch of disengage hits on you while on your way to the squishy caster is actually a good thing. It may be a tad controversial, but I love how the monk is built. I like being rewarded for getting punched in the face and then turning that around and unleashing hell on my target. Any other class, including even the barbarian, you generally do not want to get hit. As a monk, you thrive on it. I find that a lot of fun. But back to your question, the single target damage abilities from a monk are awesome, and with stunning blow and force of anguish you even have excellent CC. If that isn't enough, and you can't get to the back line, you have two more options. You can activate the long pain, and simply snipe the back line target with fists (torments reach and force of anguish work with the long pain), or you can use flagellants path and charge in there. Monk is awesome and, to me, by far the most fun melee class.

This surprised me, Boeroer! From what I've seen you write in the past, I would have assumed your Monk Witch Doctor build would have won. For me, I tend to have the most fun with Melee wizards and the aforementioned ranged monks (using the long pain).

Forgive my ignorance, but why is that? The +5 accuracy doesn't seem overly amazing. Is it because it stacks with other accuracy buffs or something?

I've been gone for a while so forgive this random reply, but does wounding (and dots in general) show up as damage done in the character panel yet? I remember it not showing up. Which always annoyed me. Same with the ranger pet. It's part of the class! At the very least I would love to see its damage done as compared to other party members during a playthrough.

I'm surprised this hasn't received more attention. This is a really neat find. Both for brutal takedown and thorny roots.

Hi Boeroer, I don't mean to hijack the thread, but I though DoTs didn't show up on the character screen for damage done? So that means the dot from Wonding Shot and from Tidefall wouldn't even be counted in your leading-rogue's damage on his character sheet. If that is the case, that's even more amazing that your Tidefall rogue is leading. Or am I incorrect and DoT damage DOES show up on the character sheet?

@MaxQuest I just wanted to chime in and tell you how fantastic that calculator looks, and how much I appreciate you taking the time to code it.

Wow. That was awesome, thanks Livegood! I suppose it comes down to whether or not it's a "fun" playstyle to always make sure you have wounds on the Monk. Monk vets: do you find, later in the game on POTD, that wound accumulation is any sort of issue in regards to both using wound abilities, and having enough wounds for the passives (turning wheel for example) to still be effective? Or is it better to just focus more on an active wound-based monk or a passive wound-based monk.

Thanks for the replies. Good stuff. Do you guys think a monk is actually more effective with a two hander than a fighter is? When I actually look at the abilities of the two classes, the monk with a two hander actually seems stronger (ie, more offensive power) than a fighter would be.

So I've been thinking about this for a while. I'm really trying to find the "best" class to utilize two handed swords (estoc or greatsword) to the best of their ability. See, fighter makes the most sense but I keep coming back to monk because their abilities seem just so good. Now, I'm not denying that a monk using dual wielded fists or weapons may be more efficient than using a two hander, but, overall, do you guys think a monk wielding a two hander actually be more "powerful" than a fighter? Stream of thoughts incoming: The attack speed from the monks swift strikes makes the early game much more fun since you aren't standing around between attacks as much. Because of this, swift strikes also allows you to bring dex down a bit in order to up your con. Speaking of which, a higher con also make you more durable than a fighter. Again, especially at earlier levels. Monk also allows for lightning strikes, and lashes on two handers are fantastic so adding another class-based one is another boon. Plus turning wheel for more lash damage. This build would be more of an auto attack damage build, much like the lady of pain fighter build on this forum, so these lashes really add up. Wounds would be spent on swift strikes and Force of Anguish. The crit based two handed monk mentioned by boeroer above makes the most sense to me because of enervating blows synergy with stunning blows and force of anguish. FoA also is a primary attack, thus you aren't losing another chance to prone by not dual wielding (though stunning blows is a full attack). So what do you guys think? I would love to do a playthrough with a strong two-handed sword build, but I can't decide if a monk or a fighter would provide the most firepower. PS, sorry if I hijacked your thread, Greensleeve. But it got me thinking!

This is fun. 1. BG series. I love 1 (NON modded. It feels more desperate. Modded it feels.... easy) as much as 2. Just for totally different reasons. 2. Icewind Dale 1. Absurdly underrated. In fact there are times I put it above Baldur's Gate. I thought Icewind Dale did a better job of incorporating your chosen CLASS into the game's story and mechanics. While BG focused on WHO you are more so that WHAT you are. IWD also has some of the best music I've ever heard, and I enjoy the setting and atmosphere more than BG. While I love a great story and narrative, I have to admit that I enjoy storytelling (in a GAME) done through atmosphere and setting first, and characters second. It lets my imagination run wild doing it this way. Maybe IWD should be number 1..... 3. Fallout New Vegas. I cannot get over how good this is. I keep coming back to it as the replayablility is crazy high. Incredible writing and excellent character building. This FELT like a fallout game. Honorable Mentions: 4. Fallout 1 and 2. 5. Witcher series. It can't be understated how well done these games are. 6. Pillars of Eternity 7. Divinity Original Sin 8. Jagged Alliance 2. Yes yes. Probably not a classic RPG-type game. But it does have a lot of RPG elements and any excuse I have to put it on a list, I will do so. 9. Diablo 1 and 2. Speaking of wonderful atmosphere. The story was done "enough" but the atmosphere was GRIPPING in these two games. Loved them. Diablo 3's atmosphere is like a Saturday morning cartoon. Travesty. 10. Dark Age of Camelot. I have a lot of great memories from this. Still the best pvp in any game I've played because it felt like you were fighting for something.

Easy question for me. I always plan builds around getting most of my character early. It's why I couldn't stand 13/x Dual Class builds in BG2, etc. I hate waiting, and I like a character that can bring something really good to the table right away; not 50% into the game. While for some games 50% isn't much, for sprawling RPGs like BG2 and Pillars, that is a LOT of hours of waiting to get the full potential of a build. Not fun at all for me. It's also why I don't use the respec option in Pillars to plan builds. Oh I will use it if I simply change my mind about something, but not as part of a planned build. This is mainly why I try not to create builds just on items, and instead use items to simply enhance the build as the character gets them. It's also why spell casters tend to be a bit more fun, for me, in games like these. Simply because they can offer so much, regardless of equipment. So yeah, if a build only "finishes" later in the game because of a certain item acquisition, I don't even consider the build. That said, if that same build simply gets even BETTER at the end (but was still a lot of fun getting to that point), then thats the perfect build!

Boeroer, your builds added hundreds (hundreds!) of enjoyment hours to this game for me. Thank YOU, good sir, for allowing us lurkers to find new and interesting ways to enjoy this game.