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Monk weapons?

Discussion in 'The Temple of Elemental Evil' started by WickedPrince, Aug 7, 2017.

  1. WickedPrince Gems: 9/31
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    Ok I'm being confused by the monk weapon list and the special monk weapon list, especially after I found the shopkeeper in Nulb who sells all the cool monk weapons. Which monk weapons can be used with Flurry? And which of the weapons he sells can be used with Flurry and don't require Exotic Weapon Prof?

    Also, does anyone know where I can get a Kama in the game? I didn't see one in the special start-up area or anywhere else in the game so far.
     
  2. WickedPrince Gems: 9/31
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    Two days and no responses says either nobody knows or nobody cares. :p
     
  3. dmc

    dmc Speak softly and carry a big briefcase Staff Member Distinguished Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!)

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    Well, I only remember playing a monk once, so I never really focused on most of what you are asking. I remember mostly using either bare hands or a staff. I know that the CO8 mod adds a few monk encounters where monk weapons are dropped, but that was relatively later in the game where I found that my own crafted staff kicked major ass, so I didn't even bother.

    Never much cared for the monk in CRPG's, as I felt it was more of a real role playing class for a dedicated campaign and its inclusion as a class just didn't make sense in virtually every CRPG I have played.
     
  4. WickedPrince Gems: 9/31
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    I can completely understand why you'd say that. The Monk was always simply an interesting alternative to playing a fighter - an alternative that had no use for most equipment - which was pretty much a major part of the game for me. But I decided that I wanted to see what I'd get with a build of monk and cleric, with a little bit of monk to make the cleric a bit more mobile and maybe a little more active in combat. I've never quite seen the purpose of playing one, and yet I've been intrigued by them at the same time. So I decided to ditch my Female Dwarf Cleric companion concept for a female half-elf monk/cleric. But I'm stuck wondering what sorts of gear she can make best use of. Obviously anything that increases Wisdom, but what else? Ah Fong or what-ever his name is offers us some possibilities, but then we aren't told anything about them. We don't know what weapons a monk can effectively use, or which ones take Exotic Weapon Prof for very little benefit. I thought perhaps that the war fan might be interesting, but there's seemingly no good reason it's an exotic weapon. Most of the monk weapons that counted as exotic did so because of the trip and disarm bonuses which seem to be entirely missing here.
     
  5. dmc

    dmc Speak softly and carry a big briefcase Staff Member Distinguished Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!)

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    Pretty much this. I didn't think that the class was actually playable in the setting. Plus, for me, part of the fun is the accumulation of "stuff" and the monk class is basically about less stuff, not more.
     
  6. WickedPrince Gems: 9/31
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    Agreed, I don't know if there are robes or anything that would improve AC or anything. I figured I need a one-handed weapon that can flurry so I can still use the stunning fist attack every so often AND get a bonus on attacks. But so far all I have seen is Masterwork Exotic Weapons. I've never done crafting in any of these games. And a guide I found suggested that the druid is the best choice for Wondrous Items because they get nearly all the Ability buffs. In PnP two people can work together to craft magic items: the one with the craft, and the one with the spells, but in this one it seems you have to have every caster take every crafting feat, and that seems way too stupid. And if I have Meleny take Wonderous Items it'll mean she lags behind everybody else way too much, so will that be worth it?
     
  7. dmc

    dmc Speak softly and carry a big briefcase Staff Member Distinguished Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!)

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    It is worth it to have several crafters and it is really worth it to craft. The dynamic XP methodology makes doing it across a number of party members make sense, IMO. The CO8 site has a dedicated thread to crafting and you can download an excel spreadsheet that has all the crafting possibilities broken down by class and spell/level needed. Highly worth it in my view.

    Also, you do not have to do things from scratch - you can add effects and bolster plusses on existing weapons and armor, although you would obviously need to create wondrous items one at a time.
     
  8. WickedPrince Gems: 9/31
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    Well I figured out that Meleny has the three physical attribute buffs plus the wisdom one which together will benefit nearly everybody except for Zaxis and my sorceress and Serena who I have turned into a rogue/sorceress and their need for Cha increase items - so she makes a good candidate for Wondrous Items except for the fact she's lagging behind nearly everybody else with XPs already. Zaxis has Eagles Splender already and since he's the highest level in the group having him craft a few things will even him out. But Meleny is behind the XP curve of everybody except Serena and I don't really want to see her fall further behind the curve. Also Zaxis won't get another feat for Wondrous Items until L9, but which time the game should be close to over right? I got a Masterwork Repeating Crossbow as a freebie for having Elmo in the party when I resolved the Unhappy Tailor quest, and had Zaxis take the Exotic Weapon feat for it at L6. In fact I just leveled my MCs up to L6 and took other feats so nobody else will be getting the crafting feats until L9. Is it worth it at that point? And I'm still in the dilemma about what to do for a weapon with my Monk4/Cleric2+ I can ignore her flurry and Stunning Fist and have her use almost anything or I can figure out a monk weapon that's actually in the game she can use. The Monk gloves that were in NwN would be nice even though she'd almost certainly be better off with gloves of dex. I am assuming that there are plenty of magic items already in the game that means that crafting shouldn't be NEEDED, it would just make some things easier.
     
  9. Paracelsi

    Paracelsi Distinguished Member ★ SPS Account Holder Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    Just a heads up, flurry works with all weapons a monk can use natively: kama, quarterstaff, sai, shuriken, siangham and tonfa. Note that there a several other items in the game that qualify (like the broom, which counts as a quarterstaff) but I doubt you'll be using those.

    Monk Weapon Proficiency is a unique weapon proficiency type that includes weapons from the simple and exotic weapon proficiency types. All monks start with it.

    Crafting in ToEE is definitely worth it, a lot of the items you can craft are going to be a more powerful than most items you find. My preferred crafting setup involves a wizard (who get bonus arcane feats) and a cleric with the "good" domain for holy weapons (sometimes with the "law" domain for axiomatic weapons).
    The thing about non-Vancian casters (sorcerers, bards) is that generally they make for terrible crafters because their magic is pretty specialized.
    I wouldn't bother getting crafting at level 9, by that point you should be pretty close to beating the last boss.

    The thing about druids is that they really don't need a lot of combat feats. Meleny will be fine as a crafter since her strongest asset is spellcasting, and for that you can make do with the Augment Summoning/Spell Penetration line. Probably Maximize Spell if you have an extra feat slot.
     
    Last edited: Aug 11, 2017
  10. WickedPrince Gems: 9/31
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    Thanks. I gave Meleny Wondrous Items at L6 and I have her pumping out the physical boost items that seem rarer and more expensive than weapons along with wisdom boost items for herself and my cleric/monk. Otherwise I'd have to backtrack considerably in order to take crafting feats for my other casters. With Zaxis and Meleny mostly focusing on combat support: IE healing: I didn't figure I'd really need a full-time cleric even if one would make short work of a lot of the undead so I'd built a cleric/monk character instead of a full cleric and took four full levels of monk, thus she's never really going to be a high enough caster level to make very much. Besides the quarterstaff and smaller-than-normal siangham I haven't seen many of the normal monk weapons - not even in the mod starting area, am I missing something? Ah Fong or who-ever he is just has the specialty weapons the mod added to the game it seems. I haven't seen any other monk weapons at all anywhere. And unless I backtrack I won't be producing magical weapons of my own. I know in the past I've taken out the hill giant and bear at Emrydy Meadows at around L4, which I think concludes Smythe's quest for Masterwork gear. I am wondering what that will open for me. I've been prepping with entangle and web spells to hopefully slow at least one of them down for a bit so I can focus on the other. Meleny's summons should help with that too with luck. I found this thread: http://www.co8.org/community/index.php?threads/list-of-monk-flurry-weapons.10192/ but I'm wondering how accurate it is.
     
  11. Paracelsi

    Paracelsi Distinguished Member ★ SPS Account Holder Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    The game has a lot of weapons on file but actual weapons are pretty rare. Various mods add these (including Co8 IIRC, you can purchase them at the starting area I think) but for the most part your go-to weapons from the campaign itself are the staff and the kama.

    I usually suggest getting Craft Magical Arms and Armor first because the other crafting feats are more about giving you items that improve your character's base effectiveness. In that regard, a higher attack bonus (from higher strength or dex from an enchanted amulet) is a lot more effective when you're using a frost/flame/shock burst weapon rather than a plain one.
     
  12. WickedPrince Gems: 9/31
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    I haven't seen one single kama anywhere in the game, not even the starting area. Do you know where I can find them?
     
  13. Paracelsi

    Paracelsi Distinguished Member ★ SPS Account Holder Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    Merchants will have them, like Ah Fong and some blacksmiths. It's been a while since I last played the game though so I don't really remember which ones.
     
  14. WickedPrince Gems: 9/31
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    Smyth only has halfling siangam's. I haven't made it past Nulb and the temple. I read that you can find Verbebonc but I haven't figured out how yet. Update: Ok, Ah Fong now has the Masterwork Kama, perhaps he got it after I finished the Imeryds Run quest because he didn't have Kama at all previously.
     
    Last edited: Aug 12, 2017
  15. dmc

    dmc Speak softly and carry a big briefcase Staff Member Distinguished Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!)

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    You find Verbobonc after the main questline of the original game is completed. You aren't vaguely near the end if you did the CO8 additional content mod (which I definitely recommend by the way).
     
  16. WickedPrince Gems: 9/31
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    Ok, that's fine then. I just couldn't find any Kama's anywhere at all and then suddenly Ah Fong had them.
     
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