Am I missing something here? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Am I missing something here? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
epifreak
03-01-06, 12:28 PM Every time I see someone roll up a monk, the first priority seems to be wisdom, often at the expense of dexterity. I have to ask, why? Basically, for monks, dex goes to AC, reflex save, and several skills. Wisdom goes to AC, will save, and several other skills. Fundamentally, when building dex vs. wis, it seems to me to be a question of which save is lower at the moment, rather than the usual, I want an 18 wisdom and a 10 dex. Am I missing some significant ability that buffs wisdom above dex, or am I just watching people try to take too much advantage of a nifty class feature?
Cadfan
03-01-06, 12:40 PM The DC on your stunning fist can be pretty important. I don't know if those people are doing stunning fist builds, but if they are, I'd max the wisdom first. I look at stunning fist as the saving grace of a monk in melee with a real fighting character. Sure, its less likely they'll fail a fort save, but if they do, they're in for a world of hurt. And you've got enough stun attempts to try.

The skills aren't that big of a deal, because you usually have adequate skill points to compensate. At least, I think so.
epifreak
03-01-06, 03:06 PM Okay, so there is a valid reason to buff wis over dex. Unfortunately, however, I can't say that for the people I've seen playing monks. I've watched 3 or 4 people skyrocket their wisdom, while leaving dex to languish, and I've never seen stunning fist even attempted. Maybe I just game with fools?
Germytech
03-01-06, 03:09 PM Don't forget that not only does Wisdom provide a bonus to AC (effectively making it equivalent to Dex), but, "These bonuses to AC apply even against touch attacks or when the monk is flat-footed" (from the SRD). Which is a tremendous advantage and a good reason to choose Wis over Dex.
Frugal
03-01-06, 03:27 PM Well there's also some feats that let you use wis for attack bonus (I think it's called insightful strike) and there's zen archery for ranged.

In the campaign I'm playing in one of the players is an elf monk, his AC is ridiculous with no armour (both wis and dex are pretty high). He's working towards an arcane archer build.
Alac Luin
03-01-06, 06:21 PM Wis also raises the DC for a foe to overcome the monk's Quivering Palm ability gained at level 15.
(DC 10 + 1/2 the monk’s level + the monk’s Wis modifier)
Tony Vargas
03-01-06, 07:21 PM You're not really missing anything: a Monk actually /needs/ all the WIS he can get, all the DEX he can get, all the STR he can get, all the CON he can get - and shouldn't exactly dump INT, either.

If you're working with point buy a string of 14s might not serve you too badly. (FREX: a 14 DEX & WIS gets the monk the same AC as an 10 DEX & 18 WIS, but costs 12 points instead of 18).

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
epifreak 03-01-06, 12:28 PM	Every time I see someone roll up a monk, the first priority seems to be wisdom, often at the expense of dexterity. I have to ask, why? Basically, for monks, dex goes to AC, reflex save, and several skills. Wisdom goes to AC, will save, and several other skills. Fundamentally, when building dex vs. wis, it seems to me to be a question of which save is lower at the moment, rather than the usual, I want an 18 wisdom and a 10 dex. Am I missing some significant ability that buffs wisdom above dex, or am I just watching people try to take too much advantage of a nifty class feature?
Cadfan 03-01-06, 12:40 PM	The DC on your stunning fist can be pretty important. I don't know if those people are doing stunning fist builds, but if they are, I'd max the wisdom first. I look at stunning fist as the saving grace of a monk in melee with a real fighting character. Sure, its less likely they'll fail a fort save, but if they do, they're in for a world of hurt. And you've got enough stun attempts to try. The skills aren't that big of a deal, because you usually have adequate skill points to compensate. At least, I think so.
epifreak 03-01-06, 03:06 PM	Okay, so there is a valid reason to buff wis over dex. Unfortunately, however, I can't say that for the people I've seen playing monks. I've watched 3 or 4 people skyrocket their wisdom, while leaving dex to languish, and I've never seen stunning fist even attempted. Maybe I just game with fools?
Germytech 03-01-06, 03:09 PM	Don't forget that not only does Wisdom provide a bonus to AC (effectively making it equivalent to Dex), but, "These bonuses to AC apply even against touch attacks or when the monk is flat-footed" (from the SRD). Which is a tremendous advantage and a good reason to choose Wis over Dex.
Frugal 03-01-06, 03:27 PM	Well there's also some feats that let you use wis for attack bonus (I think it's called insightful strike) and there's zen archery for ranged. In the campaign I'm playing in one of the players is an elf monk, his AC is ridiculous with no armour (both wis and dex are pretty high). He's working towards an arcane archer build.
Alac Luin 03-01-06, 06:21 PM	Wis also raises the DC for a foe to overcome the monk's Quivering Palm ability gained at level 15. (DC 10 + 1/2 the monk’s level + the monk’s Wis modifier)
Tony Vargas 03-01-06, 07:21 PM	You're not really missing anything: a Monk actually /needs/ all the WIS he can get, all the DEX he can get, all the STR he can get, all the CON he can get - and shouldn't exactly dump INT, either. If you're working with point buy a string of 14s might not serve you too badly. (FREX: a 14 DEX & WIS gets the monk the same AC as an 10 DEX & 18 WIS, but costs 12 points instead of 18).