Comprehensive Monk Guide
About the Guide
This guide is brought to you by members of the GS community from discussions via various forums, Discord chats and direct player input on gswiki. It is ALWAYS open for contributions from the community.
Last Upate: 2/10/2018
Race and Stat Considerations
| Race | Strength | Constitution | Dexterity | Agility | Discipline | Aura | Logic | Intuition | Wisdom | Influence | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aelotoi | -5 | 0 | 5 | 10 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 0 | -5 | +20 |
| Burghal gnome | -15 | 10 | 10 | 10 | -5 | 5 | 10 | 5 | 0 | -5 | +25 |
| Dark elf | 0 | -5 | 10 | 5 | -10 | 10 | 0 | 5 | 5 | -5 | +15 |
| Dwarf | 10 | 15 | 0 | -5 | 10 | -10 | 5 | 0 | 0 | -10 | +15 |
| Elf | 0 | 0 | 5 | 15 | -15 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | +20 |
| Erithian | -5 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 10 | +25 |
| Forest gnome | -10 | 10 | 5 | 10 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 5 | -5 | +25 |
| Giantman | 15 | 10 | -5 | -5 | 0 | -5 | -5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | +10 |
| Half elf | 0 | 0 | 5 | 10 | -5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | +15 |
| Half krolvin | 10 | 10 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | -10 | 0 | -5 | -5 | +5 |
| Halfling | -15 | 10 | 15 | 10 | -5 | -5 | 5 | 10 | 0 | -5 | +20 |
| Human | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | +15 |
| Sylvankind | 0 | 0 | 10 | 5 | -5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +15 |
What the UAF
Most monks are going to make use of Unarmed Combat (UAC). There are two factors that determine success with a UAC attack, Unarmed Factor (UAF) and Multiplier Modifier (MM). A monk's stats, specifically Strength and Agility, only have an impact on UAF. The UAF formula makes use of truncated STR bonus / 2 and truncated AGI bonus / 2. With that in mind the races provide the following total UAF increase, in descending order:
| Race | STR Mod | AGI Mod | UAF Mod |
|---|---|---|---|
| Half-Krolvin | +10 | +5 | +7 |
| Elf | 0 | +15 | +7 |
| Giantman | +15 | -5 | +5 |
| Half-Elf | 0 | +10 | +5 |
| Dwarf | +10 | -5 | +3 |
| Aelotoi | -5 | +10 | +3 |
| Human | +5 | 0 | +2 |
| Dark Elf | 0 | +5 | +2 |
| Sylvan | 0 | +5 | +2 |
| Forest Gnome | -10 | +10 | 0 |
| Erithian | -5 | 0 | -2 |
| Halfling | -15 | +10 | -2 |
| Burghal Gnome | -14 | +10 | -2 |
AgiDex
While a majority of monks make use of UAC, others have found a build utilizing Two-Handed Weapons or Polearms quite viable. For those builds one important factor is AgiDex, or the sum of the bonuses of a character's Dexterity and Agility. This combined total helps reduce the Roundtime of a physical attack by a specified amount:
| Agility + Dexterity |
Roundtime reduction |
|---|---|
| 8 - 22 | 1 |
| 23 - 37 | 2 |
| 38 - 52 | 3 |
| 53 - 67 | 4 |
| 68 - 82 | 5 |
| 83 - 97 | 6 |
| 98 - 112 | 7 |
| 113+ | 8 |
| Roundtime reductions above 5 are not achievable without enhancive items. | |
Pairing that table with the stat table above we can break it down to see each races theoretical maximum AgiDex, before enhancives:
| 5 RT Reduction | 4 RT Reduction | 3 RT Reduction |
|---|---|---|
| Halfling | Aelotoi | Erithian |
| Burghal gnome | Dark elf | Human |
| Elf | Forest gnome | Dwarf |
| Half-elf | Giantman | |
| Sylvankind | ||
| Half-Krolvin |
This is important because weapons have a minimum RT, and a base RT. By taking the base RT and subtracting the AgiDex bonus we can find the unencumbered swing RT.
Strength
Strength bonus adds directly to melee AS. Any weapon using monk is going to want a decent Strength stat and will want to pair that with a decent AgiDex possibility. The table below shows the Strength stats of races compared to their AgiDex capability:
| 5 RT Reduction | STR Mod | 4 RT Reduction | STR Mod | 3 RT Reduction | STR Mod | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Halfling | -15 | Aelotoi | -5 | Erithian | -5 | ||
| Burghal gnome | -15 | Dark elf | 0 | Human | 5 | ||
| Elf | 0 | Forest gnome | -10 | Dwarf | 10 | ||
| Half-elf | 0 | Giantman | 15 | ||||
| Sylvankind | 0 | ||||||
| Half-krolvin | 10 |
Other Racial Factors
Bear in mind that there are many other mechanical factors to consider when selecting a race. Not to mention all the role playing decisions. The weaker races, such as halflings and gnomes, tend to have much better maneuver defense than bigger, stronger races. As a trade off they also tend to have terrible encumbrance, while bigger races are able to carry quite a bit more. Elven races have bonuses to resisting disease and a small one to poison, but are slightly weaker against warding spells. Dwarves are less resistant to disease but also resistant to poison and have a bonus to warding off elemental magic, a major monk weakness. Halflings are slightly more resistant to poison, disease, and elemental magic than dwarves. Half-krolvin have natural heavy crit padding against cold attacks and suffer less from cold weather effects.
The races of Elanthia all have their pros and cons. They are well balanced and any one could make an excellent monk. Take into account the full picture, including mechanics and their cultural backgrounds, before you decide on a race for yours. Then you can likely pick a halfling anyway because that DEX!