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 Half-Krolvin for that sweet UAF boost!
Skills
Physical Skills
- Armor Use Monks do not wear armor.
- Shield Use Monks do not use shields.
- Brawling Raises UAF.
- Weapon Use Raises AS with a particular Weapon.
- Two Weapon Combat Allows the monk to parry with both hands for extra DS.
- Combat Maneuvers +.5 UAF and Melee AS per rank and access to combat maneuvers.
- Multi-Opponent Combat Reduces penalties from force-on-force and allows for mstrike.
- Ambush Assists in aiming physical attacks.
- Physical Fitness HP growth, Stamina, Maneuver defense
- Dodge Generates evasion DS, a monk's primary defense.
Magical Skills
- Arcane Symbols Allows the use of and improves durations from scrolls.
- Magic Item Use Allows the use of and improves the durations from magic items.
- Harness Power 3 mana per training up to your level, 1 per after that.
- Spell Aiming Weapon training for bolts, which monks also do not use.
- Mana Control Allows the sharing of mana and improves your own mana regen. As the mental/spirit square monks have somewhat cheaper access to those two.
- Spell Research Learn spells and make those you already know better.
- Lores Incremental improvements to specific spells related to that lore.
General Overview of Minor Mental Spells
Monks are the most magical square. That means they do not really have their own spell list but are expected to train in spells. Fortunately no one else is really using the Minor Mental list right now.
Buffing Spells
- Iron Skin (1202) Makes the caster's skin like armor. Monks gain a bonus to the AsG provided based on their monk levels.
- Foresight (1204) Generic DS bonus.
- Mindward (1208) Mental TD bonus.
- Dragonclaw (1209) UAF bonus and able to hit magical creatures with UAC.
- Brace (1214) Ability to PARRY physical attacks with bare hands.
- Premonition (1220) Generic scaling DS bonus.
Group Focus Spells
Focus spells provide a bonus with no set duration to the monk's group but each monk many only run one focus spell at a time.
- [[Mind Over Body (1213) Reduces stamina costs of abilities.
- [[Focus Barrier (1216) Large group DS boost.
Attack Spells
The minor mental list has several attack spells but only a few of them apply to a monk.
- Powersink (1203) Increases the time it takes for a target to prepare a spell.
- Force Projection (1207) Attempt to knock down a single target and inflict RT.
- Mental Dispel Dispel a single spell from target.
- Vertigo (1219) Warding spell that causes RT and knockdowns.
Miscellaneous Spells
- Soothing Word (1205) Removes negative emotion effects from a target (i.e. rage, fear, calm)
- Provoke (1235) Increase the spawn rate of creatures in an area.
Lores
Even though monks are a square they do get some benefits from lores. The primary benefits to a monk are found in Mental lores, specifically Mental Lore, Transformation or Mental Lore, Telepathy. While other spiritual and mental lores provide some benefit they are not generally worth spending points on.
Transformation lore provides the following benefits:
- Iron Skin (1202) Increases the AsG of Iron Skin by 1 every 5 * Seed 1 summation ranks.
- Dragonclaw (1209) Increases the UAF bonus by a Seed 1 summation.
- Brace (1214) Increases the chance to disarm an attacker by 2% per Seed 3 summation.
Telepathy lore provides the following benefits:
- Soothing Word (1205) 25 ranks grants the ability to remove sheer fear from a target and provide immunity to it for 30 seconds.
- Confusion (1211) Improves the chances for the target to perform a more favorable action every 20 skill.
- Mind Over Body (1213) Increase the stamina cost reduction by 5% per skill/10 on a Seed 3 summation.
- Provoke (1235) Increases the generation rate for sentient creatures in the area by 1 per 15 ranks.
Training
This is broken down into Core Training, and Discrete Training.
- Core training includes skills you train in a certain amount each level for that build.
- Discrete Training includes skills that you want to hit a breakpoint on.
Common Core Training
Core training for ANY bard:
- 2x Dodging (3/3)
- 2x Physical Fitness (6/0)
- 2x Combat Maneuvers (15/9)
- 1x Perception (0/2)
Total: (10/30)
Common Discrete Training
Unarmed Monk
For the most part, when it comes to monks, everybody is kung-fu fighting. All the cool kids are, in fact, as fast as lightning, due to Burst of Swiftness. In all seriousness the release a monks prompted a whole new combat system to be created and they are designed to take advantage of it. While it could be argued that rogues are the best UAC users, monks make a pretty strong case.
Unarmed Monk Core Training
| # | Cost | Skill |
| 2x | 3/3 | Dodging |
| 2x | 6/0 | Physical Fitness |
| 2x | 15/9 | Combat Maneuvers |
| 2x | 6/3 | Brawling |
| 1x | 0/2 | Perception |
| .5x | 1/1 | Two Weapon Combat |
| .5x | 0/19 | Spell Research |
| .33x | 0/2 | Harness Power |
| Total | 31/ |