[3.5] All monk group?!?!

[TheJudicator]

The title pretty much sums it up. More out of silliness than anything, the group I am playing with ( 4 players plus DM) is putting together an experimental campaign, where the PCs are only going to be monks.

While I, for one, am eager to see how this pans out (seeing 4 different interpretations of the monk will be, dare I say, enlightening?), there is obviously the concern for the rather standard "balanced party" factor in playing.

For those who consider details important, we're allowed options from the PHB, PHB 2, and UA. Starting level and money for equipment is currently to e determined.

I'm wondering if anyone has had experience with this before and/or have any opinions on it?

[Quietus]

You, or the Dm, will need to be careful with CR. Anything that's under-CRed will wipe the party, and anything that's properly CRed will be a larger challenge than expected. Just think how a first level monk would handle.. let's say a zombie. You have *four of those*.

If the players are good at optimization, then this might work out. There's ways to use alternate class features, different monk feats, things like that to build a divergent party. But you're still all going to be wanting the same type of items, so there'll be fighting over most desirable loot. You're going to be missing major party roles (no tank, no healer.. you're all skirmishers, and badly designed ones at that, even if optimization fixes some of that).

Now, if there's multiclassing allowed, this starts to fix itself somewhat. Enlightened fists, psionic fists, and tashlatora(sp?) will all help diversify the party and give access to other things. But that starts to break away from the "everyone is monks" and goes into "Everyone must have a couple levels of monk", which is precisely *why* it becomes less of a problem.

All things considered, it's an interesting idea, and I'd like to play in something like that sometime, but it's going to require that the players and DM be more careful than usual not to step on anyone's toes, and to ensure the party and the fights are balanced.

[Drelua]

Actually, I've done this. Balance wasn't such a concern with our ability scores set to all 20s at level 1, as in before level modifiers, but we started at level 20, just 2 of us, with VoP, removing the restriction that we take only exalted feats. We still talk about our 'monks in space' campaign, with all the awesome stuff we did. We eventually got sent to a prison, which we promptly escaped, and stole a spaceship. We ended up single handedly toppling a futuristic tyranny, before returning to the monastery we came from, showing off, and telling them we were tired of this boring training, and flying away in a spaceship right in front of them. Things got mean once I took dire charge and vorpal strike, but this probably doesn't help you in the least.

Edit: I don't know how you feel about using pathfinder stuff, but Ultimate Combat, and some of the other archetypes have a lot to make monks more workable, and they could add some degree of variety to your party if you all use different archetypes and maybe combat styles.

[AzazelSephiroth]

I have not had experience with an entire group of Monks, but I have had multiple monks in the same campaign and it made for some very interesting encounters. The first note I have is that not all monks have to be played the same. We were running a modified Oriental Adventures campaign and each of the players chose to be monks of rival temples. If you have a chance to look at the Oriental Adventures book they have some interesting styles for unarmed combat... however as I foolishly just noticed your list of books I would suggest that the players focus on different bonus feats and of course the Role-play is the key to making your characters truly unique!
If I am not mistaken I believe the PHB2 has some cool feats for scarificing Stunning Fist usage for flaming powers... that could def spice up your combat! But be warned while a good monk can be mobile and do some decent damage if properly played... a whole team means extra money spent on potions or one of the monks spending precious skill points on UMD to use a wand or cure. I would love to hear how this turns out!:smallsmile:

[Greenish]

All monk campaign might be cool, though I'd recommend the DM at least doubled your skillpoints. Then again, I'd recommend it in every campaign.

The limited sources are a bit of a damper, since it means much less customization.

[BlueInc]

Take a look at the Pathfinder Monk Archetypes (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/monk/archetypes/paizo---monk-archetypes) and style feats (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/style-feats). Even if you don't play Pathfinder, your DM might approve a few of the feats and ACFs to help differentiate your characters.

[Krazzman]

It can go well.

We once had a group of the 3 Monks for the monastery.

We had a Monk5/Rogue4, Monk2/Sorceror 7(Dwarf substitution), Monk 9.

It was hilarious, we made the funniest things you could think of, Grappling a vampire lord into the sunlight. Pong with an demon as ball. Drinking a Dwarfen monastery under their tables. Started a moshpit in a bandit post.

Yeah, damn good times... sadly they are gone forever...

[Andorax]

Have done something similar, twice, across two different editions. I'd recommend you make a slight change to it:

Require everyone to play a monk, at least IN PART. Do away with the multiclassing rule for monks, and specify that everyone has to maintain a minimum of half their levels (obviously, starting as Monk 1) as Monk.


Previous 2 campaigns:

2nd edition (Birthright) 8 paladin campaign. Was made interesting by allowing different deities (which granted different benefits, including one that actually had CG paladins). Also had at least two characters who were multiclassed (by the old 2e rules) former Rogue and former Wizard.


"Barbarian" campaign (3.5E). All characters had to have 1+ levels of Barbarian, be human, was from the same tribe. Started off with Bar 4, Bar 1/Cleric (Eranthul) 3, Bar 1/Sorcerer 3, and Bar 1/Ran 1/Dru 2.

[Fouredged Sword]

I would suggest everyone in the group be required to play a monk full 1-20, but to spice things up make every odd level a gestault level. This will mix in 1/2 spellcasting or fighter feats into a normaly pure munk build. Also stratigetic full bab gestault dips would grant full Bab (1st, 5th, 9th ect)

Then let them PRC into any monk like PRC they wish.

Also let them get ether Carmadine monk or Kung-Fu genious for free, just to spice things up a little.

[Dr.Epic]

It'd be interesting to see if it starts out at the monastery.

[Human Paragon 3]

My better monk fighting styles (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=143252) might be relevant to your interests. Run the by the DM. I think he might like them!

[Eric Tolle]

It could work well if you have a "no magic, no magical monsters" policy. As long as you restrict yourself to monsters that can be beaten by beating them with fists, it ought to work well enough. I would recommend starting the characters off with at least 40-45 point-buy though.

[Person_Man]

I give you 4 encounters, tops, before everyone gets horribly bored and insists on new characters. Pretty much all you can do every round of every combat is "I make a full attack" - which may or may not be modified by Flurry of Blows, Stunning Fist, and Feats. It's fine if one or two players in a group (especially newer players) choose to do this. But if everyone does it, and no one is playing Tier 3 or above, it tends to make combat ridiculously monotonous.

[The Glyphstone]

Because it has to be posted in a thread like this... (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhUkGIsKvn0)

[Greenish]

Because it has to be posted in a thread like this... (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhUkGIsKvn0)Damn straight!

[Emmerask]

I give you 4 encounters, tops, before everyone gets horribly bored and insists on new characters. Pretty much all you can do every round of every combat is "I make a full attack" - which may or may not be modified by Flurry of Blows, Stunning Fist, and Feats. It's fine if one or two players in a group (especially newer players) choose to do this. But if everyone does it, and no one is playing Tier 3 or above, it tends to make combat ridiculously monotonous.

While this could happen, it largely depends on the creativity of the players and how much leeway the dm is going to give them.

I could see it becoming really really fun combat once the players start to get creative, using everything in sight as a weapon, using caltrops, oil kegs, marbles, poles to jump at flying enemies etc.
In a "standard" campaign you don´t really need to improvise in such a manner cause well there is magic which takes care of everything and therefore such creativity is mostly not used or even thought of.

There could be some major problems though at high levels when all these fun mundane methods of control are pretty much useless, so I would maybe plan this to not go further then level 13 or so.

@op
Hope it plays out well and that you will be giving status reports on how it works out :smallwink:

[Kelb_Panthera]

OA would help quite a bit in this scenario if it's available to your group. When you say the whole group is going to be monks, do you mean they're only allowed to take levels in monk? If so I don't know how the players are going to make their characters all that different from one another. It could still be fun, but it might get a bit monotonous during combat.

[Deth Muncher]

Because it has to be posted in a thread like this... (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhUkGIsKvn0)

You're a bad person.

[KoboldCleric]

I have done this once before. 4 halfling monks. I wish that your experience goes better than ours. Person_Man adequately described our attempt, save that the non-combat interactions were not much better. It also got harder and harder to role play as we went along due to the fact that we all just wanted our characters to die. Sorry if this ruins your anticipation; my memories of this experience are depressing.

[DrDeth]

No healing? You will either die or spend all your time resting.

[theMycon]

This could be a very different experience, if it's a "all full monks", or "All at least 1/2 monk" or "All monk & NPC class" game.

A pure monk can be turned into a so-so debuffer (who is too fragile to fight anything with a fort save), an unstoppable melee god of death (who can't hurt anything that tumbles & moves), or a tolerable melee crowd control/tank (who can't hurt anything that's NOT moving). I can't think of anything else useful they can function at, but those three, properly coordinated, should be able to handle anything within 20 feet of the ground.

You'll have a lot of battles where one guy shines and everyone else basically stands still to attack. Unless you can be at least half-caster, you'll also have a lot of fights where it's either incredibly dull, or near impossible to win. Flying will be a problem, as will healing. And mage armor is ridiculously handy for a level 1 spell, for monks.

It's pretty trivial to make a mid-level monk able to ignore having 1 strength, being permanently blinded/in darkness, or most terrain and traps. I'm confident you can find a way to abuse those.

[hex0]

Does having access to UA mean you can use gestalt? :smallbiggrin:

You are shooting yourself in the foot if you not able to use more of the books. You could have a psionic fist, an enlightened fist, an sacred fist, and a mostly monk front liner (fist of the forest build? Fighter dip?) and have all your bases covered.

[dextercorvia]

DMG or MMI? Or are different Races or PrC's not allowed?

[deuxhero]

All monks is fine... As long as you don't mean the base class, just the profession.


Base class would be half-way doable if more books were open (they have fairly good support being a core class)

[Safety Sword]

Because it has to be posted in a thread like this... (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhUkGIsKvn0)

Dear The Glyphstone,

Please unsubscribe me from your Christmas card list.

Thank you,

Safety Sword.

*Damn song is stuck in my head and won't get out. Hoping it leaves by the time I go to karate class tonight or my students will be singing it too.*

[Telonius]

I'm wondering if anyone has had experience with this before and/or have any opinions on it?

Should work pretty well if they're anthorpomorphic turtles. :smallbiggrin:

[Greenish]

No healing? You will either die or spend all your time resting.Monks can heal. :smalltongue:

[The Glyphstone]

You're a bad person.


Dear The Glyphstone,

Please unsubscribe me from your Christmas card list.

Thank you,

Safety Sword.

*Damn song is stuck in my head and won't get out. Hoping it leaves by the time I go to karate class tonight or my students will be singing it too.*

MWahahahahahahahahahahaha....

[El Dorado]

MWahahahahahahahahahahaha....

I imagined something different. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0YkXmebAGM)

[The Glyphstone]

I imagined something different. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0YkXmebAGM)

That works too. Within my purview of shattering the minds and sanity of lesser mortals, any sufficiently catchy ear worm will suffice...

[Safety Sword]

I imagined something different. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0YkXmebAGM)

Don't make me come over there....

[TheJudicator]

Alright, wow, time for me to anti-derail this thread.

For.many of the questions and queries asked, I won't be able to answer without learning more, seeing as i will be one of the players and not the DM. As far as I know, from the materials insisted in the opening post, only feats and options pertinent to monks are available, or at least that's how I interpreted it. I doubt multiclassing is an option, but PrCs could very well be on the table.

I'm not entirely worried about all of us making the same monk type. We are very role-play heavy as a group with diverse styles as a whole. Plus, I've considered th idea of using my monk's equipment for use/day (CW if possible) offensive spells, thus making a pseudo-sorc. Cuz who doesn't like a hadouken?!

As far as races go, the group hasn't covered that yet, same with level and such. I doubt gestalt is available, but I guess I'll see.

Lastly, yes. Yes, I fully intend to give a status report on what such a group does! What sort of person would I be if I didn't?

I'll be sure to keep you posted as well when I know more of the paramters of this group.

[hex0]

I doubt multiclassing is an option, but PrCs could very well be on the table.

So...how much Monk is required? It would be impossible to get into most Monk PRCs like enlightened fist without multiclassing. And with few books available you don't have many options for differentiating each monk from the other...

[The Glyphstone]

Alright, wow, time for me to anti-derail this thread.

For.many of the questions and queries asked, I won't be able to answer without learning more, seeing as i will be one of the players and not the DM. As far as I know, from the materials insisted in the opening post, only feats and options pertinent to monks are available, or at least that's how I interpreted it. I doubt multiclassing is an option, but PrCs could very well be on the table.

I'm not entirely worried about all of us making the same monk type. We are very role-play heavy as a group with diverse styles as a whole. Plus, I've considered th idea of using my monk's equipment for use/day (CW if possible) offensive spells, thus making a pseudo-sorc. Cuz who doesn't like a hadouken?!

As far as races go, the group hasn't covered that yet, same with level and such. I doubt gestalt is available, but I guess I'll see.

Lastly, yes. Yes, I fully intend to give a status report on what such a group does! What sort of person would I be if I didn't?

I'll be sure to keep you posted as well when I know more of the paramters of this group.

If you want to throw Hadoukens, there's a Ki Blast feat in...PHB2 that consumes 2 Stunning Fist uses for 3d6+Wis damage up to 60ft. away. Not very good, but very Hadoukeny.

[Starbuck_II]

If you want to throw Hadoukens, there's a Ki Blast feat in...PHB2 that consumes 2 Stunning Fist uses for 3d6+Wis damage up to 60ft. away. Not very good, but very Hadoukeny.

I think a DM should give a +1 damage per character level for saying "Hadouken" while using it.:smallbiggrin:

[Ryu_Bonkosi]

I imagined something different. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0YkXmebAGM)

And now I have to post this.

http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/4/41448/942603-ontd_jason_super.jpg

Don't screw with the Power Rangers...