Talk:Monk/@comment-188.22.101.193-20180205134627/@comment-95.222.27.249-20180602220348

I'm currently playing a Dark Moon Monk and just hit level 12 in SoA, playing from (started at Level 1 at Candlekeep with 18/18/16/11/10/8. All of it with SCS (full install).

Monks are not Fighters, they are hybrids between priest, thief and fighter:

They can use all the priest only scrolls and wands and have the fast priest level progression.

They have the THACO progression of warriors aswell as a comparable saving throw progression.

They can use all the potions that are typically restricted to warriorclasses.

They reach the overall best saving throws out of all the classes and continue to progress in some of their class related features past level 20. Shorty bonuses can make up for the silght monk advantage who is restricted to human only.

They have access to some thieving abilites, most notably Detect Illusion, which is incredibly useful, when fighting high level mages with the Improved invisibility + immunity to abjuration combo and are a lot less fragile than thiefs, while doing so.

In combatsituations:

early game: They contribute more damage than thiefs and casters, but less than warrior types. Recommended weapon: Dagger (for thrown daggers). They shouldn't be in the frontline at all, which is easy to manage due to their superior speed.

mid game: They need buffs like potion of defense/invulnerability to stay alive in melee combat, their fist damage hasn't reached a good level yet and often lacks behind in enchanting levels to determine what it can actually hit, so that they deal significantly less damage than other frontline characters. This is imo the point, where the monk is weakest. Especially since casting classes suddenly have a huge impact on combat with their spells. Note that fists are reach weapons, which enable you to deal damage from behind your warriors.

It is here, where the role of the monk in combat is developing. He can keep mages occupied, due to his superior speed and  immunity to slow (combine with free action for maximum effiency), while taking care of mages with cold damage fist,, fire damage fist or stunning blow, all of which interrupt spells through stone skin.

Lategame: I don't have first hand experience yet, but I imagine the 78% innate magic resistance makes mage killing a cakewalk and further emphasizes their combat role, especially since reaching 100% with these values is incredibly easy. I'm already picturing walking up to Beholder and just punching it to death without any further complications. Fist damage and enchantment level will not be a problem anymore and if somebody starts throwing resistance lowering stuff around, the monk still has his superior saving throws.

TLDR: Monks are worse at fighting than fighters, as it should be, because they can do more than just fighting. The other hybrid classes (paladin, ranger, fighter multi/dual classes) are also worse at fighting than fighters, because they can do more.