[CF-Devel] The Monk

[dnh]

I have started testing out Gaea with a monk and have come across a few
issues. First off I have started redoing the xpm images for the monk as I
don't like the current ones. The first of this set can be found at,
     
     http://mids.student.utwente.nl/~dnh/religous/monk/newmonk/*
     
     

I believe the monk should be a powerful cross between warrior wizard and
monk. Strongly religous to the state of a zealot, these warriors go out in
search of blasphemers and put them to rights. I disagree with the current
setup, which is (remember there is +2 because of weapon disadvantage)

Str Dex Con Int Wis Pow Cha
21  21  21  20  20  22  17

i think more focus on dex and wisdom at the cost of str and int.

Str Dex Con Int Wis Pow Cha
19  23  20  19  21  20  17

Also I think monks should get a little extra bonus on the wc and weapon
speed as they gain levels. Like Qs now get armour I think a Monk should 
rapidly develop deadly karate skills. Towards later levels a monk is left
with only physical attack and a pathetic damage. By adding the extra wc
and damage a monk wont be completely dead in the water (although it is
impossible to get points off alot of high monsters.. and in some cases
impossible to kill them (shadow tiger, which could be moved to
unnatural). These are my thoughts now, but they are subject to rapid
change, currently with a whole host of special defensive spells gaea is
quite a good god, and with a monk an exception level gainer at low levels.
After dreads though points become harder to gain than standard gods and
players. Infact at level 20 I am still having troubles killing hill
giants, and I have no chance against a troll, meditate is good but can
only be used away from combat, it is no help in the middle of a battle
unless you can retreat.

Basically the monk and fireborn are facing some serious problems, map
makers have made maps for themselves, and they forget about the fact that
some players can't get any attack type other than physical (and fire). The
only way they can complete maps is with the aid of a friend, which is fine
but creates some big problems. It has been suggested by peterm that we
leave the fireborn alone as it can be the super challenge character for
the most experienced players to prove themselves.

dnh

PS. I have taken up AVs offer and shall replace my pantheon with his
version, discussion continues regarding exactly what we are changing so
keep an eye on it.