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My main concern and keep in mind this is theory rather than actually observing it in play is the advantages of Warlock are unlimited range attacks of magic and abilities. The disadvantages are that the damage isn't what a melee build can put out and the spells are not as potent as what a Wizard can put out.

The concern is that due to how the dungeons are built 'unlimited arcane power' isn't a massive selling point considering that the dungeons for the most part have rest points (sometimes multiple ones) and there are a lot (I mean an awful lot) of spell slot items available to Clerics, Wizards and (I think) Druids. I have literally never once run out of spells for Requiem in any Dungeon on this server (except ninth level ones - who hasn't?). Then add to this the mansion spell which while granted does not work in every dungeon but it works in quite a few and replenishes all those multiple spell slots just in case I start to go a bit trigger happy for the lulz.

The unlimited spells would be quite cool but the spell selection is  limited to the point where it would make for some very effective tactics concerning darkness spamming coupled with sneak attacks (Devil's sight, Darkness, Walk Unseen and See the Unseen) but very little else.

In fact the whole spell selection seems to make you a tougher melee combatant (for the aforementioned darkness spamming) with Dark Foresight, Word of Changing, Aura of Flame and Starless Void all giving you a damage shield or additional HP. While all of those except Dark Foresight are pact specific it means every choice gives you some form of increased melee ability. Indeed even the Greater Dispel (which is pretty cool) is touch range meaning you have to get in close.

The class has some nice battlefield control spells (which is my favourite type of spell) mostly linked to the Fey Pact and Star Pacts - Bewitching Blast, Eyebite, Will of the Feywild, Frightful Blast and Doomsayer being the pact specific ones with draining blast being the essence you can apply to your Eldritch Blast.

I have not mentioned Utterdark Blast in the above because negative levels on CD is a fairly useful ability for PvP but against normal monsters you're often just better off doing anything else because you have to usually target the monsters strongest save (fortitude) and the monsters tend not to last long enough for your spell to have done much good, as opposed to either incapacitating it or contributing damage of your own along with the fact a lot of the boss monsters are immune to negative levels.

However I think it shows really good design to have the fear, confusion and dominate as single target spells because it makes the unlimited ability useful without the mental broken of it being mass targeting it just seems a shame you need to pick either Fey or Lovecraft to do it.

The other thing this class doesn't seem to do well is play with others. It has no buffs (except Ultravision . . . woo) and I am not sure it would be out of place for it to have some party buffs like the mass-animal spells, death wards or emotion spells which gives them something to contribute as a little bit more unique. Dispels are much more common now and the party member that can help keep a party on their feet (with much needed buffs) would fit a more unique role. Some of its abilities are counter-intuitive to party play - Tentacles is an amazing spell but it rarely gets any use because it takes a lot of work and effort to make it work within a party dynamic and can often mess up your combat orientated friends. Likewise with the cone and radius versions of the blast these are going to be difficult to target in the hectic fast moving world of NWN without hitting your buddy in the face. If they're not already can they be made to only hurt enemies and not allies?

My other question is with Eldritch Blast do you have to constantly click and target it at your target (every round) or can you click and forget?

I certainly think the class is neat and the critique above is meant to just be constructive criticism I understand it is very easy to say from my sofa - code X, Y or Z and not understand the implications of it from a work/scripting perspective.

My other fear is that this class is a very, very nice dip class for rogue the first four levels are like a wet dream for them. Unlimited Darkness, Unlimited Ultravision, Auto-10 on UMD and a small defensive buff with entropic warding (which needs to be buffed as an aside). That is an amazing dip.

As a suggestion (rather than just point out things) could the spell selection scale after certain milestones of Warlock. So See the Unseen goes from basic See-Invisibility up to True Sight at high enough level. Darkness turns into 'Biting Darkness' that causes damage to anyone without Ultra-Vision/True Sight. Entropic Shield gets stronger as you level slowly adding AC, Deflection and Displacement. Flee the Scene turns from Dimension Door to the option to use it as a teleport to a mass teleport. Devour Magic adds AB/AC bonus depending on if the dispel was successful (no idea if this is actually possible to be scripted). Dark Foresight adds neg energy protection and boosts saves as your Warlock gains in levels.

Also few thoughts now I have had a proper look over it -

1. I am not sure the animate dead spell should be included as one for all because a lot of your good aligned Warlocks will simply have a dead spell that they can't use. It makes more sense in classes like Blackguard or Palemaster due to the nature of the class being quite specific.

Warlock is a lot more open to interpretation.

I would replace it with a boost spell maybe a mass-clarity spell or emotion courage?


2. Is Eldrtich Blast a full round action? If that is the case then I am not sure it will be able to stand up as a damage dealer in the late game considering iterative attacks on melee warriors cause a lot of damage in comparison. Even with the damage boosters in place an Archer is going to be doing a lot more damage than a Warlock.  

Also can you sneak attack with Eldrtich Blast? The first few levels seem like a really good idea for a Rogue. Infinite darkness and infinite Ultravision to set up those delicious sneak attacks? Yes please.

Would Divine Might stack with it?

Looking at the abilities I think it steers towards a Bard/Warlock/Blackguard build with at will invisibility you are essentially getting a poor man's HiPS at quite a low level. Then add in the Cha synergy the sneak attack from blackguard and the Bard being the base class for a few spells, Tumble and the like. Then with Div Shield you can put that Cha to work in defence and if Div Might stacks you're getting Cha to damage as well.

Would be potentially be on the power curve just under Bard and Paladin (which isn't a bad place to be). Seems like a lot of the abilities steer it towards being an archer-type character but I think it would very much shine as a melee warrior with the right multi-classing.

Shenanigans

How would hideous blow work? Would it always be on or would you have to activate it for a single attack or would it work like Divine Might does?

Also like with the normal Warlock I am assuming these would be unlimited per day in use?

Do you know it has just struck me that due to the level cap on CD - It is impossible to get Auto-Quicken. Improved Combat Casting has moved up a little bit up in my estimation. I don't think I would take it with my Epic Wizard but I can see it being useful for combat casters.

That is a fair point. I am still not sure the feat would be in my top picks for Epic level feats. The Epic Spell Focuses would probably draw my eye more.

However this is a combat focused cleric so a fair suggestion. I would more lean towards Epic Skill Focus Discipline if you had additional feats to use and go for the Auto-Quicken or Still in the higher epic levels.

That is a point for this build if you have the option pick up either Still or Silent spell. The reason behind it is that it gives you a little more flexibility in your spell slots. What you will find especially with Cleric is that the higher level spells are not amazing and you will be looking to extend/maximise your level 4-6 slots which will push them into your 7 slots. So any spells you want at level 7 you can still or silent them up to 8 and 8 to 9 where there is a lot less competing for your open slots.

If you don't have the spare feats though don't bother. It is just a nice to have rather than a must.

Oh really! Seems like a reasonable step to make. Things that grant outright immunity are not on my list of favourite things.

The rest of the list still sound? Not been changed?

Edit: Sorry also combat casting is a bit of a trap you are better just going Skill Focus: Concentration as that provides a universal bonus all of the time instead of just in combat. I know the bonus is a little higher but it isn't high enough to justify going specific over universal. I also wouldn't suggest taking it but don't take Combat Casting I noted it was suggested above.

Blind Fight, Extend Spell, Practiced Spell Caster, Knockdown and Imp Critical hit

Blind Fight is such a useful feat as others have already pointed out.



Extend Spell will be invaluable to your buffs and let you just go further than you could without it.


These are the spells you will love to Extend -

nwn.wikia.com/wiki/Divine_power
nwn.wikia.com/wiki/Shield_of_faith
nwn.wikia.com/wiki/Negative_energy_protection
nwn.wikia.com/wiki/True_seeing_(spell)
nwn.wikia.com/wiki/Spell_resistance_(spell)
nwn.wikia.com/wiki/Battletide


Practiced Spell Caster so your CL is still high when you cast Cleric spells


Knockdown gives you much needed battlefield control. You knock an enemy down prone in combat and watch your Rogues face light up.


Imp Crit because that Axe was made for swinging!

I would avoid Cleave and Power Attack maybe until later and I would also avoid Weapon Focus you're going to be boosting your AB via spells so much that a static +1 wont make that much of a difference.

The stat requirement for Monks makes them very MAD (Multiple Attribute Dependant) and the other big blow is their equipment hinders them quite a bit.

I think it is important to note two things -


Due to the high level of magic items you can cover a lot of the Monk stats to make them respectable enough and Kama based Monks are preferable to unarmed Monk which I will discuss in a minute. 

The first thing to get out of the way though is the Wisdom - AC. Now a lot of people see this as a boon to the Monk when realistically it isn't one. The issue is that classes like Duellist adds Intelligence but again it loses armour. So they are the same right? Well no.


Lets look at the comparison -

Monks have no synergy for their high Wisdom while Duellists get a lot more synergy with their intelligence for example more skill points and this enables them to be a better skill monkey while at the same time gaining greater AC it also gets an additional AC boost at the later stages and receives importantly a damage boost in the form of precise strike. 

Now none of those things set the world on fire but we will also note it is a full BAB class and gets a whopping 1d10 hit points a level.  It also uses a weapon which is very important but I will get onto that later. 

So it lets just do a quick comparison - It can achieve roughly the same AC so we will call that a draw, the duellist will have lower saves, however will have more hit dice and have greater BAB and due to having good Int synergy will be better skill monkey and just as good at stealth (if built for it). 

Lets also expand on why weapons are good. This is due to the item slot economy and the concept of Opportunity Cost. The true cost of an item is the item you don't wear and its benefits. So to illustrate the point if I wear my Ogre Gauntlets of +5 Strength I cannot wear my Gloves of Super Attack +5 which added smashing action. 


The more slots the fewer choices you have to make and the stronger your character is the problem with unarmed Monks they need all the slots they can get because they need to expand - Strength, Dexterity, Wisdom and Con. You can also argue you need a small investment in Int if you are going to actually use the class skills you have been given.

But the unarmed Monk also has mostly two fewer slots than most classes the weapon and the shield. Ignoring the Shield slot for now because it isn't that important in the analysis the loss of the weapon slot is a big blow because the Monk needs strength/dex boosting items due to its inferior BAB. 

While the Duellist can have his rapier of +5 Awesomesauce and still wear the Ogre Gauntlets of +5 strength which is an additional +2 to hit and damage and the Duellist already has the advantage in that department.

The best work around for this is fairly labour intensive but it is to add +AB boosts to gauntlets and gloves in the module with other enchantments I.e Dexterity Gauntlets/ Strength Gauntlets. This allows the Monk to be able to go unarmed without being disadvantaged and it is of no use to anyone else that doesn't use fists as there primary means of attack. 

The other thing is when it comes to AC on CD - Heavy Armour has always been the superior option due to things like Adamantine Plate. It takes a lot of investment in Dexterity or Wisdom to match it and it is also an inferior investment. Stat points are precious and while your dexterity build is matching the AC eventually (epic levels) the Full Plate wearer simply throws it on and then proceeds to dump all his skill points into Strength which increases both AB and Damage or even Con to achieve a superior amount of hit points.  

As a result you have a class that cannot mix it up with the front liners on due to a combination of inferior BAB, inferior strength due to needing to invest it into other statistics i.e. Dex, Wis, Con etc and also inferior equipment as they have to sacrifice the glove slot for a weapon and lose the weapon slot. 

Which is fine. I mean you can argue the Monk isn't meant to be a front line fighter but the Bard for example is an amazing front line fighter and has 3/4 BAB because it can synergies Strength and Charisma with Dexterity not being so important due to the light armour advantage they have.

So then are they good Skill Monkeys? Well they're not bad. They have a decent selection of skills but to really take advantage of this you need higher intelligence because - Discipline is a mandatory skill tax to contemplate melee so that is one of our four gone. Then stealth is again a further skill tax because you have to invest it twice in MS & Hide to achieve stealth and then you have a single point left which needs to go to Tumble for the additional AC (which you need). If you're human then you get an additional point or if you have higher Int you can take more and the selection is really good  - Listen, Persuade and Heal all being strong candidates. 

You also have no way of opening locks or disarming traps so you're pigeon hold into stealth or potentially being good at listen or heal. All these skills are really aimed at making you good in combat so I am not sure skill monkey is the correct term. We have also established that Monks are not as good in combat as more suited front line fighters and these skills don't really boost that. If you choose to focus on skills you will take a further hit on being combat effective. 

A good comparison is the Ranger as it also gets access to pretty much the same skills as the Monk but gets further synergy for them. If the Ranger goes the stealth route it gains HiPS to assist it, spells that enhance it and Trackless Step which is a +4 boost. They are also less reliant on Dexterity so can boost Int if they want more skill points while taking less of a hit on their combat capability. 

We also as already discussed know that the Ranger is already a more powerful front line fighter and is also better at being stealthy.

The Monk doesn't really have much else going for them they are less capable in combat than - Bards, Paladins, Rangers, Fighters and on parwith Rogues and of course the full casters but lets not get into them. 

It is also a worse at stealth than - Rogue, Ranger and is about on par with Bard. 

They are decent enough with the saving throws and that is the classes shining point it will usually only be out classed by the Paladin and his Cha - Saves. That being said saving throws while very good to have they will always fail on a 1 and there a lot of cheap consumables that over-ride the need for good saves (not perfect I am aware) while high AC and decent AB are always useful if that makes sense? 

The class features are a little bit hit and miss Empty Body being the most powerful after Diamond Soul and Perfect Body other than those two nothing to really rave about and Still Mind actually becomes a redundant class feature when you get Perfect Body.



While ECL races such as the one I play do make the class much stronger this is simply because I have enough stat points to make sure I keep my vital stats at an average level. If I had chosen to simply go fighter or bard. I would have dumped it all in Strength/Cha and become an even stronger combat beast. 

ECL races simply have the greatest impact on the Monk because they to an extent cover up some of the weaknesses that a base race Monk would encounter. That is why they are often perceived as 'broken' when taking Monk because the difference in power between non ECL and ECL is much more pronounced. 

An ECL Wizard is still throwing the same 9th level spells around as a non ECL Wizard. 

As for changes the problem with giving Monks full BAB is that UBAB is already the best class feature of the Monk and this enhances it. 

I would suggest

• Making the change to Gloves so Unarmed Monks don't have to cry themselves to sleep every night. 
• Make Monks more proficient in a greater range of weapons - Quarterstaff being a good idea so Monks have access to a two handed weapon.
• Make their class features better - add things like Tongue of the Moon and Sun. Boost wholeness of body to a once/twice a day heal.
• Maybe have flurry also add damage instead of just an extra attack. 

Difficult really I mean you can make the Monk work as it is you just need to be clever with your multi-classing. 

 







 

Throwing Weapons are out-right superior to projectile throwers (Bows, Slings and Crossbows) due to the unlimited Mighty property i.e. add your full strength value to the damage. You can also use a shield with them (although in conjunction with this build you wouldn't use one) which makes you a harder target to hit if your front-line is broken.

A strength Ranger build dual wielding Kurki's with darts as a back up weapon would be pretty brutal just off the top of my head.

I am really happy to hear it! Go Monks.

Monk is about on par with a one level dip as Rogue tbh. The very strong one level dips here are Bard, Ranger and Cleric. I would honestly hope by this point we could examine the Monk and its abilities without a lot of the knee jerk bias it seems to attract.

Popping the Monk features to level 3 is a pretty strong nerf to the one dip builds and the Monk is such an interesting class with a lot of potential for roleplay that it always makes me a little sad its potential is taken away by making it a fairly inferior class in comparison to the goodies on offer.

That being said FW naturally has the final say but if I anyone would like a point by point explanation of why mathematically Monks are not as strong as a lot of people would think I would be happy to present it.  

Fighter is a concern because to be honest with you there simply are not enough decent feats for it to take. Ranger gets enough bonus feats to cover what you need free fighting styles, HiPS, Tumble, spells and full BAB.

Fighter is very good for entry into PRCs and dips but a poor class on its own merit.

Edit: Also as an aside it really suffers in terms of plot utility it has no useful utility skills to use in plots to solve problems that don't involve hitting something. It has intimidate but rarely has the skill points or the charisma synergy for it to be useful.