Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Help Tips & Tricks Monkbuilder 3000

So, first off, excited to see the monk. Four sure want to build a monk as my first playthrough of BG3 full game. I know, I know, they are subpar and I'm a scrub, can't help it, like monks.

So, trying to figure out, if Monk was plopped into the game right now (I know it won't be coming out until official release, just a hypothetical), what race would be best and what items would you grab?

First off: Weapons. if they follow the rules of the book, than the Watcher's Guide (spear, monk weapon) would be great at first because if you miss with it, it gives you true strike to follow up with your flurry of blows. If you go into monk of the four elements, staff of Arcane Blessing becomes busted, as bless gives you +2d4 to weapon attacks and presumably +3d4 to your elemental spell attacks. Corelleon's grace is another quarterstaff that gives you a bonus to saving throws if unarmored and using the staff.

The Circlet of fire is another great item for the four elements monk if it works. Blast with fire, free bonus action to either flurry of blows or patient defense.

The Protecty Sparklywall could be good for a bit of extra AC if you can get some lighting charges reliably.

And as for races: Wood Elf, Human, and high half-elf (for the free cantrip such as friends) seem to be the best options, though, theoretically, one could be a Dwarf and get proficiency in medium armor and be an armored monk? Maybe that would work? Just a thought. What are your thoughts?

Armor should deny the monk Martial Arts and Unarmed Movement. I am also planning to make a monk, but I will go for gith and won't be min maxing. They also get armor proficiency but due to the aforementioned I won't use it. The maximum gith can get in the key stats at level 1 is 15 DEX and 15 WIS, so I might compensate for that by going 17 STR and make some sort of a jumping monk(e)

The monk sounds interesting. But I wonder how a BG3 monk would compare to a real life monk. Do they have to choose a god to serve? Do they abstain from sex/romancing? Do they abstain from the gathering of wealth? Do they do all the chores?

What makes monks monks, in the D&D realms, is a dedication to asceticism of some form. That can take many different forms and is often not religious in any way - though it can also be so.

The undisputed master-race for monks are dwarves.
Yes, you heard correctly.
They get a bonus to CON, which is always good for a monk.
Gold Dwarves also get a bonus to Wisdom which is great for monks.
All you have to do is boost your CON WIS and DEX through the roof and you will be fine. Dwarves Cover 2 out of those stats, making them the best monk race.
If you want a STR monk, you can do that too, but Shield Dwarves are the superior choice in that case.
Other races simply can't compete.
Not even half-elves can compete with the superior dwarven monk. Not even Orcs can. Dwarves and the monk class were created for each other at the beginning of time, that is why they are such a perfect fit.

Dwarves suffer from slow movement, which really hurts monks, even with their bonus speed. BG3 has lots of open space to cover before you can punch or kick. Wood Elf is your optimum racial choice, especially given the bonus proficiencies in Perception and Stealth. Skills matter in BG3, and monks tend to lack them (Perception isn't even on their class list).

In D&D "monk" actually means "martial artist". It was incorporated into D&D in the late 70s, based on the TV series "Kung Fu" that was very popular at the time, about a Shaolin monk in the Old West.