Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Fextralife - Dark Urge/Monk Deep Dive Video - *Spoilers*

Eh not really, if it's a weapon it's probably had a martial art made after it.

They still seem pretty Ki hungry.
Assuming that Ki still replenishes on short rests, Monks may need to hire a Mercenary Bard.

Who doesn't know the art of axe-fu...

There were some weapons that very much resembled axes at the place my kids used to study TKD. Really any farming implement has a long, long history of use a a weapon, and weapons studied in martial arts frequently lean more towards these than martial-use-only weapons

That means monks can now make use of Great Weapon Master.
Seems very, very strong to me, especially in combination with stunning and a large number of attacks, even on the low levels.

I am against this tbh haha

They have more Ki than in tabletop.
At 5:59, you can see that the monk has 3 KI points.
He is level 2, which can be confirmed by the hitpoints he, and the companions have (17).

He should only have 2 by raw, and since it only shows current KI points (goes to 1 and 0 when he uses his abilities), that might suggest KI points are just doubled

Sure but at one point you have to ask why the monk is different from a fighter and why the later doesnt't learn the "martial arts" of his chosen weapons when even longswords, halberds and greataxes can be monk weapons

I mean axes are used in wushu

I didn't invent it, I just read it somewhere else and now I can't call it anything else than the Durge

Fextralife did say that Larian gave Monks a boost to make them stronger than in TT, so I guess this is one way.

I suppose this brings the # of builds that actually make use of Human's Polearm Proficiency to 2.
- Human Pact of the Blade Warlocks can now use polearms instead of just simple weapons. (I still think that Blade Warlocks should gain proficiency in their pact weapon, no matter its type)
- Human Monks getting Polearm Proficiency allows them to use weapons strictly better than normal monk weapons. They'll gain a die size of damage, reach, and access to GWM. This should combine well with the Sentinel feat, but half of Polearm Master is redundant with Monk's Martial Arts.

I thought Fextra said they started off with 2 at 1st and gain 1 per level for the levels he played.
You get the Ki earlier than RAW, you wouldn't get Ki until 2nd level, but from the incredibly small portion that I've seen that is only a slightly bigger pool than PnP.

It's very possible that the Ki gain isn't linear or that Larian put in Monk items that help with Ki as well.
Still not a bad idea to have a Bard on hand.

I have thought about it more and I am fine with it after all.
I thought (because I am stupid), that it would mean you can make 5 attacks with GWM at level 5, using your dexterity, but that is not what you can actually do, since the last two attacks are made with your fist.

This still is very strong, and a big buff (and even more classes are now very samey with the GWM power attack), but it is not much stronger than what a fighter can do. You have more consistent damage, they have action surge

As I understood it, they get martial arts from level 1, with 1 ki point, whereas in tabletop, you get martial arts at lv 2, with 2 ki points.

I doubt that you get a flat 1 ki point more on every level, that seems like too weak a buff to even implement, and it would be annoying that you don't have your Ki points = your monk level any more haha

Good catch !

I would like to hope so too.

At the moment, there's still the possibility that this is just because he's in Bear form, and the game doesn't have the ridiculously long Dash animations for animal forms. There's also (non-exclusively) the possibility that it's because he's not a creature controlled by the player, and only those play the lengthy Dash animation when using the Dash action. And there's the possibility that, indeed, Larian decided to finally cut down on this (which would be really great). If that's the case, I hope that Jump also received an animation length cut.

TBH any weapon style is a “martial” art. I understand the history of oriental styles vs occidental; however, to master a weapon still requires a skill set that takes years to learn.

For example, what is more effective? A short sword and shield combo vs a great sword? Depends on the training and situation. If sword and board was so effective great sword style would have died out long ago. You just don’t use a great sword by just swinging it. The blade is set higher so it can be used like a Jo Staff, the hilt done in such away to allow it to be used like a spear,you can use brute force to bash, or you can swing. So many options. However as shock tactics began to become more organized (think Roman legions, pole arms, etc) the great sword began to lose some if it’s functional aspects.

We aren’t dealing with shock troops or infantry lines. Each battle is more one on one, so the skill in a weapon can be paramount.

Occidental weapons styles may not be as elegant as oriental, but the basic martial skills are there. That’s why I don’t see any issues with a monk using different weapons. I would prefer the old world weapons (Jo Staff, Nan Chaku, Kusarigama, etc), but I am fine as it is (especially multiclass).

Hmmm ...
Haldberd Human Monk ... stronger than pnp.
Still not nearly as strong as Githyaki Greatsword Monk tho.

Does this mean that Monks in BG-3 will use Great Weapon Master? O_o

I believe it was said in the video that Monks have 3 at level 1 ... and then +1 for each Monk level.

The more I look at the monk, the more I like it.

Im not sure if i manage to play them diferently than Fighter, Barbarian, or Paladin.

Seems like Larian approach is:
Martial class = Greatsword + GWM
Caster class = Fireball

I really hope this dont become borderline for ballancing. :-/