Monks not that great?

[Astral Projection]

Party is level 19-ish with casters 7/7/5/*. In Mangar's Tower now.

• front 4 are just HP sponges while casters/Bard kill everything
  
• Monk has half the HP of my Warrior/Paladin even with moderate save scumming on level up
  
• Monk has less HP than all my casters and Bard
  
• Monk damage isn't much higher than Warrior/Paladin, and single-target damage is only useful on a couple fights

I've seen many posts saying Monks are good. What am I missing?

[noblesse_oblige]

Their 1d8 hit die per level up is their greatest weakness, I agree. But, they should have the best AC of anyone and with sufficient leveling are serious killing machines with their bare hands. Wielding weapons can actually yield less damage than bare-handed attacks.

In the originals, where there was no communal inventory, they were useful as pack mules, because of the extra loot that they could hold (due to being able to go without weapons or armor). And, initiative was tied to AC in the originals and so they would frequently get first strike. But, even then, I didn't care for them because of their poor hit dice (can be wiped out by breath weapons alone and don't have any special magic reistance).

[Master_OrHan]

Best tanks at very high levels due to sufficiently high HP and an AC that allows them to never get hit. Mine did most damage of all in melee than my Warrior, Paladin, and Hunter. You wouldn't know at your level, you are massively underleveled.

[Brandon]

Until very late in the game, the monk is one of the best warriors. Only when you start getting death daggers, stone maces, etc do other characters actually perform as good as a monk. But one thing the monk does well that the other tanks don't do as well, is their chance to hit the monster, and they seem to attack the creatures faster than other characters. That could be my imagination. But sometimes when I wipe in the game (which is infrequent and I just reload) the monk is the last one alive...

[SaschaGoto]

Did you make sure that your monk is not using any weapons? After he reaches level ~6 his unarmed combat becomes superior to all the weapons you find.

[Master_OrHan]

When you start approaching level 50, monk doesn't even get hit. Monk is best tank period.

[Old_Danny]

There are at least two static encounters in this game that are impossible (my opinion) to win unless you have a monk.
Even at level 100+ in these encounters, he sometimes still dies.

[SaschaGoto]

Originally posted by Chief:

There are at least two static encounters in this game that are impossible (my opinion) to win unless you have a monk.
Even at level 100+ in these encounters, he sometimes still dies.

What encounters are these?
And who dies, the monk?

[Slooge]

Monks will miss a lot in upper levels of Mangar's, but will do 700 damage as you approach level 50. However, I gave mine a death dagger and his missing problems went away. The alternative, if you don't need the traveller's tune AC boost, use the song that increases hit chance instead outside of combat. It will also remove the constant missing that happens later for all classes.