Changes

{{Template:Class navbox}}The Monk was added in the Hellfire expansion pack. His best weapon is the staff, a design clearly meant to fit him into an unused weapon niche. He is awesome with a fast swinging staff; capable of hitting three targets at once with high to/hit and for considerable damage. His shortcoming stems from his very balanced stats; it's impossible to raise his hit points anywhere near as high as those of a warrior or barbarian, which makes the Monk a bit of a glass cannon, with low defense and hit points that hinder his awesome offensive melee prowess. He can be an effective magic user, and certainly has the mana to heal a great number of times, which he needs since he will nearly die from magical attacks while tearing up any melee enemies.

The monk balanced stats lead to him having about the same amount of mana and life, and he can raise his strength and dexterity to impressive levels. He's also able to deal very high damage to three targets at once, and can clear out levels of melee monsters far more quickly than the Warrior.  On the other hand, he has the lowest armor class in the game, and his hit points are much lower than those of other combat characters. The Monk is essentially a melee style {{iw|glass_cannon glass cannon}} and with his overpowered offense and very lacking defense, he's not a very well balanced character.

The other side of the coin to the Monk's slaughtering offense is a very suspect defense. Monks have less vitality than Warriors or Barbarians, and they gain fewer hit points for each point of vitality. They also have substantial penalties to their Armor Class when wearing heavy armor, and while they can block with their staff, they lose the AC a shield provides. A fully-equipped Monk will have much lower AC than other combat characters, and less than a rogue or a Sorcerer as well. As a result the Monk tends to feel simultaneously underpowered and overpowered. His killing speed is ridiculous, and you feel almost guilty rampaging through levels of just melee monsters.

As a result the Monk tends to feel simultaneously underpowered and overpowered. His killing speed is ridiculous, and you feel almost guilty rampaging through levels of just melee monsters. Until... something goes wrong and you die in two quick hits, or you get a level of witches and mages and find yourself stopping to heal every 3 seconds and nearly dying any time you enter a crowded, spell-filled room.