Dear Sir Digimus,
I am a humble monk in the world of vana’diel and across my travels I have noticed that people tend to shun our fists for other such jobs. We seem to be in direct competition in parties against “the big hitters” like the Dark Knight, the Dragoon, the Ranger and the occasional Warrior who is out for damage rather then to tank. Monks dont put up the big numbers like those other 4 jobs but rather tons of small damage and we do it rather quickly. I have but +30 on my delay, haste property belt, 2 martial arts enhancements so by the time a Dark Knight musters up enough strength to swing his Scythe twice and hopefully hit, i’ve attempted 6 punches by that time. My 2hour move ranks near the top of doing damage to an enemy and can really save a party in a jam, we have a nice HP buffer to take a pounding when we steal the hate away from the tank during Hundred Fists. We have some good weapon skills available to us as well, in early levels and in late levels. I could also turn this into a subjob arguement and say people would pick us more if we could provoke, but i’ll leave that for another time. Why is the monk shunned soo much. ; ;
Dan
Dear Dan,
I once traveled with a monk from Selbina to Sanordia, when I was just a starting adventurer. He had a wonderful trick, where he would stab himself in the stomach and the blade would not pierce his flesh. It was incredible! Now, I am not a scholar in the Monastery art of combat, but I wouldn’t say that when I traveled with this Monk his ability to produce damage was sub par. In fact, I was very impressed with his ability to single-handedly take on the Orcish fiends that plagued our journey. His fists were such an elegant blur, it almost enticed me to take a closer look at Monk training for my personal edification.
It is indeed an impressive buffet of skills that the Monk possesses. I personally would not turn a Monk away as a potential party member, and it is a shame to see that you have had such an experience. One thing that I have heard, mainly from mages, is they like the sense of security that comes with a “provocative” Fighter. It allows them a sort of willy-nilly, low impact approach with spell casting as they do not fear being attacked. A Monk, although easily worth his or her salt in combat, does not give them that. However, I feel you may have just been the victim of some bad party experiences thus far, and wouldn’t dwell on them too much.
Though I am hesitant to bring this up, there is a possible reason why the monk would be shunned in parties, and well, I’m afraid that the answer is a bit more than the average monk will be able to come to grips with. You see, we in the civilized world have a custom where we submerge ourselves in water, preferably with soap, and rinse away the tiny invisible demons that can sometimes coat the body during particularly rigorous adventures. We do this because the tiny demons leave behind their tiny… er… uh, “after products” which can cause an embarrassing odor if left unchecked. After we have ridded ourselves of this invisible menace, we then have another custom of putting on fresh garments. Daily.
The monk is a great companion in battle, but I’d prefer not to stand within 20 spans of him on a hot day.
Keeping my distance,
-Sir Digimus
