Background on Dr Anlin (Hero of the monks Guild) Anlin was the first monkin the land to become a hero. At the time he had slain even the mighty Dragon head using only his bare hands. So great was the combat ability of Anlin that NO monster stood up to him. Indeed he proved beyond any doubt that a well trained monk is the equal to any class in the land. Anlins info ----------- This is a small guide designed to give monk characters a little extra information which may help you in your travels. I would recommend that you read the fighter.txt document before consulting this one. This guide builds on the fighter document with some information that is specific to monks. This guide is designed for the first time player choosing to create a monk character, however existing monks should have a read through. You may find some information that is useful. * So first download the fighter.txt and READ it * Starting out -------------- When you arrive in the land you start with 20 build points an 500 gold your first aim is to join the adventurers guild. You should head north north and type SHOW QUESTS to see how to accomplish this. In joining you will gain 200 gold and 3 new skills Lore, Swimming and Resilience the latter being most important at present. At this point you may go north then east and type SHOW SKILLS here is a list of skills available for you to learn. Below is an outline of the skills which you may learn. As has been done in the fighter.text I will divided them into OFFENCE DEFENCE and MISCALANIOUSE. defence ---------- As a Monk your major strength is defence and as a new Monk this is the first thing you should work on. I recommend the first skill you learn is DODGING. DODGING is one of the most important starting defensive skills. After all if a monster can't hit you he cant kill you. As the chances are you will not posses any skill in dodging it will be expensive in build points the first time you learn it. Secondly TOUGHNESS TOUGHNESS comes into its own when your dodging just isn't quite good enough to avoid every blow a monster aims at you. Your toughness is a measure of your hardiness the tougher you are the less damage you will take form a hit. As with dodging it will be expensive the first time you learn it. Lastly for now RESILIENCE RESILIENCE well as the resilience help file says "The resilience skill increases your character's resistance to all forms of physical attack (poisons, cold, heat, etc.) The higher this skill, the less damage you will take from elemental type damage." Resilience will be cheaper to learn as you will already posses a small understanding of the skill. You should always aim to keep this three skills at an equal level and fairly high on your learning list priority. By now you will have run out of build points so you will need to explore the adventurers guild in search of experience. Offence --------- When you have worked on your defence and gained some levels you will want to work on your offence. As a monk you have to decide early on the path you will take, you have the choice of following the path of martial arts or conventional weapons. If you take the path of conventional weapons your early progress will be somewhat faster. If on the other hand you chose the path of martial arts initially you may feel at a disadvantage the benefits in your later career will be enormous. As conventional weapons are covered in the fighter.txt I will concentrate on the path of martial arts. The use of this skill is a little more complex than the one or two-handed weapons skill. MARTIAL ARTS and SPIRITUAL KARMA skills are related skills for the monk. You will soon find the availability of powerful magical weapons is limited to one or two handed weapons. Although there are some magical martial arts weapons the power of them is limited. A master of martial arts, however, fights best bare handed for the most part. This is where the spiritual karma skill comes in, this skill allows you to hit bare handed as if your hands were magical weapons. The higher the skill the higher the equivalent level of magical weapon. STUNNING BLOW is an awesomely good skill for monks especially when combined with the stealth skill. Here is what the help file has to say about stunning blow. "This skill represents your training in striking creatures in such a way as to cause them to be stunned or incapacitated. Whenever you strike a creature, your stunning blow chance is compared with the skill of the creature. If you succeed, the creature will be stunned or incapacitated for a while (length of time depending on your skill and that of the creature). " Other offensive skills that are useful for monks in order of importance(in my view that is) MULTIPLE ATTACK, CALLED SHOT and WARCRAFT. You should consult the fighter.txt for more information on these skills. Miscellaneous ----------------- I will only cover what I believe are the two initial skills you should be concentrating on in this group. Both could have been included to some extent in the offence or defence sections but they do have a more general use. STEALTH is a skill unique to Monk and Thief types, the other classes don't know what they are missing. Stealth combined with a high stunning blow skill can make a real difference in combat. If you enter a monsters location hidden and attack (no need to advance first) you stand a higher chance of hitting than normal. If you stun with that first attack you stand a very good chance of killing the monster. AWARENESS has a limited effect on your defence but is indispensable when it comes to exploring the land. If you don't have awareness you aren't going to find much in the way of hidden and secret exits and locations. A final word --------------- That's about it for this potted guide to becoming a monk. The basic points are build yourself a good defence before you worry about offence. Choose early which offence you will work with conventional or martial arts (I know which I recommend). Please remember there are many other skills you will need to progress to high status within the game but this guide combined with the fighter.text will give you a good start. Good luck and happy Monking Dr A.