Poschengband Skillmaster: what skills would make a fun monk?

[Brouhaha]

You decide what fun means, but explain where and why you’d place the other ten points!

[murphy]

since you specifically said fun instead of sensible, I'll go
5 archery
3 perception
1 create ammo
1 stone skin

sniper monk!

[wobbly]

5 demon
3 sorcery
clear mind
massacre

For an eventual demonlord monk. Heck if you don't play this I'll get round to having another go.

[Brouhaha]

5 demon
3 sorcery
clear mind
massacre

For an eventual demonlord monk. Heck if you don't play this I'll get round to having another go.

This sounds cool as hell. Never played with sorcery or demon magic. I’m at work now, can you give me an idea of how they’d help a monk?

[Antoine]

Are you going to struggle from the lack of some other skills like speed / saving throw / magic device / whatever? (I haven't played Skillmaster)

[CyclopsSlayer]

One question, Retaliation seems like a huge portion of a Monk's damage, will you suffer severely from not having it?

[wobbly]

pretty sure you get retaliation if you take 5 unarmed pips (in fact you do)

[CyclopsSlayer]

pretty sure you get retaliation if you take 5 unarmed pips (in fact you do)

AH! Good to know. I may try that someday.

[wobbly]

@Brouhaha - Demon gives ok-ish offense spells (who cares kick/punch everything), detects (eventually telepathy), nice resists & eventually demonform (book 3), demonlord form(book 4 & very nice, like *very nice*)
sorcery is just util, could be replaced by speed/device or hps by preference.
Massacre gives a whirlwind style atttack
clear mind is just a mana regen thing

[Brouhaha]

So far I've found only ONE problem with Skillmasters. They don't start in town. Unless you pick Martial Arts or Stealth, there's a shockingly good chance you're going to die to an irate sparrow, town drunk, or novice anything before you can grab your first weapon or spellbook.

Wobbly, go crazy with your demon monk! Post your character and plenty of notes on the ladder. I think I'm going to try a Throwing Weapon guy. I wonder if you can do a thrown backstab with three points in stealth...

[CyclopsSlayer]

For the 'Demon Monk', would it be better with 3 Awareness instead of the Sorcery? Kind of combining Loremaster with Telepathy?
Rods of Detect aren't all that rare.

How much mana does Clear mind return? The description implies it isn't much. Would !Clarity and such serve and free up the point?

[wobbly]

Demon magic has a telepathy spell, as does sorcery. Anyway a fair bit is arbitrary. You could move all the util from sorcery on devices & go device/speed/health. Athena has clear mind for free. You could take eat magic instead, though I think skillmasters get a weaker version.

Clear mind is not much yeah but if you get out of LOS it's ok. Last time I used it was nature though. With nature you can wall yourself in stone & clear at your leisure, so it may not be as good as I remember it being.