Final Fantasy: why are 'naked' monks more effective at fighting than armed monks?

belgurdo

Banned
I'm playing DOS FF and I've got a party of two monks, a fighter, and a red mage, and I was given the suggestion to de-equip my monks of everything around level 10 or so. But despite the noticable lack of high stats they're kicking ass and surviving boss fights that are leaving my fighter and RM hurting, despite the large amount of HP damage they're taking. Why is this?
 
'Everybody was kung-fu fighting
Those cats were fast as lightning
In fact it was a little bit frightning
But they fought with expert timing...'
 
I'd assume it's a nod to the (A)D&D monk.

From a gamefaqs character guide:

Black Belt/Grand Master

Pros:
The black belt is the lowest-costing character in the game (unless you count
costs for staying at the inn and Heal potions). Every level-up a black belt
gains 2 points to Damage and, on average, 3 points to hit percentage. That
means at level 50, a Black Belt hits for 100 Damage. Not bad for no weapons,
huh? Also, every 10 levels, the Black Belt will start naturally adding 2 more
hits. This means at level 9, they will hit twice and do (approximately) 50
damage on certain enemies, while at level 10 they will hit 4 times and do 100.
Also, their absorb gains a point every level-up, so by the end of the game
they've got an absorb rate that rivals that of Knights and their best armor,
and their evade never drops because you never equipped any armor. Very nice!

Cons:
The black belt starts off extremely slow. Their damage is horrendously low,
and if you equip them with Nunchaku for more damage, they seem to drop off the
scale in hit percentage. Their armor benefits aren't very good, either - you
can equip them with armor, but it will always give them a standard upgrade.
If they reach a level where they are naturally as strong as the armor they are
wearing, then they will eventually get WEAKER when equipping that armor.
Bottom line - if you want a black belt, keep 'em in the back, where they won't
die too quickly...you will reap massive rewards for doing so.

Overall:
The trick to using a Black Belt is to get equipment that they won't advance
past for quite a while (Rings work good), then, after every level up, de-equip
those items, then re-equip them. During the beginning, it's good to have them
using Nunchaku, despite the low hit rate. Without them, they may hit
consistantly, but until they get their damage rating up high enough (at about
level 5 or 6), they'll only hit twice for about 2 damage.
 
Cause they know Kung Fu....

Dood AD&D Monks could fall from great heights and land with no problem because they would periodically touch the wall they were falling next to on the way down... so cool.
 
Not to mention that by channeling their Ki power they change the properties of their fist for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction!
 
I think its because of the rational that the monks' power comes from their bare hands, so equipping them with weapons really just sort of hinders what they're capable of.
 
Ristamar said:
I'd assume it's a nod to the (A)D&D monk.

From a gamefaqs character guide:

A lot of that stuff isn't true for Dawn of Souls. Basically, there was a MAJOR bug with the BB / Master on the NES that screwed up his damage AND his armor rating at a level up. I would imagine he'd be even stronger because he doesn't seem to require as much babysitting in DOS. But what would I know?

Interesting note: In the original version of FF, for the MSX I believe, the BB / Master had no special abilities. None. He was just a big piece of crap.
 
Whoa. I'm at level 25 and I totally spaced on the Black Belt. Just took the stupid nunchaku away from him and now he's doing 250+ damage on six hits. I love that fucker.
 
I don't remember for sure, but didn't pre-Advanced D&D have a monk in a supplement book that was significantly more powerful than the 3rd edition monk? Like at 20th level, he could kill people with his mind?
 
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