I keep seeing people talk about using staves with monks. What use is unarmed to a monk if the optimal build is armsmaster + staff?

For Staff Grandmaster, it says: May use the Unarmed Skill while using a staff. I assume that means you also make your unarmed attacks while using a staff. (I don't know for sure). I also don't know if Hammerhands augments it.

I imagine depending on various factors, you might find fists to be more valuable than your current staff sometimes, especially with Hammerhands. Depends if you find an "uber-staff" or not. I only ever made one monk, so I don't remember much.

It isn't just armsmaster + staff. It is armsmaster + staff + unarmed. GM Staff lets you use the Unarmed skill while still using a staff, which means you get the bonuses from both skills at the same time.

Rank 10 in Staff + Rank 10 in Unarmed costs many fewer skill points than Rank 20 in either Staff or Unarmed. In addition, you can get the Stun chance from the Staff at the same time that you get the Evasion chance from Unarmed.

Tack on Leather + Dodge, and you've got a pretty beastly melee character.

Edit: Armsmaster boosts Staff, and I think it might boost Unarmed as well (not sure about whether it helps Unarmed directly). If it boosts both skills, then you're getting double benefit from armsmaster as well.
Edit 2: Looks like armsmaster doesn't boost Unarmed due to a bug, so nvm these edits.
Edit 3: Another correction: Armsmaster doesn't boost Unarmed damage, though it does apparently boost attack.

Thanks for the replies. It looks like it's only the top level staff that allows you to use the unarmed skill with it? So until that point you're making a choice between one or the other?

Hello,
That is correct. But when you do get there, it is beastly. It is my favorite build for the evil path.

1 more question.

If you equip a bow, does the game still consider the melee combat unarmed?

If you are not holding a weapon in your hands, you are unarmed for male. A bow only counts for ranged attacks.

Edit: Boop the booping auto-correct. That should be "unarmed for melee".

That's what I figured, but thought I'd ask just in case.

Thanks for the help!

Females excluded :P

This reminds me of how Might and Magic 2 has the totally nonsensical mechanic of gender-based physical immunity. Basically, certain enemies are immune to physical attacks from male (but not female) characters, and certain other are immune to physical attacks from female (but not male) characters. Does that make *any* sense at all?

(Does MM1 have this mechanic? Also, what happens in MM2 if a character is neither male nor female?)

Maybe the women are Valkyries imbued with magic powers!

Well, in some cases it could be explainable. I don't know if this is true in the game, but a "Seductress" could be immune to attacks from males due to her overwhelming attractiveness.