Post by Vichya on Feb 16, 2013 9:11:21 GMT
Monks can be great tanks on this server, thanks to their innate immunities, high armor class and good concealment. And since monks are one of my favourite D&D classes I wanted to create a good build that uses the unique monk weapon - their fists.
Goals
The first decision when creating a monk is whether to have strength or dexterity as the main ability. While using dexterity seems like a good choice at first because it gives higher armor class I think it is a poor choice for a monk. Even a strength monk has a lot of armor class and he gets a few benefits that a dex monk doesn't, like immunity to critical hits, higher physical immunity and more damage.
The second choice is whether to be a pure monk or use splash classes. Pure monks have higher concealment, keen gloves and a higher DC on stunning fist. Using a splash class can give more attacks per round and higher saves. For this build I decided to take four blackguard classes, which give me a higher attack bonus, more attacks per round and still nearly the best concealment.
Fist monks have two features that make them unique amoung tanks: their weapons are automatically buffed with wisdom modifier enhancement bonus up to +16 and they can use different kinds of physical damage. Dis gloves do bludgeoning damage, Minauros gloves slashing and Abyss gloves exist in all three versions.
The +16 enhancement bonus on gloves is nice, especially for mega-damage gloves when fighting abyss demon lords, but it is not extremely important as Dis and Min gloves have +16 attack bonus on them.
The ability to select the physical damage type however is very important especially since the physical damage is quite high with this build, up to 1d20+95.
Like all builds with monk levels this one benefits a lot from demi and paragon level bonuses. Without these bonuses this build is not nearly as strong as the final stats suggest. Nevertheless it is possible to play it from level 1, but you can't expect to perform as well then.
Changelog:
2013-02-16: initial version
2013-02-22: updated build, added stats at various levels
Goals
- High armor class and concealment
- Good saves
- Resistent to both strength and dexterity checks
- Good damage against critical-hit immune enemies
- Final wisdom score of 42 to get the maximum bonus on gloves
The first decision when creating a monk is whether to have strength or dexterity as the main ability. While using dexterity seems like a good choice at first because it gives higher armor class I think it is a poor choice for a monk. Even a strength monk has a lot of armor class and he gets a few benefits that a dex monk doesn't, like immunity to critical hits, higher physical immunity and more damage.
The second choice is whether to be a pure monk or use splash classes. Pure monks have higher concealment, keen gloves and a higher DC on stunning fist. Using a splash class can give more attacks per round and higher saves. For this build I decided to take four blackguard classes, which give me a higher attack bonus, more attacks per round and still nearly the best concealment.
Mnk 36/Blk 4 (Mnk 16/Blk 4 pre-epic) | |
| Race | Human - Zenythri |
Abilities at character creation (Str, Dex, Con, Int, Wis, Cha) | 16, 15, 10, 12, 14, 8 |
| Ability increases | All in strength |
| Pre-epic feats | Luck of Heros Strong Soul Weapon Focus Greater Weapon Focus Power Critical Extra Stunning Attacks Great Fortitude Toughness |
| Epic feats | Great Dexterity 1-3 Great Strength 1-4 |
| Monk survival ability | Levitation or Waterbreathing |
| Monk bonus feats | Epic Weapon Focus Epic Prowess Armor Skin |
| Legendary feats | Legendary Weapon Focus Legendary Weapon Specialization Great Strength 5-7 Great Wisdom 1+2 |
| Paragon feats | Paragon Weapon Focus Paragon Weapon Specialization Inherent Waterbreathing or Levitation Great Strength 8 Improved Stunning Fist 3+4 |
| Artifact | The Orb of Dragonkind |
| Pandect | Stunning Fist |
| Skills at 60 | Concentration 35 Craft Armor 63 Discipline 63 Hide 23 Listen 63 Parry 63 Tumble 60 |
| Pargon skill points | Hide 40 Parry 10 Listen 10 |
Abilities (Str, Dex, Con, Int, Wis, Cha) | AB | AC | Saves (F/R/W) | Stunning Fist DC | |
| 40 (with +12 gear) | 46, 34, 22, 24, 30, 20 | 69 | 118 | 59/59/58 | 38 |
| 60 (with +14 gear) | 61, 36, 26, 26, 34, 22 | 94 | 130 | enough | 55 |
| 60, double demi (with +14 gear) | 65, 40, 30, 30, 38, 26 | 96 | 137 | enough | 59 |
| 80, double demi (with +16 gear) | 70, 44, 34, 34, 42, 30 | 106 | 141 | more than enough | 66 |
Fist monks have two features that make them unique amoung tanks: their weapons are automatically buffed with wisdom modifier enhancement bonus up to +16 and they can use different kinds of physical damage. Dis gloves do bludgeoning damage, Minauros gloves slashing and Abyss gloves exist in all three versions.
The +16 enhancement bonus on gloves is nice, especially for mega-damage gloves when fighting abyss demon lords, but it is not extremely important as Dis and Min gloves have +16 attack bonus on them.
The ability to select the physical damage type however is very important especially since the physical damage is quite high with this build, up to 1d20+95.
Like all builds with monk levels this one benefits a lot from demi and paragon level bonuses. Without these bonuses this build is not nearly as strong as the final stats suggest. Nevertheless it is possible to play it from level 1, but you can't expect to perform as well then.
Changelog:
2013-02-16: initial version
2013-02-22: updated build, added stats at various levels
