Post by Balduvard on Sept 24, 2006 20:59:08 GMT
This build mixes the high end damage capabilities of the Arcane Archer (with +15 enhancement granted at AA29) with the defensive capabilities of the Monk. Using Elf as a base race means that this class suffers no XP penalty due to Favored Class: Wizard. The end result is a quasi-tank that with the right equipment alone can stand it's ground in most situations, and with the right equipment and buffs can be nigh unkillable in most areas (regenerating 75+ HP per round with the aid of a druid/cleric, which are rarely in short supply for a LL party). The introduction of attacks of opportunity for ranged attackers means that this character can not easily wade into masses of enemies unscathed, but should remain defensive enough to hold their own (and can always switch to fists to avoid attacks of opportunity if necessary).
This build was originally made with a Wraith (see final character sheet in a following post), though Aquatic Elf is a good choice as a non-secret subrace that will both neutralize the Elf Constitution penalty and free up a ring slot. If you have it though, Planewalker is a good choice for this build, freeing up both ringslots as well as boosting the consitution. Stargazer has the unique capability of enabling this build to take epic dodge at the cost of some ability points but enables you to acquire more skills. Aquatic Elf on the other hand will by default have an abysmal amount of skill points...so you have to bump up the intelligence at creation if you hope to fulfill the minimum skill requirements for this build (113 skill points by level 40). If you want to skimp on your tumble or discipline, you can take the points out of intelligence and put them back into wisdom.
The subrace that adds the most to this build however is Erinyes, maxing out AB, AC, and saving throws at the cost of some immunities and the ability to breathe water. Not an amazing improvement over Planewalker--but there are situtations where every point counts. This build can easily be made with Half-Kyton, Half-Fiend, or roughly any subrace that adds to a combination of dexterity, constitution, and wisdom while keeping intelligence at a decent value. Such decisions concerning subrace speculation are outside the scope of this build and are best taken to the General Building Discussion forum.
Base Race: Elf - required for this build due to Weapon Proficiency - Elf which allows you to focus in longbow (monks are not proficient in longbows) without using a feat. Note that if you use Erinyes, you can use it with half-elf you wish. For the sake of simplicity we will base the stats of the Erinyes off of an elf.
Starting subrace choices (verbatim):
For using Wood Elf, see this post.
Level Progression: 9 Monk/1 Wiz/29 AA/1 Monk
Ability Additions: All Dexterity
Skill Selection: Maximize tumble whenever possible, put 40 points into tumble, 43 points in discipline, and at least 30 points into hide at L40. After this point all skill selection is at your discretion, but suggested investments are Listen (if not taking Blind Fight), Parry (critical damage reduction), Hide (for bonus concealment), Concentration (skill checks), and Craft Armor/Weapon.
Pre-epic feats:
Strong Soul
Point Blank Shot (Toughness for Erinyes)
Rapid Shot (Blind Fight/Great Fortitude for Erinyes)
Weapon Focus: Longbow (Greater Weapon Focus: Longbow for Erinyes)
Improved Critical: Longbow
Blind Fight (with Stargazer there are enough skill points to exchange this for Toughness and invest in Listen instead; Power Critical: Longbow for Erinyes)
Weapon Finesse (exchange with Toughness for extra HP or Greater Weapon Focus for extra AB, at the cost of being unable to melee; Iron Will for Erinyes)
Epic feats:
Armor Skin
Great Dexterity I & II
Great Dexterity III
Great Dexterity IV
Great Dexterity V
Great Dexterity VI
Great Dexterity VII
Great Dexterity VIII & IX (or Epic Prowess)
Great Dexterity X (Epic Weapon Focus [Superior Critical for Erinyes] if you took Epic Prowess)
Legendary Feats:
Legendary Weapon Focus (Epic Dodge for Stargazer)
Self Concealment I - V
Legendary Hardened Soul
Final Stats
(Aquatic Elf/Wraith/Stargazer/Planewalker/Erinyes)
L60 HP: 956 (896 for Stargazer or without Toughness)
L60 AB: 97/96/96/99/100 (Varies depending feat and skill selection)
AC (UR): 121/122/123/123/126
Saving throws
Fortitude: 63/63/62/63/63
Reflex: 77/78/77/77/79
Will: 60/60/62/61/65
Demigod bonuses: +2 AB, +4 AC, +2 to all saves
BUR/Artifact bonuses: +10 AC
Artifact of choice: Int artifact (confusion immunity)
Pros: High HP and saving throws, devastating endgame combat abilities, high damage AA abilities available during epic levels, hard to be killed with the right gear/buffs
Cons: Low damage in early levels, sub-par performance without good gear, lack of skills, severe danger if flatfooted
To define "good gear" (UR Quality)
Weapon: DB bows
Armor: Robes of Adoneiros Hawklight
Belt: Mithril Coil
Amulet: Lich-King's Phylactery
Rings: Always changing for area-specific damage, UR/R combo rings
Boots: UR boots, Coalwalker for regeneration, others for resistances
Cloak: Ectoplasmic Weave
Helmet: Titan's Top
Gloves: Brazen Defiance
The items listed above will max out Str, Dex, Con, and Wis (all the worthwhile abilities for this build) as well as providing 30% physical immunity, the +20 to saving throws, and a total of 35 regen (more if you equip a ring with regeneration such as Orb of Charm or Arcane Volt Guard for an additional +4 each).
If necessary you can switch to a shield (shield of choice being the Ever Watchful Eye for it's 10% element immunity) for the added AC (129) and benefits of a shield while wielding another weapon (which is why you took weapon finesse).
BUR Quality gear
Weapon: Legendary Archer Bow (All DB and Hell bows)
Armor: Bulwark of the Choralist
Belt: Eternal Belt of Preservation/Coil of Grabduk
Amulet: Divine Intervention
Rings: BUR rings (Band of Anubis/Signet of Mammon)
Boots: Clockwork Boots/Legendary Boots of Absorption
Cloak: Netherward Cloak/Baator's Embrace
Helmet: Helm of Zeal/Visor of Vigilance
Gloves: Reaching for Damnation/Evelynn's Arcing Armament
Bullet: Mote of Might
Balancing BUR and artifact gear is a bit more difficult as you have to weigh what you have available to yourself. Reaching for Damnation and Baator's embrace are both good Asmodeus artifacts to use, with substitute items in the event you have one or the other.
Alternate Build Ideas:
If you wanted to sacrifice some the damage potential of this build for more defense you could also drop AA levels in exchange for Monk levels to gain additional saving throws, AC, and Mind Immunity--the progression would then be:
12 Monk/1 Wiz/13 AA/1 Monk/6 AA/7 Monk
The Monk level at 27 to bump hide and tumble to 30 to unlock Self Concealment for epic levels. You lose 6 AB through this progression (1 base and your end Enchant Arrow is only X), but you gain 6 AC (2 from Monk bonuses at 15 and 20, and another 4 by having a control class with tumble as a class skill) along with a (marginally) better will save, and having SC:V (or Epic Dodge if using Stargazer) before legendary levels. More defensive, but you also lose the ability to use any of your AA abilities an unlimited number of times (though if you intended on only using your arrows all the time, this may seem a worthwhile choice). You also lose an epic bonus feat and have to take Great Dexterity V - X in legendary levels.
-Edit 1/14/07- Added Erinyes considerations to build
-Edit 10/5/06- Modified starting abilities table to make it more consistent with the modified abilities table in order to avoid confusion, included base race elf requirement, modified pre-epic feat list to show alternate feats
-Edit 10/2/06- Modified subrace names to be shown exactly as they are to be typed in, to avoid confusion
-Edit 9/29/06- Modified initial abilities structure to attain better will saves and AC (except as wraith, who instead gets better Con than before to bring it up to par with the other two subraces) and updated L60 stats accordingly. Fixed an issue regarding Aquatic Elves not having enough intelligence to get all the required skills by level 40. Added final character sheet for finished build.
-Edit 11/12/09- Redesigned builds to incorporate new skills and feats, added Stargazer as an option to obtain Epic Dodge.
This build was originally made with a Wraith (see final character sheet in a following post), though Aquatic Elf is a good choice as a non-secret subrace that will both neutralize the Elf Constitution penalty and free up a ring slot. If you have it though, Planewalker is a good choice for this build, freeing up both ringslots as well as boosting the consitution. Stargazer has the unique capability of enabling this build to take epic dodge at the cost of some ability points but enables you to acquire more skills. Aquatic Elf on the other hand will by default have an abysmal amount of skill points...so you have to bump up the intelligence at creation if you hope to fulfill the minimum skill requirements for this build (113 skill points by level 40). If you want to skimp on your tumble or discipline, you can take the points out of intelligence and put them back into wisdom.
The subrace that adds the most to this build however is Erinyes, maxing out AB, AC, and saving throws at the cost of some immunities and the ability to breathe water. Not an amazing improvement over Planewalker--but there are situtations where every point counts. This build can easily be made with Half-Kyton, Half-Fiend, or roughly any subrace that adds to a combination of dexterity, constitution, and wisdom while keeping intelligence at a decent value. Such decisions concerning subrace speculation are outside the scope of this build and are best taken to the General Building Discussion forum.
Base Race: Elf - required for this build due to Weapon Proficiency - Elf which allows you to focus in longbow (monks are not proficient in longbows) without using a feat. Note that if you use Erinyes, you can use it with half-elf you wish. For the sake of simplicity we will base the stats of the Erinyes off of an elf.
Starting subrace choices (verbatim):
For using Wood Elf, see this post.
"Elf - Aquatic Elf" Con +2 Int -2 Breathes Water | "Wraith" (Secret) Str -3 Dex +3 Int +1 Feat: Aura of Courage Feat: Perfect Health Immunity: Death Magic Immunity: Sleep +6 Hide/Move Silently | "Stargazer" (Ultrarare) Int +4 Wis +4 Cha -2 Feat: Spell focus - divination Feat: Defensive Roll | "Planewalker" (Ultrarare) Str -2 Dex +2 Con +2 Int +2 Breathes Water Walks on Quicksand 5% Immunity to Acid/Cold/Fire/Electric/Sonic | "Erinyes" (Beyond Ultrarare) Dex +6 Con +2 Wis +4 Cha -2 Walks on Quicksand Feats: Point Blank Shot, Rapid Shot, Weapon Focus Longbow, Epic Weapon Focus Longbow |
Starting Abilities (Aquatic Elf/Wraith/Stargazer/Planewalker/Erinyes) (8/8/10/8/8) (18/17/18/16/16) (14/16/14/14/14) (14/14/14/16/16) (12/8/10/12/12) (8/8/8/8/8) | STR DEX CON WIS INT CHA | Modified Abilities (Aquatic Elf/Wraith/Stargazer/Planewalker/Erinyes) (8/5/10/6/8) (18/20/18/18/22) (16/16/14/16/16) (14/14/18/16/20) (10/9/14/14/12) (8/8/6/8/6) |
Level Progression: 9 Monk/1 Wiz/29 AA/1 Monk
Ability Additions: All Dexterity
Skill Selection: Maximize tumble whenever possible, put 40 points into tumble, 43 points in discipline, and at least 30 points into hide at L40. After this point all skill selection is at your discretion, but suggested investments are Listen (if not taking Blind Fight), Parry (critical damage reduction), Hide (for bonus concealment), Concentration (skill checks), and Craft Armor/Weapon.
Pre-epic feats:
Strong Soul
Point Blank Shot (Toughness for Erinyes)
Rapid Shot (Blind Fight/Great Fortitude for Erinyes)
Weapon Focus: Longbow (Greater Weapon Focus: Longbow for Erinyes)
Improved Critical: Longbow
Blind Fight (with Stargazer there are enough skill points to exchange this for Toughness and invest in Listen instead; Power Critical: Longbow for Erinyes)
Weapon Finesse (exchange with Toughness for extra HP or Greater Weapon Focus for extra AB, at the cost of being unable to melee; Iron Will for Erinyes)
Epic feats:
Armor Skin
Great Dexterity I & II
Great Dexterity III
Great Dexterity IV
Great Dexterity V
Great Dexterity VI
Great Dexterity VII
Great Dexterity VIII & IX (or Epic Prowess)
Great Dexterity X (Epic Weapon Focus [Superior Critical for Erinyes] if you took Epic Prowess)
Legendary Feats:
Legendary Weapon Focus (Epic Dodge for Stargazer)
Self Concealment I - V
Legendary Hardened Soul
Final Stats
(Aquatic Elf/Wraith/Stargazer/Planewalker/Erinyes)
L60 HP: 956 (896 for Stargazer or without Toughness)
L60 AB: 97/96/96/99/100 (Varies depending feat and skill selection)
AC (UR): 121/122/123/123/126
Saving throws
Fortitude: 63/63/62/63/63
Reflex: 77/78/77/77/79
Will: 60/60/62/61/65
Demigod bonuses: +2 AB, +4 AC, +2 to all saves
BUR/Artifact bonuses: +10 AC
Artifact of choice: Int artifact (confusion immunity)
Pros: High HP and saving throws, devastating endgame combat abilities, high damage AA abilities available during epic levels, hard to be killed with the right gear/buffs
Cons: Low damage in early levels, sub-par performance without good gear, lack of skills, severe danger if flatfooted
To define "good gear" (UR Quality)
Weapon: DB bows
Armor: Robes of Adoneiros Hawklight
Belt: Mithril Coil
Amulet: Lich-King's Phylactery
Rings: Always changing for area-specific damage, UR/R combo rings
Boots: UR boots, Coalwalker for regeneration, others for resistances
Cloak: Ectoplasmic Weave
Helmet: Titan's Top
Gloves: Brazen Defiance
The items listed above will max out Str, Dex, Con, and Wis (all the worthwhile abilities for this build) as well as providing 30% physical immunity, the +20 to saving throws, and a total of 35 regen (more if you equip a ring with regeneration such as Orb of Charm or Arcane Volt Guard for an additional +4 each).
If necessary you can switch to a shield (shield of choice being the Ever Watchful Eye for it's 10% element immunity) for the added AC (129) and benefits of a shield while wielding another weapon (which is why you took weapon finesse).
BUR Quality gear
Weapon: Legendary Archer Bow (All DB and Hell bows)
Armor: Bulwark of the Choralist
Belt: Eternal Belt of Preservation/Coil of Grabduk
Amulet: Divine Intervention
Rings: BUR rings (Band of Anubis/Signet of Mammon)
Boots: Clockwork Boots/Legendary Boots of Absorption
Cloak: Netherward Cloak/Baator's Embrace
Helmet: Helm of Zeal/Visor of Vigilance
Gloves: Reaching for Damnation/Evelynn's Arcing Armament
Bullet: Mote of Might
Balancing BUR and artifact gear is a bit more difficult as you have to weigh what you have available to yourself. Reaching for Damnation and Baator's embrace are both good Asmodeus artifacts to use, with substitute items in the event you have one or the other.
Alternate Build Ideas:
If you wanted to sacrifice some the damage potential of this build for more defense you could also drop AA levels in exchange for Monk levels to gain additional saving throws, AC, and Mind Immunity--the progression would then be:
12 Monk/1 Wiz/13 AA/1 Monk/6 AA/7 Monk
The Monk level at 27 to bump hide and tumble to 30 to unlock Self Concealment for epic levels. You lose 6 AB through this progression (1 base and your end Enchant Arrow is only X), but you gain 6 AC (2 from Monk bonuses at 15 and 20, and another 4 by having a control class with tumble as a class skill) along with a (marginally) better will save, and having SC:V (or Epic Dodge if using Stargazer) before legendary levels. More defensive, but you also lose the ability to use any of your AA abilities an unlimited number of times (though if you intended on only using your arrows all the time, this may seem a worthwhile choice). You also lose an epic bonus feat and have to take Great Dexterity V - X in legendary levels.
-Edit 1/14/07- Added Erinyes considerations to build
-Edit 10/5/06- Modified starting abilities table to make it more consistent with the modified abilities table in order to avoid confusion, included base race elf requirement, modified pre-epic feat list to show alternate feats
-Edit 10/2/06- Modified subrace names to be shown exactly as they are to be typed in, to avoid confusion
-Edit 9/29/06- Modified initial abilities structure to attain better will saves and AC (except as wraith, who instead gets better Con than before to bring it up to par with the other two subraces) and updated L60 stats accordingly. Fixed an issue regarding Aquatic Elves not having enough intelligence to get all the required skills by level 40. Added final character sheet for finished build.
-Edit 11/12/09- Redesigned builds to incorporate new skills and feats, added Stargazer as an option to obtain Epic Dodge.