There's something to be said about growing up in the big city. From an early age you quickly become savvy to the streets, develop quick smarts, and gain a hardiness one can only get in such a place.
Thus is the life for the street fighting monk.
Having being taught in a big city monk school, he sets out into the world of adventure to test his skills against other melee fighters. He especially derives great satisfaction from fighting other monks. Never one to back down from a challenge (however ignorant the challenger may be) he sees every fight as a learning experience for both competitors.
Unlike his country monastery kin, he loves the thrill of a cheering crowd, feeding off their limitless supply of energy to fuel his ki and strengthen his rock-like mind.
He lives by a code all of his own. One built on honour, discipline and self improvement. He is not averse to gambling on his own fights, choosing to use his winnings to buy equipment to improve his skills.
Adapting to almost any situation, the street fighting monk can hold his own against any opponent - be it melee or spellcaster.
Class Progression Monk 1-20 Fighter 21-24 Monk 25-40
Skills Priority on Discipline, Tumble and Spellcraft (20 ranks) The rest is up to the player, just make sure that you have an extra 2 points for Spellcraft every second level.
Feats 1)Toughness, Luck of Heroes 3)Weapon Focus (unarmed) 6)Dodge 9)Power Attack 12)Great Cleave 15)Improved Critical (unarmed) 18)Blind Fight 21)Armor Skin, Epic Weapon Focus (unarmed) 22)Epic Toughness I 24)Weapon Specialization (unarmed), Epic Weapon Specialization (unarmed) 27)Great Strength I 28)Improved Spell Resistance I 30)Great Strength II 33)Great Strength III 34)Improved Spell Resistance II 36)Great Strength IV 39)Great Strength V, Improved Spell Resistance III
Final Statistics Health Points - 392 AB - +38/+35/+32/+29/+26 AC - Naked:31 Equipment:48-49 Damage - 1-20 +16 (19-20/x2) Fortitude - 25 Reflex - 25 Will - 25
Equipment Go nuts on the monk-only items. Robes of the Dark Moon are good with it's inherent haste. Items with Strength boosting helps in the early stages. Universal saves are good and don't forget about AC boosters!!!
Final Notes This character is for a PW, don't know how it would stand against the OC. It's mainly PvM, would most likely get brutally assaulted in PvP (having no dev crit and average AC). I tried out dev crit but meh... not my kind of thing really.
And yep, circle kick is gone!
Edited By Kail Pendragon on 04/29/09 18:09
It looks extremely solid for PvM whether OC or other. In pvp it would certainly give casters a rough time. I'm not certain how you would fair vs. some of the melee or arcane archer builds. Odds are vs melee you would do ok if you can outdamage them.
What's your final SR?
Ach!
Forgot to post that! Well the final SR is 52.. nothing special (especially for a monk), but it gets rid of most nasties and you only get hit with ability decreasing spells every so often... though it usually doesn't matter with the STR.
Also, (according to the character anyway) his alignment is Lawful Neutral.
Edited By juicyplasma on 07/30/04 04:02
I think you would be better off with Monk 35 / Fighter 5. An additional attack (and the +ab that would go with it).
Just take your fifth level of fighter at level 24 like you have an get epic weapon spec there.
You would gain a lot and lose nothing but 1 SR.
Also, you took great cleave... so why don't you take Overwhelming Critical, and maybe Devastating Critical as well? Sacrifice 2 great STR feats for it. Your AB will net the same as it was (since you gain 1 from taking 4 fighter levels pre-epic) only your crits will be massively deadly.
~ Lock. _________________ "Life builds you up just to tear you down." - 3rd Strike
Edited By Lockindal on 07/30/04 07:44
I'm wondering why you take Dodge at level 6. Thanks.
Also, I didn't quite understand Lockindal's critique of your build. What exactly is the pro/cons of 5 levels of Fighter versus only 4? Thanks again.
Edited By jwp20 on 01/23/06 03:15
Looks nice, but I'd throw in 1 level of rogue for UMD or one level of wizard for maxing spellcraft and casting true strike. Reducing monk to 35 levels doesn't loose you much (1 SR).
Quote: Posted 01/23/06 03:11:11 (GMT) -- jwp20
I'm wondering why you take Dodge at level 6. Thanks.
Also, I didn't quite understand Lockindal's critique of your build. What exactly is the pro/cons of 5 levels of Fighter versus only 4? Thanks again.
The pro is to take 4 levels of fighter pre-epic. This gets you +1 BAB, which gives you a 6th attack per round. Then take the 5th fighter level on an epic feat level to pick up EWS.
Quote: Looks nice, but I'd throw in 1 level of rogue for UMD or one level of wizard for maxing spellcraft and casting true strike. Reducing monk to 35 levels doesn't loose you much (1 SR).
If you take 5 fighter levels as suggested above, then you do lose the level 35 bonus feat by taking something else. You also need to be careful about XP penalties if the 3rd class is a base one (as all the ones you suggested are). If you go that route, I would probably bump it up to 5 levels of the second class, and keep them balanced with the fighter levels. End at Monk 30/Fighter 5/ Whatever 5. Five levels of Wizard would let you get up to 3rd level spells, although you will need to bump your Int and drop something else to do it. Five levels of rogue will give some more skillpoints, several UMD dumps, and a bit of sneak damage (it's not a stealth build, but IKD generates sneak damage, and with 7-8 attacks per round even 3d6 will add up...).
TM
Quote: Posted 01/23/06 14:30:16 (GMT) -- Tattoed Monk The pro is to take 4 levels of fighter pre-epic. This gets you +1 BAB, which gives you a 6th attack per round. Then take the 5th fighter level on an epic feat level to pick up EWS.
Would you explain what taking levels "pre-epic" means? And what does it mean to take a level on an "epic feat level"?
Quote: Posted 01/23/06 14:30:16 (GMT) -- Tattoed Monk If you take 5 fighter levels as suggested above, then you do lose the level 35 bonus feat by taking something else.
What level 35 bonus feat?
Quote: Posted 01/23/06 21:34:40 (GMT) -- jwp20
Would you explain what taking levels "pre-epic" means?
Pre-epic means before level 20. In other words, at level 20 you need to have at least 4 fighter levels. Before level 20, different classes get different amounts of BAB per level. Monks get 3 per 4 levels, so a level 20 monk will have BAB 15. This will give him 5 attacks per round (+15/+12/+9/+6/+3). Fighters get 1 BAB per level, so dropping 4 monk levels for 4 fighter levels gets you 1 more BAB, for a final of 16. This gives the monk 6 attacks per round (+16/+13/+10/+7/+4/+1).
After level 20, all classes get 1 more point of AB per 2 levels, and the number of attacks per round gets frozen, so taking 4 fighter levels after level 20 won't gain you anything in terms of AB or # of attacks.
Quote: And what does it mean to take a level on an "epic feat level"?
You get to take general epic feats on character levels 21, 24, 27, 30, 33, 36, and 39 regardless of your class breakdown. If you take a fighter level on one of those levels, you can pick from the fighter feat list, which includes EWS.
Quote: What level 35 bonus feat?
Monks get bonus feats every 5 levels after 20, so they get one at monk level 25, 30, 35 and 40. You generally want to aim your build to end on a bonus feat level. So, a monk 35/fighter 5 build gets the monk bonus feat at monk level 35. Monks also gain 1 point of AC every 5 levels. Taking a 6th fighter level gets you a fighter bonus feat but costs you a monk bonus feat (i.e you don't really gain anything, and lose 1 monk level for calculating SR, speed, AC, quivering palm DC, etc.).
TM
Edited By Tattoed Monk on 01/23/06 21:53
So why does this build suggest taking fighter levels at 21 through 24?
Wouldn't it be better to take the fighter levels pre-epic, to get the extra AB and extra attack per round?
Yes, that was the point Lockindale was making.
TM
So it would look like this, right?
Class Progression Monk 1-14 Fighter 15-19 Monk 20-40
Quote: Posted 01/24/06 01:11:55 (GMT) -- jwp20
So it would look like this, right?
Class Progression Monk 1-14 Fighter 15-19 Monk 20-40
I would take: 1-16 Monk 17-21 Fighter(Take WS feat at 20, EWS at 21) 22-40 Monk
Edited By Talamier on 01/24/06 01:47
The only thing wrong with that is that you need to take Epic Weapon Focus before you can take Epic Weapon Specialization. So go Monk on 21, take Epic Weapon Focus. Then Take your 5th fighter level at 24 and take Epic Weapon Specialization there. _________________ If everyone is thinking alike, then someone is failing to think.
Why do you have to take a monk level at 21 in order to get epic weapon focus?
Quote: Posted 01/24/06 23:15:15 (GMT) -- jwp20
Why do you have to take a monk level at 21 in order to get epic weapon focus?
Quote: The only thing wrong with that is that you need to take Epic Weapon Focus before you can take Epic Weapon Specialization. So go Monk on 21, take Epic Weapon Focus. Then Take your 5th fighter level at 24 and take Epic Weapon Specialization there.
To recap: so you can take epic wpn specialization at 24, for which, epic wpn focus is a prerequisite.
Hope that helps
By the way, this build is older, so im boutin the poster is still around.
Edited By avado on 01/24/06 23:59
To clarify further, you don't need to be a monk to take EWF at 21, but you do need to save that 5th fighter level for 24 to take EWS. If you take a fighter level at 21, you can't take EWS there since you need to take EWF first. So then you would need to take a 6th fighter level at 22 or later to take EWS. Doing this would end up at Monk 34/Fighter 6. It would let you take EWS 3 levels sooner, but costs you 1 SR, 1 AC, and a bit of speed. Feats come out the same since you trade the monk bonus feat for a fighter bonus feat.
TM
Quote: Posted 01/24/06 06:31:17 (GMT) -- DarkStar27909 Then Take your 5th fighter level at 24 and take Epic Weapon Specialization there.
Yes but, according to the other posters here, if you take your 5th level of fighter after level 20 then you don't get your 6 attacks per round.
So why would you take your 5th fighter level at 24? I thought the whole point was to take 5 figher levels pre-epic, in order to get the 6 attacks per round.
Quote: Posted 01/25/06 03:40:10 (GMT) -- jwp20
Quote: Posted 01/24/06 06:31:17 (GMT) -- DarkStar27909 Then Take your 5th fighter level at 24 and take Epic Weapon Specialization there.
Yes but, according to the other posters here, if you take your 5th level of fighter after level 20 then you don't get your 6 attacks per round.
So why would you take your 5th fighter level at 24? I thought the whole point was to take 5 figher levels pre-epic, in order to get the 6 attacks per round.
You need 4 levels of fighter pre-epic to get 6 attacks/round.
You need 1 level of fighter post-epic in order to take EWS.
Therefore, since no level can be both pre-epic and post-epic, you need a total of at least 5 fighter levels.
So does this finally look right then?
This will work. Just to be really picky, I have 2 suggestions: 1 - for unarmed monk, take Monk 1-15, then 1 fighter, then monk at 17 for a tumble dump, then fighter 18-20. This lets you get tumble to 20 for +1 AC for levels 17-20. I does delay the maximum unarmed damage by 1 level. Doesn't matter if you start at level 21 or higher, but helps during levelling if you are playing it all the way through. 2 - if you use a kama monk, take the fighter levels early (like 3-6) to pick WS earlier.
TM
Can anyone post a rebuild of this build, with everything updated according to the posts in this thread?
Quote: Posted 01/24/06 23:58 (GMT) -- avado
By the way, this build is older, so im boutin the poster is still around.
i cant believe that i get to quote myself.. dude, this was OLD in 2006! It is a monk fighter build. Put it together yourself! You have everything you need! It is an excellent exercise in learning how to build.
Here Goob. Click Here Found it in the search engine on the guild front page.
That was for the guy looking for a fighter monk build. It should work fine if he wants a pattern to cut out.
The one in the linked thread isn't ideal. Here it is as an unarmed build:
Note that the lack of additional bonus feats in Epic means he has to use general feats for EWF, EWS, and Epic Prowess. He could pick up two more Great Str if he took either additional Fighter or CoT levels in Epic, which would give him +1 to AB and damage. He could take Overwhelming and Devastating Crit instead of the two Imp SR if you want Dev Crit (but crit range is only 19-20, no keen weapon possible).
If you want to dual-wield kamas instead, switch to Human, and drop Luck of Heroes and Lightning Reflexes. You will need to pump Dex by 1 while levelling before you get Ambidexterity. That means either find a way to squeeze in 1 more Great Str in epic, or drop 1 and free up an epic feat for something else (but Str drops to 28).
Personally, I like my Temple Guardian build, which takes 6 CoT levels and 4 fighter levels (4 CoT pre-epic, 4 fighter and 2 CoT epic). Gives you enough epic bonus feats for EWF, EWS, and EP, so you get to Str 32, and the CoT levels give you a nice boost to saves (especially Reflex, which gains +3 from CoT levels pre-epic in addition to the +3 to all saves from 6 CoT levels). You lose 5 monk levels, costing you some SR and 1 point of AC, but I think it's worth it for the saves, AB and damage.
You could also make a good argument for taking a few levels of Rogue for UMD dumps and sneak damage.