Cleric/Monk.

[Guildmaster_Kadish]

An alternate route for the 14 Cleric/ 2 Monk. This is the character I plan to play come Mod7. WARNING: This build is somewhat tome/equipment intensive to meet its full potential.

Now, down to business:

Race: Halfling

Starting Statistics:
Str: 12
Dex: 16
Con: 12
Int: 8
Wis: 18
Cha: 8

Final Statistics:
Str: 18 (12 Base + 6 Divine Power + 2 Tome - 2 Stance)
Dex: 26 (16 Base + 6 Item + 2 Halfling Enhancement + 2 Tome)
Con: 20 (12 Base + 6 Item + 2 Tome)
Int: 10 (8 Base + 2 Tome @ Level 1)
Wisdom: 36 (18 Base + 6 Item + 3 Enhancement + 2 Tome + 1 Shroud Item + 4 @ Levels + 2 Monk Stance)
Cha: 8

Level Progression:
Level 1:
Cleric. Feats: Extend Spell. Skill Points: UMD.
Eat a +2 Int. Tome, +1 Str. Tome.

Level 2:
Monk. Feats: Power Attack. Skill Points: UMD & Concentration.

Level 3:
Cleric. Feats: Mental Toughness. Skill Points: UMD & Concentration.

Level 4:
Cleric. +1 Wisdom. Skill Points: UMD & Concentration.

Level 5:
Cleric. Skill Points: UMD & Concentration.

Level 6:
Cleric. Feats: Maximize Spell. Skill Points: UMD & Concentration.

Level 7:
Cleric. Skill Points: UMD & Concentration.

Level 8:
Cleric. +1 Wisdom. Skill Points: UMD & Concentration.

Level 9:
Cleric. Feats: Empower Spell. Skill Points: UMD & Concentration.

Level 10:
Cleric. Skill Points: UMD & Concentration.

Level 11:
Monk. Feats: Weapon Finesse. Skill Points: UMD & Concentration.

Level 12:
Cleric. +1 Wisdom. Feats: Heighten Spell. Skill Points: UMD & Concentration.

Level 13:
Cleric. Skill Points: UMD & Concentration.

Level 14:
Cleric. Skill Points: UMD & Concentration.

Level 15:
Cleric. Feats: Improved Mental Toughness or Quicken Spell. Skill Points: UMD & Concentration.

Level 16:
Cleric. +1 Wisdom. Skill Points: UMD & Concentration.

Equipment (Ideal)
Trinket: Head of Good Fortune
Helmet: Minos Legens
Goggles: Neg/Pos/Neg+Pos SP. (Can do without third Tier, or can not bother with Dual-Shard Third-Tier)
Necklace: +6 Constitution
Cloak: +4/5 Resistance/Greensteel HP
Gloves: +6 Dexterity
Belt: GFL
Ring: Chattering Ring
Ring: +5 Protection
Bracers: +7 Armored Bracers
Boots: Striding/Boots of the Innocent
Weapon: Mineral II Kama: Holy, +1 Wis, +4 AC, Superior Potency Kama (preferably... otherwise scepter)
Armor: Blue Dragonscale Robe

Armor Class:
10 Base
13 Wisdom
8 Dexterity
7 Armored Bracers
5 Protection
3 Dodge (Chattering Ring)
1 Haste
3 Barkskin Potion
2 Recitation
1 Alchemical
4 Shroud Item
4 Shield
58 AC Self-Buffed. 55 Without Chattering Ring.
62 With Bardsong, 64 With Full Barkskin, 68 with Paladin. No Boosts or CE.

Hitpoints:
20 Heroic Durability
10 Draconic Vitality
112 (14 Cleric)
16 (2 Monk)
80 Con Bonus
18 Minos Legens
5 Tortoise
30 Greater False Life
291 HP Unbuffed
336 with HP Cloak and Boots of the Innocent.

Spell Points
680 (Cleric 14)
170 MT/IMT
110 Enhancement
299 Wisdom Bonus
300 Shroud Goggles
1513

Attack Bonus
8 Dexterity
16 BAB
4 GH
1 Haste
2 Recitation
5 Weapon
1 Halfling
=5 Power Attack
+32 First Swing W/ Power Attack.

Saves:
F/R/W:
9/4/9 14 Cleric
3/3/3 2 Monk
1/1/1 Halfling
4/4/4 Greater Heroism
5/8/13 Attribute
4/4/4 Resistance
2/2/2 Water Stance
2/2/2 Head of Good Fortune
30/28/38

UMD:
9.5 Ranks
4 GH
3 Cartouche (Switch in and Out for Equipping)
2 Head of Good Fortune
5 Shroud Goggles (Level 3)
23.5
20.5 With only Tier 2 Goggles or without Cartouche.

Enhancements Room for some creativity here.
Energy of the Zealot, Water Stance, Tortoise Path 1, Life Magic, Cleric Wis, Halfling Dex, Smiting Magic, Wand Mastery, Critical Enhancements, Spell Penetration are all good ideas.

Again, the stats for the build detailed above are pretty loot-intensive, but I can see the character being pretty powerful.

[Paragon]

Try switching the first level of monk to 3 or 4 where you can actually get weapon finesse. 1 clr + 1 mnk = 0 bab, therefore no finesse:



Level 2:
Monk. Feats: Weapon Finesse. Skill Points: UMD & Concentration.

[Impaqt]

These bonuses to AC apply even against touch attacks or when the monk is flat-footed. She loses these bonuses when she is immobilized or helpless, when she wears any armor, when she carries a shield, or when she carries a medium or heavy load.

A Sheild would lose you ALL your wisdom bonus to your AC.....

Other than that looks pretty close to my build... I dont see the point of Raising str so much.. WIth Robes/Cloths instead of armor, Encumberacnce whoudl be an issue and this certaily isnt a DPS build.....

I also dont like Heighten on any build that has a reduced Spell Level.... Your best spell that can take advantage of Heighten (Destructin) gains no benefit.

[Impaqt]

Try switching the first level of monk to 3 or 4 where you can actually get weapon finesse. 1 clr + 1 mnk = 0 bab, therefore no finesse:


AH! Good catch, No one caught that in my build.... I'll have to adjust mine as well.

[Guildmaster_Kadish]

Try switching the first level of monk to 3 or 4 where you can actually get weapon finesse. 1 clr + 1 mnk = 0 bab, therefore no finesse:

Good point. I just switched PA and Weapon Finesse, but it would also work fine to just wait on the monk level till 3 or 4.
Also, some other points for variability: You could make your shroud weapon do +2 wisdom instead of +4 AC (netting 23 sp, 1 DC, and 3 lower AC). Also, Quicken vs IMT is just a personal call, it all depends on how much you like quicken.

[Guildmaster_Kadish]

These bonuses to AC apply even against touch attacks or when the monk is flat-footed. She loses these bonuses when she is immobilized or helpless, when she wears any armor, when she carries a shield, or when she carries a medium or heavy load.

A Sheild would lose you ALL your wisdom bonus to your AC.....

Woops. Good catch-updating now.


Other than that looks pretty close to my build... I dont see the point of Raising str so much.. WIth Robes/Cloths instead of armor, Encumberacnce whoudl be an issue and this certaily isnt a DPS build.....

It may not be a DPS build, but it is designed to be able to support-tank reasonably well. It is also an option to grab the Fire stance for meleeing, switching between it and water for casting/meleeing. With the Mineral II Kama, you'd be getting:
6 Str (Fire Stance)
5 PA
5 Weapon
3.5 Base
7 Holy
2.5 Slicing
1 Prayer
29 damage per swing on a non-crit, 48.5 on a crit. Obviously not even close to any sort of fighter, Barb, Ranger, or Rogue, but not useless. At about 120 swings per minute, you get 102 hits and 12 crits in a minute, for a total of 3540 damage per minute. This translates to approximately 59 damage per second.

Yes, it isn't that great. But it's better than having another few hitpoints. With the AC, Saves, Evasion, and Healing Power you have, you can pump out a decent bit of damage over the course of a fight. You can hold your own in meleee without much trouble, even if you won't be competing with the fighters.

With the AC, Saves, and Evasion of the build, I far prefer to raise strength to at least a moderate level than to get another 16 or so hp. IMO, more con is a waste of points on such a strong defensive build, especially since it is a cleric and does not need to rely on others for quick healing.


I also dont like Heighten on any build that has a reduced Spell Level.... Your best spell that can take advantage of Heighten (Destructin) gains no benefit.

Heighten means your Slay Livings are exactly like your Destructions. Being next to monsters won't be a problem for the build, it just takes another half second to run up to it. Heighten also allows you to use lower-level crowd control such as soundburst effectively in high-level content, and makes your cometfalls, blade barriers, and harms harder to resist. It also increases the DC on Greater Command, Symbol of Persuasion, and Banishment. Besides, Heighten will continue to work effectively for the character up through level 20... it isn't as if the character is going to be stuck with reduced spell levels forever. I would not even consider making the character without Heighten. But maybe that's just me.

Thanks for the comments, I appreciate the input.

[Impaqt]

-2 STR means just one point less damage per hit. SInce your finesse, it doesnt effect To hit at all and Jump and swim arent really all that improtatnt.

+2 Con means 16 More Hit pints and another Point of COncentration. and without Quicken, I'd suggest all the concentration you can get. Especially if you realy think your gonna melee a lot in the upper levels.

I run 2 battle oriented clerics. Neither one cares to melee at l16.

L9 Spells are a good reason to save Heighten for l18 if you really thik ya need it. WIth the extra Wisdom the build offers Plus Wisdom on the Shroud items our DC's are already ahead of most other clerics. Crowd COntrl Spell, Whichbenefit the most from Higher DC's are gimped a bit due to the reduced Spell Penn in builds like this anyway. A Heightened Soundburst really falls flat when ya cant get past SR Reliably.

Mobs Make their saves on Blade Barrier or they dont. I know that sounds dumb, but its true... We run into mobs with Really high Reflex saves or really low ones. There arent many inbetween where a Heightened blade barrier would make the difference.

[Guildmaster_Kadish]

-2 STR means just one point less damage per hit. SInce your finesse, it doesnt effect To hit at all and Jump and swim arent really all that improtatnt. Yes. But 1 more damage on every swing, to me, is more worthwhile than having half a hit more hp on a high ac, high saves, evasion cleric.

+2 Con means 16 More Hit pints and another Point of COncentration. and without Quicken, I'd suggest all the concentration you can get. Especially if you realy think your gonna melee a lot in the upper levels. IMO, 16 hp aren't going to make a big difference--you won't be taking a whole lot of damage, and you can heal yourself when you do. Regarding concentration and quicken... I do have mentioned in my OP that Quicken is another good option instead of IMT. The hope is that you won't be hit while casting spells a whole lot, so it won't be a big issue, but if it is, there is certainly room to pick up quicken.

I run 2 battle oriented clerics. Neither one cares to melee at l16. I must confess that I have never played a cleric past level 6. I do, however, have a battle sorceror whose melee capabilities I thoroughly enjoy. However, your point is well taken and duly considered. It is certainly not unreasonable to swap 2 points of strength for 2 points of constitution based on personal play preference.

L9 Spells are a good reason to save Heighten for l18 if you really thik ya need it. WIth the extra Wisdom the build offers Plus Wisdom on the Shroud items our DC's are already ahead of most other clerics. Crowd COntrl Spell, Whichbenefit the most from Higher DC's are gimped a bit due to the reduced Spell Penn in builds like this anyway. A Heightened Soundburst really falls flat when ya cant get past SR Reliably. Spell Pen is only 2 lower than a pure cleric, and only 1 lower than a cleric splashing sorceror, paladin, or wizard... I really don't see how that is much of an argument against taking heighten. A destruction is just as subject to SR as a soundburst--and in neither case does SR have any bearing on the issue of Heighten, which affects DCs. If anything, a cleric that has lower spell pen ought to have higher DCs to make the most of when they do pierce SR.


Comments in red.

[raypal]

Nice builds. A question for you, why not 13/3 for an extra point in Wisdom. ?

[Guildmaster_Kadish]

Nice builds. A question for you, why not 13/3 for an extra point in Wisdom. ?

Errr... I don't believe you can get an extra point in wisdom from 3 monk, unless I'm horribly mistaken.

[Blazer]

Good point. I just switched PA and Weapon Finesse, but it would also work fine to just wait on the monk level till 3 or 4.

One more thing to remember - PA requires a base STR of 13, so unless you're eating that +2 tome early on (or a +1) you can't take that either.

[Ronin_the_toon]

everything checks out fine I have a lvl 4 of this build so far on Risa. the skill points may be slow since you will get 2 /lvl with the int tome, and UMD is cross class but nothing major, you get the +1 wisdom from lvl 2 monk enhancement so youre good there. I started mine at 1 cleric, 2 monk 3 monk and weapon finesse was available as a free monk feat at that time. casting spells doesnt disable water stance, but using a scroll, wand or anything other than quarterstaff, handwraps, or kama uncenters you cancelling the stance, but its instant recast on the stance so just have to do the extra click. you get the extra sp from water stance wisdom too, but be sure to carry a light load or you become uncentered too. but the stance stays active through shrining so that works well. Its a very good build that gets stronger as you progress relativley. you get extra saves and ac from the water stance too on top of the wisdom. ummm anything else there seems to be no negatives as i can think of and the halfling luck to reflex save is extreemly nice. sorry for the run on sentences im typing on the run at work. Gunslinger

[Guildmaster_Kadish]

everything checks out fine I have a lvl 4 of this build so far on Risa. the skill points may be slow since you will get 2 /lvl with the int tome, and UMD is cross class but nothing major, you get the +1 wisdom from lvl 2 monk enhancement so youre good there. I started mine at 1 cleric, 2 monk 3 monk and weapon finesse was available as a free monk feat at that time. casting spells doesnt disable water stance, but using a scroll, wand or anything other than quarterstaff, handwraps, or kama uncenters you cancelling the stance, but its instant recast on the stance so just have to do the extra click. you get the extra sp from water stance wisdom too, but be sure to carry a light load or you become uncentered too. but the stance stays active through shrining so that works well. Its a very good build that gets stronger as you progress relativley. you get extra saves and ac from the water stance too on top of the wisdom. ummm anything else there seems to be no negatives as i can think of and the halfling luck to reflex save is extreemly nice. sorry for the run on sentences im typing on the run at work. Gunslinger

Heya Gun,

Good to know, mate. I've currently got the build up to level 5 (almost 6) on the real server (Alekhine's the name). No monk yet, of course, so so far he's just a high-dex halfling cleric. I hadn't messed around much with it yet on Risia--good call on the scrolls taking off the stance, I'll have to remember that one.

See ya in-game,
Keres/Allanon/Najdorf

[Guildmaster_Kadish]

One more thing to remember - PA requires a base STR of 13, so unless you're eating that +2 tome early on (or a +1) you can't take that either.

Hence the little note about eating the +1 Str Tome at level 1. :eek::D:p;)

In all seriousness, though, I do appreciate any and all people who are willing to check over the build--I greatly appreciate your comments, and do take them into consideration even if I may not agree with them.

[Arianrhod]

An alternate route for the 14 Cleric/ 2 Monk. This is the character I plan to play come Mod7. WARNING: This build is somewhat tome/equipment intensive to meet its full potential.

.

True....anyone considering a cleric/monk for the wisdome bonus to AC should keep in mind +7 armor bracers aren't exactly vendor trash ;)

Other than that caveat, look like a lot of fun :)

[Guildmaster_Kadish]

True....anyone considering a cleric/monk for the wisdome bonus to AC should keep in mind +7 armor bracers aren't exactly vendor trash ;)

Other than that caveat, look like a lot of fun :)

You can substitute +6s or simply a Chaosgarde (you'll be lawful anyways) and only have 1 less AC. But yes, in order to reach the full potential, it will require quite a lot of pretty good loot.

[raypal]

DOH!!!!..my bad ..it's 2/6/10...not 3/6/10........please disregard post...thanks for the correction.

[Impaqt]

DOH!!!!..my bad ..it's 2/6/10...not 3/6/10........please disregard post...thanks for the correction.

That, and Monk WIsdom wont stack with Cleric Wisdom anyway.

[BlackSteel]

wf dont need armor bracers

[Ronin_the_toon]

the monk and cleric wisdom stack as far as enhancements go, i have a lvl 4 2cleric 2 monk and both enhancements working.

[Guildmaster_Kadish]

the monk and cleric wisdom stack as far as enhancements go, i have a lvl 4 2cleric 2 monk and both enhancements working.

Hmmm. They shouldn't--class stat enhancements aren't supposed to stack with each other... interesting. Probably a bug, but who knows... maybe it was changed for mod7.

[Guildmaster_Kadish]

wf dont need armor bracers

Yes... and a halfling without armored bracers still has better AC than a WF... you know, the whole thing with 4 higher dex and 2 higher wisdom and halfling size bonus... :)

[Guildmaster_Kadish]

Bump for a friend who wanted to see the build.