Monk take two

[Zildoran]

I recently had made a 28 pt halfling dexterity based finesse monk with the two weapon fighting line. I'm pretty happy with him so far, but I have 32 point builds available now and I'm not sure how to put the stat points on the new monk I'm making.

I'm stuck right now between staying with a halfling dexterity finesse build or a human strength build. I'm not sure that the two weapon fighting line is going to stay as good once update five comes out. I guess I could always get feat swap shards they are cheap enough.

I found the character planner and did one for a dexterity finesse build with 32 pts


Character Plan by DDO Character Planner Version 3.34
DDO Character Planner Home Page (http://www.rjcyberware.com/DDO)

Zildoran
Level 20 Lawful Neutral Halfling Male
(20 Monk)
Hit Points: 322
Spell Points: 0
BAB: 15\15\20\25\25
Fortitude: 17
Reflex: 20
Will: 16

Starting Feat/Enhancement
Abilities Base Stats Modified Stats
(32 Point) (Level 1) (Level 20)
Strength 14 16
Dexterity 16 24
Constitution 16 18
Intelligence 8 8
Wisdom 14 16
Charisma 8 8

Tomes Used
+1 Tome of Wisdom used at level 4
+2 Tome of Constitution used at level 6
+2 Tome of Strength used at level 7
+2 Tome of Dexterity used at level 8

Starting Feat/Enhancement
Base Skills Modified Skills
Skills (Level 1) (Level 20)
Balance 3 8
Bluff -1 2
Concentration 7 44
Diplomacy -1 -1
Disable Device n/a n/a
Haggle -1 -1
Heal 2 3
Hide 3 9
Intimidate -1 -1
Jump 6 29
Listen 2 5
Move Silently 3 9
Open Lock n/a n/a
Perform n/a n/a
Repair -1 -1
Search -1 -1
Spot 2 3
Swim 2 3
Tumble 5 12
Use Magic Device 0 10

Level 1 (Monk)
Feat: (Monk Bonus) Stunning Fist
Feat: (Selected) Two Weapon Fighting
Enhancement: Monk Balance I
Enhancement: Monk Concentration I
Enhancement: Monk Jump I
Enhancement: Monk Tumble I


Level 2 (Monk)
Feat: (Monk Bonus) Weapon Finesse
Enhancement: Halfling Athletics I
Enhancement: Way of the Patient Tortiose I
Enhancement: Monk Wisdom I


Level 3 (Monk)
Feat: (Monk Path) Path of Inevitable Dominion: Fists of Darkness
Feat: (Selected) Power Attack
Enhancement: Halfling Dexterity I
Enhancement: Monk Improved Recovery I


Level 4 (Monk)
Enhancement: The Receptive Earth
Enhancement: Monk Jump II


Level 5 (Monk)
Enhancement: Way of the Patient Tortiose II
Enhancement: Monk Concentration II


Level 6 (Monk)
Feat: (Monk Bonus) Toughness
Feat: (Selected) Weapon Focus: Bludgeoning Weapons
Enhancement: Adept of Wind
Enhancement: Racial Toughness I


Level 7 (Monk)
Enhancement: Adept of Rock
Enhancement: Adept of Flame


Level 8 (Monk)
Enhancement: Unbalancing Strike
Enhancement: Adept of Rain
Enhancement: Racial Toughness II


Level 9 (Monk)
Feat: (Selected) Improved Two Weapon Fighting
Enhancement: Monk Improved Recovery II


Level 10 (Monk)
Enhancement: Halfling Cunning I
Enhancement: Way of the Patient Tortiose III


Level 11 (Monk)
Enhancement: Halfling Guile I
Enhancement: Monk Concentration III


Level 12 (Monk)
Feat: (Selected) Improved Critical: Bludgeoning Weapons
Enhancement: Master of Thunder


Level 13 (Monk)
Enhancement: Halfling Cunning II
Enhancement: Master of Stone


Level 14 (Monk)
Enhancement: Master of Bonfires


Level 15 (Monk)
Feat: (Selected) Greater Two Weapon Fighting
Enhancement: Way of the Patient Tortiose IV


Level 16 (Monk)
Enhancement: Halfling Cunning III
Enhancement: Halfling Guile II


Level 17 (Monk)
Enhancement: Halfling Guile III


Level 18 (Monk)
Feat: (Selected) Power Critical
Enhancement: Grandmaster of Storms


Level 19 (Monk)
Enhancement: Grandmaster of Mountains


Level 20 (Monk)
Enhancement: Monk Serenity
Enhancement: Monk Jump III

[LAWPRE]

The First tier stances are given to you at level 1 or 2 for free. So, you have 4 AP freed up. However...

Update 5 (U5) has a couple of Monk PrEs - Ninja Spy and Shintao. So, you may wish to look this up and the forum and adjust accordingly.

Also, U5 is changing how TWF works. Many on the forums are complaining about this as it seems to "heavily" affect dps.

I would encourage you to wait until U5 comes out and plan from there. Also, you could keep your monk below 3rd level until U5 comes out and, hopefully, easily adjust for the changes.

[Syntax42]

I'm not sure that the two weapon fighting line is going to stay as good once update five comes out. I guess I could always get feat swap shards they are cheap enough.

What else are you going to do with your feats? Take staff and power attack enhancements? I don't see any way that TWF with fists will be inferior damage even with the upcoming "nerfs" to TWF. Every TWF feat will add a little bit more damage to your monk, making it foolish to fight unarmed without the feats.

[hu-flung-pu]

Exactly Syntax, it's a nerf, but it's still tops for DPS across the board.

[Zildoran]

Well I'm pretty happy with that feat progression then. I still need to do spend some more time playing to decide if I like the dark or light path better. The party buffs and heals from the light is nice, but dark seems more geared to actually killing things. Would it be worth dropping a couple points in concentration to get UMD to 11 instead? I know I definitely want to max out the wind line, but I don't know about the rest of the elemental stances. Earth seems pretty nice. Any other suggestions on the enhancements?

[therobb]

Build looks good overall. I'd recommend taking toughness at level 1 and wait until level 6 for stunning fist. Most mobs die so fast at low level- there's no point in stunning them. The extra HP at low levels will be more useful.

Power critical is generally regarded as a useless feat. I'd ditch this in favor of another toughness, combat expertise (will require higher base int), or dodge.

Also- it looks like you'll be putting your stat level ups into Dex. If you're doing this and using wind stance with weapon finesse- I doubt you'll need weapon focus bludgeoning.

Here's a popular halfling monk build (http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=210181). I've enjoyed playing mine up to 19. This build gets even better when weighted handwraps boost stunning fist in update 5. It's focused on Wisdom to get the most out of monk abilities. (With update 5, my monk will have a 41 DC on stunning fist.)

[DaggomaticDwarf]

The Rockin Robin is a fun build for sure, but I have heard that at endgame/ Epic many things save against the Monk special moves. I really havnt tried it myself, my light Monk is only lvl 15 and a blast to play. On a side note u cant eat a +2 con at lvl 6 I believe, could be wrong.