Ftr past life feat + Monk past life feat = Super Monk

[HalfOrcBeautyQueen]

I posted this question in the Reincarnation forum first, but I don't think that part of the site gets any action, so I've moved it here.

I'm considering a "metabuild" for a half-orc when the race is finally released. I'm moving slowly, because I'm more of a casual gamer than a "power gamer" and I'm mostly a newbie when it comes to the melee classes as I mostly play clerics.

So,
I was wondering about the fighter past life feat and if it would directly benefit a monk, and especially if the fighter past life and the monk past life feat would be more benefical than say, 2 past lives as a fighter or 2 past lives as a monk. These are the passive feats I'm talking about so it would be a +1 to attack and +1 to damage.

The metabuild I have in mind would go 1st life fighter -> 2nd life monk -> 3rd life either monk/barb

The reason I go fighter 1st is because from what I understand a monk would benefit more from a 34 point build and the +1 to attack than a fighter would from a 34 pt build and the monk past life feat.

But I could be wrong - and the fighter past life feat could end up being about as useful as a cleric past life feat on a monk. So any comments or feedback on this idea would be greatly appreciated <3

[Syntax42]

At 20, +1 attack or damage is hardly noticeable. A rage buff or simply equipping a higher bonus weapon will give you that same bonus.

With a damage roll of 2d10 for monks and 3d6 (greensteel greataxe) for barbarians, do you really think that +1 damage is going to make or break your character? Don't forget, you could have many different elemental or alignment damage effects on your weapon or ToD rings too.

[Crazyfruit]

What he said ^. Monk does benefit more from 34pt.

If you're missing so much that you want the +1 to hit bonus turn power attack off or have someone use -12 ac destruction weapons :)

However, the monk life adds quite a bit more if you play monk a second time. I -think- the non-free feat is an additional 0-4 damage per fist hit but someone else would know for sure.

Paladin might be the best for ya before monk. You get an even beefier healing amplification (clerics will be happier with your barb too!), and several minutes of +3 damage/+3 to hit with the non-free feat clicky. Most monk builds can afford to stick that in instead of another toughness.

[BlackSteel]

fighter PL's are great on a monk. unlike fighters or barbarians, a monk's to hit generally isnt fantasitc in epic unless you turn off PA. Whereas a couple fighter lives can greatly help this.

additionally the +combat dc's works on all of your monk moves. I can generally stun almost all non epic content on my WF monk without even using stunning handwraps, and having a subpar wisdom to boot.

for a single trip up to 36 point builds, if you're end plan is monk, I'd grab fighter, then monk, then end with monk again. The fighter PL is of much greater benefit than a additional monk life. (altho having atleast 1 monk PL is almost mandatory, as it averages out to about 3 extra damage once u take the feat)

multiple of both is great, but its pretty easy to grow bored with TR'ing after awhile

[Crazyfruit]

additionally the +combat dc's works on all of your monk moves.

Oo, very interesting, thought it was just stunning fist :)

Changing my recommendation above - fighter is awesome if you use those.

[maestro973]

Shhhh, don't let this plan get out. It's actually exactly what I've been doing.

Currently on life #4 (PL monk, rogue, fighter, and now fighter again). The +1 to hit from fighter is nice, but as said by itself it isn't a make-or-break type thing at level 20 (having the additional to-hit is extremely noticable at low levels). The +1 to DC on the other hand is extremely beneficial depending on your build, though I felt it was an "all or nothing" sort of thing. +1 you may not notice...+3 you're gonna see a difference.

For those more #'s oriented, stunning fist DC is now:
10 + 10(1/2 monk level) + 10 (wraps) + wisdom (12-14 for me depending on stance) + 3 (past lives) + racial enhancements (0-3)

So a DC of 45-50. Is this worth it for your standard content? Likely no, a bit overkill. On epics though it can be a huge boost.

Also, it has already been stated that the updated Shintao abilities would be affected by these enhancements as well.

Though to be honest, if you're just looking at planning a 36 point build monk, the two lives I'd grab would be paladin and monk. (paladin active past life feat is +3 to hit, +3 to damage)

[HalfOrcBeautyQueen]

Thanks so much guys for your feedback, +1 to reps on the house.

I'm going to stick to my plan of fighter --> monk -> monk -> up in the air/maybe monk again.
The benefit from 2 lives of Paladin is nice, but not really what I had in mind - I'm not really up to doing 2 lives of Paladin for this toon, but maybe on a diff one.

The toon in question is only lvl 8 of her fighter life so this is more of a longtime project that will be "in progress" for a bit, but hopefully have her on her 2nd life soon =D

[Krag]

For those more #'s oriented, stunning fist DC is now:
10 + 10(1/2 monk level) + 10 (wraps) + wisdom (12-14 for me depending on stance) + 3 (past lives) + racial enhancements (0-3)

So a DC of 45-50. Is this worth it for your standard content? Likely no, a bit overkill. On epics though it can be a huge boost.

If you feel like your DC is an overkill, you can always equip your best damaging handwraps instead of stunning 10.

[maestro973]

If you feel like your DC is an overkill, you can always equip your best damaging handwraps instead of stunning 10.

Right, well this was assuming water stance and other factors to boost stunning fist DC. With a 33 or so DC you can consistently stun anything you're going to come across until amrath. So for normal content, yeah sure you can ease off it a bit, but overkill for epics? No such thing :)

And HalfOrc:

When I mentioned paladin I was referring to the active feat you can take (the clicky), not the healing amp that is the passive aspect.(which is also very nice). As you know, from a life of fighter you're going to net +1 to hit and +1 to combat DC's. If you take the past life fighter feat you basically get 3 minutes of +4 to attack.

As a paladin life you get 5% healing amp. But if you take the active feat you get around 7.5 minutes(I think) of +3 to attack and +3 to damage. Of course neither way is bad, but you would only need 1 life of paladin to get those benefits.