PM + Monk?

[Reos]

I'm sure this has been tried numerous times before, so I'm asking for the community's collective wisdom. Is there a way to make Pale Master work using unarmed monk attacks? Auto-crit con damage in wraith form, etc?

Any info would be greatly appreciated :)

[Snowborne]

I have a monk and a pale master, and played a pale master with monk splash, but I actually do better damage using the necrotic pale master touch/bolt/blast than I ever did trying to melee as a Pale Master/Monk. Even using Divine Power and decent Str wasn't worth it.

As for the constitution damage on critical, with the low critical range on handwraps, by the time you whittle them down with constitution damage, even with Improved Critical, you could have already killed them with the bolts and blasts. Also, you have to consider, most of the time you will be facing more than one opponent, so the blast not only does damage to the one you hit, but those around it.

[Sirgleno]

Im working on a build for my 1TR (cleric) along these lines. I am planning on a 12/6/2 Wiz/Monk/Ftr Elf that will be a finesse build with precision and lots of weapon feats (including GTWF). I have the build pretty well documented at home and can post it later if you're interested. Though keep in mind it is entirely untested. Also, the build is pretty weak in the casting department, but that should be ok with the Ghost Puncher (tm) build I have going.

[sigtrent]

Basically... no.

You can make a playable character, but its not actually going to be "good" at unarmed combat because of the "combo". The advantages of further monk levels will always outshine the damage from the undead forms.

I think the only way you might do this is if you primarily want to be a wizard, and you really want evasion so you splash monk and then use unarmed when your casting is not needed or you have run out of mana.

I have a few of them in my build thread if you want to see how they play out.

[cforce]

Here's the one I'm currently leveling:

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=260802

...but, as noted by others, pulling in PM II for the purpose of augmenting unarmed damage isn't really optimal. You'll always end up with a much more capable melee build going a traditional route.

What I focused on was a decent Pale Master caster build which splashed Monk mainly for defense: saving throws, hit points, evasion. The unarmed damage is a nice bonus, but falls far short of a real melee. As other have mentioned, the unarmed is strictly for something to do to add a little damage in down time, and probably shouldn't be considered a "focus".

[Reos]

I would definitely be interested in looking at any existing builds any has running/has tested. Ghost Puncher sounds like something I'd be interested in as well.
I checked out the Pale Monkster, and have one question, why 3 levels of Monk? Is it for the feats?

[cforce]

Level 2 is for evasion/feat
Level 3 is for the spell post cost reduction buff, which nets out to far more virtual spell points than another wizard level.

[Varr]

Shy of epic, if you can afford to equipt a iceyburst +10 stunning wraps with 2 monk levels and a 13 base wis you can get to a very respectable 31-33 dc on stunning fist every 6 seconds in conjunction with the 3% auto proc 33 dc stun. Works amazing well in my opinion. Add bloodstone and maybe a damage or two on tod rings......as with everything just depends how much you want to invest into it.

[Reos]

Would WF Tactics add to Stunning Fist DC? Is it possible to find Cursespewing Wraps of Stunning +10?

[MrCow]

Would WF Tactics add to Stunning Fist DC?

Warforged Tactics, Dwarven Tactics, Fighter Stunning Blow, and the upcoming Half-elf Fighter Dilletante Stunning Blow do add to the DC of Stunning Fist.


Is it possible to find Cursespewing Wraps of Stunning +10?

Yes.

[Wgrace45]

I have a monk and a pale master, and played a pale master with monk splash, but I actually do better damage using the necrotic pale master touch/bolt/blast than I ever did trying to melee as a Pale Master/Monk. Even using Divine Power and decent Str wasn't worth it.

As for the constitution damage on critical, with the low critical range on handwraps, by the time you whittle them down with constitution damage, even with Improved Critical, you could have already killed them with the bolts and blasts. Also, you have to consider, most of the time you will be facing more than one opponent, so the blast not only does damage to the one you hit, but those around it.


I think the "evasion" feat with insightful reflexes is the most appealing part of /mnk