16Artificer/3Monk/1Favored Soul Build

[Xyfiel]

Build for versatile Artificer for solo and raid play. This is based on my current character that will use the build. I also will make two others using different builds. It is an option I haven't seen posted, not stating it is better or worse than any others, but I have chosen it over the 2fighter/2monk version. Many parts of a build are subjective to gear and playstyle, adjust accordingly.

Key points of build:
Great blade barrier, prismatic strike, and tactical detonation casting from high intelligence, torc, concordant opposition, and max force spec. -25% spell points from aligning the heavens spell point reducer. Only missing 1 spell level compared to pure due to +3 evocation levels from 3 piece Abishai set.
Great ranged damage from battle engineer, rogue dilettante, Half Elf damage boost, and improved precise shot.
Good healing from max scroll healing and max potion throwing. Will check to see if Life Magic I works with infusions.
Good melee damage/utility from Epic Midnight greetings, power attack, rogue dilettante, monk specials, and two weapon fighting line. Includes Improved paralyzing, improved deception, +12 weapon enhancement, and ability to break all dr. Also includes light monk buffs for stun immunity and helping the casters with spell point costs.
Good trapsmithing/stealth/buffs.
Good tanking, no wait, that is about the only thing it can't do.

Half Elf Rogue Dilettante
16 Artificer 3 Monk 1 Favored Soul
36 point Past Life Ranger x 2

Stats:
10/28 Strength +6 + 6 item + 2 profane + 2 rage + 1 exceptional +1 enhancement
17/34 Dexterity +6 + 6 item + 3 exceptional +2 yugo pot
14/34 Constitution +6 +2 rage +2 yugo pot +7 item + 3 exceptional
18/42 Intelligence +6 +5 levels +3 enhancements + 7 item +3 exceptional
8/20 Wisdom +6 +6 concordant opposition
8/18 Charisma +6 + 4 eagles casted
All include +6 from +3 supreme tome, +1 litany, and +2 guild. If no +3 tome, change stats to hit benchmarks of 13 strength and 19 dexterity for feats.

13 Feats:
Metamagic: Empower, Maximize, Empower Healing
Ranged: Improved Crit, Precise Shot, Point Blank Shot, Improved Precise Shot, Rapid shot
Melee: Toughness, Two Weapon Fighting, Improved Twf, Greater Twf, Power Attack
May need quicken, won't know until tested

Skills:
Disable Device, Search, Spot, UMD, Concentration, Haggle, Open lock, Hide, Move silently, Balance
Will come close to maxing all. 1 point in tumble.
Umd: 23 ranks + 4 charisma + 2 luck + 4 morale +1 skill mastery + 2 artificer knowledge + 3 bunny helm = 39

Hit points:
20 base
10 draconic vitality
30 greater false life(belt)
45 shroud hp helm
96 artificer
8 favored soul
24 monk
10 favored soul toughness I
20 racial toughness II
22 toughness
20 item toughness
240 con
10 battle engineer
20 yugoloth potion
575

Spell points:
600 base Arty
100 base Fvs
80 magical training
400 intelligence
20 Charisma
30 Energy of the Scion I
210 archmagi(skiver before buffing or archmage belt)
157 shroud
1597 + bauble, archivists, talisman, ssr = 2k+

To hit(Ranged/Melee):
20 bab(divine power)
4 greater heroism
1 haste
1/0 point blank shot
5/10 weapon
12 dexterity
4/2 rune arm crafted/arcane archer necklace
2 battle engineer
2/0 crossbow attack
2/0 howling bracers
1 litany of the dead
5 sneak attack
0/2 flanking
0/6 flanking yugoloth potion
-2 yugoloth potion
0/-5 power attack
0/2 walk of the sun
0/-2 twf
57 Ranged/58 Melee
Optional
2 luck recitation/divine favor scrolls
4/3 insightful strikes
63 Ranged/63 Melee Self buffed
Raid
4 inspire courage
8 destruction
monster debuffs
80+ effective to hit possible, aka everything in game on a 2 and then some. -4 ranged if kiting.

Ranged Damage:
2d8 base greensteel heavy repeater lightning II(have a lit II and earthgrab already)
2d8 point blank shot
16 intelligence(insightful damage)
4 past life ranger
5 weapon enhancement
2 battle engineer enhancement
2 crossbow damage
1 howling bracers
2 good hope(epic mask of comedy 9 minutes 3/day)
2 berserker set
1 litany of the dead
2d6 holy
1d6 shocking
shocking blast
shrieking bolt howling bracers
12 lightning strike weapon
12 lightning strike tovens hammer
2-16 electrical IV tovens hammer
3d6 sneak rogue dilettante
8 sneak tharnes
100+ per hit before crits
17x20 x2 +10% speed from AA set, fusilade, Helf damage boost. Epic Hellfire xbow is more dps against non fire immune.

Melee damage:
2d4 base Epic midnight greetings
15 intelligence(insightful damage)
10 weapon enhancement
2 battle engineer enhancement
2 good hope(epic mask of comedy 9 minutes 3/day)
2 berserker set
1 litany of the dead
shocking blow epic charged gauntlets
3d6 sneak rogue dilettante
5 power attack
8 sneak tharnes
9 disintegration
monk elemental attacks
75+ per hit before crits
18x20 x2 Helf damage boost

Saves/Resists:
5 resistance epic envenomed cloak
1 alchemical
4 gh
2 good luck
3 monk
2 favored soul
5/5/10 arty
12/12/5 stats
0/1/1 rage and haste
34 fort/35 reflex/33 will +2 vs enchantments
2 water stance
1 way of the clever monkey
5 Saves boost
2 trap sense I
45 reflex for traps
6 energy resist all from 2 ranger past lifes and way of the clever monkey

Gear:
necklace/ring1: Arcane Archer set +2 dex
belt/ring2: berserker set +2con
rune arm: tovens hammer with +2 int and transform kinetic
helm: greensteel concordant opp hp helm
trinket: litany of the dead
bracers: wind howling
goggles: tharnes
cloak: epic envenomed with toughness
robe: epic diabolists with +1 intelligence and heavy fort
boots: epic corrosion with good luck and +1 con
gloves: epic charged gauntlets with spell focus evocation
weapon: epic midnight greetings*2, epic hellfire rxbow, lit II rxbow, earthgrab rxbow
Misc: epic mask of comedy, shroud charisma skills item, bunny helm, skiver or greenblade for greater arcane lore

Enhancements:
6 helf str I/int I
6 arty int II
1 way of the clever monkey
1 favored soul toughness I
1 trap sense I
1 energy of the scion I
1 life magic I
6 rogue dilettante III
10 helf versatility
3 racial toughness II
4 battle engineer
3 arty damage boost II
3 xbow attack
4 xbow damage
10 wand mastery IV
1 repair I
19 force all

[cru121]

FvS is for:
1) life magic
2) spell points
3) anything else?

[wax_on_wax_off]

FvS is for:
1) life magic
2) spell points
3) anything else?

My thoughts too. And what about those 3 monk levels? When are you going to be in melee to build Ki for light finishers when your ranged damage will be better? Why 3 TWF'ing feats when you can just use Insightful Damage and Rune Arm? Will you even be centered with Epic Midnight Greetings?

Note: You can't use Insightful Strikes/Damage while TWF'ing so you lose a fair few points off your calculations.

[jackabat]

FvS is for:
1) life magic
2) spell points
3) anything else?

He's taken empower healing. Artificers, by themselves, don't qualify for that feat, and you have to splash some other qualifying class to obtain it.

[Xyfiel]

Well I had a nice long response but the forums ate it, twice.:mad:

Please note this build isn't designed to be compared to a pure build as much as it was a evolution of the 16art/2fighter/2monk build I posted on lamannia. It really only loses haste boost but gains much more versatility.

The FvS level makes up for the loss of 2 feats from fighter 2, allows me to take empower healing, can take life magic I, and allows me to take monk to 3. My original build had lightning reflexes and mental toughness. I no longer need those feats since Fvs gives +2 reflexes over 2fighter and the bonus spell points ends up higher than mental toughness gives. I do lose haste boost, heavy armor, weapons, and tower shields. Don't plan to ever use heavy armor or shields, and weapons are a masters touch away. Monk 3 gives faster run speed, still mind, and light monk abilities. Overall this beats 2fighter/2monk imo.

As far as ranged damage, I know heavy repeater speed for bab 20 with haste was actually lowered in update 11. Insightful damage helps, but even a maxed out ranged Arty who alternates manyshot and repeaters is sitting at 350 dps. Repeaters and rune arms have decent dps but have ap drawbacks. To get max rune arm damage requires a ton of aps that Artificers really don't have to spend if going for max xbow damage and max casting enhancements, and rune arms have a save, something artificers have a harder time with. The only time ranged damage can compare with melee is during fusilade, manyshot, or when hitting 2+ targets. Since most major boss fights involve single target fighting, I decided being in melee would be better dps. I can still damage boost and hit a fusilade in between melee swings when off timer. Add in the point blank range potion healing, light monk buffs, and improved decpetion/paralyzing that other builds don't have.

This is just one option I wanted to share, not saying it is the best option, in fact I stated that at the begining of the op. For someone who posted multiple builds when they were announced I figured you would be more understanding of how flexible they can be wax. Being able to go from nuking to ranged to filling in for healing and/or stun immunity gives me versaility, and I love versatile characters. I posted the build thinking someone else may like it also.

EMG states right in its description it doesn't uncenter monks. Gtwf is more dps then 1 + rune arm for this build. EMG uses higher of str/dex for damage, so only lose 3 points, 2 in wind stance. The difference of 40 intelligence to 34/36 dexterity.

I hope I didn't come across as defensive, it has been a long day and the forum login issues really are ticking me off.

[djsonar919]

The Artificer class in itself is a very soloable class in this game. The reason why I say this is because I have already TR'd an artificer with minimal gear, soloing elites on the way. I don't believe that you have to multiclass an Arti for it to be soloable, unless of course you want to. However, I believe when doing so you kind of lose out on a lot of the strengths of being a pure Artificer.

[LeslieWest_GuitarGod]

I happen to like this build. As someone who has built many a bard, which is so similar in design to an artificer (in the way that its so customizable to your playstle and the games mechanics) I think its unfair look down on a mixed class build, just for the sake its mixed class.

Furthermore, I'm a purist when it comes to designing builds, I almost always build pure first. In this case I decided to build multiclass first, because I had a vision which necessitated two additional classes to achieve my goals.

I had the same idea as Xyfiel did, and in fact made my final decision based off of his math. (I had my design laid out with feats/enhancements and skills before seeing it. When I read of Xy's experiences in the Lama forums, it reinforced my intuitions and I jumped on it and built mine)

There is nothing wrong being a visionary, especially when it comes to building D&D characters. Xyfiel has a solid plan here, as he did before, and if played to end game I believe it will shine throughout.

[wax_on_wax_off]

Well I had a nice long response but the forums ate it, twice.:mad:

Please note this build isn't designed to be compared to a pure build as much as it was a evolution of the 16art/2fighter/2monk build I posted on lamannia. It really only loses haste boost but gains much more versatility.

The FvS level makes up for the loss of 2 feats from fighter 2, allows me to take empower healing, can take life magic I, and allows me to take monk to 3. My original build had lightning reflexes and mental toughness. I no longer need those feats since Fvs gives +2 reflexes over 2fighter and the bonus spell points ends up higher than mental toughness gives. I do lose haste boost, heavy armor, weapons, and tower shields. Don't plan to ever use heavy armor or shields, and weapons are a masters touch away. Monk 3 gives faster run speed, still mind, and light monk abilities. Overall this beats 2fighter/2monk imo.

As far as ranged damage, I know heavy repeater speed for bab 20 with haste was actually lowered in update 11. Insightful damage helps, but even a maxed out ranged Arty who alternates manyshot and repeaters is sitting at 350 dps. Repeaters and rune arms have decent dps but have ap drawbacks. To get max rune arm damage requires a ton of aps that Artificers really don't have to spend if going for max xbow damage and max casting enhancements, and rune arms have a save, something artificers have a harder time with. The only time ranged damage can compare with melee is during fusilade, manyshot, or when hitting 2+ targets. Since most major boss fights involve single target fighting, I decided being in melee would be better dps. I can still damage boost and hit a fusilade in between melee swings when off timer. Add in the point blank range potion healing, light monk buffs, and improved decpetion/paralyzing that other builds don't have.

This is just one option I wanted to share, not saying it is the best option, in fact I stated that at the begining of the op. For someone who posted multiple builds when they were announced I figured you would be more understanding of how flexible they can be wax. Being able to go from nuking to ranged to filling in for healing and/or stun immunity gives me versaility, and I love versatile characters. I posted the build thinking someone else may like it also.

EMG states right in its description it doesn't uncenter monks. Gtwf is more dps then 1 + rune arm for this build. EMG uses higher of str/dex for damage, so only lose 3 points, 2 in wind stance. The difference of 40 intelligence to 34/36 dexterity.

I hope I didn't come across as defensive, it has been a long day and the forum login issues really are ticking me off.

Sorry to be harsh. I'm really glad that you've responded to the specific issues and you make a compelling case for your build. I checked the description on EMG but only read the text about assassins training so missed the monk thing, quite cool.

I'm still personally not sold on an Artificer build which doesn't utilise rune arms in melee though you do bring up an important point about AP restrictions. Still, once you take away the rune arm I'd tend to feel that bard would be a better choice (though different of course).


The Artificer class in itself is a very soloable class in this game. The reason why I say this is because I have already TR'd an artificer with minimal gear, soloing elites on the way. I don't believe that you have to multiclass an Arti for it to be soloable, unless of course you want to. However, I believe when doing so you kind of lose out on a lot of the strengths of being a pure Artificer.

This is where I'm at at the moment. Perhaps my attitude will evolve over time.