Artificer and Runearm damage - viable without it?

[Istaria1]

Hi all,

Been attempting to come up with a build which melds Artificer with Monk. I've found a few interesting possibilities, but the main drawback is that to remain centered as a monk, I can't use a runearm.

From my experience of Arti, the damage from the runearm (the imbue) adds to the ranged/melee damage. Beyond that, use of the charges is alien to me. My arti life simply didn't last long enough to learn about it.

So, is an arti without the runearm damage viable? I haven't decided yet about ranged or melee (ranged is **** tempting, but* most arti ranged mixes end up being made out of bog-roll near level 20, and melee is attractive with dual bastard swords). Let's consider both.

EDIT: This will be for a fighter life, so One with The Blade is kinda implied. I'd be looking at something like Arti6/Monk6/Fighter8.

Thanks.

Aes.

[MartinusWyllt]

If you weren't using the rune arm blasts anyway I don't think you'll miss it. Even with only 8 artificer levels Toven's Hammer still hits (when not evaded) for 800-1200 damage if you catch the mob in the face with all 5 charges. (it is AoE but if they're too close they'll be "missed" by the rune arm blast...which happens with pretty much every rune arm afaik, the point-blank rune arms are little more forgiving about it.)

[AbyssalMage]

This will be for a fighter life, so One with The Blade is kinda implied. I'd be looking at something like Arti6/Monk6/Fighter8.

Thanks.

Aes.
What are you hoping to get out of the Arti levels?
Depending on what you are after with the Arti, 6 Ranger may be better. But it is dependent on how you respond.

But in general, yes, 8/6/6 should work just fine.

[FuzzyDuck81]

Juggernauts dont use runearms & they work :) It may not be optimal, but optimal & viable are quite different :)

[unbongwah]

It depends on what you want from those arty lvls. UMD + trap skills? Those will work fine, ofc. Low-lvl buffs like Elemental Weapons? Again, those spells will work fine, though their duration will be shorter than a pure arty's, natch.

The better question might be what does arty give you that, say, rogue does not?

[Livmo]

Juggernauts dont use runearms & they work :) It may not be optimal, but optimal & viable are quite different :)

So true!

My melee arty is a Half-Orc weilding great ax and I don't use the rune arm. Right now I'm using the Hellstroke ax, but I want to get the Epic Antique Great Ax for him at end game. Since I wanted to focus on great ax I took Hlaf-Orc instead of human for the added STR.

This will be a pure arty with no splash. However, I have thought about other splash builds and monk is one of them. I also want to try Arty/bard and Arty FVS.

[unbongwah]

My melee arty is a Half-Orc weilding great ax and I don't use the rune arm. Right now I'm using the Hellstroke ax, but I want to get the Epic Antique Great Ax for him at end game. Since I wanted to focus on great ax I took Hlaf-Orc instead of human for the added STR.

This will be a pure arty with no splash. However, I have thought about other splash builds and monk is one of them. I also want to try Arty/bard and Arty FVS.
This might be an "out there" idea, but: what about art 15 / wiz 5 after U20 and Eldritch Knight go live? You'd get low-lvl wiz buffs (i.e., Rage, Haste, Displacement), perma-Tensers from T5 EK (freeing lvl 5 arty spell slot for something else), while still keeping Deadly Weapons. Feats are a wash (5 arty vs 3 arty + 2 wiz). Invest in some ASF reduction and you could slap on some heavy plate and go to town.

Added bonus: nobody can figure out what the heck your build is.

[Livmo]

This might be an "out there" idea, but: what about art 15 / wiz 5 after U20 and Eldritch Knight go live? You'd get low-lvl wiz buffs (i.e., Rage, Haste, Displacement), perma-Tensers from T5 EK (freeing lvl 5 arty spell slot for something else), while still keeping Deadly Weapons. Feats are a wash (5 arty vs 3 arty + 2 wiz). Invest in some ASF reduction and you could slap on some heavy plate and go to town.

Added bonus: nobody can figure out what the heck your build is.

That sounds neato! I do like the possiblity of Haste.

[FuzzyDuck81]

Part of me finds the idea of taking wizard levels for increased melee capability utterly hilarious :D

[Lonnbeimnech]

Artis get armor of speed, so assuming you have a pair of 30% striders, all haste will give you is 2% more run speed.

and low level caster buffs, with the arti bonus to caster level of scrolls, you would have a longer duration displacement from using a scroll than from casting it on yourself with 5 wiz levels.

[droid327]

Yeah I question what Arti 6 is really giving to a TWF BS Kensei Monk...Rgr seems the more logical choice, you get the same +dmg/to-hit from Tempest as you do from BE. Your AT SLAs are junk with only 6 Arti levels. Rgr 6 gives you more TWF enhancements in Tempest, plus two of the three feats as autogrants, meaning you can pretty much dump DEX rather than having to hit the prereqs for TWF feats. And you get Exposing Strike, a very nice active attack. And Ram's Might, for +3 dmg. And squishy wand heals, which might just be a sideways move from Arti Admixture heals.