Melee Shinto Id3as

[ifumoveudie]

So I am going to start farming for a new toon to settle into for a while.Barbarian has gotten a bit jaded. I've been debating on which path to follow and have settled on Shinto melee, handwraps as main weapon choice.

What is the basic idea for a monk build, gear wise and feat progression? I have only played a monk once, just to get the PL, and that was a long time ago. I know that Positive spell power boosts some of the attacks and of course a high wisdom is a requirement, but that is the extent of my Monk knowledge base.

Any help would be much appreciated

[jscott457]

Whirlwind attack is an unbelievably good AOE for Unarmed Monks--so much so that regular cleaves aren't worth the feats. Grabbing WWA as soon as possible is good to help you level faster. With that in mind, here's a possible feat progression:

1: Dodge
1 (Monk): Stunning Fist
1 (Human): Two Weapon Fighting
2 (Monk): Mobility
3 : Combat Expertise
6: Whirlwind Attack
6 (Monk): Spring Attack
9. Improved TWF
12: Improved Critical: Bludgeon
15: Greater TWF
18: Precision

Without human, things are a little more difficult to squeeze in, but still OK if you make that choice. In epics, I'd snag Overwhelming Critical and Improved Martial Arts as your first couple of feats.

With all of this in mind, be sure your starting dex and int (+ whichever tome bonuses you have) are enough to meet feat prerequisites, then split up the rest between Wisdom, Strength, and Con (Wisdom is a bit more important than strength because it controls your DC for stunning fist and Tomb of Jade).

As for gear, I'll leave that for someone with a little bit more expertise.