Build in progress - War Phoenix

Yep, more healing amp builds...

This is still kind of a work in progress. There are lots of options as to how to build this thing but I think what I have here is getting close to something. I think the enhancements definitely need work/optimization and perhaps some feats as well. So comments for tweaking etc... are appreciated.

Why?
This was inspired by a request from Anne Trent to make her a healing amp character like my Phoenix Champion but with lots of hit points and two handed fighting. The two handed fighting part is somewhat out of scope of most amp monks but I like a challenge. So basically she wanted a very easy to heal and somewhat self healing tank/dps.

I settled in on a Human Fighter 12/Monk 8 as you get a ton of feats, monk self healing through fists of light, Healing amp, evasion, ac bonuses etc....

For fighter I felt going defender made sense, for monk probably earth stance. Both will crank up HP.

Feats are all over the place, defensive tanking feats in CE and tripple toughness. TWF and THF lines. Weapon specs and focus for slashing. Whirling steel to take advantage of the specs and still do healing and healing shield. Sentinel for the intim bonus and long lasting deflection buff (saves inventory slots).

Enhancements are a mess at the moment, this is a first pass. But you have defender 2, (the ability to go with shintao monk but not taken here), extra HP, lots of strength bumps, wisdom bumps, weapon specs from fighter, action boosts, stances, strikes, intim bumps, etc...

So what's to like here?
1) Fairly heavy healing amp 200-300% effective with gear
2) Self healing through fists of light/healing ki/wholeness of body
3) Fairly high intim score 55+
4) Solid HP 600ish all buffed up
5) Decent AC (haven't run the numbers but all the potential sources are there granted raid level buffing is available)
6) Versatile and fairly strong DPS TWF or THF or Unarmed
7) Solid saves + Evasion
8) 100% hate bonus in stance

Code:

Character Plan by DDO Character Planner Version 3.34 DDO Character Planner Home Page Level 20 Lawful Good Human Female (12 Fighter \ 8 Monk) Hit Points: 380 Spell Points: 0 BAB: 18\18\23\28\28 Fortitude: 17 Reflex: 13 Will: 14 Starting Feat/Enhancement Abilities Base Stats Modified Stats (32 Point) (Level 1) (Level 20) Strength 14 25 Dexterity 15 17 Constitution 14 17 Intelligence 12 14 Wisdom 15 19 Charisma 8 10 Tomes Used +1 Tome of Intelligence used at level 3 +2 Tome of Strength used at level 7 +2 Tome of Dexterity used at level 7 +2 Tome of Constitution used at level 7 +2 Tome of Intelligence used at level 7 +2 Tome of Wisdom used at level 7 +2 Tome of Charisma used at level 7 Starting Feat/Enhancement Base Skills Modified Skills Skills (Level 1) (Level 20) Balance 6 13 Bluff -1 0 Concentration 6 28 Diplomacy -1 0 Disable Device n/a n/a Haggle -1 0 Heal 2 4 Hide 2 3 Intimidate 1 34 Jump 6 30 Listen 2 4 Move Silently 2 3 Open Lock n/a n/a Perform n/a n/a Repair 1 2 Search 1 2 Spot 6 20.5 Swim 2 8 Tumble 6 9 Use Magic Device n/a n/a Level 1 (Monk) Skill: Balance (+4) Skill: Concentration (+4) Skill: Intimidate (+2) Skill: Jump (+4) Skill: Spot (+4) Skill: Tumble (+4) Feat: (Selected) Least Dragonmark of Sentinel Feat: (Human Bonus) Two Handed Fighting Feat: (Monk Bonus) Two Weapon Fighting Enhancement: Deneith Intimidation I Enhancement: Monk Concentration I Level 2 (Monk) Skill: Balance (+1) Skill: Concentration (+1) Skill: Intimidate (+0.5) Skill: Jump (+1) Skill: Spot (+1) Skill: Tumble (+1) Feat: (Monk Bonus) Toughness Enhancement: Human Improved Recovery I Enhancement: Way of the Tenacious Badger I Enhancement: Monk Wisdom I Level 3 (Monk) Skill: Balance (+1) Skill: Concentration (+1) Skill: Intimidate (+0.5) Skill: Jump (+1) Skill: Spot (+1) Skill: Tumble (+1) Feat: (Monk Path) Path of Harmonious Balance: Fists of Light Feat: (Selected) Toughness Enhancement: Monk Improved Recovery I Enhancement: Racial Toughness I Level 4 (Fighter) Ability Raise: STR Skill: Intimidate (+4) Feat: (Fighter Bonus) Combat Expertise Enhancement: Fighter Armor Class Boost I Enhancement: Fighter Haste Boost I Enhancement: Fighter Item Defense I Enhancement: Fighter Intimidate I Enhancement: Fighter Toughness I Level 5 (Monk) Skill: Balance (+2) Skill: Concentration (+2) Skill: Intimidate (+1) Enhancement: Human Adaptability Strength I Enhancement: Monk Concentration II Level 6 (Monk) Skill: Balance (+1) Skill: Concentration (+1) Skill: Intimidate (+1) Skill: Jump (+2) Feat: (Selected) Power Attack Enhancement: Way of the Tenacious Badger II Enhancement: Racial Toughness II Level 7 (Monk) Skill: Balance (+1) Skill: Concentration (+1) Skill: Intimidate (+1) Skill: Jump (+2) Feat: (Monk Bonus) Toughness Enhancement: Human Improved Recovery II Level 8 (Fighter) Ability Raise: STR Skill: Concentration (+1) Skill: Intimidate (+1) Skill: Jump (+1) Skill: Spot (+0.5) Feat: (Fighter Bonus) Improved Two Handed Fighting Enhancement: Fighter Strength I Level 9 (Fighter) Skill: Concentration (+1) Skill: Intimidate (+1) Skill: Jump (+1) Skill: Spot (+0.5) Feat: (Selected) Improved Two Weapon Fighting Enhancement: Monk Wisdom II Level 10 (Fighter) Skill: Concentration (+1) Skill: Intimidate (+1) Skill: Jump (+1) Skill: Spot (+0.5) Feat: (Fighter Bonus) Improved Critical: Slashing Weapons Enhancement: Fighter Armor Class Boost II Enhancement: Fighter Haste Boost II Enhancement: Fighter Toughness II Level 11 (Fighter) Skill: Concentration (+1) Skill: Intimidate (+1) Skill: Jump (+1) Skill: Spot (+0.5) Enhancement: Fighter Intimidate II Level 12 (Fighter) Ability Raise: STR Skill: Concentration (+1) Skill: Intimidate (+1) Skill: Jump (+1) Skill: Spot (+0.5) Feat: (Fighter Bonus) Weapon Focus: Slashing Weapons Feat: (Selected) Weapon Specialization: Slashing Weapons Enhancement: Fighter Stalwart Defender I Level 13 (Fighter) Skill: Concentration (+1) Skill: Intimidate (+1) Skill: Jump (+1) Skill: Spot (+0.5) Enhancement: Human Improved Recovery III Level 14 (Fighter) Skill: Concentration (+1) Skill: Intimidate (+1) Skill: Jump (+1) Skill: Spot (+0.5) Feat: (Fighter Bonus) Greater Two Weapon Fighting Enhancement: Fighter Greatsword Specialization I Enhancement: Fighter Longsword Specialization I Enhancement: Fighter Toughness III Level 15 (Fighter) Skill: Concentration (+1) Skill: Intimidate (+1) Skill: Jump (+1) Skill: Spot (+0.5) Feat: Whirling Steel Strike Enhancement: Fighter Strength II Level 16 (Fighter) Ability Raise: STR Skill: Concentration (+1) Skill: Intimidate (+1) Skill: Jump (+1) Skill: Spot (+0.5) Feat: (Fighter Bonus) Greater Two Handed Fighting Enhancement: Human Greater Adaptability Constitution I Level 17 (Fighter) Skill: Concentration (+1) Skill: Intimidate (+1) Skill: Jump (+1) Skill: Spot (+0.5) Enhancement: Adept of Rock Level 18 (Fighter) Skill: Concentration (+1) Skill: Intimidate (+1) Skill: Jump (+1) Skill: Spot (+0.5) Feat: (Selected) Greater Weapon Focus: Slashing Weapons Feat: (Fighter Bonus) Greater Weapon Specialization: Slashing Weapons Enhancement: Fighter Stalwart Defender II Enhancement: Fists of Iron Level 19 (Monk) Skill: Concentration (+1) Skill: Intimidate (+1) Skill: Jump (+1) Skill: Spot (+3) Enhancement: Fighter Strength III Level 20 (Monk) Ability Raise: STR Skill: Concentration (+1) Skill: Intimidate (+1) Skill: Jump (+1) Skill: Spot (+2) Skill: Swim (+1) Enhancement: Monk Improved Recovery II Enhancement: Human Versatility 1

Fighter? I see what you did, but I think there are better ways to get what you want.

Human and 8 monk give 50% (MonkII Human III). Does it have to have fist of light? Is that a prereq?

Consider a Pure HotD Paladin. 60% healing amp before gear. It's missing DM4 but other than that should be plenty of thf damage with smites, DS, DM, Zeal, Capstone, full THF feats, etc.

Code:

Character Plan by DDO Character Planner Version 3.34 DDO Character Planner Home Page thf HA Pal Level 20 Lawful Good Human Male (20 Paladin) Hit Points: 334 Spell Points: 264 BAB: 20\20\25\30\30 Fortitude: 21 Reflex: 11 Will: 13 Starting Feat/Enhancement Abilities Base Stats Modified Stats (32 Point) (Level 1) (Level 20) Strength 17 24 Dexterity 8 8 Constitution 14 16 Intelligence 8 8 Wisdom 11 13 Charisma 16 19 Tomes Used +2 Tome of Strength used at level 7 +2 Tome of Constitution used at level 7 +2 Tome of Wisdom used at level 7 +2 Tome of Charisma used at level 7 Starting Feat/Enhancement Base Skills Modified Skills Skills (Level 1) (Level 20) Balance -1 -1 Bluff 3 4 Concentration 2 3 Diplomacy 3 4 Disable Device n/a n/a Haggle 3 4 Heal 0 1 Hide -1 -1 Intimidate 3 4 Jump 3 7 Listen 0 1 Move Silently -1 -1 Open Lock n/a n/a Perform n/a n/a Repair -1 -1 Search -1 -1 Spot 0 1 Swim 3 7 Tumble n/a n/a Use Magic Device n/a n/a Level 1 (Paladin) Feat: (Human Bonus) Toughness Feat: (Selected) Two Handed Fighting Level 2 (Paladin) Level 3 (Paladin) Feat: (Selected) Power Attack Level 4 (Paladin) Level 5 (Paladin) Level 6 (Paladin) Feat: (Selected) Extend Spell Level 7 (Paladin) Level 8 (Paladin) Level 9 (Paladin) Feat: (Selected) Improved Critical: Slashing Weapons Level 10 (Paladin) Level 11 (Paladin) Level 12 (Paladin) Feat: (Selected) Improved Two Handed Fighting Level 13 (Paladin) Level 14 (Paladin) Level 15 (Paladin) Feat: (Selected) Greater Two Handed Fighting Level 16 (Paladin) Level 17 (Paladin) Level 18 (Paladin) Feat: (Selected) Toughness Level 19 (Paladin) Level 20 (Paladin) Enhancement: Paladin Weapons of Good Enhancement: Unyielding Sovereignty Enhancement: Follower of the Sovereign Host Enhancement: Human Improved Recovery I Enhancement: Human Improved Recovery II Enhancement: Human Improved Recovery III Enhancement: Human Versatility I Enhancement: Paladin Resistance of Good I Enhancement: Paladin Divine Sacrifice I Enhancement: Paladin Divine Sacrifice II Enhancement: Paladin Divine Sacrifice III Enhancement: Paladin Exalted Smite I Enhancement: Paladin Exalted Smite II Enhancement: Paladin Exalted Smite III Enhancement: Paladin Exalted Smite IV Enhancement: Paladin Extra Lay on Hands I Enhancement: Paladin Extra Lay on Hands II Enhancement: Paladin Extra Smite Evil I Enhancement: Paladin Extra Smite Evil II Enhancement: Paladin Extra Smite Evil III Enhancement: Paladin Extra Smite Evil IV Enhancement: Paladin Hunter of the Dead I Enhancement: Paladin Hunter of the Dead II Enhancement: Paladin Hunter of the Dead III Enhancement: Paladin Charisma I Enhancement: Paladin Toughness I Enhancement: Paladin Divine Might I Enhancement: Paladin Divine Might II Enhancement: Paladin Divine Might III Enhancement: Paladin Extra Turning I Enhancement: Paladin Extra Turning II Enhancement: Paladin Extra Turning III Enhancement: Paladin Improved Turning I Enhancement: Paladin Improved Turning II Enhancement: Paladin Improved Turning III

If FoL is required (which doens't make sense with THF unless you use a qStaff) you could consider a 15/3/x split.

I am working on my 15/3/2 Paladin here: http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=243270

With the FVS varrient Adjusted for THF and not needing WSS is something like :

1. Extend, Empower Heal(human bonus)
3. THF
6. quick draw
8. Toughness (Monk bonus 1)
9. ITHF, Power Attack (monk bonus 2)
12. Imp Crit: Slash
15: GTHF
18: Mental Toughness

If she is going to prep with FoL and then switch to a DPS weapon quick draw might be helpful. FVS for huge boost to spell points and early leveling ease.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Valindria

Fighter? I see what you did, but I think there are better ways to get what you want.

Human and 8 monk give 50% (MonkII Human III). Does it have to have fist of light? Is that a prereq?

Consider a Pure HotD Paladin. 60% healing amp before gear. It's missing DM4 but other than that should be plenty of thf damage with smites, DS, DM, Zeal, Capstone, full THF feats, etc.

#1 Thanks for the input :)

I have a Paladin 15 HOTD, Monk 3, Fighter 2 (Phoenix Champion) build that I really like and my wife wanted something similar, but with more hit points and which could use a two hander (not sure why the two hander but it was in her thought)

The fists of light gig is pretty key, that and the healing ki finisher. You can pretty much "go infinite" depending on how much damage you are taking and keep yourself healed without using mana, pots etc... Then the idea is you bring in the long swords instead of fists. Really fist DPS is often better, but the long swords have some advantages if you exploit them. (like for paladins its much better with smiting and weapon effects like smiting are better with the swords)

Now the paladin build, thats far better DPS, pure paladin is about as good as it gets according to what I've seen in mod 5. But i think the wife was keen on the fists of light gig. Also the pally gets some great defenses from HOTD. I love being immune to beholders, its soooo nice.

So here the two hander is something of an "oh ya and you can also use a sword of shadows" kind of build feature. Probably not what you would normally do, but if you want it, there it is. I think fighter is about the only class that can run TWF and THF in one build.

Quote:

I am working on my 15/3/2 Paladin here: http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=243270

Cool, a fair bit like my character. I have fighter where you have favored soul, mostly so I could include Intim Tanking and Kopesh in my build. Fists of light isn't all that handy in raid combat so I pull Holy Sword Kopeshs for that.

I can see the favored soul mana being nice for healing others. for yourself, I find fists of light and LOH about cover most cases and the occasional cure serious.

I just got another piece of healing amp on mine last night and with some gear arranging I got cure serious up into an average of 170. Thats for a whopping 25 mana. It really is amazing once you get it all running. Far and away my favorite character.

ok i like this and i was thinking that i'd want a build with more hits thus more heals so what about ranger tempestx2 and 6 to 8 monk levels take shintoa monk and of course fists of light and use wind stance to boost amount of hits and if 6 monk 2 pally lvs? and use twf idk but i figure the stats would be like this
str14/16
dex16/14
con12/14
int10/8
char8
idea is hit them a lot avoid there hits and when i get hit heal with with light and side note I will use whirling steel? to keep centered when using long swords...sorry kind of takes away from ur post but i could see urs working well tho i think u had 2handed wep in urs kinda pointless i think..i would go twf :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Visucius

idea is hit them a lot avoid there hits and when i get hit heal with with light and side note I will use whirling steel? to keep centered when using long swords...sorry kind of takes away from ur post but i could see urs working well tho i think u had 2handed wep in urs kinda pointless i think..i would go twf :)

No, I think thats a good idea to really maximize the fists of light benefit. If course unarmed is faster yet than longswords so if its max speed you are after, unarmed is superior. (and generally that is why calcs show unarmed as better DPS than centered longswords)

Kind of like Monster, there is a archetype at work here....

Human + Light Monk 8 + Whatever 12 and the whatever determines the character of the build. (there is also the Whatever 15/Monk 3/Whatever 2 template which is less common)

Of course pure light monk is still a very good way to do your healing amp character and has plenty to recommend it.

Human and Monk set up the self healing engine with healing amp and fists of light healing.

From there the other 12 could be...
Ranger (attack speed, light healing)
Fighter (TWF feats, hit points, tanking)
Paladin (DPS spikes, medium healing, crazy saves)
Cleric/Favored Soul (Heavy healing, Damage casting)
Wizard/Sorcerer (Damage casting, Buffs) <marginal due to stat needs)
Rogue (Sneak attack, UMD, Traps)

If we didn't have the 3 class limit I might make this as a completionist character...
Ranger 12, Monk 3, Rogue 1, Fighter 2, Paladin 1, Wizard 1

6 Bonus feats, Full TWF, Multishot, Tempest 2, Sneak attack, UMD etc...

Idea 2 which I didn't spec out.

Human 13 Rogue/7 monk

Human 30%, Monk 20% Acrobat for boost to QStaff. Monk for FoL etc.

why not go paladin for 3 lives and TR finally to a pure fighter you loose 5% heal amp BUT you gain kensia or stalwart 3 plus capstone

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skull_49

why not go paladin for 3 lives and TR finally to a pure fighter you loose 5% heal amp BUT you gain kensia or stalwart 3 plus capstone

Cause it takes forever :P That would be a very potent character though :)

The other think to keep in mind is the fists of light business. Until you've used it or seen it in action on an amp character its hard to understand how potent it is for self sufficiency. My paladin monk can clear the battleground without a single potion, scroll, wand, and use around 200sp or so. While lots of characters can clear the battleground, very few can do it without needing to shrine or use consumables of some kind. And most of my healing is done while beating the stuffing out of the monsters, with the occasional throw of a healing ki after a tougher encounter. Its the main "concept" on these Phoenix characters.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sigtrent

Cause it takes forever :P That would be a very potent character though :)

The other think to keep in mind is the fists of light business. Until you've used it or seen it in action on an amp character its hard to understand how potent it is for self sufficiency. My paladin monk can clear the battleground without a single potion, scroll, wand, and use around 200sp or so. While lots of characters can clear the battleground, very few can do it without needing to shrine or use consumables of some kind. And most of my healing is done while beating the stuffing out of the monsters, with the occasional throw of a healing ki after a tougher encounter. Its the main "concept" on these Phoenix characters.

My pure monk is a light monk hes human with great heal amp 2 or 4 hp per hit is nice on a monk BUT as you should know then is that you have to use monk weapons which are not that great especially not with only 8 lvs of monk you get crappy dice on fists and kamas are just terrible let alone a q-staff ok maybe you will get short swords with update but those still are not that great on damage.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skull_49

My pure monk is a light monk hes human with great heal amp 2 or 4 hp per hit is nice on a monk BUT as you should know then is that you have to use monk weapons which are not that great especially not with only 8 lvs of monk you get crappy dice on fists and kamas are just terrible let alone a q-staff ok maybe you will get short swords with update but those still are not that great on damage.

Unarmed damage is really quite good, even if you only have 1d6 dice damage for them. The primary reasons are... (full strength damage on off hand attacks, stance bonuses, and attack speed)

So lets say you are a fighter with a kopesh, the best DPS one hander, you have 32str (a typical unbuffed value at high level)

It does base 1d8 + 11 str, +5 off hand + other bonuses, probably around +14 or so

The fist does 1d6 +11str on both hands + other bonuses * 1.1 (I forget the exact speed difference)

So half your attacks are getting +6, thats +3 average, which is more than the 1.5 damage base damage difference. Also you are getting a good 10% more hits and you are throwing some bonus ki move damage from time to time.

Now the kopesh has that great crit profile and that is pretty impressive damage. But folks have proven the math on similar builds, one with kopesh, another with one level of monk, the unarmed splash monk does more damage due to that speed difference and the benefits from TOD rings vs Greensteel.

Why aren't pure monks better then? Because fighters and paladins get damage bonuses that are just bigger than the ones monks get. They get more speed bonuses, damage bonuses etc... What monks get is a much smoother ride and lots of utility powers.

With Update 5 the monks can use long swords. you loose the speed bonus but gain more base damage and ki effects. None the less, fists are still better damage! That speed bump is very powerful. Now on my paladin, the weapons have advantages for smiting. For this fighter... not so much. The weapons are more a matter of versatility since not every critter is most easily bested with straight DPS. Weapons come in more verities than hand wraps.