Halfling 14 fighter/2 monk stupid idea?

[sumnz]

Havent really rolled many meelee classes, but my paladin has me down in the dumps. I was thinking about rolling a new fighter, one with ac as high as I could get it. But I dont know much about fighters, guess I have a few questions.

1. With rapiers being so good end game now, is a weapon finess build for a fighter viable, or will they really always be str dependent?

2. Would a halfling go good with this combo. I was thinking higher max dex, halfling ac bonus, and having a high wis wearing +8 ac bracers or the white dragon scale robe. Is this plan impractical.

3. Never could bring myself to get 1750 favor. Is a build that pumps dex and wis with mabye 14 int for combat expertise and the rest into str/con workable at 28? Please dont tell me "well it would work if you went dwarf!" I would really like to stick to halfling if I could for the dragonmarks, but I supose I could switch to drow if it wouldnt have a chance to be useful.

Any thoughts on a build like this?

[sumnz]

Well I went ahead and built it last night anyway, couldnt do much with only 28 point build, but here is the rundown.

Halfling fighter14/monk2

Str 10
Dex 18
Con 11
Int 13
Wis 14
Chr 8

Feats so far (currently 3rd level)
Weapon finess
Lesser dragonmark of healing (love these on a fighter btw, great considering the fighter levels can shore up your holes0
Weapon focus: piercing
Combat expertise

Some twink gear I sent him:
+2 mithril fullplate
+2 heavy steel shield
Ion stone (+1 ac trinket)
+2 andamantite rapier
+1 acid sickle
+1 true law light mace

So far so good. Str is at 12 from fighter str 1 and a +1 item. Its fun having a 36 ac at level 3, ogres in waterworks on hard need a 19 or 20 abouts to hit me, hurts when they do though heh. My plan is to keep upping either my dex, or wis with my level points for when I get my monk levels. Dex will help me hit better, but wis would help my weakest save, so not sure yet which one to go with.

I eventually plan on getting the white dragon robe, and possibly duel wielding. Any idea what AC I should be able to attain by max level? Also because of low str for a meelee character, what problems am I going to run into end game, will my damage be pointless, is this just a bad concept?

[sumnz]

Nobody has any thoughts weither this build will sink or swim?

[Angelus_dead]

1. With rapiers being so good end game now, is a weapon finess build for a fighter viable, or will they really always be str dependent?

The stat disribution is such that the points you save by not getting strength don't go to a good use in your other abilities. That's especially the case for your build, because you're not training the TWF feats, which are the main benefit of a melee character having high dex.

The problem with your character is that it won't do much damage. Fighters are already below comprable barbs in DPS, and depending on the situation they're below rangers and rogues too. But without strength, your character will be even less damaging. As a matter of fact, I would suggest that even halfling rogues have more strength than you! You'll have trouble even lifting your own armor and shield.... well, if you wore armor, which the monk levels prohibit.

If you're going to be low-strength, you should be a ranger or rogue. Scratch that, not even a ranger should be low-strength.

[Angelus_dead]

Also because of low str for a meelee character, what problems am I going to run into end game, will my damage be pointless, is this just a bad concept?

Pretty much.

An average fighter will have 30+ strength at level 16. You'll have 10+3 enhance+2 tome + 6 item = 21. So you get +5 strength damage while the other guys have +10 or more. And what's worse, they have Power Attack for another +5 or +10 damage, but it requires a minumum 13 str to even qualify.

Rangers can somewhat survive having low strength because the favored damage enhancements add some power. Rogues can also handle it because their sneak attack dice substitutes as a source of damage.

If you want to salvage that character, I suggest switching to rogue levels from here on out (maybe advance to fighter4 and take the Weapon Spec feat, but then stop being a fighter).

The core problem is that a high AC doesn't help much if you can't hurt anything. No monsters will be trying to hit you until they've beaten the rest of your party anyway- because the other players actually threaten the monsters.

[dior10276]

Hi Sum,

I have a high AC Pali/fighter 12/4 drow. I see a few problems with your build in my opinion at least. Weapon finesse is fine, but you will still have problems with end bosses, mostly because they are immune to stat damage. Therefore you will either need bane weapons or transmuting weapons to do ample damage. I am assuming this is where you are going with rapiers.
Wisdom at that level doesn't make much sense to me. Please elaborate why 14. Intell gets u combat experteise at 13, don't spend the extra point there, and you could even do 12 and use a plus 1 intell tome to save another point.

In regards to doing the grind 1750 to unlock 32 pt build. If you have unlocked Drow at the 400 level, use that. They are 32 pt build with certain stats unchangeable. They start off with 10 intell and charisma already, but you can tweak the other numbers as you see fit.

My 12/4 Pali is a lot of fun to play. 3 lay on hands for 100 pts each and 350 hit points at level 16. U duel wield w/p shortsords, but can use a tower shield and combat experteise to hit high enough ac to take minimal damage.

Send me a pm if u have any further questions.

Dastardley Gogetem Sodapopp Dilley - Blacklist - Sarlona

[Angelus_dead]

Wisdom at that level doesn't make much sense to me. Please elaborate why 14.

It's 14 wisdom to get a +2 ac bonus from his monk class feature.

That's not really a good idea. At level 16 he can have +2 tome and +6 item for a total 22 wisdom, a +6 modifier. That costs 6 points at character creation, two levels, and one body slot for the wise item. And for that investment, you get +6 AC... which you could've gotten by simply wearing some armor.

The build is full of anti-synergy. Fighters get +3 max dex from armor, meaning it takes 20 dex to fill out mithral fullplate. But because those monk AC bonuses don't work in armor, the fighter-class AC bonus can't apply. So the monk's net AC boost is actually just +3

If someone wants to splash two monk levels to get wisdom-to-AC, do it as a rogue or ranger.

[sumnz]

I agree it would be un synergenic, if I dident have a plan at the end. Been playing for a while and have amassed a few nice items to help me out end game. I wont be wearing armor, so my wis will come into play from the 2 monk levels, as well as use of evasion. I have a +2 dex tome, and a +2 wis tome I traded heavily for thinking to use them on another character, but decided it wasent worth the inventment (my paladin at 16th even with 30 str is just depressing to play).

I figure with 18 starting dex, +2 dex tome, 2 from hafling racials, a 6 dex item, and 4 from levels my end dex can be 32. So that is +11 ac.

Add the white dragonscale robe for another +7 ac that dosent hinder my monk wis modifier.

Wisdom to my ac at starting 14th, +2 tome, and +6 item, thats 22 wisdom, so another 6 ac.

Combat expertise +5 ac. Will probably be up most times.

Eventually I am going to take the two weapon fighting feats, but while I am a lowbie sticking with mith fullplate. I think twf feats add 2? ac.

+5 prot item.

chaosguarde for another 2.

Halfling size for another 1

Dodge for 1

So that alone is 50 beholder proof ac, without any buffs or barkskin pots or raid loot. Any other suggestions for attainable items outside the demon queen or titan raids that could raise this higher?

I have a pretty good mix of rapiers, and a few nice slashing kukri and sickles, and some small maces like disruption and banishment.

I have my awesome +5 silver rapier of pure good, and by the time it matters we can have a paladin pop into the shroud, make some dr defeating demon killing weapons and pop out again.

While this build does have lower dps, it focuses on AC, intimidate, and of course the utility of healing thru dragonmarks.

I know my dps will be lower, but I have been playing a human paladin for the last year who uses a longsword and shield and still has inferior survivability, utility, and dps to this build, so this is a step up for me lol.