Tattooo - halfling monk

[Fennario]

This post is for a few of my guildmates. It is nothing revolutionary. They just wanted to see my build on paper. Our guild is small, and does not have one of those fancy guild websites so I am posting here. Sorry it took me so long guys, here it is:

Halfling monk 16 (32 pt)

str 14
dex 16
con 14
int 8
wis 16 (level points here)
cha 8

Feats:

1 - dragonmark
1 - stunning fist
2 - weapon finesse
3 - toughness (swap out for twf at level 9)*
6 - dragonmark
6 - power attack
9 - itwf
12 - dragonmark
15 - gtwf
18 - toughness

*You have to suffer levels 9 and 10 without a toughness feat until you can wear the minos at 11. When mod 9 hits you will not have toughness for level 17 due to the minos fix.

Skills:

concentration - 19 ranks
balance - 19 ranks
jump - 18 ranks
tumble - 1 rank

The rest of this build reflects the gear and tomes I have acquired.

Enhancements

Recently respeced; still tweaking

[halfling] - Cunning I (1)
[halfling] - Cunning II (2)
[halfling] - Dexterity (Halfling) I (2)
[halfling] - Dexterity (Halfling) II (4)
[halfling] - Extra Dragonmark I (1)
[halfling] - Extra Dragonmark II (2)
[halfling] - Extra Dragonmark III (3)
[halfling] - Guile I (1)
[halfling] - Guile II (2)
[halfling] - Luck (Fortitude) I (1)
[halfling] - Luck (Reflex) I (1)
[halfling] - Racial Toughness (1)
[halfling] - Racial Toughness (2)
[monk] - Master of Stone (3)
[monk] - Master of Thunder (3)
[monk] - Adept of Flame (2)
[monk] - Adept of Rain (2)
[monk] - Adept of Rock (2)
[monk] - Adept of Wind (2)
[monk] - Disciple of Breezes (1)
[monk] - Disciple of Candles (1)
[monk] - Disciple of Pebbles (1)
[monk] - Disciple of Puddles (1)
[monk] - Eagle Claw Attack (1)
[monk] - Fists of Light (1)
[monk] - Improved Recovery (Monk) I (2)
[monk] - Unbalancing Strike (1)
[monk] - Way of the Elegant Crane I (1)
[monk] - Way of the Elegant Crane II (2)
[monk] - Way of the Elegant Crane III (3)
[monk] - Wisdom I (2)
[monk] - Wisdom II (4)
[monk] - Wisdom III (6)

Level 16 stats

Air stance:

In this stance most of the time

str 22 (14 + 6 item + 2 tome)
dex 30 (16 + 6 item + 3 stance + 3 tome + 2 enhancement)
con 20 (14 + 6 item + 2 tome - 2 stance)
wis 32 (16 + 6 item + 4 levels + 2 tome + 3 enhancement +1 dt armor)

DC on monk specials: 29

Water stance:

May upgrade to master if +3 wis tome is pulled

str 20
dex 27
con 22
wis 34

DC on monk specials: 30

Use fire stance sometimes with quarterstaff; earth stance situationally

AC

10 base
11 wis
10 dex
6 armor (dragontouched)
5 protection
4 monk
4 insight (dragontouched)
2 chaosgarde
1 halfling
1 alchemical
-----
54 unbuffed (still no chattering ring )

4 shield clicky ( I have 5 of these on hotbar for 15 min between rests)
3 bark pot
1 haste pot
-----
62 self buffed

Highest I have ever seen it (doesn't happen often):

5 pally
4 bard
2 recitation
2 ranger bark
-----
75

HP (wind stance)

148 monk 16
80 con
45 shroud
30 gfl
20 enhancements
18 minos
10 gianthold
-----
351 (383 in earth during an emergency)

Saves (wind stance)

fort 23 (10 base + 5 con + 5 resist + 4 gh + 1 halfling + 1 enhancement - 3 crane)
reflex 31 (10 base + 10 dex +5 resist + 4 gh + 1 halfling + 1 enhancement)
will 31 (10 base +11 wis + 5 resist + 4 gh + 1 halfling)

27/32/35 in water stance

(I use bloodstone so no luck bonus in there)

AB

16 bab
10 dex
4 gh
2 tumbleweed
1 halfling
1 haste
1-5 weapon
- 5 PA
-----
30-34 on first attack
34-38 on first attack when flanking (always looking for the flank)
(-2 when you pull out dual kamas)

Thoughts

I really enjoy this guy. It was inspired by the Rameses build I read a while ago. There are some big differences though.

I originally planned to split level up points between wis and dex and use water stance. Then I had a brainstorm and thought if I put all my points into wisdom and use air stance my stats would essentially be the same. I would basically just be trading more defense for more offense. I lose the extra saves and 16 hitpoints. I gain higher attack speed and +1 damage. Armor class and the dc for monk specials stay the same. So that's when my water monk became an air monk.

I decided to go with the dragonmarks for self heals. I have been contemplating on swapping them out, but I am addicted to those heals now. With a greater devotion 6 ring and monk recovery 1, my heals hit for 225. I have 4 heals, 6 CSW, and 8 CLW between rests. That adds up to a bunch of easily recovered hit points. Improved crit, toughness, dodge, etc. would be nice, but I'm still clinging to those heals for now.

I decided against combat expertise in favor of power attack. It saved me precious build points, and I couldn't live without power attack on a melee character. You still have defensive fighting for a poor man's combat expertise if you really need it.

You may notice that I went master with air stance and earth stance. Even though I don't use earth stance often, I like to spam the earth ki strikes for damage.

That's about it. I have fun playing this guy. Don't let all those monk haters get you down. Sure there are flaws with the class. Not having transmuting on handwraps is my biggest gripe. Soon as they fix that, I will be pretty satisfied.

[Demoyn]

Nevermind.

[Brandiwyne]

Very similar to a water monk, with some trade-offs. Nicely done.

[Hasteclicky]

My build exactly and love him. The others I have inspired in guild I recommended dropping str to bring int up for ce just in case, but I wasn't willing to reroll him for it. Quivering palm rules on this build, as well as when I can land unbalancing strike on big red.