Question about Disciple Enhancements and Animal Forms

[Darkrok]

Do most people take all 4 level 1 enhancements to be able to do all of the chains? It seems like monks are really tight on enhancements and focusing on 1, maybe 2 stances would help alleviate that. But you give up two finishers for each path you decide not to take.

As a dps monk my main form long-term would be the air form. So if you eschew the other three forms you're giving up finishers for a 30-second silence and stun/daze/sleep immunity (earth), burning hands and the +2 hit/skills/saves (fire), and slow and spell point reduction (water). You're also losing the option to use the stances as needed (need ki? go fire. need more defense? go earth).

What do most monks do? Stick to one stance or train them all for more flexibility?

As for the animal forms my main thrust after pure dps is being able to buff/heal the party w/o using resources. I'm torn whether I'm better off with the crane form (for the ki generation) or the tortoise form (for the extra concentration and ki maintenance). Thoughts?

Lastly, is stunning fist worthwhile if you're focusing on strength? I have a decent wisdom (14 +1 tome = 15 base) but I'm planning on putting level-ups to str. Will the DC be too low to be worth it or is it viable for hard/heroics at that level of wisdom?

[Redicular]

As a dps monk my main form long-term would be the air form. So if you eschew the other three forms you're giving up finishers for a 30-second silence and stun/daze/sleep immunity (earth), burning hands and the +2 hit/skills/saves (fire), and slow and spell point reduction (water). You're also losing the option to use the stances as needed (need ki? go fire. need more defense? go earth).

What do most monks do? Stick to one stance or train them all for more flexibility?

well, can't comment on "most" monks, but I took all the lvl 1, and 3 of the level 2(fire wind water) and will be taking only wind 3 and 4
the losses of not having ANY stance except wind are staggering, besides the things you mentioned, you're also gonna lose out on most of the monk healing abilities(cure curse/disease/leveldrain and raise dead) and gonna lose all the "useful" specialty attacks(fist of iron, eagle claw, unbalancing)

beyond that, and into the realm of speculation, I'd be amazed if the henshin mystic PrE, once it comes out, doesn't require all 4 basic stances, tier 2 is questionable due to level/ap cost making it nigh impossible to take all four and a PrE at level 6 monk, the standard first PrE level. but all tier 1 I'd vote a nigh certainty...

As for the animal forms my main thrust after pure dps is being able to buff/heal the party w/o using resources. I'm torn whether I'm better off with the crane form (for the ki generation) or the tortoise form (for the extra concentration and ki maintenance). Thoughts?

you're contradicting yourself, you're saying you want to buff/heal, but you don't want to take the stances that allow the better of our 4 buffs, you need disciple of candles for walk of the sun*, and disciple of puddles for aligning the heavens**.

anyway, if you stick with the one stance route, crane is a must for low level ki(possible respec out at higher), if you do decide to pick up fire stance, then tortoise becomes more useful low levels.

Lastly, is stunning fist worthwhile if you're focusing on strength? I have a decent wisdom (14 +1 tome = 15 base) but I'm planning on putting level-ups to str. Will the DC be too low to be worth it or is it viable for hard/heroics at that level of wisdom?

having the same issue, to the point i'm considering feat swapping out stunning fist. on normals, its not too bad, but on hard/epic 90% of foes are rolling saves, its just a ki drain at that point.

long story short, I'd say take all the tier 1, maybe not train past that, but get the basic functionality from the tier 1s at the minimum.

*Nearby allies gain a +2 morale bonus to attack, saves, and skills for 60 seconds.
**Nearby allies gain a 25% reduction in spell point costs for 60 seconds.

[Darkrok]

Thanks for the feedback. You're completely right...I really want to fit in all the healing amps as well as the stances and buffs and I'm having trouble with that. They just don't all fit, at least at low levels, and forget about any concentration boosts. I'll have to put off the healing amps most likely but your path sounds like what I'm wanting to do. I do solo quite a bit so the healing amps would be nice but the flexibility you get out of at least those 3 enhancement points trumps maximizing the speed the rest of the stuff comes in.

My starting stats were 14str/16dex/14wis and I don't mind needing the tome to get to 17 for ITWF and 18 for the final wind stance. With this type of a monk (where you have all of the stances and therefore all of the debuffs and special attacks if you want them) would you be better off putting the level up points into str for the + hit/dmg or to wis for the +ac/dc's/max ki? I'm really torn because I don't want groups to be put off by my damage output but at the same time I know I can keep track of the stuff needed to add a lot of utility for the group.

[dontcare123]

You can build your monk any way you like, but here is my experiences:

I had a human monk and reached level 12. I put my level up points into str, and IIRC his starting stats were something in the neighborhood of Str 16 dex 16 wis 14. My experience shows that str based monks dont work, because adding 1 or 2 damage per hit isnt going to be game breaking, but having more AC/Will saves/higher DCs would.

So I deleted him, and started a halfling.

His starting stats are str 12 dex 18 wis 16. I put all level up points into wis, and took weapon finesse. I am MUCH MUCH more impressed with this build. Not only do I have a slightly higher to hit, since im focusing more on wisdom and almost nothing on str, my AC is higher, and stunning fist actually lands. (and sometimes even on elite mobs, although its much rarer) Hes level 11 now and I really enjoy playing him. Unless you are soloing (extremely unlikely after like level 8) you are probably going to be dps, not tank... so taking halfling and 1 level of their sneak attack enhancement just gave the the same damage equivalent of 4 str. Taking tier 2 of SA gives you damage equivalent of 8 str.... For this reason, I think str builds are not nearly as effective, and a path to sure frustration. Add this to the extra 1 ac a halfling gets, an extra 1 accross the board saves halflings get, and the not mentioned (such as save bonuses and such) enhancements halflings get, I find very little reason to not go halfling for a monk.

If you choose to do a str build, I wish you the best of luck.

[Jobol_Wolvesbane]

Ohhhh Thats what I was thinking as you can see in my post in this thread.

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=204080