Seeking advice. (Human, Pure Monk, Str oriented)

[OliviaCrowley]

I've been wanting to play a pure monk for some time now, but haven't had much luck finding good set ups for human, strength-based ones on the forums. I played with the character builder for a while, and here is what I've come up with.

I would appreciate some advice (not including 'make halfling humans suck!') to make this a stronger character.

Yuugi Hoshiguma, Human, Lawful Good, 20 Monk

Base stats (plus items/tomes at 20)

Str: 16 (5 levels + 1 adaptability + 6 item + 2 tome = 30)
Dex: 16 (2 Tome + 6 item = 24)
Con: 14 (1 g. adaptability + 3 tome + 6 item = 24)
Int: 8
Wis: 14 (Monk wis 2 + 2 tome + 6 item = 24)
Cha: 8

+1 tome taken early on to qualify for itwf/gtwf, +2 tome qualifies for gm air stance

Feats

1: TWF/Toughness (human)/Stunning Fist (monk)
2: Power Attack
3: Dodge, Harmonious Balance
6: Two unchosen feats
9: ITWF
12: IC: Bludge
15: GTWF
18: Unchosen feat

I'm not sure what to put for the three unselected feats. I could take more toughness. Right now my planner is showing me at 382 @ 20 with current con, toughness and enhancements. Minos, 45 from GS and more toughness would offset con loss from air stance.

As for enhancements, I picked up:

Monk Serenity
Adaptability Str
G. Adaptability Con
Human Recovery II
Monk Recovery II
Versatility IV
Patient Tortoise IV
Fists of Light
GM Storms
GM Sun
Toughness II
Concentration IV
Wisdom II

Both GMs were taken because I didn't see another good place to put points, and I figure I can switch them depending on my current needs.

I had plenty of skill points to play with. I dumped them in concentration, jump, spot, and split rest between balance and tumble.

As for why human, I just like them and it fits the character better. Plus, nothing wrong with an extra feat, versatility, recovery and skill points.

I'm really tired and it's almost 4 AM here, so I'm probably forgetting details. If I missed something that would help regarding giving me advice, please let me know and I'll add it.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[CSFurious]

lower str to 15 & raise wis & con

[OliviaCrowley]

lower str to 15 & raise wis & con

Lowering Str from 16 to 15 gives me 2 build points. Both wis and con cost two. I'm not a 34 point build (yet). :P

As for reasoning, I'm assuming it's because I could push them to the next bracket with +3s/exceptional bonuses?

[CSFurious]

i understand your point

i became happy with making str, wis, con & dex all 15

you can then get base 18 in all 4 pretty easy

[Junts]

its foolish not to take stunning fist, its a wonderful feat and youll be able to land it respectbaly well


if you want tier 4 stances, do 15 16 15, tier 4 water stance isn't worth qualifying for, as its just an ice punch .. the fire/lightning/earth moves are far more valuable. Even with ki strikes being souped in mod10, its still not worth getting gm water.

[CSFurious]

i like to use stunning fist & stunning blow

it helps when you solo

[LAWPRE]

I thought harmonious balance was a path not a feat but...

still, Luck of Heroes adds +1 to all saves; Cleave and Great Cleave are pretty good if you get mobbed alot;

Cha of 8 means that your are going to pay more for stuff from vendors and Int of 8 means you only get 1 skill point per level.

[OliviaCrowley]

I thought harmonious balance was a path not a feat but...

still, Luck of Heroes adds +1 to all saves; Cleave and Great Cleave are pretty good if you get mobbed alot;

Cha of 8 means that your are going to pay more for stuff from vendors and Int of 8 means you only get 1 skill point per level.

Harmonious Balance is one of the two bonus feats offered at monk level three (the other is that dark path).

Luck of Heroes seems unnecessary, Monks get pretty respectable saves all around. I'm not sure if a feat slot for +1 saves is valuable. I guess for filler since nothing else stands out, though. Thanks for the thought.

As far as Charisma, seriously? Haggle isn't even a class skill. If I REALLY want to haggle, honestly, I can put on a 6 cha item, 15 Haggle item and 6 cha skills GS. I'd jump from -1 to 23.

Regarding Int: No, I am getting 4 skill points per level as human.

[Aerendil]

Stats look reasonably good, although if you want to use Stunning Fist you might want a higher Wis for a better DC.

You could do Wis 15 +1 human + 3 monk + 3 tome + 6 item + 2 exceptional for 30 endgame Wis, which is pretty good. If that's not enough, you could pop into GM water stance (which you now qualify for) for a further +4 Wis.
Using one of the human stat enhancements on Con, however, isn't going to do much for you, really.

Otherwise, yeah, I did a very similar build with my Human monk. 16 dex + 1tome before level 6 for ITWF/GTWF, then upgrade to +2 before level 18 is pretty solid. Add on GM wind stance (+4 dex), items, and so on, and you're actually at 28+ Dex. With a +2 exceptional Dex item, you're now at 30. So with those level ups into Str, you could now be at 30+ Str, Dex, and Wis endgame which is pretty sweet.

Feats look good - you've got the bases covered there, really. I:Crit, PA, TWF tree, Stunning Fist, Dodge, and Toughness are the must-haves, really, which leaves you with 2 feats to toy with (3 as a Human). I went for the Orien dragonmark line on my Monk, but that was purely for flair. You could do whatever with yours, really.

[OliviaCrowley]

Stats look reasonably good, although if you want to use Stunning Fist you might want a higher Wis for a better DC.

You could do Wis 15 +1 human + 3 monk + 3 tome + 6 item + 2 exceptional for 30 endgame Wis, which is pretty good. If that's not enough, you could pop into GM water stance (which you now qualify for) for a further +4 Wis.
Using one of the human stat enhancements on Con, however, isn't going to do much for you, really.

Otherwise, yeah, I did a very similar build with my Human monk. 16 dex + 1tome before level 6 for ITWF/GTWF, then upgrade to +2 before level 18 is pretty solid. Add on GM wind stance (+4 dex), items, and so on, and you're actually at 28+ Dex. With a +2 exceptional Dex item, you're now at 30. So with those level ups into Str, you could now be at 30+ Str, Dex, and Wis endgame which is pretty sweet.

Feats look good - you've got the bases covered there, really. I:Crit, PA, TWF tree, Stunning Fist, Dodge, and Toughness are the must-haves, really, which leaves you with 2 feats to toy with (3 as a Human). I went for the Orien dragonmark line on my Monk, but that was purely for flair. You could do whatever with yours, really.

Oops, I didn't realize wisdom determined stunning fist DC. As for the feats, I might just drop in Stunning Blow and another 2 Toughness for an extra chunk of HP.

I suppose I can cannibalize a point from strength and bump Con to
15 to allow myself to get GM Earth with a +3 tome if so desired.

Revised stats:

Str 14 (+5 levels + 3 tome + 6 item = 28)
Dex 16 (+3 tome + 6 item + 1 human2 = 26 without stance)
Con 15 (+3 tome + 6 item = 24)
Int 8
Wis 15 (+3 tome + 3 monk + 1 human + 6 item = 28)
Cha 8

Exceptional bonuses would let me shift things around to maintain numbers while dropping enhancements (i.e. freeing up 4 ap from gtr adapt while maintaining 26 with a 1 exceptional dex bonus).

[LAWPRE]

Since Harmonious Balance is a Bonus Feat, I can see where my confusion came from.

As far as Int goes, you get +4 skill points at 1st level and +1 at each additional level (unless they changed that - I was recently in Iraq for a year and some of my intel may be dated). Also, I believe that you always get 1 skill point no matter your int.

I prefer to mitigate risk as opposed to compensate for damage. As such, I do favor higher saves - and therefore less chance to take poison or whatever - over other choices. Still, this is a playstyle choice and it may not be yours.

I did not mention haggle, my straight Monk pays about 10 GP more for stuff than my Monk/Pal build and the only difference is 2 points of Cha. still, I will have to be on the lookout for the Cha items you mentioned as I have a FvS builds that could use them.

[Cedwin]

if you want tier 4 stances, do 15 16 15, tier 4 water stance isn't worth qualifying for, as its just an ice punch .. the fire/lightning/earth moves are far more valuable. Even with ki strikes being souped in mod10, its still not worth getting gm water.

I think it will be with the next update, tier 3 water stance is 2d10 frost damage, and tier 4 is 2d20 frost damage, plus the stance gives you +4 wis, and bumps all of your saves up (great for running through traps). Unless at level 16+ you don't fight anything made of fire anymore?

[OliviaCrowley]

As far as Int goes, you get +4 skill points at 1st level and +1 at each additional level (unless they changed that - I was recently in Iraq for a year and some of my intel may be dated). Also, I believe that you always get 1 skill point no matter your int.

I did not mention haggle, my straight Monk pays about 10 GP more for stuff than my Monk/Pal build and the only difference is 2 points of Cha. still, I will have to be on the lookout for the Cha items you mentioned as I have a FvS builds that could use them.

Snipped a bit out.

Regarding Int, yes, each point will result in +4 at 1st and +1 per level. But as a Human I am starting with 16 at 1 and 4 per level. I'm not hurting for skill points since there isn't much I 'need' as a monk. Concentration, some Balance, some Jump, Spot for seeing things. Tumble for sheer fun value?

As for Charisma, the cause of that may be due to the fact having a positive Charisma score raises Haggle innately and therefore makes things 'a little cheaper'.

[LAWPRE]

I guess this comes down to a playstyle choice. I do a fair amount of soloing and -even when grouping - tend to rely on sneaking. This makes hide and move silent "need".

Once again, I learned something. I had not thought about "passive" stat stuff but I am thinking about it more and more. I tend towards Dex builds and keep my Str at 12 but lately - even at low levels - that has caused problems. Can't use this lever, need Bull's Strength for Ringleader, Uncentered because I am carrying too much gear, etc. So, I am looking at different gear and enhancement than I normally would. Thank you for - even indirectly - challenging my notions and thoughts.