Monk Gear Layout ~ Ideas?

[butlerfamilywa]

Choices:
- go STR monk and use fire stance. Really only if you want to jack up ki gen to use TOD. Additional benefits is saving WF and Dodge and taking more Toughness
- keep WIS/DEX monk, reduce WIS in favour of DEX, and use wind stance and accumulate damage. Still tight on Toughness feats

I greatly appreciate your input on what I have, don't get me wrong.

As far as QP goes, I did have it on my first life, and I did enjoy running with it. However, seeing what finishing moves the Dark side of Monk has, I chose to drop QP as it is really the only Wisdom based feat I cannot get over 30 without a serious investment in Wisdom to begin with.

I chose fire stance to keep KI generation up, now that they have gotten rid of Wind Stances biggest benefit, the attack speed increase. The +4 Strength bonus is a big help, though I don't care for the -2 Wisdom I'm receiving while in stance. I've tossed around the Idea of Ocean Stance, but -2 Str, +4 Wisdom doesn't seem that helpful for my build.

Now Earth IV stance does seem nice, if wearing the monk bracers.. because of the 2d14 tier damage you go to. +4 Str = +2 to hit, +2 damage. +4 Con = 40hps, and from 2d12 to 2d14 for damage dice. Avg 3 more damage per hit isn't it?

Greatest Mountain Stance - Grandmaster of Mountains Enhancement (Select)
+4 Constitution, -2 Dexterity, DR 8/-, +1 Ki point when hit by a foe, +5 Ki when critically hit, +3 DR when blocking, -7% to movement speed

The only thing from that that is beneficial is the 40hps from +4 Con, and the 2d14 Dam Dice.

As far as Feats go however, I only took 1 Toughness feat, to keep Ninja Spy, and to double my stunning ability with Stunning Fist and Stunning Blow. If I had to open a feat slot, I'd do so by dropping Stunning Blow, keeping Stunning Fist, because I can easily add 1 or 2 DC to it, to get and keep it on par with SB (unless fully raged)

Thank you for the feedback you've given, it is very helpful in planning gear.

[Fafnir]

I would suggest you consider dropping SB, due to the short reuse timer on SF and that you aren't gaining a substantially higher sustainable DC with it. Perhaps it is how my crew constructs and plays its epics, but I find SF to be more than enough stun control, and for its use as say CC defer to Shining Star.

[butlerfamilywa]

I would suggest you consider dropping SB, due to the short reuse timer on SF and that you aren't gaining a substantially higher sustainable DC with it. Perhaps it is how my crew constructs and plays its epics, but I find SF to be more than enough stun control, and for its use as say CC defer to Shining Star.

Understandable, I like having both so that if 1 fails, I can throw the other ect... what Feat would replace it however? Another Toughness? ... 22hps wouldn't really be groundbreaking for this setup.

[Fafnir]

Yes, I would replace it with Toughness.

I love SF but to date haven't needed a back up which I wasn't capable of doing differently (e.g. SS, paralysers (altho I have para stunning wraps), QP).

[butlerfamilywa]

Yes, I would replace it with Toughness.

I love SF but to date haven't needed a back up which I wasn't capable of doing differently (e.g. SS, paralysers (altho I have para stunning wraps), QP).

2nd Toughness inside ()'s... I redid my enhancements to only taking 2 animal paths, to meet the pre-req's that I need... I really don't see that 22hp from a 2nd toughness as being a big help...

Hit Points:
180 Monk
200 Con Bonus
20 Heroic Durability
10 Draconic Vitality
22 Toughness Feat
22 Toughness Item
10 Tort II
40 WF Toughness
30 Greater False Life
45 Greensteel Helm
----------------------
579 (601) Hit Points
559 With Combat Expert.
20 Rage
40 Yugo Pot
----------------------
639 (661) Hit Points Raid Boots of Anchoring.
619 With Combat Expert.
40 Madstone
----------------------
679 (701) Hit Points Maxed Raid Tank
659 With Combat Expert.

32 CON 17 +6 Item +3 Tome +1 Exceptional +2 Enhancement +1 Litany +2 Rage
30 Con 16 +6 Item +2 Tome +1 Exceptional +2 Enhancement +1 Litany +2 Rage
(Also, once and if I loot a +4 Con Tome, that would lead to 32 Con, instead of 33.)

Now, I could drop my Con by 1 point (2 build points), and put them into INT. Giving me a base of 10 INT, +3 tome = 13 Int = Combat Expert... which is situational +5 ac.. will have to do an AC breakdown for this build to see if that might be worth the loss of 42hps, (2 Con, 1 Toughness)

AC:
10 base
5 monk
9 Dragonscale Docent
1 centered
1 ac ritual on Docent
5 deflection / protection
1 dodge feat
6 wisdom modifier
8 dexterity modifier
5 combat expertise
3 barkskin
1 haste
4 shield 5 wand
---------------------
59 AC

Outside buffs:
2 ranger barkskin
4 Inspire Heroics "AC" song
6 Defender of Siberys paladin aura
---------------------------------
71 AC

hmm... Don't know if that'd be helpful even at all close... sigh