I want to make a HO Fighter/Monk combo

[wolfy42]

Hi everyone. I have decided to finally make a HO character....and while it is tempting to play with a Carnifex early on .....I'm probably going to go with a quarterstaff build.

So I'm thinking of making a monk/fighter combo.

I like the nice AC options I get from the monk (not to mention easy DR early on with robes of invulnerability etc), and fists of light with just a few monk levels is also very nice. I haven't played for a few months but I think they changed wind stance to just be extra hits mainly now........so I might go with fire stance for the extra strength as well (and extra Ki generation)

The HO will give me +4 base strength and +6 (eventually) bonus damage with 2 handed weapons (Qstaff). I think I want at least enough fighter levels to get +2 strength, but probably want to go all the way to 12 for the Kensi II bonus etc.

So I probably want at least 12 fighter levels and 3 monk levels. Not sure what other mix I want from there to be honest. Can't add barbarian with monk sadly....and don't see any other class that adds a ton. I could go with more fighter levels, some rogue levels or just go with a pure 12 fighter/8 monk split.

Any suggestions, or any cool builds out there geared around a HO using Qstaves already (I looked in both the HO, monk and fighter forums with no luck.

Thanks

Ps. I've always enjoyed Qstaff builds but havn't played much since the change to TWF speeds etc.

[hu-flung-pu]

Hi everyone. I have decided to finally make a HO character....and while it is tempting to play with a Carnifex early on .....I'm probably going to go with a quarterstaff build.

So I'm thinking of making a monk/fighter combo.

I like the nice AC options I get from the monk (not to mention easy DR early on with robes of invulnerability etc), and fists of light with just a few monk levels is also very nice. I haven't played for a few months but I think they changed wind stance to just be extra hits mainly now........so I might go with fire stance for the extra strength as well (and extra Ki generation)

The HO will give me +4 base strength and +6 (eventually) bonus damage with 2 handed weapons (Qstaff). I think I want at least enough fighter levels to get +2 strength, but probably want to go all the way to 12 for the Kensi II bonus etc.

So I probably want at least 12 fighter levels and 3 monk levels. Not sure what other mix I want from there to be honest. Can't add barbarian with monk sadly....and don't see any other class that adds a ton. I could go with more fighter levels, some rogue levels or just go with a pure 12 fighter/8 monk split.

Any suggestions, or any cool builds out there geared around a HO using Qstaves already (I looked in both the HO, monk and fighter forums with no luck.

Thanks

Ps. I've always enjoyed Qstaff builds but havn't played much since the change to TWF speeds etc.

I like 12/8 myself.

20
14
14
6
12
6

All level ups in to STR.

Take stunning blow.

A Warforged built up similarly by my napkin math has a better stun by a point or two, but is deep in the hole on damage.

[Kinerd]

If you can tolerate going only 2 monk, you could go 6 rogue and get thief-acrobat. 10% attack speed bonus that stacks with those from Wind Stance (or Haste) and Action Boost, trap skills if you feel like it, sneak attack.

[wolfy42]

Hmm, yeah the theif acrobat idea is interesting but it would push alot of the other bonuses out until I was pretty high level already.

I'm guessing I would go something like:

Lvl 1 Rogue
Lvl 2 Monk
lvl 3-8 fighter (getting kensie bonus, weapon spec etc asap)
Lvl 9-13 rogue (for acrobat?)
lvl 14 monk (extra feat etc)
lvl 15-20 fighter (no kensi 2 etc till 20 that way).

Not sure if I like waiting that long to be honest.


With a monk/fighter combo I could hit full kensi II bonus and power surge WITH evasion by level 14 (2 monk lvls and 12 fighter levels). From that point it's all pretty much up in the air.

I was thinking of mixing in ranger though, even if I could only get 5 levels (with 3 monk).

That would give me 2 favored enemies and ram's might (along with rapid shot and TWF). Since I would be using THF the loss of ITWF isn't really important...and I doubt manyshot without any feats to back it up would be a huge loss.

So I'm thinking of going with Fighter 12/monk 3/ranger 5 at this point.

Would give me fists of light, kensi 2 (greater weapon focus etc), ram's might and 2 favored enemies as well.

Not sure if it's the best...but it also gives me 8 total levels (3 monk and 5 ranger) with spot as a class skill....making it easy to keep that maxed.

If I was willing to give up fists of light I guess I could go with 6 ranger levels and get manyshot + ITWF...but there would be no point in using H2H without fists of light anyway...so blah.

I'm thinking it might be worth it to snag brutal throw + quickdraw with some of my fighter feats if I use the 12/5/3 build as with quick draw and rapid shot + returning throwing star I'd be able to pelt out some serious damage at range as well (and still remain focused). That would also give me a slash based damage type besides the Kama (which would blow pretty hard without TWF feats).

So yeah, then I'm looking at something like this:

HO Fighter 12/monk 3/ranger 5

Str 20 (16)
Dex 14 (06)
Con 14 (06)
Int 06 (00)
wis 12 (04)
Cha 06 (00)

Level up stats into strength.

Hard to choose the best leveling route though. You get a ton from 4 ranger levels to be honest...more then you get from 4 fighter levels early on..but getting power surge asap is important. So I think:

Lvl 1 monk
Lvl 2-5 fighter
lvl 6 monk (evasion etc)
lvl 7-8 fighter (kensi)
lvl 9 monk (fists of light)
lvl 10-15 fighter (kensi II)
lvl 16-20 ranger

Still not sure about that even because honestly by lvl 20 the bonus from ram's might is going to be negligable.

Oh well still playing around with it

[hu-flung-pu]

Interesting idea including the ranger, but ultimately all you'd get for your troubles is Rams might. You'd be better off with 2 monk, 6 rogue, 12 fighter.

If fists of light are all you want, it's not worth that final level.

But 6 levels of monk gives you second tier stances, and a whole lot more monk goodies. Like Shintao smite.

[wolfy42]

Interesting idea including the ranger, but ultimately all you'd get for your troubles is Rams might. You'd be better off with 2 monk, 6 rogue, 12 fighter.

If fists of light are all you want, it's not worth that final level.

But 6 levels of monk gives you second tier stances, and a whole lot more monk goodies. Like Shintao smite.

Hmmm yeah, and honestly I push everything back taking ranger early on, or don't get the bonus till too late.

So yeah it looks like the real choice is between 12 fighter/6 rogue/2 monk....and 12 fighter/8 monk (no real point to just taking 2 rogue levels).

I'm not that interested in sneak attack damage to be honest but the 10% attack speed boost would be nice. That is mitigated a bit by higher tier monk stance though I think...although honestly I would probably be fighting in fire stance for the boost to stunning blow and slight boost to damage.

I want this to be a HO character...which reduces the usefulness of having rogue levels as well. A hit to int and cha....is going to make UMD a pain to keep up even with rogue levels etc.

If i'm going with fire stance I really only need 2 monk levels actually (except I won't get fists of light which can be quite nice when soloing etc).

I don't see any other options besides taking 12 fighter/5 ranger/3 monk really.

That would give me a bit more then just Ram's....2 favored enemies would get 6 more damage a pop as well and free rapid shot would be kinda nice if played right (brutal strength and quick draw might work well in that case).

My main problem is again the ranger levels won't kick in till way to late since I need to get power surge asap...and I'll want the monk levels fairly early as well. I guess honestly I should just run with a 3 monk, rest fighter build and worry about the rest once I get to 15. Gives me FoL + decently high two handed damage which a Qstaff which is what I'l looking for.

Hmmmm the other.....other option would be to go fighter 18/monk 2.....snagging kensi III and the second damage boosting weapon enhancement. I'd still get evasion from monk levels and monk stance, but would miss out on fists of light. A net bonus of 2 extra feats (lose one from monk 6) as well.

Argh too many choices. I'm thinking I don't get much from lvl 7 and 8 monk either for that matter. I get the 3rd bonus feat at 6 and second tier stances (mainly useful for better wind stance). Maybe going 14 fighter/6 monk would be a better idea?