New to Monk

[Hyonam]

Hello all I just started playing this game maybe 4 days ago and I decided I wanted to be a monk I was looking for some help. I really just want to the most damage as I can as a Human Monk

What I need help with is what I should be getting and when, Feats, Skill allocation, Enhancements I've browsed the forums and seen a lot of different things but I don't understand some of the short hand. If someone could just point me in the right direction or lay out something for me to follow as I level, currently level 4, I would Greatly appreciate and I feel like I might have to buy some stat tomes from the store? Thanks again all.

Currently I've chosen to be a Dark Monk and I use fire stance a lot when I solo, but it sounds like i should be going dex/wis and using wind stance? if there's any other choices I've made that you should be aware of let me know, I'd really like to not start over or at least know if my character is salvageable.

[Zirun]

For feats, you want:

Toughness
Two Weapon Fighting
Power Attack
Improved Two Weapon Fighting
Improved Critical: Bludgeoning
Greater Two Weapon Fighting

I believe you can get those roughly in that order. You'll need 17 base DEX (that's starting + level ups + tomes) to get all the Two Weapon Fighting feats, and 13 base STR to get Power Attack. If you have trouble meeting either of those with a +1 tome, level 4 is low enough that you can reroll without losing a whole lot of time.

then, depending on your build, you may want:

Luck of Heroes (for the Shintao Prestige Enhancement if you're a Light monk)
Dodge (for the Ninja Spy Prestige Enhancement if you're Dark, requires 13 DEX)
Stunning Blow (if you have high Strength)
Stunning Fist (also for Shintao or if you have good Wisdom)

There's probably a few I'm forgetting that are useful, too.

For skills, Concentration, Balance, and Jump are great choices. Hide and Move Silently are good if you plan on soloing or otherwise sneaking around.

Enhancement-wise, things that increase survivability, damage, new stances, Prestige Enhancements and their prerequisites, etc. are all good. Monks aren't as enhancement-reliant as, say, Paladins, and they're easy enough to reset if you don't like them.

Light Monks generally work better than Dark Monks for soloing thanks to the healing they get from Fists of Light and Healing Ki, as well as the buffs from other Light finishing moves. DEX/WIS-based builds also generally solo somewhat better than STR builds, thanks to the increased AC and saves, although STR is still important for dealing damage and preventing yourself from becoming encumbered (which uncenters you, and means big, big trouble) if you take STR damage. STR builds have better access to healing amplification, though, which can make Fists of Light and Healing Ki really effective for healing to help make up for the lower AC and saves.

[Hyonam]

thanks for the info Zirun, it sounds like i've already been doing the right thing, what I don't understand is how my stats work? weren't they allocated based on my class at character gen and being human? How do I change them if I make a new character? and can i affect how they grow as I level? also what does dragonmark mean? Like i said i've only been playing for 4 days. Not new to MMO's at all have played all P2P mmo's at one point or another just new to DDO which is very different(a good thing)

I'm only soloing while i catch up to some friends who are waiting for me they are level 7 then it's mostly small groups =) which is why i chose dark monk and don't wish to reroll and make them wait longer.

[Zirun]

thanks for the info Zirun, it sounds like i've already been doing the right thing, what I don't understand is how my stats work? weren't they allocated based on my class at character gen and being human? How do I change them if I make a new character? and can i affect how they grow as I level? also what does dragonmark mean? Like i said i've only been playing for 4 days. Not new to MMO's at all have played all P2P mmo's at one point or another just new to DDO which is very different(a good thing)

I'm only soloing while i catch up to some friends who are waiting for me they are level 7 then it's mostly small groups =) which is why i chose dark monk and don't wish to reroll and make them wait longer.

You can choose everything about your character (stats, feats, skills) by choosing the "Customize" option instead of a preset path when you create them. You can also leave the path at any level and start choosing all that stuff from then on. I think you do that by talking to the trainer.

Every 4 levels (4, 8, 12, 16, 20) you get one more stat point to put to whatever stat you want. It's generally recommended that you spend all 5 points on your main stat (which would be STR for a STR Monk or DEX for a DEX/WIS monk), which is usually the one you have the highest on creation.

Dragonmarks are feats you can unlock after doing a very short quest for Lockania in the Marketplace. They come in 3 tiers (Least, Lesser, Greater) and give bonuses to skills as well as daily-use abilities ("clickies"). Humans have several different types of Dragonmarks available, but most of them are subpar (the best ones are available to Halflings [Healing] and Elves [Shadow], unless you really, really need Intimidate on a Fighter or something like that) and not really worth taking unless you have a lot of extra feats.