The Thriller

[ormsbygore]

So I cam up with a kind of wild build for my monk's next life, and it sounds really fun. It is built off the upcomming changes in Update 9 to the Pale Master PrE. I posted this earlier on MyDDO, but didn't get the "instant gratification" that the forums give as far as feedback....***bring on the pain***

The build is a bit gimpy(understatement) but should be a lot of fun to play.

~~Cons~~
-20% Attack Speed from Zombie Form
-7% Movement Speed from Master of Stone
Low Touch of Death DC(22-25)
Low To-Hit score(30-40 at level 20 fully geared and buffed...bad math here)
Little to no AC
Low Reflex Save(24 with +5 resistance)

~~Pros~~
Abundant Step!
Close to ~600 HP with Rage and Zombie Form
2d14 Base Unarmed Damage(Monk Past Life, Zombie Form and Garments)
Self Buff with Wizard Spells/Scrolls
Self Healing through Neg Energy(Death Aura and Neg Energy Burst)
1d6 Int damage on unarmed critical attacks to render foes helpless(...you hunger for brains)
Fighter Haste Boost I to help negate the -20% Attack Speed
+1 critical multiplier to unarmed attacks on a natural roll of 19-20 from Master of Stone

~~The Thriller~~

Nimfu ToastHater
Level 20 Lawful Neutral Human Male
(12 Monk \ 7 Wizard \ 1 Fighter) 
Hit Points: 404 (514)
Spell Points: 409 
BAB: 13\13\18\23
Fortitude: 19 (27)
Reflex: 16 (24)
Will: 15 (23)

~~Abilities~~
(34 Point)       (Level 1)             (Level 20)
Strength            16                    24 (31)
Dexterity           15                    17 (22)
Constitution        16                    19 (25)
Intelligence        14                    18
Wisdom               8                     8 (14)
Charisma             8                     8

~~Tomes Used~~
+2 Tome of Strength used at level 7
+2 Tome of Dexterity used at level 7
+2 Tome of Constitution used at level 7
+2 Tome of Intelligence used at level 7

~~Skills~~
                   (Level 1)           (Level 20)
Balance               6                    29
Concentration         7                    29
Hide                  6                    29
Jump                  7                    20
Move Silently         6                    25
Swim                  3                    16
Tumble                6                    27

~~Suggested Equipment~~
Minos Legens(or a Cove Hat with Seeker +6)
Garments of Equlibrium(or Shroud of the Abbot for self healing)
Boots of the Innocent
Spectral Gloves(or Epic Brawling Gloves)
Kyosho's Ring
Shintao Cord(or Scourge Choker)
Encrusted Ring
The Blood Stone(or a Bold/Stalwart Cove Trinket)
Wretched Twilight
Knost's Belt
Tharne's Goggles
Conc Opp Bracers(or Tharne's Bracers for the set bonus)

~~Level Breakdown~~
Level 1 (Monk)
Level 2 (Monk)
Level 3 (Wizard)
Level 4 (Wizard)
Level 5 (Wizard)
Level 6 (Wizard)
Level 7 (Wizard)
Level 8 (Wizard)
Level 9 (Wizard)
Level 10 (Monk)
Level 11 (Monk)
Level 12 (Monk)
Level 13 (Monk)
Level 14 (Monk)
Level 15 (Monk)
Level 16 (Monk)
Level 17 (Monk)
Level 18 (Monk)
Level 19 (Monk)
Level 20 (Fighter)

~~Feats Taken~~
(Human Bonus) Dodge
(Past Life) Past Life: Monk
(Selected) Toughness
(Monk Bonus) Two Weapon Fighting
(Monk Bonus) Toughness
(Wizard Bonus) Extend Spell
(Selected) Toughness
(Selected) Spell Focus: Necromancy
(Wizard Bonus) Quicken Spell
(Selected) Power Attack
(Monk Path) Path of Inevitable Dominion: Fists of Darkness
(Selected) Improved Two Weapon Fighting
(Monk Bonus) Toughness
(Selected) Improved Critical: Bludgeoning Weapons
(Selected) Toughness
(Fighter Bonus) Greater Two Weapon Fighting

~~Enhancement Selected~~
Fighter Haste Boost I
Fighter Critical Accuracy I
Human Adaptability Strength I
Human Greater Adaptability Constitution I
Human Improved Recovery I
Human Improved Recovery II
Wizard Improved Quickening I 
Wizard Improved Quickening II
Static Charge
Way of the Patient Tortoise I
Way of the Patient Tortoise II
Way of the Patient Tortoise III
Touch of Death
Porous Soul
All-Consuming Flame
Monk Improved Recovery I
Monk Ninja Spy I
Monk Ninja Spy II
Winter's Touch
Adept of Flame
Master of Bonfires
Racial Toughness I
Racial Toughness II
Racial Toughness III
Improved Jump I
Improved Jump II
Improved Tumble I
Improved Tumble II
Wizard Energy of the Scholar I
Wizard Energy of the Scholar II
Wizard Subtle Spellcasting I
Wizard Subtle Spellcasting II
Wizard Intelligence I
Wizard Intelligence II
Fighter Toughness I
Wizard Pale Master I
Shroud of the Zombie

~~New and Improved...Half-Elf Version~~

Nimfu ToastHater
Level 20 Lawful Good Half-Elf Male
(12 Monk \ 7 Wizard \ 1 Fighter) 
Hit Points: 338 (448)
Spell Points: 409 
BAB: 13\13\18\23
Fortitude: 19 (24)
Reflex: 16 (21)
Will: 15 (20)


~~Abilities~~
(34 Point)       (Level 1)             (Level 20)
Strength             16                    24 (31)
Dexterity            15                    17 (22)
Constitution         16                    19 (25)
Intelligence         14                    18
Wisdom                8                     8 (14)
Charisma              8                     8


~~Tomes Used~~
+2 Tome of Strength used at level 7
+2 Tome of Dexterity used at level 7
+2 Tome of Constitution used at level 7
+2 Tome of Intelligence used at level 7


~~Skills~~
                   (Level 1)           (Level 20)
Balance               6                    29
Concentration         7                    32
Hide                  6                    29
Jump                  7                    15
Move Silently         6                    26
Swim                  3                    18.5
Tumble                6                    19


~~Suggested Equipment~~
Minos Legens
Shintao Cord(or Scourge Choker)
The Blood Stone
Wretched Twilight(or Epic Maybar Cloak)
Knost's Belt
Encrusted Ring
Kyosho's Ring
Spectral Gloves(or Epic Brawling Gloves)
Boots of the Innocent(or Madstone Boots)
Tharne's Goggles
Shroud of the Abbot(or Epic Maybar Robes, Garments of Equlibrium for +1 die step to unarmed)
Conc Opp Bracers(or Jidz-Tet'ka for +1 die step to unarmed in Earth stance)
**Garments and Jidz-Tet'Ka(Earth) increase to unarmed damage die don't stack**


~~Level Breakdown~~
Level 1 (Monk)
Level 2 (Monk)
Level 3 (Wizard)
Level 4 (Wizard)
Level 5 (Wizard)
Level 6 (Wizard)
Level 7 (Wizard)
Level 8 (Wizard)
Level 9 (Wizard)
Level 10 (Monk)
Level 11 (Monk)
Level 12 (Monk)
Level 13 (Monk)
Level 14 (Monk)
Level 15 (Monk)
Level 16 (Monk)
Level 17 (Monk)
Level 18 (Monk)
Level 19 (Monk)
Level 20 (Fighter)


~~Feats Taken~~
(Selected) Dodge
(Half-Elf Dilettante) Half-Elf Dilettante: Rogue
(Past Life) Past Life: Monk
(Monk Bonus) Two Weapon Fighting
(Monk Bonus) Toughness
(Wizard Bonus) Extend Spell
(Selected) Past Life: Disciple of the Fist
(Selected) Spell Focus: Necromancy
(Wizard Bonus) Quicken Spell
(Selected) Power Attack
(Monk Path) Path of Inevitable Dominion: Fists of Darkness
(Selected) Improved Two Weapon Fighting
(Monk Bonus) Toughness
(Selected) Improved Critical: Bludgeoning Weapons
(Selected) Empower Spell
(Fighter Bonus) Greater Two Weapon Fighting


~~Enhancement Selected~~
Fighter Haste Boost I
Fighter Critical Accuracy I
Improved Rogue Dilettante I
Improved Rogue Dilettante II
Human Adaptability Strength I
Human Greater Adaptability Constitution I
Human Improved Recovery I
Human Improved Recovery II
Static Charge
Way of the Patient Tortoise I
Way of the Patient Tortoise II
Way of the Patient Tortoise III
Touch of Death
Fists of Iron
Porous Soul
All-Consuming Flame
Monk Improved Recovery I
Monk Ninja Spy I
Monk Ninja Spy II
Winter's Touch
Adept of Rock
Master of Stone
Racial Toughness I
Racial Toughness II
Racial Toughness III
Improved Jump I
Improved Jump II
Improved Tumble I
Improved Tumble II
Wizard Energy of the Scholar I
Wizard Energy of the Scholar II
Wizard Subtle Spellcasting I
Wizard Subtle Spellcasting II
Wizard Intelligence I
Wizard Intelligence II
Fighter Toughness I
Wizard Pale Master I
Shroud of the Zombie

Enjoy,
~Nim

[Myrddinman]

This is exactly what I was thinking for my next build as well

It should be tons of fun and it will offer some great survivor-a-bility

[Samiusbot]

Could you take one of the 4 Toughness feats out and take Power attack?

DP clicklies, and stunned foes should be easy to hit.

[donfilibuster]

I'm more intrigued about how you will call your new monkbie toon, Nim.
Nimbie? Nimjuju? Nimbrains?

[ormsbygore]

I wasn't thinking about DP clickies when I came up with the idea, so yeah swapping one of the 6 Toughness for PA isn't a bad idea. After showing this build to a few guildies they pointed that out, and it should fix it's To-Hit problem. Be nice to find a more permanent solution. I personally will probably end up not taking PA just for the extra HPs.

As far as the naming, this build is meant for as a 2nd life TR, and my monk's name is Nimfu. Out of the 3 choices you've given though, I like Nimbie.

Most of my character name generation comes from an Elvish Name Generator(DnD not Tolken Elvish) and I use the sylables that I like that sound good together that have a meaning behind the character's class/build/play style. The "Nim" at the beginning of all the names means "Deep" as the first character I made was a Drow Rogue that was included in the name(that character has long since passed), but the nickname "Nim" stuck with me.

So...If I was to name the character for myself based on the build it would be: Nimspar - Meaning: Deep Fist

Adding the "Deep" at the beginning of the meaning of the names can be funny at times. My Quarterstaff weilding Acrobat/Kensi's name, Nimja, means Deep Staff. But then it doubles as a play on words, Nimja instead of Ninja.

[Claver]

I thought of something similar. I haven't thought it through, but my first thought was going warforged for repair post combat.

Did you consider warforged, and if so, why did you reject it in favor of human?

[Trillea]

Instead of 1 fighter, I would suggest 1 rogue - more skill points, the HP reduction is negligible, you get an extra d6 of sneak attack damage once your INT-drained foe is helpless, and still get attack speed boost, while getting UMD as a class skill.

[mournbladereigns]

<insert something about too many toughness feats gimping your toon. I would probably take Extend and Max for self-healing boosts and self-buffs, haste, rage, displacement, stoneskin, blah blah, and too boost your aura. )

[OkapiMaes]

I have a build planned like this, I am going 12 monk/8 wizzie. The extra level of Wiz is for the extra level 4 spell. Wall of fire, negative energy burst, death aura, fire shield, ( soon burning blood ) are all great spells. I will post my build for you later.

[ormsbygore]

Main reason I didn't choose Warforged was I wanted to be able to wear Robes, mainly Garments of Equilibrium or Shroud of the Abbot. Only reason I choose Human was for the Free Feat, you could easily choose Dwarf, Halfling or Half-Elf(rogue feat for sneak attack)...realistically any fleshy will do, although I suggest not using Half-Orc cause of the -2 Int.

Yeah I know there are too many Toughness Feats, but they all add up to ~120 extra HP. It's deffinatly worth it to swap one out for Power Attack, if you have the Divine Power clickies to enhance your To-Hit. With the limited SP I'm not sure if Maximise is worth it, but it's deffinatly worth trying out(which I may do when I build the character).

The reason I took the Fighter splash instead of Rogue is to be able to get Greater Two Weapon Fighting, with a Rogue splash the BAB would be too low to take GTWF. I agree UMD would be nice, but I think GTWF is more worth it.

I didn't plan on doing any type of offensive casting, and I figured I could scroll Fire Shield when I needed it.

~Nim

[ChristianSal]

hi nim....i'm interested in this build but i have something to tell you....

i dun read anywhere that zombie form will do int damage with unarmed attack....not even in the prewiev of lamannia.....where you found this int damage stuff?

[Trillea]

hi nim....i'm interested in this build but i have something to tell you....

i dun read anywhere that zombie form will do int damage with unarmed attack....not even in the prewiev of lamannia.....where you found this int damage stuff?

It was hinted at in the release notes (You hunger for brains) and it was found out by players. You do INT damage on critical hits while unarmed.

[Trillea]

Main reason I didn't choose Warforged was I wanted to be able to wear Robes, mainly Garments of Equilibrium or Shroud of the Abbot. Only reason I choose Human was for the Free Feat, you could easily choose Dwarf, Halfling or Half-Elf(rogue feat for sneak attack)...realistically any fleshy will do, although I suggest not using Half-Orc cause of the -2 Int.

Yeah I know there are too many Toughness Feats, but they all add up to ~120 extra HP. It's deffinatly worth it to swap one out for Power Attack, if you have the Divine Power clickies to enhance your To-Hit. With the limited SP I'm not sure if Maximise is worth it, but it's deffinatly worth trying out(which I may do when I build the character).

The reason I took the Fighter splash instead of Rogue is to be able to get Greater Two Weapon Fighting, with a Rogue splash the BAB would be too low to take GTWF. I agree UMD would be nice, but I think GTWF is more worth it.

I didn't plan on doing any type of offensive casting, and I figured I could scroll Fire Shield when I needed it.

~Nim

Ahh the GTWF point makes a lot of sense. I did not catch that. Your way is probably better then.

[ChristianSal]

but is found out by players in lamannia when they test the update? or would be a chance that this stuff is excluded in the final update?

Edit: Actually according to ddo compendium even going 12/8 monk/wiz you can qualify for GTWF

lvl 12 Monk BAB = 9
lvl 8 Wiz BAB = 4

Total = 13 that qualify you for GTWF since compendium says that 11 BAB is required (other than 17 dex)

So instead of 12/7/1 monk/wiz/fighter i would go for 12/8 monk/wiz cuz this way you can get lvl 4 spell like negative energy burst and the second death aura, since i think that this are a crucial point of this build.....

[ormsbygore]

i dun read anywhere that zombie form will do int damage with unarmed attack....not even in the prewiev of lamannia.....where you found this int damage stuff?

As Trillea said above "You do INT damage on critical hits while unarmed." But I've also tested it on Lama Land, I moved my lvl20 Wizard over there to test the spell changes and new forms. I wasn't able to get an exact number, but I beleive it's between 1d8 and 1d10 Int Damage on an Unarmed Critical Hit....BRAINS!!!

So instead of 12/7/1 monk/wiz/fighter i would go for 12/8 monk/wiz cuz this way you can get lvl 4 spell like negative energy burst and the second death aura, since i think that this are a crucial point of this build.....

I also took 1 Fighter to get Haste Boost I(+15% Attack Speed for 20 Seconds) as well, as this is more of a melee chatacter than offensive caster and Shroud of the Zombie gives -20% Attack speed. Also at level 7 Wizard you get 2 level 4 spells, the ones I choose were Death Aura and Negative Energy Burst. No need for a low damage Wall of Fire, and you can Scroll Fire Shield if you need.

The only other level 4 spells I can see being usefull are Dimension Door, Stone Skin, Lesser Globe, or Enervation....But Spell Pen will be too low for Enervation, Caster Level will be too low for SS to be effective(you can always scroll/wand it), and DD or Globe are mainly Support Spells that should be covered by a Pure Wizard or a Bard.

**Forgot**
The other reason for the Fighter level is the extra Feat. Even though 12 Monk/8 Wizard has enough BAB for GTWF, you won't have another Feat Slot to take GTWF. That's where the Fighter Feat comes in at level 20 to take GTWF.

[ChristianSal]

mmm yup i forgot that wizzie get the 4 lvl spell at lvl 7 instead 8 like a sorc i think....then your're right =)

Edit: im thinking one thing.....you choose to go for the monk fire stance....for compensate the -20% attack speed from zombie form is not better to go for monk wind stance?

another thing...why you choose quicken spell since your spell will be used mainly for self buff? i dun think that you want to self buff in a middle of a battle right? you could go for another feat instead of quicken right?

[ormsbygore]

I choose Fire Stance for more Str, but yeah Wind Stance would be a better choise.

I chose Extend for the self-buffs. I grabbed Quicken for self-healing using the spell Negative Energy Burst, it is a slow casting spell, and if you're trying to heal in combat you want it to be no-fail and quick.

[Myrddinman]

How about Mountain Stance for the bonus to critical multiplier on 19 and 20 rolls?

[ormsbygore]

I've been thinking about that one as well. Not really sure what one I'll use, may even choose two(Wind and Earth) to swap between, if I have the AP to spend. But all 3 are good choises in my opinion, just depends on play style and preferance.

I was also thinking about taking Stunning Fist(not sure if/how that is going to change) and if I do then Fire Stance may be a better choise for a slightly higher Stun DC. I'll have to do some number crunching to see if that's even worth it.

In the end I think Wind is the best choise because of the added attack speed. (isn't is +5% attack speed each tier?)

[Myrddinman]

In the end I think Wind is the best choise because of the added attack speed. (isn't is +5% attack speed each tier?)

Master of Thunder will give you a 12.5% attack speed bonus; however, I don't think it stacks with Haste So if you're always going to be hasted, it might make more sense to go with either Fire or Mountain.