Shintao Monk help please

[Jeargroth]

Guys I have searched and read and looked for a couple days now and I think i got a build that is going to be fun and more importantly useful... but I am newer to DDO playing P&P Ad&D, DD3.5 and 4.0 mostly.

If you got some feed back that would be great.

Character Plan by DDO Character Planner Version 3.8.1
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Sho Pi Jadefist
Level 20 Lawful Good Human Male
(20 Monk) 
Hit Points: 272
Spell Points: 0 
BAB: 15\15\20\25\25
Fortitude: 15
Reflex: 15
Will: 17

                  Starting          Feat/Enhancement
Abilities        Base Stats          Modified Stats
(32 Point)       (Level 1)             (Level 20)
Strength             16                    19
Dexterity            15                    17
Constitution         14                    16
Intelligence          8                    10
Wisdom               15                    19
Charisma              8                    10

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
+2 Tome of Wisdom used at level 7
+2 Tome of Charisma used at level 7

                  Starting          Feat/Enhancement
                 Base Skills         Modified Skills
Skills           (Level 1)            (Level 20)
Balance               5                     8
Bluff                -1                     0
Concentration         5                    11
Diplomacy            -1                     0
Disable Device       n/a                    n/a
Haggle               -1                     4
Heal                  2                     4
Hide                  6                     8
Intimidate           -1                     0
Jump                  4                     5
Listen                2                     4
Move Silently         6                     8
Open Lock             n/a                   n/a
Perform              n/a                    n/a
Repair               -1                     0
Search               -1                     0
Spot                  2                     4
Swim                  3                     4
Tumble                3                     4
Use Magic Device     n/a                    n/a

Level 1 (Monk)
Feat: (Monk Bonus) Stunning Fist
Feat: (Human Bonus) Toughness
Feat: (Selected) Two Weapon Fighting
Enhancement: Improved Balance I
Enhancement: Improved Concentration I


Level 2 (Monk)
Feat: (Monk Bonus) Discipline
Enhancement: Way of the Clever Monkey I
Enhancement: Void Strike I
Enhancement: Monk Wisdom I


Level 3 (Monk)
Feat: (Selected) Dodge
Feat: (Monk Path) Path of Harmonious Balance: Fists of Light
Enhancement: Monk Improved Recovery I


Level 4 (Monk)
Enhancement: Lifting the Veil


Level 5 (Monk)
Enhancement: Human Adaptability Wisdom I
Enhancement: Way of the Clever Monkey II
Enhancement: The Receptive Earth
Enhancement: Restoring the Balance
Enhancement: Racial Toughness I
Enhancement: Improved Concentration II


Level 6 (Monk)
Feat: (Monk Bonus) Mobility
Feat: (Selected) Spring Attack
Enhancement: Shintao Monk I


Level 7 (Monk)
Enhancement: Difficulty at the Beginning
Enhancement: Adept of Flame


Level 8 (Monk)
Enhancement: Monk Improved Recovery II


Level 9 (Monk)
Feat: (Selected) Improved Two Weapon Fighting
Enhancement: Rise of the Phoenix


Level 10 (Monk)
Enhancement: Fists of Iron
Enhancement: Adept of Rock


Level 11 (Monk)


Level 12 (Monk)
Feat: (Selected) Improved Critical: Bludgeoning Weapons
Enhancement: Monk Improved Recovery III
Enhancement: Shintao Monk II


Level 13 (Monk)
Enhancement: Void Strike II
Enhancement: Master of Bonfires


Level 14 (Monk)
Enhancement: Human Greater Adaptability Strength I


Level 15 (Monk)
Feat: (Selected) Greater Two Weapon Fighting
Enhancement: Way of the Clever Monkey III


Level 16 (Monk)
Enhancement: Way of the Clever Monkey IV


Level 17 (Monk)
Enhancement: Adept of Wind
Enhancement: Adept of Rain


Level 18 (Monk)
Feat: (Selected) Power Attack
Enhancement: Shintao Monk III
Enhancement: Void Strike III


Level 19 (Monk)
Enhancement: Unbalancing Strike


Level 20 (Monk)
Enhancement: Eagle Claw Attack
Enhancement: Master of Thunder
Enhancement: Master of the Sea

Thanks

[edgarallanpoe]

The thing that immediately sticks out is with your skills. Balance and Concentration should always be maxed out. The rest is just gravy but those two skills are absolutely essential and should *always* be maxed. The rest looks good, nothing that sticks out as a bad idea other than the skills issue.

[Superspeed_Hi5]

Lawful Nuetral. Litany of the Dead. nuff said.

[edgarallanpoe]

Lawful Nuetral. Litany of the Dead. nuff said.

Definitely a consideration for sure. FWIW I always play a monk as LG just for role playing purposes so Litany has never even been in my inventory. It is an extremely powerful item though. I am fortunate enough to have a Bloodstone so I have always rolled with that.

[redspecter23]

Lawful Nuetral. Litany of the Dead. nuff said.

I'll add a bit more to that. As a newer player don't bank on pulling a Litany of the Dead any time soon. That being said, there is very little reason to be "good" anyway. Any random looted wraps with the good property can be wielded just fine by a neutral monk currently. So the main reason to be good aligned (to use good weapons) is mostly unnecessary for light monks. If you plan on using kamas or quarterstaves for any reason then you might as well be lawful good, then if the time comes that you do pull a Litany, you can simply buy an alignment swap and become lawful neutral.

Edit: The only wraps I can think of that require a good alignment or UMD are Devotion, the lv 1 holy handwraps from Delera's. Not a huge deal if you can't use them though they are a very nice twink item.

[Jeargroth]

Ok seeing alot of go Void 4 or go home so which is best? Back off on the Void enhancements and use them elsewhere or Drop something (not sure what) and go for the 4?

[edgarallanpoe]

Ok seeing alot of go Void 4 or go home so which is best? Back off on the Void enhancements and use them elsewhere or Drop something (not sure what) and go for the 4?

Not sure what the requirements for Void 4 are now with U9. There was talk of lowering the prerequisites for Void 4. If they did that then it is definitely worth taking...BUT...if they didn't, I think you would be very hard pressed to get Void 4 along with Shintao monk III. Shintao III is definitely something you want.

[Zildoran]

Void 4 currently requires Master in all stances and Grandmaster in one. It is very AP heavy, but the best I can say is if you can meet the prerequisites play around with it and see if you like it. I was a bit disappointed that my strength wasn't high enough on my current build to get it. I'm thinking of a lesser reincarnate later or just wait till my next TR.

[edgarallanpoe]

Void 4 currently requires Master in all stances and Grandmaster in one.

There was some talk about making Void 4 less AP intensive. I hope that is the case because I would like to experiment with it. Unfortunately that would require me to give up Shintao III and as a 20th level Monk that runs Amrath and the Shroud a lot, that would be a *very* stupid move. lol

[SensaiRyu]

There was some talk about making Void 4 less AP intensive. I hope that is the case because I would like to experiment with it. Unfortunately that would require me to give up Shintao III and as a 20th level Monk that runs Amrath and the Shroud a lot, that would be a *very* stupid move. lol

Void IV is nice... first life I dropped all the voids for several reasons. While I was planning my TR, more than one person mentioned that Void IV would be useful. It stacks with short swords (my current Shroud gear) and I expect to be using Void III/Void IV combos a lot. I'm at Void III now and I always use it. The extra dmg for only 5 ki is worth it.

Also, I recently changed from Crane to Turtle for the extra hp and took one less Toughness enhancement. I can only get up to Turtle II with my enhancement lineup. You don't need to give up Shinto III, instead swap your forth Monkey for Void IV (you only lose +1 save and +2 resist).

[edgarallanpoe]

Yes, but getting a Drow up to 16 Con isn't an easy thing to do.

[WarriorWithin]

all stats are badly choosen for a light monk...

if you need a good suggestion send me a pm

[edgarallanpoe]

all stats are badly choosen for a light monk...

if you need a good suggestion send me a pm

I would be interested in seeing these along with an explanation on why you chose these stats. Post them here please.

[dpadan17]

a few questions. are you planning on solo'ing more with this toon? relying on self healing? or just plain going FULL ****** dps? That would help people figure out what guidance they can provide.

I suggest a few things.

1. your stats seem fine. a. If you are planning on landing stunning fist "reliable" style, your wiz might be a little low. It's gonna take a 44 dc to be dependable. I suggest pumping up this stat any way possilbe to be more efficient. b. dex on a light monk wont be too necessary for the self healing aspect. c. as for con....good numbers

2. Feats- I personally feed dodge is not a good choice..... here's the reason why. KI generation is very limited now since the update. One point of AC is not going to be worth it in a fire stance. a toughness feat for more HP's is better IMO. I suggest putting some points into wind to get the ki strikes but i would suggest maxing out fire stance. With Jidz-tzeka you get the healing amp bonus and eventually an epic version can be mad to pump wiz another point. Fire stance is the ONLY one that you can generate enough KI in good groups. Discipline? hmmmm, many people have different views on it. This is what i did with my light monk. I used luck of heroes to open up the shintao line then at lvl 18 i swapped it for another feat of toughness and then used combat expertise so i could redo my enhancements and it still is used for shintao.
b. Spring attack? not necessary. get power attack- edit- i see you have it at lvl 18. i'd get rid of mobility too. find another feat. like toughness.
c. Feats can be- twf, itwf, gtwf, improved bludgeon crit, toughness, any shintao opener line, toughness, your path, power attack, stunning fist, and another for flavor. (of course not in order)

3. enhancements-
a. my first thought is...why the rise of the phoenix and monk recovery III? Only one is needed for shintao II/III. IMO, rise of the phoenix is not worth all of the action points. You can buy restoration pots so there is 2 AP's. and after a little adventuring, you can obtain planar shards and use em to buy raise dead clicky's. This will free up a good amount of AP's to place somewhere else.
b. curious, why the "monkey" line? Why not tortoise? or even crane? Tortoise gives you extra concentration and 5 hp's. two lines in this would be enough. this is where a toughness feat can be helpful with the extra AP's you didn't spend to be placed there for the good Hp's.
c. your eagle claw attack and others will be MUCH more useful during lower levels in attacking. I suggest revamping them to use in the early teens in lvling.
d. get a grandmaster stance. I suggest Fire stance, then get tier 3 in earth (at least for necessary earth strike finishers- bigger damage by FAR), and wind/ocean stance. All will help out.

i'll see if i can dig up trixxii's build to give some guidance. I think i destroyed my file due to it being completed.