What to TR?

[Habreno]

Okay, currently have a Monk. He's going to be TR'ed twice, into a 36-point build, who will be a STR-based Dark Monk (perhaps threat tank, perhaps plain DPS, but regardless HOrc) running in Fire IV/Earth IV.

His first life is currently Monk, so as to take the extra damage die, bumping him up to 2D14 at cap (Garmets of Equilibrium until the Jidz-Tet'ka Bracers are acquired and epicc'ed, and only when running in Fire IV then) for his fists.

The question I had was what to take for a second life. I didn't want to go Monk again, so Monk is out of the question. But what to take then? Paladin? Fighter? Barbarian? Something Else?

Paladin: 5% healing amp-sounds useful, but how useful is it really?
Fighter: +1 to attack rolls-Hmmmmm... will I really need it?
Barbarian: 10 HP. Nice, but does something else benefit more?

Any advice/recommendations?

[BuyTiles]

Well, 3 past live fighter feats get you +3 to hit and +3 on tactical attacks (read stunning fist).

That alone is worth it for a stun specced monk.

Rogue past lives are good too, extra sneak damage and save vs traps.

Paladin past lives really nice for healing amp...

But, if you're only going to TR twice there's not a huge benefit.

Probably fighter for the extra +1 dc to stuns and to hit.

[Thrudh]

Paladin definitely, if you can afford a feat.

The passive feat 5% healing amp is okay, but the real draw is the purchased paladin past-life feat... You get 3 charges of Divine Favor, which scales up to 2:12 minutes each of +3 to hit/+3 damage.... That's like 6.5 minutes of +6 STR.

Very powerful, and as a monk, you can probably fit in both past life feats (Check that to be sure)

[ayspam]

If you can fit in the pally PL active feat thats +3 to hit and dmg, 3 clickys of 2:12each. Really nice.

[HettarDDO]

I'd pick fighter...I did

[Thrudh]

Paladin is also good, because as a first-life monk, you probably don't have a lot of paladin weapons lying around... and a paladin/monk is a good multi-class

Be a 18/2 paladin/monk... You can use your monk weapons in the early levels, you might struggle a little with finding good weapons in the mid-level range, but when you get the Holy Sword spell, you can create your own boss-beaters, and you won't have to waste any time crafting or buying good weapons for this temporary life.

Edit: You won't spend anytime at 20th level, so maybe pure paladin is a better idea (so you can play around with the Tier III PrE for a couple of levels), or maybe a deeper monk multi-class, like maybe 17/3 or 16/4 or even 14/6.

[TPICKRELL]

On my monks, I always do the Fighter TR(s) first, as the +1 to hit gives you more flexibility when you allocate your stat and/or level up points, and the +1 stun dc is very valuable.

After that, I think Rogue and Pally are about even. I go with Pally for anything that might end up tanking and rogue for anything that is going to be pretty much always DPS.

Pally would take the lead if I could fit in a monk and a pally past life feat, but I haven't been able to fit it into my builds so far.

[Habreno]

To clarify: These builds WILL spend SOME time at level 20, enough to get the 20 Epic Dungeon Tokens needed for the True Heart, as my main (20 Cleric, which is not being TR'ed ever) is slotting his gear with his tokens. However, the time spent at 20 will be short, relatively a week or a week and a half.

And while I know more than two TR's would be better, I simply want a 36-point build, and the Monk PL active feat. That leaves a second life to work with.

[Thrudh]

Pally would take the lead if I could fit in a monk and a pally past life feat, but I haven't been able to fit it into my builds so far.

Yeah, that's the trick... I didn't check to see if fitting in both feats is easy...

Pure monk gets 10 feats, right?

Toughness
Stunning Fist or maybe Stunning Blow instead
Power Attack
TWF
ITWF
GTWF
Past-life - monk
Past-life - paladin
Dodge (or some other prereq for PrE)
Improved Crit: Bludgeon

Looks like it's possible... What am I missing?

[TPICKRELL]

Yeah, that's the trick... I didn't check to see if fitting in both feats is easy...

Pure monk gets 10 feats, right?

Toughness
Stunning Fist or maybe Stunning Blow instead
Power Attack
TWF
ITWF
GTWF
Past-life - monk
Past-life - paladin
Dodge (or some other prereq for PrE)
Improved Crit: Bludgeon

Looks like it's possible... What am I missing?

You are not missing anything. I was not saying it isn't possible, just that I've not managed to fit it into my builds.

For a dex build Weapon Finesse fills that last slot.

For a strength build, stunning blow is a nice option, so you would have to choose between PL Paladin and Stunning Blow.

[Habreno]

So from what I'm seeing, the order probably should be Monk-Paladin-Monk.

If this is the case, can someone direct me to a good 2nd life Paladin build, as I am totally clueless with the class (I only know what the PL's do from playing around with the character planner so much) and just don't want to mess up so badly I'd rather reroll the lives.

[Syllph]

Ranger: active past life Barkskin great for leveling then at 20 swap out using free feat for anything else.

Let's face it you'll be soloing quite a bit and the extra AC is useful. Even with a 50 in vale you'll be missed much more than not.

[Habreno]

Quite Honestly, as I'm not going for AC I don't see the point in it.

However, someone going for AC can certainly use said suggestion. 5 AC when soloing is nice.