Druid 18/ Monk 2

[Xeowyn]

Thinking about TRing my main into a Dronk. Gonna go for high AC, dump strength and use flame blades for a while. I'm thinking human...
Str 8
Dex 16
Con 16
Int 8
Wis 18 all level ups here
Cha 8

+2 tomes for everything, perhaps 3's depending on what i find until then

What I'm wondering is if there is any point in doing the TWF progression for dual flame blades. I really don't want to finesse but think that dual wielding with casting and high AC, self-healing, etc. will make this a very soloable build with the ability to nuke at higher levels. Any advice would e appreciated.

BTW, other feats would be toughness, maximize, heighten, empower, sf evo and gsf evo. After that there is enough room for twf, itwf and gtwf. Thanks ahead of time.

oh yeah, pl:sor and pl:monk

[JustMe_ca]

Right now my completionist is a drunk (druid monk?). Obviously my stats are a bit higher as I took the completionist feat (+2 everything), as well as have eaten a full set of +3 tomes, plus a +4 strength. My idea of the build can be found at http://www.ddochargen.com/home.aspx?build=25401 though I likely deviated in a couple of ways. I haven't taken spell focus yet. I am thinking for my level 21 feat to take sf:necro to enhance my finger of death ability. Compared to a wizard, it is a bit low dc (35-37 usual - depending on gear), but with shiradi destiny, I can hit a 41 (50 wisdom )

In level 4 shiradi, and no epic levels yet, my stats are str 30, dex 27, con 28, int 16, wis 50, cha 24, ac 61, saves 36/30/47 (+3 tomes from all stats, plus +4 strength)

Obviously the reflex save is nothing to brag about... but it seems to serve me well enough. I don't know if I would enjoy dumping my strength to much. I seem to remember my sorc life was constantly encumbered.

Personally, I have sort of ignored flame blade - it just doesn't seem that great. In general, if I am doing a more caster role, I am using a quarterstaff of something good (staff of petitioner, luminous truth, etc). Otherwise I am mainly using the handwraps that I have collected in the past 2 years

[karl_k0ch]

Imho, 18 Druid does not offer much (spell pen aside). If you want to melee, then going with a 17 drd/2mnk/1X might be a better choice. X can be another Monk, Rogue, Fighter, or Ranger, depending if you want to go for philosophy moves, SA damage, a feat and HP, or Sprint Boost.

[JustMe_ca]

True, however this is not really a max melee druid, it is a caster druid with some aspirations to beating things while they are getting shake-n-baked (body of sun + earthquake). She has the rogue dilly so she gets the SA damage...
Without taking level 18, you are limited to just one elemental form - 18 gives you the second... And while fire elemental works better at end game with the drow, in some cases, boost to your cold spells are also desired (-3 caster level is never a nice thing if the thing you are fighting is fire resistant) Also with only 18 levels you are really tight in the number of upper level spells that I would like. If you just wanted the fire elemental form - then only 13 levels is necessary - and you could fill the rest with fighter, etc... I know of one player on Orien that is working on that design (or was last time I talked to him)

This is also originally a monk toon before she became completionist so she has extensive monk gear (all the named monk wraps, etc) and having the 2 monk levels allows me to better utilize those wraps as well as provide evasion.

The reality is she is also an experiment - currently hardly anyone has published / tested that many druid builds so until someone tries some things out, we really don't know what will work well etc. After doing 16 lives on her - it isn't as if it is a big deal to do a few more I figure I need at least 2 more wizard/sorc lives if tr-s don't totally burn me out (why is the 35% only work on heroic xp, and why did it start when I was already holding 19...), so this build is taking my experience with my previous life, and experience with other great druids that I have played with and seeing how evasion helps / hurts the build

I really won't know the final answer until I get into higher level quests - this toon hit 20 only yesterday. I will need to actually run some of the raids, new quests to see what I think. Obviously I don't have space for the twf feats (I think I used one monk level to get twf but I had to wait until my +2 tome kicked in before I took that level) as I took completionist and some past life feats.

[Khatzhas]

If you're concentrating on Flame Blade use, you might want to try to fit Imp Crit in there as well.
Combined with stance and enhancements, this has the potential to generate a fair amount of Ki.
Taking a 3rd level of Monk would give you more options to use it constructively.

[dunmoore]

True, however this is not really a max melee druid, it is a caster druid with some aspirations to beating things while they are getting shake-n-baked (body of sun + earthquake). She has the rogue dilly so she gets the SA damage...
Without taking level 18, you are limited to just one elemental form - 18 gives you the second...
.

Actually you get the second elemental form at level 17.

[unbongwah]

Imho, 18 Druid does not offer much (spell pen aside).

Apart from the presumption 3rd-tier PrE will be added, the appeal of druid 18 is two extra spell slots - a 3rd lvl 9 and 4th lvl 8.