Tempest Trapmonkey for new players

[Bridge_Dweller]

So then what do you need help with to convert the build as posted here over to 18/1/1 with monk? The build are very similar only difference is in feat order and a few ap spent in different places?

The difference between 1 fighter and 1 monk is very little both basically give you a free feat.

1 fighter is better than 1 monk for this build. The "Exploiter" is dead

U23 is adding another big plus for the 1 fighter splash, heavy armor proficiency. There are situations where you're better off in heavy armor than light.

[Grailhawk]

1 fighter is better than 1 monk for this build. The "Exploiter" is dead

U23 is adding another big plus for the 1 fighter splash, heavy armor proficiency. There are situations where you're better off in heavy armor than light.

OK agreed but the guy I was talking to with that post already had a 10/1/1 monk and was asking what to do I was saying just go with it, its not a horrible situation nor worth an LR+1 to change.

[Merfyn]

OK agreed but the guy I was talking to with that post already had a 10/1/1 monk and was asking what to do I was saying just go with it, its not a horrible situation nor worth an LR+1 to change.

Correct, and I thank you for the advice.

After all, this is "for new players", which I still am despite being pretty long in the tooth. I still haven't unlocked Gianthold or Vale.

[EllisDee37]

After mulling over the U23 changes for a week, I finally came up with a new set of enhancements for this build. It's taking me longer than expected to update the build, though, so this is a head's up to expect changes to the build in the next day or so.

Only enhancements are changing, so it shouldn't be an issue for anyone in the middle of leveling. Once the updated build is posted, just choose Reset All Trees and then apply the enhancements as listed up to your level.

The big ticket changes are to add The Growing Storm and Dance of Death, both of which had their cooldowns lowered in U23. They now look pretty darn fun. I also added in the expensive Improved Parry line, which gives +10 PRR for 6 AP, because U23 buffed the effect of PRR. To make room for this extra 15 AP (!) I lowered the human tree from 19 AP to 15 AP, streamlined deepwood stalker from 12 AP to 11 AP, dropped the Arcane Archer tree altogether (7 AP to 0 AP), and reshuffled the tempest tree a bit.

Here's the "old" enhancements for reference:

1.1 Human Core: Damage Boost
1.2 Human1: Orien Dragonmark Focus I
1.3 Human1: Nimble Fingers I
1.4 Human1: Nimble Fingers II

2.1 Deepwood Stalker Core: Far Shot
2.2 DS1: Increased Empathy I
2.3 DS1: Increased Empathy II
2.4 DS1: Increased Empathy III

3.1 DS1: Versatile Empathy I
3.2 DS2: Empathic Healing I
3.3 DS1: Versatile Empathy II

4.1 DS2: Empathic Healing II
4.2 Kensei Core: Archery Focus
4.3 Kensei1: Haste Boost I

5.1 Human1: Improved Recovery
5.2 Human2: Lesser Dragonmark of Passage

6.1 Human1: Nimble Fingers III
6.2 Human2: Awareness I
6.3 Human3: Improved Recovery

7.1 Human3: Skill Mastery
7.2 Human3: Heroism

8.1 DS Core: Sneak Attack
8.2 DS Core: Exposing Strike
8.3 Human4: Greater Heroism

9.1 Arcane Archer Core: Arcane Archer
9.2 AA1: Awareness I
9.3 AA1: Awareness II
9.4 AA1: Awareness III

10.1 AA1: Energy of the Wild I
10.2 AA1: Energy of the Wild II
10.3 AA1: Energy of the Wild III
10.4 Kensei1: Haste Boost II

11.1 Mechanic Core: Arbalester
11.2 Mech1: Mechanics I
11.3 Mech1: Mechanics II
11.4 Mech1: Mechanics III

12.1 Tempest Core: Shield of Whirling Steel
12.2 Tempest1: Improved Reaction I
12.3 Tempest1: Improved Reaction II
12.4 Tempest1: Improved Reaction III

13.1 Tempest1: Whirling Blades
13.2 Tempest2: Whirling Blades

14.1 Tempest Core: Tempest
14.2 Tempest2: Bleed Them Out I
14.3 Tempest2: Bleed Them Out II
14.4 Tempest2: Bleed Them Out III

15.1 Tempest2: Sprint Boost I
15.2 Tempest3: Whirling Blades

16.1 Kensei1: Haste Boost III
16.2 Tempest2: Improved Dodge I
16.3 Tempest2: Improved Dodge II
16.4 Tempest2: Improved Dodge III

17.1 Tempest Core: Graceful Death
17.2 Tempest Core: Deflect Arrows
17.3 Tempest4: Whirling Blades

18.1 Tempest3: Strength
18.2 Tempest4: Strength

19.1 Human2: Awareness II
19.2 Tempest4: Elaborate Parry I
19.3 Tempest4: Elaborate Parry II
19.4 Tempest4: Elaborate Parry III

20.1 Tempest Core: Whirlwind
20.2 Tempest5: Evasive Dance I
20.3 Tempest5: Evasive Dance II
20.4 Tempest5: Evasive Dance III

[Nodoze]

Thanks for keeping it updated for new (and old) players!

[Merfyn]

Thanks for keeping it updated for new (and old) players!

Definitely. I don't like cookie-cutting but these help me keep from making more egregious errors from sheer n00bish-ness (like splashing Pal on a Drow Wiz).

[EllisDee37]

Build is updated for the new enhancement list as of U23.

I'm quite happy with how they turned out. There's a nice balance of early self-healing, plus extra help in trapping throughout the heroic levels. Then at level 20, when the extra help for leveling is no longer needed, we switch them out to add in more DPS for epics.

My favorite bit is getting fully maxed improved evasion by 18, compared to the previous version which waited until level 20. Not a huge change, but enough to notice and well worth it.

The reason it took me a week to come up with these changes is because I kept trying to do a single, unified enhancement list, and kept needing 83 AP. When I finally realized that we could just reset enhancements along the way I was able to reclaim 3 AP by dropping the deepwood stalker healing (saving 1 AP, replace with cure moderate at 13) and the human greater heroism (saving 2 AP, replace with scrolls at 20) and everything fell into place.

It took me an extra day to post because I manually edited the build by hand, as opposed to using Ron's planner. Checking and double-checking that the enhancements are listed properly took more time than I expected.

[Grailhawk]

Build is updated for the new enhancement list as of U23.

I'm quite happy with how they turned out. There's a nice balance of early self-healing, plus extra help in trapping throughout the heroic levels. Then at level 20, when the extra help for leveling is no longer needed, we switch them out to add in more DPS for epics.

My favorite bit is getting fully maxed improved evasion by 18, compared to the previous version which waited until level 20. Not a huge change, but enough to notice and well worth it.

The reason it took me a week to come up with these changes is because I kept trying to do a single, unified enhancement list, and kept needing 83 AP. When I finally realized that we could just reset enhancements along the way I was able to reclaim 3 AP by dropping the deepwood stalker healing (saving 1 AP, replace with cure moderate at 13) and the human greater heroism (saving 2 AP, replace with scrolls at 20) and everything fell into place.

It took me an extra day to post because I manually edited the build by hand, as opposed to using Ron's planner. Checking and double-checking that the enhancements are listed properly took more time than I expected.

Are you ignoring Harper because it needs to be payed for?


IMO Harper is worth 13 AP for Know the Angles, Melee Power and an Extra Favored Enemy. My take on enh

12 AP Human
Human Versatility: Damage Boost
Human Versatility: Skill/Saves Boost
Human Adaptability: +1 To Any Stat
Skill Focus: Awareness (Rank II)
Skill Focus: Nimble Fingers (Rank II)
Improved Recovery II

11 AP Stalker
Far Shot
Sneak Attack
Sniper Shot
Stealthy
Increased Empathy
Versatile Empathy

40 AP Tempest
Shield of Whirling Steel
Tempest
Graceful Death
Deflect Arrows
Whirlwind
Improved Reaction
Improved Dodge
Improved Parry
Whirling Blades IV
The Growing Storm
Elaborate Parry
Evasive Dance
Dance of Death

04 AP Kensei
Kensei Focus
Action Boost: Haste Boost

13 AP Harper
Agent of Good I
Harper Enchantment
Traveler's Toughness
Know the Angles
Versatile Adept I
Know Your Foe or Versatile Adept II (Rank II)

[EllisDee37]

Are you ignoring Harper because it needs to be paid for?

Yep.

I like your breakdown of enhancements. You're essentially dropping +2 strength and sprint boost (ouch!) from the tempest tree, +1 umd and dimension door (double ouch!) from the human tree, and +3 saves against traps from mechanic to free up 13 AP for the harper tree. I would definitely redo the 12 AP in human to include dimension door, but that's trivially easy to do without sacrificing much of anything.

For that 13 AP you gain +1 Favored Enemy (sweet!), +20 spell points, +1 weapon enhancement (nice), +4 melee power and int-based divine might (very nice). That's pretty solid. For this build I think I'd rather take Awareness instead of Toughness as the tier 1 Harper filler, but that's a minor quibble.

I should probably add an "If you have the Harper tree" breakdown for the level 20 final split.

[EllisDee37]

I added in a modified version of your suggestion to the OP. Thanks much for the blueprint, I never would have been able to consider dropping sprint boost without seeing someone else suggest it first. It still hurts, but I see the logic.

EDIT: I also updated the "General Use" post to reflect the changes, plus added a couple links to the end of the "Gear" post to help show how to farm some of it up.

[Caprice]

You don't have to go to The Portable Hole to buy Greater Heroism scrolls. They are available in House Phiarlan in the Object Desire shop.

I think mentioning The Portable Hole is a positive thing since newer players may not be aware of it, but I would recommend that you also mention that the only way to get there is by casting the arcane Teleport & Greater Teleport spells. The Portable Hole is not shown anywhere on the Stormreach map and it is not accessible by foot or by using the city teleporters, so someone could easily waste a lot of time fruitlessly trying to find it. Granted that anyone using this build should be able to use Teleport scrolls at level 20 even if it isn't a 100% thing (target UMD of 36), but I think it is at least worth mentioning that that's how they'll need to get there. FWIW Teleport scrolls are available in House Jorasco at the House of Wizardry (near the airship tower) and in The Twelve.

P.S. +1 on the kudos for updating the build for the latest changes.

[adfkj]

I've been using this build as described and adjusted for my third ranger life. Currently using the fully modified (reduced Human enhancements, full Harper suggestions) version from levels 18 to 22. I like it so far. Dodging, evasion and dps excel in the highest caster/melee mob clusters, especially while using Fury of the Wild for active destiny. Having Colors of the Queen active helps. Trapping suffers a little from the lack of Mechanic and I've run out of arrows a few (critical) times in spite of stocking up with 2000+ arrows upon setting out on ventures such as EE slayers runs in the Orchard where ranged party support is required after the party is low on SP and you need to stay alive. Having filled out FotW, I've moved on to Primal Avatar and even with the slight set back in melee capacity the build still performs well. I wouldn't recommend this build if you're the party's main trapper in EE but EH and EN questing seems to be okay. Soloing is fine thanks to evasion when you forget where a trap is or can't seem to make the roll even when GH and other modifiers are active. Decent trapper gear is required. If you like twitchy, front line builds this one is a lot of fun.
Thanks very much for all of your hard work in keeping this build active and updated!

[EllisDee37]

Thanks much for the feedback. Sounds about right.

In terms of arrows, without the AA tree giving us infinite returning arrows, it's probably best to stock up on the 75% returning house D ones. Unless those are the 2000 you did stock up on and run out of?

[Caprice]

If you can spare 2 inventory slots you can pick up a wand or a stack of scrolls of Flame Arrow and a stack of non-magical arrows off a vendor (general, ammo, or missile, found variously), and then with each Flame Arrow cast you can convert a single normal arrow into 500 conjured fire arrows (IIRC +0 attack/damage, +1d6 fire on hit). A fresh wand + half stack of arrows yields 25,000 conjured arrows, or a stack of scrolls and full stack of arrows will yield twice that (but cost & weigh more). That should hopefully last you longer than your average session.

[Horza]

Thanks for the work done on this - as a casual rather than new player I always find your build plans a solid basis.

However I do have some options available to me that new players don't - I have Artificer open, and am thinking of TRing a Juggernaut into something of a Tempest Trapmonkey for one or more lives. I have a fair selection of Repeaters to choose from, and was thinking about replacing the Rogue level with an Artificer one, otherwise keeping the concept much the same. What kind of impact would that have? Losing SA of course, but what else? In exchange I'll have repeaters for early levelling which will work well with IPS later, and a lever-puller pet as an occasional utility extra.

I suppose I could take this further and take 2 levels (runearms) and maybe even make it WF, but I suspect that ruins the whole concept.

Any advice welcome.

[cru121]

replacing Rogue with Artificer

I think a single level of Arti instead of Rogue is actually superior.

Two levels of artificer, that is going to cost you something. Either 5% doublestrike from Tempest core, or Haste boost.

If you drop below 18 levels of ranger, you can go to 15 or even 12. This opens a lot of options obviously.

WF would be hard to heal I guess.

[EllisDee37]

Artificer instead of rogue is very strong.

I can justify/defend taking 18 ranger levels, but only just barely. Feel free to drop it down to 15 ranger levels; 15/4/1 or 15/3/2 ranger/arti/fighter would both work fine and keep the flavor/concept of this build intact. In terms of if 18/1/1 ranger/artie/fighter works just as well as 18/1/1 ranger/rogue/fighter, my guess is that it does.

[Grailhawk]

My issue with Arti splash has always been that since bow strength doesn't work with repeaters its a lot less interesting then it could be.

That said using AP in Harper to pick up int to damage and going int based might make it more interesting.

[Caprice]

You also can't use Manyshot with repeaters. If you intend to spend more time doing Ranged damage than MS bursts & occasionally kiting harder pulls then I think you might want to invest more feats and AP into ranged combat, at which point you are talking about a somewhat different (but also strong) build. The recent changes to Dance of Death and Overwhelming Critical make the cleave feats useful but less critical to have, and the cleaves are relatively weak with TWF compared to some of the other fighting styles, so you could probably drop those two for something to make your repeaters more effective (e.g. PBS and IC:Ranged).

[EllisDee37]

The recent changes to Dance of Death and Overwhelming Critical make the cleave feats useful but less critical to have, and the cleaves are relatively weak with TWF compared to some of the other fighting styles, so you could probably drop those two for something to make your repeaters more effective (e.g. PBS and IC:Ranged).

I've been wondering if it makes sense to drop the cleaves altogether anyway, but I'm hesitant to change this build yet again since it's gone through two changes in the last few months. The basic idea would be to drop power attack and both cleaves, and take precision at level 3 (requires BAB 1). That frees up three feats, making room for PBS, improved crit: ranged, and one other. Maybe mobility?

Even with dance of death, I do still use my cleaves on this guy, so I don't think it's clearly better. But the thought is there.