Suggested Changes to the Henshin Monk Enhancement tree

[gesion]

Ok really it is a complete redo.

Name change to Kenshin-ryu.

Kenshin-ryu is an ancient art that focuses on the Staff. Kenshin-ryu was often considered the "peasants' art" and is often thought of as a defensive fighting style. However, as these monks have shown, the staff can be devastating as an offensive weapon. Monks who follow the art become one with their weapon and can be single-minded in battle. The style is fluid and the deftness of the strikes are more effective then brute strength.

Core Abilities:

1. One with the Staff: You can now use your dexterity to hit with quarterstaffs.

3. One with the enemy: You can now use your dexterity for damage with quarterstaffs.

6. War and Peace: Fighting Stances, only one can be active at a time.

War, Offensive Stance: While in War stance you have a +2 to Dexterity and Constitution. You also add +1 damage per core ability in this tree.

Peace, Defensive Stance: While in Peace stance you have +4 Wisdom. You also have +1 to saves and AC for each core ability in this tree. You cannot use regular attacks while in the Peace stance, but you can use special attacks. (See Branch 3)

12. Walking the Razors Edge: You are immune to most knockdown effects and slippery surfaces.

18. Know Thy Self: You gain The Slippery Mind feat and +20 to healing amplification.

20. One with Everything: +2 to Dexterity and Wisdom. You also gain +1 to hit and +2 damage with quarterstaves, +5% attack speed with quarterstaves, +2 critical hit damage with quarterstaves, and +2 to Balance, Jump, and Tumble.

Branches:

Branch 1:

1. Staff Training: +1 to hit and +2 to damage with quarterstaves.
2. Staff Training: +1 to hit and +2 to damage with quarterstaves.
3. Staff Training: +1 to hit and +2 to damage with quarterstaves.
4. Staff Training: +1 to hit and +2 to damage with quarterstaves.
5. Staff Perfection: +3 to hit and +3 to damage with quarterstaves.

Branch 2:

1. Reed in the Wind: Ki Melee Attack: Deals +1[W] damage. If you successfully damage your target you gain a +3%/+6%/+9% Insight bonus to Dodge for 6 seconds. (Cooldown: 20 seconds)

2. Contemplation: +1/+2/+3 Concentration and Will Saves. Rank 3: Your passive Ki regeneration is increased by 1.

3. Light and Darkness: Choose an ability that aligns with your philosophy.

Dark: Touch of Death: Dark Ki Melee Attack: You strike a living opponent down with twisted Ki, dealing [3d10 * Monk level] of additional negative energy damage. Your opponent takes half damage on a successful Fortitude save (DC = 10 + Wisdom modifier + your monk level). (Activation Cost: 50 Ki. Cooldown: 15 seconds)

Light: Cast Heal on yourself or an ally. Passive +40 Healing amplification.

4. Balance in Dawn: Select a melee attack that opposes your philosophy: As currently listed in Henshin Mystic

5. Light and Darkness: Choose an ability that aligns with your philosophy.

Dark: Void Ki Melee Attack: You have learned to make attacks backed by pure Ki energy. On Hit: 10d6 Force damage. On Vorpal: Your enemy is erased from existence. (Activation Cost: 15 Ki. Cooldown: 3 seconds)

Light: Tomb of Jade: Ki Melee Attack: You perform an attack that encases a target in a tomb of jade on a failed Will save (DC = 10 + Wisdom modifier + your monk level). Extraplanar Aberrations or Undead must succeed at two consecutive Will saves to avoid this fate. (Activation Cost: 25 Ki. Cooldown: 1 minute)



Branch 3:

1. Defense Boost: Activate to gain a +10 Action Boost to Armor Class and Physical Resistance Rating for 20 seconds.

2. Iron staff wall: Peace stance Enhancement: While Peace stance is active the monk gains DR 10/-

3. Violence hurts the attacker: Peace Stance Enhancement: While Peace stance is active the Monk parries incoming blows reflecting damage back on their attacker. Damage reflected is [25/50/75] % of damage that would have been dealt to the Monk. All damage not reflected is taken by the Monk. Furthermore, a successful attack roll must be made to reflect damage.

4. Clear the Path: Peace Stance Trip Cleave Attack: +1/2/3[W] to all nearby enemies and trips them. (DC: Balance DC 10 + Monk Level + Dexterity Modifier Negates trip). Cooldown: 20/15/10 seconds

5. Monkey see Monkey Do: Ki Activate: You lock gazes with an enemy dominating the monster for a short period of time on a failed Will save (DC= 10 + Charisma modifier + Monk level). Your new minion will attack anybody that is attacking you and follow you throughout the dungeon. Any effects that modify your Stunning Blow or Stunning Fist DC's also affect this ability. Sightless creatures are unaffected by this ability. (Activation Cost: 25 Ki. Cooldown: 15 seconds)

Branch 4:

1. Damage Boost: Activate to gain a +20% Action Boost to weapon damage for 20 seconds.

2. Iron Skin: War stance Enhancement: While in War stance you gain + [10/20/30] PPR

3. Lighting the Candle: War stance enhancement: While you are in War stance and using a quarterstaff, you enhance your attacks with Ki flame. Quarterstaves gain On Hit: [1d4/1d6/1d8] Fire damage and On Critical: [1d10/2d10/3d10] Force damage. All damage scales with 100% melee power.

4. Stunning Storm: War stance enhancement: While in War stance and using a quarterstaff you make an attack that does +1/3/5[W] to all nearby enemies in 360 arc. Enemies are stunned unless they make a save (DC= 10 + Monk level + Dexterity Modifier). Cooldown: 25/20/15 seconds

5. Fanning the Flames: War stance enhancement. While in war stance you gain + [10/15/25] melee attack speed with quarterstaves

Branch 5:

1. Animal forms: as currently listed in Henshin Mystic

2. Quick Strike: Melee Quarterstaff Attack: Deals +1/+2/+3[W] damage. You gain a 5%/15%/25% Morale bonus to melee doublestrike for 10 seconds. (Cooldown: 20 seconds)

3. Ability Score: +1 to Dexterity or Wisdom

4. Ability Score: +1 to Dexterity or Wisdom

5. Staff Specialization: You gain a +1 Competence bonus to Critical Damage Multiplier and Threat Range with quarterstaves.

[HastyPudding]

This has almost nothing to do with Henshin Mystic other than a few names (which don't do anything remotely like their D&D namesakes). There's no henshin riddles (the bread and butter of class) and it looks like just another version of the thief acrobat tree, even some blatant copies of abilities from the rogue's tree.

[gesion]

This has almost nothing to do with Henshin Mystic other than a few names (which don't do anything remotely like their D&D namesakes). There's no henshin riddles (the bread and butter of class) and it looks like just another version of the thief acrobat tree, even some blatant copies of abilities from the rogue's tree.

Your comment leads me to believe that you really didn't read past the core abilities, which is ok. This enhancement tree was not designed to be a better Henshin Mystic, but to replace the current Henshin Mystic with a better Monk staff build for DDO. I have played both the Henshin Mystic and the Thief Acrobat, and the current TA is a far better staff build then the HM. This build is designed to address the issues that make the Henshin Monk a poor staff build, and give the Monk class a pure staff build option that can stand on its own. There are many new abilities in this build. However, I see no reason to completely redesign good abilities, most of the abilities that are the same are current monk enhancements from one of the current trees. The abilities that are from the rogue trees are in this build because they fit with the Monk and the design.

Thank you for taking the time to look the build over and comment.

[HastyPudding]

Your comment leads me to believe that you really didn't read past the core abilities, which is ok. This enhancement tree was not designed to be a better Henshin Mystic, but to replace the current Henshin Mystic with a better Monk staff build for DDO. I have played both the Henshin Mystic and the Thief Acrobat, and the current TA is a far better staff build then the HM. This build is designed to address the issues that make the Henshin Monk a poor staff build, and give the Monk class a pure staff build option that can stand on its own. There are many new abilities in this build. However, I see no reason to completely redesign good abilities, most of the abilities that are the same are current monk enhancements from one of the current trees. The abilities that are from the rogue trees are in this build because they fit with the Monk and the design.

Thank you for taking the time to look the build over and comment.

Again, it's not a Henshin Mystic. It has nothing to do with Henshin Mystic beyond a few names. It's a purely physical dps-focused tree, with no riddles, no fire enhancements (which is the mainstay of the class), war/peace stances which are not in the original class nor have anything to do with the theme of the original class, dexterity to-hit/damage with staves (blatant acrobat copy), and no emphasis whatsoever on ki/ki regeneration/ki abilities/concentration/wisdom.

I reiterate: it's not a Henshin Mystic, it's just another flavor of Thief Acrobat.

[gesion]

Again, it's not a Henshin Mystic. It has nothing to do with Henshin Mystic beyond a few names. It's a purely physical dps-focused tree, with no riddles, no fire enhancements (which is the mainstay of the class), war/peace stances which are not in the original class nor have anything to do with the theme of the original class, dexterity to-hit/damage with staves (blatant acrobat copy), and no emphasis whatsoever on ki/ki regeneration/ki abilities/concentration/wisdom.

I reiterate: it's not a Henshin Mystic, it's just another flavor of Thief Acrobat.

Let me spell it out for you. This build is NOT an Henshin Monk and is NOT meant to be. The build is a replacement for the Henshin monk that is focused on the staff. The build is meant to be focused on DPS and be almost entirely physical. That is why I mentioned at the beginning of my first post for an enhancement tree name change. The idea was to give the Monk an enhancement tree that makes the monk the master of the staff. The philosophy of the build is not brute strength but damage through deft strikes, thus Dexterity for damage and to hit fit the build. Furthermore, there are plenty of cross-class abilities in the enhancement trees for many of the classes and many of them share the same names or are just named differently but do the same things. There is nothing wrong with sharing some abilities.

[HastyPudding]

Let me spell it out for you. This build is NOT an Henshin Monk and is NOT meant to be. The build is a replacement for the Henshin monk that is focused on the staff. The build is meant to be focused on DPS and be almost entirely physical. That is why I mentioned at the beginning of my first post for an enhancement tree name change. The idea was to give the Monk an enhancement tree that makes the monk the master of the staff. The philosophy of the build is not brute strength but damage through deft strikes, thus Dexterity for damage and to hit fit the build. Furthermore, there are plenty of cross-class abilities in the enhancement trees for many of the classes and many of them share the same names or are just named differently but do the same things. There is nothing wrong with sharing some abilities.

Naturally, I completely disagree. Not from the perspective of your proposed enhancement tree, which would make a kick-ass quarterstaff build, but from a standpoint that we already have the iron-skinned, martial arts monk (shintao) and the athletic, dexterous, and shadowy monk (ninja spy). Henshin mystic fits perfectly into the third archetype for monks: the guru or yogi, levitating through the power of his mind, breathing fire, and using words (riddles) instead of his fists. I believe this was the intention of the devs when they made the tree, basing it off the original PnP class. Sadly it fails miserably in execution.

I made a stab at the henshin tree not too long ago, I think it fits more of what I think a henshin mystic should be about:
https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...ystic-Overhaul

[Enderoc]

Try 3 rogue 1 sorcerer 16 monk in the builder, and then attempt a Henshin build

[gesion]

Try 3 rogue 1 sorcerer 16 monk in the builder, and then attempt a Henshin build

The point of this exercise is to have a enhancement tree that works without having to multi-class. Multi-classes should add flavor and variety to a class. If you have to multi-class to make an enhancement tree work, you have failed before you have even began.

[gesion]

Naturally, I completely disagree. Not from the perspective of your proposed enhancement tree, which would make a kick-ass quarterstaff build, but from a standpoint that we already have the iron-skinned, martial arts monk (shintao) and the athletic, dexterous, and shadowy monk (ninja spy). Henshin mystic fits perfectly into the third archetype for monks: the guru or yogi, levitating through the power of his mind, breathing fire, and using words (riddles) instead of his fists. I believe this was the intention of the devs when they made the tree, basing it off the original PnP class. Sadly it fails miserably in execution.

I made a stab at the henshin tree not too long ago, I think it fits more of what I think a henshin mystic should be about:
https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...ystic-Overhaul

From your description adding the staff into the Henshin Monk enhancement tree is a major fail. I believe what you are looking for is a spell casting monk not a staff oriented enhancement tree. Calling them riddles is just another way of saying spell, the monk would just use Ki to activate instead of spell points. Take the staff portion out of the Henshin Monk, and add more abilities that daze and confuse and enhance the fire and force damage and I think you will have something closer to what you are looking for.

I think a good alternative to the Henshin Monk is the Monk Elementalist which I adapted for DDO here: https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...a-for-December

Of course the Elementalist blends hand-to-hand combat with elemental damage so that half the damage is dealt is physical while the other half is elemental so it is not exactly what you are looking for. One could put together an interesting enhancement tree by blending the two. Forgoing all physical combat in favor of elemental damage, not just fire. Also throwing in the riddles to daze, confuse, paralyze, and cause general havoc with the enemy while the Monk sits in the lotus position while levitating and watches the mayhem. Why get your hands dirty?

[HastyPudding]

From your description adding the staff into the Henshin Monk enhancement tree is a major fail. I believe what you are looking for is a spell casting monk not a staff oriented enhancement tree. Calling them riddles is just another way of saying spell, the monk would just use Ki to activate instead of spell points. Take the staff portion out of the Henshin Monk, and add more abilities that daze and confuse and enhance the fire and force damage and I think you will have something closer to what you are looking for.

I think a good alternative to the Henshin Monk is the Monk Elementalist which I adapted for DDO here: https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...a-for-December

Of course the Elementalist blends hand-to-hand combat with elemental damage so that half the damage is dealt is physical while the other half is elemental so it is not exactly what you are looking for. One could put together an interesting enhancement tree by blending the two. Forgoing all physical combat in favor of elemental damage, not just fire. Also throwing in the riddles to daze, confuse, paralyze, and cause general havoc with the enemy while the Monk sits in the lotus position while levitating and watches the mayhem. Why get your hands dirty?

Staff adds a component to the monk that is only seen in the rogue class; yet quarterstaff is one of the few automatic centered/ki weapons for monks. Adding wisdom to attack/damage for quarterstaves would easily show henshin as a hybrid (like arcane archer or eldritch knight), while also providing good synergy for multiclass builds (I can brainstorm monk/druid or cleric/monk, right now). There are also a variety of staves, both dps oriented and caster, which would give options for people looking to hybridize the tree, while providing a straight path for people who want to specialize in either ki abilities or outright dps. And even then as a 'specialist' you still have alternate options still readily available, still placing you as a hybrid build.

Thematically, the tree would be a ton of fun. Sadly, it falls flat in execution due to a lot of design flaws that show a lack of foresight on the part of the devs, especially concerning ability scores, DC's, and DDO's fast-paced combat mechanics. Nobody was more excited to see henshin in DDO than I, and I don't think anyone else has been a harsher critic on it than I have, which I feel is the worst put-together tree in the game.

[gesion]

which I feel is the worst put-together tree in the game.

This is how I feel about all of the enhancement trees for monks.

[HastyPudding]

This is how I feel about all of the enhancement trees for monks.

Shintao and Ninja Spy are 'okay' in terms of concept and execution, they just need to be updated and upgraded to suit DDO's current mechanics.

[Enderoc]

Shintao and Ninja Spy are 'okay' in terms of concept and execution, they just need to be updated and upgraded to suit DDO's current mechanics.

Agree, adding melee power to Shintao would be ideal

[HastyPudding]

Agree, adding melee power to Shintao would be ideal

More stealth ability with ninja spy, too, such as a high bonus to dodge while stealthed or the ability to tumble in a puff of smoke and other ninja-y type things.

[Grailhawk]

Shintao and Ninja Spy are 'okay' in terms of concept and execution, they just need to be updated and upgraded to suit DDO's current mechanics.

I agree about ninja, and think Shintao is about right but has the flaw that its to Earth Stance oriented, all the enhancements that require earth stance need to be reworked into multi selectors or have benefits for the other stances.

OP I think jsut the fact that you have changed every core enhancement is enough to say your asking for two radical a change.

I personally think that the biggies changes needed to Henshin updates to Ki Bolt, Incinerating Wave, and Cauldron of Flame.

[Saekee]

void strike is so powerful on vorpal that Henshin should be built around 1) perfect swf or 2) have its staff vorpal on a 19-20 somewhere high in the tree...
And wisdom based