Fighter/Monk THF. Best split?

[Jastarn]

Thinking of doing a kensai monk for my next life. STR based THF with greatswords (already run a few staff lives, don't want to do another for a bit). Most likely Dragonborn race, since I'm working on RTR's.

I'm thinking for the split a minimum monk 6 (adept of forms, 3rd martial arts feat) fighter 8 (greater weapon focus). T5's in kensai (35 AP's), henshin for lighting the candle (13 AP's).

Things I'm looking for, reliable healing/temp HP. Advice on how to fill out the last 6 levels of the split.

Thoughts I've had include paladin 6 for LoH's, saves, and some light damage. Cleric/FVS for ameliorating strike (doesn't kick in for a while though). Warlock for temp HP/ES goodies. Rouge for skills and traps. Of course I could finish out with more monk or fighter levels, but I don't see anything in particular I would gain

I do not have FDI, but I have all the other universal trees. Would probably be going to 30 for an EPL, so functionality in EE would be a plus. If I remember my tomes right, I have +7 wis, +5 dex, and +3 str con int cha.

[Kaboom2112]

20 fighter/ 0 monk is the best split

[SocratesBastardSon]

I did a similar build, but I went with TWF (Khopesh) and Cleric for the third class. I really liked the combination of Ameliorating Strikes and light monk's Fists of Light healing shield. The reason I chose TWF over THF was healing shield proc'd on both attacks, which I combined with Shintao Elemental Curatives (usually curse removal since Ameliorating handled resto). I had some "heal on hit" Khopeshs like the Macabre Khopesh and a nice random loot gen Bodyfeeder Khopesh. I took Aasimar and dug into Falconry so I could use WIS for hit and damage.

I chose Cleric over FvS for Luck Domain's Displacement. A more offensive build would choose FvS for the Divine Will trance.

I breezed through heroic with hardly a care, but once I got deeper into Epic Reaper the inherent squishiness of an unarmored, low hp build became pretty obvious. The self healing got zeroed out in Reaper, rendering the build ineffective. Champions had great fun with me. If I stuck with R1, it was fine.

I tried both GMoF and Primal, and preferred the former.

Would a THF, Fury build work better? I don't know, but I'd be sorely tempted to go with Paladin in that case, and KotC is an obvious match. But I still think it's a fundamentally squishy build, unless you have multiple RTRs, Epic Completionist and 100 Reaper APs, +8 stat tomes, and all the best gear available, then you can play whatever you want (maybe even a Druid-Arty-Monk!). Otherwise, if you can come up with a good balance of solid defense and enough THF enhancements to make it worthwhile, I'd love to see what you come up with.

[Discpsycho]

If you're after healing and temp HP, 6 monk levels isn't going to cut it.

It's been a while, but last time I played Shintao I was spamming Fists of Light and Healing Ki. That was enough to solo R1ish with mediocre gear. Healing Ki scales with Monk level, so depending on your level order, it will be useful very early on at best.

If you're looking for temp HP and healing as a THF, splash 6 Barbarian instead. Pick up Blood Tribute for temp HP, Ravager T5 for +2 crit range and Blood Strength. Kensai Core #3 puts your crit profile at +1 / +2, which compensates a bit for missing One With the Blade. 13 points in Stalwart Defender for +6 Str (or +20% HP in heroics) and +25 PRR/MRR, and you won't die very often.

If you're mainly interested in DPS, 20 Fighter will be superior. Kensai's later cores are excellent

[SocratesBastardSon]

You identified the problem, at least with respect to healing. I think I went 8 levels in monk, but that was obviously not enough. My motivation was a balance between self-healing and offense. I didn't enjoy playing pure fighter and having to hope there was a healer, and if there was a healer, one who was interested in doing, well, healing. (All of my builds include a self-healing component.)

Assuming Jastarn is committed to a Monk/Fighter build, wouldn't M14/F6, or M13/F6/FvS1 for Divine Will be better all around?

[Discpsycho]

You identified the problem, at least with respect to healing. I think I went 8 levels in monk, but that was obviously not enough. My motivation was a balance between self-healing and offense. I didn't enjoy playing pure fighter and having to hope there was a healer, and if there was a healer, one who was interested in doing, well, healing. (All of my builds include a self-healing component.)

Assuming Jastarn is committed to a Monk/Fighter build, wouldn't M14/F6, or M13/F6/FvS1 for Divine Will be better all around?

The latter sounds fairly solid for a Str-based build, though Divine Will wouldn't help the latter quite as much.

Particularly useful (high) Monk splits are:
- 9: Improved Evasion
- 12: Cores, Abundant Step, Master of Forms
- 15: Quivering Palm
- 18: Grandmaster

Particularly useful (low) Fighter splits are:
- 2: Feats
- 3: Stalwart Defense
- 6: Kensai T5 and Core #3
- 8: Greater Weapon Focus (for Kensai T5's Weapon Master, though kind of a drop in the bucket)
- 12: Core #4 (+8 stats action boost)

In this case, you'll want Monk higher than Fighter to get a bit more out of Healing Ki, which means 12 Monk / 6-8 Fighter. If you're taking Divine Will, 13 Monk (12 + 1 fluff) / 6 Fighter / 1 FvS is the way to go. If you're going for Grandmaster of Forms, take the 12th monk level before 18 so you can get Adept for free and snag Grandmaster at 18

[Tsutti]

If you're after healing and temp HP, 6 monk levels isn't going to cut it.

It's been a while, but last time I played Shintao I was spamming Fists of Light and Healing Ki. That was enough to solo R1ish with mediocre gear. Healing Ki scales with Monk level, so depending on your level order, it will be useful very early on at best.

If you're looking for temp HP and healing as a THF, splash 6 Barbarian instead. Pick up Blood Tribute for temp HP, Ravager T5 for +2 crit range and Blood Strength. Kensai Core #3 puts your crit profile at +1 / +2, which compensates a bit for missing One With the Blade. 13 points in Stalwart Defender for +6 Str (or +20% HP in heroics) and +25 PRR/MRR, and you won't die very often.

If you're mainly interested in DPS, 20 Fighter will be superior. Kensai's later cores are excellent

It should be noted that with Stalwart Defense you cannot use Barbarian Rage, nor Adrenaline or Primal Scream if you're going Fury of the Wild. Might work fine in heroics, possibly even better than using rage, but it may be tricky in epics; might be able to make it work with Fatesinger or LD, or maybe even Divine Crusader for more heals, but its dps would likely feel fairly meh (I know it's not intended to be uber dps or anything, but due to massively inflated hp in epic monsters dps can become a very serious problem).

[Discpsycho]

It should be noted that with Stalwart Defense you cannot use Barbarian Rage, nor Adrenaline or Primal Scream if you're going Fury of the Wild. Might work fine in heroics, possibly even better than using rage, but it may be tricky in epics; might be able to make it work with Fatesinger or LD, or maybe even Divine Crusader for more heals, but its dps would likely feel fairly meh (I know it's not intended to be uber dps or anything, but due to massively inflated hp in epic monsters dps can become a very serious problem).

Good point, but IMO not a huge issue.

Personally, I'd use Stalwart in heroics, then swap to Falconry T4 in epics for Expose Weakness to pair with FOTW
- Stalwart costs fewer points, which is a boon when you have fewer AP
- Flat defenses (and offenses) help more in heroics
- Expose Weakness is only helpful when you have the tools to render mooks helpless, which are more plentiful / accessible / just plain better in epics (eg, Lay Waste, Overwhelming Force)
- EDF renders the Stalwart %HP moot. +6 Str isn't bad, but that and the PRR/MRR probably don't make FotW less appealing than DC/LD

[Jastarn]

I do get that this build concept would be pretty squishy, and I'm OK with that in all honesty. Not trying to solo legendary reapers or anything, just a fun build concept I'd like to give a whirl!

PL wise, I have.
paladin, fighter, ranger, bard, monk, warlock, barbarian x1.
RPL, human x3, dwarf x3.
EPL, doubleshot, Brace, enchant weapon x1.

double checked my tomes, and yes, +7 wis, +5 dex, +3 others. Also have a +2 of all the mysterious remn tomes, and a +1 universal AP tome. Sitting at 27 reaper points.

I'd rather not rely solely on fists of light, although I'm sure it'll be in my rotation. I don't care about quivering palm, abundant step, monk 12 cores, or master/gmof (since I can always pick those up with regular feat slots).

Important things I'm thinking of would be making sure by level 12 I have at least 5 fighter (for T5's), 6 if I want strike with no thought asap.

Maybe go something like 8 fighter/6 monk/6 paladin. 33-35 AP's kensai T5's, 11 Sacred defender (stance, extra LoH), 11 KotC (3rd core, free ghost touch!), 13 Henshin for lighting the candle. That'd leave me with 10 extra AP's to spread around as needed.

Leveling order something like M/M/M/M/M/M/F/F/F/F/F/P/P/P/F/P/P/P/F/F, start out building as a quarterstaff monk until 12, then swap enhancements into kensai, get the paladin levels for defense/more healing (since hirelings/healing ki will be falling off by then), and finish out?

hm I should roll up some disposable iconics to see if this is at all viable or just a dumpster fire

[Artos_Fabril]

Thinking of doing a kensai monk for my next life. STR based THF with greatswords (already run a few staff lives, don't want to do another for a bit). Most likely Dragonborn race, since I'm working on RTR's.

I'm thinking for the split a minimum monk 6 (adept of forms, 3rd martial arts feat) fighter 8 (greater weapon focus). T5's in kensai (35 AP's), henshin for lighting the candle (13 AP's).

Things I'm looking for, reliable healing/temp HP. Advice on how to fill out the last 6 levels of the split.

Thoughts I've had include paladin 6 for LoH's, saves, and some light damage. Cleric/FVS for ameliorating strike (doesn't kick in for a while though). Warlock for temp HP/ES goodies. Rouge for skills and traps. Of course I could finish out with more monk or fighter levels, but I don't see anything in particular I would gain

I do not have FDI, but I have all the other universal trees. Would probably be going to 30 for an EPL, so functionality in EE would be a plus. If I remember my tomes right, I have +7 wis, +5 dex, and +3 str con int cha.

Henshin gets some nice MP and PRR bonuses, but sadly no strikethrough. If you're already going STR based and you don't have your heart set on Dragonborn, have you looked at half-orc? 18 points gets you 20% strikethrough, 20% helpless damage, lock bash, STR, and +8 damage when THF.

[Jastarn]

Henshin gets some nice MP and PRR bonuses, but sadly no strikethrough. If you're already going STR based and you don't have your heart set on Dragonborn, have you looked at half-orc? 18 points gets you 20% strikethrough, 20% helpless damage, lock bash, STR, and +8 damage when THF.

True, but I'm going henshin mostly for the lighting the candle enhancement (2d8 fire per hit scaling with MP and 6d10 force scaling with MP on crits). I'd get strikethrough from the THF feats, and 20% from the KOTC t1 enhancement (assuming I go with paladin). With the full THF line that'd give me 190% strikethrough, with up to 45% more available from 3 piece one against many, and going FotW if I want to pump it up higher. That should be plenty for my purposes, especially with exalted cleave from KotC to help with AoE.

[Vish]

looks like u already decided,
but 12/6/2 is good split
but i did for staff not greatsword

the build is the kitchen sink

its old but has how to put the feats in
maybe need swords to plowshares now