Throw me your best monk build

[TeoDeathDealer]

I am currently running a 23 monk, 4 fighter, 3 FoF. Its been great fun with good damage, ab, ac.

I also did a wood elf pure strength monk that KDs dragons. His strength is 32. Crits in the 80s.

[chad878262]

I am currently running a 23 monk, 4 fighter, 3 FoF. Its been great fun with good damage, ab, ac.

I also did a wood elf pure strength monk that KDs dragons. His strength is 32. Crits in the 80s.

Hey teo, good to see you on the forums! wouldn't the 3 extra levels of monk be better as bodyguard or cleric or something? Obviously might be an RP decision, more asking from a pure building standpoint. 3 warlock would give a nice bump too, but requires LE alignment which may not fit

[Rinzler]

There's so many options here I'm more confused then I was before . Is a wisdom based punching based monk somehow inferior to other models?

16M/F4/DC10 the best route for that model?

[Theodore01]

Is a wisdom based punching based monk somehow inferior to other models?

No, a lv30 monk works very well.

[chad878262]

There's so many options here I'm more confused then I was before . Is a wisdom based punching based monk somehow inferior to other models?

16M/F4/DC10 the best route for that model?

NO, in fact a WIS based fist monk is THE way to go. However, that build won't really work because you need Monk 20 for Insightful Strike to work. So maybe M20/F4/DC6 would be the 'best', though if there is an XP penalty M20/DC10 would only be marginally worse. F4 gives access to Melee Mastery-unarmed which grants +2 AB/Damage in addition to Weapon Specialization - Unarmed for another +2 Damage. I would rather have this than 2 extra Great Wisdom Feats from DC in epics for +1 AC and AB, but if there is an XP penalty for Monk/Fighter (such as if you want Aasimar race for the bonus to WIS) then I would just go Monk/DC which will do just fine, with a bit less damage.

Apologies as I forgot about the 2/3rd's levels of Monk requirement for Insightful Strike to work. M16/F4/DC10 would be a good option for a STR Monk as you could get +2 AC out of 4 Great WIS selections with bonus Divine Champ epic feats (4/6/8/10) without causing you to take a hit on your Strength.

[Rinzler]

I prefer the strongest possible build regardless of XP penalty - which means M20/F4/DC6. The route to go is obviously Aasimar? I could avoid the penalty being human correct? But then I'd lose the WIS bonus.

What does M20/F4/DC6 grant vs simply M26/F4

[Theodore01]

base damage for unarmed is
mo20 - 2d10/2d8
mo26 - 3d8/2d10
mo30 - 3d10/3d8

So pure monk does most damage overall.

[Rinzler]

Pure monk sounds interesting - especially with epic spell resistance. However, I don't want to sacrifice too much damage.

[chad878262]

base damage for unarmed is
mo20 - 2d10/2d8
mo26 - 3d8/2d10
mo30 - 3d10/3d8

So pure monk does most damage overall.

M26/F4 will have better damage than M30 thanks to +4 from MM and WS. Will also have +4 AB thanks to MM, WF and full BAB progression from Fighter (M loses BAB at 29). However, will have -1 AC, fewer uses/lower DC for stunning fist and worse SR than pure Monk.

M20/F4/DC6 will have +6 AB over pure monk (+3 from MM and WF and +3 from full BAB; Monk loses AB at 21, 25 and 29). However, will have less damage than pure monk, lower SR and equal AC. Will have the lowest uses and DC for Stunning Fist..

Pure Monk will have less damage than M/F, but more than M/F/DC, will have equal AC to the Divine Champion and will have best SR and Stunning Fist uses/DC. However, will have suspect Attack Bonus.

Were it me, after doing the math I would go M26/F4 as it will have ok SR and still good AC, while improving the AB and damage over pure monk.

[Theodore01]

pure monk with a monk's belt is still better

[chad878262]

pure monk with a monk's belt is still better

If you have one, congrats...If you don't, good luck ever finding one or finding someone willing to sell you one or finding anything of enough worth that someone might trade you one.

[AlfarinIcebreaker]

I would go with pure Monk and Combat Focus feats. Human. Also make sure to have a steady supply of Heroism potions.

[WatWatsen]

So I wanna build an orc pure monk, wis and unarmed. Problem is I've never built an orc or a monk I'd like to do gray orc to start with 20 wis, but if that's gonna suck (would take a feat to negate the sunlight penalty, right) then I could consider half orc. How much str/dex/con/int do I want? If I'm reading it right, intuitive attack uses the difference of wis and str, so having a higher str will be worse than a lower str, right? Also not sure what kinda feats I'll need, I'd like to get expose weaknesses eventually. Fiery fists? Burning aura? Ki step? What else is good?

[chad878262]

Grey Orc pure Monk is a strong build.

STR (11, 13 or 15, your choice depending on how much you want to loot and impacts damage).
DEX 13, 14 or 15 depending on what feats you might want and what items you'll use.
CON 11, 12, 13 or 14
INT 10, 12 or 14 (how many skills do you want to max?)

This is very dependent on what kind of equipment you will use. For instance, if you plan on acquiring a ring of the Knight (+2 DEX/CON and bonus feat: Toughness) then you likely want even DEX and CON. If you are going to use the belt of growth (+3 STR/CON) then you want odd STR and CON...

Recommend you take a peak at the wiki and custom rules forum threads to familiarize yourself with the custom changes, feats etc. to help you decide what you want on your Orcish Monk.

[WatWatsen]

Am I understanding intuitive attack correctly, i.e. if I have 20 wis and 12 str, it'd give +4, while with 20 wis and 14 str, it'd only give +3?

Here's what I'm thinking, please tell me if I'm doing anything dumb, should tweak something, or I'm missing anything juicy I'd want to have:

11str/15dex/11con/11int/20wis/6cha (assuming eventually I'll be able to scrounge up +3 for str/dex/con/wis from items :V)

Feats:

1 Luck of Heroes
3 Intuitive Attack
6 Daylight Adaptation
9 Ki Step
12 Fiery Fist
15 Improved critical (unarmed strike)
18 Blind fight
21 Epic prowess
23 Expose weaknesses
25 Blazing aura, great wisdom +1
27 Great wisdom +2
29 Great wisdom +3
30 Great wisdom +4 (ends on a natural 31 wis, 34 w/ +3 item)

Skills: spot, tumble, heal, UMD