Throw me your best monk build

[Rinzler]

I'm thinking about rolling a monk next, but I'm unsure which route to take.

[Sun Wukong]

Do you want to be a wisdom based monk that punches things? Monk 20/Divine Champion 10 is the build to go for. (Divine Champion bonus feats lets you select Great Wisdom during epic levels.)

Do you want to be a dexterity based monk? Monk 25/Shadowdancer 5 is pretty neat.

Do you want to be a Quarterstaff Wielding, Northern Hewing using strength based monk? Then Monk 16/Fighter 14 is the build to go for.

Or perhaps you want some kind of divine spellcasting flavour, in which case Monk 20/Cleric 3/Sacred Fist is one the strongest builds in the game. (High wisdom)


Well, all monk builds have their ups and downs... So what kind of monk do you want to play?

[AlfarinIcebreaker]

Do you want to be a wisdom based monk that punches things? Monk 20/Divine Champion 10 is the build to go for. (Divine Champion bonus feats lets you select Great Wisdom during epic levels.)

Do you want to be a dexterity based monk? Monk 25/Shadowdancer 5 is pretty neat.

Do you want to be a Quarterstaff Wielding, Northern Hewing using strength based monk? Then Monk 16/Fighter 14 is the build to go for.

Or perhaps you want some kind of divine spellcasting flavour, in which case Monk 20/Cleric 3/Sacred Fist is one the strongest builds in the game. (High wisdom)


Well, all monk builds have their ups and downs... So what kind of monk do you want to play?

Why Monk 16 for Quarterstaff? Wouldn't you want to stop at 11 with Greater Flurry?

[Sun Wukong]

Why Monk 16 for Quarterstaff? Wouldn't you want to stop at 11 with Greater Flurry?

Strength based monks tend to have lower AC, and monk 15 gives you that +1 AC and +45 movement speed, and monk 16 is there just for the +1 to all saves and Adamantine Fists. Now, if you go Monk 16/Fighter 14, you will reach BAB of 26, and you can do this with just about any race you want if you just take one level of monk, one level of fighter, one level of monk, etc, until you have taken all 14 levels of fighter. You will get multiclassing experience penalty, but at level 30 it no longer matters.

Now, you could go Monk 11/Fighter 12/Some PRC 7. But Monk/Figther is the easiest mix that tends to get all goodies ASAP.

[chad878262]

Could go M15/F12/BG3 for divine shield, 13 CHA is enough for +3 AC in emergencies. M13/F12/DC5 grey orc could have STR/ WIS split and go for blazing aura for decent AC and damage.

Fist monk can go M16/F4/Dc10 to get unarmed mastery and specialization to help WIS monk get some extra damage.

[Wyatt]

Monk is one of the classes that actually is quite powerful staying pure. A level 30 pure wisdom monk has excellent DC's on stunning fists with 30 uses per rest. It also has full damage progression ending at 3d10 unarmed damage. It can reach to near 50 AC without any buffs and mid 50's with wands. It also ends with a natural spell resistance of 40 which can be improved with epic feats if desired.

It has overall good saves enough feats to get the goodies that it wants and plenty of skill points with a good skill selection. Aim for blazing aura and expose weakness in epics and a bunch of great wisdom feats. Fiery fists is a good pre-epic feat as is toughness/steadfast determination. Ki step is also worth consideration. There are plenty of good monk builds depending on what you want to do.

[Sun Wukong]

M13/F12/DC5 grey orc could have STR/ WIS split and go for blazing aura for decent AC and damage.

I'd go Monk 12/Fighter 12/Divine Champion 6, for the extra bonus feat spent on Great Wisdom or something.

[Steve]

Also: Monk 20 / Assassin 10 w/ Intuitive Attack (WIS high).

For farts and laughs you can also knock out a Monk 11 / Fighter 12 / Weapon Master 7.

[Sun Wukong]

Also: Monk 20 / Assassin 10 w/ Intuitive Attack (WIS high).

You can also spend a feat on Zen Archery, so you can throw those shurikens with your high wisdom stat. (Blazing Aura applies to them.)

[chad878262]

M13/F12/DC5 grey orc could have STR/ WIS split and go for blazing aura for decent AC and damage.

I'd go Monk 12/Fighter 12/Divine Champion 6, for the extra bonus feat spent on Great Wisdom or something.

Need monk 13 for blazing aura...

[Sun Wukong]

Oh yeah, sorry, my bad.

[Babuguuscooties]

Something to consider is what order you want your monk to belong to, since that can shape your build as well. There is also the monk class kit for "Monk of the Long Death" to consider.

[Egg Shen]

If I were building a monk right now I'd probably go monk 16/assassin 8/fighter 6 or monk 20/assassin 10. wis based on either build. hips as just a way to get sneaks off and break targetting vs mages. my gear would actually be dedicated to detection, rather than stealth.

having that first flurry with both stunning fists & death attacks sounds like a lot of fun.

[Babuguuscooties]

If I were building a monk right now I'd probably go monk 16/assassin 8/fighter 6 or monk 20/assassin 10. wis based on either build. hips as just a way to get sneaks off and break targetting vs mages. my gear would actually be dedicated to detection, rather than stealth.

having that first flurry with both stunning fists & death attacks sounds like a lot of fun.

I agree! That sounds fun. Haven't seen many monks around, personally.

[Deathgrowl]

Monk20/fighter4/sd6, dex based.

Monk26/fighter4, wisdom based.

Monk20/cleric3/sacred fist7, wisdom based.

Take your pick.