Okay, having found Pixies, I've decided I'm going to go with a pixie monk and just multiclass assassin to get Shadow Step. The two main things I really like from assassin for the hybrid are shadow step and ghost on the rooftops. With fly speed, ghost on the rooftops becomes pretty much completely unnecessary, so I can deal with only getting shadowstep as an encounter power.
I DO have a couple more questions though for pixies. For speed, they have Speed: 4 squares, fly 6 squares. So the two questions I have:
1) For monk powers that say to move (or shift, or fly) "your speed", would that only be the 4 squares, or would the fly speed count for that?
2) For feats/items etc that give +1 speed, does that apply only to the 4 square speed, or does it apply to the fly speed also?
I'm inclined to think that fly speed counts for move speed for powers and that +1 speed should apply to both, but there's some argument on the issue and what I've seen looking around hasn't seen any definite answers. There's a thread debating it on the Wizard's
community forums. Pretty sure I'm going to go with Pixie either way, but the answers to those two questions could have some effect on feats/powers I take.
EDIT: Here's a summary in favor of using fly speed and fly speed gaining bonuses from the arguments in that thread, posted another thread (specific pixie thread):
[sblock="Summary"]The argument most recently was done here in the QA forums: community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/758...
In summary, WoTC defines speed as equal to the maximum distance moved using the Walk action. The RC specifies that you can use the Walk action with any movement mode. In other words, you explicitely CAN use your fly speed when using the Walk action.
So "shift your speed," means shift the distance you could move using the Walk action. You use the Walk action to fly, so you a pixie monk is able to use their fly speed to "shift your speed."
Alcestis disagrees with this (Fitz also did 9 months ago, but didn't partake in the more recent argument on the QA forums), but most everyone else agrees (e.g., Mand, Plaguescarred, Chaosmage, Artoomis, fugacity, Warrl, myself).
If Alcestis is right, then only a Pixie's ground speed is lowered by heavy armor. You also can't charge while using a climb speed or swim speed, as charge references speed, which means ground speed.
If Alcestis is wrong, bonuses to speed apply to all movement modes, as they are bonuses to the Walk action, which can be used with all movement modes. You also can charge using any movement mode, and heavy armor decreases a pixie's fly speed by 1. [/sblock]
Also, can small creatures use slings? I would be inclined to think yes, and there's a Kobald Slinger monster that's small and uses slings, but it doesn't specifically have the small keyword like shortbows, so again, worth asking. Again, makes a difference to my build. Using a spear for Pointed Step Style isn't quite as good with a pixie since I'd have to two-hand it, so if I can use a sling for skipping stone style, I think it'd work out better.