monk spinemeld warrior...

[animewatcha]

First off, why the fleeb did they change this section? It was fine when the editions were seperated.

Okay now for main purpose of this thread.

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Looks like my DMs are starting have a look into MoI and said I could use it for character making. I don't get to game often so when it comes to actual execution of rules and such, I am a bit judgy. So any Incarnum usage I am wanting to use need to be somewhat light or passive ( like bonuses to skills or something ). Mainly stuff that can be explained on the spot if need be with minimal looking at the book.

Homebrewed ability scores method.

Stuff Allowed: All WOTC books except ToB ( snap kick and SUS can be used ). My group sometimes uses psionics, but not very much so light psionics if needed/possible please. Drag mag is a yes. Drag comp is a yes. Dungeon magazine maybe depending upon what it is. Incarnum obviously.

Stuff Not Allowed: LA buyoff is no. Exalted feats are no. Evil is no ( Still need to be prove that I can be the type of evil that is evil-evil, not kill everyone bat**** insane type ). This locks out dark moon sub level. Templates/other things that start out as evil ( such as Unseelie fey for example ) may be a yes IF in backstory of no longer being evil ( basically iffy ). Invisible fist may also be locked ( originally when asked about long ago, they thought that it applied to villains only ).

I don't know much about Incarnum, myself. I am looking through it here and there and pretty much new to it.

Class level are planned/locked up to class level 14/ ECL 15. Feats are the pre-reqs + double hit + Lion tribe warrior + combat reflex from shining south for up to 9th. Unsure about rest of.

Half-mino Skarn racial sub Martial monk 5 / Shou disciple 1 / Monk of enabled hand 3 / Spinemeld warrior 5 ( pg 148 ) so far.

Unarmed damage ( or rather spine damage ) and flurry of 9th large monk in light armor thanks to shou. AC bonus of Wis + essentia investment unrestricted by armor or load thanks to defensive insight. Found an exotic weapon guantlet in sandstorm that can be enchanted like a shield but not count as one when it comes to restriction of abilities. Essentia pool of 5 so far from Monk-sub, midnight dodge, and spinemeld pool.

Main purpose of this build ( so far ) is exploiting Spine Rend. Namely it's ability to activate via spine attack from each arm ( versus explicit wording of mainhand/offhand ) and the fact that it is NOT limited to once per round.

Charge -- > Lion warrior Tribe pounce --- > FoB since can activate on full attack -- > Spine rend.

If successful touch attack or melee attack against me --- > immediate ( not immediate action ) attack of opportunity ---- > double hit --> if both attack rolls are successful --- > Spine rend.

If starting turn next to foe. ---- > FoB and TWF -- > Spine rend.

Question 1: Spine rend itself. Given the wording of the ability and Fob/twf. Let's go with 2 'main hand' attacks and 2 'off hand' attacks. Going by wording of Spine rend and MainHand and Offhand to signify two different claw attacks. MainHand1 attack + OffHand1 triggers no problem. Questions lies in given MainHand1+OffHand1 succeeding, will OffHand1+MainHand2 activate for a second rending. If successful Mainhand2+OffHand2, will Offhand2+MainHand1 trigger for double-rending in a single go. Further attacks being like ( MainHand3 +OffHand 1) + ( MainHand3 + OffHand2. Etc.

Question 2: Equipment. What light armor materials and enhancement and shield magical enhancements would be useful to a monk besides eager and warning? I know Gloves of Dex are a must.

Question 3: Feat choice from 12th onward. What would be useful? Like, I'm looking at the Crystal helm + crown chakra bind. Seeing that it gives melee attacks the force descriptor. I'm asking myself 'will this allow my melee attacks to act like it was Hank's Energy bow or a bow that has Force enhancement'. Is this worth losing access to head slot?

Question 4: Which of the soulborn ( restricted due to spinemeld warrior ) meldshapes would be most useful in a passive bonus way that is unbinded. Which would be useful for brow bind ( face equipment ) or arm bind ( if gain 2 more levels in spinemeld ). Where should the essentia be assigned? Besides, max possible for spine enhancement.

Question 5: Alternate class features. Which would be useful? Like how safe fall and fast movement are gonna go out the window.

Question 6: Class level beyond this. What would be good? Fighter?

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[nijineko]

when combining a flurry with offhand attacks from twf, the flurry counts as the "main attack" while the rest are off-hand. and no limb used in the flurry may be used as an off-hand attack.

however, if you alternate which spine-arm you hit with in a flurry, and you have at least four attacks, you could activate the rend twice in a round.

i believe there is a double hit AoO feat somewhere that allows you to get in two hits per AoO... which would activate rend again for you, if both hit.

do they have leg spines as well? that would work nicely with multiple rends and off-hand attacks....

also, the tashalatora feat allows you to pick a psionic class and get certain monk feature advancement from that psionic class. which may remove the need to take more than one level of monk. along with that, there is a pair of incarnum feats which allow you to power your psionics all day long. low levels of power only, but useful to have a method to never run out (this assumes you don't spend your last power point somehow).

get the combat benefits of a monk, plus the psionic benefits. take psywar and maybe add warmind for extra fun if you can afford the prereqs and levels. then boost yourself with the psionics and incarnum simultaneously.

 

[animewatcha]

If you re-check magic of incarnum on the skarn monk racial sub for 5th, and the shou disciple. You should be able to see why I got 5 levels of monk and 1 of shou. Namely, Monk ac-bonus in any armor and load and shou's ability to flurry in light armor with no restriction on load.

 

[nijineko]

i wasn't trying to invalidate the shou qualifications. just meandering off on my own train of thought. might even be able to merge all three ideas into one; but like you said, i'd need to go look up shou.