Friend of mine asked me the other day for help tweaking a monk. I believe the deadline for the character is Tuesday [AIM died last night for a significant period of time]. Standard starting gold, 32 point buy.
The primary focus of the campaign will be dragon killing. That said, they start at a poor level for it - level 5. It will not be universally dragon hunting, so the character will need flexibility. [They are also using many non-standard dragons, including but not limited to those present in the Draconomicon]
He wants to play a monk, and I suggested the Sacred Fist [elsewise I would have suggested one of the ranger'esque PrC's from the Draconomicon which specializes in Dragon Killing]. I never got his response before the AIM servers crashed. However, it should be noted that he hates playing the role of a healer. While I doubt he would be opposed to a few out of combat cure light wounds or something of that nature, healing and priestly characters have always left a sore taste in his mouth. Therefor, his focus should be buffing / nuking / utility spells.
The sacred fist obviously takes full advantage of the Wisdom stat, as it fuels thier surprisingly good spell casting capabilities, while providing similar bonuses to thier monk abilities, especially Sacred Fires [For one minute, 1..2 times per day, the monk gains (class level + wisdom modifier) in extra unarmed damage. The damage is half fire, half sacred].
The prereq Stunning Fist has been waived.
No word on DM approval, but from my conversation with him it seemed like Vow of Poverty was a choice. If so, he will be taking it [assuming I do not find some items worth giving up VoP].
Obviously any melee character faces certain challanges when trying to fight a dragon. Like how to get close enough to hit the blasted thing with your sword. Isnt Zen Archery a feat that allows you to get your wisdom modifier to bow attacks? I havent been able to find it. [Perhaps feats or abilities which grant the Monk extra mobility? Even faster run speed, with the capability to get up in the dragon's face, even when it is in flight, would be nice. Perhaps jump combined with some sort of grappling to allow the monk to hold onto the dragon].
Not having the Draconomicon on me at the moment [it is coincidentally at the house of the same person whom I am making this char for] what feats from there are of noteworthy importance?
He would like to play something non human, for a change, and I have looked for a short while yesterday for high +wis, low LA races but have not found any. Dump stats for this character are intelligence and charisma. A way to alleviate the need for Str, perhaps make it so that you get Dex to hitroll, and you take something similar to Graceful Striking [+1 enhancement, Dex replaces Str for melee damage], perhaps to an item like Gloves of Striking could be beneficial as it would allow the character to focus his attribute points and get the most out of each one. Also, how much are golem fist rings? Does this even matter, can it compete with Vow Of Poverty?
This is the rough sketch for stat allocation that I have.
14 STR [6 points]
14 DEX [6 points]
16 CON [10 points]
8 INT
16 WIS [10 points]
8 CHA
What would be a better base class, before going into the Sacred Fist? Cleric or Favored Soul? The Favored Soul would A) give more flexible spell casting, desireable in a melee/magic hybrid build B) give a higher save progression. However, due to the small number of levels this monk would be theoretically taking in the Favored Soul class, it is unlikely that any of thier special abilities would come in useful [I however am confident that should he try the player could get Diety's Weapon Focus replaced with Bonus Feat]. The lack of heavy armor does not hurt the monk.
The cleric, however, gets turning and domains, which are always helpful for that little edge and customization. Thier increased rate of spell progression also helps a character already suffering from multiclassing as a non-caster.
Alright, its 8 am, which is far, far too early for me. Ill see you later, and thank you for the help.
The primary focus of the campaign will be dragon killing. That said, they start at a poor level for it - level 5. It will not be universally dragon hunting, so the character will need flexibility. [They are also using many non-standard dragons, including but not limited to those present in the Draconomicon]
He wants to play a monk, and I suggested the Sacred Fist [elsewise I would have suggested one of the ranger'esque PrC's from the Draconomicon which specializes in Dragon Killing]. I never got his response before the AIM servers crashed. However, it should be noted that he hates playing the role of a healer. While I doubt he would be opposed to a few out of combat cure light wounds or something of that nature, healing and priestly characters have always left a sore taste in his mouth. Therefor, his focus should be buffing / nuking / utility spells.
The sacred fist obviously takes full advantage of the Wisdom stat, as it fuels thier surprisingly good spell casting capabilities, while providing similar bonuses to thier monk abilities, especially Sacred Fires [For one minute, 1..2 times per day, the monk gains (class level + wisdom modifier) in extra unarmed damage. The damage is half fire, half sacred].
The prereq Stunning Fist has been waived.
No word on DM approval, but from my conversation with him it seemed like Vow of Poverty was a choice. If so, he will be taking it [assuming I do not find some items worth giving up VoP].
Obviously any melee character faces certain challanges when trying to fight a dragon. Like how to get close enough to hit the blasted thing with your sword. Isnt Zen Archery a feat that allows you to get your wisdom modifier to bow attacks? I havent been able to find it. [Perhaps feats or abilities which grant the Monk extra mobility? Even faster run speed, with the capability to get up in the dragon's face, even when it is in flight, would be nice. Perhaps jump combined with some sort of grappling to allow the monk to hold onto the dragon].
Not having the Draconomicon on me at the moment [it is coincidentally at the house of the same person whom I am making this char for] what feats from there are of noteworthy importance?
He would like to play something non human, for a change, and I have looked for a short while yesterday for high +wis, low LA races but have not found any. Dump stats for this character are intelligence and charisma. A way to alleviate the need for Str, perhaps make it so that you get Dex to hitroll, and you take something similar to Graceful Striking [+1 enhancement, Dex replaces Str for melee damage], perhaps to an item like Gloves of Striking could be beneficial as it would allow the character to focus his attribute points and get the most out of each one. Also, how much are golem fist rings? Does this even matter, can it compete with Vow Of Poverty?
This is the rough sketch for stat allocation that I have.
14 STR [6 points]
14 DEX [6 points]
16 CON [10 points]
8 INT
16 WIS [10 points]
8 CHA
What would be a better base class, before going into the Sacred Fist? Cleric or Favored Soul? The Favored Soul would A) give more flexible spell casting, desireable in a melee/magic hybrid build B) give a higher save progression. However, due to the small number of levels this monk would be theoretically taking in the Favored Soul class, it is unlikely that any of thier special abilities would come in useful [I however am confident that should he try the player could get Diety's Weapon Focus replaced with Bonus Feat]. The lack of heavy armor does not hurt the monk.
The cleric, however, gets turning and domains, which are always helpful for that little edge and customization. Thier increased rate of spell progression also helps a character already suffering from multiclassing as a non-caster.
Alright, its 8 am, which is far, far too early for me. Ill see you later, and thank you for the help.
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If the party expects to fight dragons in the open a lot VoP may have to be skipped for something that is going to let this melee beast of a monk actually get toe to toe with the beasts.
