Dungeonomicon Monks

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Bobikus
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Dungeonomicon Monks

Post by Bobikus »

Looking through tome classes for an upcoming 3.5 D&D group, and came across the Monk. The class looks interesting, but unlike with most classes, I can't really figure out what direction to try taking it. Anyone willing to share some build/fighting style combinations they've used? Kind of looking for a build that's good damage first and utility second if possible, no preference on weapons.
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Maxus
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Post by Maxus »

The Insightful Striker.

If you're using Tome Feats...Well, Insightful Strike lets you use your Wisdom as your attack-bonus stat. Like Zen Weapon Finesse.

What you do then is whore Wisdom. Your fighting styles have effects that activate on a successful hit. So you use a high attack bonus and those effects to lock down your enemies.

Other things can help your damage output--like the style that does Constitution damage.
He jumps like a damned dragoon, and charges into battle fighting rather insane monsters with little more than his bare hands and rather nasty spell effects conjured up solely through knowledge and the local plantlife. He unerringly knows where his goal lies, he breathes underwater and is untroubled by space travel, seems to have no limits to his actual endurance and favors killing his enemies by driving both boots square into their skull. His agility is unmatched, and his strength legendary, able to fling about a turtle shell big enough to contain a man with enough force to barrel down a near endless path of unfortunates.

--The horror of Mario

Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
Bobikus
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Post by Bobikus »

From what I'm seeing so far on that, slams for activating on-hit abilities, weapon attacks with something like nunchaku for straight up damage?

(Just another question, how well do the tome melee classes really balance out? Mainly Monk/Fighter/Ranger/Knight/Samurai)
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Post by Maxus »

Actually, don't use a weapon at all. Use your effects. Your slam attack can do extra damage with that Con-drain power. You can lock them down. Depending on the party makeup, some of those AoO-ignoring/speed boosts wouldn't hurt either. So you can mobilize and go upside someone's head and be Flanking Buddy.

If you -do- use a weapon, take the fighting style ability that lets it apply to a weapon.

The tome Melee classes are -strong- if you know what you're doing. Like, wizard-strong. But that's not in itself a bad thing, as you can build an optimized character and then hold flooring it as a reserve option in a tight spot or as dramatically appropriate.
Last edited by Maxus on Tue Feb 22, 2011 4:27 am, edited 1 time in total.
He jumps like a damned dragoon, and charges into battle fighting rather insane monsters with little more than his bare hands and rather nasty spell effects conjured up solely through knowledge and the local plantlife. He unerringly knows where his goal lies, he breathes underwater and is untroubled by space travel, seems to have no limits to his actual endurance and favors killing his enemies by driving both boots square into their skull. His agility is unmatched, and his strength legendary, able to fling about a turtle shell big enough to contain a man with enough force to barrel down a near endless path of unfortunates.

--The horror of Mario

Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
Bobikus
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Post by Bobikus »

Actually unless I'm remembering ability damage wrong, 2 points of Con damage per attack just sounds amazing for something that can be gotten at level 1.
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Maxus
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Post by Maxus »

Not -really-. In early levels, HP is so low you should just worry about doing normal damage. At higher levels is when it lets your damage keep up with enemy HP. You get it early if you want it, and it stays useful, and it auto-scales. -2 con means you lose X HP, with X equal to target's HD. Still, some things have hundreds of hitpoints at twenty or thirty HD, so you're just breaking even there. It's still take a few rounds to kill them with HP damage, even if you full-attack and every attack hits (which it won't).

It's good, but not game-breaking.
Last edited by Maxus on Tue Feb 22, 2011 6:23 am, edited 1 time in total.
He jumps like a damned dragoon, and charges into battle fighting rather insane monsters with little more than his bare hands and rather nasty spell effects conjured up solely through knowledge and the local plantlife. He unerringly knows where his goal lies, he breathes underwater and is untroubled by space travel, seems to have no limits to his actual endurance and favors killing his enemies by driving both boots square into their skull. His agility is unmatched, and his strength legendary, able to fling about a turtle shell big enough to contain a man with enough force to barrel down a near endless path of unfortunates.

--The horror of Mario

Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
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Post by Username17 »

2 points of Con damage lowers hit points by 1 per hit die of the target. If you're fighting things with as many hit dice as you, it's abut half as good as sneak attack. If you're fighting things with more hit dice, it's better, and if you're fighting things with less it is worse. Enemies don't normally die from Con Loss until long after they've gone down from regular damage. It takes literally 14 hits to kill a troll that way.

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Post by Maxus »

Sorry, I started that sentence, checked an IM, and then finished it with hilarious results. Fixing now...
He jumps like a damned dragoon, and charges into battle fighting rather insane monsters with little more than his bare hands and rather nasty spell effects conjured up solely through knowledge and the local plantlife. He unerringly knows where his goal lies, he breathes underwater and is untroubled by space travel, seems to have no limits to his actual endurance and favors killing his enemies by driving both boots square into their skull. His agility is unmatched, and his strength legendary, able to fling about a turtle shell big enough to contain a man with enough force to barrel down a near endless path of unfortunates.

--The horror of Mario

Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
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Post by Orion »

Monk's don't really have any good way to deal more damage than a Warrior. The only damaging fighting style is the 2 CON one, and that's not even exciting until like level 4 at the earliest. I mean, I guess you could go

Cuisinart Style: your slams and weapon attacks deal 2 CON damage, then TWF maces, but that's still not that special. Monks excel at crowd control and survival.

So let's assume that you still want to play a monk, and do a lot of damage FOR A MONK without giving up all your monk utility. There are two basic ways to do this.

One is to get Zen Archery and "Nerve Sniper: Your slams and weapons attacks stun for 1 round," then just snipe with a longbow. (You'll need a 1-levle dip, a background, elf, or some other proficinecy cheat) You end up being just like a 3.5 Bow Fight but with stuns.

The other is to skip Insightful Strike (which gets you good +to hit for stunlocks and maneuvers) and make strength your highest stat. Get a 2-handed weapon for bonus damage. Be a Half-Orc. Make it a Longspear so your reach affords you some protection (you can always Slam adjacent enemies). Then you have a lot fo style choices. You can just get generic defenses (+4 AC and saves, or put a movement bonus in) or a more interesting defense (the one where you counter attacks with trips is good if you're strong, and if you take stun with weapon your reach becomes a serious nproblem).

-------

EDIT: Questions for Frank & K

1: Is it intentional that there is no Dance of a Thousand equivalent for master styles?

2: What does "in addition to whatever he is capable of doing" mean? Can you use a 2-handed weapon, and slam? Use 2 weapons, and slam?
Last edited by Orion on Tue Feb 22, 2011 6:49 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Username17 »

1: Is it intentional that there is no Dance of a Thousand equivalent for master styles?
Yeah. We considered it, but at mid levels having a master fighting style and another master fighting style and a fighting style going seemed too good and too confusing. Especially too confusing, even if it is a one fight per day nova. Perfect Mastery is pretty apeshit, but it's high enough level that everyone else should be doing stuff like that too. Assuming you're even still playing the campaign, which is unlikely.
2: What does "in addition to whatever he is capable of doing" mean? Can you use a 2-handed weapon, and slam? Use 2 weapons, and slam?
It just means the slam doesn't replace any proficiencies or natural weapons you might have. If you use a naginata and kick people, the slam becomes a secondary natural weapon. You get a single attack with it at -5.

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Post by Orion »

You should really re-write that, because I'm pretty sure that according to my monster manual or some other print book (let's not even touch FAQs) a slam is something you do with your hands, and you lose it with your hands full. Maybe a clarification is in order.
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Post by Username17 »

Orion wrote:You should really re-write that, because I'm pretty sure that according to my monster manual or some other print book (let's not even touch FAQs) a slam is something you do with your hands, and you lose it with your hands full. Maybe a clarification is in order.
There are lots of things that have slams and don't have hands. Oozes, for example.

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Post by Orion »

I never said the books were consistent.
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Post by LR »

Orion wrote:You should really re-write that, because I'm pretty sure that according to my monster manual or some other print book (let's not even touch FAQs) a slam is something you do with your hands, and you lose it with your hands full. Maybe a clarification is in order.
Monster Manual page 312 wrote:Slap or Slam: The creature batters opponents with an appendage, dealing bludgeoning damage.
As long as a Monk has an appendage, they qualify for their slam attack. It's a supernatural class feature, so you might even be able to get away with using it without any limbs at all.

There is something that fits your description on the same page.
Large creatures with arms or armlike limbs can make a slam attack with each arm).
Monks get an iterative slam attack from training, not from size, so they can High Side Kick people even if they're holding torches in both hands.
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Re: Dungeonomicon Monks

Post by VladtheLad »

Bobikus wrote:Looking through tome classes for an upcoming 3.5 D&D group, and came across the Monk. The class looks interesting, but unlike with most classes, I can't really figure out what direction to try taking it. Anyone willing to share some build/fighting style combinations they've used? Kind of looking for a build that's good damage first and utility second if possible, no preference on weapons.
First decide wether the powers granted from the styles can affect the same target more than once per round.

If they do go the insightfull strike wisdom based route.
If they don't focus on dexterity or strength and avoid the "save or" styles.
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Post by Kaelik »

Monk builds:

Zen Archery + styles that stun of helpless or whatever for on round usable on weapons + Rapid Shot + other Arrow stuff.

Insightful Strike + Save vs stuff and con damage, followed by save vs stuff and con damage and save vs another thing. Eventually at level 16 you have +18 Fists of fury, where that +18 is your enhancement bonus, so you hit everything all the time with your very high save attacks that force a save against death, helpless, and stun that targets fort ref and will. Have your other styles be defensive ones that you activate in order to close with opponents.
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Post by Orion »

This isn't responsive to the OP, but since we're throwing out all kidns fo monk builds now, there's also the Wrestler Monk.

If you have Races of War, you be a Half-Orc monk with maxed strength. You have the Edge in many situations, so your maneuvers are quite powerful. For Feats, you want to get Juggernaut and Combat Looting. Use the fighting style that lets you react to attacks with a trip or disarm and you are solid in melee. Use the second feature for mobility or Save or Sucks.

Your first Master fighting style lets you respond to attacks with a trip that flings the enemy across the room.
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Post by Maxus »

Actually, Bob, what's the starting level and party makeup?

Because if you have a rogue.

Damage and utility...

At low-levels, you want the Con damage power, ignore DR/Hardness (which can let you punch through walls/doors given enough time), the +30 foot insight bonus to your movement rate, and the one that lets you move through spaces like they're unoccupied and not provoke AoO's. Maybe the concealment one, too.

Then you flank with your bonus damage provider, such as a rogue or Thief-Acrobat.

When you get your Master Fighting Styles, you're looking at the Force damage one (ignore DR and the like and punch incorporeal faces in), the sixty-foot teleport with what you're carrying, the 5d6 Sonic Damage (and then you attack the wall or the floor, possibly using some kind of TWF. at level 9, that can be five attacks (four weapon, one slam). Or 25d6 Sonic damage. And the Air Walk spell for utility. The speed boost with the air walk style stacks with the fighting style speed boost, too. One's an insight bonus, one's a competence bonus.

At this level, you can still be Flanking Buddy. But if you have a small-sized rogue-type class, now you can throw them over your shoulder and bamf around.

At Grandmaster fighting style levels, you can do the slow-down time combined with your Sonic damage to make things, well, explode. Or Disintegrate.

But I sort of like the half-sensible character progression. at early levels, they can hit a wall so hard they'll put cracks in it. At mid levels, they hit a wall so hard it puts cracks for thirty feet around it. At high levels, they hit walls so hard and so fast that they make a thirty-foot-sphere of dust.

Wait, lemme see.

You could do that with one grandmaster fighting style.

Grandmaster ability is the time slow so you can get two full rounds of actions (except for a second swift action) each round. Then you take the "Two Master Style" abilities. One of those is the 5d6 sonic damage. The other is two fighting styles. Those abilities are "slam attack ignores DR/Hardness" and "Slam Attack effects apply to weapons".

With Two-weapon fighting and your secondary slam attack (a kick, probably), at level fifteen you're doing 35d6 damage to everything within thirty feet. At level sixteen, you get an extra attack on your BAB, and this becomes 45d6 sonic damage a round as an AoE. And the sonic damage possibly ignores hardness, too.

Which leaves you for all your other fighting styles for cool tricks and nifty effects. Like Disintegrate and Travel Gate.
Last edited by Maxus on Tue Feb 22, 2011 5:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.
He jumps like a damned dragoon, and charges into battle fighting rather insane monsters with little more than his bare hands and rather nasty spell effects conjured up solely through knowledge and the local plantlife. He unerringly knows where his goal lies, he breathes underwater and is untroubled by space travel, seems to have no limits to his actual endurance and favors killing his enemies by driving both boots square into their skull. His agility is unmatched, and his strength legendary, able to fling about a turtle shell big enough to contain a man with enough force to barrel down a near endless path of unfortunates.

--The horror of Mario

Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
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Post by Bobikus »

We're going to have a couple players completely new to D&D so we're starting at 1 so they don't feel overwhelmed. Not sure what most of the group's playing. I'm mostly looking at Monk, Ranger, and other melee classes for myself since I usually stuck to Sorcerer/Psion/Cleric in 3.5 after finding out how terrible PHB Monk and Fighter were.
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Post by Maxus »

It always, always, always helps to be a team player and roleplay your powers, especially among the "LOL MUNCHKIN YOU DID SOMETHING COOL UR SO OP"

So have the character punch a wall in frustration and leave a dent. Have him practice on boards and bricks and stuff along the way. When the party wakes up, they find him meditating. Find out what everyone else is looking at so you can figure out a few ways to fit into that.

And suggest the DM that you start at level 3. Because then you have enough HP the dice will forgive you bad roll and you can get a couple of mechanics going to teach them the ropes.

Now, as for classes...

Barbarians are you straight-up, in-your-face damaging fighter. They're your wall. Their fast healing is nice because they will take lots and LOTS of damage in a fight. But really, their job is to get in the enemy's face and auto-attack for rage dice.

A fighter has many, MANY possible viable builds. If you want to be a heavy armored doorbreaker, you can do that. If you want to play Errol Flynn in Robin Hood, you can do that, too. Archery? Sure, take all four or so ranged combat feats (PBS, Sniper, Hunter, Zen Archery) and then -murder- your enemies.

I've never actually really done knights much.

Samurai? Well, you win single combat if you want to go nova. To keep that from being an issue, I always used some Kiais on mooks and stuff for the coolth and to keep people from realizing if I blew them all at once I'd -end- something. Or, rather, to keep folks from realizing that I realize this.

And here's a few links.

http://www.tgdmb.com/viewtopic.php?t=50239&start=0

http://www.tgdmb.com/viewtopic.php?t=51 ... sc&start=0

Check out the Fire Mage (and Puppeteer and Snowscaper) the Swashbuckler...the Mechanus Warrior and Bio Spark is pretty nice, too. So is the Kantian Paladin and Marshall and...well, browse and have fun.
Last edited by Maxus on Tue Feb 22, 2011 5:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
He jumps like a damned dragoon, and charges into battle fighting rather insane monsters with little more than his bare hands and rather nasty spell effects conjured up solely through knowledge and the local plantlife. He unerringly knows where his goal lies, he breathes underwater and is untroubled by space travel, seems to have no limits to his actual endurance and favors killing his enemies by driving both boots square into their skull. His agility is unmatched, and his strength legendary, able to fling about a turtle shell big enough to contain a man with enough force to barrel down a near endless path of unfortunates.

--The horror of Mario

Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
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Post by Bobikus »

And for tome Ranger, a lot of the favored enemy boosts work in all situations right? Unless the description specifically mentions that the attack has to be against that type?
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Post by Maxus »

Never really played with that one, either. Sorry.
He jumps like a damned dragoon, and charges into battle fighting rather insane monsters with little more than his bare hands and rather nasty spell effects conjured up solely through knowledge and the local plantlife. He unerringly knows where his goal lies, he breathes underwater and is untroubled by space travel, seems to have no limits to his actual endurance and favors killing his enemies by driving both boots square into their skull. His agility is unmatched, and his strength legendary, able to fling about a turtle shell big enough to contain a man with enough force to barrel down a near endless path of unfortunates.

--The horror of Mario

Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
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Kaelik
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Post by Kaelik »

There isn't really a Tome ranger. There are like six different community rangers that have no specific one is more official than the others.

I've never seen one good enough that I'd really want it in my game, so I reject all Community Rangers.
DSMatticus wrote:Kaelik gonna kaelik. Whatcha gonna do?
The U.S. isn't a democracy and if you think it is, you are a rube.

That's libertarians for you - anarchists who want police protection from their slaves.
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Post by Bobikus »

Oh, just looked at the author and realized it was a community one. Was looking at http://dnd-wiki.org/wiki/Ranger,_Tome_(3.5e_Class)
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Post by RobbyPants »

Bobikus wrote:Oh, just looked at the author and realized it was a community one. Was looking at http://dnd-wiki.org/wiki/Ranger,_Tome_(3.5e_Class)
Two things:

1) In order to fix your links, you have to use %28 and %29 for open and close parenthesis in URL tags on these boards. So, use http://dnd-wiki.org/wiki/Ranger,_Tome_(3.5e_Class) instead (quote me if you want to see the raw text).

2) That class is pretty overpowered. I actually started a thread on it less than a week ago.
Last edited by RobbyPants on Tue Feb 22, 2011 8:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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