Are Monks viable in the endgame? I haven't seen much on them here.
I'm considering a Monk (20), Ftr (18), SD (2), thinking Dex/AC monk here with 16 Fighter levels pre epic to near max ab and lots of puissant feats (maybe 8 pre epic monk levels).
Also considering Monk (8), Fighter (6), DD (26) Str monk going the DR route.
Neither of these seem quite satisfying, are there any decent monk non-shape changing end game builds?
I'd hate go level one way up and find out its not useful .
I don't know a ton about monks but DWD DR ends up being pretty irrelevant as your AC wont be good and you won't have crit immunity so mobs will eat right through your health and your damage wont be good enough to kill things before they kill you. The first option would be much better.
For Monk AB progression it is only fists, unless you go a Shifter shape. I have a couple of Hybrid Monks, Monk Fighter SD, one with Xbow, one with Throwing Axes. Monk for speed and mind immunity and Fighter for Puissant, AB and Feats. I have a bunch of 10 Monk characters too, mainly Shifters.
monks can work nicely end game, obviously having nice gear can help a lot, but a few builds can do well even without uber gear. Of the ones i've levelled the 2 i've liked most end game are dex based mk fgt sd and dex based mk fgt ass.
I've posted both builds below based on the excel files i have, chances are i tweaked them slightly levelling up as i tend to do that the sd is unfocused in unarmed to get max puis damage, if i was to remake the ass one i would probably do the same, the reason i went halfling on the ass mk is to skin it as a Goblin
Thanks everyone, and Perrit that's exactly along the lines that I was thinking, 20 Monk, 16-18 Fighter, and 2-4 splash in something else. I'm glad to know this is viable
Although I was thinking of taking 16 Fighter, and 4 Monk pre-epic to near max out the AB at +19, with the rest of the levels coming post epic, shouldn't that make the Attack Progression with fists (+19/+16/+13/+10/+7/+4/+1), so 7 attacks without flurry.
Also, I think I remember years ago something about Circle Kick working better here, does anyone have the Circle Kick details?
Although I was thinking of taking 16 Fighter, and 4 Monk pre-epic to near max out the AB at +19, with the rest of the levels coming post epic, shouldn't that make the Attack Progression with fists (+19/+16/+13/+10/+7/+4/+1), so 7 attacks without flurry.
I'm guessing you went so much Monk early so that you could up your saves.
But 12 Monk/8 Fighter is only +1 Fort and +1 Ref, over a 4 Monk/16 Fighter, and with the Monk's High dex and immune to mind attacks later I'm not sure that worth the -2 AB.
Also I'm really considering a 20 Monk, 10 Cot, 10 Fighter with (4 Monk/10 CoT/6 Ftr) pre-epic. The CoT would grant even better fort saves, keep the pre-epic BaB at +19 and still allow for all the epic puissant stuff.
The only drawback here is no UMD, or only 21 ranks late, how important do you think UMD is for a Monk? If super important, then I'll probably have to go Rogue or Assassin for the UMD and minor sneak.
the main thing about more fighter levels in epics wasnt about ab / saves its about bonus feats, too many fighter levels pre epic end up with wasted feats that arent that important in my opinion
also cant cross class umd so be mindful of that if you feel your build will need it
the main thing about more fighter levels in epics wasnt about ab / saves its about bonus feats, too many fighter levels pre epic end up with wasted feats that arent that important in my opinion
also cant cross class umd so be mindful of that if you feel your build will need it
That was my question, how important do you think UMD for the above char? I.e., what essential gear do you think I’d be missing (hopefully nothing essential).
If I go 3 weapon puissant (not sure yet), there are plenty of useful feats tospend as fighter bonus ones.
handy to have umd on my mk fgt ass , but overall not that important as i've not missed it on the mk fgt sd , but it depends i guess on the gear you have available whether umd matters or not
I have a monk/fighter/sd dex-based fist fighter that does ok end game. No one takes circle kick but now NWN EE is here that might change since it's been fixed. If you take 16 fighter pre-epic you get +3 AB (still only 6 APR without flurry) but lose out on saves and waste a lot of feats (but might be good if you go unfocussed puissant). I think AC is lower too.
A few good players have strength-based monk/fighter/rogues (21/18/1) focussing on high HP with DR/resist gear and they do very well end-game.
Ok guys, time to post the build I'm doing (20 Monk, 12 CoT, 8 Ftr). The idea is to use armor/short sword early, then switch to unarmed later... For ease of reading the table below, I'm not listing all the Monk bonus feats in the build: (Imp. Unarmed, Cleave, Evasion/Imp Evasion, KD+Imp KD, Deflect Arrows, Flurry, Stunning Fist, +2 Mind Spells):
Dwarf (All points into Dex) ------------------------------ 12 Str 8 Wis 18 Dex (30)14 Int 14 Con 6 Cha