Yakk
2010-04-26, 05:10 PM
I'm playing around with Monk Hybrids, and am looking for advice.
Houserule: Humans get +5 stat points. Which means I can do 18/18 or 20/16 with a 12/10/10/8 in secondary stats.
It seems a common pattern is either picking up Hybrid Talent (armor) or burning two feats on Unarmored AC. With 18 Dex, that hits 18 AC at level 1.
Monk|Rogue: Dex/Dex, so 20 dex. Burn a feat on Leather and has 17 AC, leaving Hybrid Talent open, possibly for Brutal Scoundrel (going Dex/Str with Stonefist), or go Centered Breath and use the feat on Deadly Draw, granting combat advantage from my "shift on monk attack" powers.
Would fight with daggers. I would call this a "Ninja".
Monk|Warden: Dex/Str. Needs to burn Hybrid Talent on AC -- unarmored works good here. Use a greatsword for Warden powers. Warden at-wills are mediocre for this build, but the 1/turn mark and mark punishment isn't bad. Has full defender-HP as a bonus, and 18 AC at level 1. Alternatively, hybrid talent (warden), hide armor, heavy shield and a 1 handed weapon for 19 AC at level 1.
Monk|Fighter: 18 Str/Dex again, Stonefist. Hybrid Talent (fighter armor) works well here, granting 19 AC in either Hide or Scale. Can make use of some brawler powers that are based around grabbing if we instead use the Unarmored route.
Monk|Seeker: 18 Dex/Wis. Centered Breath. Starts with a longbow and the unarmored 18 AC option. Can use enchanted longbows in melee for monk powers (really!), or ki strike boosted longbows at range for seeker powers.
I was thinking of looking at the Assassin|Monk as well. Monks need their secondary stat for their striker damage, and Assassins don't -- which places the Cha/Int of the Assassin in the low range. The Assassin hybrid allows parallel exploitation of the shroud when using monk powers.
Leather Prof and 20 dex gives you 17 starting AC, and leaves Hybrid Talent and a feat slot open. I happen to really like the feat that lets you deposit shrouds without the target noticing... Or we could double-dip and get 19 starting AC.
Two shrouds, 20 dex 16 str, stonefist means a hit deals 1d10+2d6+11 = 23.5 damage. Using open the gates of battle and it goes up to an average of 34.5 damage, an instant-kill on many low-level monsters. That is sort of fun (or 33.5 with centered breath). And the ninja can deal it with any melee weapon, including an improvised one or fists...
For fun, at level 2 we multiclass Rogue and use a light blade, bringing the opening hit damage up to 41.5 with combat advantage. Getting combat advantage for open the gates of battle is tricky I'll admit (you need to achieve surprise when adjacent to the target! With a light blade drawn!)
Does anyone have any experience with Hybrid Monks?
Houserule: Humans get +5 stat points. Which means I can do 18/18 or 20/16 with a 12/10/10/8 in secondary stats.
It seems a common pattern is either picking up Hybrid Talent (armor) or burning two feats on Unarmored AC. With 18 Dex, that hits 18 AC at level 1.
Monk|Rogue: Dex/Dex, so 20 dex. Burn a feat on Leather and has 17 AC, leaving Hybrid Talent open, possibly for Brutal Scoundrel (going Dex/Str with Stonefist), or go Centered Breath and use the feat on Deadly Draw, granting combat advantage from my "shift on monk attack" powers.
Would fight with daggers. I would call this a "Ninja".
Monk|Warden: Dex/Str. Needs to burn Hybrid Talent on AC -- unarmored works good here. Use a greatsword for Warden powers. Warden at-wills are mediocre for this build, but the 1/turn mark and mark punishment isn't bad. Has full defender-HP as a bonus, and 18 AC at level 1. Alternatively, hybrid talent (warden), hide armor, heavy shield and a 1 handed weapon for 19 AC at level 1.
Monk|Fighter: 18 Str/Dex again, Stonefist. Hybrid Talent (fighter armor) works well here, granting 19 AC in either Hide or Scale. Can make use of some brawler powers that are based around grabbing if we instead use the Unarmored route.
Monk|Seeker: 18 Dex/Wis. Centered Breath. Starts with a longbow and the unarmored 18 AC option. Can use enchanted longbows in melee for monk powers (really!), or ki strike boosted longbows at range for seeker powers.
I was thinking of looking at the Assassin|Monk as well. Monks need their secondary stat for their striker damage, and Assassins don't -- which places the Cha/Int of the Assassin in the low range. The Assassin hybrid allows parallel exploitation of the shroud when using monk powers.
Leather Prof and 20 dex gives you 17 starting AC, and leaves Hybrid Talent and a feat slot open. I happen to really like the feat that lets you deposit shrouds without the target noticing... Or we could double-dip and get 19 starting AC.
Two shrouds, 20 dex 16 str, stonefist means a hit deals 1d10+2d6+11 = 23.5 damage. Using open the gates of battle and it goes up to an average of 34.5 damage, an instant-kill on many low-level monsters. That is sort of fun (or 33.5 with centered breath). And the ninja can deal it with any melee weapon, including an improvised one or fists...
For fun, at level 2 we multiclass Rogue and use a light blade, bringing the opening hit damage up to 41.5 with combat advantage. Getting combat advantage for open the gates of battle is tricky I'll admit (you need to achieve surprise when adjacent to the target! With a light blade drawn!)
Does anyone have any experience with Hybrid Monks?