Ranger/monk/assassin build

[Arc_knight25]

Anyone have any thoughts on a Ranger/Monk/Assassin build.

The character would be Lawful Evil and be dual welding any of the monk weapons.

So the build pretty much is based on Flurry or Blows and the two weapon fighting of the Ranger. Assassin can be switched out with Rogue. Just choose assassin for flavour as well as a chance to deliver a killing blow.

What feats would make this chainsaw build more effective? (No dragon magizine or 3rd party publishing)

[Roclat]

what level?

at 9 im looking at

2rng/2mnk/5 Shou Disciple

Puts you ahead of schedule on H2H damage of 2d6, option of flurry with any weapons, which would be on par for your actual level. Option of using your ac bonus as a dodge instead and wearing light armor(I think that's how it reads)

not sure how much of a buzz saw you'd be tho, if you had more levels you could do rog instead of ranger, and just use a 2hander.

[thethird]

So you want to combine:

Full round attacks with lots of penalties.

3 rounds of study.

A single attack that has to hit.

Dependency of every attribute (but Charisma yay!)

Good luck at being effective with that...

But if you are really into that...

Ranger 2 / Monk 2 / Psionic Assassin for as long as you want.

Take the Arcane Hunter ACF (Complete Mage, there are always spellcasting enemies), Distracting attack ACF (PHB II, For easy sneak attack), alternatively Celestial Slayer ACF (Exemplars of Evil will net you a small SR and bonus to crit confirmation). On the monk side take invisible fist (Exemplars of Evil again, will make sure you hit with the death attack). Then go with psionic assassin from secrets of sarlona (alternatively you can use the psychic assassin from the web (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20040723d) with a base manifesting class).


You want Tashalatora with your psionic assassin to still have some punch. You also probably want kung fu genius (dragon magazine compendium) or carmendine monk (champions of valor) in order to reduce your madness.

[Darrin]

Anyone have any thoughts on a Ranger/Monk/Assassin build.


Needs less monk levels. Preferably zero. Same thing with assassin.



The character would be Lawful Evil and be dual welding any of the monk weapons.


-2 for Flurry, and -2 for TWF. I believe the term for that is "flurry of whiffs". You'll be lucky to hit the broadside of a barn.



So the build pretty much is based on Flurry or Blows and the two weapon fighting of the Ranger. Assassin can be switched out with Rogue. Just choose assassin for flavour as well as a chance to deliver a killing blow.


You might be better off with Tashalatora Monk/Psychic Warrior. If you really want assassin, then try Monk/Ardent with the Time mantle, and throw on some Psychic Assassin once you get the temporal acceleration power.

Another thing to consider would be Ranger 2/Unarmed Swordsage X, or Ranger 2/Fighter 2/Unarmed Swordsage X (to help with feats). Shadow Blade, Snap Kick, use Feral Death Blow as your "death attack".

[Arc_knight25]

I would be taking this character to level 20. Or the goal at least.

I would figure take the Monk levels to 9 or 11. To lesson the penalties for the flurry to 0(9) and to get another extra attack (11). Also taking Ranger to 6 to get another off hand attack (at -5 from the original off hand).

I will admit that there will be alot of wiffing with the .75 BAB progression from the Monk Levels. But the Ranger levels offset them a touch. Maybe switch out the Assassin levels for just the Rogue levels just for sneak attack.

[Karnith]

I would figure take the Monk levels to 9 or 11. To lesson the penalties for the flurry to 0(9) and to get another extra attack (11).You would be better off sucking up the flurry penalty and taking levels in a class that fully advances BAB, rather than sticking around in monk. A monk 2/full BAB class 7, for example, has a BAB of +8, and will flurry at +6, while an 9th-level monk will have a BAB of +6, and will flurry at +6, so there's not really a benefit to the extra monk levels for flurrying until you get the second attack, at 11th-level. And at that point, your BAB is still behind the monk 2/full-BAB class 9, who will probably have actual class features that help him contribute in combat.

[Abemad]

You know, Assassin can work... With the ambush feats from drow of the underdark (sickening strike and terrifying strike) and the combat school feat from the same book (aleval school) and a decent int score, you can throw out some mean DC death attacks. Each of the above feats decrease the opponents saving throws by 2 each, for a total of -6. And, because they decrease saving throws, instead of just increasing your death attack, your spellcasting mates will love you :smallwink: Throw on ability focus: death attack for an additional +2 and maybe some CON damage poison you can pretty much guarantee that the death attacks works.

The build is even better in E6 were feats aren't a problem and enemies won't have the fortitude save to deal with it, but it can work in a normal game (even if its only tier 4'ish)

[WhatBigTeeth]

Have you seen the assassin handbook (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=8273.0)? Could be a place to start. One of the major points of that thread is to ignore death attack in your tactics, and just consider it a nice surprise if it ever happens on its own.

Your combat plan sounds awkward for melee because ranger, monk and assassin all run into a shortage of free movement methods, and because TWF+Flurry+3/4 BA is going to hurt your attack bonus. You'll probably want to choose either TWF or flurry for bonus attacks, and to neglect the other to free some levels and feats for other priorities like combat maneuverability and working around sneak attack immunities.

But the one way I can see to eke some synergy out of ranger/monk/assassin would be:
Strongheart Halfling Ranger 2/Monk 1/Ranger 2/Assassin 9/Telflammar Shadowlord 6
Feats: Law Devotion, Weapon Finesse, Two-Weapon Fighting, Carmendine Monk, Endurance, Blind-Fight, Craven, Dodge, Mobility, Spring Attack, Staggering Strike
ACFs: Distracting Attack Ranger, Trap Expert Ranger, Champion of the Wild Ranger, Holy Monk

Level 20 Result with fractional base attack: 5d6+20 sneak attack before gear bonuses, flank with yourself through distracting attack, use a glove of the balanced hand and boots of haste for attacks at +21/+21/+21/+21/+16/+16/+11/+6 before weapon enhancement or ability bonuses, each one forcing a save against the staggered condition, shadow pounce for combat maneuverability and reliable full attacks, level 4 assassin spells, hide in plain sight, shadow blur, high death attack DC if circumstances to use it ever come around and intelligence-based synergy in spellcasting and AC.

[Piggy Knowles]

OK, this is a bit off from your original suggestion, but what about...

Azurin, Monk 2/Ranger 18

ACFs: Arcane Hunter, Shadow Sword Ranger, Invisible Fist, Distracting Attack

1- Stunning Fist, Extra Stunning, Sapphire Fist
2- Combat Reflexes
3- Ascetic Hunter, Track
4- Two-Weapon Fighting
6- Pain Touch
9- Ability Focus (Stunning Fist)
12- Bonus Essentia
15- Improved Natural Attack
18- Snap Kick

+19 BAB, 4d8 damage on unarmed attacks, almost full ranger casting (which is actually pretty solid for you, and gets a lot of the goodies that you would otherwise see on the Assassin list). And you get all the cool high-level ranger abilities like camouflage and HiPS. Oh, and Shadow Sword means that you get a big Move Silently boost, and you can give your fists the Bane property against your favored enemies.

You've got excellent skills, so you can play the sneak very well (and spells/Shadow Sword/Invisible Fist help with this). If you want to be an assassin, the ability to track your enemies is pretty nice. (Don't take the last Shadow Sword sub level unless portals are a big part of your game, since that means you'll lose Swift Tracker.)

Instead of Death Attack, you focus on stunning (and pain touch). Sapphire Fist + Ability Focus comes out to a +6 to your stun DC, and you also add half your favored enemy bonus, which should be another solid +5. Add on Ki Straps for another +2. So that's a DC of 33 + your Wisdom modifier. No three round wait time, either.

The biggest problem is that azurin does not have monk or ranger as a favored class, so if your DM enforces multiclassing penalties, you may want to switch things up. A human would work, but that means one less point of essentia to feed into Sapphire Fist, so your DC will drop by one. Not a terrible loss, but not nothing, either.