A.A.King
2013-07-30, 02:48 PM
I wanted to make a Monk / Rogue. The unarmed attacker who focusing on attacking "pressure points" in the form of using Stunning Fist and Sneak Attack Damage, instead of Strength. Not focusing on strength immediately drew me towards a Halfling (and might as well make it stronghearted for the extra feat) and I remembered that Halfling has Racial Substitution Levels for both Monk and Rogue. The rogue ones are focused on ranged attacks and therefor not useful to the build but the Monk ones are nice and mainly the monk 1 seems very useful.
Halfling Monk 1 grants you Skirmish (Ex) instead of Flurry of blows. It progresses a little bit different from the Scount's version but is otherwise the same. And when you reach Monk 5 you have Skirmish +1d6/+1 AC, one of the prerequisites of Swift Ambusher. So now I'm wondering, am I right to conclude that a Halfing Monk 5 / Rogue 15 with Swift Ambusher, would also be treated as a Scout 15 for the bonuses while skirmishing? I would like to think so, because then feat would increase my damage by quite a bit, and the extra AC would also be very nice.
The idea so far:
Strongheart Halfling
Monk 2 / Rogue 1 / Monk 3 / Rogue 14
Feats:
1. Ability Focus (Stunning Fist)
H. Kung Fu Genius
3. Ascetic Rogue
6. Swift Ambusher
9. Craven
12. ?
15. ?
18. ?
Halfling Monk Grants me Skirmish +1d6/+1 AC instead of Flurry of Bows (the AC bonus only comes at level 5 though) and Weapon Finesse as my 2nd Level Bonus feat. I will trade in Monk's Evasion for Invisible Fist and will train with Sparring Dummy of the Master to upgrade the 5ft step to the 10ft step.
Lightbringer Penetrating Strike instead of trapsense will help me deal extra damage on otherwise immune opponent's but the best hits will steal be against people who aren't because, if my calculations are correct, at level 20, if I can both skirmish and sneak attack my damage per hit (ignoring stats) are:
2d8 + 13d6 + 20
2d8 from Small Monk's unarmed attack (Ascetic Rogue lets Rogue and Monk stack for effectic monk level of 20 for purpuse of unarmed damage)
8d6 Sneak Attack damage from Rogue 15
1d6 from Monk's Skirmish
4d6 from Scout's Skirmish (Swift Ambusher let's Rogue 15 also count as Scout 15 for the purpuse of Skirmish which stacks with Monk's Skirmish)
20 from Craven
So I'm guessing I should focus the last few feats on getting extra attacks, and maybe take a flaw to take Two Weapon Fighting at level one. Ideas?
EDIT:
I'm thinking of Adding two Levels of Swordsages with the difference between Rogue 15 and Rogue 13 pretty much only being 1d6 of SA and 1 AC of Skirmish (Swift Ambusher) I figure that the much easier access to Assassin Stance and the Shadow Blade feat more then makes up for it. (The loss of 2 effective Monk Levels (Ascetic Rogue) for Unarmed Damage are compensated by having a Monk's Belt). But because I'm not starting at level 20 I need to figure out when to add these two levels. I'm not yet very familiar with Tome of Battle so I don't know if I should take it early (before advancing Rogue further) to benefit from having Assassin's Stance, Shadow Blade and maneuvers for a longer period or if I should take it later to be able to have better maneuvers. I would like suggestions for when to take Swordsage and which Maneuvers to pick.
Halfling Monk 1 grants you Skirmish (Ex) instead of Flurry of blows. It progresses a little bit different from the Scount's version but is otherwise the same. And when you reach Monk 5 you have Skirmish +1d6/+1 AC, one of the prerequisites of Swift Ambusher. So now I'm wondering, am I right to conclude that a Halfing Monk 5 / Rogue 15 with Swift Ambusher, would also be treated as a Scout 15 for the bonuses while skirmishing? I would like to think so, because then feat would increase my damage by quite a bit, and the extra AC would also be very nice.
The idea so far:
Strongheart Halfling
Monk 2 / Rogue 1 / Monk 3 / Rogue 14
Feats:
1. Ability Focus (Stunning Fist)
H. Kung Fu Genius
3. Ascetic Rogue
6. Swift Ambusher
9. Craven
12. ?
15. ?
18. ?
Halfling Monk Grants me Skirmish +1d6/+1 AC instead of Flurry of Bows (the AC bonus only comes at level 5 though) and Weapon Finesse as my 2nd Level Bonus feat. I will trade in Monk's Evasion for Invisible Fist and will train with Sparring Dummy of the Master to upgrade the 5ft step to the 10ft step.
Lightbringer Penetrating Strike instead of trapsense will help me deal extra damage on otherwise immune opponent's but the best hits will steal be against people who aren't because, if my calculations are correct, at level 20, if I can both skirmish and sneak attack my damage per hit (ignoring stats) are:
2d8 + 13d6 + 20
2d8 from Small Monk's unarmed attack (Ascetic Rogue lets Rogue and Monk stack for effectic monk level of 20 for purpuse of unarmed damage)
8d6 Sneak Attack damage from Rogue 15
1d6 from Monk's Skirmish
4d6 from Scout's Skirmish (Swift Ambusher let's Rogue 15 also count as Scout 15 for the purpuse of Skirmish which stacks with Monk's Skirmish)
20 from Craven
So I'm guessing I should focus the last few feats on getting extra attacks, and maybe take a flaw to take Two Weapon Fighting at level one. Ideas?
EDIT:
I'm thinking of Adding two Levels of Swordsages with the difference between Rogue 15 and Rogue 13 pretty much only being 1d6 of SA and 1 AC of Skirmish (Swift Ambusher) I figure that the much easier access to Assassin Stance and the Shadow Blade feat more then makes up for it. (The loss of 2 effective Monk Levels (Ascetic Rogue) for Unarmed Damage are compensated by having a Monk's Belt). But because I'm not starting at level 20 I need to figure out when to add these two levels. I'm not yet very familiar with Tome of Battle so I don't know if I should take it early (before advancing Rogue further) to benefit from having Assassin's Stance, Shadow Blade and maneuvers for a longer period or if I should take it later to be able to have better maneuvers. I would like suggestions for when to take Swordsage and which Maneuvers to pick.