PDA

View Full Version : Somewhat Fallen Monk in search of help



Kryssy
2008-02-17, 05:04 AM
A little background:
I've been playing in a campaign as a monk (originally a requirement) and was allowed to be a pixie at the start (note: playing a pixie was meant for humorous purposes and also because it's cute). Anyway, the premise was my character was vying for the ability to guard a special tree, but to do so I had to fight a bunch of battles and become a God. Along the way, as I won battles, the God who hosted the battle would give me gifts to make me more powerful.

The first game and the first gift I received was a special medallion (soul bound) which afforded me the ability to make my strength equal to my wisdom if I meditated for an hour a day. I have done so faithfully since we began this campaign, over 6 months ago. All my purchases have been with the understanding that my strength = my wisdom, so with a bunch of work, my character is now level 8 (ECL 12) and had a strength of 34 (house rules + bunch of other things).

She was, of course, uber powerful. Until last night. The medallion broke last night, leaving my character with excellent armor, excellent saves... and abysmal ability to do any damage. However at the beginning of the year, the DM allowed us to choose if we wanted to re-roll our characters (but keep our items), so now is my chance to do this if I wish. The difficulty being, of course, my items (which thankfully some are useful for more than one thing).

(apologies if I get the names wrong, I am tired and a bit upset)
- Periapt of Wisdom +6
- Cloak of Resistances +5
- Bracers of Armor +5
- Rod of Negation
- Moon Ivy Armor (and no other armor besides this) with a bonus of explosive spores
- A small pixie Quarterstaff of lameness that I never use (1d4)
- Monk Belt

I may have more things, but I can't recall them at the moment.

My question to the forum is the following - considering my gear and the fact I am a pixie, what class(es) should I choose if I were to remake my character? It would be lovely if folks could consider both spellcasting and melee classes as I'm in a bit of a daze at the moment and have to rebuild my character. The planning I had for my character (for 3 or more months in the future) is now completely gone, so if you could suggest even something beyond just my current level status that would be totally awesome.

Some notes:
* I should be, at the end of the new XP, Level 9 (ECL 13)
* By story, my character has no alignment. Absolutely none. While this is a "good" campaign, it is not a requirement that I am necessarily a good class. Up to this point, I was a monk that learned to steal things from the rogue in the party (ie. not lawful). That was not held against me due to the story (but made for some really funny role-playing).
* My character has the possibility of turning randomly into a demon, giving massive bonus stats (for damage) but also making my character incredibly stupid (and very dangerous if I do not have control). Tonight, in my last turn as a demon with the medallion, I managed to do 121 damage in one round with a flurry - 4 attacks - against a Beholder. Now that's mostly gone due to the medallion destruction.
* The storyline is such that many things can change in regards to my character - she can be an entirely different class at this point. But what class? Heck, she could even be a paladin... and not required to be good or lawful.

Yami
2008-02-17, 05:07 AM
a druid with a 1 level dip in monk would still have thier Wisdom to AC, and would still be able to wade into melee to rend things, if you wish to keep your character as close as posible to the original.

And would, oddly enough, be my suggestion.

Nebo_
2008-02-17, 05:09 AM
If you want to be similar to before, try a swordsage. They have excellent synergy with the high Dex and Wis of a pixie. Take the shadow blade feat so you can use Dex for damage so you don't have to worry about Str.

Crow
2008-02-17, 05:10 AM
And would, oddly enough, be my suggestion.

...and not to mention is a most excellent way to exact revenge upon your DM. I endorse this course of action :smallwink:

Swordguy
2008-02-17, 05:12 AM
Druid.

Spells and the ability to wildshape into something huge with sharp, pointy teeth if you ever feel the need to melee.

Really, being a druid renders your physical stats obsolete...

Kryssy
2008-02-17, 05:33 AM
Wow, sounds like folks are in agreement already (super thanks for the quick replies).

I'm going to try to build this character tomorrow, but admittedly have 0 knowledge of druids (I've dedicated weeks of research to monks and melee /sigh). Suggestions on feats and fighting if possible please? I'm a complete newbie in this one! :(

Oddball question - even if I'm in a form, could I still use greater invisibility?

Swordguy
2008-02-17, 05:37 AM
Wow, sounds like folks are in agreement already (super thanks for the quick replies).

I'm going to try to build this character tomorrow, but admittedly have 0 knowledge of druids (I've dedicated weeks of research to monks and melee /sigh). Suggestions on feats and fighting if possible please? I'm a complete newbie in this one! :(

Oddball question - even if I'm in a form, could I still use greater invisibility?

The Druid Class begins and ends with the Natural Spell feat. Not only do you get to be a better fighter than the fighter, but the feat allows you access to the entirety of your spell tree while wildshaped (the loss of which was the only real weakness of the ability).

You have greater Invisibility as a supernatural ability, right? Absolutely. It's usable at will for you as a Pixie.

Project_Mayhem
2008-02-17, 05:47 AM
So does the wisdom bonus to AC from a Monk stack when your wildshaped?

Swordguy
2008-02-17, 06:19 AM
So does the wisdom bonus to AC from a Monk stack when your wildshaped?

It's an untyped bonus, so yes - assuming the Druid isn't wearing armor (natural armor from a wild form doesn't count against this, obviously).

MorkaisChosen
2008-02-17, 06:22 AM
If you're not wearing armour, I think it dos.

Ouch.

Fenix_of_Doom
2008-02-17, 08:00 AM
If you're not wearing armour, I think it dos.

Ouch.

No, not really, I'd take the extra spell level personally.

Crow
2008-02-17, 08:51 PM
What about armor with the "Wild" enhancement? With a WIS of 34 or whatever, I could smell some cheese.

Dr Bwaa
2008-02-18, 04:06 AM
What about armor with the "Wild" enhancement? With a WIS of 34 or whatever, I could smell some cheese.

Monk + armor = no WIS bonus to AC. Besides, stacking with whatever godawful natural armor you're getting is cheesy enough...

Cuddly
2008-02-18, 05:27 AM
She has a monk's belt, so as long as she takes the form of something with hands or has a party member put it on her, she'll have her wis to AC anyway.

Dire ape morph = you can wear your gear. :smallsmile:

Aquillion
2008-02-18, 05:50 AM
Am I the only one who thinks that the situation as described is a little, um, screwy? Items with a major impact on a character's development shouldn't be handed out and then exploded. Even with giving the player the ability to make a new character, it seems unfortunate to essentially DM fiat the build a player has been using for six months out of existence.

Cuddly
2008-02-18, 05:52 AM
Am I the only one who thinks that the situation as described is a little, um, screwy? Items with a major impact on a character's development shouldn't be handed out and then exploded. Even with giving the player the ability to make a new character, it seems unfortunate to essentially DM fiat the build a player has been using for six months out of existence.

I dunno, it sounded kind of fun to me. Not really my type of game, but fun none-the-less.

Swordguy
2008-02-18, 06:10 AM
Am I the only one who thinks that the situation as described is a little, um, screwy? Items with a major impact on a character's development shouldn't be handed out and then exploded. Even with giving the player the ability to make a new character, it seems unfortunate to essentially DM fiat the build a player has been using for six months out of existence.

As long as she's having fun (and by the tone of the OP, she doesn't seem to mind), who are we to call shennanigans?

I, for one, don't care either way. If a PC picks up an item without knowing what it is, then it may well kill them. That happens in real life too. As long as the DM knew what it would do ahead of time and doesn't just say "It explodes, go roll new character" on the spur of the moment, it's all good.

A thought exercise for you. You're playing Shadowrun - a gritty cyberpunk game set in the near future. You're playing a focused computer hacker - a god with computers and not so hot in the real world. You see a remote control on the ground. You pick it up. You push the shiny red button on it. Now, if the GM had decided ahead of time that the button detonates the explosives hidden under the ground (left there to blow up another group of people - since other people do exist and do stuff to each other in a "good" game world), what is he supposed to do? You did something terminally dumb - and he's within every right he has as a GM to say "It explodes, go roll new character", regardless of whether or not you think it's "fair". You had the option not to push the button.

Likewise, the OP's character had the option not to use the medallion. It was presented with an understanding of what would happen if it broke - and it broke. I'd not call that "DM fiat" at all.

Dr Bwaa
2008-02-18, 06:21 AM
She has a monk's belt, so as long as she takes the form of something with hands or has a party member put it on her, she'll have her wis to AC anyway.

I thought monk's belt only gave the inherent monk AC bonus (ie. +1 at lvl 5), not the wis as well:


Belt, Monk’s

This simple rope belt, when wrapped around a character’s waist, confers great ability in unarmed combat. The wearer’s AC and unarmed damage is treated as a monk of five levels higher. If donned by a character with the Stunning Fist feat, the belt lets her make one additional stunning attack per day. If the character is not a monk, she gains the AC and unarmed damage of a 5th-level monk. This AC bonus functions just like the monk’s AC bonus.

Emphasis mine; wouldn't that still mean that even if it did mention the wis bonus (which it doesn't), it wouldn't apply if the character's wearing armor?

Aquillion
2008-02-18, 07:39 AM
A thought exercise for you. You're playing Shadowrun - a gritty cyberpunk game set in the near future.Woah, woah, woah. Shadowrun is different; you can die at any time and you'll stay dead. That's like saying "How would you feel if your party members murdered you in your sleep so they could steal your pants, then framed you for stealing your own pants so you got executed for it further down the line? Oh, I forgot to mention, you're playing Paranoia."

In D&D, characters are generally much less expendable. I suppose it's fine if they don't mind, but still. In D&D, a sudden 'it explodes, roll a new character' doesn't happen that often outside the Tomb of Horrors.

Swordguy
2008-02-18, 07:58 AM
Woah, woah, woah. Shadowrun is different; you can die at any time and you'll stay dead. That's like saying "How would you feel if your party members murdered you in your sleep so they could steal your pants, then framed you for stealing your own pants so you got executed for it further down the line? Oh, I forgot to mention, you're playing Paranoia."

In D&D, characters are generally much less expendable. I suppose it's fine if they don't mind, but still. In D&D, a sudden 'it explodes, roll a new character' doesn't happen that often outside the Tomb of Horrors.

I'd say it varies from game to game. Clearly, the OP's is on the far side of that variance from what you're used to. Doesn't make them right or wrong...just different.

Leon
2008-02-18, 08:24 AM
The DruidCheese Class begins and ends with the Natural Spell feat.

Don't take it, free your self from the Tyranny that is the bane of the 6th level Feat choice and embrace freedom




In D&D, characters are generally much less expendable. I suppose it's fine if they don't mind, but still. In D&D, a sudden 'it explodes, roll a new character' doesn't happen that often outside the Tomb of Horrors.


You'd hate to play in game run by me then

Cuddly
2008-02-18, 09:41 AM
I thought monk's belt only gave the inherent monk AC bonus (ie. +1 at lvl 5), not the wis as well:



Emphasis mine; wouldn't that still mean that even if it did mention the wis bonus (which it doesn't), it wouldn't apply if the character's wearing armor?

Yes, it does work that way, and the character wouldn't be wearing armor because a) it's a now a rhinocerous and b) monks don't wear armor anyway, thus it wouldn't be a part of the starting loot she started with.

holywhippet
2008-02-18, 03:19 PM
Is this amulet utterly destroyed? A spellcaster who has the right feat (craft wonderous item IIRC) should be able to repair it. I suspect though that your DM wanted to stop your character from being so powerful.