Aasimar Death Monk [Archive] - Wizards Community

Aasimar Death Monk [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Qaetar
03-16-04, 12:14 PM Aasimar Death Monk

Aasimar gives +2 Wis/+2 Cha

ECL Class BAB F R W Class Abilities Feats
2 Ftr1 1 2 0 0 Feat: Improved Initiative Death Blow
3 Ftr2 2 3 0 0 Feat: Improved Grapple -
4 Rgr1 3 5 2 0 Favored Enemy, Track, Wild Empathy Quicker Than the Eye
5 Rgr2 4 6 3 0 Two Weapon Fighting -
6 Mnk1 4 8 5 2 Stunning Fist, Flurry, IUS -
7 Mnk2 5 9 6 3 Combat Reflexes, Evasion Unbalancing Strike
8 Mnk3 6 9 6 3 Still Mind, Speed +10 -
9 Rgr3 7 9 6 4 Endurance -
10 Pal1 8 11 6 4 Aura of Good, Detect Evil, Smite Evil 1/day Kiai Shout
11 Pal2 9 12 6 4 Divine Grace, Lay on Hands -
12 Ftr3 10 12 7 5 - -
13 Ftr4 11 13 7 5 Feat: Freezing the Lifeblood Greater Kiai Shout
14 Tat1 11 15 9 7 Bellflower, Unarmed Damage 1d8 -
15 Tat2 12 16 10 8 AC +1 -
16 Tat3 13 16 10 8 Crane, Speed +20 Open Feat
17 Tat4 14 17 11 9 - -
18 Tat5 14 17 11 9 Chameleon, Unarmed Damage 1d10 -
19 Tat6 15 18 12 10 Speed +30 Open Feat
20 Tat7 16 18 12 10 Phoenix, AC +2 -

Alignment: Lawful Good -- You are the perfect Evil slayer, but must always be fair in your judgements.

Key ability scores are: Dex for AC (Unarmored) and as a pre-req for Quicker Than the Eye. Wis for Stunning Fist/Freezing the Lifeblood DCs. Cha for Cha to Saves (Pal 2) and Kiai Shout DCs. Str for to hit. Con to make up for lower HP from lack of a level/low HD classes. Int isn't particularly required.

For the two open feats, consider Sacred Vow and Vow of Poverty. You are primarily unarmed anyway and taking the VoP later lets you get past the early level no-eq problems.

Otherwise, Extra Stunning's probably a good bet.

Tactics:

Within 5'- Use Quicker Than the Eye to Bluff out a Freezing the Lifeblood attack. Coup de Grace as a Standard action with Death Blow

Beyond 5'- Use Monk speed to charge with a Stunning Fist. This will allow you to FtL then CDG next round.

Your only "weak" save is Will with a +10 base, but that's made up for with your high Wis/Wis bonus. Don't forget you get Cha to Saves

+16 BAB gives 4 attacks a round when you need to full attack something.

Note: You're taking QTtE, which requires Dex 19 at ECL 4. That's a Dex +4 item and Dex 15 or a Dex +2 and Dex 17. If not possibly, switch QTtE and Kiai Shout.

Ranger and Paladin levels open up wand/staff use for their respective spells.

Tattoo choices:
Bellflower because Cha should be important to you.
Crane for the Timeless Body effect
Chameleon to Alter Self into other Outsider forms
Phoenix for SR, which would be a great use.

Choose your own at will.

Comments, suggestions?

(Qaetar)

Edit: Fixed BAB
Qaetar
03-16-04, 08:27 PM CW prereqs for FtL are +10 BAB. You could take only one Paladin level, but then you wouldn't get Divine Grace.

So I had to fit it that late.

In real life play, Death Blow's a pretty useless feat at the beginning, but at level 3 when Hold Person is viable it becomes much nicer.

A consideration I didn't think of when making the build was to take Aasimar 0 to start and advance it a level when appropriate. That may be a better way of doing things to not have an ECL penalty.

Though you are right that at low levels the abilities are a little scattered. Could start with Ranger 1 for extra skill points though.

(Qaetar)
Sisyfos
03-17-04, 05:26 AM It is a pretty cool build. I would skip the bellflower tattoo though. It takes an action to start that one and it has duration measured in rounds. It is also an enhancement bonus which is readily available from other sources (cloak of charisma for example) with far longer/semi-permanent durations.

It reminds me a bit of this:

"The Dawnstriders
Description: Like the shadows formed by morning's first light the Dawnstriders move with stealth and fluid grace. Children of both worlds, they have the intimate understanding required to battle Evil on its own grounds. In a world of thieves, they are the thief-catchers. Hunting with the mind and skill of an assassin, they use the very shadows by which injustice would thrive to bring right to a world of wrong. Perhaps one of the most difficult organizations to master, the Dawnstriders demand much of those who would defend the light from within the darkness.
Being assassins, the Dawnstriders view combat as an Art form. Every parry, every lunge, every venom, every bite is another shade upon the canvas of their trade. They are assassins in the purest sense of the word, killing for a belief in what is right. They welcome those with the unique talent to balance honour with the willingness and ability to act. Based in the city of Shallam, they are her fastest strike force, finding and removing threat with surgical accuracy."

That was also a kind of a goal for me when I started asking about those monkish assassins.

Sisyfos
Aramas
03-17-04, 10:38 PM For one of the open feats you have Rapid Stunning wouldn't be a bad idea, would let you try to FtL more than once a round.
Whakapapa
04-01-04, 01:18 AM aint aasimer +1 LA ?
MiscDebris
04-01-04, 01:27 AM It's fashionable these days to use Aasimar 0, from UA. Sexy, huh. I can't wait for the calender to come out. :D
Sisyfos
04-01-04, 01:59 AM I would disagree with it being fashionable.
MiscDebris
04-01-04, 02:53 AM That is sorta the point. I've just seen alot of those lately.

Bear in mind that I am running a bit low on sleep here.
Sisyfos
04-01-04, 03:01 AM :) Smirk. I am glad to see people with some sense - even if sleep deprived.

[/HIJACK]
MiscDebris
04-01-04, 03:17 AM I do what I can with what I have. ;)

Back on topic. I do rather like this nifty build. I may have to unleash it on my poor helpless PC's later. With a demonstration on another adventuring party, of course.

I do rather dislike taking the time to build these great NPC's only to have the PC's slay them. That's most of the reason I'm on this board. It saves me alot of work. heh

Enjoy all,
MiscDebris
Aranan
04-01-04, 08:58 AM I'm really sorry to have to ask this, but where in UA are the ECL 0 Aasimar listed?
HoshiAdam
04-01-04, 09:10 AM Its not in UA, it is in the Savage Progressions section of the website (I think that is the name).

There is a 0 ECL Aasimar in the back of PGtF, that retains all abilities, except they are a humanoid with the planetouched subtype, and they are subject to all spells that affect outsiders and all spells that affect humanoids. This means they also lose the outsider immunities they had before also.

Also, the bellflower tattoo is a move action to activate, so it isn't too bad.
MiscDebris
04-01-04, 12:45 PM I should know better than to post while way low on sleep. Sorry about the misinformation about Aasimar being in UA.

MiscDebris
Sisyfos
04-29-04, 03:03 PM Here is a pureblooded alternative to Qaetar's amiable multiclassed mongrel ;) :

Monk20
1: Improved Init, Improved grapple, *Stunning fist, *flurry, *IUS
2: *Combat reflexes, *evasion
3: Quicker than the eye, *still mind
6: Death blow
9: Rapid stunning, *improved evasion
12: Sun school tactical feat, *abundant step
13: *Diamond soul
15: Freezing the lifeblood
16: *Ki strike (adamantine)
18: Ability focus (stunning fist)

I considered for a long while making a horizon walker based alternative. It would have a better BAB and would be able to dimension door ever 1d4 rounds. This would work nicely with the sun school feat. In the end I just decided that I personally like spell resistance a lot and I also wanted to make a straight monk build. The tactics of this build are pretty similar to what Qaetar had, he just has the one additional trick up his sleeve that he can attack after dimension door. Abundant step gives that ability once a day which is too little so he is a bit item reliant. Get items like cape of the montebank etc and the ability starts to work even more nicely.

Feats you might want to incorporate into the build:
- Improved sunder (I don't know. Stunning makes them drop items anyhow so you can pick 'em up.)
- Expert tactician
- Spring attack chain
- Mage slayer (miniatures handbook)
- Weapon finesse (unarmed) + choose the poison (Quint. Monk*)
- Unbalancing strike (OA I think)
- Fancy footwork (Beyond monks)
- Deflect arrows + Improved deflect arrows (BM)
- Power attack+Knockdown (S&F)
- One arm lock (BM)
-
- ...

Sisyfos

PS. *If you use Quintessential Monk, then the five animals fighter becomes an attractive alternative for straight monk as you do not lose you diamond soul effectiveness with that PrC.
Bloodletter
04-30-04, 10:01 AM Sisyfos, have you considered losing a monk level and taking the shadow walker racial template from Unapproachable East? that would add 3 DD's a day as well as a ton of spell like abilities (provided you don't play in bright light a lot).

I hate to be a rules lawyer, but in the build WAY at the top that started this thread, there should be a feat selection change. I don't think you can take improved grapple as a level 2 fighter unless you have improved unarmed strike. It doesn't really hurt the original build idea.

One other feat to consider - choke hold from OA. If you can pin them for one round, they are good as dead. Not as fast as the Freezing chain, but there could be situations where you run out of stun attacks or the baddy saves a lot...
Qaetar
05-25-04, 12:15 AM Was looking back on old posts, Sis, and noticed you've got FtL at level 6. Pre-req of +10 BAB in CW.

Only reason I've got it so late originally as well.

(Qaetar)
Sisyfos
05-26-04, 04:09 AM Originally posted by Qaetar
Was looking back on old posts, Sis, and noticed you've got FtL at level 6. Pre-req of +10 BAB in CW.

Only reason I've got it so late originally as well.

(Qaetar)

Thanks Qaetar. I'll fix that. EDIT: Fixed. But that BAB requirement really hurts functionality of the build at lower levels and I see a lot of sense taking some 1/1 BAB multiclassing in this kind of build now.

Sisyfos
Ricter
05-26-04, 07:48 AM Can someone give me the link to the Aasimar that has 0 ECL? The one I found doesn't give any stat bonuses except CHA until a level is lost.
necrosnoop110
05-26-04, 10:33 AM 1) Go to the WotC (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/welcome) main web site

2) In the search, type aasimar

3) Click on first link

There is also an option for “Lesser Aasimars” in the appendix of the Player’s Guide to Faerun, page 190-191, which may be a better option depending on what you’re planning to do.
Ricter
05-26-04, 09:44 PM Nevermind. My confusion resulted in me not noticing that he started at ECL 2 instead of 1. My bad.

* Grammar error...
nihility
11-30-05, 09:32 PM :bump:

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Qaetar 03-16-04, 12:14 PM	Aasimar Death Monk Aasimar gives +2 Wis/+2 Cha ECL Class BAB F R W Class Abilities Feats 2 Ftr1 1 2 0 0 Feat: Improved Initiative Death Blow 3 Ftr2 2 3 0 0 Feat: Improved Grapple - 4 Rgr1 3 5 2 0 Favored Enemy, Track, Wild Empathy Quicker Than the Eye 5 Rgr2 4 6 3 0 Two Weapon Fighting - 6 Mnk1 4 8 5 2 Stunning Fist, Flurry, IUS - 7 Mnk2 5 9 6 3 Combat Reflexes, Evasion Unbalancing Strike 8 Mnk3 6 9 6 3 Still Mind, Speed +10 - 9 Rgr3 7 9 6 4 Endurance - 10 Pal1 8 11 6 4 Aura of Good, Detect Evil, Smite Evil 1/day Kiai Shout 11 Pal2 9 12 6 4 Divine Grace, Lay on Hands - 12 Ftr3 10 12 7 5 - - 13 Ftr4 11 13 7 5 Feat: Freezing the Lifeblood Greater Kiai Shout 14 Tat1 11 15 9 7 Bellflower, Unarmed Damage 1d8 - 15 Tat2 12 16 10 8 AC +1 - 16 Tat3 13 16 10 8 Crane, Speed +20 Open Feat 17 Tat4 14 17 11 9 - - 18 Tat5 14 17 11 9 Chameleon, Unarmed Damage 1d10 - 19 Tat6 15 18 12 10 Speed +30 Open Feat 20 Tat7 16 18 12 10 Phoenix, AC +2 - Alignment: Lawful Good -- You are the perfect Evil slayer, but must always be fair in your judgements. Key ability scores are: Dex for AC (Unarmored) and as a pre-req for Quicker Than the Eye. Wis for Stunning Fist/Freezing the Lifeblood DCs. Cha for Cha to Saves (Pal 2) and Kiai Shout DCs. Str for to hit. Con to make up for lower HP from lack of a level/low HD classes. Int isn't particularly required. For the two open feats, consider Sacred Vow and Vow of Poverty. You are primarily unarmed anyway and taking the VoP later lets you get past the early level no-eq problems. Otherwise, Extra Stunning's probably a good bet. Tactics: Within 5'- Use Quicker Than the Eye to Bluff out a Freezing the Lifeblood attack. Coup de Grace as a Standard action with Death Blow Beyond 5'- Use Monk speed to charge with a Stunning Fist. This will allow you to FtL then CDG next round. Your only "weak" save is Will with a +10 base, but that's made up for with your high Wis/Wis bonus. Don't forget you get Cha to Saves +16 BAB gives 4 attacks a round when you need to full attack something. Note: You're taking QTtE, which requires Dex 19 at ECL 4. That's a Dex +4 item and Dex 15 or a Dex +2 and Dex 17. If not possibly, switch QTtE and Kiai Shout. Ranger and Paladin levels open up wand/staff use for their respective spells. Tattoo choices: Bellflower because Cha should be important to you. Crane for the Timeless Body effect Chameleon to Alter Self into other Outsider forms Phoenix for SR, which would be a great use. Choose your own at will. Comments, suggestions? (Qaetar) Edit: Fixed BAB
Qaetar 03-16-04, 08:27 PM	CW prereqs for FtL are +10 BAB. You could take only one Paladin level, but then you wouldn't get Divine Grace. So I had to fit it that late. In real life play, Death Blow's a pretty useless feat at the beginning, but at level 3 when Hold Person is viable it becomes much nicer. A consideration I didn't think of when making the build was to take Aasimar 0 to start and advance it a level when appropriate. That may be a better way of doing things to not have an ECL penalty. Though you are right that at low levels the abilities are a little scattered. Could start with Ranger 1 for extra skill points though. (Qaetar)
Sisyfos 03-17-04, 05:26 AM	It is a pretty cool build. I would skip the bellflower tattoo though. It takes an action to start that one and it has duration measured in rounds. It is also an enhancement bonus which is readily available from other sources (cloak of charisma for example) with far longer/semi-permanent durations. It reminds me a bit of this: "The Dawnstriders Description: Like the shadows formed by morning's first light the Dawnstriders move with stealth and fluid grace. Children of both worlds, they have the intimate understanding required to battle Evil on its own grounds. In a world of thieves, they are the thief-catchers. Hunting with the mind and skill of an assassin, they use the very shadows by which injustice would thrive to bring right to a world of wrong. Perhaps one of the most difficult organizations to master, the Dawnstriders demand much of those who would defend the light from within the darkness. Being assassins, the Dawnstriders view combat as an Art form. Every parry, every lunge, every venom, every bite is another shade upon the canvas of their trade. They are assassins in the purest sense of the word, killing for a belief in what is right. They welcome those with the unique talent to balance honour with the willingness and ability to act. Based in the city of Shallam, they are her fastest strike force, finding and removing threat with surgical accuracy." That was also a kind of a goal for me when I started asking about those monkish assassins. Sisyfos
Aramas 03-17-04, 10:38 PM	For one of the open feats you have Rapid Stunning wouldn't be a bad idea, would let you try to FtL more than once a round.
Whakapapa 04-01-04, 01:18 AM	aint aasimer +1 LA ?
MiscDebris 04-01-04, 01:27 AM	It's fashionable these days to use Aasimar 0, from UA. Sexy, huh. I can't wait for the calender to come out. :D
Sisyfos 04-01-04, 01:59 AM	I would disagree with it being fashionable.
MiscDebris 04-01-04, 02:53 AM	That is sorta the point. I've just seen alot of those lately. Bear in mind that I am running a bit low on sleep here.
Sisyfos 04-01-04, 03:01 AM	:) Smirk. I am glad to see people with some sense - even if sleep deprived. [/HIJACK]
MiscDebris 04-01-04, 03:17 AM	I do what I can with what I have. ;) Back on topic. I do rather like this nifty build. I may have to unleash it on my poor helpless PC's later. With a demonstration on another adventuring party, of course. I do rather dislike taking the time to build these great NPC's only to have the PC's slay them. That's most of the reason I'm on this board. It saves me alot of work. heh Enjoy all, MiscDebris
Aranan 04-01-04, 08:58 AM	I'm really sorry to have to ask this, but where in UA are the ECL 0 Aasimar listed?
HoshiAdam 04-01-04, 09:10 AM	Its not in UA, it is in the Savage Progressions section of the website (I think that is the name). There is a 0 ECL Aasimar in the back of PGtF, that retains all abilities, except they are a humanoid with the planetouched subtype, and they are subject to all spells that affect outsiders and all spells that affect humanoids. This means they also lose the outsider immunities they had before also. Also, the bellflower tattoo is a move action to activate, so it isn't too bad.
MiscDebris 04-01-04, 12:45 PM	I should know better than to post while way low on sleep. Sorry about the misinformation about Aasimar being in UA. MiscDebris
Sisyfos 04-29-04, 03:03 PM	Here is a pureblooded alternative to Qaetar's amiable multiclassed mongrel ;) : Monk20 1: Improved Init, Improved grapple, Stunning fist, flurry, IUS 2: Combat reflexes, evasion 3: Quicker than the eye, still mind 6: Death blow 9: Rapid stunning, improved evasion 12: Sun school tactical feat, abundant step 13: Diamond soul 15: Freezing the lifeblood 16: Ki strike (adamantine) 18: Ability focus (stunning fist) I considered for a long while making a horizon walker based alternative. It would have a better BAB and would be able to dimension door ever 1d4 rounds. This would work nicely with the sun school feat. In the end I just decided that I personally like spell resistance a lot and I also wanted to make a straight monk build. The tactics of this build are pretty similar to what Qaetar had, he just has the one additional trick up his sleeve that he can attack after dimension door. Abundant step gives that ability once a day which is too little so he is a bit item reliant. Get items like cape of the montebank etc and the ability starts to work even more nicely. Feats you might want to incorporate into the build: - Improved sunder (I don't know. Stunning makes them drop items anyhow so you can pick 'em up.) - Expert tactician - Spring attack chain - Mage slayer (miniatures handbook) - Weapon finesse (unarmed) + choose the poison (Quint. Monk) - Unbalancing strike (OA I think) - Fancy footwork (Beyond monks) - Deflect arrows + Improved deflect arrows (BM) - Power attack+Knockdown (S&F) - One arm lock (BM) - - ... Sisyfos PS. If you use Quintessential Monk, then the five animals fighter becomes an attractive alternative for straight monk as you do not lose you diamond soul effectiveness with that PrC.
Bloodletter 04-30-04, 10:01 AM	Sisyfos, have you considered losing a monk level and taking the shadow walker racial template from Unapproachable East? that would add 3 DD's a day as well as a ton of spell like abilities (provided you don't play in bright light a lot). I hate to be a rules lawyer, but in the build WAY at the top that started this thread, there should be a feat selection change. I don't think you can take improved grapple as a level 2 fighter unless you have improved unarmed strike. It doesn't really hurt the original build idea. One other feat to consider - choke hold from OA. If you can pin them for one round, they are good as dead. Not as fast as the Freezing chain, but there could be situations where you run out of stun attacks or the baddy saves a lot...
Qaetar 05-25-04, 12:15 AM	Was looking back on old posts, Sis, and noticed you've got FtL at level 6. Pre-req of +10 BAB in CW. Only reason I've got it so late originally as well. (Qaetar)
Sisyfos 05-26-04, 04:09 AM	Originally posted by Qaetar Was looking back on old posts, Sis, and noticed you've got FtL at level 6. Pre-req of +10 BAB in CW. Only reason I've got it so late originally as well. (Qaetar) Thanks Qaetar. I'll fix that. EDIT: Fixed. But that BAB requirement really hurts functionality of the build at lower levels and I see a lot of sense taking some 1/1 BAB multiclassing in this kind of build now. Sisyfos
Ricter 05-26-04, 07:48 AM	Can someone give me the link to the Aasimar that has 0 ECL? The one I found doesn't give any stat bonuses except CHA until a level is lost.
necrosnoop110 05-26-04, 10:33 AM	1) Go to the WotC (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/welcome) main web site 2) In the search, type aasimar 3) Click on first link There is also an option for “Lesser Aasimars” in the appendix of the Player’s Guide to Faerun, page 190-191, which may be a better option depending on what you’re planning to do.
Ricter 05-26-04, 09:44 PM	Nevermind. My confusion resulted in me not noticing that he started at ECL 2 instead of 1. My bad. * Grammar error...
nihility 11-30-05, 09:32 PM	:bump: