Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Kron-Karn Jul 20, 2015 23:23:46	Iv been tinkering with this character for a wile. Has taken a few incantations and now Iv reach a road block. This character will be played lvs 1-20 so it is important that he scales well. We are using the average array of stats so 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8. When muliclassing I am particular towards the human variant for its extra feat to make up for lost asi's. So with the +1,+1 stat boost it makes most sense that our stat block becomes 16, 14, 14, 12, 10, 8. Str 10, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 8, Wis 14, Cha 14. Kuruk Astraeus is a Hextorian monk and a member of the Brotherhood of the Gray Hand. Threw the church he sought out a fiend to gift him with with power. But his gift came with a terrible price The build begun with the idea of stacking the monks meany attacks with the warlocks hex. Then using the human variants extra feat I took magic initiate, threw which amongst other things I gain shillelagh. That gave my quarterstaff d8 magic damage but it caused me to be vary MAD. So then I took toughness as my extra feat to make up for my low con score and took shillelagh threw the pact of tome to take more pressure off Wis. At which point kuruk looked like this Open Palm Monk 12/ Pact of Tome, Fiend Warlock 8 M 1/ Wa 2-5/ M 6-8/ Wa 9-12/ M 13-20 Lv 1- Toughness Lv 5- Cha +2 (16) Lv 8- Wis +2 (16) Lv 12- Cha +2 (18) Lv 16- Dex +2 (18) Lv 20- Cha +2 (20) Then I thought why am I depend on the monk to give me my second Att? Why not gain it threw Thirsting Blade and in the process gain life drinker. I saw my self getting into a vary methodical combat pattern of first round cast shillelagh and Att. Second round cast hex and Att. Then by third round I finally get to flurry. I also realized that I could just use the versatile quality of the quarterstaff to gain d8 damage. So I came up with this. Open Palm Monk 8/ Pact of Blade, Fiend Warlock 12 M 1/ Wa 2-6/ M 7-13/ Wa 14-20 Lv 1- Toughness Lv 5- Cha +2 (16) Lv 9- Dex +2 (18) Lv 13- Cha +2 (18) Lv 16- Dex +2 (20) Lv 20- Cha +2 (20) I am trying to figure out a way to also fit polerm master in there somewhere to utilize its AOO quality in conjunction with repelling blast or open hand technique to gain a reaction Att most rounds but it seems like a waist to take a feat for only half its ability but here is what IV come up with Open Palm Monk 8/ Pact of Blade, Fiend Warlock 12 M 1/ Wa 2-6/ M 7-13/ Wa 14-20 Lv 1- Toughness Lv 5- Cha +2 (16) Lv 9- Polerm Master Lv 13- Dex +2 (18) Lv 16- Cha +2 (18) Lv 20- Cha +2 (20) One of my worries here is low con and Wis saves so I considered a build which gave me Dimond Soul. Open Palm Monk 14/ Pact of Blade, Fiend Warlock 6. But the lack of ASI/ Feats and the fact that I wouldn't gain access to that ability until the final tier of play squashed that build quick. I havnt decided how I'm gonna work my AC. Either unarmored defence, Armour of shadows or maybe give up some monk Abilities and wear breast plate. They all seem to give me about the same in the end. I am well aware of all the material in both PBH and DMG so unless Iv made a blaring mistake please don't rules lawyer me. Also I am not interested in the shadow monk, devil sight combo. That said I would love to hear any and all comments and suggestions concerning the build it self. How to improve any stage of it or simply where to take the build from here.
#2 FrogReaver Jul 20, 2015 23:41:24	Have you considered using eldritch blast as your primary attack and using the monk primarily for defense and utility?   I envision taking 2 levels of warlock for good eldritch blast and hex.  I envision taking the rest of my levels in monk.   Take the shadow monk path.  You can use ki for spells like darkvision and pass without trace.  You can use it for stunning strike if you need to disable an enemy.  You can even use it for bonus action dodge or disengage to help with your eldritch blasting.   I think hex and flurry of blows will be competing to often for the bonus action.  So I think the eldtrich blast user with monk abilities for support would work really well.
#3 AndrewJO Jul 21, 2015 0:25:03	Shillelagh is great if you're wisdom is higher than your strength/dexterity... Which in your case it's not. Your plan has you maxing your dex and charisma, not your wisdom, so that part of shillelagh is wasted. Once you reach monk 6 your fists become magical, and once you reach 11 your martial arts damage becomes d8. By that point there is absolutely no reason to use shillelagh. Also, don't wear breastplate, you lose ~90% of monk abilities if you wear armor. Use mage armor if your wisdom mod is less than 3, other wise use unarmored defense. Remember that your stunning strike and open hand techniques DCs are tied to wisdom and proficiency, if your strategy revolves around those abilities then I'd make wisdom a priority over charisma.
#4 Kron-Karn Jul 21, 2015 0:26:09	True... true.... Awsome Thanks
#5 Yunru Jul 21, 2015 1:14:18	Why are you even using Monk? It's messing up your stats (given the class requires a high Dex and Wis devotion), for a BAA a feat could just net you. Can't even say you'll be going for Stunning Strike given the level distribution. My advice would be to swap all instances of Monk for Fighter.
#6 AndrewJO Jul 21, 2015 1:41:24	I agree, if you're not heart set on playing a monk, putting those levels into fighter instead allows you to make 3 attacks as an action. You'd also gain action surge, and if you start as a fighter you'd be proficient in con saves, making it easier to maintain hex.
#7 jaappleton Jul 21, 2015 3:50:45	If you get Shellaleigh through Pact of Tome, it triggers off your Charisma. It becomes a Warlock spell for you.
(Reply to #6) Kron-Karn	AndrewJO wrote:
(Reply to #7) Kron-Karn	jaappleton wrote:
#10 jaappleton Jul 21, 2015 7:33:40	Alternatively, you can have Shillelagh trigger off Wisdom by picking up Magic Initiate as a feat. So you have some options, with Wis, Cha or Dex becoming your attack Stat. Wis and Dex together are your AC, so you don't want to dump either of them. Though Armor of Shadows works, but has a cap of 17 AC while the Monk ability caps at 20. There is also the Barbarian, which is Con and Dex.
#11 Vulf Jul 21, 2015 8:17:43	If he wants to be a melee Warlock, other than Pact blade, Paladin lets him dump Warlock spell slots into high smite damage. Paladin spells also key off charisma.
#12 Kron-Karn Jul 22, 2015 20:05:56	This is what iv come up with. I utilize stacking Hex on multiple atts on my turn including the option of either a range or a melee bonus action att. Also muliple possibilities of reacton atts threw the synergy of Repelling Blast in melee with Crossbow Expert then AOO with Polerm Master and secondly with the Riposte maneuver. Battle Master Fighter 12/ Fiend, Pact of Blade Warlock 8 F 1-5/ wa 6-8 /f 9-15/ wa 16-20 Lv 1- Polerm Master Lv 4- Str +2 (18) Lv 9- Cha +2 (16) Lv 11- Crossbow Expert Lv 15- Str +2 (20) Lv 16- Cha +2 (18) Lv 20-cha +2 (20) Heavy armour Halbert