A Monk with Magic

I have not been a fan of mixing up cross-class features experimentally on my Monks until recently when I just decided I need to let my virtual hair down and see if some skills could be used to benefit my characters.

I’ve not created a spellcaster character yet. And I wasn’t generally a fan of mixing features up between classes because I wanted to maximize my learning and experience on everything that the Monk could innately do.

But I also had a clear bias: Mages, specifically the evil ones, were the enemy. The Monk is a melee fighter that’s also a potent anti-mage with high saves, spell resistance and mobility. Perhaps I was taking a page mentally from Diablo II’s Assassin, a player class of that beloved game that was also very Monk-like with charging moves and effects that emulated magic to fight evil mages.

Over the years of play, this bias gave way to appreciate the benefits of using wands or scrolls and found the flexibility extremely handy. Kiricletica, my super-soloing ninja, is Half-Elf and uses the Cleric dilettante to give her high-level Cleric casting levels to use the important divine scrolls such as Heal. My halfling Rogue Assassin, Sukitetica, is very UMD-happy as many Rogues tend to be, armed with an arsenal of scrolls and wands that have saved a few parties in arena fights where soulstones are all over the place and party recovery is compromised because most people are too visible. Being sneaky is your ally and a special power.

So, with my ignorance and prejudice of magic purged from working with Suki, I decided to take the plunge on a pure Monk.

With completing my first eTR on Pynthetica, transforming her into a master untouchable sniper into a bow-wielding sneak-attack machine, I decided to throw some caution into the wind and try out the one skill I discouraged in my Monk guide for fear of gimping a class with few skill points available to it at the start: Use Magic Device.

The first requirement I learned in experimenting with cross-class skill leveling begins at level 1 (or in my case, level 20): Add a couple of ability points to INT and use the largest INT tome you can afford. Ta-da! I just gained 2 or 3 extra skill points per level over the base 4 skill points for a typical Monk. While this wasn’t required, it was essential for how I wanted to play Pyn as I tested the Shadowbow Ninja. She still needed high Hide and Move Silently numbers. Spot was critical. Concentration can never be ignored. There went the 4 granted points right there. The additional points allowed me to pump up UMD to its maximum cross-class limit of 11.5 points without compromising anything else.

Next, use tomes and items to raise CHA, the ability score that boosts UMD. So as I level I’ll be able to wear CHA and Insightful CHA items to add substantial points. Add in Yugoloth favor potions and DDO Store elixirs and I can boost my UMD easily to near 30 points alone. I’m taken advantage of my updated Cannith Crafting powers to make a CHA +12 cloak.

Then finally, equip any items that add UMD bonuses. There’s the Tome of Skill you can buy, and items with Competence, Exceptional and Enhancement bonuses. Only one item per category counts, of course. An Epic Treasure Hunter’s Spyglass, a Big Top, and a few other baubles move the UMD number up to the high 20s to low 30s.

Finally, with these items equipped, kick on Heroism/Great Heroism for an additional bonus to all skills. If Pyn were a light Monks, she could also use the Walk of the Sun finishing buff for another +2 untyped buff to skills.

At level 26, Pyn can now use Restoration and Heroism without fail. I really, really love getting Restoration and Heroism because I can remove negative levels from myself and party as well as buff my hirelings. Raising dead party members while in stealth is a critical party-saving measure because using scrolls doesn’t break stealth in most cases I’ve experienced.

Kicking in a few more tricks, I got 39 UMD, enough to handle Teleport, Greater Heroism, Heal, and Raise Dead. Teacher Jammond recommended work to use Tenser’s Transformation scrolls for +4 Alchemical boosts to STR, DEX and CON, and it looks like I can do that now.

Some scrolls just won’t work. Knock, for instance. I can cast them but the effect requires caster levels I’ll never have. I still have a lot to learn.

To catch you up on Pynthetica’s work on testing and perfecting the Shadowbow Ninja: It goes very well. In addition to UMD benefits, I’ve learned that the best hireling to take with her is a Rogue. That might sound a bit squishy but consider this point. Pyn generates nearly the same sneak attack damage per arrow as the piercing and other damage coming from the bow, and as a Ninja Spy has her own innate SA bonuses. A Rogue specializes in sneak attack, of course.

If the two of us are attacking, an enemy that is susceptible to sneak attack has no quarter, no way to avoid it. If the enemy changes aggro to me, the hireling’s SA is devastating. If the aggro returns to the hireling, I blow them away from Ranged Power bonuses, my Pinion’s Planar Focus: Subterfuge bonuses, the Ninja Spy SA bonuses, the Shadowdancer’s SA bonuses, effects from a Seal of House Avithoul, Deception bonuses…you get the idea. Anything that stands between two SA-happy fighters won’t last long enough to hurt either of us severely before the enemy falls. The takedown speed is amazing. I use a little Rejuvenation Cocoon to refresh our HP as needed and keep on going.

In a live party, Pyn’s SA can sometimes be too good and she’ll pull aggro. It’s better for her to be in parties where there is a good player with Intimidate or strong Threat to keep Pyn from having to stick and move.

I only wish I could have an epic Rogue with Sneak ability. I still have to toss the hireling into the fray and have her build a little aggro before I start shooting. That’s risky ’cause Rogues aren’t tanks.

I think a video is warranted on this, so I’ll try to post one in the near future.