Ying Quan (Shadow Fist) - M(11), C(8), SD(5), SF(6)

Monk 11 / Cleric 8 / Shadowdancer 5 / Sacred Fist 6

by Steelsamurai 06:51, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

Description
I will flesh this out in a few days. This is the sister build to Yao Quan (Glorious Fist). The goal with this build was to create a build capable of high stealth via HIPS, so capable from striking from the shadows, as well as to have a solid defense that would enable it to go toe to toe with combat oriented builds. I wanted to have something different from what was available out there, and steered away from Epic Divine Might (which is the path that Yao Quan takes).

There are three template builds for this class, Wei Ying Quan which is described below (Micro Shadow Fist) using a Strongheart Halfling, Ying Quan (Shadow Fist) which would use a human, and Mo Ying Quan (Demon Shadow Fist), which uses a Tiefling. In summary, the Human will lack some AC and attack bonus, but benefits by skipping the multiclass penalty that the Halfling gets in the second last level (only). It will be less stealthy but do more damage. Mo Ying Quan will share the same attack and defense benefits, but loses one feat over the halfling, so striking for a bit less accuracy (I would drop Weapon Focus), but doing more damage overall and being equivalently stealthy. I will describe Wei Ying Quan since it fits the design concept the best.

Advantages:


 * medium-high attack of 62 buffed, very high for a stealth build


 * ability to debuff opponent's accuracy via Expose Weakness, and with very high dexterity max out the damage from this feat


 * high defense of AC65 is further complimented with Epic Dodge, which causes the first hit in any round to fail, arguably better than concealment in some ways since it works off of already calculated hits.


 * maxed out hide and move silently skills. An all-out stealth attacker "subtype" can be built by taking the Plant Domain for Mass Camouflage (+10 Hide) and taking kitten slippers to buff Move Silently. Otherwise it is graded as a medium-high stealth build, with the high dexterity (38 after epic equipment) buffing these feats considerably and the small size further benefiting hide, and halfling buffs to move silently


 * weaponless combat means no suffering from disarm


 * ability to use Time domain to use Haste and strike with Greater Flurry 9 times in one round, four of which will be at *full* accuracy, causing a very large number of hits even compared to higher accuracy builds. Combine this with striking from hiding and considerable damage can be cranked out.


 * dexterity and wisdom based AC help defeat ranged touch attacks


 * built-in defenses vs. depending on buffs mean that this build can outlast those that depend on divine shield for being unhittable


 * monk fast movement plus haste means that nobody is going to run away from you, and you will retain the ability to break off and run away from combat


 * sacred flames give 10 rounds of power punching, and in combination with this build's "light tank" defenses, allows it to attempt to go for knockouts in the short term, and afterwards fade from view and fight via surprise


 * six maxed skill scores also allows for high playability in the game setting by adding points to conversation skills, etc., without weakening the build considerably

Disadvantages:


 * no divine feats mean that it will encounter damage resistance, and multiple "smaller" damage attacks vs. damage resistance really bring down effectiveness


 * will not hide as well as a ranger due to no single target Camouflage spell.


 * one level of multiclass XP penalty


 * many hits / small damage approach can be defeated by builds with appropriate damage resistance