20 HP is a big deal to a new player who has little to no other sources of HP. They won't have at-level con/false life/vit, they won't have high prr or mrr, or good saves, or fort, or dodge. They won't have past lives either, or ship buffs, or experience playing the game that lets them reduce the amount of damage they take when fighting groups of enemies or going through traps.

A new player will be playing on Normal difficulty mostly. Twice your level in HP does actually matter a lot there, especially when you have like half the HP a veteran player would have.

During my first life, I was scrambling for every bit of HP I could get just to be able to barely complete quests on Hard with a hireling. I know better now, and if I had that toon again I would do much better overall, but back then a sliver of HP could mean the difference between finishing a quest and getting XP and not doing so.

EDIT: Also this is a melee character we're talking about, so they will be taking a lot of hits.

5 Foot Step wrote on May 8^th, 2017 at 1:46pm:


So it is more important that they can take Vorpal Strikes at level 27 than that they can survive in levels 1-10.

If Vorpal Strikes was so god-awful important, it wouldn't have waited till level 27 to get taken.  Clearly OC and Imp Martial Arts are the important feats to get.  Not having Vorpal Strikes is not going to upset a character at level 27.  They will just finish the life out, TR, and get 34 build points and be fine.  They might even be able to score a wisdom tome from 1750 favor to help out even more. 

Your monk builds suck for new players.  They are good for veteran players who aren't familiar with (or have never run) a class.

A better build would be 16 Dex, 16 Con, and 15 Wis, with one level-up point into Dexterity and the rest into Wisdom.

The feat order should be

1...TWF
M1...Dodge
M2...Stunning Fist
3...Precision
6...Mobility
M6... Shuriken Expertise
9...ITWF
12..IC: Blunt
15...GTWF
18...Spring Attack/Toughness?

But then you can't grab Whirlwind Attack.
If you really wanted Whirlwind Attack, you'd go 13 Int, 16 Con, 16 Dex, and the rest into Wis (or lower Con to 14 and put the extra points into Wis).
Then go
1...TWF
M1...CE
M2...Dodge
3...Mobility
M6...Spring Attack
6...Whirlwind Attack
9...Stunning Fist
12...ITWF
15...IC:Blunt
18...GTWF

Though it's best to go human and put Stunning Fist as your extra feat, and shift the 12/15/18 feats down.

I think Shintao Monk is just flat-out a bad choice for a 28-point build and for a new character. They're melees that have to keep track of a meter and don't have good burst healing, their attacks chain together in a complicated way, and their defenses are hard to keep track of.
Rangers, Paladins, and Barbarians all make good first-life beginner melees. Monks do not.

Somebody is going to bitch no matter what I post. Not looking forward to mandatory Eldritch Knight for every race. Yes, 28 pt Shintao is a bad choice for a newb no matter what you do as is EK. We have to come up with something playable anyway. As long as they can solo with a hire on normal I will count that as playable, though that definition of playable does overlap with my definition of suck by my build standards.

That being said, the 1750 favor tome is something that I hadn't considered and does not seem unreasonable at 27. Even if they don't have it at 27 they can visit Fred later. I will edit OP.

5 Foot Step wrote on May 12^th, 2017 at 11:45am:


Are you really assuming this build is going to cap?  With a 10 con?  If you stick with that stat distribution you need some bold type, flashing, all caps text that clearly points out that this is a heroic build only and that the player needs to TR once they hit 20th.

I can see a 10 con character making it to 20th easy.  Well, maybe not easy for a new player but quite possible without inducing a rage quit, especially if they don't buy VIP and have to open normal unless they are in a group with a VIP/2nd life+ player who doesn't have a 10 con.  Because no one fing has a 10 con.  But once they hit epics on a new char with no destinies, no past lives, and terribad gear they are either going to be carried the rest of the way or they are going to quit in disgust.  Or both, if they are perceptive enough to realize that they are being carried and can't run a quest solo for love nor money.

5 Foot Step wrote on May 17^th, 2017 at 11:36am:

dreary just thinking about it. hitting level 5 with a whopping 23 hit points.