Nightfall pets during the early stages:
Aside from a
warthog, you can also tame a
crocodile in Istan.
When I brought my Tyrian Ranger over to Elona, I tamed a crocodile until I could tame a
Hyena.
IMO, no need to spec into Healing Prayers, like you said so yourself, it'll be hard to split your attributes into that many lines and still be effective.
Also, Tahlkora and Dunkoro are one of your earlier Heroes, right? Leave the
monking to them
Or go with damage-dealing heroes, then monk henchies. They're usually adequate for the job.
Are you also asking about which secondary to go with?
When I go R/Mo, it's usually only for the hard rez (Rebirth) and my other skills are on either damage or condition dealing, although the Sunspear Rebirth Signet can do in a pinch. You can go R/W and be a sword/axe/hammer wielding beastmaster. If you also have Factions, go R/Rt for some Splinter Weapon goodness (plus Flesh of My Flesh for a good combat rez). The Paragon has some nice shouts... you can also go as a spear-wielding Beastmaster. The Dervish, iirc, doesn't add much to a beastmaster build -- with Ebon Dust Aura though, you can spread blindness on enemies.