Monks and the PrC [Archive] - Wizards Community

Monks and the PrC [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
korric
05-02-07, 06:47 AM whats the best prestige class for at monk?

at the moment I havent been able to find any PrC which is worth taking as a monk, instead of just going all-out-monk. but maybe im mistaken, so would like to hear if someone has a guess or advise :)

thanks
The_Shaman
05-02-07, 06:52 AM Depends on what you want to do. I'm somewhat partial to the Shou Disciple (UEast), but it's for fighting monks. The Sacred Fist (CDiv) isn't exactly bad, either, although it will require you to get some divine casting levels (not as if Wisdom is a dump-stat for most monks, mind you). Of the others, I have a strange but not completely unexplainable liking for the Sun Soul Monk (CoSplendors, more or less standard monk a few nifty changes) and the Fist of Zuoken (XPH, separate manifesting progression but few other abilities, according to a Wizards ruling ANY PP reserve can serve instead of the Wild Talent feat).
korric
05-02-07, 07:28 AM thanks very much, I look into these classes, will make a stop by the local library and read up on them.

thanks
The_Shaman
05-02-07, 07:50 AM Fist of Zuoken (a.k.a. psionic fist) is at d20srd.org, in the psionics section. There are a lot more, of course, but each tends to have its own "niche" to specialize into. It really depends on what you want to do imo.
JellyPooga
05-02-07, 09:28 AM I always quite liked the 'Tattooed Monk' PrC from Complete Warrior myself.
blindcynic
05-02-07, 11:07 AM I second the tattooed Monk, the class starts off a little slow but by 3rd level your synergizing nicely
Patinho_Amarelo
05-02-07, 01:44 PM Sacred Fist - Complete Divine
E. Fist - Complete Arcane
Initiate of Draconic Mysteries - Draconomicon
Dragon Descendant - Dragon Magic
Initiate of Pittis Sophia - Book of Exalted Deeds
The_Shaman
05-02-07, 01:55 PM I second the tattooed Monk, the class starts off a little slow but by 3rd level your synergizing nicely

If you do it, try to squeeze the Dragon OA update one past the DM. It's practically identical to the CW one, with 1 nice little difference: it adds to the flurry. The core books are not especially gratuitous with the flurry progression, unfortunately.
Sybyll
05-02-07, 01:57 PM In gestalt campaign i was in we had a Tattoed monk that was also a drunken master, and that was alot of fun. Drunken master seemed to just be a fun prC to play with.
Barloch
05-02-07, 04:40 PM This question comes up like once a week, just make a sticky thread that say "monk prcs, stop asking!":P

My vote, take 19 levels of monk and then 1 level of any prc that will add to your unarmed strike damage progression, or barring that, any class and the supreme unarmed strike feat from ToB. Honestly, monk and druid are both good all 20 levels (okay I really think perfect self is kinda crappy) and you don't really need a PrC unless you have a specific fighting style you want to acomplish thats done well in a prc.

As a side note, the initiate of draconic mytsteries (draconomicon) seems to be more a fighter with unarmed strike based prc then monk as most of their abilities overlap with the monks only to a less effective extent and they don't continue unarmed strike, flurry, movement speed, or unarmed AC progression at all.
claypigeons
05-02-07, 05:29 PM Kensai.

Monk10/Kensai10...

Enchant your fists!
calprinicus
05-02-07, 07:12 PM Kensai.

Monk10/Kensai10...

Enchant your fists!

Well monk if my favorite class to play. a well rounded character for any campaign. I have to say that kensai and Drunken Master are my two favorite prestige classes. drunken master if you like the tactical side (lots of feinting, tripping, and disarming, with little grappling also lots of fun) of battle and kensai if you like beaten sh'it up.
teshen
05-03-07, 02:59 PM Best is a strong word. It depends...

Everyone else has made the suggestions I would have... with one exception. Radical Taoist had a monk/warmind combo that I would suggest you take a look at.

How to Win with Secrets of Sarlona - RT's Kalashtar Monk (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?p=11564698)

That and, again best doesn't fit, the Shen PrC from Dragon 319 was pretty cool.

Happy Gaming.
The_Shaman
05-03-07, 03:58 PM I've thought about warmind, to be honest - it and the FoZuoken are both good ways to utilize your high wisdom and get some useful abilities. An interesting point about monk is that with 2 relatively easy to get bonuses - the monk belt and Superior US - you can get lvl 20 damage with only 11 levels of monk and/or monk PrC. I prefer monk 6/SDisciple 5, since it also gets greater flurry at not too high BAB loss.

As for the IDM, it's a good way to use the 11+SUS+MB rule. Improved natural attack, 2 damage increases, and a monk 20 damage seem to add to a relatively easy way to get some really devastating unarmed attacks (the bonuses stack to 8d8 which should be pretty stable, although I do agree that the PrC is good for non-monk, too). However, the capstone ability of the PrC is imo quite worth it, too. Does anyone know what the caster level for it is, btw? That would determine the HD limit of the form you can assume, and hence age/size.
moebius2007
05-07-07, 12:39 PM Enlightened fist. take a look at it in complete arcana, i like it very much, combining it with sorcerer and taking the ascetic mage feat (comp arcane), allows u to use charisma both for casting and monk armor bonus, then there are a lot of spells that do combine very nicely with the class (mage armour, shield, WRAITHSTRIKE, vampiric touch, polymorph...) an e fist can kinda of quicken touch spells during a full attack round so u can end up by delivering a vampiric touch together with your furry of blows.
teshen
05-07-07, 01:42 PM Enlightened fist. take a look at it in complete arcana, i like it very much, combining it with sorcerer and taking the ascetic mage feat (comp arcane), allows u to use charisma both for casting and monk armor bonus, then there are a lot of spells that do combine very nicely with the class (mage armour, shield, WRAITHSTRIKE, vampiric touch, polymorph...) an e fist can kinda of quicken touch spells during a full attack round so u can end up by delivering a vampiric touch together with your furry of blows.
If you want to go the enlighten fist route, monk/wizard + Kung fu Genius or Carmendine monk works well... everything starts working off intelligence.

If your using the Realms, then I suggest the Carmendine monk feat over the other... and you can create a monk's tatoo (out of Magic of Faerun, I think), a slotless wonderous item that treats you as four monk levels higher for unarmed strike damage, speed, and unarmored ac. That coupled with a monk's belt makes superior unarmed strike unecessary... you can favor wizard and still get most of your important monk goodies.

(And with something that helps with it's adjustment level, persistant spell can be good metamagic for an enlightened fist... a persisted wraithstrike.)

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
korric 05-02-07, 06:47 AM	whats the best prestige class for at monk? at the moment I havent been able to find any PrC which is worth taking as a monk, instead of just going all-out-monk. but maybe im mistaken, so would like to hear if someone has a guess or advise :) thanks
The_Shaman 05-02-07, 06:52 AM	Depends on what you want to do. I'm somewhat partial to the Shou Disciple (UEast), but it's for fighting monks. The Sacred Fist (CDiv) isn't exactly bad, either, although it will require you to get some divine casting levels (not as if Wisdom is a dump-stat for most monks, mind you). Of the others, I have a strange but not completely unexplainable liking for the Sun Soul Monk (CoSplendors, more or less standard monk a few nifty changes) and the Fist of Zuoken (XPH, separate manifesting progression but few other abilities, according to a Wizards ruling ANY PP reserve can serve instead of the Wild Talent feat).
korric 05-02-07, 07:28 AM	thanks very much, I look into these classes, will make a stop by the local library and read up on them. thanks
The_Shaman 05-02-07, 07:50 AM	Fist of Zuoken (a.k.a. psionic fist) is at d20srd.org, in the psionics section. There are a lot more, of course, but each tends to have its own "niche" to specialize into. It really depends on what you want to do imo.
JellyPooga 05-02-07, 09:28 AM	I always quite liked the 'Tattooed Monk' PrC from Complete Warrior myself.
blindcynic 05-02-07, 11:07 AM	I second the tattooed Monk, the class starts off a little slow but by 3rd level your synergizing nicely
Patinho_Amarelo 05-02-07, 01:44 PM	Sacred Fist - Complete Divine E. Fist - Complete Arcane Initiate of Draconic Mysteries - Draconomicon Dragon Descendant - Dragon Magic Initiate of Pittis Sophia - Book of Exalted Deeds
The_Shaman 05-02-07, 01:55 PM	I second the tattooed Monk, the class starts off a little slow but by 3rd level your synergizing nicely If you do it, try to squeeze the Dragon OA update one past the DM. It's practically identical to the CW one, with 1 nice little difference: it adds to the flurry. The core books are not especially gratuitous with the flurry progression, unfortunately.
Sybyll 05-02-07, 01:57 PM	In gestalt campaign i was in we had a Tattoed monk that was also a drunken master, and that was alot of fun. Drunken master seemed to just be a fun prC to play with.
Barloch 05-02-07, 04:40 PM	This question comes up like once a week, just make a sticky thread that say "monk prcs, stop asking!":P My vote, take 19 levels of monk and then 1 level of any prc that will add to your unarmed strike damage progression, or barring that, any class and the supreme unarmed strike feat from ToB. Honestly, monk and druid are both good all 20 levels (okay I really think perfect self is kinda crappy) and you don't really need a PrC unless you have a specific fighting style you want to acomplish thats done well in a prc. As a side note, the initiate of draconic mytsteries (draconomicon) seems to be more a fighter with unarmed strike based prc then monk as most of their abilities overlap with the monks only to a less effective extent and they don't continue unarmed strike, flurry, movement speed, or unarmed AC progression at all.
claypigeons 05-02-07, 05:29 PM	Kensai. Monk10/Kensai10... Enchant your fists!
calprinicus 05-02-07, 07:12 PM	Kensai. Monk10/Kensai10... Enchant your fists! Well monk if my favorite class to play. a well rounded character for any campaign. I have to say that kensai and Drunken Master are my two favorite prestige classes. drunken master if you like the tactical side (lots of feinting, tripping, and disarming, with little grappling also lots of fun) of battle and kensai if you like beaten sh'it up.
teshen 05-03-07, 02:59 PM	Best is a strong word. It depends... Everyone else has made the suggestions I would have... with one exception. Radical Taoist had a monk/warmind combo that I would suggest you take a look at. How to Win with Secrets of Sarlona - RT's Kalashtar Monk (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?p=11564698) That and, again best doesn't fit, the Shen PrC from Dragon 319 was pretty cool. Happy Gaming.
The_Shaman 05-03-07, 03:58 PM	I've thought about warmind, to be honest - it and the FoZuoken are both good ways to utilize your high wisdom and get some useful abilities. An interesting point about monk is that with 2 relatively easy to get bonuses - the monk belt and Superior US - you can get lvl 20 damage with only 11 levels of monk and/or monk PrC. I prefer monk 6/SDisciple 5, since it also gets greater flurry at not too high BAB loss. As for the IDM, it's a good way to use the 11+SUS+MB rule. Improved natural attack, 2 damage increases, and a monk 20 damage seem to add to a relatively easy way to get some really devastating unarmed attacks (the bonuses stack to 8d8 which should be pretty stable, although I do agree that the PrC is good for non-monk, too). However, the capstone ability of the PrC is imo quite worth it, too. Does anyone know what the caster level for it is, btw? That would determine the HD limit of the form you can assume, and hence age/size.
moebius2007 05-07-07, 12:39 PM	Enlightened fist. take a look at it in complete arcana, i like it very much, combining it with sorcerer and taking the ascetic mage feat (comp arcane), allows u to use charisma both for casting and monk armor bonus, then there are a lot of spells that do combine very nicely with the class (mage armour, shield, WRAITHSTRIKE, vampiric touch, polymorph...) an e fist can kinda of quicken touch spells during a full attack round so u can end up by delivering a vampiric touch together with your furry of blows.
teshen 05-07-07, 01:42 PM	Enlightened fist. take a look at it in complete arcana, i like it very much, combining it with sorcerer and taking the ascetic mage feat (comp arcane), allows u to use charisma both for casting and monk armor bonus, then there are a lot of spells that do combine very nicely with the class (mage armour, shield, WRAITHSTRIKE, vampiric touch, polymorph...) an e fist can kinda of quicken touch spells during a full attack round so u can end up by delivering a vampiric touch together with your furry of blows. If you want to go the enlighten fist route, monk/wizard + Kung fu Genius or Carmendine monk works well... everything starts working off intelligence. If your using the Realms, then I suggest the Carmendine monk feat over the other... and you can create a monk's tatoo (out of Magic of Faerun, I think), a slotless wonderous item that treats you as four monk levels higher for unarmed strike damage, speed, and unarmored ac. That coupled with a monk's belt makes superior unarmed strike unecessary... you can favor wizard and still get most of your important monk goodies. (And with something that helps with it's adjustment level, persistant spell can be good metamagic for an enlightened fist... a persisted wraithstrike.)