I wanna play a straight Monk, and I'm wondering what feats are good to take.
I'm going to use Core races, and my DM will allow Core and Complete books. Maybe some feats from other books if they're not overpowered too much.
Probably gonna be a human, but I was thinking Half Orc might be good too. I've never played a monk before, and I really don't know what kind of feats to use.
Improved unarmed strike? Improved TWF? I dunno if they even work with monks....
HELP!
Thanks in advance, you guys have always been awesome with any questions I have.:D
;)
Please read the posting guidelines, and then ask about how to make an effective Swordsage.
;)
Hmm, this isnt meant to be rude, so don't take it that way. Read the original post, thoroughly. He has the core + completes to work with, no Tome of Battle.
Now, to the original poster. Tips for an effective monk.
1) Races:
-Nothing with str, dex, wis or con penalties. These four scores are somewhat important to a monk.
-Half-orc can make a decent str based monk build as int and cha are usually dump stats
2) Feats:
-Improved natural attack (monster manual 1) can improved the monk's unarmed damage by one size step. Usually level 6+ before you can take it (as a pure monk)
-Superior unarmed strike (Tome of Battle): If your DM allows these feat, you can treat your monk level as 4 higher in regards to damage. Also, 6+ level before you can take it (as a pure monk)
-Power Attack
3) Class abilities:
-Stunning Fist: Take it. It is a very useful ability for monks.
-Deflect arrows: Normally people say pass it up and I would normally agree, but there is a few feats on this list that eventually allow you to reflect spells back at mages in epic levels. Take this if you plan for epic levels.
-Improved Trip: Take it. Disarm is not really that useful in regular gameplay
4) Multiclass options:
-Fighter is good for a dip (1-4 levels)
-Monk itself is good until you hit lvl 12. level 11 grants greater flurry and after that the abilities do not keep up to par anyway. many people don't recommend taking this class past lvl 6
-Rogue can be useful. The skills points, uncanny dodge and sneak attacks are the best benefit. You already get evasion at lvl 2 monk. A feat from one of the completes let you stack rogue and monk levels for unarmed damage.
-Druid and monk mix rather well and both rely on a good wis score. Wildshape + unarmed strike gives you more attacks in a shifted form. Plus the ability to cast greater magic fang on your unarmed strikes. Lawful neutral only
-Cleric and monk also mix well and can get very good attack bonuses. Usually, these combos prestige into Sacred Fist.
-Wizard and monks can work, with a feat that allows int for monk AC bonus. But with a half-orc, it would be a challenge
-Sorcerer and monk: see above
-Bards and monks reflect sorcerer and wizard in the same way. Bards use Int for skills and cha for spells, both are half-orc weak points. Youc an make good combos this way. (Bard / Monk / Red Dragon Disciple + Enlightened Fist)
-Paladins and monks share similiar ability score dependencies (cha becomes important too) and paladins have some very nice weapon enhancement spells that can be used on a monk's fist. Monk 4 + Pally 6 + Sacred Fist = Fun times
-Rangers and monks: see above but not as good. Ask your DM if TWF and flurry can stack.
5) Prestige options:
-There are multitudes of prestiging options for a monk, especially in the complete series. None of them is a bad idea.
6) Items:
-Str, Dex, Con and Wis boosting items
-Amulet of Might Fists (Or Necklace of natural Attacks, if you can use Savage Species)
7) Spells (if you can cast):
-Enlarge person (potions if you have to): Not only does this increase the monk's size, but your unarmed damage as well.
-Haste: An extra attack is always nice
-Greater magic weapon/fang: Enhancement bonuses to unarmed attacks are fun
-Many others.
If you have any other questions, hit me up with a PM. I am always happy to help
Assuming you're going to be doing melee damage, do not neglect Str and Con. I've seen it too often where players put everything they can in Dex and Wis to boost their AC and end up with a 10 Str. Granted, you can take Weapon Finesse to hit with Dex to try and reduce your MAD, your damage per attack suffers too much. Plus, because you get so many attacks per round, getting extra Str damage on each attack really adds up.
Con is important because you only have average HD and you're a melee character. That coupled with an okay AC means you'll go down quickly. Keep this in mind.
Getting Bracers of Armor can be a decent way to get your AC up. Really, monk is the only class that can make use of these, as other classes have other options. They're half the price of a Ring of Protection or Amulet of Natual Armor, and it's one of the only sources of an armor bonus you're likely to have.
Edit:
You will eventually be able to overcome three types of damage reduction: magic, lawful, and adamantine. Sadly, there are very few creatures with DR x/lawful, and not many more with adamantine. Also, your attacks aren't actually made of adamantine, so you don't get the nice side effect of ignoring hardnesses under 20.
The reason I bring this up is it can be a good idea to carry a few random monk-weapons on you of different materials (or get the proper enchantment or augment crystals on them if available) to help with this. One bad thing about getting lots of attacks per round is that DR applies against each of them, so if you can't overcome the DR, you lose a lot of damage per round.
Also, your attacks aren't actually made of adamantine, so you don't get the nice side effect of ignoring hardnesses under 20.
Actually you do:
At 16th level, her unarmed attacks are treated as adamantine weapons for the purpose of dealing damage to creatures with damage reduction and bypassing hardness.
If you really, really want to play a Monk without dips, pick one stat and focus on it. You need one-stat focus to get sufficient armor class, To Hit and such to be of any use. If you pick Strength, you may want to consider Strength-based tactics like Tripping and Grappling (eww). Dex or Wis gets you more AC and Wis also ups Stunning Fist DC, but without Intuitive Attack (Book of Exalted Deeds - getting it accepted would help a lot), you won't be able to use Wis for To Hit, which is a bummer. Dex-focus would get you To Hit and Damage (if you can get Shadow Blade from Tome of Battle) based on Dex, but no special maneuvers making life very monotonous (and you very one-dimensional).
Also, I really hope you have insane stats since Monks need pretty much 3 16s (preferably one of those 18 - apply all your stat increases to that 18 and make it your To Hit-stat and you'll be ok), a 14 (Con) and a ~12 or so.
Take all the AC boosts you can, but don't sacrifice STR or CON, as its a lot easier to raise your HP over time than it is your AC, and you need that STR for damage and grappling. Take Earth's Embrace (CW) and get your toughest foe, and pin him. Combine that with Clever Wrestling (CW) if you can spare it and will be going up against things bigger than you.
Another route is the tripper/disarmer, and once again I know its cheese, but it works. I'd had a single monk keep about 4 opponents on him, and keep them neutralized, for an entire battle, and that included casters. Improved Disarm makes a weapon master type opponent useless, and Improved Trip gives you a free hit on a prone enemy. Keep in mind you can do these combat maneuvers as ATTACKS, meaning you get more of them as your BAB goes up.
Also, invest in things that give you more of those attacks. A hasted monk can leave a trail of prone, disarmed bodies behind him.
But I am surprised people havent mentioned Vow of Poverty.
You want a Monk, but you want what ? str based? see if Feral is allowed, go Feral, grab monk, grab druid, go into sacred fist
Get Imp attack sense your hands are now claws, then grab that neckace of natural attack or Amulet or mighty fists. Stacks? I think so.
Then now your a feral monk whos a druid who shape changes into a bird to fly away from battle
or whatever, transform into a bear for all I care. You got spells, buff yourself up and then get natural spell ASAP, use Animal growth specially if you wildshape into a bear, your now considered an animal, use the ANIMAL GROWTH spell and your a huge animal with kick butt claws :D.I would go half orc if you go with that concept.
Building a monk:
Step one: ability scores should be arranged from greatest to least in this order: Str, Wisdom, Con, Dex, Intelligence, and charisma.
Why? Because as a monk, you likely intend to melee fight. People roll monks because of unarmed strike, not because of ninja-ness. If you want to be someone throwing shurikens in peoples faces when they don't expect it, roll a ninja, rogue, or something else other than a monk. The best explanation for this is that monks simply do not get enough feats to maximize their ranged combat, and that class supported feats all involve the awesomeness which is unarmed strike.
Step two: Feats should be planned out waaay ahead of time. I reccomend taking at least 1 flaw (or play human) and take the following feats
Lvl 1: Power attack, Touch of golden ice (BoED, ravages evil people hit with your unarmed strike with golden ice (1d6 dex damage with 2d6 secondary dex dmg)
Monk 1: Improved unarmed strike and Stunning fist
Monk 2: Deflect arrows or combat reflexes (dependant on just how low your dex is, <14 dex means don't take combat reflexes)
Lvl 3: flying kick (CW) - because 1d12 damage at this level in ADDITION to your charge damage will stop most classes on the first hit. You're a righteous monk, right? (also if you dipped barbarian at first level for the lion totem varient you'll deal 2x(1d8+1.5xstr) + + 1d12 = ~24 average damage, not factoring in power attack heck that will kill most lvl 5's in 1 shot.)
Lvl 6: superior unarmed strike (ToB) OR improved natural attack (MM), whichever you take, you'll be taking the other one at lvl 9.
Monk 6: Improved trip. You can't disarm that polar bear, but you sure can trip just about anything with legs. You may even get an extra attack out of it if you succeed.
Lvl 9: see level 6, take the one you didn't take there.
lvl 12: I reccomend Improved Toughness (ToB?) the feat that gives you an additional hp per hitdie at that level, basically just allowing you to take more hits. I don't quite understand why it doesn't have toughness as a pre-req, but that may just be why it is better.
lvl 15 and 18: I do not have these ones planned, so you'll be on your own for them. Improved critical may be good, or versatile unarmed strike.
This is just how I set up a level 10 monk I am running in my friend's oriental adventures campaign. I also bought the following item which you will likely find very useful:
Amulet of ghost touch natural attacks (Savage Species): Allows wearer's natural attacks to hit ethereal creatures in the material plane. Price: 2600 GP (+2000 GP if your DM considers your unarmed strike to be 2 weapons, your left and right fist, your round-housing legs, or your left and right sides)
Also note that the amulet of natural attacks from the savage species guide can be used to apply ANY enchantment to your unarmed strike temporarily. If you want permanent bonuses, see if your DM will allow you to "enchant your fists" much like a magic weapon, increasing their hit, critical threat, or granting them cool abilities like flaming burst (it burns!) or dancing (I kick him with my feet while my hands auto-attack in front of me).
Also, the monk's belt (DMG) will increase your unarmed strike damage to awesome levels if you can afford its 13000 GP price tag.
Step 3 of successful monk: Role play that sucka. Create a cool story to go with your monk. Explain how he got his flaws (mine has meager fortitude from eating a poisonous root when he was a child). Try to incorporate him into the campaign setting. Give him a demanor, is he holier-than thou or is he merely convicted to his cause. The same could be said about any character when you get to this point in character creation. You could do your skills first, but I reccomend writing back story so you can plan your skillset around your story.
Step 4: skills: 4(4+int)+lvl(4+int) Monk's skills are pretty good selection wise. I reccomend maxing tumble, jump, and balance, and working with what's left. Diplomacy is good if you have more than 10 charisma, otherwise I would leave it with 0 points and leave the talking to the prettier people. hide, move silently, listen, and spot are also nice to have, but you're on a pretty tight budget for skills. I reccomend always putting at least 1 point in knowledge (religion) and knowledge (arcana) because you never know when just knowing the name of something may come in handy (if nothing else, at least it will be for role-playing purposes, especially if your monk is from a monestary).
Step 5: race selection: I save it for last because this one is majorly important and will basically define how your monk ends up looking, what he can do in certain environments, and also because I forgot to put it in earlier. No races with a penalty to strength, con, wisdom, or dexterity. Races with no ability modifiers are O.K. Races with wings, fire breath, natural armor bonuses, bonuses to saves, waterbreathing, darkvision, LL vision, are all cool, but must meet the ability modifier restrictions i put 2 sentances ago.
Anyway, have fun with your monk.
lvl 12: I reccomend Improved Toughness (ToB?) the feat that gives you an additional hp per hitdie at that level, basically just allowing you to take more hits. I don't quite understand why it doesn't have toughness as a pre-req, but that may just be why it is better.
Emphasis mine.
It's CW, not ToB
But as for everything else, I'm pretty much in agreement here.