Advice on building a Elvish monk. What would you do and why (I'm new to 3e)

[Dremen]

I'm playing an elvish monk and I'm looking for advice on buiolding the character. What would you do and why?

Here are the criteria

1. Only feats that come from PHB and Sword and Fist, MotW

2. Point buy 40 points (high powered game)

3. Cannot rely on a mage or druid pumping me up with any spells must be self sufficent.

I'm having trouble picking feats and abilities and skills I'm looking for input.

-D

 

[Arcane Runes Press]

My advice:


Pump up both your Wisdom and, especially, your Dexterity. Make sure that you don't have a Con penalty as well, as a monk with low hp can get in trouble quickly, particularly if he is the group's main damage dealer.

Dodge might be a useful feat, as it leads to Spring Attack. I've also found Improved Initiative to be useful, especially when coupled with a high Dex. Go first and give them a stunning blow, or take advantage of their flat-footedness to make up for the attack penalties for Flurry of Blows.

Get Weapon Finesse(unarmed) as soon as possible.

For the future, I would suggest avoiding any of the monk PrCs in Sword and Fist. There are lots of good monk PrCs out there, but I don't think any of those particular ones are that great.

Patrick Y.

 

[Mr Fidgit]

Though I haven't had a chance to play this, I've always liked the idea of:
(1st level Feat) expertise (as a prereq for
(3rd level Feat) hold the line (Sword and Fist)
(6th level Feat) close quarters fighting (Sword and Fist)
(9th level Feat) knockdown (Sword and Fist)

It would require a Str of 15+, but you would get a free swing on anyone who tryed to charge or grapple you, and by the time you got knockdown, you'll be doing 1d10 + Str Mod per hit. (if you could pull off the knockdown on your 1st hit, you're next one's at +4 to your prone opponent).

If I was going for a more Dex based Monk (as an elf would), I might take:
(1st) dodge
(3rd) weapon finesse (unarmed)
(6th) extra stunning attack (sword and fist)

In either case, I wouldn't forget blindsight 5' radius and eyes in the back your head (both sword and fist) at higher levels (when your Wis is 19+).

 

[Rashak Mani]

Being an elf you can use a longbow... good dex and longbow = good ranged fighter. If someone get close to you thinking your "unarmed" you give them an AOO...

Dont skimp on STR !! Since its 40 pts... try at least 14 str = +2 damage bonus. I just hate to see Monks hitting all the time and doing pathetic damage....

 

[Epametheus]

A monk? Okay...

Some things to remember:

You're not the main front liner. You don't have the HP nor the offensive ability to go head-to-head with something nasty and win. Try using the Tumble skill to get behind things that the Fighter/Paladin/Barbarian/Psychic Warrior and flank 'em.

Stats: 40 point buy? Damn. Before racial mods (+2 Dex, -2 Con) are worked in, you could try:
Str: 16, Dex: 14, Con: 16, Int: 12, Wis: 14, Cha: 12.
Charisma is actually a very pointless stat for you, but it's good if ya want your monk to be flashy. Drop it to an 8 and give yourself a 16 wisdom or dexterity instead if ya don't care.

Tumble's the only skill that you'll actually need, though Jump is also a classic monk skill. Listen, Hide, and Move Silently help for being more ninja-like.

Feats? Dodge, Mobility, Spring Attack wouldn't be a bad chain, and you could complete it by 6th level if ya started on it from 1st. Spring Attack capitalizes on your movement rate. Power attack & Cleave or Weapon Focus: Unarmed Strike can also be useful.

Gear: While your kung fu stuff is good and all, you'll need a magic weapon (nunchucks or a kama, probably). Ki Strike advancement is very slow, so your fists will penetrate #/+1 DR by the time everything has +2 or +3 Dr (or +5 DR, if ya count adventurers with Stoneskin). Other important items are Cloaks of Resistance (improve your saving throws), Bracers of Armor (since you can't wear armor, this is the next best thing), a Monk's Belt (lets you haste yourself for 10 rounds; also grants more Stunfist attacks), and Boots of Striding and Springing (doubles your movement rate and gives a +10 to Jump checks).

Oh, yeah. Grapple spellcasters. Since their attack bonus is crap, you can actually win the check against one (grapple checks = Str bonus + base attack bonus + size modifiers). Or against an unprepared spellcaster, anyways. A Cleric with Divine Power up or a Wizard with Polymorph Self up is probably a bit much to handle. Anyways, if you can actually grapple the enemy in question, you'll stop them from casting spells, for the most part.

Good luck, I hope that helps.

 

[Zog]

Hmm, 40 point buy. Yummy Monk.

Some good advice - but I'd arrange stats slightly differently.

You need to focus on two things, young grasshopper: Hitting thy foes, and not getting hit thyself.

As an elf, thou art more nimble than most beings. Use this. Focus on this. Max out thy dex. With this, and some experience, you can learn Weapon Finesse, Unarmed. Now, grasshopper, you will be doing almost as well as the mighty warrior with his greatsword. Wisdom, also, is vital. This should be above average - 14. Do not neglect thy intelligence - you will want to learn many things: Tumble, Jump, Sneaking and Hiding, Escape Artist - and others. Thy intelligence should be equal to thy wisdom.

Now, finally, we come to strength and health. Health, of all things, will be a problem for thy slightly fragile frame. If you plan on improving it as soon as can, then leave it barely above average: 11. At level four, bump to 12, you get 4 more hit points.

And strength. Again, a 14 is the smallest number you should consider here.

Does the math work: 18 = 16 points. 14 = 6 points. 3 14s, 1 18 = 36, 4 points left = rats, silly con penalty. Okay - 17 Dex, gives you 3 more points, now you have a 13 con for 5 and a cha of 10.
Raize dex at level 4, con at level 8.

For feats: Dodge, Weapon finesse unarmed, then expertise or mobility.


And that is how I'd make an elven monk. Be a solid scout. If the party has a rogue - you need to work together, you setting up his flank attacks, sneaking with him, etc. If not, you just became the party scout: first to find trouble!

 

[fuindordm]

Starting at first level?

It's a bit munchkin, but taking a level of rogue before working on the monk skills can help a lot. The +1d6 sneak attack will add to grapple damage and make the stunning attack that much more potent. It'll also give you the opportunity to boost a few extra skills to round out the character's personality--for a monk, Jump, Tumble, and Listen are pretty much mandatory.

For stats, I would go:
S:14 D:16 C:12 I:12 W:14 Ch:12 = 32 points
Then boost Wis and Dex by +2 each with the
remainder. When you level up pump points
into Wisdom: Blindsight 5' radius is a
really cool feat and you could get it by
level 12. Note that with a Wis of 16 you can
also start with Spot and Listen rolls of +9... rogues watch out!

Spring attack is made for monks, but also consider the prone fighting feat so that you can make trip attempts with impunity. You won't have a lot of feats to spend, and the spring attack chain, while very useful, uses up three of them.

--Ben

 

[Shard O'Glase]

there is an entire thread anout why monks suck, you may want to try and find it. I don't think they suck, but they rarely deliver what people expect.

1. don't expect to even come close to combat skills of the fighter, heck if you guys use team work the rogue will frequently out damage you.

2. about the only thing you will excell at is surviving against varied opponents.

If either of these things bother you, try something else. Or build a non standard monk. If you want to be good in mellee combat give your self an 18 str, if you don't, don't whine to anyone when you hit a lot but for no damage with your sissy weapon finesse ways. Consider non standard feats, for a non standard monk, yeah spring attack is great and all that, but consider power attack, cleave, combat reflexes, expert tactician, and improed init. With stealth you can frequently get the drop on foes, expert tact gives you an extra attack in the surprise round since foes have no dex, improved init and good elf dex gives you good odds to win init and more expert tact free attacks. Stunning blow gives more, and cleave means a free attack everytime you drop someone. Yes I like extra attacks.

Stats before elf 18 str dex 14 con 14, int 12 wis 15, chr 8. I'd put 4 stat boosts into str the last into wis.

 

[Dremen]

Monk

Thanks for all the good advice keep it comming.

BTW I want to play a staight monk, not a multi class. If I was multi classing I'd take 1 level of Wizard. Scrolls of True Strike, Magic Weapon, Mage Armour and Shield would be way more usefull than Some rogue skills and a sneak attack. Plus the added benefit of a familiar. Cat, Owl, Toad would all be good.

I think the monk is a great support character, and I'm looking forward to playing one. Any more advice would be appreciated.

-D