help me make a melee monster monk

[Tyrrell]

A fellow player in my game is frustrated with the way his monk is turning out in combat, but he’s still quite happy with the monk from a role playing perspective. He has decided that his monk wants to forgo the pursuit of enlightenment and pursue the path of pounding opponents with his fists.

At present the character is level six human monk and has 18 dex, 18 wisdom, 13 strength with his other stats at 10 or 11, (Yup, we’re generous to the point of silliness with the attributes).

At present he has the following feats
Dodge
Mobility
Power attack
Weapon finesse
Stunning fist
Improved unarmed strike
Combat reflexes
Improved trip

My suggestion for him is to switch to fighter and take the following feat progression: (characer level / fighter level)

7/1 Weapon focus unarmed
8/2 Cleave
9/3 Defensive throw
10/4 Weapon specialization unarmed
12/6 Melee weapon mastery, blunt and Improved critical unarmed
14/8 Combat tactician
15/9 Freezing the life blood
16/10 Improved weapon focus unarmed
18/12 Improved specialization unarmed and Fiery fist
20/14 Crushing strike

I realize that there are other good feat choices but is there a better option for making the existing character a melee monster than multi classing him into fighter?

Is there a magic item or technique (we have both a wizard and a cleric in the party) that would allow him to get reach and still use his unarmed attacks (so as to take advantage of his high dex and combat reflexes?)

Other feats that I think he might consider are: spring attack, great cleave, axiomatic strike, close quarters fighting, elusive target, roundabout kick, extra stunning, power critical, bounding assault, defensive sweep, water splitting strike, improved toughness and Robilar’s gambit. Are there any other obviously good feat choices that I’m not suggesting? Is there a more effective combination of feats that I'm missing?

Would it be wise for him to advance as a shou disciple?

Is there any way for him to get enchantment bonuses for fighting unarmed or would he have to use weapon?

 

[Uder]

Step 1: Play a Battle Dancer.

 

[IcyCool]

I'm guessing that he's unhappy with his damage output as a monk. The ruling is controversial, but perhaps the GM will let him take the Improved Natural Attack feat from the Monster Manual? (A Monk's unarmed strike counts as a natural weapon or a manufactured weapon in certain circumstances).

If that doesn't work, there's a feat in Complete Warrior that lets him burn a Stunning Fist use to add +1d4 or +1d6 to his unarmed strikes for a round.

Also, suggest that he face off against opposing spellcasters and grapple the hell out of them.

 

[Seeten]

Uder is right, battle dancer is monk with full bab.

 

[Magesmiley]

Another thought would be to take a look at the Complete Adventurer feats - there are a couple in there designed to allow the monk to multi-class with other classes freely. My personal favorite is combining the monk with the sorcerer (and taking the monk/sorcerer feat whose name is escaping me). Adding shield, true strike, and mage armor, and/or enlarge person to a monk's repertoire of tricks can be a lot of fun.

However looking at the stats once again, adding levels of sorcerer may be difficult - a cha of 10 or 11 could make more than a level or so prohibitive. On the other hand if the stat is currently an 11, it might be worth a dropping the 8th level attrbute into cha to gain access to 2nd level spells.

The big thing when combining monk with sorcerer is to pick spells that complement your fighting ability, rather than direct damage spells.

And to answer your questions... have the wizard cast enlarge person on the monk, that will up his reach to 10'. Make sure he gets a monk's belt. I recall seeing a magic item that would enhance unarmed/natural attacks somewhere too (but the exact spot is eluding me currently).

 

[Legildur]

The ruling is controversial, but perhaps the GM will let him take the Improved Natural Attack feat from the Monster Manual? (A Monk's unarmed strike counts as a natural weapon or a manufactured weapon in certain circumstances).

Yes, it is controversial, and I have have argued against allowing monks to take the feat by the RAW, but I'll add that the 'destroyer' package for monks from the expandaded classes chapter in the new PHB II lists a half-orc monk with INA as a feat. I don't agree with it, but WotC seems to accept it is allowable.

 

[Tyrrell]

Step 1: Play a Battle Dancer.

Where would I find the battle dancer write up?

 

[Uder]

Where would I find the battle dancer write up?

Dragon Magazine Compendium.

 

[Tyrrell]

Dragon Magazine Compendium.

hmm i don't think that anyone in our group has access to that yet.

Would that be more powerful in melee than the fighter build I posted?

In addition to full BaB and d10 hitpoints the feats of the fighter build I posted provide +4 to hit and +8 damage, free attacks with cleave and defensive throw, improved critical, paralizing strike,+1d6 fire damage and cumulative bonuses to hit with multiple strikes

The batttle dancer would get at least 4 feats as well and they would probably get increased base unarmed damage and a naturally increaseing armor class. How would it stack up?

I want to direct my fellow player in the correct direction.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I realize that its too late to do this for this PC (without multiclassing), but my Dex/Wis/Str Monk was a blast with a polearm.

Lots of AoOs. Hard to hit. Poke enemies at 10' range, IUS against enemies that close in. Repeat.

The build DOES require using the DCv1 though
(unless you have Dragon #331)- you'll need it for the Pole Fighter Feat (allows the use of a polearm as a monk weapon). You thus have a monk doing melee damage and threatening everything within 10'.

Another Feat from that source, Long Strike, extends that reach by an additional 5'.

DCv1 also has the Feat Ring the Golden Bell which lets you use IUS (and any abilities based off of IUS) at a range of 5' + 5'/Wis bonus...further expanding the area the monk "controls" (originally from Dragon #319).