Helping a player

[Gnome]

Fighter with both Improved Unarmed Strike and Superior Unarmed Strike. The latter feat is from the Tome of Battle, and lets unarmed damage to scale up to 2d6 at 20th level for non-monks. This can be further increased with the Improved Natural Attack feat from the Monster Manual to do damage as one size category higher, though not all DMs allow this.

Oh, and maybe throw in a few levels of Monk (say, 4) for extra Monkishness. ;-)

 

[Urbannen]

As has already been mentioned, the monk needs higher stats than other characters in order to function. The 3E monk is one of the multi-stat holdovers from 1st and 2nd editions that you only used to be able to play if you rolled really high stats. You know, like the paladin whose minimum Charisma was 17, back before point-buy.

Give the Monk an 18 Strength and high Dex, Con, and Wis, and then see if the player still complains.

Hint: At low levels monks with 14+ Strength should wield quarterstaffs - the damage output is superior to their unarmed attack.

 

[Slaved]

Talked to him about your idea , he said no. He wants something that is intended to be monkish.

I do not understand. What is more Monkish than a Monk? What abilities is he looking for?

 

[DragonTurtle]

Battle Dancer from Dragon Compendium is full BAB I believe, very monk like.

 

[0bsolete]

I do not understand. What is more Monkish than a Monk? What abilities is he looking for?

I was referring to your suggestion of a warmind.

 

[sukael]

Battle Dancer from Dragon Compendium is full BAB I believe, very monk like.

Yep. Chaotic only, and they get Cha to AC instead of Wis. Oh, and both Fort and Will are at poor progression instead good, presumably to counterbalance the increased BAB.

Interestingly enough, battle dancer is one of the few classes to get an innate fly speed (at 17th level). It seems like something that could have a nicely wuxia feel.

 

[Slaved]

I was referring to your suggestion of a warmind.

I thought as much but Monk 10/Warmind 10 with Tashalatora is basically a Monk with a bunch of Insight bonuses, which are very Monk like!

If that build is not Monkish enough then I assume nothing will ever be Monkish enough.

 

[Zelc]

House rule the monk to have full BAB. I don't think it will break the game, monks are underpowered.

Do this. Honestly. I've only crunched the numbers for level 6 (actually E6, where Monks get no-penalty Flurry and Fighters get Greater Weapon Focus), but Monks without full BAB were doing like less than 50% of the damage of a Fighter. After full BAB, it was about 80%? This was without Power Attack, which would benefit the Fighter greatly.

 

[nick012000]

As a DM I don't allow the buying of permanent stat boosting items.

This is your problem, right here. 3.X DnD basically requires players to own these, especially martial characters like monks and fighters if they want to be effective. There's an article about it by the game devs here.

Also, let him get some +X Gauntlets. This allows him to get the attack bonus benefit of a magic weapon with his unarmed strikes, provided he's using his hands to make them.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Very similar to the Monk is the OA Shaman, which was made even moreso by the 3.5 update in Dragon#318. Like the Monk, it has 3/4 BAB and IUC as a bonus feat, but doesn't have FoB or increasing damage output with unarmed strikes, or the ability to enhance his unarmed strikes, etc.

The 3.5 update increases the damage output at the same rate as the Monks, but still lets the monk have FoB and much of the rest.

What the class does have, though, is full spellcasting w/2 Domains & turning, and it eventually gets a 3rd Domain.

I personally like Dex monks, esp. with polearms to improve the likelyhood of using all of their AoOs (with Combat Reflexes). He'll need to do things a little differently than a Str monk build, though, like taking the feats Hold the line, Stand Still, and Deft Opportunist, and filling a Quiver of Ehlonna with javelins & crossbow bolts...

Also, if you use DCv1- source of the aforementioned Battle Dancer- there are feats that let monks use other light weapons or even polearms (see above!) as monk weapons, so in the latter case, you could have a monk who can FoB with reach. There is also a feat that lets the monk use his unarmed strikes at range.

The Kensai PrCl also lets you boost damage a LOT by 1) enchanting the PC's signature weapon- for most monks, the PC's unarmed strike- and 2) using the Power Surge ability to grant +8Str on occasion...