A request for information/opinion

[dragonfriend7738]

My DM just recently started my group on a new campaign and had us roll up new characters, and I had the glorious pleasure of rolling a near perfect stat run. (18, 17, 17, 17, 17, 16 was my actual roll.) I paid for it later by almost failing all my later rolls in the first encounter, though.

The DM threw some restrictions on the party for character creation, however- only human, and the group was going to start in a school for fighter-type classes, so starting class had to be Fighter, Knight or Paladin. I managed, with the approval of the rest of the party, to convince the DM to let me play a monk, but the stipulation was that I had to take the first four levels as a fighter, since that's what the school was going to be.

So, that's the background of the campaign that I'm in so far. The real question is this- I want to play an Exalted Monk character and I was looking at Vow of Poverty, but I know that there are lots of great magic items that can max out the capability of a monk.

I like the mental image of a glowing monk walking into a crowd of evil/undead baddies and laying waste to them, but I'm wondering about how complicated the build is going to be.

I'm going to try for a Sunder/ Disarm spec exalted monk, and I really like the addition of Touch of Golden Ice from the Book of Exalted Deeds. Does anyone have any good suggestions on how I can pull this off?

I'm willing to take a hit in combat capability for benifits in spec, and I'm more in it for the RP than the combat anyway, so I'm open to any suggestions here.

 

[Nebten]

First ask if Vow of Poverty is allowed by your DM, let alone anything else from Book of Exalted Deeds. That type of monk has a track history of being banned. Once that air is clear, the min/max'ers will swarm.

 

[dragonfriend7738]

yeah, we've already established that all 3.5 sourcebooks are acceptable, and even the handbooks for 3.0 (sword and fist, ect.)

Aparently in a previous campaign someone played a decent VoP Druid, so the DM is comfortable with the abilities.

 

[Sekhmet]

Aparently in a previous campaign someone played a decent VoP Druid, so the DM is comfortable with the abilities.

This sentence made me cringe. It would be the decent VoP druid that would make me want to refuse BoED ever again.

 

[xigbar]

yeah, we've already established that all 3.5 sourcebooks are acceptable, and even the handbooks for 3.0 (sword and fist, ect.)

Aparently in a previous campaign someone played a decent VoP Druid, so the DM is comfortable with the abilities.

Wait, hold on, your DM was okay with a VoP Druid, yet you had to "convince him" to let you play a monk?

 

[dragonfriend7738]

I had to convince him because he was wanting a 'knights of the round' type campaign.

 

[Dandu]

Do not use VoP with Monk. Monks are one of the more item dependent classes in the game. They need magical items in order to fly, for instance, and to enchant their fists. VoP's benefits are almost never worth it unless you're playing one of very few classes.

My suggestion would be to play a Thug Fighter 2/Warblade 18. If your DM asks you to justify playing a Thug, say that your Fighter attended the school of hard knocks.

 

[Water Bob]

My DM just recently started my group on a new campaign and had us roll up new characters, and I had the glorious pleasure of rolling a near perfect stat run. (18, 17, 17, 17, 17, 16 was my actual roll.)

You rolled this? Using what system? Surely, you didn't roll 4d6, drop lowest, to end up with THESE stats.

 

[Grogg of the North]

A couple thoughts:

1) Why fighter? I know that your DM wanted you to do this but it just seems ... petty. If you have to have your first four levels in something else, go with Paladin and pick up Ascetic Knight. This will let you stack monk and paladin for some nice things.

2) What is the magic level of the campaign? Do you know if the DM is loot light? A VoP monk can be great if magic and wealth are not in abundance. Be sure to give your money to your church. It always helps to have a cleric or two that owes you a favor. I recently played with a VoP Monk and she was a tough brute. Finally, as long as you're having fun with your Vow, who cares what the optimizers say.

3) I'd really recommend you stay away from disarm. You won't have full BAB and as an unarmed monk you're going to be taking penalties for trying to disarm. And if your DM is a jerk, you could unintentionally violate your vow by grabbing that magic sword.

4) Sundering will really be awesome when you get your Admantine fists. However, you're again taking a penalty for using your fists.

5) Touch of golden ice is also awesome. Since its contact based, ask your DM if the ravage goes off if you hit their touch AC but don't beat their regular AC. The DC is low but as a monk with flurry you're going to be throwing so many saves at the DM that he's bound to fail eventually. The previously mentioned monk above used that very tactic to great success.

6) The biggest suggestion I'd give you is to pick up Improved Natural Attack and bump your damage.

7) If you don't take VoP see if you can get some way to have enlarge person available. A vest of Enlarge Person 3/day is pretty cheap and gives you a nice boost to damage. Enlarge Person and INA make you a combat monster.

8) Otherwise I'd recommend getting Stunning Fist and Pain Touch to lock down opponents. Plus there are a lot of other feats and a few PrCs that allow you to burn Stunning Fist attempts to do other things.

9) Defensive Throw is a nice defense option too.

I hope that helps! Let us know if you have any other questions!

 

[emoplato]

My DM just recently started my group on a new campaign and had us roll up new characters, and I had the glorious pleasure of rolling a near perfect stat run. (18, 17, 17, 17, 17, 16 was my actual roll.) I paid for it later by almost failing all my later rolls in the first encounter, though.

The DM threw some restrictions on the party for character creation, however- only human, and the group was going to start in a school for fighter-type classes, so starting class had to be Fighter, Knight or Paladin. I managed, with the approval of the rest of the party, to convince the DM to let me play a monk, but the stipulation was that I had to take the first four levels as a fighter, since that's what the school was going to be.

So, that's the background of the campaign that I'm in so far. The real question is this- I want to play an Exalted Monk character and I was looking at Vow of Poverty, but I know that there are lots of great magic items that can max out the capability of a monk.

I like the mental image of a glowing monk walking into a crowd of evil/undead baddies and laying waste to them, but I'm wondering about how complicated the build is going to be.

I'm going to try for a Sunder/ Disarm spec exalted monk, and I really like the addition of Touch of Golden Ice from the Book of Exalted Deeds. Does anyone have any good suggestions on how I can pull this off?

I'm willing to take a hit in combat capability for benifits in spec, and I'm more in it for the RP than the combat anyway, so I'm open to any suggestions here.

Disarming always sounds cool but it is a really bad option for a monk. Unarmed strikes are considered light weapons which mean they suffer a -4 penalty to do so, plus the most dangerous weapons you want to disarm(two handed weapons) get +4 to resist and deal. It is also an attack roll check(moderate BAB, bad). There is also the fact that most enemies won't be fighting with weapons or will have those as back-ups. Sundering can be effective for longer fights but yet again those penalties above apply, plus there is also the issue of destroying loot.
What I would suggest is take the Dungeon crasher fighter variant in Dungeonscape. At level 2 instead of a bonus you get some minor trap and obstacle breaking bonuses but mainly when you bull rush someone into a solid surface you deal 4d6+2xstr. The bonuses increases and damage goes up 8d6+3xstr at level 6. As a monk you can get improved trip for free, once you get a weapon there is a cheap enhancement called brutal surge which allows you to automatically bull rush someone after a successful attack. Once you successfully trip someone, theoretically, you could bull rush them into the ground.
As for VoP, not that great of an option for a monk. It is flavorful and has some nice bonuses but really isn't worth it for developing a good strategy. If your DM is going to be really stingy than go ahead and look into a kensai so you can enhance your weapons or unarmed strikes with experience points.