good advice
Everyone seems to agree: it's too late for your monk.
I'd have a long talk with your GM and, if you really really want to play a combat-effective monk, start him over at level1 with a new build, including stat distribution.
Else, tell your GM that your monk wants to be involved with lots of other things -- scouting more, whatever. And then, as a player, stop thinking of your monk as a melee combatant, and do everything you can BESIDES wade blindly into battle.
There is still hope. Just not for melee, but still -- for some fun.
Lasher Dragon said:
I've always wanted to play a monk that specializes in shuriken - you can flurry the shuriken, and of course get them all magicked-up. Say you have 4 attacks in a flurry: get 4 +1 returning shuriken, have them all with different properties like a silver one, an adamantine one, cold iron, etc., AND have them all different as far as things like flaming/shocking etc..
Of course, you'd want the ranged-type feat selection - point blank, precise, far shot, quick draw.
Sadly, like many cool and interesting builds, this shuriken idea ain't gonna fly.
Price of 4 +1 Returning [one more enchantment] shurikens is: 4*18 = 72K. Yup. You read it right.
And, with your Str=18 monk with point blank shot, if you hit 4 times, you do:
1.5 + 4 + 3.5 + 1 (PBShot) = 9 points of damage, per shuriken. *4 = 36 points of damage total.
That's AFTER you hit 4 times, and the enemy has no immunities of any sort (fire, cold, DR, etc.).
That's using 72K of weaponry.
It's beyond horrible.
The best possible instance would be 4 +1 returning bane shurikens going against their bane target, doing:
1.5 + 4 + 3 + 1 + 2d6 = 9.5 + 7 = 16.5 per shuriken. *4 = 66 points of damage per round.
That's barely adequate, and (naturally) requires a bane enemy with no DR or anything like that. And 4 hits.
This is where D&D really drops the ball, big time. You have to do incredible hoop-hopping to attempt to match up with the most obvious low-grade fighting style, i.e. barbarian/fighter with a greatsword. Raaah. Charge and attack, throw in some into power attack. GRRRRRaaaaaah!
With 72K to spend on a weapon, your fighter picks up a +4 Holy Greatsword and really puts the hurt on most enemies, i.e. evil things. Or, far more cleverly, simply buys a +1 Holy Greatsword, pockets the rest of the change, and splurges on really nice armor/defensive stuff.
I hate it, but that's how D&D is set up. Do the obvious thing, your life is easy.
Do a non-obvious thing that sounds really cool, requires a lot of feats, and much money, and the result is: worse than if you had just done the obvious thing.
Talk about kicking somebody when they are down. Sheesh.