Help build 9th level monk.

[youspoonybard]

I think the Sun School Tactical Feat from Complete Warrior is worth it for Flash of Sunset alone. The other two maneuvers are just icing on the cake.

Abundant Step right next to the mage, Stunning Fist. Next round, grapple, pin. Heck, you could even flurry in another Stunning Fist the second round and try to confuse the mage.

The rogue goes off against a lone enemy, who thinks he's not a threat. Suddenly, a flash of light, and the enemy finds himself grappled/stunned from behind, as the rogue draws his dagger...

And I highly recommend the stat placement offered, and also recommend Tripping over Disarming for a high strength monk (as it isn't BAB dependant).

 

[Shazman]

Go for stunning fist, fists of iron from CW, dodge, mobility, combat reflexes, spring attack, improved trip,amd weapon focus:unarmed strike, spring attack enemies using stunning fist and fists of iron, or trip them to get a free attack. Use your AoO when they get up to trip them again. Continue till they are beat down. Put a high score into strength and boost it with items and level boosts.

 

[two]

Spring attack trap

I still feel like spring attack is a trap for a monk.

The "spring in/stun monster/then stay if it is stunned or spring back out if it is not" sounds great on paper. Sounds solid. But...

But in play, the Monk's Stunning Fist DC goes up a lot slower than enemy fort saves. Most CR8, 9+ monsters that can be stunned in the first place have +11 or +12 to their fort save. Meaning, that the monk has to first HIT the monster, and then the monster needs to fail the save. The probablily of that (vs. a DC18 stunning fist, for example) is what? Let's say the monk needs a "12" to hit the AC, and the monster needs to roll lower than a "7" to fail. That's 8/20 chances, follows by 6/20 chances, which is 12% chance that it will work, roughly.

Yes, this is against "not bad" fort save monsters. Because, if you are attacking something with a bad fort save (rogue, wizard, rogue, some rare types of monsters) the monk does not NEED to spring in and stun and leave. Typically, the monk needs to rush in a grapple/or full attack.

In other words, the time when Spring Attack is must useful (vs. a scary melee threat) is precisely the time when stunning first is least useful (vs. a great fort save). So, again, Spring Attack will typically result in low damage output (paltry by level 9 standards), no effective stunning fist attack, and not a very effective result.

The whole "use a reach weapon" is great with a monk. Use a feat, proficiency halberd or whatever. Hit them with it at 10' or trip them, if they come inside to 5' kick them with your unarmed strike. Do this when enlarged for 20' reach with the weapon, and 10' reach with feet/head/elbows. Very nice combo with combat reflexes, and will be infiinitely more constructive I feel than spring attack, which eats up THREE precious feats. Ugh.

This way, the monk is not springing in/out and having no effect on the enemy; he's controlling the battlefield via reach, stopping bad guys from running through to the back lines; getting extra attacks via AOO's all the time, etc. Honestly, simple reach sounds a lot more effective to me than spring attack, particularly if you get a cheap enlarge 3x day item. Hit them at 20', take some Aoo's, etc. The monk is still not getting full attacked in return. Eh, whatever. I'd better stop being obnoxious.

 

[Chimera]

I'm currently playing a Monk 4/Wizard 1 in an FR campaign. (Every GM I've played with under 3.0 or 3.5 has house-ruled away the Monk multi-classing restrictions.)

Dodge and Mobility. Sure, I tumble. But more often, I simply move to flank. I've got my Mage Armor up, so I'm AC 21, 22 against whomever I'm dodging. AC 25/26 against AoOs with my Mobility. Will be more now that I've just picked up Shield. Not the greatest BAB, especially with the Wizard multiclass, but the +2 in flanking helps both me and the other guy.

I went with Improved Grapple and Combat Reflexes. We need someone captured? I'm your man. Grabbed a goblin in one of our early encounters, to question about his band. (Heh. Chill Touch being a melee touch attack, which is what you use to initiate a grapple = cool in more ways than one. Add Ray of Enfeeblement when I hit 3rd level and I'll be rockin!)

Otherwise, yeah I'm not a tank, I don't have the greatest attacks.

But I have plenty of other abilities. With the 13 INT on the above build and Human, you get 8 skills points per level. With my high WIS, not even the group Ranger has my Spot skill! I can also climb, jump, hide, listen and do all sorts of things better than just about anyone in the group. Your player should keep this in mind.

It's part of the trade-off in being a Monk.

 

[Legildur]

Why hasn't anyone mentioned Weakening Touch from CW?

I play a 8th level dwarven monk with good stats. Feats are Stunning Fist (b), Improved Grapple, Combat Reflexes (b), Weapon Focus (unarmed strike), Improved Trip (b) and Weakening Touch. Eventually plan to take Dodge, Defensive Throw and that Sun School tactical feat from CW.

He's a blast. Grapple lone opponents, trip others with a kama using the lower BAB attack (since it's only a touch attack), and soften up the strong opponents with Weakening Touch (-6 to strength) before using trip or grapple.

Weakening Touch is a great use of the stunning fist daily uses.

And I have to add that Enlarge Person is your best friend.

 

[Evilhalfling]

The Monk in my group is a grappler and she really shines when the party buffs her-
Mage armor (wizard)
Barkskin (sorcer)
Owl's wisdom (cleric)
Cats Grace (wand)
Ac moves from 19 to 27, 31 if provoking AoA
she then runs past all opponents, and either sets up in the back to flank or grapple the casters - no one else get near this AC -
as a 9th lvl monk feats are
Bonus feats - improved grapple, prone attack, Improve Disarm (per monk style)
Feats Doge, mobility, WF unarmed, Blindfighting

 

[Darklone]

If it hasn't been answered yet: Enlarge Person with a polearm with reach gives you 20ft reach, you can't attack at 5ft and 10ft.

Flurry: Go in with Spring Attack, hit with a stunning fist, if it works, move 5 ft more but keep away from the other buddies of your victim at least 10ft. Next round, flurry. If stun doesn't work, get 15 ft or so back again, let him come to you with his single attack.

Monks with Guisarme: I suggest one fighter level for the weapon proficiency.

Edit: Fighting unarmed: Attack with full C-Expertise and fighting defensively if you can't stun your opponent to get close. Next round flurry if you think you can hurt him badly. Hit and tumble away (between the mage and him) outside of full attack range otherwise.

 

[two]

natural reach

I thought 3.5 cleared it up:

A monk with a reach weapon, when enlarged, threatens 20' with the reach weapon, and 5' and 10' with his natural unarmed strike.

So, the only "dead zone" is at 15'.

Plus, in 3.5 you threaten both ranges simultaneously, because the Monk can keep both hands on the 2-handed weapon and kick for the unarmored strikes.

Is this wrong? I'm not an 3.5 monk expert!

Plus, is just using a feat for a reach weapon less bad than dipping into a Fighter level, which delays lots of monk special abilities? I wonder.

 

[Darklone]

The matter whether you threaten with your unarmed attack (or spiked gauntlets) or not is often heavily discussed... some people propose to apply two weapon fighting penalties when you want to threaten with several weapons at once.

 

[MarauderX]

My PC sheet is too large.... but here are some snippits for the feats and such. The concept is kinda simple - he is essentially a judo master with the Great Throw feat (addendum to OA) and has 1 level in wizard to cast enlarge and mage armor on himself. The two levels of fighter were for the extra feats and HP so he can survive.

Monk5/F2/W1
32-point buy: STR 14, DEX 16(+2 added from 4th & 8th levels), CON 12, INT 14, WIS 16, CHA 8

Fort: +7(base) +1(ability) = +8
Reflex: +4 +3 = +7
Will: +6 +3 = +9

movement = 40'

Class Features:
Improved Unarmed Strike
- Flurry of Blows (2 attacks)
Still Mind (+2 vs. Enchant)
Evasion (Save for no damage)
Scribe Scroll
Summon Familiar
Ki Strike (magic)
Slow Fall - 20 feet
Purity of Body (no diseases)

Feats:
Expertise (trade BAB to AC)
Dodge (+1 AC vs. 1 opponent)
Combat Reflexes (3 AoOs)
Improved Trip (+4 trip)
Great Throw (toss opponent)
Stunning Attack (DC=16, x3)
Defensive Throw (AoO trip)
Deflect Arrows (Auto 1/rnd)

For AC: 10 + 3(Dex) +3(Wis) +1(Monk AC bonus) = 17; he had a set of bracers +1 and amulet of protection +1. Add in mage armor and his AC was 23 (24 with dodge) for most encounters. I sunk all skill points into Climb, Hide, Listen, Move Silent, Jump, & Tumble (11 ranks + bonuses in each, + cross-skill bonuses).

His trick was to use the Great Throw feat to toss opponents around. With 3.5, standing provokes an AoO, and with Combat Reflexes he gets 3 extra attacks. So he could tumble into a bunch of peons and start using the flurry of blows to toss a few each round. When they got up, use the AoO to toss them again. When Enlarged, his reach increased, and he got a bunch of bonuses to toss people around and could match opponents who were also large.

At 9th level he would have picked up 2 more feats - Improved Disarm and Grappling Block (from OA). On top of that his speed would also increase.

Feats:

Great Throw [General]
You can throw your opponents to the ground, choosing where they land and dealing damage in the process.

Prerequisites: Improved Unarmed Strike, Dexterity 13+, Dodge, Improved Trip, Combat Reflexes

Benefit: When you make a successful unarmed trip attack against a creature no larger than your own size, you can choose where the creature lands, within the area you threaten. In addition, you deal your normal unarmed strike damage to the opponent. When you use this option, however, you may not make a followup melee attack using the Improved Trip feat.

Grappling Block
General - REQ: Improved Unarmed Strike, Deflect Arrows, Int 13+, Expertise, Improved Disarm, Combat Reflexes
You must have both hands free or be holding weapons designed to catch other weapons (such as the sai or the jitte) to use this feat. Once per round when you would normally be hit by a melee weapon, you may make a special disarm attempt against your opponent. This attempt counts against your allowed attacks of opportunity this round. You make an opposed attack roll against the hit, the opponent’s attack roll is not modified by the size of his weapon. If you succeed, you grab the weapon away from your opponent (if you are unarmed) or knock the weapon to the ground (if you’re armed). You may only use this feat against weapons up to two sizes larger than you. Oriental Adventures, pg 63.