Help me equip a monk

[Delemental]

So, after my War Wizard of Cormyr died a horrible death last night (None of us could get past the drow cleric's SR thanks to poor rolling, and blade barrier followed by flame strike hurts) I find myself in need of a new character.

Normally, I tend to build characters around a theme for the purpose of roleplay/personality development. However, we're in the early stages of City of the Spider Queen, which has been a meat grinder so far (complicated by the fact that some of the other party members are very much of the "everything in the Underdark is evil and must be killed immediately" mindset, meaning we fight a lot more than perhaps we need to). So, I need to improve my character's chances.

Thus, I turn to you, the good folk of EN World.

My initial idea is to build a monk, and focus his combat style around things like tripping, grappling, disarming, sundering, etc. Either that, or follow the Whirlwind Attack route (or both, if possible). I'm not as worried about raw damage dealing (our frenzied berserker with Great Cleave takes care of that) - and monks seem to fare better in a harassment role, especially with the number of enemy casters we've been facing (I'll bet my fist can get past your spell resistance!).

Where I'd like help is in picking some good equipment. I'll have 36,000 gp to spend (9th level character), and in addition to the core rules, I can use the splatbooks, Arms & Equipment Guide, the FRCS, and Magic of Faerun. We're running under 3.0 right now (making a slow transition to 3.5). My DM generally does not allow characters to spend a large chunk of their starting money on one item (so no 20,000 gp magic items).

Suggestions?

Edit: I meant Whirlwind Attack, not Spring Attack

 

[bret]

You really should have one big item that you spend cash on, something that you don't expect to have to replace for a while.

Equipment I would look for as a Monk would include:

• Bracers of armor. Improve your AC, and they shouldn't interfere with your Monk abilities. Personally, I would go for +5 Bracers (25K), but +4 are only 16K.
• Goggles of Night, 8K. Unless you already have Darkvision because of race, you are really going to need something like this. Alternatively, you could go for the Belt of Dwarvenkind and get a +2 Con bonus with your darkvision for 14.9K
• Periapt of Wisdom, +2 Wis for 4K (I would guess the +4 for 16K is too expensive). Improves a lot of your Monk abilities including AC and the DC to resist Stunning Fist and such.
• Sustaining spoon (5,500 gp), so you don't starve. Not necessary, but it can be a very useful item.
• An extradimentional space to hold all your stuff. Heward's Handy Haversack, Bag of Holding (Type I so you can stay at light encumberance), Portable Hole (carries the most, is the most inconvenient to pull stuff out of), or the Belt of Many Pockets from Tome & Blood. Lots of choices at all sorts of prices from 2K up.
• Guantlets of Ogre Power, +2 Str for 4K. You will want the damage boost.
• Nunchucks +1 Bane Undead. If you are using a weapon, it is either because of DR or because it hurts to touch them. I would go for the Bane Undead because those are the main type of creatures that it hurts to touch.

Those are the primary items I would be looking at.

Also, since your Dex is likely to be better than your Str you will want to consider getting the Finesse feat. In 3.5, it covers all weapons. Otherwise, get it with your Unarmed Strike.

Have fun storming the underdark!

 

[sithramir]

In the monk splatbook theres a Ring of Mage armor for 12k. Its +4 ac for cheaper than normal. Monk's belt is helpful as you'd gain some movement and 1 ac from it. I'd also go with the wis boost and probably a ring of sustenance for like 2500. I'd look into getting a permanent magic fang cast on your hands and buff up your Use magic device skill (use synergy bonus's) and then you can use some helpful items.

 

[Legildur]

Monk's Belt is a good item to grab, but you get better mileage (IMHO) from a Belt of Giant Strength (+4) for 16k as it adds +2 to your attack, damage, and grapple checks (and carrying capacity, jump/climb checks etc). Use Spikey's Melee Combat Calculator to see what I mean, but by all means, the Monk's Belt is a good option otherwise.

Gloves of Fearsome Grip from Sword and Fist give +5 enhancement to grapple, disarm and climb checks. That's the equivalent of a +10 enhancement to Strength for a narrow range of uses. But note that it won't stack with Gauntlets or Belts of strength. Still, that'd make your grapple and disarm checks a cinch.

Anything that boosts Wisdom is a good thing, particularly if you've taken Stunning Fist as your bonus 1st level feat. And Goggles of the Night would also be useful, but expensive. Maybe better to get the Blindfighting feat.

And if you go the grappling route, have a look at the Enlarge Person 1st level Sor/Wiz spell and maybe cut a deal with them, or purchase a wand of such for them to use on you (same same with Mage Armor).

If you take Combat Reflexes as your 2nd level bonus feat, then you might want to invest a feat in spiked chain (particularly if you combine it with the Enlarge Person spell).

Anyway, I think you'll find it difficult to take both a disarm and grapple approach with a monk, but if you do, you'll need the Combat Expertise feat at some point along the way - which is not a bad feat to have anyway.

And I wouldn't bother with Whirlwind Attack - leave that to the fighters, but Spring Attack certainly has its uses.

Basically, Monks don't get enough feats to do what your planning, so pick a style and go for broke.

Personally, I think a grappling monk has great potential as it effectively disarms opponents around your size category as well as shutting down most spellcasters.

 

[Terwox]

I'd say don't bother with bracers of armor, get a wand of mage armor. +4 bracers are 16k, a wand has 50 (albeit 1 hour) charges for 750 gold. I'm not sure if a wand of darkvision or goggles of the night are cheaper, but a wand of darkvision might also help out the rest of your party sometimes too. Goggles of the Night are 12k, a wand of darkvision is 4.5k.

An Amulet of Natural Armor +1 is 2k, IIRC, and that's another +1 AC.

If you're doing weapon finesse, gauntlets of dexterity +2 might be worth it.

Those gloves of fearsome strength that Legildur described sound awesome for what you're planning on doing with your monk.

Eh. You can always get a wand of cure light wounds, too. Never hurt. Or if you're using the splatbooks, remedy/regenerate light wounds. More hps for your gold, heh..

g'luck!

 

[bret]

Um, guys, what sort of Monk can use wands?

The Wand of Mage Armor would also cost more than that. At 1st level, Mage Armor only lasts an hour. Multiple the price by the number of hours that you want the effect to last. That would come to 18K for 24 hour duration and +4 AC vs. 16K for the bracers.

Perhaps you want a Ring of Protection instead, since the bonus would apply to Touch AC. That way, your monk is likely to have the highest Touch AC in the group.

Blindfighting is nice, but I wouldn't want to be stuck underground having to feel around in order to navigate. Everyone in the group is going to want Darkvision. Anyone who doesn't get it from race is going to need either the goggles or the belt.

 

[Bozidar]

alright, you've got to maximize your 36,000, which means no items too big.

Your dex should be maxed out, so get the finesse feat. Weapon focus wouldn't kill ya either. If you're not going to get a darkvision item, then get Blindfight if you can. With your two ability improvements, do them to dex. Wis is nice, but Dex gives you a heck of a lot more use than Wis.

1) The most cost-effective AC is bracers of armor. Get em. AC +4
2) Ring of Prot +1. 2K. Cheap, easy, +1 AC.
3) Gloves of Dexterity +2
4) Belt of Strength +2
5) Cloak of Resistance +1, cheap, and in the underdark you can use, even as a monk, all the save help you can get.
6) Amulet of Natural Armor + 1, get all the AC you can get your hands on.
So with that you've got +7 to your AC (Bracers 4, ring 1, gloves 1, amulet 1). You've got a +1 to hit, a +1 to damage, and +1 to all saves.

You've also got 7K left. You can get an item made, like a ring, to boost your WIS if you like, for 4K, or get healing, or get goggles of the night. It's up to you. But i'd stay away from the expensive purchases -- i only suggest the bracers +4 because they're the most cost-effecitve protection you can buy.

(A ring or any item that has a permenant Mage Armor spell on it should cost 16K. You can't create an item that replicates an item that exists for cheaper. If something gives you a +4AC armor bonus, it costs 16,000)

 

[Bozidar]

there is also the amulet of mighty fists, 6000 for +1 hit/damage, and it makes your hands the same as magical items (not that you needed that, with ki strike). but the +1/+1 is nice.

 

[Starbuck]

Must Have Monk Item!!!

I've played a few monks in 3E and the one must-have item hands down is a ring of shocking blows. It will discharge 1d8+3 points of electrical damage every time you hit unarmed!. You are doubling your damage dealt unarmed and the ring damage is energy damage so it bypasses that pesky damage reduction. Combine with flurry of blows and watch your barbarian's jaw drop as you deal out mega-damage!!! Get one get one get one!!! It is in the Sword & Fist splatbook.

 

[Bozidar]

The ring of shocking isn't in 3.5 DMG, but i don't see why you can't make a similar ring from the 1st level "Shocking Grasp" spell. You could only have one active though, i think.