Help me make a Monk -> Thief-Acrobat

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Why not the quarterstaff then?

Pure powergaming. As a monk, she'll already have some pretty decent bludgeoning weapons, useable regardless of what weapons she's got in her hands.

The spear or double-bladed sword will allow her to gain some alternative damage types and, in the case of the first, reach. There's also the fact that you can make a spear out of cold iron, say, but not a quarterstaff.

 

[Klaus]

Thanks to all for the replies.

Thanee -> No BoED, sorry.

I had thought about Serpent Strike, in order to use a longspear as a monk weapon. It does require proficiency and Weapon Focus in it, though. That's would make the 1st level feat Simple Weapon Proficiency and either hold on to a feat and spend it at 2nd level to get Weapon Focus (longspear) (WF has BAB+1 as req). Which would lead to 3rd level feat being Serpent Strike.

Either with a quarterstaff or a longspear, I'm ruling in a +1 to Balance checks, since they can double as balancing poles.

As a sidenote, I am the DM. The character is for my wife, as Diana was her favorite character in the D&D cartoon.

 

[reveal]

Another option would be the Quick Staff Style feat from Complete Warrior. It allows you to gain an extra +2 to your AC when using a Quarterstaff when you use Combat Expertise. So if you take -1 from your attack for Combat Expertise, you gain a +3 to AC.

But, it's prereqs are Combat Expertise, Dodge, TWF, and Weapon Focus (quarterstaff). A player in my campaign has it and it's very useful.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Oh, as another idea, there's also the Longstaff from Complete Adventurer. It required an Exotic Weapon Prof feat, but has the added bonus of making you unflankable whenever you fight defensively or take a -2 penalty via Combat Expertise.

 

[Klaus]

Oh, as another idea, there's also the Longstaff from Complete Adventurer. It required an Exotic Weapon Prof feat, but has the added bonus of making you unflankable whenever you fight defensively or take a -2 penalty via Combat Expertise.

That would require at least Int 13 for the Combat Expertise, though.

I'm running the Serpent Strike idea past my wife.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

It also works when fighting defensively, which for your monk will be almost as good as CE (-4 / +3 vs. -1 / +1).

Of course, I think Combat Expertise is a feat everyone should seriously consider, so I might be a little bit biased.

EDIT:

For example, take your monk above at 3rd-level. Assume she's got CE, a Longstaff, and the staff-fighting feat mentioned above.

When needed, she can turn on all three and gain a +7 Dodge bonus to her AC (+2 CE, +3 FD, +2 Feat), in addition to being unflankable.

 

[Klaus]

So Serpent Strike may be a possibility.

Another possible path that really meshes well with the character concept is the Flying Kick feat from Complete Warrior (Prereq: Str 13, Imp Un Strike, Power Attack and Jump 4 ranks). When charging unarmed, the character does an additional 1d12 damage.

Anyone tried Flying Kick? Is it worth it?

 

[reveal]

So Serpent Strike may be a possibility.

Another possible path that really meshes well with the character concept is the Flying Kick feat from Complete Warrior (Prereq: Str 13, Imp Un Strike, Power Attack and Jump 4 ranks). When charging unarmed, the character does an additional 1d12 damage.

Anyone tried Flying Kick? Is it worth it?

I used it in an OA adventure I played in. It was really cool.

 

[Demoquin]

It also works when fighting defensively, which for your monk will be almost as good as CE (-4 / +3 vs. -1 / +1).

Of course, I think Combat Expertise is a feat everyone should seriously consider, so I might be a little bit biased.

EDIT:

For example, take your monk above at 3rd-level. Assume she's got CE, a Longstaff, and the staff-fighting feat mentioned above.

When needed, she can turn on all three and gain a +7 Dodge bonus to her AC (+2 CE, +3 FD, +2 Feat), in addition to being unflankable.

You might want to add the +2 bonus from 5 ranks of Tumble if you Fight Defensively or use Total Defence

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

When needed, she can turn on all three and gain a +7 Dodge bonus to her AC (+2 CE, +3 FD, +2 Feat), in addition to being unflankable.

You might want to add the +2 bonus from 5 ranks of Tumble if you Fight Defensively or use Total Defence

I already did - and it's only a +1 extra bonus when Fighting Defensively (normally +2, now +3).