Originally posted by Taren Seeker
Reasons for going Monk: aside from the Evasion and Wis bonus to AC (I'm planning on a 14 Wis), Stunning fist may be useful, but also for the ability to flurry with his claw attacks.
But the WIS will only give you +2 AC, and you won't be able to wear armor. Overall, you'll lose AC unless you spend a fortune on high-end Bracers of Armor or use a Feat on Inertial Armor (which in the long run sucks for you since the "upgrade" feat is in Mind's Eye). Since you'll already have the armor proficiencies, you're better off wearing decent armor and dropping those. Now, the Evasion is nice, but there are other ways to get that. Saves are good, no question.
Monks just don't work well as a one-level class. Too many of their abilities are tied to class level, and most of their abilities require sacrificing armor. If you can get a PrC that helps make up for this then you'd be okay, but as I said before, the best PrCs for this are in a source you're not allowed to use.
I was also thinking Ranger for the 2 weapon abilities instead, but Monk may help more, especially with the save bonus.
There have been tons of discussions on these boards about 2-weapon style versus sword-n-board versus 2-handed. I might be biased, of course, but for me the best Psywar weapons are the two-handed ones. Greatswords, polearms, etc. They let you get the most out of Deep Impact. Actually, a high crit range weapon like a Scimitar or Falchion would be even better, just for Mind Feeder weapons, but you might not be able to get one of those.
DR is definitely a major concern. I'm hoping that something similar to an Amulet of Mighty Fists will be available, but I don't know how likely that is.
If something like that is available, then you could be all right. But, you'd absolutely NEED an item like that for your character concept to work well, and that's never a comfortable position to be in.
That being said, you've definitely given me food for thought. Perhaps I won't stress the unarmed combat so much so that I can retain some versatility. Unfortunately that's going to weaken him overall.
Not really. Pick your favorite weapon. Play him as a standard Fighter, but also take one claw power. There, you now have a weapon when disarmed, and it doesn't even draw an AoO to use. Claws of the Vampire is great for this.
The core psionic classes just aren't equipped to be good at unarmed classes, IMO, but they're better at it than everyone but Monks so it works nicely as a backup.
Perhaps I'll pick up a lvl of Psion for Lesser Body Adjustment...that's a very useful healing ability.
Not to totally beat this horse into the ground, but that's a great reason to take the Sangehirn PrC from Mind's Eye. First, so you can take powers like that; second, eventual Fast Healing. I know, this isn't an option for you.
I considered doing the exact same thing with my Psywar, but in the end she just went with more Psywar, taking defensive powers like Displacement and Inertial Barrier to prevent damage. It's a more effective use of PPs in the long run.
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