Monk Stuff! Give me monk stuff!

[Kashell]

Care to tell us how that cohort of yours came to be a monk/bard? Sounds like an interesting story

Actually yes indeed it is. It's a long story, but I've got the time.
I actually wrote this out as a campaign and after our group played out the first chapter of our campaign we took a long break. During that break, I DMed 4 sessions worth of this and told this exact story.


Before our campaign actually starts, Kashell and Karen are monks at the monestery of Rae....most know him as, "Master Rae".

It is a HUGE monestery, consisting of room for 450 denizens, 400 beings monks, 50 being servants.

Master Rae knew his monks well. He knew that most of them had inner desires to do other things with their lives. So instead of indulging them directly, he created a huge library, a fount of knowledge, in the monestery.

The monestery itself was created by dwarves via stonework. The gate however is just made of finely made wood.

The monestery is high up in the mountains of the west. An approach to the monestery on foot might take a week's travel from the base of the mountain, or 2 days travel on a small trail that goes through the mountains to the monestery gate.

Despite it's size it is a relitively unknown monestery. However, the students there range from low to mid level monks.(In other words, tons of level 1 monks, some "level 2 monks" and a dozen or so level 5 monks or higher. Master Rae himself is an epic level character.)

The characters in the monestery aren't all monks nessisarly. Specifically the level 2 monks are multiclass characters.(Karen is one of these, a level 1 monk level 1 bard). Bards tend to be the favorable multiclass here, but there are also clerics and paladins. There is also a level 6 monk/2 swashbuckler character(Who is noticeable by his big French accent, hat, and smoking pipe.)

In the session, all of the characters began on the day of the feast of the moon. (Tsukue O Mimasu)

They are all allowed to be level 2 characters, but they have to at least have 1 level in monk. They get negatives if they multiclass with anything besides bard, paladin, and cleric. (Although I did an evil DM trick and didn't tell them that they would get negatives to their rolls...just that bards, paladins, and clerics did well here. )

All of the monks make it on time to the courtyard outside for morning meeting. The courtyard is the simple outside to the great hall...there is one ash tree here, and the ground is completely made of dirt(though somehow the dirt here feels like new carpet under the feet).

...And...I need to look at my DM notes to keep going on this story, LOL

-Kash

 

[Kalendraf]

I'm all for making custom items to hand out to players in my campaigns. Pricing is of course based on the rules in the DMG, but that doesn't always cover everything perfectly. Here's a few suggestions:

Monks Robes. Depending on who makes these, they are usually crafted as Sacred for LG monks, Profane for LE monks, and LN monks can wear either. The cost is bonus squared x 2500 gp, so a +1 monk robes costs 2500 gp, +2 is 10K gp, etc.

Shocking Gloves. Might be similar to shocking ring, but not sure. The gloves I gave out could cast shocking grasp at 2nd level caster, 3 times per day. With the rules for shocking grasp, they monk can cast this spell, and then hold it indefinitely until he makes his next attack. If he misses, it is still there, but when he manages to land a hit, it dishes out an extra 2d6 electrical damage. Cost for this particular pair of gloves was only 2400gp. It works out to be 400gp x CL x uses per day if you want to make stronger or weaker pairs of gloves.

Defender Staff. A monk can easily carry a weapon and still intermix unarmed strikes with weapon attacks or even forego the weapon attacks all-together. At higher levels, the unarmed strikes are generally much better than a weapon, but that doesn't mean the monk should abandon weapons entirely. Instead ,look for weapons that can help in other ways. One of the best abilities on a weapon for a monk is the Defending property which lets them trade the weapons normal +1 bonus to an AC bonus that will stack with all other AC bonuses. The only drawback to this is the cost. A +1 defender staff will be about 8300 gp, +2 defender staff is 16300 gp, etc.

Ring of Enlarge Person. This doesn't have to be a ring - could be a wondrous item instead, etc. The Enlarge Person spell can greatly enhance a monk, giving them reach, higher damage dice and size bonuses on grapple, trip and other special attacks. Pricing of this item is somewhat questionable. My suggesion is to charge 2000 gp per use for a 1st level casting. So a ring that can cast it 3 times a day costs 6000 gp.

 

[Navar]

Well noone has mentioned the monk/paladin book for scarred lands. This is a great book and has 2 rings that are must haves for a monk. I am at work atm, but this book is fantastic and anyone playing a monk will find tons of good stuff in there.

 

[takyris]

How about several packets of wipes, about a dozen matching gray suits (no necktie), and an amulet of proof against poison and disease (just on general principle)?

 

[Zimri]

Yes sun school is a nice little tactical feat. I personally would delay it until after I picked up weapon finesse (but thats just me). Right now you are using +2 from str to hit and damage Finesse will let you use the +5 from your dex to hit so you'll connect a bit more often. I went the exalted VoP rout and the second exalted feat I took was intuitive strike because my WIS is gonna be near 28 or at level 20.

Not saying you are doing anything wrong ... just different from how I would do it is all.

 

[silentspace]

I believe KaeYoss was referring to the alignment restrictions on monks vs bards...

I'd go Weapon Finesse too. +3 to hit is a pretty big boost!

 

[Kashell]

Obviously adventurers level much faster than characters in a monestery.

Taking this into account...her alignment would have changed over time as she grew more accustom to the 'bardic ways'.
That's the thinking behind it anyway.

 

[DM_Fiery_Fist]

Bracers of Armor

Greetings everyone!

I'm also playing a monk in a new game and I thought I'd pop a quick question onto this thread while we were on the topic. Can monks wear bracers of armor and still keep their inherent monk bonuses to armor class? I found a monk character on wizards: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/cc/20021121c and he was equipped with them, so I figured it was okay. I just wanted to throw that out there and see if anyone else had alreay tackled that issue.

 

[silentspace]

Yes, the bonuses stack. The monk bonuses are unnamed bonuses (I believe). And bracers of armor give an armor bonus to AC, but are not considered armor - they're wondrous items - so they don't affect the monk's AC bonus.

That's my attempt at being a rules lawyer. How was it?

 

[DM_Fiery_Fist]

Many thanks. That sounds exactly right to me. Thanks again for clarifying that.

By the way, a good feat I would suggest for any monk is the Grappling Block feat from Oriental Adventures. You can disarm opponents who attack you once per round.