VoP Monk

[Goldmoon]

Ive decided to play a monk in my friends Eberron Campaign. Im considering taking the VoP feat from BoED but havent made up my mind. Has anyone had experience with this? Pros? Cons? Any other feats that mesh well with this one? We will be starting at 4th level and I have decided to play a Human. I know that this is kinda what you all do so have at it please.

 

[Particle_Man]

It is a pretty good choice. I played one. The lack of beating some DR's is not so good, but otherwise it can be fun. There is an exalted feat that gives you an aura vs. undead. Of course, the exalted feat Touch of Golden Ice is a gas.

There is even a prestige class: Initiate of Pistis Sophia that might tie right in if you like (and another prestige class Risen Martyr if things go south).

As for other feats, anything that increases monk open hand damage (MM's improved natural attack, Tome of Battle has a feat that lets you do damage as a monk 4 levels higher).

 

[Goldmoon]

Thanks, although I'm pretty sure I'm going to stay from prestige classes and just go straight monk. ANy other weaknesses youve seen that I should be aware of?

 

[Particle_Man]

possible problems

Exalted means absolute, no compromise, toe the line, goody two shoes. Remember all those threads about what LG characters and Paladins might get away with? You can't even get away with that stuff. When in doubt, always assume the stricter interpretation applies. If you screw up even once, you can permanently lose all your exalted feat benefits, including those of vow of poverty.

You may run out of "useful" bonus exalted feats, especially if your ability scores are not high enough for some of them. This may lead to the Vow of Peace being your only option, which could radically change the game for the rest of your party.

You still take a share of the treasure, but it must get donated to a charity. Other player characters do not count as a charity. Note, donating this much to a single charity can seriously mess up the econony of the area.

Since you are limited to your special monk and VoP powers (plus racial abilities, if any), this limits your tactical options. Other player characters can more greatly tailor their abilities to a situation by getting the appropriate magic items.

For the first four levels, you still have to eat and drink, yet can carry no more than 1 day's rations at a time. This can get tricky. You might need ranks in survival.

 

[Grymar]

Eberron is known of its shades of gray. I have encouraged my players to stay away from paladins because of how hard it would be to stay purely LG in that world. An exalted monk? Whoa, that's tough.

My party, although good-ish, has had to bribe officials, torture prisoners, and even execute people who would have gotten off scott free due to corrupt officials. The noir aspect of Eberron makes playing an exalted PC very, very hard.

Good luck!

 

[Goldmoon]

I plan to play him as an oriental-style monk whose master was killed by the forces of evil and he is seeking the person who ordered the killing, revenge on his mind. If he should ever catch up to this person, he likely would not be able to go through with it. He has also taken a vow of silence at his dying masters request until the murderer is found and brought to justice. I think it will be a challenge to play and I am looking foward to it.

 

[Grymar]

Revenge is certainly against the exalted status, so you'd best hope you never catch him!

 

[Goldmoon]

Like I said, I'm pretty sure he will not be able to go through with the revenge business.

 

[brehobit]

Eberron is known of its shades of gray. I have encouraged my players to stay away from paladins because of how hard it would be to stay purely LG in that world. An exalted monk? Whoa, that's tough.

My party, although good-ish, has had to bribe officials, torture prisoners, and even execute people who would have gotten off scott free due to corrupt officials. The noir aspect of Eberron makes playing an exalted PC very, very hard.

Good luck!

Playing an Exalted monk would, IMO, be easy to play in Eberron. Difficult to DM though. The "shades of gray" theme might have a hard time working. So I'd talk to the DM first and make sure it won't kill plot plans he/she has.

From a mechanics viewpoint, it is cool and fairly powerful. Druid is probably the best VoP (in terms of power and perhaps flavor) but monk is clearly #2. Sorc. works pretty well too.

Mark

 

[saucercrab]

If your GM doesn't mind some flavor text converting, Player's Guide to Faerun & Champions of Valor (both FR) have additional exalted feats.

If you don't mind playing a warforged, Races of Eberron has feats to penetrate silver & cold iron DR, & ones that add a bite & second slam natural attacks. (I know you said human, but I thought I'd point this out for the DR weakness.)

If you don't mind a bit of dipping, incarnum classes can offer a lot of versatility to VoP characters.

God, I should've started each of those differently...