Monks, and how we use them.

So, I've come to a decision. Monks are just plain fun. They're the fastest, and they punch the most people in the face.

Everyone should have a build with a bit of monk in it. If you're not, you simply don't have a soul. So sorry, please excuse.

The question then becomes, how much monk? What's a good breaking off point for various types of build? How much have you used?

In my personal opinion, the worthwhile-

The monk level "plateaus":

Level 1 - when all you want is monk wisdom AC, monk unarmed attack tables, cleave, flurry, and improved unarmed strike. This is a *lot* of bang for your one level invested.... but if you already had 2 classes, this does stop you from persuing any others. Needing to be lawful can also be a downer

Level 6- If youre going past 1 level, you may as well at least continue to here, as you pick up knockdown and improved knockdown as bonus feats without even needing the prerequisites.

Level 9 - Improved Evasion. You probably knew this what what you wanted when you first decided to take monk levels. Once you hit level 9, you can stop....

Level 12 - Spell reistance = monk level + 10. This one *barely* made the list because it doesnt get nasty unless you go *much* deeper into epic levels.... you can do hideous things with it if you focus all your epic feats on improving your SR..... 70 SR is a nightmare for casters.... but the reason I dont favor this build is because there are so many monster "spell-like ability" attacks that *should* allow SR to resist them, but were not coded properly.

Level 15 - Quivering Palm. This one *barely* made the list. One use per day? cmon... and it dont work on crit immune targets. meh.

Level 18 - Empty Body. This one is actually *very* good. You get 50% concealment as an extraordinary effect, meaning even beholder antimagic cannot dispel it. Has a decent duration, too... and I *believe* its 2 uses per day.

Level 20 - Mind Immunity and DR 20+1. These are supposed to be the monk's crown jewels... and they ARE very nice. Getting that mind immunity saves one from hunrting down and dedicating a gear slot to one of the few items that gives that property, and ignoring 20 points of damage from non-magical weapons is pretty sweet, too... but by this level it wont come into play much when it really matters.

My personal recommendation: there is only one monk build I know of that is worth going into Epic Monk levels. You can get ridiculous SR.... its close to being immune to all magic.... but not quite close enough to make the AB loss worthwhile to me.

Another note: as I dont recommend going past level 20 in the monk class for any builds save the SR one, and also because monks only get 3 attack bonus per 4 levels pre-epic..... you may always wish to try and cram as many of your monk levels into post-epic as you can.... though this would be overridden by arcane casting classes (much better to take wizard or sorceror post-epic).

Any of the abilities based on Class Lvl would be improved by higher lvls (eg; Quivering Palm), but I agree that unless your goal is to oppose casters, a pure Monk build does seem to be a bit starved for Epic bonus feats.

I built Bram as a pure monk to begin with. As much fun as it is...I didn't like the lack of atk/round. I went Ironhide along with monk and shadowdancer great AC.

Currently am 20 Monk, 10 Acrobat, 10 shadowdancer. I like the build for now. When I don't like it, I have 2 re-level scales to use.

I like monks. they are so much fun.